Terracotta amphora (jar)
Reverse, men weighing merchandise
Discovered at Agrigento in Sicily before 1801, this may be the first Greek vase with a potter's signature to have been published in modern Europe. Besides the signature, there is an inscription praising a youth, Klitarchos, as handsome. After Herakles, Theseus is the major hero in Athenian iconography. He was credited with uniting the principalities of Attica and with numerous exploits. Here he kills the Minotaur (part-man, part-bull) in the palace of King Minos on Crete. The reverse shows a large scale with containers on each pan and a man bringing them into balance.
Artwork Details
- Title: Terracotta amphora (jar)
- Artist: Signed by Taleides as potter
- Artist: Attributed to the Taleides Painter
- Period: Archaic
- Date: ca. 540–530 BCE
- Culture: Greek, Attic
- Medium: Terracotta; black-figure
- Dimensions: 11 5/8 × 8 1/8 in. (29.5 × 20.7 cm)
- Classification: Vases
- Credit Line: Purchase, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, 1947
- Object Number: 47.11.5
- Curatorial Department: Greek and Roman Art
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