1960.327: Alabastron (oil flask): Black Archer with Palm Tree

Identification and Creation

Object Number

1960.327

Title

Alabastron (oil flask): Black Archer with Palm Tree

Classification

Vessels

Work Type

vessel

Date

480-470 BCE

Places

Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe, Attica

Period

Classical period, Early

Culture

Greek

Persistent Link

https://hvrd.art/o/290752

Location

Location

Level 3, Room 3620, University Study Gallery

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Physical Descriptions

Medium

Terracotta

Technique

White-ground

Dimensions

15.4 x 5.5 cm (6 1/16 x 2 3/16 in.)

State, Edition, Standard Reference Number

Standard Reference Number

Beazley Archive Database #5234

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line

Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of David M. Robinson

Accession Year

1960

Object Number

1960.327

Division

Asian and Mediterranean Art

Contact

am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu

Permissions

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Descriptions

Description

This small oil flask depicts a lone black archer standing against a white-ground background with his arms outstretched holding an axe in his right hand and a bow in his left. He wears patterned trousers, reminiscent of foreign dress depicted in other vases, and a cuirass with shoulder flaps, tied by a black belt. His quiver is strapped to his waist. His head is turned to the left, curly hair rendered by simple black dots. To his right is a small table. On the side opposite him is a tall palm tree with a rippling trunk.

Commentary

This oil flask belongs to a class of objects named by vase scholar J.D. Beazley (1885-1970) as the “Negro Alabastra Group” which all depict an image of a black warrior standing alone. The oil flask (alabastron) is typically considered to be a feminine object for feminine usage and is thought to have held scented perfumes or other similar kinds of substances. The shape and white-ground background are where it gets its name, the latter is believed to have been imitate the appearance of alabaster, out of which more expensive alabastra would have been made.

Scholars have debated on how to interpret the images of black warriors on such vessels: are they intended to represent a particular group of black warriors, like the warriors of Memnon from the Iliad? Are they a reference to black warriors fighting for the Persians as described by Herodotus? Though both of these hypotheses are possible, especially the latter considering the time period (early fifth century BCE.) in which they were made. However, it cannot be said for sure since the visual evidence of any specific contexts is lacking on the actual vessels.

Another issue of interpretation is what these images have to do with the vessels on which they are painted. The warriors are often juxtaposed with images of a palm tree, as here, or of an Amazon, a female warrior generally connoted as foreign and non-Greek. One line of interpretation is that the images are intended to evoke a sense of exoticism, possibly referencing the far-off places from which the vessel’s contents - likely perfume - originated. Even if latter association is somewhat questionable, it is true that the images generally portray the “other.” Building on this reading is the fact that these vessels never depict the ideal Greek male citizen either as a hoplite (citizen warrior) or otherwise. Thus, as François Lissarrague argues, the feminine vessels coupled with the exotic imagery are intended to represent the realm of “the other,” which in Classical Greek society meant women and foreigners.

Sources
Bindman, David and Henry Louis Gates, ed., The Image of the Black in Western Art: From the Pharoahs to the Fall of the Roman Empire, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press (Cambridge, 2010), pp. 158-159, fig. 164

Lissarrague, François. L’Autre Guerrier. Paris: Editions la Decourverte, 1990, pp.178-187.

Neils, Jenifer. “The Group of the Negro Alabastra: A Study in Motif Transferal” in Antike Kunst, 1980, 23. Pp. 13-23.

Ibid. “The Group of the Negro Alabastra Reconsidered” in Il greco, il barbaro e la ceramica attica, 2001.

Publication History

• Fogg Art Museum, The David Moore Robinson Bequest of Classical Art and Antiquities, A Special Exhibition, exh. cat., Harvard University (Cambridge, MA, 1961), p. 16, no. 87
• Jenifer Neils, The Group of the Negro Alabastra: A Study in Motif Transferal, Antike Kunst (1980), 23, pp. 13-23, Pl. 5, 5.
• Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC), Artemis (Zürich, Switzerland, 1999), Vol. 1, Aithiopes 8.
• David Bindman and Henry Louis Gates, ed., The Image of the Black in Western Art: From the Pharoahs to the Fall of the Roman Empire, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press (Cambridge, 2010), pp. 158-159, fig. 164

Exhibition History

• The David Moore Robinson Bequest of Classical Art and Antiquities: A Special Exhibition, Fogg Art Museum, 05/01/1961 - 09/20/1961
• e African Image, Walters Art Gallery, 02/17/1980 - 03/30/1980
• 32Q: 3620 University Study Gallery, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 08/31/2024 - 01/05/2025

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