This volume of CVA is the first dedicated to the collection of the Altamura Archaeological Museum. It is focused on the South Italian red-figure pottery (proto-Lucanian and Apulian) on overpainted pottery (monochrome and polychrome) and reticulated lekythoi. Francesca Maria Pesce has analyzed about 90 vases all found in the urban and suburban areas of Altamura from various archaeological excavations. The desire to bring this material together is the central motivation behind this project, and the strength of this volume. The collected objects are of obvious documentary and archaeological interest. They also reflect a contrasting archaeological reality, between accidental and sporadic discoveries of the 1960s–1970s, with their share of uncertainties from gaps in documentation, and more recent excavations with detailed archaeological reports, as in the case of the so-called “Tomba dell’Agip”, which yielded 25 vases, some of them monumental. All the contexts are funerary and illustrate a variety of types (rectangular pit, “tomba a grotticella”, chamber tomb, sarcophagus) dating from the end of the 5th century BC and the last third of the 3rd century BC. Readers will certainly appreciate the very useful three-column summary table (p. 11–14) with details on archaeological contexts (tomb location, reference number, typology), funerary assemblages (sometimes scattered throughout the volume), and dating. We note, however, the absence of certain important elements, such as techniques or criteria for identifying the biological sex of the deceased, or at least of an in-depth selective bibliography; it is possible that this can be attributed to the conditions of the discoveries themselves or perhaps to constraints by the format of the publication.
In the introduction, the author explains the internal structure of the volume, which is divided into several categories. Red-figured vases from Southern Italy are classified into two sub-categories: Proto-Lucanian pottery (1 vase) and Apulian pottery (76 vases), following a chronological progression from the Middle to Late Apulian, taking into account stylistic criteria and attributions to the various painters and workshops listed in the index, including, but not limited to, the following famous painters: the workshop of the Darius Painter[1] and Underworld Painter,[2] Patera Painter and Ganymede Painter,[3] Baltimore Painter,[4] and White Saccos Group.[5] Within these stylistic groups, Francesca Maria Pesce has chosen to organize the contents by typology, making a distinction between forms dedicated to wine service, commemorative and offering vases (amphora, hydria, loutrophoros, pelike, lebes gamikos, pyxide, lekanis, fish-plate, situla) and forms used for body care (lekythos, guttus, askos).
This volume reflects CVA’s usual high standards of quality. Each object is described in detail (form, technique, decoration), with detailed comments on iconographic interpretation, formal and stylistic comparisons, and supported by graphic documentation (plates and profile drawings where necessary). However, it would sometimes have been helpful to have color plates for certain polychrome vases or vases with numerous details. At the end of the book, the reader will find an index of painters, stylistic groups and subjects, as well as a concordance table, all very useful for consultation.
A few errors have crept into the manuscript (in an incomplete or erroneous inventory number, e.g. Toledo, Museum of Art, 77.45 instead of 1977.45, or in certain bibliographical references), but they do not unduly hinder the reading of the work or compromise its overall quality. The author’s comments are well documented and highlight, in light of the published vases and their contexts, the major trends concerning the production of the pottery, whether in terms of morphological or iconographic repertory, the local preferences for Peucetia, or recent progress in the field of research, particularly with regard to the phenomena of artisanal mobility (p. 6, note 2 with recent bibliography), craft collaborations across different material classes, the question of regular or specific market demand, and not forgetting the difficult question of the relevance of certain stylistic groups (such as the Menzies group), currently under debate.
A few bibliographical references could have been added, for example, Giuseppina Gadaleta’s work on the typology of fish-plates[6] or, on the subject of the naiskos, the reflections of Luigi Todisco[7] or of Claude Pouzadoux.[8] While some vases have been seen and attributed by A. D. Trendall, such as the beautiful pyxis (inv. 11008, pl. 9) on which Theseus and Phaedra are said to be represented (in reference to an unusual episode inspired by Euripides’ tragedy Hippolytus), others have been the subject of subsequent attributions that have sometimes been contested or, at least, rediscussed. This is the case, for example, of the only Lucanian vase in the volume, a column-krater (inv. 1591, pl. 1) from Casal Sabini, proprietà Falagario, tomb 1/1960–1962, decorated on one side with a banquet scene unusual for this type: two half-draped banqueters interact, reclining on a richly decorated kline, near a kottabos stem and a trapeza on which rest two skyphoi and a phiale. Dated to the first quarter of the 5th century BC, it is here wrongly attributed to the Painter of Amykos (Colivicchi, Colucci, Osanna and Venturo) and deserves further analysis. Far from discrediting the author’s substantial work, this issue has the merit of highlighting the challenge of updating a complex stylistic classification system in the post-Trendall era.
Notes
[1] Two loutrophoroi, inv. 10191, pl. 7–8, inv. 11008, pl. 9; an unpublished amphora, inv. 10195, pl. 10; an unpublished fish-plate, inv. 11004, pl. 1.
[2] Situla, inv. 11001, pl. 12–13; two unpublished hydria, inv. 638, pl.14–15 and inv. 7607, pl. 16; an unpublished head kantharos, inv.11976, pl.19–20; an unpublished rhyton, inv.10170, pl.21.
[3] Oinochoe, inv. 10171, pl. 37; an unpublished oinochoe, inv.10070, pl. 38; skyphos, inv. 10154, pl. 39; amphora, inv. 10192, pl. 40–42; amphora lid, inv. 10112, pl. 44; hydria, inv.10193, pl. 45–48; plate, inv. 10127, pl. 49–50; cup, inv. 10165, pl. 52; cup, inv. 10166, pl. 53; an unpublished goat-head rhyton, inv.10082, pl. 71; an unpublished ram-head rhyton, inv. 11010, pl. 72.
[4] An unpublished plate, inv. 2204, pl. 73; an unpublished kantharos, inv.10077, pl. 74.
[5] An unpublished kantharos, inv. 10074, pl. 78.
[6] G. Gadaleta, “Ichtyopinakia: Riflessioni sui piatti da pesce a figure rosse”, Sicilia Antiqua. An International Journal of Archaeology, XIX, 2022, p. 65–70.
[7] L. Todisco, “Vasi con naiskoi tra Taranto e centri italici”, in U. Kästner, S. Schmidt (eds.), Inszenierung von Identitäten. Unteritalische Vasen zwischen Griechen und Indigenen, Proceedings of the International Conference (Berlin 2016), Munich 2018, p. 99–107.
[8] C. Pouzadoux, “La représentation des naïskoi dans la céramique apulienne: une architecture fictive ou virtuelle”, in G. Herbert de la Portbarré-Viard and R. Robert (eds.), Architectures et espaces fictifs dans l’Antiquité: textes-images, Bordeaux 2018 (Collection Scripta antiqua 112), p. 17–26.