Footed Plate of the Genucilia Group

Place of OriginAncient Etruscan or Faliscan

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

DescriptionPlate or shallow dish on low foot, painted in the red-figure technique with a profile head of a woman facing left

Label TextThe Genucilia Group is a class of Etruscan shallow plates on a low foot. The designation derives from the inscription on one of the plates of its owner’s name, Poplia Genucilia. The form was first made in the Faliscan city of Falerii (modern Civita Castellana, Italy) early in the fourth century, probably by an immigrant Athenian potter. The type was also made soon thereafter in Etruscan Caere (modern Cerveteri). The tondo (round painting) on this plate is painted in the red-figure technique with the head of a woman, probably the Latin goddess Proserpina, daughter of Ceres and wife of Pluto, god of the Underworld.Published ReferencesKunstwerke der Antike: Privatsammlungen aus der Schwiz, Deutschland, Belgien, und weiterer Besitz, Cahn Auktion 3, Basel, 19 September 2008, pp. 190-191, lot 292. Cf. 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).