Footed Plate with Female Profile

Place of OriginItaly, likely Cerveteri (ancient Caere) or Civita Castellana (ancient Falerii)

Date340-300 BCE

Dimensions2 × 6 7/16 in. (5.1 × 16.4 cm)

MediumEarthenware; red-figure technique.

ClassificationCeramics

Credit LineOrion Fund

Object number

2008.172

Not on View

DescriptionThis ceramic object is a shallow, circular footed plate with a wide rim and a distinct, downward-hanging lip. It features a short stand-foot that transitions into a broad, conical base. The interior tondo is decorated in the red-figure technique, depicting a woman's head in profile facing left. She wears a decorated diadem (sphendone), a beaded necklace, and circular earrings.

Label TextThis elegant footed dish belongs to the Genucilia Group, a popular style of pottery named after an ancient owner, Poplia Genucilia, whose name was found inscribed on a similar plate. At the center, a woman’s head is rendered in the "red-figure" technique, where the figure remains the color of the natural clay while the background is filled with black glaze. She is likely Proserpina, the queen of the Underworld, adorned with a necklace and a decorative headpiece. While these plates were mass-produced in the 4th century BCE for daily use or as offerings in tombs, this specific example is noted for its exceptional detail and fine craftsmanship, highlighted by the rhythmic wave pattern circling its rim.Published ReferencesCahn Auktionen AG, Kunstwerke der Antike: Privatsammlungen aus der Schweiz, Deutschland, Belgien, und weiterer Besitz, Auktion 3, Basel, Cahn Auktionen AG, 2008, pp. 190–191, lot 292.

Comparative ReferencesCf. Birte Poulsen, "Genucilia: Small Plate with a large Range," Acta Hyperborea 9 (2002) 83-100. Cf. Maurizio Harari, "Etruscan Painted Ware of the Classical and Period," in Mario Torelli, ed., The Etruscans, exhibition catalogue, Palazzo Grassi, Venice [English edition, Bompiani, 2000], esp. pp. 446-453. Cf. Ines Jucker et al., Italy of the Etruscans, exhibition catalogue, Muzeon Yisrael (Jerusalem 1991) 247-248, cat. nos. 316-319 (Four plates of the Genucilia Group). Cf. Ann Harnwell Ashmead and Kyle Meredith Phillips, Jr., Classical Vases, Excluding Attic Black-Figure, Attic Red-Figure, and Attic White Ground (Providence, R.I.: Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, 1976) 64, no. 91 (RISD acc. no. 27.188, woman's head plate, the name piece of the Genucilia Group), pl. 125 a-c. Cf. Mario A. Del Chiaro, The Genucilia Group: A Class of Etruscan Red-Figured Plates (University of California Publications in Classical Archaeology, vol. 3, no. 4; Berkeley, CA: The University of California Press, 1957).