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Terracotta psykter (vase for cooling wine)

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Eros, God of Love

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Terracotta psykter (vase for cooling wine)

Terracotta psykter (vase for cooling wine)

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Psykter fragments

Kylix Fragment

Kylix Fragment

Kylix

Kylix

Kylix fragment

Kylix fragment

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Terracotta psykter (vase for cooling wine)

Attributed to Oltos 

Period:
Archaic
Date:
ca. 520–510 B.C.
Culture:
Greek, Attic
Medium:
Terracotta; red-figure
Dimensions:
H. 11 7/8 in. (30.20 cm)
Classification:
Vases
Credit Line:
Gift of Norbert Schimmel Trust, 1989
Accession Number:
1989.281.69

This artwork is currently on display in Gallery 154

  • Description

    Around the body, hoplites(foot soldiers) mounted on dolphins

    This procession of identically dressed foot soldiers seems to advance with military precision. A number of other dolphin-riding hoplites appear on vases of this period. All are accompanied by a flute player, suggesting that this scene illustrates a dramatic chorus, probably from a contemporary play. The six dolphins would have seemed to leap and dive as the psykter bobbed in the ice water inside a large krater.

  • Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

    Inscription: Inscribed after each figure: EPIDELPHINOS, "upon the dolphin"

  • Provenance

    By 1961, on the art market, Geneva, Switzerland (Beazley 1961, p. 63); by 1965, collection of Norbert Schimmel; acquired October 26, 1989, gift of the Norbert Schimmel Trust.

  • References

    Beazley, J. D. 1961. "An Amphora by the Berlin Painter." Antike Kunst 4: 63.

    Beazley, J. D. 1963. Attic Red-Figure Vase-Painters. 2nd ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, pp. 1622-23.

    Greifenhagen, A. 1965. "Delphinreiter auf einem Psykter des Oltos." Pantheon 23: 1-7, figs. 1-7.

    Greifenhagen, A. 1974. In Ancient Art: The Norbert Schimmel Collection, edited by O. W. Muscarella. Mainz: P. von Zabern, no. 57.

    Settgast, J., et al., eds. 1978. Von Troja bis Amarna: The Norbert Schimmel Collection, New York. Mainz: P. von Zabern, no. 76.

    Milleker, Elizabeth J. 1992. "Ancient Art: Gifts from the Norbert Schimmel Collection." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 49(4): p. 46.

    Valavanis, P., and D. Kourkoumelis. 1996. Drinking Vessels. Athens: Hatzimichalis Estate, pp. 72-73.

    Ambrosini, L. 1999-2000. "Ceramica falisca a figure rosse: The Satyr and Dolphin Group (Pittore di Würzburg 820) e lo schema iconografico del Dolphin Rider." Archeologia classica 51: 261, 263, fig. 24.

    Steinhart, M. 2004. Die Kunst der Nachahmung: Darstellungen mimetischer Vorfuhrüngen in der griechischen Bildkunst archaischer und klassischer Zeit. Mainz: P. von Zabern, pl. 8, 2.

    Picón, Carlos A., et al. 2007. Art of the Classical World in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, no. 106, pp. 100, 427.

    Lezzi-Hafter, Adrienne. 2009. “Wheel without Chariot – A Motif in Attic Vase-Painting.” In Athenian Potters and Painters. Volume II, eds. John H. Oakley and Olgia Palagia. Oxford: Oxbow Books, p. 155 n. 13.

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    In the Museum
    Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History
    MetPublications
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