Description:
vase; disk foot, triple handles, echinus mouth, side A painted with Herakles in combat with the Amazons, Herakles in a lion-skin and winging his club advancing to the right, the two Amazons wearing short chitons and holding spears and shields, the fallen Amazon wearing an animal skin, her shield emblazoned with a bull head, her companion wearing a chlamys, a serpent on her shield, a bearded warrior departing at left, holding two spears and a tripod-emblazoned shield, and wearing greaves, short tunic and crested Corinthian helmet, side B painted with Apollo playing the kithara and accompanied by, from the left, Hermes holding a kerykeion, himation-enveloped Artemis holding a bow and arrows, Leto(?), the mother of Apollo, and Dionysos holding a branch of dotted vine and staring down at the satyr approaching him from the right, the latter holding a god's drinking horn, rays and linked lotus buds above the foot, voluted palmettes and lotus buds in the handle-zones, tongues on the shoulders, a lotus-palmette chain on the neck, the details added in red and white; mythology
Label Text:
The sides of this highly decorated amphora vase feature two different scenes from Greek mythology. On one side, the Greek hero Herakles fights the Amazons, a group of fierce warrior women. On the other, several Olympian gods and goddesses gather together.
To create this type of ceramic decoration, known as the “black-figure” style, the artist painted figures and objects on an unfired vessel using a clay and water mixture that turned black after firing. Here, the artist articulated the limbs of each figure with incised lines cut into the clay. Other details, such as the white skin of the Amazons and goddesses, and purple accents on the gods’ robes, were painted with a mix of pigment and clay.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=SC+1999.56 |
