Greek red-figured fish-plates.

Beschreibung

Basel: Vereinigung der Freunde antiker Kunst 1987. 4°. 175 p., [4], 64 Tafeln, Pappband (sehr gut erhalten) (=Beiheft zur Halbjahresschrift „Antike Kunst“, 14)

This book deals with the red-figured fish-plates that were produced during the fourth century B. C., mainly in Athens and, in particular, in the Greek colonies of Sicily and Southern Italy. About 1000 fragments or whole plates have been listed, of which about five-sixths come from Magna Graecia. The immediate precursors of the figured fish-plates are also considered. Although red-figured fish-plates have been the subject of a few earlier studies, this is the first attempt to catalogue and to discuss them in a comprehensive manner. The lists are as complete as possible, including fish-plates in private collections or on the market as well as those from regular excavations. The authors have attempted firstly to classify all the fish-plates according to their fabrics (e. g. Attic, Corinthian, Chalcidic; Sicilian, Campanian, Paestan, Apulian), and then, within each fabric, to arrange them in stylistic groups, identifying specific painters where possible. They have also tried to establish a more precise chronology than has been done previously, both a relative chronology based upon stylistic criteria and an absolute one derived mainly from tomb-contexts. On occasion it has been possible, especially for South Italian fish-plates, to suggest correlations between their painters and those of larger red-figured vases. Tentative identifications of the fish have also been given. The text is accompanied by 68 plates (4 in colour) which illustrate fish-plates from all the fabrics and by all the more important painters, as well as by several diagrams representing the various species of fish depicted upon the plates and a selection of typical profiles.