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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1925.30.125
People
Attributed to Lydos, Greek (active 565 BCE - 535 BCE)
Title
Column Krater (mixing bowl for wine and water): Four-Horse Chariot and Charioteer; Sphinx and Lions
Classification
Vessels
Work Type
vessel
Date
c. 560-550 BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe, Attica
Period
Archaic period
Culture
Greek
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/292040

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Terracotta
Technique
Black-figure
Dimensions
33.4 cm h x 35.6 cm diam (43.7 cm d with handles) (13 1/8 in h x 14 in diam) (17 3/16 in diam with handles)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Joseph Clark Hoppin, bequest; to the Fogg Art Museum, 1925.

State, Edition, Standard Reference Number

Standard Reference Number
Beazley Archive Database #310155

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Joseph C. Hoppin
Accession Year
1925
Object Number
1925.30.125
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
The vase is broken and repaired with numerous rivet holes on the body from ancient repairs. In shape, the vessel has a wide body, short neck, and echinus foot. On each side is a figural panel bordered on the top with a red and black alternating tongue pattern. Both handle plates bear a sphinx in profile. Detail is enhanced throughout with added red.

On the obverse, a four-horse chariot and charioteer stand flanked by warriors. The charioteer, wearing a long chiton and brimmed hat, faces left while the horses are frontal. On either side, two pairs of warriors fight in combat. They wear Corinthian helmets and carry Boeotian shields.

On the reverse, a sphinx is flanked by two lions. The sphinx (a mythical creature with the head of a human, body of a lion, and wings of a bird) faces right with wings outstretched. The lions each avert their heads. Detailed is enhanced with incision on the lions's manes and added red on the lions and sphinx's hind-quarters.
Commentary
This vase is attributed to the painter Lydos who was active in the sixth century BCE in Athens. The obverse scene was favored by black-figure painters and may have been based on similar scenes on Corinthian vessels.

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)
  • Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker, Lydos, Kunstlerlexikon (Leipzig, 1929), 23
  • C. Albizzati, Tre Opere d'un Ceramografo d'Atene ai tempi di Pisistrato, Historia (Milan, 1929), 3
  • Waldemar Déonna, A Propos d'une Pendeloque Archaique de Tegee, BCH (1931), 55
  • A. Rumpf, Sakonides (Leipzig, 1947)
  • J. D. Beazley, Attic Black-Figure Vase-Painters, Oxford University Press (UK) (Oxford, 1956)
  • Diana M. Buitron, Attic Vase Painting in New England Collections, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1972), p. 26-27, no. 8 A-B
  • M.H. Tiberios, Lydos kai to Ergou tou: symbole sten ereuna tes Attikes melanomorphes angeiographias (Athens, 1976)
  • Dr. Dietrich von Bothmer, The Amasis Painter and his World (Malibu, 1985)
  • Kristin A. Mortimer and William G. Klingelhofer, Harvard University Art Museums: A Guide to the Collections, Harvard University Art Museums and Abbeville Press (Cambridge and New York, 1986), p. 101, no. 111, ill.
  • J. D. Beazley, The Development of Attic Black Figure, ed. Dr. Dietrich von Bothmer and Mary B. Moore, University of California Press (Berkeley, 1986)
  • Thomas Carpenter, Thomas Mannack, and Melanie Mendonca, ed., Beazley addenda : additional references to ABV, ARV² & Paralipomena, Oxford University Press (UK) (Oxford, 1989)
  • Christian Ellinghaus, Die Parthenonskulpturen: der Bauschmuck eines öffentlichen Monumentes der demokratischen Gesellschaft Athens zur Zeit des Perikles, Techniken in der bildenden Kunst zur Tradierung von Aussagen (Hamburg, 2011)

Exhibition History

  • Attic Vase Painting in New England Collections, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 03/01/1972 - 04/05/1972

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