As part of its research programme examining ‘Pots, Potters and Society in Ancient Greece’, this book, by the Danish National Museum, looks exclusively at regional variations in production, distribution and consumption of Red-figure (RF) pottery outside Attica. The 358-page volume is made up of seventeen papers, from both seasoned and younger researchers who, collectively, utilise a number of methodologies to examine a diverse number of these regions. All the papers are in English and several contain useful appendices. A number of titles have been abbreviated in order to save space.
The book opens with an editorial introduction which reiterates some of the aims given in the preface; it also gives a short synopsis of each paper. The papers are arranged by region: Boeotia, Corinth, Euboea, Laconia, Ambracia, Macedonia, Metaponto, Apulia and Sicily. The book ends with a 39-page bibliography. I will provide a synopsis of each contribution and conclude with a few general observations in terms of readability, editorial direction and the overall success of the book in answering the questions posed in the preface.
The first four papers examine the reception, adaptation and possible ritual use of RF pottery in Boeotia. V. Sabetai, ‘Sacrifice, Athletics, Departures and the Dionysiac Thiasos in the Boeotian City of Images’, details the iconography of three kraters found in a grave of a female at Akraiphia. Sabetai suggests that the imagery is closely connected to gender issues within the Boeotian social elite. K. Killiga, ‘A New Red-figure Kantharos by the Argos Painter’, examines a RF kantheros from a high status funerary context of a young male at Haliartos. Sabetai and Killiga both come to a similar conclusion, that RF vases were luxury items in Boeotia, which were used exclusively by high status groups. Evidence that RF painters were working in Boeotia is offered by A. Zampiti, ‘Red-figure and its Relationship to the Black-figure Technique in Late Classical Boeotia’. Zampiti argues that the relationship between local red- and black-figure traditions suggests a collaborative output within some workshops. The last paper in this section, C. Avronidaki's ‘An Assortment of Bridal Images on a Boeotian Red-figure Pyxis from the Workshop of the Painter of the Great Athenian Kantharos’, discusses this vase in terms of the modifications the Boeotian potters and painters made to Attic shapes and bridal iconography.
I. McPhee, ‘Corinthian Red-figure Pottery: a Brief Survey’, offers an interesting precis of the research into RF pottery in this region. Euboea is covered next in K. Gex's ‘Red-figure and White-ground Pottery from Euboean Workshops’ in which the identity of and connections between Attic and Euboean potters/painters is explored. The ‘local’ themes, shapes and use of RF pottery in communities in the Peloponnesian region of Laconia is the subject of J. Stroszeck's ‘Laconian Red-figure Pottery: Local Production and Use’. A. Aggeli's ‘Red-figure Pottery of Ambracia in North-western Greece’ surveys the RF pottery found in the ancient Greek cemeteries at Ambracia. These pots display a limited repertoire which, nevertheless, appears to use elements from both Italian and Attic stylistic trends. The last contribution focused on the Greek mainland comes from N. Akamatis, ‘Local Red-figure Pottery from the Macedonian Kingdom: the Pella Workshop’, who examines Macedonian pottery focusing on female themes.
Turning to the Italian peninsula, S. Schierup, ‘Patterns of Use in Early Metapontine Red-figure Pottery’, examines the distribution patterns of several named painters around the Greek colony of Metaponto. This paper contains a useful map. E.G.D Robinson's ‘The Early Phases of Apulian Red-figure’ gives an insightful update on this topic and, although he stresses the early stages of the research, the evidence does suggest that, yet again, the production of local RF pottery was for an elite with specific stylistic and iconic preferences.
The next three papers cross over to Sicily and begin with S. Barresi's ‘Sicilian Red-figure Vase-painting’ in which he proposes a revised date for its genesis. The only quibble I have with this short but impressive paper is why several lines in the conclusion have been left in the original Italian. A similar chronological theme is examined in the longer paper by M. Serino: ‘The Beginnings of Sicilian Red-figured Pottery and its Relationship with Early South Italian Productions’. His revised date for the introduction of RF production on the island uses the Himera Painter's workshop as a case study. The paper uses distribution maps and graphs to illustrate trends in Attic imports against the local production of RF pottery and is for me the best paper in the book. ‘From Imported Attic Vases to the First Regional Productions in Sicily’ by C. Pouzadoux and P. Rouillard, gives a valuable insight into the use of RF pottery in the residential areas of Megara Hyblaea.
The last three papers return to the Italian mainland. D. Elia, ‘Local Production of Red-figure Pottery at Locri Epizephyrii’, gives a synthesis of recent studies on RF pottery production in southern Calabria and suggests close links with the workshops of their Sicilian neighbours. An informative map of the area is provided. Another short but engaging paper, ‘Out of the Tondo: the Exterior of the Clusium Cups’ by M. Harari and M. Franceschini, examines the erotic imagery on Clusium cups which are interpreted as an invitation to drink and make love. In ‘Greek in Subject Matter, Etruscan by Design’, L.C. Pieraccini and M. Del Chiaro use a krater featuring the Alcestis and Admetus myth to reassess the regionalisation of RF imagery.
The volume has a sharp, well-presented layout which is also richly illustrated with drawings and several-hundred photographs. In only a few cases did I wish for more relevant illustrations and the only quibble I have with the layout is that the Gex and McPhee papers are summarised out of sequence in the introduction. The well-referenced papers succeed in beginning a process of exploring many of the key questions posed in the introduction; for example why and by whom and for whom was regional RF pottery made. In so doing, they clearly show the complex inter-relationship of stylistic, thematic and symbolic meaning and use within and between the regions. In this capacity it makes a substantial contribution to our understanding of regional variations in production, distribution and consumption.
Unfortunately there is little help for non-classicists, either in the form of a glossary or the inclusion of maps of the general areas covered by the volume. The latter is an astonishing oversight in a book devoted to the interaction of regional markets. The preface's claim that the volume illustrates a trend away from artistic attribution based on the ‘idiosyncrasies’ of named painters is also questioned by this reader. The emphasis all too often remains connoisseurial in nature and is rarely supported by quantitative generalisations. Another own goal is the non-use of Beazley reference numbers. This would have allowed the reader to use a single site to view many of the illustrated vases in far greater detail alongside an invaluable list of references.
The volume does make a successful and timely contribution to regional RF research. Nevertheless, the most useful insight this book provides is that classical artistic attribution has probably reached its peak in terms of delivering useful data, and as such the time has come to use a greater diversity of archaeological methodologies.
