Three Fishplates

Unknown

4th century B.C.

Marble; polychromy, Marble, Polychromy

J. Paul Getty Museum

Three shallow, round marble plates with central depressions are arranged on a plain gray background. The plates exhibit variations in color and texture, with some showing yellowish and brownish marbling. The Greeks used a special form of plate with a turned-down rim and a central depression for serving fish. The depression could be used to collect the juice or sauce in which the fish was served. Ceramic examples of the fishplate shape were especially popular in the Greek colonies in South Italy in the 300s B.C., and are decorated with representations of fish and other marine life. The traces of decoration that remain on these three marble fishplates, one larger than the other two, are primarily floral. On the large plate (95.AE.58.1), an eight petal rosette with alternating dark red and purple petals fills the central depression. Fo