Terracotta vase in the form of a lobster claw ca. 460 B.C.

Attributed to the Class of Seven Lobster-Claws

Donkey; keras (drinking horn)

Because so many aspects of Greek life depended on the sea, a vase in the shape of a lobster claw is not surprising. It is, however, exceptional and may be a variant of the askos—a bag-shaped oil container provided with a vertical mouth and strap handle. The Dionysiac iconography of the lobster claw suggests that it was a novelty item used at symposia (drinking parties).

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 157

Terracotta vase in the form of a lobster claw, Attributed to the Class of Seven Lobster-Claws
, Terracotta, Greek, Attic

Title: Terracotta vase in the form of a lobster claw

Attributed to the Class of Seven Lobster-Claws

Period: Classical

Date: ca. 460 B.C.

Culture: Greek, Attic

Medium: Terracotta; red-figure

Dimensions: Overall: 2 3/4 x 2 7/8 in. (7 x 7.3 cm)
Other: 6 1/4in. (15.9cm)

Classification: Vases

Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1923

Accession Number: 23.160.57

Inscription: Inscribed: "the boy is fair"

Said to have been found near Santa Maria di Capua in 1872 (Helbig 1873, pp. 4-5)

1872, found in a tomb near Santa Maria di Capua by Francesco Focone; by 1910, collection of Count Grégoire Stroganoff, Rome; [until 1923, with Giorgio Sangiorgi, Rome]; acquired in 1923, purchased from Giorgio Sangiorgi.

Helbig, Wolfgang. 1873. "Note." Bullettino dell'Instituto di corrispondenza archeologica, 1: pp. 4-5.

Pollak, Ludwig and Antonio Muñoz. 1911. Pièces de choix de la collection du comte Grégoire Stroganoff à Rome. p. 60, pl. XLII, Rome: Impr. de l'Unione editrice.

Richter, Gisela M. A. 1925. "Athenian Red-Figured Vases." Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 20(5): pp. 130, 132, fig. 5.

Richter, Gisela M. A. and Marjorie J. Milne. 1935. Shapes and Names of Athenian Vases. pp. 17-18, fig. 113, New York: Plantin Press.

1941. "Archäologische Grabungen und Funde in Italien und Libyen." Archäologischer Anzeiger, Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, III, IV: p. 390 n. 3.

Beazley, John D. 1945. "The Brygos Tomb at Capua." American Journal of Archaeology, 49(2): p. 157.

Noble, Joseph V. 1965. The Technique of Attic Vase-Painting. fig. 173, New York: American Journal of Archaeology.

Beazley, John D. 1963[1942]. Attic Red-figure Vase-painters, Vols. 1 and 2, 2nd ed. pp. 777, 971, no. 6, Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Beazley, John D. 1971. Paralipomena: Additions to Attic Black-Figure Vase-Painters and to Attic Red-Figure Vase-Painters [2nd edition]. p. 435, Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Hoffmann, Herbert. 1977. Sexual and Asexual Pursuit: a Structuralist Approach to Greek Vase Painting, Occasional Papers, Vol. 34. no. 6, p. 14, pl. 12.5, London: Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland.

Timelines
Ancient Greece, 1000 B.C.-1 A.D.

Department

Greek and Roman Art (33,624)

Artist / Maker / Culture

Class of Seven Lobster-Claws (1)

Object Type / Material

Geographic Location