Obverse, King Akrisios watching his daughter Danae and her son Perseus who stand in a chest about to be set adrift Reverse, Danae's seated mother, a standing servant with basket, and a carpenter holding a hammer
When King Akrisios of Argos was informed by an oracle that his grandson would kill him, he locked away his daughter Danaë. Nevertheless, Zeus came to her as a shower of gold and Perseus was born. The king had Danaë and Perseus put into a wooden chest and set adrift to die at sea. After many adventures, including his beheading of Medusa the Gorgon, Perseus returned to Argos and fulfilled the prophecy. Here in a quiet but tense moment, Danaë and the baby react with horror and pleading before the chest is closed.
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.
This artwork is meant to be viewed from right to left. Scroll left to view more.
Artwork Details
Use your arrow keys to navigate the tabs below, and your tab key to choose an item
Title:Terracotta stamnos with cover (jar)
Artist:Attributed to the Deepdene Painter
Period:Classical
Date:ca. 470–460 BCE
Culture:Greek, Attic
Medium:Terracotta; red-figure
Dimensions:Overall: 15 x 15 3/8in. (38.1 x 39cm); diameter 12 3/8in. (31.4cm)
Classification:Vases
Credit Line:Rogers Fund, 1917
Accession Number:17.230.37a, b
Inscription: Names of Perseus and Akrisios inscribed
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1926. Ancient Furniture: A History of Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Furniture. p. 92, Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Richter, Gisela M. A. and Lindsley F. Hall. 1936. Red-Figured Athenian Vases in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. no. 82, pp. 112–14, pls. 85, 86, 173, New Haven: Yale University Press.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1946. Attic Red-Figured Vases: A Survey. p. 92, fig. 32b, New Haven: Yale University Press.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1953. Handbook of the Greek Collection. p. 87, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
Bandinelli, Ranuccio Bianchi. 1958. Enciclopedia dell'Arte Antica, Classica e Orientale, Vol. 3. p. 19, fig. 23, Rome: Instituto della Enciclopedia Italiana.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1958[1946]. Attic Red-Figured Vases: A Survey, Revised Edition, 2nd edn. p. 92, fig. 32b, New Haven: Yale University Press.
Beazley, John D. 1963[1942]. Attic Red-figure Vase-painters, Vols. 1 and 2, 2nd ed. pp. 498, 1656, no. 1, Add. 1, pp. 498–501, Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1970. Perspective in Greek and Roman Art. p. 25, n. 4, fig. 103, New York and London: Phaidon Press.
Beazley, John D. 1971. Paralipomena: Additions to Attic Black-Figure Vase-Painters and to Attic Red-Figure Vase-Painters [2nd edition]. p. 381, Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC). 1981. Vol. 1: Aara-Aphlad. "Akrisios," p. 451, no. 6, pl. 343, Zürich: Artemis Verlag.
Reeder, Ellen D., Sally Humphreys, Prof. Mary R. Lefkowitz, Francois Lissarrague, Prof. Margot Schmidt, Prof. H. Alan Shapiro, Christianne Sourvinou-Inwood, Prof. Andrew F. Stewart, Froma Zeitlin, Carol Benson, and Brunilde Sismondo Ridgway. 1995. "Women in Classical Greece." Pandora: Women in Classical Greece. p. 272, fig. 76, Detail p. 107, Fig. 8, Baltimore: Walters Art Gallery.
Mitchell, Alexandre G. 2009. Greek Vase-painting and the Origins of Visual Humour. pp. x, 70–71, 288, fig. 23, New York: Cambridge University Press.
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.
