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IMPORTANT APULIAN RED-FIGURE BELL KRATER BY THE PAINTER OF BOSTON 00.342 The recognition scene from Euripides' drama,` Iphigeneia in Taurus'/ Bacchic scene with Dionysos. Pub: Trendall, RVAp, Suppl. II, #10/48a. Ex Patricia Kluge collection, Charlottesville, Virginia, acquired from Royal-Athena in 1991. Ca. 350 BC H. 13 1/2 in. (34.3 cm.) Art of the Ancient World, 2011, no. 128 1,000 Years of Ancient Greek Vases II, no. 124 PK0971K SOLD See Detail Images Below |
| Side A: This is a remarkable and important vase, for the scene on the obverse is based on a stage production of Euripides’ Iphigeneia in Tauris. The scene is set in Tauris, on the shores of the Black Sea. At the left, Iphigeneia stands before a rustic temple of Artemis, its doorway decked with laurel branches. The small wooden cult statue (xoanon) of Artemis is visible in the doorway, holding a bow. Iphigeneia wears a belted, diaphanous chiton with two black stripes, and a cloak that hangs over her arms. A veil hangs from the circular polos (open-topped crown) on her head, which along with the temple key in her left hand identifies her as a priestess. The polos is decorated with palmettes and maeanders. In her right hand is a letter, which she hands to the youth standing before her. He is Pylades, the companion of Iphigeneia’s brother Orestes, who sits below at center. Both youths are dressed as travelers: Pylades wears a chlamys, petasos, and boots; Orestes sports a chlamys and pilos (pointed felt cap). Both carry spears. Sitting with Orestes is a dog, which looks up alertly, apparently at a biga drawn by leopards. The goddess wears a diadem, gown, and belted deerskin, and holds a goad in her right hand. Below her, at lower right, is a curious and unexplained group: a nude youth holding a cat over a marble louterion: a washbasin. Side B: As on the obverse, the figures are distributed throughout the field as though in a landscape, but without any groundlines. In the upper tier, at center, Dionysos reclines on an embroidered pillow. His torso is bare, but a himation covers his legs, and there is a ribbon in his curly hair. As usual in the 4th century, the god is represented as young and beardless. In his left arm he cradles a thrysos and with his right forefinger he twirls a kylix for the game of kottabos, in which wine dregs are tossed toward a target, usually a plate balanced on a metal pole. At his feet is a three-legged stool, to the right of which sits a satyr. The satyr gestures to the left, probably telling the nude boy at lower left to hurry up with the wine. The boy dips a jug into a calyx-krater decorated with a black figure of a dancing man. While the god plays his game, his kantharos is held by a second satyr, at the upper right. The latter holds a thrysos in his other hand and is draped with an animal skin. At the upper left sits a maenad dressed in a chiton and himation and beating a tambourine. She looks toward Dionysos; hanging between them is a female theatrical mask. Dionysos was the patron god of the theater. His appearance on the reverse of this vase is further proof that the scene on the obverse was taken from the theater, a point made explicit by the precense of the mask. Euripides’ Iphigeneia in Tauris was first performed in Athens in 414 B.C. It was frequently revived throughout the fourth century, particularly in South Italy, where the plays of great Athenian tragedians were especially appreciated. Reflections of many of their plays are seen in South Italian vase-paintings, but the latter are better interpreted not as direct illustrations of stage productions, but rather as free adaptations. In Euripides’ tragedy, for example, there is no boy with a cat, and Artemis does not appear in a biga. The incident of the latter, however, is a critical episode in the play, and to understand it one must know the myth of Iphigeneia. Iphigeneia was the daughter of Agamemnon, leader of the Greeks against Troy. When the sailing of the Greek fleet was delayed by contrary winds, Agamemnon tried to solve the problem by sacrificing Iphigeneia. The girl was rescued at the last moment by Artemis, who substituted a hind on the altar. The goddess carried Iphigeneia off to Tauris, where she became the priestess of Artemis and was prevented from leaving by Thoas, king of the Taurians. A decade later, Agamemnon returned home and was murdered by his wife and her lover. His son Orestes avenged his father by killing his mother and her paramour. Pursued by the Furies for this crime, Orestes fled to Delphi, where Apollo told him he would be purified of guilt if he brought to Greece the cult statue of Artemis in Tauris. When Orestes and his friend Pylades arrived in Tuaris, they were imprisoned and threatened with sacrifice to Artemis, as were all travelers to this barbaric land. Orestes believed Iphigeneia was dead, and his sister did not recognize him. When she offered to save whichever would take a letter from her to Argos, Orestes nobly volunteered to remain behind. When Pylades was given the letter, Iphigeneia told him its contents: it was addressed to Orestes and told him she was alive and wished to leave Tauris. Pylades gave the letter to Orestes, and brother and sister are reunited amid much rejoicing. Together, they duped Thoas and with Athena’s help, made off with the statue of Artemis. A few other vases depict the same episode from the play. Among the closest is the name-vase of the Iphigeneia Painter, an Attic calyx-krater from Spina painted not long before this vase: Ferrara 3032 (T.1145); ARV 1440,1. Here too, Iphigeneia holds a temple key, Orestes and Pylades are dressed as travelers, and the cult statue is visible within the temple. Although differeing in details, the temples in both scenes were based on stage sets. The stage on this vase resembles those on some phlyax vases; e.g. Melbourne D 14/1973; A.D. Trendall, The Art Bulletin of Victoria (1945) 11-15. The arrival of Artemis in a biga may allude to her rescue of Iphigeneia from the altar. For the time being, the boy with the cat defies explanation. For the influence of Euripides’ play on Attic and South Italian vase-painting, see A. Cambitloglou, AntK 18 (1975) 56-66. For suspended masks on Apulian vases, see A.D. Trendall, in Studies in Honor of T.B.L. Webster II (Bristol 1988) 137-54, where another vase by this painter with a suspended female mask is illustrated on pl. 15, 8 (Jerusalem, Israel Museum 72.15.26). The Painter of Boston 00.348 is named for a bell-krater in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, with a picture of Athena and the satyr Marsyas (RVAp I, 258, no. 10/48, pl. 89, 2). Few works have been attributed to this talented artist, who in the second quarter of the 4th century was an associate of the more prolific Judgement Painter. The rare depiction of a cult statue on this vase recalls another bell-krater by the artist, with a unique representation of an artist painting a marble statue of Herakles: New York 50.11.4; RVAp, 266, no. 10/47. Broken and repaired, with some minor restoration. The shape is standard for an Apulian bell-krater of this period. A laurel wreath circles the vase under the overhanging rim, and there are bands of egg pattern at the roots of the handles. The encircling groundline consists of groups of stopt maeanders to left alternating with saltire-squares. Below the handles are large palmettes and scrolling tendrils, the latter serving to frame the pictures. The side of the foot is reserved, with a broad black band around the middle. |
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