1959.125: Column Krater (mixing bowl for wine and water): Lyre Player in Female Dress

Identification and Creation

Object Number

1959.125

People

Manner of The Pig Painter, Greek (active c. 470 BCE)

Title

Column Krater (mixing bowl for wine and water): Lyre Player in Female Dress

Classification

Vessels

Work Type

vessel

Date

c. 475 BCE

Places

Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe, Vari (Attica)

Period

Classical period

Culture

Greek

Persistent Link

https://hvrd.art/o/291011

Physical Descriptions

Medium

Terracotta

Technique

Red-figure

Dimensions

39.37 cm (15 1/2 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History

Robinson Collection.
Robinson Collection.

State, Edition, Standard Reference Number

Standard Reference Number

Beazley Archive Database #206479

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line

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

Accession Year

1959

Object Number

1959.125

Division

Asian and Mediterranean Art

Contact

am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu

Permissions

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Descriptions

Description

A single heavily-bearded man facing right playing the lyre with a plectrum. He wears a long chiton with a mantle draped over his shoulder and a headdress with a wreath. His clothing style belongs to a category of similarly dressed men called “Anakreontic Dancers,” after the poet Anakreon who describes men dressing in this manner.

Commentary

The figure belongs to a larger category of images and scenes called “Anakreontic Dancers” first identified by John D. Beazley and defined by Donna Kurtz and John Boardman whose characteristic features include the headdress, long chiton, heavy beard, and barbiton lyre. These vase images have a narrow date range from around 520 B.C.E. - 470 B.C.E. and are typically thought to be associated with East Greek practices and are a sub-category of the komos (drunken revelry) genre.

Sources:
Boardman, John and Donna Kurtz. “Booners.” In Greek Vases in the J. Paul Getty Museum, v. 3. Eds. Jiri Frel and Marion True. Malibu: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1986, pp. 35-70.

Publication History

• A. Rumpf, Zu einer Vase der Sammlung Robinson, Studies Presented to David Moore Robinson (Saint Louis, 1953), v. II, Pl. 30.
• Fogg Art Museum, The David Moore Robinson Bequest of Classical Art and Antiquities, A Special Exhibition, exh. cat., Harvard University (Cambridge, MA, 1961), p. 18, no. 105
• Dimitrios Yatromanolakis, Sappho in the Making: The Early Reception, Hellenic Studies Series (Washington, D.C., 2008), 28, Fig. 18

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