Above, obverse, Odysseus pursuing Circe; reverse, women and king Below, obverse, man between women; reverse, youth and women
The primary and most interesting scene on this two-row krater shows Odysseus pursuing the enchantress Circe. In the air between them are Circe's magic wand and the skyphos (deep drinking cup) that contains the potion with which she transforms men into animals. Behind Odysseus, two of his men with features of a boar and a horse or mule gesticulate toward him. The pursuit may also be mythological.
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Above, Odysseus pursuing Circe; below, man between women.
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Above, Odysseus pursuing Circe; below, man between women.
Artwork Details
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Title:Terracotta calyx-krater (bowl for mixing wine and water)
Artist:Attributed to the Persephone Painter
Period:Classical
Date:ca. 440 BCE
Culture:Greek, Attic
Medium:Terracotta; red-figure
Dimensions:Overall: 14 1/4 x 14in. (36.2 x 35.5cm)
Classification:Vases
Credit Line:Gift of Amelia E. White, 1941
Object Number:41.83
Said to have been found near Tarentum (American Art Galleries 1899, p. 64, no. 362)
Reportedly, collection of Alessandro Castellani (1823-1883), Rome and Naples; until 1899, collection of Thomas B. Clarke, New York; 1899, acquired by Valentine Everit Macy, purchased through the American Art Galleries, New York (lot 362); until 1938, collection of Valentine Everit Macy (1871-1930), New York; [1938, sold through the Anderson Galleries, Inc., New York (lot 284)]; until 1941, collection of Amelia Elizabeth White (1878-1972), New York and Santa Fe; acquired in 1941, gift of Amelia E. White.
American Art Galleries. 1899. Catalogue of the private art collection of Thomas B. Clarke. Part II. Objects of Art. no. 362, p. 64, New York: American Art Association.
1938. The V. Everit Macy Collection : including rare and important Persian and Mesopotamian pottery, Persian and Indian miniatures, Persian brocades and velvet carpets no. 284, p. 50, New York: American Art Association-Anderson Galleries, Inc.
Alexander, Christine. 1941. "Greek Accessions: A Bronze Griffin, a Terracotta Vase, a Wax Head." Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 36(10): pp. 203–5, figs. 3–4.
Luce, Stephen Bleecker. 1942. "Archaeological News and Discussions." American Journal of Archaeology, 46(2): p. 267.
Beazley, John D. 1946. Potter and Painter in Ancient Athens. p. 14, London: Oxford University Press.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1953. Handbook of the Greek Collection. pp. 101, 242, pl. 82a, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
Beazley, John D. 1963[1942]. Attic Red-figure Vase-painters, Vols. 1 and 2, 2nd ed. p. 1012, no. 3, Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Scherer, Margaret R. 1963. The Legends of Troy in Art and Literature. p. 160, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Touchefeu-Meynier, Odette. 1968. Thèmes Odysséens dans l'Art Antique. no. 187, pp. 95–96, 117 n. 36, 120, 131, 287, pl. XVI.2, Paris: E. de Boccard.
Beazley, John D. 1971. Paralipomena: Additions to Attic Black-Figure Vase-Painters and to Attic Red-Figure Vase-Painters [2nd edition]. p. 440, Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Blatter, Rolf. 1975. "Frühe Kirkebilder." Antike Kunst, 18(2): p. 78 n. 22.
Brommer, Frank. 1983. Odysseus : Die Taten und Leiden des Helden in antiker Kunst und Literatur. fig. 33, Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft.
Oakley, John H. 1984. "Double-register calyx kraters : A study in Workshop Tradition." Ancient Greek and Related Pottery : proceedings of the International Vase Symposium in Amsterdam 12–15 April, 1984. p. 126, Amsterdam: Allard Pierson Museum.
Conner, Peter J. 1988. "The Cup and the Sword : Odysseus intimidates Circe on a Column-Krater in Sydney." Archäologischer Anzeiger, : pp. 45 n. 4, 48, figs. 8–9.
Tiverios, Michalis A. 1989. Perikleia Panathenaia: A Krater of the Painter of Munich 2335. p. 80, Thessalonikē: Andromeda Oxford Limited.
Buitron-Oliver, Diana. 1992. The Odyssey and Ancient Art: An Epic in Word and Image. no. 25, pp. 83, 90–91, Annandale-on-Hudson: Edith C. Blum Art Institute, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York.
Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC). 1992. Vol. 6: Kentauroi-Oiax. "Kirke," p. 53, no. 25, pl. 27, Zürich: Artemis Verlag.
Cohen, Beth. 2000. Not the Classical Ideal: Athens and the Construction of the Other in Greek Art p. 81, fig. 3.5, Leiden: Brill.
Woodford, Susan and Cambridge University Press. 2003. Images of Myths in Classical Antiquity. p. 169, fig. 130, Cambridge.
Strawczynski, Nina. 2003. "La representation de l'evenement sur la ceramique attique: quelques strategies graphiques." Zum Verhältnis von Raum und Zeit in der griechischen Kunst : Passavant-Symposion, 8. bis 10. Dezember 2000, Peter C. Bol, ed. p. 38 n. 29, Möhnesee: Bibliopolis.
Wannagat, Detlev. 2003. "Plotzlichkeit: Zur temporalen und narrativen Qualitat fallender Gegenstande." Zum Verhältnis von Raum und Zeit in der griechischen Kunst : Passavant-Symposion, 8. bis 10. Dezember 2000, Peter C. Bol, ed. p. 71 n. 42, fig. 20, Möhnesee: Bibliopolis.
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