Side A: satyr carrying wineskin, from the knees up

Side B: satyr holding amphora, phallus

Side B: satyr playing aulos and holding wineskin, head

Side A: satyr playing barbiton, from the waist up

Side A: satyr holding rhyton, phallus

Side B: satyr holding amphora, from the waist down

Collection: Cambridge, Harvard University Art Museums
Summary: Return of Hephaistos, with Dionysos and satyrs.
Ware: Attic Red Figure
Painter: Attributed to the Kleophrades Painter
Context: Said to be from Taras
Date: ca. 500 BC
Dimensions:

H. 0.438 m.;, D. mouth 0.515 m.; D. with handles 0.48 m.; D. foot 0.26 m.

Primary Citation: ARV2, 185, 31; Beazley Addenda 2, 187.
Shape: Calyx krater
Beazley Number: 201683
Region: Apulia
Period: Late Archaic


Condition:

Broken and repaired, with cracks and missing pieces restored in plaster. There is only minimal repainting to complete simple outlines and to tint cracks and small gaps a neutral red or black. All earlier repainting has been removed. The largest gaps are in the satyrs over both handles, parts of Hephaistos and the donkey, and the rim above Dionysos' head. The surface is in generally good condition, but there is wear in some areas; e.g. the satyr with the kithara. Both handles are restored, as is half of the foot.

Decoration Description:

The Return of Hephaistos to Olympos. The procession is continuous, but the placement of Dionysos and Hephaistos in the center on opposite sides divides the figure zone into two sides. Side A: The procession, which moves to the right, may be said to begin with the two satyrs preceding Dionysos on the right side of Side A. The satyr in the van is, like all the satyrs on the vase, nude and ithyphallic, but unlike all the others, who have thick hair and long flowing tresses, he is bald on top and has no tresses. These distinguishing traits may have been the painter's hint that this satyr is indeed the one we should focus on to find the head of the procession. The satyr's lower body is in profile to the right, but he twists around to look down at and tickle the testicles of the satyr behind him. There is a red wreath in his hair, and with his left arm he clutches a large and apparently full wineskin, which like all the animal skins on the vase (except the flute-case) is tinted brown with dilute glaze. The tickled satyr is in profile to the right, his head thrown back as he plays the double-pipes (auloi). A spotted leopard skin hangs over both his shoulders. Behind him, at left, Dionysos is striding to the right while looking back to the left, a grapevine with leaves of added red in his left hand, a kantharos with a black body and foot in his right. The god wears a spotted leopard-skin over his short chiton and has a himation slung over both shoulders. There are laced shoes on his feet (tinted brown with dilute glaze) and a wreath of ivy with reserved leaves on his head. The next satyr, to the left and slightly in front of Dionysos, is playing a barbiton, a type of lyre common in komoi and thiasoi, with long, incurved arms. The satyr's head is thrown back, his mouth open in song. With his left hand he holds the plektron, which is attached to the lyre by a cord of added red. Like the piper, he wears a red wreath and a spotted leopard-skin; in this case, the head of the cat can be seen hanging at the shoulder. The satyr has stopped for a moment to concentrate on his song, his knees together and bent. Next in line is a satyr carrying a large volute-krater, the handles of which overlap the rim above. He gestures with his right hand while holding the krater tightly with his left. His knees are bent and his face is turned frontal, giving him a distinctly comical appearance. The next satyr is situated above and behind handle B/A. He wears a red wreath and carries two hammers, one resting on his left shoulder, the other in his lowered right hand. The tresses on this satyr's shoulder are particularly numerous and long.

Side B: With the next satyr, Side B properly begins. This satyr has his hands full, for he is holding the lead strap (drawn with added red) of Hephaistos' donkey and at the same time carrying a large pointed amphora on his left shoulder. He twists around to look backwards, his lips parted in what may be a salty oath directed at the donkey. A flute-case (sybene) with a box attached for the mouthpieces hangs from his left arm. Hephaistos rides serenely along, simply clothed in a himation and a wreath of added red, the reins of the donkey in his (missing) right hand. The top of the god's head overlaps the rim, and his face has been drawn directly on the beveled slope below. The tool resting on his right shoulder, its double head overlapping the rim, may be the double-headed hammer which is a particular attribute of Hephaistos, but it is so sharply indented in the center and so clearly different from the hammers carried by the satyr, that it may instead represent the axe with which the god struck the head of Zeus to release the newborn Athena. That the donkey is not a mule is indicated by the slender tail and the black stripes on its back and legs. To the left of the donkey is a satyr playing a kithara, a large concert-lyre. His red-wreathed head is bowed with concentration as he strikes the strings with the plektron, the latter attached to the lyre with a red cord. There is a band of dicing along the bottom edge of the kithara, and the pegs where the strings meet the cross-bar are drawn with added red. Accompanying the kithara-player is another satyr, at left, who not only plays the double-pipes, but also carries an enormous goat-skin bellows over his left shoulder, its wooden nozzle hanging down like a spent phallos. Instead of the wash of dilute glaze used to tint the wineskin (and leopard-skins), the furry texture of the bellows is indicated by a multitude of short brushstrokes of dilute glaze (wineskins had the fur on the inside, bellows on the outside). The rear of the procession, over handle A/B, is brought up by two standing satyrs. The one at right stands with his body frontal, his head turned to meet the eyes of his companion, who prances to the left, a drinking-horn in his right hand. The frontal satyr, who wears a red fillet, gestures toward him with both hands, his mouth open as though urging him to stop his highjinks and join the escort of Hephaistos. Instead, the second satyr, who wears a red wreath, is about to collide with the bald satyr at the head of the procession, whose attention is also focused elsewhere. On all the figures, the long beards are fringed with relief lines and the minor muscles and ribs are drawn with brown dilute glaze. As he commonly did, the Kleophrades Painter outlined the lips of each figure with relief lines and added a border of paired stripes to both himations.

The groundline on either side is a band of key pattern running to the left and extending from handle to handle at the upper edge of the cul. The fascia of the rim is circled by a band of upright palmettes enclosed by tendrils. In the spandrels between each palmette are smaller, unenclosed palmettes. The underside of the rim, reserved and beveled, serves to separate the figure zone from the mouth. There is a band of black tongues, framed by relief lines, on the lower body. The area between the handle-roots is reserved. The foot is all black, as is the entire interior.

Shape Description:

As with most Archaic calyx kraters, the diameter is greater than the height. The wide foot is in two degrees, with a torus and riser. A fillet separates foot and body. The rim has the customary shape, in two degrees: torus above fascia. The handles may have been restored too slender and may not be at exactly the right angle.

Inscriptions:

The inscriptions are nonsense.

Collection History:

Gift of Frederick M. Watkins. Purchased from Jacob Hirsch in 1941.

Sources Used:

Watkins Catalogue 1973; Beazley, Kleophrades-Maler 1933.

Other Bibliography:

Lissarrague 1991, 273, fig. 2a-b.