| Collection: | Cambridge, Harvard University Art Museums |
| Summary: | Body: Theseus and the Minotaur; Shoulder: satyrs and nymphs. |
| Ware: | Attic Black Figure |
| Date: | ca. 550 BC - ca. 530 BC |
| Dimensions: | H. 0.44 m.; Diam. 0.43 m. |
| Shape: | Hydria |
| Beazley Number: | 4933 |
| Period: | Archaic |
Condition:
Broken and repaired, with some pieces missing, most from the black areas of the body but also a large section of the main scene, including the legs, chest, and neck of Theseus; the face, right leg, and right shoulder and arm of the Minotaur; and the right leg of one spectator. Details in added red are well preserved, but most added white has been lost. All previous repainting has been removed.
Decoration Description:
Body: In the center, Theseus holds the Minotaur by one of its horns and stabs it with the sword in his right hand. The monster has fallen to his right, on his right knee, and turns his head back toward Theseus. He holds a stone in his upraised left hand. Theseus has a scabbard at his waist and wears a white fillet (now nearly invisible) and a tunic with a red kilt. He has long red hair and a row of incised curls over his forehead. The Minotaur has added red on his neck and chest, and the hair on his head is indicated with short incisions. Watching the action from either side are two pairs of spectators, in each case a woman and a youth. The women, whose features have been lost with the added white that colored their faces and limbs, wear belted peploi with red overfolds and have himatia with red and white spots draped over their arms. Both wear red fillets and have their hair tied in queues. The youths are nude, but have cloaks with red and white dots and rosettes (now effaced) draped over their arms. Both youths have long red hair, and the one at right has added red around his nipples and on his chest, as on the Minotaur. All four figures hold one arm level at the waist and raise the other perpendicular, as though hailing the central event.
Shoulder: Four pairs of dancing satyrs and nymphs. The satyrs all have red hair and beards. The women all wear belted peploi with red overfolds and have their hair tied in a queue. Because they lack maenadic attributes — thyrsoi, snakes, etc. -the women are more accurately termed nymphs. Their features have been lost through flaking of the added white which colored their faces and limbs. The direction of the dance is to the right, but all of the women and one satyr (the second one) turn their heads to the left. The first satyr raises his left leg and left hand; his partner raises her left hand too. The second satyr holds a drinking horn, and although he looks back at the first pair, raises his left hand toward his own partner, who holds both of her hands low. The third satyr stands with legs together and knees bent, with one hand up and the other down; his partner holds both of her arms down on either side of her body. The fourth satyr raises his left leg and right hand and touches his belly with his other hand; the nymph touches her stomach also.
The scene on the body is framed laterally with ivy wreaths, with red vines and black leaves and berries. The figures on the shoulder stand on a slender line of dilute glaze; above them, below the neck, is a band of tongues, alternately red and black. There is a zone of rays on the lower body. The mouth, neck, handles, and foot are black. Stripes of added red circle the middle of the foot and its ribbed moldings, the top of the zone of rays, the lower body just below the figure panel, the upper and lower edges of the mouth, and the fillet between foot and body. The ends of the handles rotelles are also red.
Shape Description:
Hydria: swollen, bulbous body; rounded shoulder; concave neck; slender rim, flattened on top, with grooves at top and bottom framing a torus molding; echinus foot with lower section grooved to create a reeded profile; fillet between foot and body; small horizontal handles with torus rib in center; low vertical handle, ribbed along the sides and framed at the upper juncture by spool-shaped rotelles.
Inscriptions:
In red wash on the bottom of the foot, now quite pale, a ligature, possibly
Graffiti:
On the bottom of the foot:
Essay:
Collection History:
Bequest of Edith J. Purrington.
Sources Used:
Buitron 1972.
Other Bibliography:
Fogg Art Museum Acquisitions 1962-1963 (before cleaning)