550-400 BC.

Daunia, Southern Italy.

Height: 6.0 in., Width: 5.8 in.

Intact. No restoration or over painting.

This piece dates to the Daunian II period (approximately 550-400 B.C.) and is painted in so called "subgeometric" style. Daunia was a historical region in southern Italy that produced some of the most imaginative pottery of the ancient world. Unlike the Apulian Greeks, the Daunian potters were more influenced by native Italic ceramic traditions, although there are undoubted contemporary Greek influences.

Despite the popularity of Greek and later South-Italian Greek figural pottery, Daunian ware continued in its localized production to the end of the 4th century BC. Daunian ware is more rustic compared to Black-Glazed and Red-Figure ware with which it is contemporary.

Ex. British private collection, south coast of England, acquired 1970's from the London Art Market.