Advanced Search
Advanced Search
View: Side B

Vase

Greek, South Italian
Late Classical Period
350–330 B.C.
Place of Manufacture: Italy, Paestum

Medium/Technique Ceramic, Red Figure
Dimensions 20 cm (7 7/8 in.)
Credit Line Gift of Mr. and Mrs. William de Forest Thomson
Accession Number19.299
NOT ON VIEW
ClassificationsVessels

Catalogue Raisonné Vase-Painting in Italy (MFA), no. 102.
DescriptionSide A: Youth with mantle over legs seated on a white scroll, garland on hair and around neck, a taenia with flowers (?) in each extended hand.
Side B: Draped youth seated on a white scroll, a garland on his hair and in right hand; taenia and phiale hanging in field; large palmette under each handle, tongue pattern on shoulder; on top of cover radial bars and wave pattern on edge.
Ovoid body, spreading foot, vertical handles and knobs on flat shoulder; cover with high slender handle.
Clay red with fine bits of mica. White sparingly used.

ITALIAN VASE PAINTING in ITALY, #102 (19.299)
Attributed to the Asteas-Python Workshop
Lebes Gamikos
350-330 B.C

A: A woman wrapped in a bordered himation is seated to the right on a stylized plant. She wears a yellow-orange wreath and earrings and shoes with yellow soles. She holds a white wreath and a "skewer of fruit" in her right hand. A white fillet with yellow ends hangs at the left, and a tympanum and white fillet at the right. The skewered objects are alternately in added yellow and white.
B: A youth is seated to the left on a stylized plant; his bordered himation has fallen around his waist. He wears a wreath and a beaded bandoleer. In his extended right hand are a fillet and a "skewer of fruit." Although he holds a mirror and fillet in his extended-left hand, he looks away from his reflection. The skewer, fillets, wreath, and bandoleer are in added yellow and white.
The groundline circling the lower body is a single reserved line. There are tongues on the shoulder and large palmettes under the vertical handles. The lid has large, unframed tongues on the top and wave-pattern around the outer edge. The knob and foot are black; the black handles have reserved stripes around their bases.
Seated figures such as this are a common feature of numerous minor vases from the Asteas-Python workshop Compare the women on Sydney 49.10 and Paestum 21138 (Trendall, RVP, p. 190, no. 2/428, pl. 132c,and p. 205, no. 2/620, pl. 136e).
ProvenanceFrom Paestum (according to Vase-Painting in Italy, p. 181); by date unknown: Mr. and Mrs. William de Forest Thomson Collection; gift of Mr. and Mrs. William de Forest Thomson to MFA, 1919