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View: Interior
Drinking cup (kylix) with seated Eros holding a scale or a bird trap
Greek, South Italian
Late Classical Period
350–325 B.C.
Place of Manufacture: Italy, Campania
Medium/Technique
Ceramic, Red Figure
Dimensions
Overall: 8.9cm (3 1/2in.)
Other (H): 18.6 x 7.6 x 25.4 cm (7 5/16 x 3 x 10 in.)
Other (H): 18.6 x 7.6 x 25.4 cm (7 5/16 x 3 x 10 in.)
Credit Line
Henry Lillie Pierce Fund
Accession Number01.8118
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope, Ancient Greece and Rome
ClassificationsVessels
Catalogue Raisonné
Vase-Painting in Italy (MFA), no. 083.
DescriptionInterior: Eros is seated to the left on a black and white spotted rock, holding a triangular object with a vertical handle, possibly a snare for a bird or a spinning top. A cloak pads his seat, and he wears a white bandoleer and shoes. His wings are spotted black and white. His hair is tied in a bun.
A: A young satyr stands next to a small stele. He wears shoes and has a cloak ver his left shoulder and arm; he carries a thyrsos in his left hand and a phiale in his right. He looks back at a youth standing at the right dressed in a himation and holding a staff in his right hand.
B: A nude youth walks to the left with a phiale in his left hand and a cloak around both arms; he looks back at a youth standing at the right with a staff in his right hand and wearing a richly bordered himation. A circular ornament with a swastika is in the field at right, possibly as discus.
SOUTH ITALIAN VASE PAINTING in ITALY, #83 (01.8118)
Kylix (type B)
Compared to the Painter of Zurich 2633
3rd quarter of 4th century B.C.
Interior: Eros is seated to the left on a black and white spotted rock, holding a triangular object with a vertical handle, possibly a bird trap or a musical instrument. A cloak pads his seat, and he wears a white bandoleer and (apparently) shoes. His wings are spotted black and white. His hair is tied in a bun. A phiale fills the space at lower left. The groundline consists of a band of dotted egg-pattern above a black exergue. The circular frame consists of groups of six or seven stopt maeanders alternating with checker-boards (four in all).
A: A young satyr stands next to a small stele. He wears shoes and has a cloak over his left shoulder and arm; he carries a thyrsos in his left hand and a phiale in his right. He looks back at a youth standing at the right dressed in a himation and holding a staff in his right hand. In the field above are a phiale and a quartered circle with dots.
B: A nude youth walks to the left with a phiale in his left hand and a cloak around both arms; he looks back at a youth standing at the right with a staff in his right hand and wearing a richly bordered himation. A circular ornament with a swastika is in the field at right, possibly a discus.
There are large palmettes under the handles and smaller ones enclosed by tendrils, which frame the exterior scenes. There are two concentric circles on the reserved underside of the foot.
For Eros with what may be a bird trap, compare an Attic kylix once in Castle Ashby, now at the University of Texas, Austin (CVA Castle Ashby, pl. 40, no. 62) Erotes on some Gnathian vases also hold traps (e.g., Philadelphia, University Museum,
L-64-19 [CVA 1, pl. 36,2]). In the hands of Eros, they are probably to be understood as "love-traps." For Eros, see A. Hermary et al., LIMC, III, 1, pp, 850-942, III, 2, pls. 609-668; and A. Greifenhagen, Griechische Eroten (Berlin, 1957).
Trendall found the feet and drapery of the youths to be in the manner of the Painter of Zurich 2633, a member of the Cassandra-Parrish Workshop, but he thought the faces to be in a different style. The rough checkers and stopt maeanders bordering the tondo recalled to him the Louvre Sacrifice Painter; see Trendall, LCS, p. 265.
A: A young satyr stands next to a small stele. He wears shoes and has a cloak ver his left shoulder and arm; he carries a thyrsos in his left hand and a phiale in his right. He looks back at a youth standing at the right dressed in a himation and holding a staff in his right hand.
B: A nude youth walks to the left with a phiale in his left hand and a cloak around both arms; he looks back at a youth standing at the right with a staff in his right hand and wearing a richly bordered himation. A circular ornament with a swastika is in the field at right, possibly as discus.
SOUTH ITALIAN VASE PAINTING in ITALY, #83 (01.8118)
Kylix (type B)
Compared to the Painter of Zurich 2633
3rd quarter of 4th century B.C.
Interior: Eros is seated to the left on a black and white spotted rock, holding a triangular object with a vertical handle, possibly a bird trap or a musical instrument. A cloak pads his seat, and he wears a white bandoleer and (apparently) shoes. His wings are spotted black and white. His hair is tied in a bun. A phiale fills the space at lower left. The groundline consists of a band of dotted egg-pattern above a black exergue. The circular frame consists of groups of six or seven stopt maeanders alternating with checker-boards (four in all).
A: A young satyr stands next to a small stele. He wears shoes and has a cloak over his left shoulder and arm; he carries a thyrsos in his left hand and a phiale in his right. He looks back at a youth standing at the right dressed in a himation and holding a staff in his right hand. In the field above are a phiale and a quartered circle with dots.
B: A nude youth walks to the left with a phiale in his left hand and a cloak around both arms; he looks back at a youth standing at the right with a staff in his right hand and wearing a richly bordered himation. A circular ornament with a swastika is in the field at right, possibly a discus.
There are large palmettes under the handles and smaller ones enclosed by tendrils, which frame the exterior scenes. There are two concentric circles on the reserved underside of the foot.
For Eros with what may be a bird trap, compare an Attic kylix once in Castle Ashby, now at the University of Texas, Austin (CVA Castle Ashby, pl. 40, no. 62) Erotes on some Gnathian vases also hold traps (e.g., Philadelphia, University Museum,
L-64-19 [CVA 1, pl. 36,2]). In the hands of Eros, they are probably to be understood as "love-traps." For Eros, see A. Hermary et al., LIMC, III, 1, pp, 850-942, III, 2, pls. 609-668; and A. Greifenhagen, Griechische Eroten (Berlin, 1957).
Trendall found the feet and drapery of the youths to be in the manner of the Painter of Zurich 2633, a member of the Cassandra-Parrish Workshop, but he thought the faces to be in a different style. The rough checkers and stopt maeanders bordering the tondo recalled to him the Louvre Sacrifice Painter; see Trendall, LCS, p. 265.
ProvenanceBy 1901: with E. P. Warren (according to Warren's records: Bought in Naples: certainly from Cumae.); purchased by MFA from E. P. Warren, December 1901