Loutrophoros

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Provision of image

Inventory number

ΝΑ 1957 Αα 1154

Artist

The Persephone Painter

Category

Vessel

Period

Classical Period

Date

450-440 BC

Dimensions

Height: 0.894 m
Rim diameter: 0.325 m
Body diameter: 0.27 m

Material

Clay

Location

Gallery of the Acropolis Slopes, Case 5

Description
Bibliography

Fragmentarily preserved loutrophoros-hydria decorated in the red-figure technique. It was found in 1957 in the Sanctuary of the Nymphe in fragments, was pieced together and was restored to a great extend.

The decoration of the vessel is arranged in three zones. On the neck an epavlia scene is depicted with the bride accepting a small box offered to her by a woman in the presence of a second woman. On the body of the loutrophoros unfolds a scene from the mythical wedding of Herakles and Hebe. Only the head of the bride survives. She is boarded on a quadriga and can be recognized by the faded inscription HBE in front of her. Next to her Ganymedes, also identified by the inscription ΓΑΝ.Ι.ΔΕΣ, holds a rod in his hand and turns towards a young woman. He might be the charioteer of the quadriga where alongside Hebe, Herakles would have been also depicted, but his figure hasn’t been preserved. Next to the chariot Apollo stands, holding his guitar to accompany the hymenaios song that the procession of friends and relatives would have sang. The preceding man, perhaps the proegetes leans on a staff and two women behind him complete the wedding procession.

On the third and lowest decorative zone an abduction scene is depicted. A woman is being taken by a man while two more women are running to get away. Two pairs of women and a single female figure complete the scene. The abduction of women is closely connected with wedding depictions either combined with them as in this vessel, or on their own foretelling in this way the marriage itself.

BAPD, Beazley Archive Pottery Database, www.beazley.ox.ac.uk, αρ. κατ. 214169
Beazley, J.D., Attic Red-figure Vase-painters, 2nd edition, Oxford, 1963, σελ. 1013.12
Sutton, R., The interaction between men and women portrayed on Attic red-figure pottery (διδακτορική διατριβή), The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1981, σελ. 257, αρ. κατ. W.81
Τσώνη-Κύρκου, Μ., «Λουτροφόρος Ευθρόμορφη. Εικονογραφικές Παρατηρήσεις», ΧΙΙ Διεθνές Συνέδριο Κλασικής Αρχαιολογίας, Αθήνα 2-10 Σεπτεμβρίου 1983, Αθήνα, 1988, σελ. 225-230, εικ. 41-43
LIMC IV, Hebe I, σελ. 461, αρ. κατ. 35
LIMC V, Herakles, σελ. 163, αρ. κατ. 3333
Sgourou, M., Attic lebetes gamikoi. Thesis (διδακτορική διατριβή), University of Cincinnati, 1994, σελ. 38, αρ. κατ. 28
Robertson, M., The Art of Vase-Painting in Classical Athens, Cambridge, 1996, σελ. 317
Laurens, A.F., «Héraclès et Hébé dans la céramique grecque, ou les noces entre terre et ciel», στο C. Jourdain-Annequin, C. Bonnet (επιμ.), Rencontre héracléenne. Héraclès, les femmes et le féminin, (Grenoble, 22 - 23 octobre 1992), Bruxelles, 1996, σελ. 246, εικ. 5
Winkler, H., Loutrophorie. Ein Hochzeitskult auf attischen Vasenbildern, 1999, Freiburg, σελ. 173, αρ. κατ. 148
Kyrkou, M., «Réalité iconographique et tradition littéraire. Noces d' Admète et d'Alceste», στο J.C. Balty, N. Icard-Gianolio, L.G. Kahil, P. Linant de Bellefonds (επιμ.), Agathos Daimon: mythes et cultes. Études d'iconographie en l'honneur de Lilly Kahil, Αθήνα, 2000, σελ. 289 υποσημ. 13
Oakley, J.H., «Context and the workshop», στο B. Schmaltz, M. Söldner (επιμ.), Griechische Keramik im kulturellen Kontext. Akten des Internationalen Vasen-Symposium in Kiel vom 24-28.9.2001 veranstaltet durch das Archäologische Institut der Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Münster, 2003, σελ. 24, εικ. 2.1, 2.2
Gondek, R., Dress and Nuptial Imagery in Athenian Vase Painting (διδακτορική διατριβή), University of Virginia, 2013, σελ. 96, 224, 385, εικ. 84a-c, αρ. κατ. CV.32