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Pitcher (trefoil oinochoe)
Greek, South Italian
Late Classical Period
about 340 B.C.
Place of Manufacture: Italy, Campania
Medium/Technique
Ceramic, Red Figure
Dimensions
Height: 24.5 cm (9 5/8 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of the Boston Teachers Club in memory of Mary Ward (September 14, 1884 - May 6, 1949)
Accession Number1970.363
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope, Ancient Greece and Rome
ClassificationsVessels
Catalogue Raisonné
Vase-Painting in Italy (MFA), no. 082.
DescriptionA centaur wearing a white wreath trots to the left, carrying a sapling with white leaves over his right shoulder and a boulder under his left arm. A hare and two birds hang from the tree. A band of wave-pattern circles the lower neck, and the shoulder is filled by a broad band of tongues. The lateral frames consist of tall, scrolling tendrils enclosed within narrow rectangles. The groundline is a band of dotted egg-pattern. There are large palmettes and floral ornaments on the back.
In Attic vase-painting, the tree branch hung with small game was an attribute of the wise centaur Cheiron. The boulder, however, one would expect to see carried by one of the wild centaurs who broke up the wedding of Perithoos or who attacked Herakles at the well of Pholos. This, then is an all-purpose centaur, equipped by the artist with all of the traditional attributes but without a reference to a specific story or individual. Compare an oinochoe of shape 10, also from the Pilos Head Group, with a very similar centaur carrying a sapling with a dead hare: Vienna 828 (Trendall, LCS, p. 271, no. 6/291, pl. 109, 3). For Cheiron, see M. Gisler-Huwiler, LIMC, III, 1, pp. 237-248; III, 2, pls. 185-197.
(text from Vase-Painting in Italy, catalogue entry no. 82)
ITALIAN VASE PAINTING in ITALY, #82 (1970.363)
Oinochoe (shape 2)
Attributed to the Pilos Head Group
about 340 B.C.
A centaur wearing a white wreath trots to the left, carrying a sapling with white leaves over his right shoulder and a boulder under his left arm. A hare and two birds hang from the tree. A band of wave-pattern circles the lower neck, and the shoulder is filled by a broad band of tongues. The lateral frames consisit of tall, scrolling tendrils enclosed within narrow rectangles. The groundline is a band of dotted egg-pattern. There are large palmettes and floral ornaments on the back.
In Attic vase-painting, the tree branch hung with small game was an attribute of the wise centaur Cheiron. The boulder, however, one would expect to see carried by one of the wild centaurs who broke up the wedding of Perithoos or who attacked Herakles at the well of Pholos. This, then, is an all-purpose centaur, equipped by the artist with all of the traditional attributes but without reference to a specific story or individual. Compare an oinochoe of shape 10, also from the Pilos Head Group, with a very similar centaur carrying a sapling with a dead hare: Vienna 828 (Trendall, LCS, p. 171, no. 6/291, pl. 109, 3). For Cheiron, see M. Gisler-Hawiler, LIMC, III, 1, pp. 237-248; III, 2, pls. 185-197.
In Attic vase-painting, the tree branch hung with small game was an attribute of the wise centaur Cheiron. The boulder, however, one would expect to see carried by one of the wild centaurs who broke up the wedding of Perithoos or who attacked Herakles at the well of Pholos. This, then is an all-purpose centaur, equipped by the artist with all of the traditional attributes but without a reference to a specific story or individual. Compare an oinochoe of shape 10, also from the Pilos Head Group, with a very similar centaur carrying a sapling with a dead hare: Vienna 828 (Trendall, LCS, p. 271, no. 6/291, pl. 109, 3). For Cheiron, see M. Gisler-Huwiler, LIMC, III, 1, pp. 237-248; III, 2, pls. 185-197.
(text from Vase-Painting in Italy, catalogue entry no. 82)
ITALIAN VASE PAINTING in ITALY, #82 (1970.363)
Oinochoe (shape 2)
Attributed to the Pilos Head Group
about 340 B.C.
A centaur wearing a white wreath trots to the left, carrying a sapling with white leaves over his right shoulder and a boulder under his left arm. A hare and two birds hang from the tree. A band of wave-pattern circles the lower neck, and the shoulder is filled by a broad band of tongues. The lateral frames consisit of tall, scrolling tendrils enclosed within narrow rectangles. The groundline is a band of dotted egg-pattern. There are large palmettes and floral ornaments on the back.
In Attic vase-painting, the tree branch hung with small game was an attribute of the wise centaur Cheiron. The boulder, however, one would expect to see carried by one of the wild centaurs who broke up the wedding of Perithoos or who attacked Herakles at the well of Pholos. This, then, is an all-purpose centaur, equipped by the artist with all of the traditional attributes but without reference to a specific story or individual. Compare an oinochoe of shape 10, also from the Pilos Head Group, with a very similar centaur carrying a sapling with a dead hare: Vienna 828 (Trendall, LCS, p. 171, no. 6/291, pl. 109, 3). For Cheiron, see M. Gisler-Hawiler, LIMC, III, 1, pp. 237-248; III, 2, pls. 185-197.
Provenance1970: published by A. D. Trendall, The Red-Figured Vases of Lucania, Campania and Sicily, First Supplement (1970), p. 47, no. 291a, as Boston 1970.363 (ex Zurich market); by date unknown: with Royal-Athena Galleries, 1066 Madison Avenue, New York; April or early May, 1970: purchased from Royal-Athena Galleries by the Boston Teachers Club; Gift of Boston Teachers Club to MFA, May 13, 1970