A flute player plays while another figure dances and others look on.
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

The vessel is tall and wide, with a narrow fluted base and two low handles. The vessel is painted black, and in red there are two figures wearing robes, one plays a flute while the other holds a staff. Another figure to the far right is nice and holds a staff. At the center in white a figure is crouching with their arms out to the front of them, perhaps dancing. At the top and bottom the scene is bordered in loose leaf patterns.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1925.30.11
People
Attributed to The Nikias Painter, Greek (active 4th century BCE)
Title
Calyx Krater (mixing bowl for wine and water): Exotic Dancer
Classification
Vessels
Work Type
vessel
Date
c. 400 BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe, Attica
Period
Classical period
Culture
Greek
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/291587

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Terracotta
Technique
Red-figure
Dimensions
H. 22.9 x Dia. 22.6 cm (9 x 8 7/8 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Joseph C. Hoppin, Pomfret, CT, (1893-1901), bequest; to the Fogg Art Museum, 1925.

State, Edition, Standard Reference Number

Standard Reference Number
Beazley Archive Database #217486

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Joseph C. Hoppin
Accession Year
1925
Object Number
1925.30.11
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
This vase features a lively party scene, focusing on a central dancer who is highlighted by white skin and clothing. She dances atop a small table, stretching her arms out in front of her as she kicks her legs into the air. Her short, knee-length tunic is of an oriental style, coming from the eastern regions of the Mediterranean, white with black speckles, and she wears a matching headdress. She is accompanied by a pipe-player who stands in front of her wearing a long tunic and her hair tied back donning an ivy wreath. Behind her stands the nude figure of Silenos (elderly companion of Dionysos) with one hand on his hip and the other holding a thyrsus (ivy-topped staff). Mirroring him on the other side of the dancer is another companion of Dionysos: a maenad. She faces the dancer wearing a long tunic fastened at the waist and has a fine headdress and earrings. She also holds a thyrsus while her other hand rests on her hip.

On the opposite side of the vase, in far cruder rendering, are two draped youths facing each other in conversation. The youth on the left holds an oil flask and a strigil, two items associated with athletic activities in the gymnasium. The other holds a walking stick, a frequent symbol of Athenian male citizenship. Above them is a semicircular object with a cross-like design.

Publication History

  • Joseph Clark Hoppin and Albert Gallatin, Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, U.S.A.: volume 1, Hoppin and Gallatin Collections, Libraire Ancienne Edouard Champion (Paris, 1926), pl. 19, no. 3
  • J. D. Beazley, Attic Red-Figure Vase-Painters, The Clarendon Press (Oxford, England, 1963), 1334, 25
  • John Boardman, Athenian Red Figure Vases : The Classical Period, Thames & Hudson (London, England and New York, NY, 1989), p. 167, fig. 320
  • Alfred Schäfer, "Entertainment at the Greek Symposion" (1994?), Unpublished
  • Aspasia Papanastasiou, "The Relations Between the Black-Glazed and Red-Figured Vases of Attica During the Fourth Century BC" (2000), Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  • Il greco, il barbaro e la ceramica attica, Immaginario del diverso, processi di scambio e autorappresentazione degli indigeni, Atti del Convegno Internazionale di Studi, ed. Filippo Giudice and Rosalba Panvini, Vol. 3, May 14-19, 2001, p. 133, fig. 4 A

Exhibition History

  • 32Q: 3400 Greek, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 10/03/2023

Subjects and Contexts

  • Google Art Project

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