A figure walks along, carrying a balanced stick bundle and a club.
After treatment Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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After treatment Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

The vessel is round, narrowing slightly at the top and base with two high handles. It is painted black and in red there is a figure carrying a stick over their shoulder, balanced by two jugs or satchels on either side. He holds the stick with one hand while the other holds leans a club his other shoulder. He wears a lion, with his face showing through the lions mouth. He wears simple clothing with arcs tracing his torso. There is a spotted border indicating the ground that he walks on, and a looped border above him.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1925.30.34
People
The Geras Painter, Greek (active 480 BCE `)
Title
Pelike (wine container): Striding Herakles
Classification
Vessels
Work Type
vessel
Date
c. 490-480 BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe, Attica
Period
Archaic period
Culture
Greek
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/291593

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Terracotta
Technique
Red-figure
Dimensions
h. 21.2 x diam. 15.8 cm (8 3/8 x 6 1/4 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Joseph Hoppin collection; purchased in Rome, 1898.

State, Edition, Standard Reference Number

Standard Reference Number
Beazley Archive Database #202582

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Joseph C. Hoppin
Accession Year
1925
Object Number
1925.30.34
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
On one side, Herakles strides along with club in his right hand and carrying a pole with two suspended transport amphorae (storage jars) over left shoulder
On the other side, a satyr a in long skirt draws water, or maybe even wine, from a well.

Publication History

  • Joseph Clark Hoppin, A Handbook of Attic Red-Figure Vases (Cambridge, 1919), Pl. 12.3-4.
  • J. D. Beazley, Attische Vasenmaler des rotfigurigen Stils. (Tübingen, 1925), pl. 109, no. 10
  • Joseph Clark Hoppin and Albert Gallatin, Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, U.S.A.: volume 1, Hoppin and Gallatin Collections, Libraire Ancienne Edouard Champion (Paris, 1926), p. 8, pl. 12, 3-4
  • J. D. Beazley, [Review of Hoppin C.V.A.], The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies (London, England, 1927), 47, p. 148
  • D. A. Amyx, "A New Pelike by the Geras Painter", American Journal of Archaeology (New York, 1945), vol. 49, no. 4, pp. 508-518, pp. 515-517, no. 24
  • J. D. Beazley, Attic Red-Figure Vase-Painters, The Clarendon Press (Oxford, England, 1963), p. 174, no. 4
  • John Oakley, William D. E. Coulson, and Olga Palagia, ed., Athenian Potters and Painters: The Conference Proceedings, Oxbow Books (Oxford, 1997), p. 229, note 128
  • Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC), Artemis (Zürich, Switzerland, 1999), Vol. 4, Herakles 1324 and 3217.
  • Beth Cohen, ed., Not the Classical Ideal: Athens and the Construction of the Other in Greek Art, Brill Academic Publishers (Leiden) (Leiden, 2000), p. 61
  • Raimund Wünsche, ed., Herakles, Herkules, Staatliche Antikensammlungen Munchen (Munich, 2003), p. 263, fig. 43.2.
  • Alan W. Johnston, Trademarks on Greek Vases: Addenda, Aris and Phillips (Warminster, England, 2006)
  • François Lissarrague, La cite des satyres. Une anthropologie ludique (Athenes, VIe-Ve siecle avant J.-C.) (Paris, 2013), p. 211, fig. 184.
  • Alexander Heinemann, Der Gott des Gelages: Dionysos, Satyrn und Mänaden auf attischem Trinkgeschirr des 5. Jahrhunderts v. Chr., De Gruyter (Berlin, 2016), pp. 336-337, fig. 214

Verification Level

This record was created from historic documentation and may not have been reviewed by a curator; it may be inaccurate or 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