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Historic Images of the Greek Bronze Age: The Reproductions of E. Gilliéron and Son

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Program Information

Historic Images of the Greek Bronze Age: The Reproductions of E. Gilliéron and Son

Program information

Seán Hemingway, curator, Department of Greek and Roman Art, discusses early twentieth-century reproductions of works from Sir Arthur Evans's historic excavations of Minoan Crete and Heinrich Schliemann's Mycenaean Greece.

This lecture was recorded on September 9, 2011, in conjunction with the exhibition Historic Images of the Greek Bronze Age: The Reproductions of E. Gilliéron & Son, on view May 17, 2011, through June 17, 2012.

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Terracotta lekythos (oil flask)

Attributed to the Eretria Painter 

Period:
Classical
Date:
ca. 420 B.C.
Culture:
Greek, Attic
Medium:
Terracotta; red-figure, white-ground
Dimensions:
H. 19 1/2 in. (49.5 cm); diameter 8 1/16 in. (20.5 cm)
Classification:
Vases
Credit Line:
Rogers Fund, 1931
Accession Number:
31.11.13

This artwork is currently on display in Gallery 159

  • Description

    Upper zone, uncertain scene: chariot surrounded by men and women
    Middle zone, Achilles mourning Patroklos, and Nereids bringing Achilles' second set of armor
    Lower zone, Amazonomachy (battle of Greeks against Amazons)

    This lekythos is of exceptional novelty and beauty. The unusually large shape is subdivided into three zones, each with a mythological subject. The middle zone features Thetis and her sister Nereids bringing armor to replace the set that Achilles had given Patroklos. The lower zone depicts Theseus and Hippolyte in combat among Greeks and Amazons. In both cases, the subject concerns a woman in martial mode and a warrior. The uppermost scene has been interpreted as the abduction of Persephone but more likely shows a god (or goddess) departing on a mission of divine intervention. The placement of the white-ground zone between two in red-figure emphasizes the Eretria Painter's extraordinary draftsmanship. It may also indicate the funerary purpose of the vase.

  • Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

    Inscription: The names are inscribed.

  • References

    Richter, Gisela M.A. 1932. "A Lekythos by the Eretria Painter." Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art 27(4): pp. 103-9, figs. 1-7.

    Richter, Gisela M.A. 1947. "An Athenian Gravestone." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 5(7): pp. 182-83.

    Cook, Brian F. 1989. "Footwork in Ancient Greek Sworsmanship." Metropolitan Museum Journal 24: p. 58, fig. 2.

    Lezzi-Hafter, Adrienne. 2008. “Clay, Gold and Craft: Special Techniques in Three Vases by the Eretria Painter and the Apotheosis in Xenophantos.” In Papers on Special Techniques in Athenian Vases, ed. Kenneth Lapatin. Los Angeles: The J. Paul Getty Museum, p. 185, ns. 23, 30.

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