- Museum number
- 1841,0301.22
- Description
-
Pottery: red-figured kylix.
Interior: Within thin red circle, Seilenos dancing. He is ithyphallic and wreathed, of the archaic type, with eye set at right angles to mouth, and long locks of hair: he dances in a bent attitude to right, his left holding keras, his right raised above his head.
Exterior: (a) Two winged figures (Hypnos and Thanatos) lifting a dead body (Sarpedon). In the centre the corpse of a colossal bearded man wearing a fillet is raised from the ground by two armed winged youths. Each of the youths wears a helmet (tilted back to the crown), cuirass, short chiton, sword at waist, and greaves. The one on left has locked both his arms around the chest of the corpse, and wears a Corinthian helmet; the other, who clasps its knees, has a helmet decorated on the crown with anthemion, and with cheekpieces in the form of rams' heads: his scabbard has a snake ornament twined round it. On either side a woman hastens forward with outstretched hands; the one on left (long chiton with row of dots on skirt, mantle fastened on right shoulder, hair looped up with fillet and stephane) holds a caduceus: the one on right (long chiton, mantle around neck, hair falling in single locks bound with fillet) lays her left hand on her breast with a gesture of despair.
(b) Seven Amazons arming: i (from left) holds spear, and lifts shield (seen in profile, device, a horse prancing to left). She wears a helmet and a short chiton: her body is cut in two by the handle of the vase: ii moves to left, looking back, holds bow (string a thin black line) in left, and in right a battle-axe on shoulder: wears Phrygian costume, with kidaris (Scythian cap) decorated with a spiral, and bow-case covered with scale pattern on which a second bow is fastened with two cross bands, hanging by double strap from left shoulder: iii marches to left carrying shield (device, a hawk flying to left) and spear in left, helmet in right: a sword hangs by double strap from right shoulder, and she wears a helmet and short chiton: iv is turned to right, raising left leg to fit on greave: the other leg is already greaved; she wears a short chiton, and a purple hair-band looping up hair: v is turned to left, right hand resting on spear; on left arm shield (device, a snake arched to left); wears helmet with spiral on crown and short chiton: vi (balancing ii) moves to right, looking back; holds up bow in left: Phrygian costume, with bow-case hanging by double strap from right shoulder: her kidaris (Scythian cap) has a spiral on crown, and very long flaps, the inner edge of which is cut in form of wave pattern: vii balances no. i in the composition, and is similar, but her body is clear of the handle of the vase: her shield device is a hawk flying to left; she wears greaves, and a sword hanging from double cross-belt; round the scabbard an ornament is twined.
Below the exterior scenes, a band of palmettes, alternately inverted, black on red.
- Production date
- 510BC-500BC
- Dimensions
-
Diameter: 41.90 centimetres
-
Height: 12 centimetres
-
Weight: 9.23 grammes
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- BM Cat. Vases
Archceologia xxix, pl. 16, pp. 139-44; Gerhard, A. V. iii, pl. 221-2; Panofka, Der Vasenbildner Panphaios, pl. 4 (exterior);
Overbeck, Her Bildw. pl. xxii, 14 (a), p. 533: Wiener Vorlegebl. series D, 3; Murray, Designs from Greek Vases, no. 9 (interior), p. 7, fig. 1 (exterior a); Klein, Euphronios2 pp. 272 (a), 273 (b), 275 (interior); Meistersig2. p. 88 and p. 94, no. 20; Corey, Amaz. Ant. Fig. p. 52. On the interpretation see Robert, Thanatos, p. 9, and Bild und Lied, p. 110; Brunn, Troische Miscellen (Sitzungsb. der k. bair. Akad. 1880, iii. p. 167); Jahrbuch fur Class. Phil. Suppl. xi. p. 619 and p. 637 (Luckenbach); Hartwig, Meistersch. p. 142.
For scene (a), the lifeless condition of the body is expressed by a general character of limpness, as of relaxed muscles, by the closed eye, and the left arm hanging helplessly behind the head [cf. an early gem in the Tyskiewicz Coll. Cat. pl. 24, fig. 8].
The figures in b are grouped with a view to symmetrical composition; nos. i, iii, vii are bending figures, but their heads are nevertheless on same level as those of the other figures, who are erect. The chitons throughout b are peculiarly treated: they are succinct, and below the girdle fall in pleats; above the girdle no folds whatever are indicated: an exception is no. iv, whose chiton is not tied at waist. In a and b, a smooth even wash of shiny reddish brown is used for (in a) the chitons of the winged figures below the girdle, and (in b) the entire chiton of iv and the lower part of the chiton of vii: also for the smooth surfaces of the Phrygian dress throughout (in ii it is applied by mistake to the rough surface of the anaxyrides). The same colour is used for inner markings throughout a, where the anatomy is very carefully indicated: for the fine folds of the chitons, except the cases just remarked: for the fringe of the hair of the dead figure, and of the winged figure on the left: for the whiskers of this figure and the whole hair of the other winged figure, which is painted in separate locks. In b and in the interior, no inner markings are used. The treatment of the eyeball throughout varies considerably; for the Seilenos in the interior, for the three central figures in a, and for figures vi and vii in b, it is a dot within a circle: but that of the Seilenos is set at right angles to the mouth, that of the dead man is half hidden by the upper eyelid: that of the left hand winged figure is seen in profile, all the others straight on. The remaining figures have the ordinary eye of the Epictetic school. The outline of the hair is variously treated: in the interior it is incised: in a it is partly incised, partly painted red: in b, nos. i and vi have it left red, no. iv has it incised, though just below the incised line is a minute row of dots, black on black. The purple hair bands in a seem to have been originally incised. Sketch marks throughout.
For the palmettes cf. the Phintias hydria BM Vase Ε159. The question of technique is important in view of the opinion which has been advanced by some authorities (Klein, Euphronios1, p. 274; cf. Korte in Bonner Studien, p. 198; Meier in Arch. Zeit. 1885, p. 182. Six in Gaz. Arch. 1888, p. 201, opposes this view), that the exterior scene a was painted by Euphronios. For the subject of this scene, cf. Robert, locc. citt. and the lekythi BM Vases D58 and D59.
- Location
- On display (G15/dc5)
- Exhibition history
-
2014-2015 11 Dec-8 Feb, Athens, Museum of Cycladic & Ancient Greek Art, Beyond
- Condition
- Badly broken, worst on interior.
- Acquisition date
- 1841
- Department
- Greek and Roman
- Registration number
- 1841,0301.22
