Adria - Alto-Adriatici Kraters - I
Metopes separated by bands painted with geometric motifs decorate the surface of these kraters. In each metope there is a woman's head in profile wearing a wide embroidered bonnet.
These vases belongs to a ceramics type identified by some scholars as "Ceramica alto-adriatica", High-Adriatic pottery. This term identifies a class of vases showing homogeneous characters, widespread on the Italian coasts of the Adriatic Sea between Ascoli Piceno (Marche) and Rovigo (lower Veneto) provinces. The exact location of the production area of these ceramics has not yet been localized. The main excavation centers of these vases are the necropolis of Spina, located near the mouth of the river Po, Ferrara, and Adria, a small town near Rovigo.
The shapes of these ceramics are similar to the classic ones: the bell and calyx krater, the pelìke, the lekane, the skiphos, the olpe, the oinochoe with trefoil mouth, the stamnos, the pyx, the phiale, the askos . The shapes of the vases, however, are heavier and altered compared to the Greek ones; in some cases, affinities with the Italiot vases have been recorded, in others with the shapes of the so-called Etruscan-Campania pottery. The female head in profile with a wide embroidered bonnet, which hides the hair, except for the curls on the forehead and the little curls in front of the ear, is the pre-eminent subject in jugs, craters, lekanai. These female portraits are usually framed with spiral decorations, phytomorphic motifs, large palmettes, laurel branches, vine leaves and some meanders, or other geometric motifs.
Source: Enciclopedia dell’Arte Antica- Treccani
High-Adriatic calyx krater
III century BC
Adria, Museo Archeologico Nazionale
Adria - Alto-Adriatici Kraters - I
Metopes separated by bands painted with geometric motifs decorate the surface of these kraters. In each metope there is a woman's head in profile wearing a wide embroidered bonnet.
These vases belongs to a ceramics type identified by some scholars as "Ceramica alto-adriatica", High-Adriatic pottery. This term identifies a class of vases showing homogeneous characters, widespread on the Italian coasts of the Adriatic Sea between Ascoli Piceno (Marche) and Rovigo (lower Veneto) provinces. The exact location of the production area of these ceramics has not yet been localized. The main excavation centers of these vases are the necropolis of Spina, located near the mouth of the river Po, Ferrara, and Adria, a small town near Rovigo.
The shapes of these ceramics are similar to the classic ones: the bell and calyx krater, the pelìke, the lekane, the skiphos, the olpe, the oinochoe with trefoil mouth, the stamnos, the pyx, the phiale, the askos . The shapes of the vases, however, are heavier and altered compared to the Greek ones; in some cases, affinities with the Italiot vases have been recorded, in others with the shapes of the so-called Etruscan-Campania pottery. The female head in profile with a wide embroidered bonnet, which hides the hair, except for the curls on the forehead and the little curls in front of the ear, is the pre-eminent subject in jugs, craters, lekanai. These female portraits are usually framed with spiral decorations, phytomorphic motifs, large palmettes, laurel branches, vine leaves and some meanders, or other geometric motifs.
Source: Enciclopedia dell’Arte Antica- Treccani
High-Adriatic calyx krater
III century BC
Adria, Museo Archeologico Nazionale