ATTRIBUTED TO THE PISTICCI PAINTER, CIRCA 430-410 B.C.

As Trendall informs (The Red-Figured Vases of South Italy and Sicily: A Handbook, p. 18), the earliest South Italian workshop for the production of red-figured vases is that of the Pisticci Painter. It is thought that the workshop was located at Metaponto in Lucania (modern Basilicata). His modern name was inspired by the town of Pisticci near Metaponto, the find-spot of several of his vases. His early work is extremely close to that of his Athenian contemporaries, primarily the followers of Polygnotos. The painter's favorite shape was the bell-krater, and the subject of many are associated with Dionysos and his followers, as seen on the vase presented here, where two balding satyrs are shown at an altar beside an ithyphallic herm.