Attic Red-Figure Proto Fish Plate with Woman's Head

Classical
425 BCE - 400 BCE

1 1/16 x 6 15/16 x 6 3/4 in. (2.7 x 17.6 x 17.1 cm)

This object has the following keywords:

• Attic - Style and culture of the region of Attica. For culture particular to the capital of Attica, Athens, use "Athenian."
• Classical - Refers to an ancient Greek style and period that begins around 480 BCE, when the Greek city-states defeated the Persian invaders, and ends around 323 BCE, with the death of Alexander the Great. It is characterized by the rebuilding of cities after the Persian wars, the flourishing of philosophy, drama, architecture, sculpture, painting, and the other arts. In the visual arts, it is known for the mastery of the human form and sophistication of architectural design.
• fish plates - Plates of a special form used by the ancient Greeks, having a central depression and sometimes a turned-down rim, used for serving fish. The central depression was used to collect the juice or sauce in which the fish was served. Such fish plates may be made of stone, ceramic, or another material. They may be decorated with highly accurate representations of fish and other marine life. They were popular in Greece and its colonies in South Italy from the 4th century BCE. Athenian painters always oriented the bellies of the fish toward the rim of the plate while southern Italian painters positioned them with the bellies towards the center. Some fish plates have depictions of seafood arranged around a central dip for sauce. Androkydes of Kyzikos was one of the few fish plate painters to sign his work.
• plates - Shallow, usually circular dishes from which food is eaten.
• portraits - Representations of real individuals that are intended to capture a known or supposed likeness, usually including the face of the person. For representations intended to be anonymous, or of fictional or mythological characters, see "figures (representations)."
• Red-figure - Refers to a style of Greek vase painting that developed from the Black-figure style. It appeared in Athens around 530 BCE and spread to other areas of Greece, southern Italy, Etruria, and elsewhere in the Mediterranean area, until it disappeared in the third century BCE. The style is characterized by a particular technique, which involves the use of refined slip and a two-phase firing process to create a black ground through sintering, with figures reserved in red. The details of the figures are more fluid than in the Black-figure style, and are typically drawn with a brush, using both a defined, black relief line and a more dilute line that varies in color from dark gold to black.
• vase paintings - Refers to two-dimensional decoration applied to pottery by using paint made of metallic oxides or other pigments held in suspension in slip or another medium. The term is particularly used to refer to Ancient Greek red- and black-figure works. See also "porcelain paintings (visual works)."
• women - Refers to female human beings from young adulthood through old age.

This object is a member of the following portfolios: