On view
Ancient Mediterranean Art
Plate depicting marine creatures,
ca. 345–330 BCE
attributed to the Perrone-Phrixos Group
South Italian, Apulian
Classical Period, ca. 480–323 BCE
y1989-54
Fish plates get their name from the red-figure fish and sea creatures that adorn them. The distinctive shape—a broad floor sloping to a central depression, deeply overhanging rim, and stout ring foot—originated in Athens at the end of the fifth century BCE. The depression in the center may have trapped juices or held a sauce. Fish plates must have been exchanged between Greece and Italy because their forms were adopted by the potters of South Italy and Sicily. Roman vase-painters adorned these wares with regional species of fish rendered in vibrant colors and with extensive use of shading. The plate made in Paestum features two striped perch, bream, a shrimp, a scallop, and an ebullient octopus, while the other, made in Apulia, displays a similar array of sea creatures.
Information
Title
Plate depicting marine creatures
Dates
ca. 345–330 BCE
Maker
attributed to the Perrone-Phrixos Group
Medium
Red figure ceramic
Dimensions
diam. 31.2 cm (12 5/16 in.)
Credit Line
Museum purchase, gift of John B. Elliott, Class of 1951
Object Number
y1989-54
Place Made
Europe, Italy, Apulia (southern Italy)
Period
Type
Subject
Purchased from Robin Symes, London.;
- Egyptian, Western Asiatic, Greek, Etruscan and Roman antiquities, ancient glass and art reference books, (New York: Sotheby Parke Bernet & Co., 1982)., cat. no. 412
-
A.D. Trendall and Alexander Cambitoglou, First supplement to the Red-figured vases of Apulia, (London: University of London. Institute of Classical Studies, 1983).
, p. 78; cat. no. 41a - Ian McPhee and A.D. Trendall, Greek Red-figured fish-plates, (Basel: Vereinigung der Freunde antiker Kunst, 1987). , p. 124; cat. no. 69
- "Acquisitions of the Art Museum 1989," Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 49, no. 1 (1990): p. 24-57., p. 54
- Ian Donald Macphee and Arthur Dale Trendall, "Addenda to Greek Red-figured fish-plates", Antike kunst 33, no. 1 (1990): p. 31-51., p. 46
