- Museum number
- 1847,0909.6
- Description
-
Pottery: red-figured kylix.
Interior: Within a circle composed of sets of six running maeanders separated by red cross squares, Pluto and Persephone banqueting. On a long couch of which the legs are partly seen, Pluto, ΠΛΟΥΤΩΝ, supporting a large keras on his left, holding up a fluted phiale in his right, reclines to right, leaning on two embroidered cushions: he wears an himation around his waist and legs, a wreath, and a taenia of which the ends hang in front of the ears: he is bearded, and has long hair, of which one tress falls on each shoulder. Facing him, seated sideways on the edge of the couch, is Persephone, ΦΕΡΡΕΦΑΤΤΑ (?), who appears to hold up some object, not shown, between the palms of her hands. She wears a sleeved chiton, himation, and sandals; her hair is fastened up in a mass behind with a fillet wound obliquely thrice around her head. In the foreground is a trapeza, from which hangs a tendril: this rests on a thin red line, cutting off an exergue painted black. The feet of Persephone hang free, and do not touch the ground. The seat of the couch is decorated on left with a point rosette.
Exterior: (a) Banquet of deities. In a room indicated by a fluted Doric column in the centre, two groups similar to that in the interior scene. The group on left is composed of Poseidon, ΠΟΣΕΙΔΩΝ, resting his right on trident, left holding fluted phiale, and Amphitrite, ΑΜΦΙΤΡΙΤΗ, who holds in her left an alabastos, from which with her right she withdraws a spoon with long handle. Poseidon is bearded and has long hair with two tresses falling on the shoulders, wreathed with myrtle. Amphitrite has a long chiton, himation, and sandals, and her hair is fastened in a knot behind. The group on the right consists of Zeus, wreathed with laurel (?), whose sceptre rests on the ground against his left shoulder, holding fluted phiale in left and with his right extended, lifting the himation from the shoulder of Hera, ΗEPA, whose left hand rests on her sceptre, surmounted with a palmette: she wears a Doric chiton with a side seam and apoptygma tied, and a himation which passes over the back of her head, showing the front of a radiated stephane decorated with egg pattern: on her forearms are bracelets, and sandals on her feet. Zeus has a rough straight beard, and his hair falls in short snaky curls. Behind him on the right stands Ganymedes, Γα]ΝYΜΕΔΕΣ, three-quarter face to left, in his left, which hangs downwards, a strainer (?) seen edgewise: he wears a fillet. The two couches appear to rest in the centre on a common leg. In front of each is a trapeza, decorated on the left with a point rosette. The faces of Zeus and Ganymedes and the sceptre of Zeus are injured.
(b) Similar scene: Here there is no column, but the two couches are similarly arranged. The left hand group consists of Ares, APEΣ, who reclines in an attitude of repose, his right extended, resting on his knee, but with his spear resting on the ground and against his left shoulder. His fluted phiale rests on the trapeza beside him. His hair and beard are in short crisp curls, and he wears a taenia fastened at the back in a bow, and decorated with stars, under which is a wreath painted in purple. At the foot of his couch stands Aphrodite, ΑΦΡΟΔΙΤΕ, holding on her right a cantharos with lid (?), and placing her left hand on her breast. She wears an Ionic chiton with himation, and a saccos. The other group consists of Dionysos, ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ, wreathed with ivy, thyrsos resting against his left shoulder, holding up fluted phiale in right, and Ariadne, ΑΡΙΛΔΝΕ, seated, making a curious gesture with both hands; the first finger of the left hand touches the little finger of the right. She wears a sleeved chiton, himation, and sandals, and has her hair looped up behind with a spotted fillet wound obliquely thrice around it. The hair of Dionysos is very long and falls in several wavy tresses over his shoulders. Behind Dionysos on right a bearded satyr, Komos, ΚΩΜΟΣ, bald over the forehead, stands with body en face, but looking downwards at Dionysos. The face of this figure has perished, and that of both Ares and Aphrodite are damaged. Each couch has a trapeza in front decorated with a point rosette, as before. The cushions on the couches are each decorated with a different pattern.
Purple is used for the inscriptions, tendril, wreath of Ares, and the berries of the wreaths worn by Poseidon, Zeus and Dionysos. Light brown is used for the inner markings, and, intermixed with black, for the hair and beard, of which the treatment is much varied throughout. The eye is of the fully developed profile type. Beneath and beside each handle is a quadruple palmette, exactly as on the Corneto cup.
- Production date
- 430BC (circa)
- Dimensions
-
Diameter: 31.75 centimetres
-
Height: 12.70 centimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- BM Cat. Vases
Mon. dell' Inst, v, pl. 49; Ann. dell’ Inst. 1853, p. 106; Bull. dell’ Inst. 1847, p. 90; Gerhard, Trinksch. ii, pl. H, p. 53; Baumeister, pl. 92; Murray, Designs from Greek Vases, no. 60; Arch. Zeit. 1847, p. 2* ; the interior scene in Daremberg and Saglio, i. p. 1516, fig. 1959; Overbeck, Kunstmyth. (Zeus), p. 544, no. 36, Atlas, pll. i, 22, xiii, 8; cf. Heydemann, Satyrund Bakchennamen p. 27; Tümpel, Ares und Aphrodite, p. 665, no. 6; C.I.Gr. 8348.
Certainly by the same hand as the Corneto Erichthonios cup, Mon. dell’ Inst, x, pl. 38: cf. also BM Vase Ε81, and the Themis cup in Berlin Cat. 2538: see Klein, Euphronios2, p. 258.
For the action of Zeus with Hera, cf. the Selinus metope, Overbeck, Kunstmyth. Atlas, pl. i, 2. For the association of Ares as consort of Aphrodite, a myth specially at home in Thebes, cf. Roscher, vol. i, p. 405.
- Location
- On display (G35/dc23)
- Exhibition history
-
2023 4 May - 13 Aug, London, BM, G35, Luxury and Power: Persia to Greece
- Condition
- Much broken, but very little wanting. Surface injured in parts.
- Acquisition date
- 1847
- Department
- Greek and Roman
- Registration number
- 1847,0909.6
