1960.340: Hydria-Kalpis (water jar): Women and Herons

Identification and Creation

Object Number

1960.340

People

The Painter of the Yale Oinochoe, Greek

Title

Hydria-Kalpis (water jar): Women and Herons

Classification

Vessels

Work Type

vessel

Date

465-455 BCE

Places

Find Spot: Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe, Vari (Attica)

Period

Classical period, Early

Culture

Greek

Persistent Link

https://hvrd.art/o/290826

Physical Descriptions

Medium

Terracotta

Technique

Red-figure

Dimensions

35.5 x 29.2 cm (14 x 11 1/2 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History

Parallels: Herons were apparently popular household pets in Athens. They were sacred to Aphrodite and their behavior was considered a clue to changes in the weather; see J.D. Beazley, The Lews House Collection of Gems (Oxford 1920) Women and herons appear on two other kalpides by the painter of the Yale Oinochoe: a vase in London 83.11-24.26, ARV 503 23 and a vase in Houston, 80.95 (P.J. Holliday, Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts winter 1984)The women on the Houston vase wear their hair in the same way as those on the Harvard kalpis, with the queues secured in small cloth bags. For other examples of women and herons see Chicoago Art Inst. 16.140, ARV 258, 18; Copenhagen 4997, ARV 1214,4; Copenhagen 7359, CVA Copenhagen 4; Louvre G 544, Louvre 8 pl. 44, 5.
The shape and subsidiary ornament of this kalpis are characteristic of the Painter of the Yale Oinochoe, a pot-specialist who painted at least seven hydriae, but also and ornament of kalpis London E 178, with the Judgment of Paris, ARV 503, 20.

State, Edition, Standard Reference Number

Standard Reference Number

Beazley Archive Database #205650

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line

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

Accession Year

1960

Object Number

1960.340

Division

Asian and Mediterranean Art

Contact

am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu

Permissions

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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. 17, no. 99
• J. D. Beazley, Attic Red-Figure Vase-Painters, The Clarendon Press (Oxford, England, 1963), p. 503 no. 22
• Frank J. Frost, Greek Society, D. C. Heath and Co. (1980)
• Louise Calder, Cruelty and Sentimentality: Greek Attitudes to Animals, 600-300 BC, Archaeopress Publishing Ltd. (Oxford, 2011), pp. 91-92, 194, no. 267

Exhibition History

• The David Moore Robinson Bequest of Classical Art and Antiquities: A Special Exhibition, Fogg Art Museum, 05/01/1961 - 09/20/1961

Verification Level