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DEACESSIONED September 21, 2006

Water jar (kalpis-hydria) depicting Apollo making a libation before gods and goddesses

the Berlin Painter
Greek
Late Archaic Period
about 485 B.C.
Place of Manufacture: Greece, Attica, Athens
Medium/Technique Ceramic, Red Figure
Dimensions Height: 40.2 cm (15 13/16 in.)
Credit Line Museum purchase with funds by exchange from a Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Cornelius C. Vermeule III and Miss Emily D. B. Vermeule
Accession Number1978.45
CollectionsAncient Greece and Rome
ClassificationsVessels
DescriptionApollo, Artemis and Leto flank an altar. A winged woman (Iris or Nike?) comes from the left to fill Apollo's shallow ritual bowl (phiäle) with wine for the liquid offering. Hermes, wearing his winged boots and carrying his herald's wand moves away at the left. Apollo's mother Leto, her blonde hair drawn with dilute-glaze, and his sister Artemis, with bow and quiver, are beyond the altar. Behind them, Athena advances brandishing a helmet and spear. All are identified by inscriptions, except for Apollo, who is identifiable by the presence of his lyre (kithara) and the winged woman. Both figures are the active participants in the offering, the latter holding a wine jug (oinochoe) and (hand missing) a lotus bud on top of a spiral of vegetation.

Inscriptions: "Hermes"; "Artemis"; "Leto"; "Athena". Graffito on foot.


InscriptionsInscriptions: "Hermes"; "Artemis"; "Leto"; "Athena"
ProvenanceMarch 14-15, 1975, sale (auction 51), Münzen und Medaillen AG, Basel, lot 155. By 1977, Fritz Bürki and Son, Zurich; 1978, sold by Bürki to the MFA [see note]; September 21, 2006, deaccessioned by the MFA for transfer to the Republic of Italy.

NOTE: MFA accession date: January 11, 1978.

For further information, please see: http://www.mfa.org/collections/provenance/antiquities-and-cultural-property/italian-ministry-of-culture-agreement