On the body, obverse, assembly of gods above Amazonomachy Reverse, youth in naiskos (shrine) between youths and women On the neck, obverse, woman with torches leading Nike in chariot On the handles, heads of Io and young Pans
The Capodimonte Painter was a follower of the Baltimore Painter, one of the most prolific late Apulian artists. Although they produced vases of diverse shapes and sizes, these artists are associated most often with large works virtually the whole surface of which is decorated. The vase becomes a kind of compendium of iconography and patternwork. It is important to recall that antiquarians of the eighteenth century first encountered Greek vasepainting in examples such as this one, discovered in 1785 and acquired by the king of Naples for his palace at Capodimonte. Although imperfectly understood, the vases were recognized as ancient and impressive; they quickly became objects of study and acquisition.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Terracotta volute-krater (vase for mixing wine and water)
Artist:Attributed to the Capodimonte Painter
Period:Hellenistic
Date:ca. 320–310 BCE
Culture:Greek, South Italian, Apulian
Medium:Terracotta; red-figure
Dimensions:H. without handles: 36 1/16 in. (91.59 cm)
Classification:Vases
Credit Line:Fletcher Fund, 1956
Object Number:56.171.63
1785, found in Polignano (now Polignano a Mare, Puglia, Italy), in the garden of the Bishop’s refectory, by Mattia Santoro (1736-1797), Bishop of Polignano (Maiellaro 2015, pp. 11-19, 153-163)
From 1785 and until ca. 1800, in the collection of the Royal Museum of Capodimonte, Naples; ca. 1800, after the conquest of Italy by Napoleon I, brought to London by a French agent, commissioned by the government to bring it to the Louvre; by 1802, purchased by James Edwards, Esq., of Pall Mall, London; by 1802 and until after 1863, collection of James Edwards (d. 1815) and family, London; until 1899, collection of Thomas B. Clarke (1848-1931), New York; February 17, 1899, acquired by Peter Arrell Browne Widener (1834-1915), purchased through the American Art Galleries, New York (T.B. Clarke sale, lot 424); 1899-1915, collection of P.A.B. Widener (1834-1915), Lynnwood Hall, Philadelphia; 1915-ca. 1930, collection of his son, Joseph Early Widener(1971-1943), Philadelphia; [reportedly, by around 1930, with Joseph Brummer, New York]; 1930, presumably privately purchased by William Randolph Hearst from J. Brummer; 1930-1951, collection of W. R. Hearst, New York and from 1935, San Simeon, California; 1951-1956, with the Hearst Corporation; acquired in 1956, purchased from the Hearst Corporation.
Evans, Robert Harding. 1815. A catalogue of the valuable library of James Edward, Esq. ...also his collection of fine Greek vases: which will be sold by auction, on Wednesday April 5, 1815, and the five following days (Sunday excepted). no. 9, p. 46, London: William Bulmer & Co.
Millin, Aubin Louis. 1816. Description des Tombeaux de Canosa, ainsi que des bas-reliefs, des armures, et des vases peints. p. 1 n. 1, Paris.
Pinkerton, John and Dawson Turner. 1830. The Literary Correspondence of John Pinkerton, Esq., printed from the originals in the possession of Dawson Turner, Esq.. p. 235, London: H. Colburn and R. Bentley.
Edwards, E.J. 1845. Two ancient Greek vases, known as the Capo di Monte and Actæon, now on view in the British Museum. London: British Museum.
Reinach, Salomon. 1891. Peintures de vases antiques recueillies par Millin (1808) et Millingen (1813). pp. 57–59, pls. 25–27, Paris: Firmin-Didot.
American Art Galleries. 1899. Catalogue of the private art collection of Thomas B. Clarke. Part II. Objects of Art. no. 424, pp. 75–76, New York: American Art Association.
von Bothmer, Dietrich. 1957. "Greek Vases from the Hearst Collection." Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 15(7): pp. 166, 180.
Schauenburg, Konrad. 1960. "Der Gürtel der Hippolote." Philologus: Zeitschrift für klassische Philologie, 104: p. 6 n. 9.
Schauenburg, Konrad. 1962. "Pan in Unteritalien." Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Römische Abteilung, 69: no. 13, pp. 28, 39.
Schauenburg, Konrad. 1973. "Frauen im Fenster." Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Römische Abteilung, 80: p. 271 n. 4, pl. 81.
Smith, H.R.W. 1976. Funerary Symbolism in Apulian Vase-Painting. pp. 199–200, 211, fig. 5, Berkeley: University of California Press.
Lohmann, Hans. 1979. Grabmäler auf unteritalischen Vasen. no. A 532, pp. 238–39, Berlin: Mann.
Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC). 1981. Vol. 1: Aara-Aphlad. "Amazones," p. 612, no. 392, pl. 490, Zürich: Artemis Verlag.
Trendall, Arthur Dale and Alexander Cambitoglou. 1982. The Red-Figured Vases of Apulia. Late Apulia., Vol. 2. no. 1, pp. 906–8, pl. 345, Oxford: Clarendon Press.
von Bothmer, Dietrich. 1983. "Observations on the Subject Matter of South Italian Vases." Arts in Virginia, : p. 39 n. 62, fig. 27.
Senff, Reinhard. 1983. "Eine rotfigurige Hydria mit Grabmalszene in Vreden." Boreas: Münstersche Beiträge zur Archäologie, 6: p. 275.
Mertens, Joan R. 2010. How to Read Greek Vases. no. 32, pp. 13, 16, 98, 152, 156–59, 161, 165, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Ramage, Nancy Hirschland and R.D. Cromey. 2013. "Two 'Etruscan' Vases and Edgar Allan Poe." Metropolitan Museum Journal, 48: pp. 169–80.
Maiellaro, Giuseppe. 2015. L'assemblea Divina: le vicende del "Gran vaso di Capodimonte" da Polignano al Metropolitan, Grafiche Vito Radio Editore, ed. Putignano.
Heuer, Keely Elizabeth. 2015. "Vases with Faces: Isolated Heads in South Italian Vase Painting." Metropolitan Museum Journal, 50: pp. 66–67, fig. 10.
Denoyelle, Martine. 2019. "Un vaso di prestigio per un guerriero peucezio Rileggere il Gran Vaso di Capodimonte." Il Grand Mausolée di Polignano: riscoperta di un contesto peuceta del IV secolo a.C, Giuseppe Maiellaro, ed. pp. 139–49, fig. 1, Foggia: Claudio Grenzi Editore.
Muratov, Maya. 2019. "The Provenance of the Great Capodimonte Vase: Many Men's Trophy." Il Grand Mausolée di Polignano: riscoperta di un contesto peuceta del IV secolo a.C, Giuseppe Maiellaro, ed. pp. 139–49, fig. 1, Foggia: Claudio Grenzi Editore.
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The Museum's collection of Greek and Roman art comprises more than 30,000 works ranging in date from the Neolithic period to the time of the Roman emperor Constantine's conversion to Christianity in A.D. 312.
