- Museum number
- 1843,1103.61
- Description
-
Pottery: red-figured cup.
INTERIOR: Achilles and Odysseus. On the left Achilles sits on a plain stool, closely wrapped in a himation that covers the back of his head, and with head bent forward, his left hand supporting his forehead (relief lines for forehead hair and lower fringe of beard). Behind him his sword in its striped scabbard is suspended from a red loop and above him is his shield wrapped in its cover (sagma). On the right stands Odysseus clad in a himation and leaning on a knotty stick. He has a red fillet in his hair and gestures with the thumb and fingers of his right hand as he speaks to Achilles: his mouth is shown slightly open. Behind him on the ground is the corner of a stool with a plain cushion. There is a large reserved exergue.
Border: stopt maeanders (five-stroke, clockwise) interrupted at irregular intervals by nine dotted cross-squares.
EXTERIOR: departure of warriors and conversation scene.
Side A (upper): departure of three warriors. On the left a bearded warrior moves away to the left, but turns his head back to the right (relief strokes on beard). He wears an Attic type helmet with the cheek flaps up (crest holder decorated with zigzag and triangles), cuirass, greaves and a himation and carries a spear in his left hand. Behind him an elderly bearded man with thinning hair (and relief strokes on beard and hair over neck) stands to the left. He wears a himation and shoes, and has a red fillet in his hair. His right hand rests on the top of a plain stick; his left is under his cloak. In the centre a woman stands to the left but turns her head back to the right. She wears a chiton (upper folds in dilute glaze), a himation and a headscarf and holds an oinochoe with a black foot out in her right hand and a bossed phiale (lobes in dilute glaze) low in her left. On the right stands a young warrior in an Attic type helmet with the cheek flaps up (dotted crest holder), cuirass and himation. He holds out a bossed phiale (lobes in dilute glaze) in his right hand, while his left grips a spear against his body. Behind him is a second young warrior, similarly clad and accoutred, but gesturing with his right hand. On the far right is a woman in chiton and himation and with a red fillet in her hair (wavy relief lines over forehead) and a bun at the back. She has her right hand up as if holding a flower, her left is hidden in her drapery.
Side Β (lower): men and youths in conversation, together with a young warrior. On the left is a bearded man in himation, seen in three-quarter back view, to the right. He holds a knotty stick on the far side of his body and gestures with his right hand. There is a thick reserved fillet in his hair. In front of him a bearded man in himation and with a red fillet in his hair (relief line fringe in beard and hair, both over brow and neck) stands to the right but turns his head back to the left, so that his chest is frontal. His left hand rests near the top of a knotty stick. In the centre, a youth dressed in cuirass and himation, stands to the right, his head turned back. His left hand holds a staff (perhaps a sceptre) and there is a red fillet in his fringed hair (relief lines). On the right is a bearded man in three-quarter back view, wearing a himation that is caught up under his left armpit. He also has a red fillet in his hair (relief lines over brow). His right hand reaches out towards and behind the young warrior in the centre, his left arm hangs down. To the right of this man a youth in himation stands to the left but turns back to the right. His right hand is raised and he has a red fillet in his hair. Behind him, on the far right, is a bearded man in a himation who holds out his right hand. He too has a red fillet in his hair.
At either handle: floral complex with a circumscribed palmette either side of the handles and a large and a small palmette addorsed under them; spiral terminals and dots.
Ground line: single reserved line.
Relief line contours throughout (inner hair contour only); dilute glaze for minor interior markings; added red for inscriptions; reserved line inside and outside lip.
- Production date
- 470BC (circa)
- Dimensions
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Diameter: 12.20 centimetres (of exterior ground line)
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Diameter: 19.20 centimetres (of tondo)
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Height: 32.40 centimetres
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Width: 40 centimetres
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Depth: 9.40 centimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- CVA British Museum 9
Bibliography: Mus. Étrusque no. 1534; Murray DGV no. 36; Hartwig Μ 621 no. 6, 686 no. 48, and p. 600 note; Hoppin i 283 no. 75; AV 204, 60; ARV 287, 107; Bloesch FAS 99 no. 21; ARV2 441, 180; Para 375; Brommer V3 343 no. 12; Beazley Add2 240.
Attributed by Hartwig to Douris and placed by Beazley in that artist's latest period. Guy has now reattributed it to Beazley's Oedipus Painter (ARV2 451-2), as an early work: see his comments in his Followers of Douris 37, and in N. Leipen (ed.), Glimpses of Excellence: A Selection of Greek Vases and Bronzes from the Εlie Borowski Collection (Toronto 1984) 17 on no. 13. Buitron-Oliver has made the same reattribution (Douris no. Ο 5).
Bloesch attributed the potting to Python, with the comment that the foot is like that of London Vase Ε51. The foot, however, was alien (although it comes from another cup by Python).
The figures on the tondo are not named but their actions identify them as Odysseus on his mission to persuade the sulking Achilles to return to the fray. For this presbeia see further A. Kossatz-Deissmann, LIMC i 107-14; Schefold Sagen 196-200. The figures on the exterior are not so easily identified, although their combination with a Trojan tondo tempts one to see them as epic rather than every day events. The departure of three warriors to battle, a bearded man and two youths, could well be Trojan in subject, while the conversation or even argument, seemingly being arbitrated by a youth in armour, on the other side, a scene that echoes the argument and vote over the arms of Achilles, might represent some other moment of strife in the Greek camp or in Troy. For warriors wearing himatia over their armour cf. five cups by Douris, three with non-mythological scenes (ARV2 435, 92 and 93; 436, 110) and two with representations of the Greeks voting over the arms of Achilles (ARV2 433, 71 and 72).
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
2007 31 Mar-30 Jun, Gosport, Ancient Greeks: Athletes, Warriors & Heroes
2007-2008 3 Nov-24 Feb, Leicester, Ancient Greeks: Athletes, Warriors & Heroes
2008 29 Mar-1 Jun, Luton, Ancient Greeks: Athletes, Warriors & Heroes
2008 20 Jun-5 Oct, Lincoln, Ancient Greeks: Athletes, Warriors & Heroes
2008-2009 25 Oct-24 Jan, South Shields, Ancient Greeks: Athletes, Warriors & Heroes
2009 7 Feb-4 May, Glasgow, Ancient Greeks: Athletes, Warriors & Heroes
2010-2012 20 Oct-9 Dec, Luton, Wardown Park, Ancient Greeks
2017 13 Jul-15 Oct, Madrid, Caixa Forum, Ancient Greeks
2017-18 23 Nov-18 Feb, Barcelona, Caixa Forum, Ancient Greeks
2018 20 Mar-24 Jun, Sevilla, Caixa Forum, Ancient Greeks
2018 24 Jul-4 Nov, Zaragoza, Caixa Forum, Ancient Greeks
2018-19 18 Dec-31 Mar, Palma, Caixa Forum, Ancient Greeks
2021 19 Jun-7 Nov, Australia, Perth, Western Australian Museum, Ancient Greeks
2019-2020 21 Nov-8 Mar, London, BM, SEG, Troy
2021-2022 16 Dec-1 May, Australia, Canberra, National Museum of Australia, Ancient Greeks
2022 10 Jun-06 Nov, New Zealand, Auckland, Auckland War Memorial Museum, Ancient Greeks
2022-2024 24 Dec-25 Feb, China, Suzhou, Suzhou Museum, Ancient Greeks
- Condition
- Made up from fragments; two pairs of ancient rivet-holes in stem (alien foot removed); only small chips missing.
- Acquisition date
- 1843
- Department
- Greek and Roman
- Registration number
- 1843,1103.61
