Getty Museum
Apulian Red-Figure Patera with Anthropomorphic Handle
Creator
Lycurgus PainterPainter
All works by this person →The Lycurgus Painter worked in one of the Greek colonies in Apulia in South Italy in the mid-300s B.C. decorating vases in the red-figure technique. One of the leading painters of the so-called "Ornate Style" of South Italian vase-painting, he was skilled at showing perspective and creating an illusion of spatial depth. His vases are filled with many figures, which are often placed in mannered pos
More on Getty ULAN- Date
- about 350 B.C.
- Medium
- Terracotta and pigment
- Culture
- Greek (South Italian, Apulian)
- Department
- Vessels
- Institution
- Getty Museum
A patera was a shallow bowl which could have a long handle and was used to make votive or funerary offerings to the gods. The severed head of the gorgon Medusa decorates the interior of this terracotta example, surrounded by a wreath of vine leaves and grapes and band of wave pattern. In this portrayal, two pairs of entwined snakes frame Medusa's face. She wears white earrings and a diadem with upright palmettes in added white and yellow set in her hair. The back of the bowl is simply edged with a wreath of laurel leaves and berries. A kouros or standing nude youth, whose arms are raised to support the bowl, forms the handle of the vessel. A completely preserved patera like this one is quite rare. As this type of vessel is well known in bronze examples, the ocher yellow that covers the body of the youth was probably meant to simulate polished metal.
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