- Laura Ambrosini –
signature Sokra(tes) on a overpainted vase of the mid-fourth century bc from Falerii
Veteres, head of a large production for the middle classes (Sokra Group^68 ). The Phantom
Group^69 was started by a Faliscan artist who emigrated to Caere (Jolivet) or to Tarquinia
(Pianu) at the time of the war of 358–351 bc, in which Tarquinia and Falerii Veteres
were allied against Rome.^70 Bruni has also suggested a greater articulation of production
(one workshop was probably in Latium).^71 The latter hypothesis, pending confi rmation,
however, would make likely, I think, the wide distribution of this group through southern
Latium and Rome itself. With this group is associated the Ferrara T 585 Southern Group
or the Palmetta Southern Group^72 (late fourth or early third century bc), that includes
skyphoi with white triangular palmette within a metope; the Northern one,^73 330–300 bc,
includes the Ferrara T 585 Group (small Volterran skyphoi with palmettes), the Ferrara
T 156 Group (small Volterran skyphoi with swan and palmettes) and the Ferrara T 408
Group (or the Volterran Swan) with swan on side A and B. The technical characteristics
of the Saint Valentin Group^74 vases and of the Imitation of Gnathia Style^75 vases seem to
refer back to southern Etruria, especially to Tarquinia. Many features are a symptom of
the transmission of technical know-how that took place through a direct contact between
craftsmen, perhaps by transfer of Apulian artisans to Etruria.^76
For that period, the problem has been discussed especially in relation to the Pocola
deorum production.^77 The Pocola deorum, dated between the late fourth and early decades
of the third century bc, are a small number of vases with an overpainted inscription and
almost always overpainted decoration, infl uenced by Apulian vase painting, connected
to a part of the Atelier des Petites estampilles production. The vases are dominated by
fi gures of Eros, enriched with inscriptions in Latin of all deities, which include some
cults introduced in Rome between 303 and 291 bc such as Salus, Bellona, Venus and
Aesculapius. Cristofani thought that the production of Pocola deorum was related to the
transfer to Rome of Vulcian artisans after the Roman conquest of Vulci in 280 bc. The
Hesse Group (300–280 bc) is connected by technique and overpainted decoration but
the style is more properly Etruscan. The group is tentatively attributed to Vulci. The cup
from Vulci, currently in London, that depicts a hunter sitting in a gesture of meditation
shows a genre of painting that some scholars have identifi ed with that of Protogenes of
Ialysos, a painter of the age of Alexander the Great. There are close contacts with Gnathia
pottery of Taranto, even if the quality is much higher in this case. The Etruscan fi gurative
pottery leaves the fi eld to the black gloss ware, which henceforth will be destined to
dominate not only in Etruria, but in the entire Mediterranean basin.
NOTES1 I would like to thank Jean MacIntosh Turfa for inviting me to write this important chapter.
I am also grateful to Jean for giving me the opportunity to illustrate some vases in the
University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology of Philadelphia
(US) and for the revision of my English translation of the text. The vases illustrated are also
in MacIntosh Turfa (2005). For a good overall view of the subject please refer to Martelli
(1987b). In this book you will also fi nd beautiful color photographs of the masterpieces of
the Etruscan vase-painting mentioned in this chapter. See also Ambrosini, Jolivet (2013).
Since the bibliography of each production and each individual artist is large, here it has
necessarily been selected and will be mentioned especially in the most recent publications.
The abbreviations used for the periodicals are those of the Archäeologische Bibliographie.