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View: Side A
Pelike
Workshop of: the Niobid Painter
Greek
Classical Period
450–440 B.C.
Place of Manufacture: Greece, Attica, Athens
Medium/Technique
Ceramic, Red Figure
Dimensions
Height: 44 cm (17 5/16 in.); diameter: 32 cm (12 5/8 in.)
Credit Line
Arthur Tracy Cabot Fund
Accession Number63.2663
CollectionsAncient Greece and Rome
ClassificationsVessels
DescriptionSide A: The tying of Andromeda
Side B: Cepheus and an African porter. Palmette cluster under handles. Africans in white outline technique, with added red and white. White also on the hair and beard of Cepheus. Intact.
[Label text]:
The scene on this vase illustrates a portion of the myth/play of the Ethiopian royal family of Cepehus, Cassiopeia, and Andromeda. The queen Cassiopeia, in boasting that she was more beautiful than the Nereids (sea-nymphs), had offended Poseidon. The sea god punished Cassiopeia by flooding her country of Ethiopia and dispatching a sea monster to terrorize the region. The only way to appease the monster was to sacrifice the princess Andromeda to the creature. The preparation for this sacrifice is depicted on the vase. The king Cepheus watches as slaves bind Andromeda to a pole and carry her possessions to be offered to the sea monster as well. Cepheus is depicted as an old man of mixed race. He has the thick lips, upturned nose, and curly hair of an Ethiopian, but the complexion of a European. His African slaves are rendered in an outline technique that emphasizes their dark skin. Andromeda has curly hair, but has a complexion like the Greeks represented on other vases in this case. All the figures on this pelike wear costumes that would have indicated to the ancient Greek viewer that they were foreigners. The tight-fitting garments with zigzag designs worn by Andromeda and her father were used commonly in antiquity to differentiate between Greeks and "barbarians." The vase is one of four extant that are believed to illustrate Sophocles' lost play, Andromeda, for which only a few fragments remain.
Side B: Cepheus and an African porter. Palmette cluster under handles. Africans in white outline technique, with added red and white. White also on the hair and beard of Cepheus. Intact.
[Label text]:
The scene on this vase illustrates a portion of the myth/play of the Ethiopian royal family of Cepehus, Cassiopeia, and Andromeda. The queen Cassiopeia, in boasting that she was more beautiful than the Nereids (sea-nymphs), had offended Poseidon. The sea god punished Cassiopeia by flooding her country of Ethiopia and dispatching a sea monster to terrorize the region. The only way to appease the monster was to sacrifice the princess Andromeda to the creature. The preparation for this sacrifice is depicted on the vase. The king Cepheus watches as slaves bind Andromeda to a pole and carry her possessions to be offered to the sea monster as well. Cepheus is depicted as an old man of mixed race. He has the thick lips, upturned nose, and curly hair of an Ethiopian, but the complexion of a European. His African slaves are rendered in an outline technique that emphasizes their dark skin. Andromeda has curly hair, but has a complexion like the Greeks represented on other vases in this case. All the figures on this pelike wear costumes that would have indicated to the ancient Greek viewer that they were foreigners. The tight-fitting garments with zigzag designs worn by Andromeda and her father were used commonly in antiquity to differentiate between Greeks and "barbarians." The vase is one of four extant that are believed to illustrate Sophocles' lost play, Andromeda, for which only a few fragments remain.
ProvenanceBy 1963: with Robert E. Hecht, Jr.; purchased by MFA from Robert E. Hecht, Jr., December 11, 1963