| Collection: | Cambridge, Harvard University Art Museums |
| Summary: | Dionysos between eyes; cocks. |
| Ware: | Attic Black Figure, White Ground |
| Painter: | Name vase of the Hanfmann Painter |
| Date: | ca. 510 BC |
| Dimensions: | H. without handle 0.073 m.; H. with handle 0.14 m.; D. 0.113 m. |
| Shape: | Kyathos |
| Period: | Archaic |
Condition:
Broken and repaired, with moderate restoration of cracks and small gaps. Considerable erosion of added white.
Decoration Description:
The upper three quarters of the cup are coated outside with chalky white slip, over which the figures are painted in black-figure. On the front, opposite the handle, Dionysos is walking to the right but looking back to the left, his clenched fists held against his mid-section. He wears a white chiton with a red hem and dotted collar, a red ivy wreath, and a himation with at least two red stripes. His beard is long and red. He holds his hands as though he were clutching the ivy vine which emerges from his shoulder, but in fact he is not. The vine spreads to both right and left, trailing over and under the two large eyes which dominate either side of the vase. Each eye has an eyebrow and a pronounced canthus. The iris and pupil are represented by three compass-drawn incisions, with the outermost band painted white and the middle one red; a dot in the center of the black pupil marks the point where the compass pivoted. Beyond the eyes, flanking the handle, stand two cocks with several details of their anatomy picked out in added red: comb, hackle, wattles, and alternate tail feathers. From both cocks, a pair of sickle feathers arch back from the tail. Each holds his head high, as though they had just spotted each other across the vase and were about to do battle. A single lotus bud grows behind each cock, leaning over its back from a drooping tendril. The groundline is a single black stripe; below this a broader band and another, slender stripe. The interior, lower body, handle and foot are black.
Shape Description:
Kyathos (dipper): thin-walled body in the form of a truncated cone with convex sides; slender echinus foot; straight rim; single, high-swung strap handle with a central rib that extends half way down at either end, terminating inside in a mold-made palmette, with a snail-shaped knob on top of handle. Eisman calls this type of kyathos, painted by vases he assigns to the Hanfmann Painter, the Class of Munich 1963.
Collection History:
Gift: A Supporter of Sardis in Recognition of Mrs. Ilse Hanfmann and Eleven Seasons of Hospitality.
Sources Used:
Eisman 1973; Art Journal 1969.
Other Bibliography:
Art Journal 29 (Fall 1969) 53, fig. 2AJA 77 (1973) 71, no. 1