The Amazons on this splendid oinochoe are all named. Iole leads; she is equipped with a pelta (crescent-shaped shield), a bow and quiver, and a battle-ax. Antiope, facing forward, leads a horse and holds two spears. Penthesilea follows with a pelta, a bow and quiver, and spears. Antiope and Penthesilea were well known for their part in the lives of Theseus and Achilles, respectively. Throughout Greek art, in depictions of combat between Greeks and their enemies, the latter are always rendered as worthy antagonists. This perception applies particularly to Amazons.
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Title:Terracotta oinochoe (jug)
Artist:Attributed to the Mannheim Painter
Period:Classical
Date:ca. 440 BCE
Culture:Greek, Attic
Medium:Terracotta; red-figure
Dimensions:H. 13 1/8 in. (33.4 cm) diameter 9 in. (22.9 cm)
Classification:Vases
Credit Line:Rogers Fund, 1906
Accession Number:06.1021.189
Inscription: The names Antiope, Penthesilea, and Iole are inscribed.
[From before 1904 and until 1906, with Cesare and Ercole Canessa, Paris and New York]; acquired in 1906, purchased from C. and E. Canessa.
Canessa, Ercole and Arthur Sambon. 1904. Vases Antiques de Terre Cuite: Collection Canessa, Bibliothèque du Musée. no. 234, pp. 65–66, pl. XVIII, Paris.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1906. "Collection of Greek and Roman Vases." Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1(6): p. 79, fig. 5.
Richter, Gisela M. A., Marjorie J. Milne, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1922. Shapes of Greek Vases. New York.
McClees, Helen and Christine Alexander. 1933. The Daily Life of the Greeks and Romans: As Illustrated in the Classical Collections, 5th ed. pp. 89, 92, fig. 113, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Richter, Gisela M. A. and Marjorie J. Milne. 1935. Shapes and Names of Athenian Vases. p. 20, fig. 126, New York: Plantin Press.
Richter, Gisela M. A. and Lindsley F. Hall. 1936. Red-Figured Athenian Vases in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. no. 108, pp. 139–40, pls. 108, 177, New Haven: Yale University Press.
McClees, Helen and Christine Alexander. 1941. The Daily Life of the Greeks and Romans: As Illustrated in the Classical Collections, 6th ed. pp. 89, 92, fig. 113, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1946. Attic Red-Figured Vases: A Survey. pp. 92, 124, figs. 32k, 88, New Haven: Yale University Press.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1950. The Sculpture and Sculptors of the Greeks, 3rd edn. pp. 91, 431, fig. 259, New Haven: Yale University Press.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1953. Handbook of the Greek Collection. pp. 100, 240, pl. 80e, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
von Bothmer, Dietrich. 1957. Amazons in Greek Art. no. 141, p. 199, Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1958[1946]. Attic Red-Figured Vases: A Survey, Revised Edition, 2nd edn. pp. 92, 124, figs. 32k, 88, New Haven: Yale University Press.
Beazley, John D. 1963[1942]. Attic Red-figure Vase-painters, Vols. 1 and 2, 2nd ed. p. 1066, no. 10, Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1980. The Horses of San Marco: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, February 1-June 1, 1980, New York. no. 18, p. 5, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
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