Red-Figure Fish Plate: Octopi, Mullet, Bream, Shellfish (c. 340–330 BCE): Art, History and Details

Red-Figure Fish Plate: Octopi, Mullet, Bream, Shellfish (c. 340–330 BCE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Asteas/Python Workshop (South Italian, Paestan, active c. 360–320 BCE).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

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.

Object facts

• Title: Red-Figure Fish Plate: Octopi, Mullet, Bream, Shellfish
• Date: c. 340–330 BCE
• Creator attribution: Asteas/Python Workshop (South Italian, Paestan, active c. 360–320 BCE)
• Culture: South Italian, Paestan
• Type: Ceramic
• Technique: ceramic
• Dimensions: 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.)
• Collection: GR - South Italy
• Department: Greek and Roman Art
• Accession number: 1985.50

A detail from the museum

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

Collection credit

Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Beazley Archive. n.d. Beazley Archive Pottery Database. Oxford: Beazley Archive.
• 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.
• Kozloff, A.P. 1986. "Two South Italian Vases: Fish Plate and Frog Bottle," The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 73(10).

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.