Archaeological Museum of Bologna

This cup with two handles used for drinking (skyphos), has a black paint coating enriched with a polychrome decoration: inside a frame of plant elements there is the profile of a winged figure, probably Eros. The vase, for the decorative features, belongs to the so-called "Gnathia ceramic", whose name derives from the ancient city Egnathia where were found the first samples. This production, probably invented around the first half of the 4th century BC in Taranto, in the same workshops in which produced vases with red figures, is characterized by decorations obtained with the combined use of the incision and by three main colors, white, red and yellow. To a first phase characterized also by a great commitment compositions, follows a more serial production that gives way to single figures or objects framed by vines and ivy branches, to the extreme simplification of ornamental patterns, especially on numerous small and medium size containers.
This type of ceramic, which continued to be manufactured at least until the beginning of the second century BC, found huge success in Puglia, then in central-south of Italy and finally in various areas of the Mediterranean basin.

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