An analytical techniques pool to hit the target. A comprehensive examination on an Apulian red figured pottery collection

The 19th century vases collections are an essential resource for the study and documentation of Apulian red-figured pottery: even though they cannot provide data concerning the stratigraphy and the excavations, they still constitute a primary source of knowledge. An important example is the pottery collection of Intesa Sanpaolo, kept at Gallerie d'Italia Leoni Montanari, Vicenza (Italy). It is a historic collection assembled at Ruvo di Puglia (Bari, Italy) by the archdeacon Giuseppe Caputi between 1830s and 1860s. It contains a relevant number of specimens of Apulian production, in excellent conservation conditions and all coming from the same finding area (Arena, Ruvo di Puglia). These artworks, although entirely out of their original context of origin (however, allegedly, coming from the 6th–3rd century BC necropolis of ancient Central Peucetia), constitute an exceptional complex. This singularity arises from historical and documentary values-since the collection itself essentially came down to us intact-and also from artistic and archaeological ones [1]. It is well known that in ancient times-especially during the 5th and 4th centuries BC-Ruvo di Puglia was an important, deeply Hellenised Peucetian centre: figured and non-figured vases, emblems of social distinction and success, were used in the funeral rites and put among the grave goods accompanying the dead in the afterlife. The quantity of vases found in Ruvo brought about the hypothesis of its central role in pottery reception, request and production. In the earliest phase the Greek colonies Taranto and Metaponto produced the vases in their own workshops in continuity with the Attic Greek tradition, whereas for the last 40 years of the 4th century BC, a shift of production towards central (Peucetia) and northern (Daunia) Apulia has been hypothesized.