Apulian Red-Figure Kantharos attributed to the White Sakkos Painter, Circa 300 BC
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The kantharos were deep cups with two handles facing each other, allowing the cup to be held with both hands, and a very stylised foot. These vessels were associated with the god Dionysus, whose cup, according to mythology, was never to be empty.
Their main function was to be used at banquets and Greek festivities, where wine would be served. It could also be given as a prize to athletes.
This case is particularly particular as its typology is the red-figure pottery on a black background from Apulia. On each side is a seated winged figure holding a patera.
Working in one of the Greek colonies in the region of Apulia in southern Italy, probably at Canosa, the White Sakkos Painter decorated vases in the red-figure technique in the late 4th century. He painted both large funerary vases such as loutrophoroi and kraters and smaller vessels, especially kantharoi and oinochoai.
