Fish plate (Campanian red-figure ware)
350 BCE-340 BCE
Medium
earthenware
Measurements
4.2 × 18.9 cm diameter
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased, 1971
© Public Domain
Gallery location
18th Century Decorative Arts - Great Hall Costume Corridor
Level 2, NGV International
About this work
Plates such as this one were probably used to serve fish, with the depression in the centre being either a sauce container or a device to catch the oil or juices from the cooked fish. The painted fish can be identified as real fish still found in the Mediterranean today. The roundest one is a torpedo fish, or electric ray, identified by the black spots on its back. The other two are thought to be bream, or a variety of sargus. The fish are edible and were expensive in antiquity, the torpedo being especially valued for its flesh and liver.
Artwork Details
Place/s of Execution
Campania, Italy
Accession Number
D164-1971
Department
Antiquities
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of Digitisation Champion Dame Carol Colburn-Grigor CBE through Metal Manufactures Limited
Physical description
Shallow dish with a low stem and in the centre a circular depression surrounded by a ridge. Decorated in red-figure with three fish, one of which is a 'torpedo' (with small black spots); the other two, with three black stripes characteristic of the painter, are probably a type of flounder. On the rim a wave pattern.