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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1925.30.130
People
Attributed to The Penthesilea Painter, Greek (active c. 475 BCE-450 BCE)
Title
Drinking cup (kylix): Iris presents a warrior to Zeus(?); Warrior's departure
Classification
Vessels
Work Type
vessel
Date
c. 470 BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe, Attica
Period
Classical period, Early
Culture
Greek
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/291099

Location

Location
Level 3, Room 3400, Ancient Mediterranean and Middle Eastern Art, Ancient Greece in Black and Orange
View this object's location on our interactive map

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Terracotta
Technique
Red-figure
Dimensions
11.3 x 27.3 cm (4 7/16 x 10 3/4 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
[Athens, 1896], sold; to Joseph C. Hoppin, (Pomfret, CT), (1896-1925), bequest; to the Fogg Art Museum, 1925.


State, Edition, Standard Reference Number

Standard Reference Number
Beazley Archive Database #211593

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Joseph C. Hoppin
Accession Year
1925
Object Number
1925.30.130
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
Interior: Satyr and Maenad. Within a meander border a Maenad to left, clad in a chiton, himation, and sakkos, holding a thyrsos in her right faces a nude, bearded satyr who is attempting to seize her. Her right foot projects into the border.

Side A: In the center a winged female figure (Iris?) standing full front with her head in profile to right, clad in a Doric peplos and wearing a fillet (reserved) in her hair, and earrings. In her left she holds a caduceus. At her right a beaded warrior clad in a short chiton and Attic helmet, holding a shield (device, an open eye) and a spear in his left bows before her in the act of laying at her feet a palm branch. Behind the winged figure, a male, bearded figure, seated to right on a stool, clad in a chiton and cloak, and holding in both hands a sceptre. Behind him in the field an L-shaped object.

Side B: In the center a nude, bearded warrior to right, head in profile, body and legs full front, with a chlamys draped over his outstretched right arm, and a spear in his right hand, while in his left he holds a shield with a long cover on which an open eye is painted. Facing his to left a winged female figure (Iris?) in a long chiton and sakkos, a scarf draped over her left shoulder and waist, her right upraised and a caduceus in her left. At the left a bearded male figure to right comletely wrapped in a cloak, leaning on a staff.


Locks of hair of the figures done in a dilute glaze. Hair outline reserved. Under each handle a floral palmette. Extremely fine lustrous black glaze. Badly broken but nothing of importance missing.
Commentary
The winged figure on the exterior of this kylix is likely the goddess Iris. A messenger goddess, Iris is shown in Greek vase paintings as a young woman with wings and the caduceus (rod). She is sometimes shown standing near Zeus and/or Hera, pouring nectar from an oinochoe.

Publication History

  • J. D. Beazley, Attic Red-Figure Vases in American Collections (Cambridge, 1918), p. 131
  • Joseph Clark Hoppin and Albert Gallatin, Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, U.S.A.: volume 1, Hoppin and Gallatin Collections, Libraire Ancienne Edouard Champion (Paris, 1926), pg. 8; pl. 11 1-4
  • Joseph Clark Hoppin, [Unidentified article], The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies (London, England, 1927), vol. 47, p. 148
  • Lenore O. Keene Congdon, "The Mantua Apollo of the Fogg Art Museum", American Journal of Archaeology, Archaeological Institute of America (New York, NY, 1963), Vol. 67, 7-13, p. 69 no. 7
  • J. D. Beazley, Attic Red-Figure Vase-Painters, The Clarendon Press (Oxford, England, 1963), p. 881, no. 29
  • Diana M. Buitron, Attic Vase Painting in New England Collections, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1972), pp. 114-115, no. 62
  • Caroline Houser, Dionysos and His Circle: Ancient Through Modern, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, 1979), no. 8.
  • Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC), Artemis (Zürich, Switzerland, 1999), Iris I 172; Nike 306.
  • [Reproduction only], Persephone, Puritan Press (Hollis, NH, Winter 2007).

Exhibition History

  • Attic Vase Painting in New England Collections, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 03/01/1972 - 04/05/1972
  • Dionysos and His Circle: Ancient through Modern, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 12/10/1979 - 02/10/1980
  • Fragments of Antiquity: Drawing Upon Greek Vases, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 03/15/1997 - 12/28/1997
  • HAA132e The Ideal of the Everyday in Greek Art (S427) Spring 2012, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 01/31/2012 - 05/12/2012
  • 32Q: 3400 Greek, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 10/03/2023 - 01/01/2050

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu