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Céramiques hellénistisques et romaines III, p. 57-103

Gnathia and Other Overpainted Wares ofltaly and Sicily: ? Survey

J. Richard Green

This article aims to give a brief overview of the characteristics of the various makes of so-called Gnathia pottery. To the same end, the illustrations hâve been chosen not for the quality of the individual object but as being characteristic or typical of a fabric or style (and, so far as possible, unpublished or difficult of access). At the risk of giving an unbalanced picture, I hâve in gênerai given more détail for the non- Apulian fabrics, for the simple reason that they hâve not had much récent attention. This approach also gives a particular perspective to the trearment of the non- Apulian fabrics since it tends to view them in terms of the spread of Apulian influence rather than as developments within their local traditions, a topic which there is not the space to explore hère. Indeed the careful reader may observe that the point so neatly expressed by Morel remains valid : "Nous ne devons jamais oublier ce morcellement céramique de l'Italie, qui fait qu'à quelques kilomètres de distance, la céramique de Tarente n'est pas celle de Métaponte, la céramique de Capoue n'est pas celle de Teano, la céramique de Volterra n'est pas celle d'Arezzo. Et s'il est un élément unificateur qui apparaît à la fin du IVe siècle et plus encore au IIIe siècle, il ne doit rien à l'hellénisme: il s'agit de la colonisation romaine"1. Indeed attempts to trace the influence of Tarentine Gnathia within Apulia, let alone beyond, simply go to underline the point.

What we call Gnathia pottery was so named because considérable quantifies of it were found in the excavations of the cemeteries of Egnazia and nearby Fasano in the middle of the nineteenth century, and when it reached the Naples market it soon came to be known as the pottery of Egnazia, or Gnathia pottery. Although scholars hâve long recognised that very little of it was in fact made at Egnazia, the name has remained as a convenient identifier2. Typically, Gnathia pottery has décoration of added colour - usually white, yellow and a purple-red - applied over the black glaze of the vase. The yellow over-wash (which was produced by brushing dilute glaze over white) appears in most, though not ail, fabrics, but with the exception of Sicily, other colours are much less common outside Apulia.

Although Gnathia pottery is essentially defined by its décorative technique, it is worth observing that in a number of fabrics (including Apulian) the range of shapes employed includes a number not found in red-figure on the one hand, or in black glaze on the other. After the initial period, the technique was generally used for small vases, particularly small oil vessels such as lekythoi, bottles and epichyseis, drinking cups such as skyphoi, cup-skyphoi and kantharoi, and oinochoai. Kraters are not common except in Apulian (bell-kraters, kantharoid kraters, deep

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