A woman tries to walk away from a nude man who holds her arm.
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

At the bottom of a wide black dish with two handles in red there is a man and woman within a ring of repeating spiral designs. He is nude with a tail and holds the woman's arm while she turns toward him. She is wearing a round cap and draping robes and seems to be walking away from the man. She also holds a staff with leaves at the top like a branch.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1925.30.129
People
Douris, Greek (active 500-460 BCE)
Title
Kylix (drinking cup): Satyr and Maenad; Dionysos, Satyrs, and Maenads
Classification
Vessels
Work Type
vessel
Date
c. 490-480 BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe, Attica
Period
Classical period
Culture
Greek
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/292377

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
H: 11 x Diam: 29.5 cm (4 5/16 x 11 5/8 in.)
Diam. w/ handles 30.2 cm (11 7/8 in.)

Provenance

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

State, Edition, Standard Reference Number

Standard Reference Number
Beazley Archive Database #205158

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Joseph C. Hoppin
Accession Year
1925
Object Number
1925.30.129
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
Interior tondo: Maenad and satyr. On the right, a maenad walks right and looks back at the satyr. She wears a long, gauzy chiton, black-bordered himation, and sakkos (cap). Her garments are heavily draped and the chiton is transparent across her chest, showing the outline of her breasts. In her right hand, the maenad holds a thyrsus. To the left, the satyr stands nude embracing the maenad with his left arm. He is nude with a tail and long beard. Behind the satyr is a drinking horn and rocky ledge.

Exterior Side A: Dionysos, maenads and satyrs. A bearded Dionysos stands in the center, flanked on either side by a pair of satyrs maenads. The god wears an ivy wreath on his head and holds a drinking cup in his right hand along with an ivy branch in his left. The satyrs are both nude with tail and beard and each maenad holds a thyrsus.

Exterior Side B: Maenads and satyrs. Three maenads and two satyrs.

The interior tondo is framed with a meander border and a series of volute-palmettes are beneath each handle. Limited use of added red delineates the maenads and satyrs's fillets.
Commentary
This cup is attributed to the painter Douris, active in the early fifth century BCE. Characteristics of this painter are the meander border found in the tondo and palmette ornamentation under the handles.

Publication History

  • J. D. Beazley, Attic Red-Figure Vases in American Collections (Cambridge, 1918), p. 99
  • Joseph Clark Hoppin, A Handbook of Attic Red-Figure Vases (Cambridge, 1919), p. 280, no. 59
  • C. Walston, Establishment of Classical Type in Greek Art, Journal of Hellenic Studies (1924), 44, p. 242, fig. 14, 1 and 2
  • Joseph Clark Hoppin and Albert Gallatin, Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, U.S.A.: volume 1, Hoppin and Gallatin Collections, Libraire Ancienne Edouard Champion (Paris, 1926)
  • George M. A. Hanfmann, Greek Art and Life, An Exhibition Catalogue, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1950), no. 130.
  • J. D. Beazley, Attic Red-Figure Vase-Painters, The Clarendon Press (Oxford, England, 1963), p. 436, no. 112
  • Max Wegner, Duris (Munich, 1968), p. 149, 154ff, 246
  • Diana M. Buitron, Attic Vase Painting in New England Collections, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1972), p. 100-101, no. 53
  • Caroline Houser, Dionysos and His Circle: Ancient Through Modern, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, 1979), no. 6.
  • Tony Sigel, Inpainting Register and Relief Lines On Attic Vases, Objects Specialty Group Postprints, ed. Kari Dodson and Mary Wilcop, American Institute for Conservation (https://resources.culturalheritage.org/osg-postprints/v25/sigel/, 2018), 25, Pages 149-159, Figure 1a/b, Page 150; Figure 2a/b, Page 250; Figure 3, Page 251; Figure 4a/b, Page 151; Figure 5, Page 152; Figure 6a/b, Page 152; Figure 7, Page 153; Figure 8, Page 153; Figure 9, Page 154; Figure 11b, Page 156; Figure 12a/b, Page 156

Exhibition History

  • Greek Art and Life: From the Collections of the Fogg Art Museum, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and Private Lenders, Fogg Art Museum, 03/07/1950 - 04/15/1950
  • 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
  • 32Q: 3400 Greek, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 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