Part of a loutrophoros

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Provision of image

Inventory number

ΝΑ 1955 Αα 5

Artist

The Washing Painter

Category

Vessel

Period

Classical Period

Date

425-420 BC

Dimensions

Height: 0.095 m
Length: 0.097 m

Material

Clay

Location

Gallery of the Acropolis Slopes, Case 5, No 53

Description
Bibliography

Part of a loutrophoros' body decorated in the red-figure technique. It was found in 1955 in the Sanctuary of the Nymphe in fragments and was reassembled.

It depicts a wedding scene. In the middle a young woman, perhaps the bride, is presented seated, reaching out towards a decorated loutrophoros filled with myrtle leaves, the symbol of fertility and prosperity. Behind the bride, a second woman holds a myrtle wreath and a small box. Both women have their hair gathered high on their heads and wear earrings. Perhaps this scene depicts the bride getting ready for the wedding or shows an epavlia scene. However, we cannot exclude the possibility that this is a loutrophoria procession, in which case the central figure is a young girl chosen to carry the loutrophoros vase with water for the bride’s nuptial bath.

BAPD, Beazley Archive Pottery Database, www.beazley.ox.ac.uk, αρ. κατ. 214901
Beazley, J.D., Attic Red-figure Vase-painters, 2nd edition, Oxford, 1963, σελ. 1128.20-92
Μπρούσκαρη, Μ., Μουσείον Ακροπόλεως. Περιγραφικός κατάλογος, Αθήνα, 1974, σελ. 114
Sabetai, V., The Washing Painter (διδακτορική διατριβή), University of Cincinnati, 1993, σελ. 134 (vol. II)
Winkler, H., Loutrophorie. Ein Hochzeitskult auf attischen Vasenbildern, 1999, Freiburg, σελ. ΙΙ.28, αρ. κατ. ΙΙ.30
Mösch-Klingele, R., Die Loutrophoros Im Hochzeits- und Begraebnisritual des 5. Jahrhunderts v. Chr. in Athen, 2006, Bern, σελ. 229, αρ. κατ. 35
Mösch-Klingele, R., Braut ohne Bräutigam: schwarz- und rotfigurige Lutrophoren als Spiegel gesellschaftlicher Veränderungen in Athen, 2010, Mainz am Rhein, σελ. 77, αρ. κατ. 2