Archaeological Museum of Bologna

Apulian red-figure production is certainly the most important field for the number of attestations and continuity crafts, among the five areas of Italiot figured ceramics. Epicenter of the production is Taranto, a city that plays a preeminent political role in the Apulian area and where are also located the oldest shops, starting from the last decades of the 5th century BC (proto-Apulian phase, 430-400 BC).
During the first three decades of the 4th century BC they create the main areas of production, traditionally divided into two decorative currents, which refer to two different levels of production, intended for different types of clients. Vases of greater tectonic commitment with a more complex decoration (Ornate Style) and vascular forms less elaborate and of modest size with a more simplified themes (Plain Style). The second strand is traditionally linked to the figure of the Painter of Tarporley, to whose entourage belongs the decorator of this beautiful crater, which depicts Dionysus, in the company of a Silenus and a young woman, during the preparation of kottabos. The play, performed during the banquet, was to strike, with wine thrown from the cups, a plate balanced on a stick in the middle of the banquet hall.

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