This splendid new CVA fascicule presents all the South Italian vases in the Hamburg museum, 138 whole vases of many shapes and sizes (from very large to quite small), as well as a few fragments, and it offers a good overview of this important type of Greek vase painting. There are 138 Apulian vases, 3 Lucanian, 9 Campanian and 1 Paestan. In addition, there are 15 vases of uncertain fabric or special shape, including statuette vases. The text concludes with 5 destroyed or lost vases. There are 8 indexes: ‘Concordance of Inventory Numbers, Plates and Supplements’; ‘Provenances’; ‘Acquisitions from Collections, Purchases, Bequests and Gifts’; ‘Capacity’; ‘Technical Features’; ‘Representations’; ‘Inscriptions, Dipinti and Graffiti’; ‘Painters and Workshops’. Photography is by M. Thrun and S. Günther; special photography by F. Brassow; profiles by M. Witek and A. Harms, other drawings by S. Vry; restoration by P. Rhode-Hehr, J. Munir and W. Hartmann of the Römisch-Germanisch Zentralmuseums, Mainz.

Each entry follows the familiar format, first basic information and full measurements, bibliography, starting with the Trendall, Cambitoglou and McPhee references, then others in chronological order. The description of each vase is thoughtful and careful, not only with regard to shape, ornament and figures, but also technical details not easily observed in photographs, such as odd physical features, colour of clay and glaze, and added colour. Comparanda for each vase are copious, helpful and usefully subdivided into sections: painter or group; shape; figures. Drawings in the text indicate the presence of preliminary sketch. There are 83 black-and-white plates and 15 supplements of profiles illustrated at a scale of 1:1 or 1:2.

The Apulian vases range from small vessels to large ‘show-pieces’, for example, the volute-kraters and a huge lekythos (pres. h. 56.8 cm., a rare size for this shape). Some of the smaller vases are very delicate, for example 1998.354 and 355 (pl. 43, 7–16), the two epichyseis from the Liverpool Group, 1991.76 (pls 65–6), the patera with a handle by the Baltimore Painter, or 1875.203 (pl. 70, 6–9), the thymaterion from the Stuttgart Group. The most impressive vases are the four very large volute-kraters. On 1917.1093 (pls 11–13, 1–2), an elegant one by the Painter of Copenhagen 4223, a nude youth sits in a naiskos with his armour and weapons; outside, youths and women hold various objects. The subject may be funerary. The two by the Darius Painter have a multitude of figures. 2003.129 (pls 14–16) has them set in three friezes. The upper frieze depicts a battle between Greeks and Orientals, the fight in full force. The middle frieze offers a respite: Asia seated to the left on one side and Nike flying to the right on the other, separated by a bold floral. The lower frieze returns to battle, this time its aftermath: Orientals are dead or wounded and there is a large ketos, a Nereid in a chariot drawn by a dolphin, as well as two splendid ships. The specific battle is uncertain, but H. (p. 34) suggests the combination of ships and Orientals might allude to a battle at Troy (Iliad 15.653–746). The reference to LIMC (s.v. Hellas) on this page should be IV (not II). This tripartite division of the pictorial surface is unusual for the Darius Painter, who usually prefers to place his figures on multiple ground lines. 2003.130 (pls 17–23, 1, 3–6) is a particularly good example. The subject is a very large Gigantomachy with most of the Olympians present and it is among the most impressive representations of this decisive battle. Unfortunately, parts of many figures in this complex composition are missing and filled in with plaster, and so reading it is a challenge. Which brings the reviewer to a criticism of the descriptions of vases that have multiple figures spread over large surfaces, especially when some of the figures are only partially preserved: it would have been immensely helpful if H. had included in the text references to the photographs of the details (pls 19–22). Comparanda for this entry are particularly extensive. For the brief discussion of giants armed with stones, which is not very common (p. 38), add the giant on the North Frieze of the Siphnian Treasury (Slab D), the earliest preserved example (P. de La Coste Messeliere, Delphes [1936], figs 85, 88). 2010.18 (pl. 23, 2), a fragment from a similar Gigantomachy (not from 2003.130 which has a slightly thinner wall: p. 39), may have been comparable. The reference on p. 39 to the seated Oriental on 2003.131 should be pl. 49, 1, not pl. 48, 1. 1917.1092 (pls 24–6) by the Helmet Painter has a horned female head in the volute of each handle on Side A and a painted figure on its side (p. 41 for comparanda). Each side has a naiskos, one with two figures, the other with plants, each with flanking figures. 2003.131 (pls 46–9, 4), the very large lekythos by either the Darius Painter or the Underworld Painter, also has multiple figures on various ground lines. It depicts a palace scene with an enthroned deity or king accompanied by standing figures in Oriental dress, the subject not yet identified. H. provides good parallels for lekythoi of this huge size in South Italian vase painting (p. 71), and there are a few antecedents in late-fifth century Attic, The Group of the Huge Lekythoi (Beazley, ARV ², 1390).

Besides the vases already singled out, this collection contains others worthy of mention. 1984.447b (pls 30–1, 1–4), a big hydria, depicts women in a naiskos with youths and women outside and may refer to a bridal ceremony; surprisingly, this handsome vase has not yet been firmly attributed, but H. notes the strong influence of the Varrese Painter. 1917.1067 (pl. 32), the colourful hydria from the Circle of the Darius Painter and the Underworld Painter, depicts a thiasos and 1982.4 (pls 34–5) by the White Saccos Painter, also a hydria, shows Persephone and Hades in a chariot on the shoulder and a woman in a naiskos on the body. H. reads the shoulder picture as a bridal scene rather than an abduction because Hades has his arm around the waist of Persephone. On 1984.446 (pl. 36), the situla by the Painter of Copenhagen 4223, Helios drives a chariot at full gallop on A; a pursuit scene occupies B. There is a pinake above the heads of the horses, an iynx in front of Eros in the pursuit and H. gives detailed bibliography for this charm to woo unfaithful lovers (pp. 54–5).

Among the Lucanian vases, 2008.404 (pl. 73), a bell-krater by the Brooklyn-Budapest Painter, has an amusing caricature of Hermes, accompanied by a dancing maenad and a satyr, the latter carrying a situla. The Campanian pieces are rather small and include a skyphos by the APZ Painter (1917.1090: pl. 76) that depicts women, one of them with a decorative mirror. On the Paestan skyphos by the Painter of Naples 2074 (1984.527: pl. 78), an energetic satyr holding a low bowl and a branch dances to left, his tail outstretched.

The 83 black-and-white plates are of high quality and the layout is very generous. The reviewer wishes some of the vases had been illustrated in colour, which is becoming more frequent in recent CVA fascicules. Colour captures subtleties not possible in black and white, and for South Italian vases colour is an especially important feature.