The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of May 21, 2025

A circular black ceramic plate featuring images of various sea creatures in brown ceramic. There are large images of fish on one half and one octopus on the other. Around these large images are smaller images of fish, octopi, shrimp, and shells.

Red-Figure Fish Plate: Octopi, Mullet, Bream, Shellfish

c. 340–330 BCE
(South Italian, Paestan, active c. 360–320 BCE)
South Italian, Paestan
ceramic
Diameter: 38.3 cm (15 1/16 in.); Overall: 7.9 cm (3 1/8 in.); Diameter of foot: 16 cm (6 5/16 in.)
Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund 1985.50
Location: 102D Pre-Roman

Did You Know?

Perfect for serving seafood, this plate features images of sea creatures and a central well for dipping or collecting juices.

Description

Although first developed in Athens, red-figure fish plates became especially popular in South Italy and Sicily in the 300s BC. All feature a short foot and a small central depression, but those produced in the workshop of Asteas and Python, like this one, are the largest and most ornate. Archaeologists have closely studied the fish and other sea creatures represented, identifying many of them with species still found (and eaten) in the Mediterranean; included here are octopi, mullet, bream, and various shellfish.
  • Poutrales family, Portugal (arrived Portugal from Germany and Austria late 19th Century)
    ?-1985
    Thomas Howard-Sneyd, Ltd., London, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1985-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Beazley Archive. n.d. Beazley Archive Pottery Database. Oxford: Beazley Archive. BAPD 1002938 www.beazley.ox.ac.uk
    Bates, Albert. “Octopodal Pictoriality: The Self-Reflexivity of the Octopus in Graeco-Roman Art.” Art History, Vol. 47, Iss. 1 (February 2024): pp. 155-158. academic.oup.com
    Kozloff, A.P. 1986. "Two South Italian Vases: Fish Plate and Frog Bottle," The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 73(10). pp. 406-414. www.jstor.org
    Turner, E.H. 1986. "The Year in Review for 1985," The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 73(2). pp. 26-71 (ill. on p. 37, no. 8, listed on p. 62, no. 8). www.jstor.org
    McPhee, Ian, and A. D. Trendall. Greek Red-Figured Fish-Plates (Antike Kunst Beiheft 14). Basel: Vereinigung der Freunde Antiker Kunst c/o Archäologisches Seminar der Universität, 1987. p. 108 (Paestan IIIA/33a), pl. 38a..
    Trendall, A. D. The Red-Figured Vases of Paestum. [London]: British School at Rome, 1987. p. 236, no. 2/955.
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1991. Reproduced: p. 10 archive.org
    Harrington, J. "Some References to the Octopus in Early Greek Poetry," Persephone 3 (1997). p. 82
    Neils, Jenifer, and Gisela Walberg. Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum: The Cleveland Museum of Art. [Cleveland, OH]: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2000. pp. 57-58, pl. 103
    Hopper, Robin. Functional Pottery: Form and Aesthetic in Pots of Purpose. 2017. p. 179
  • The Year in Review for 1985. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 12-April 20, 1986).
  • {{cite web|title=Red-Figure Fish Plate: Octopi, Mullet, Bream, Shellfish|url=false|author=Asteas/Python Workshop|year=c. 340–330 BCE|access-date=21 May 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1985.50