Pompe, the female personification of a procession, between Eros and Dionysos; names inscribed
Pompe, whose mantle only accentuates her nudity, holds a wreath and looks toward Dionysos, seated and wearing a diadem. The winged Eros adjusts his sandals as though preparing to depart. The gilt openwork basket on the ground is the type used in religious processions to carry sacrificial implements to the place of sacrifice. This procession must be part of an Athenian festival in honor of Dionysos, probably the Anthesteria, which culminated in the sacred marriage of the god to the wife of the archon basileus, a high official representing the ancient Athenian kings. This is one of the most refined vase-paintings in the entire collection. The graceful figure of Pompe reflects full-scale statues of Aphrodite in the nude that were being carved in the wake of the first nude statue of the goddess created by Praxiteles in the mid-fourth century B.C.
This image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.
Open Access
As part of the Met's Open Access policy, you can freely copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes.
API
Public domain data for this object can also be accessed using the Met's Open Access API.
Use your arrow keys to navigate the tabs below, and your tab key to choose an item
Title:Terracotta oinochoe (jug)
Period:Classical
Date:mid-4th century BCE
Culture:Greek, Attic
Medium:Terracotta; red-figure
Dimensions:H. 9 1/4 in. (23.5 cm); diameter 6 13/16 in. (17.3 cm)
Classification:Vases
Credit Line:Rogers Fund, 1925
Object Number:25.190
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1926. "The Classical Collection: Rearrangement and Important Accessions." Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 21(4), part 2: p. 10, fig. 4.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1927. Handbook of the Classical Collection. p. 160, fig. 110, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1930. Handbook of the Classical Collection. p. 160, fig. 110, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Schefold, Karl. 1934. Untersuchungen zu den Kertscher Vasen. no. 327, pp. 37, 66, 97, 104, 127, 130, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter & Co.
Richter, Gisela M. A. and Marjorie J. Milne. 1935. Shapes and Names of Athenian Vases. pp. 19–20, fig. 121, New York: Plantin Press.
Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1936[1934]. A Guide to the Collections, Part 1: Ancient and Oriental Art, 2nd edn. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Richter, Gisela M. A. and Lindsley F. Hall. 1936. Red-Figured Athenian Vases in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. no. 169, pp. 215–16, pls. 164, 177, New Haven: Yale University Press.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1946. Attic Red-Figured Vases: A Survey. p. 161, fig. 123, New Haven: Yale University Press.
Bieber, Margarete. 1949. "Eros and Dionysos on Kerch Vases." Hesperia Supplement, 8: pp. 31–38, pl. 4.1.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1953. Handbook of the Greek Collection. pp. 115, 254, pl. 94e, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
Bandinelli, Ranuccio Bianchi. 1958. Enciclopedia dell'Arte Antica, Classica e Orientale, Vol. 1. pp. 903–4, fig. 1136, Rome: Instituto della Enciclopedia Italiana.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1958[1946]. Attic Red-Figured Vases: A Survey, Revised Edition, 2nd edn. p. 161, fig. 123, New Haven: Yale University Press.
Schefold, Karl. 1967[1965]. Classical Greece. p. 191 ff, fig. 40, New York: Crown Publishers.
Forsyth, William Holmes and The International Confederation of Dealers in Works of Art. 1974. "Acquisitions from the Brummer Gallery." The Grand Gallery at the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Sixth International Exhibition presented by C.I.N.O.A.. p. 2, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Bazant, Jan. 1974. "The Sacrificial Basket in Vase Painting." Acta Universitatis Carolinae Philologica, 1: p. 78.
Folsom, Robert. 1976. Attic Red-figured Pottery. pl. 63, Park Ridge, N.J.: Noyes Press.
Dover, Kenneth J. 1978. Greek Homosexuality. p. 77, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Biers, William R. 1980. The Archaeology of Greece: An Introduction. p. 272, fig. 9.44, Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Brendel, Otto J. 1980. The Visible Ideal: Interpretations of Classical Art. pp. 1–5, 47 n. 81, fig. 1, Washington, DC: Decatur House Press.
Hafner, G. 1980. "Lanessa." Rivista di Archeologia, IV: p. 23.
Simon, Erika. 1983. Festivals of Attica: An Archaeological Commentary. pp. 5, 6 n. 8, pl. 5, Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press.
Boardman, John. 1989. Athenian Red Figure Vases: The Classical Period, a Handbook. fig. 394, London: Thames and Hudson.
Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC). 1994. Vol. 7: Oidipous-Theseus. "Pompe," p. 435, no. 2, pl. 348, Zürich: Artemis Verlag.
Gebauer, Jörg. 2002. Pompe und Thysia: Attische Tieropferdarstellungen auf schwarz- und rotfigurigen Vasen. no. Kv 61, p. 570, Münster: Ugarit-Verlag.
Picón, Carlos A. 2007. Art of the Classical World in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Greece, Cyprus, Etruria, Rome no. 167, pp. 148, 436, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Kaltsas, Nikolaos and H. Alan Shapiro. 2008. Worshiping Women: Ritual and Reality in Classical Athens p. 143, fig. 1, New York: Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation (USA), Inc.
Mertens, Joan R. 2010. How to Read Greek Vases. pp. 147, 150, fig. 49, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Adam-Velenē, Polyxenē. 2011. Il dono di Dioniso : mitologia del vino nell'Italia centrale (Molise) e nella Grecia del Nord (Macedonia). The Gift of Dionysos. pp. 125, 134, fig. 6, Salonicco (Thessalonikē): Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki.
Mertens, Joan R. 2019. "Innovation in Hellenisitc Athenian Pottery : The Evolution from Painted to Relief Wares." Art of the Hellenistic Kingdoms from Pergamon to Rome, Seán Hemingway and Kyriaki Karoglou, eds. p. 150, fig. 3, New Haven: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Hemingway, Seán. 2021. How to Read Greek Sculpture. pp. 34–35, fig. 20, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The Met's Libraries and Research Centers provide unparalleled resources for research and welcome an international community of students and scholars.
The Met Collection API is where all makers, creators, researchers, and dreamers can connect to the most up-to-date data and public domain images for The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
Feedback
We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.
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.
