The Attic Black Shop
Greek (active 2012 – ) Primary

Reproduction South Italian Red-Figure Fish Plate

2015, after original of 350 BCE - 325 BCE

Object
2 x 7 x 7 in. (5.08 x 17.78 x 17.78 cm)

This object has the following keywords:

• fish - General term referring to animals from several evolutionary lines and thus not properly a taxonomic group. The term refers to aquatic animals found in the fresh and salt waters all over the world, characterized by being cold-blooded, living and breathing primarily in the water throughout their lives, possessing gill slits, a notochord or skeletal supporting rod, a dorsal hollow nerve cord, a tail, scales covering the body, and two sets of paired fins and several unpaired fins. Living species range from the primitive jawless lampreys and hagfishes through the jawed fishes with cartilaginous skeletons such as sharks, skates, and rays to the abundant and diverse bony fishes.
• 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.
• 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.
• reproductions - Copies of art images, art objects, decorative arts, or other valued images or objects, made without intent to deceive; with regard to art images, it includes photographic reproductions. The term implies more precise and faithful imitation than does the term "copies (derivative objects)." Where the intent is to deceive, see "forgeries" or "counterfeits." For prints copying other two-dimensional works, typically dating from before the widespread use of photography, use "reproductive prints."
• scallop shell - Shell of a scallop.
• South Italian - Ancient pottery styles of southern Italy.
• Sparidae - Sources:
  - Nelson, J.S. Fishes of the world, 2006: