1966.07

Cup of Ionian Type

From the Woite Collection; probably from the area of Gela, Sicily. Ht 7.2cm; diam. 10.2cm.

One handle has been broken and re-joined; a fragment of the lip is missing. Pinkish buff clay.

Except for an area on the inside, the paint has mostly misfired red. The interior is painted solid but for a reserved disc in the centre. The outside is also entirely painted but for reserved bands in the handle zones.

This cup, with its offset lip and a foot rather like that of the Siana cup, is of a type frequent in South Italy and Sicily. It was for a long time supposed that they were all imported from Ionia but it has now become clear that many must be of local manufacture. There is a full discussion and classification of the series on the basis of material from Megara Hyblaea in Sicily by Villard and Vallet, Melanges d’Archéologie et d'Histoire (Ecole Française de Rome) 67, 1955, 14-34. For examples from the area of Gela, see Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum Gela (2) pll. 35-36: the text has discussion, lists and extensive bibliography. Also C.L. Lyons, Morgantina Studies V. The Archaic Cemeteries (Princeton 1996) 61-62. For this piece compare also Notizie degli Scavi di Antichità, Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei 1961, 205 fig. 6 upper right. See further the discussion by S. Bolderini, Le ceramiche ioniche. Gravisca. Scavi nel santuario greco, II.4 (Bari 1994) 137-234; T. van Compernolle. “Les céramiques ioniennes en Méditerranée centrale”, in P. Cabrera Bonet and M. Santos Retolaza (eds), Ceràmiques jònies d’època arcaica: centres de producció i commercialització al Mediterrani Occidental (Monografies Emporitanes, 11, Barcelona 2000) 89-100.

Mid-sixth century BC. Probably Sicilian.

See 1966.01-1966.42 in this catalogue for all material from the Woite Collection in the ANU collection.

J.R. Green with B. Rawson, Catalogue of Antiquities in the Australian National University, A.N.U. (Canberra, 1981) 73.