Red-Figure Bail Amphora (Storage Vessel): Draped Women

330–320 BC

Red-Figure Bail Amphora (Storage Vessel): Draped Women, 330–320 BC. Attributed to CA Painter, Walters Sub-group (South Italian, Campanian, active at Cumae, c. 350–320 BC). Ceramic; diameter: 12.2 cm (4 13/16 in.); overall: 54.6 cm (21 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Italian Ministry of Public Education 1967.245 The bail amphora, named for the tall handle arching over the mouth, is a shape made primarily in Campania, where red-figure vases were produced at both Capua and Cumae in the 4th century BC. The anonymous painter of this vase is known as the CA Painter, for Cumae A, the first significant artist in this area. The seated and standing women on both sides of the vase, some only partially draped (and their white skin now largely lost), recall those on many of the painter’s other vases, as do the elaborate palmette patterns on either side. This vase once belonged to the famous opera singer Evan Gorga.