| Collection: | Cambridge, Harvard University Art Museums |
| Summary: | Side A: Triton. Side B: Nereid. |
| Ware: | Attic Red Figure |
| Painter: | Attributed to the Berlin Painter |
| Date: | ca. 490 BC |
| Dimensions: | H. 0.307 m.; D. 0.18 m. |
| Primary Citation: | |
| Shape: | Neck amphora |
| Beazley Number: | 201859 |
| Period: | Late Archaic |
Condition:
Unbroken and in excellent condition.
Decoration Description:
Side A: Triton swims to the right, his human upper half erect and his serpentine lower body undulating behind and terminating in a forked tail similar to a dolphin's. The spotted tail is tinted with brown dilute glaze and has two pairs of fins. Triton's human half is clothed in a himation decorated with dot-rosettes and a chiton with folds drawn in dilute glaze. His long hair is tied in a krobylos secured with a wreath of added red. In his right hand he holds a scepter and in his left, a dolphin. The little finger of his right hand is stiffly extended.
Side B: A Nereid in a belted chiton runs to the left; the chiton folds are drawn with diluted glaze. She seems to be in a state of agitation, for she stretches forth both arms and her loose hair gives her a somewhat wild appearance. If she is running to relate the news of her sister Thetis' capture by Peleus — the normal task of running, agitated Nereids — then the figure on Side A might not be Triton, but rather her father Nereus, the normal recipient of this news. Although Nereus is normally represented in human form in this period, on early black-figure vases he was sometimes depicted in fish-tailed form. On a kylix by the Kleophrades Painter,
The groundlines below each figure consist of a band of key pattern to right. The vase is otherwise entirely black, save for two incised lines framing the fillet above the foot.
Shape Description:
Small, with double handles (i.e. a "doubleen"). Disk foot. Flaring mouth. Not a Nolan.
Collection History:
Gift of Mr. E. P. Warren.
Sources Used:
CVA, Fogg-Gallatin.
Other Bibliography: