Advanced Search 
View: Interior
Drinking cup (kylix) depicting Peirithoös and the birth of Helen
Greek
Classical Period
about 430–420 B.C.
Place of Manufacture: Greece, Attica, Athens
Medium/Technique
Ceramic, Red Figure
Dimensions
Height: 5.5 cm (2 3/16 in.); diameter 16.5 cm (6 1/2 in.)
Credit Line
Henry Lillie Pierce Fund
Accession Number99.539
CollectionsAncient Greece and Rome
ClassificationsVessels
Catalogue Raisonné
Caskey-Beazley, Attic Vase Paintings (MFA), no. 163.
DescriptionInterior: Peirithoös (inscribed at right ΠΕΡΙΘΟΣ), the king of the Lapiths, seated. He is dressed as a traveler, with a long-brimmed hat (petasos), short cloak (chlamys), and sandals. He holds a staff in his left hand.
Exterior side A: The birth of Helen, framed on either side by a palmette. Klytemnestra (inscribed at left ΚΛΥΤΑΙΜΕΣΤΡΑ) and her father Tyndareos (inscribed at right ΤΕVΔΑΡΕΩΣ) stand to the left of an altar topped with an egg and a bird. Her mother Leda (inscribed at right ΛΕΔΑ) stands to the right of the altar with arms opened in surprise.
Exterior side B: Three women framed on either side by a palmette. The pair at left (inscribed ΚΛΕΟ[Π]Α[Τ]ΡΑ, “Kleopatra” at left and ΦΥΛΟΝΟΕ, “Phylonoe” at right) seems to be discussing. The woman at right stands. The signature of the potter appears on two lines to her right, ΞΕΝΟΤΙΜΟΣ ΕΠΟΙΕΣΕΝ (“Xenotimos made [me]”).
In Greek mythology, Phylonoe was also a daughter of Tyndareos and Leda.
Exterior side A: The birth of Helen, framed on either side by a palmette. Klytemnestra (inscribed at left ΚΛΥΤΑΙΜΕΣΤΡΑ) and her father Tyndareos (inscribed at right ΤΕVΔΑΡΕΩΣ) stand to the left of an altar topped with an egg and a bird. Her mother Leda (inscribed at right ΛΕΔΑ) stands to the right of the altar with arms opened in surprise.
Exterior side B: Three women framed on either side by a palmette. The pair at left (inscribed ΚΛΕΟ[Π]Α[Τ]ΡΑ, “Kleopatra” at left and ΦΥΛΟΝΟΕ, “Phylonoe” at right) seems to be discussing. The woman at right stands. The signature of the potter appears on two lines to her right, ΞΕΝΟΤΙΜΟΣ ΕΠΟΙΕΣΕΝ (“Xenotimos made [me]”).
In Greek mythology, Phylonoe was also a daughter of Tyndareos and Leda.
Signed
Xenotimos made it
InscriptionsInterior:
ΠΕΡΙΘΟΣ
Exterior Side A (LàR)
ΚΛΥΤΑΙΜΕΣΤΡΑ
ΤΕVΔΑΡΕΩΣ
ΛΕΔΑ
Exterior Side B (LàR)
ΦΥΛΟΝΟΕ
ΚΛΕΟ[Π]Α[Τ]ΡΑ
ΞΕΝΟΤΙΜΟΣ ΕΠΟΙΕΣΕΝ
ΠΕΡΙΘΟΣ
Exterior Side A (LàR)
ΚΛΥΤΑΙΜΕΣΤΡΑ
ΤΕVΔΑΡΕΩΣ
ΛΕΔΑ
Exterior Side B (LàR)
ΦΥΛΟΝΟΕ
ΚΛΕΟ[Π]Α[Τ]ΡΑ
ΞΕΝΟΤΙΜΟΣ ΕΠΟΙΕΣΕΝ
ProvenanceSaid to have been found in Sorrento [see note 1]. By 1888, Alphonse van Branteghem (d. 1911), Brussels, Belgium; May 30-June 1, 1892, van Branteghem sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, lot 84 to Count Michel Tyszkiewicz (b. 1828 – d. 1897); before 1898, sold by Count Michel Tyszkiewicz to Edward Perry Warren (b. 1860 - d. 1928), London [note 2]; 1899, sold by Edward Perry Warren to the MFA for $32,500.00 [note 3]. (Accession date: December 24, 1899)
Notes:
[1] Van Branteghem sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris (May 30-June 1, 1892), lot 84. M. Froehner, Catalogue du Burlington Fine Arts Club (1888), no. 10 (“found in Magna Graecia”). Also said to have been found with a cup-skyphos in Berlin (Antikensammlung, inv. 3244) by the same painter (L. D. Caskey and J. D. Beazley, Attic Vase Paintings in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, part III (1963), p. 69).
[2] According to Warren’s records, it was last in the Tyszkiewicz collection but was not acquired at the 1898 Tyszkiewicz sale (A. Snitkuviene, Birzu Grafai Tiskeviciai ir ju Palikimas (2008), p. 233, no. 764).
[3] This is the total price for MFA 99.338-99.542.
Notes:
[1] Van Branteghem sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris (May 30-June 1, 1892), lot 84. M. Froehner, Catalogue du Burlington Fine Arts Club (1888), no. 10 (“found in Magna Graecia”). Also said to have been found with a cup-skyphos in Berlin (Antikensammlung, inv. 3244) by the same painter (L. D. Caskey and J. D. Beazley, Attic Vase Paintings in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, part III (1963), p. 69).
[2] According to Warren’s records, it was last in the Tyszkiewicz collection but was not acquired at the 1898 Tyszkiewicz sale (A. Snitkuviene, Birzu Grafai Tiskeviciai ir ju Palikimas (2008), p. 233, no. 764).
[3] This is the total price for MFA 99.338-99.542.