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LUCANIAN RED-FIGURE BELL KRATER NEAR THE MESSAGNE PAINTER By the same hand as Frankfurt B591 (Trendall). A Lapith with spear fighting a centaur who is biting his arm. Reverse: Youths with a wreath over an altar and a trumpet. Published: Marie LaForet S.A., sales catalogue, Geneva, Dec 11, 1980, no. 83 (as Lucanian); J. Eisenberg, One Thousand Years of Ancient Greek Vases, 1990, no. 70 (as late Attic). Ex Swiss collection; Patricia Kluge collection, Charlottesville, Virginia, acquired from Royal-Athena in 1990. Ca. 430 BC H. 10 in. (25.4 cm.); Diam. 10 1/4 in. (26 cm.) 1,000 Years of Ancient Greek Vases II, no. 157 PK0989K $35,000 Sales |
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Side A: A rearing centaur is biting the arm of a young Lapith; it is part of the fight that occurred at the wedding of Hippodameia and Perithoos, a member of the Lapith tribe of Thessaly and a close friend of Theseus. The centaurs crashed the party and tried to abscond with the bride and bridesmaids, causing an epic battle, a centauromachy. The Lapith, possibly Perithoos, is nude save for a cloak hanging from his right arm. In his left hand he jabs at his opponent with an object that looks more like a walking stick than a spear. The tree leaning behind the centaur is the common weapon of these half horse, half human creatures, who are often shown brandishing trees. This centaur has abandoned the tree for the more direct method of biting his opponent on the arm. This action may be borrowed from architectural sculpture; e.g. figures P and Q from the west pediment of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia, where a centaur also bites the arm of a Lapith; and the centauromachy from the temple of Apollo at Bassae, in which a centaur bites a Lapith’s shoulder. The stance of the centaur, as well as his fierce, goggle-eyed expression, rendered in three-quarter view, is paralleled by the centaur on metope no. 31 from the south side of the Parthenon. Support for this interpretation is provided by the curiously sketchy manner in which the figures are drawn, as though the artist, perhaps an apprentice with a hesitant hand, was copying another work, possibly a sculpture. Side B: Two youths clad in himations stand at either side of a low pillar, probably the starting post for races in the palaestra. This identification is made more probable by the victory wreath held by the youth at left. With both hands, he holds it out towards the youth at right, who is blowing on a long trumpet, a salphinx, his cheeks distended from the effort of his performance. This instrument as more like a bugle then a trumpet, for there were no holes in it – note that the left hand is beneath the cloak – and because its use was primarily military. Several vases show warriors (or satyrs equipped as warriors) blowing a salphinx to sound the charge or execute a maneuver. The wreath and pillar, however, suggest a different interpretation in this case. We know that competitions for trumpeters and heralds were held on the first day of the Olympic games, and that throughout the remainder of the festival the winners signaled the start of other competitions and announced the winners. The scene on this vase must undoubtedly refer to such a contest, either at Olympia or at similar games, such as the Panathenaic games at Athens. What is not clear is whether this trumpeter has won a competition with his peers, or whether he is announcing a winner from another contest, and the second youth is standing by with the victor’s prize. In either case, it is a subject unprecedented in South Italian vase-painting. For the centaur biting a lapith at Olympia, and the metope from the Parthenon, see J. Boardman, Greek Sculpture: The Classical Period (London 1985) figs. 21.7 and 91.10. For the centaur at Bassae, see A. Stewart, Greek Sculpture (New Haven and London 1990) fig. 452. For a Greek Warrior blowing a salphinx, cf. a red-figure hydria by Hypsis (Munich 2423, ARV 30,1); for a Scythian archer blowing the same instrument, cf. a black-figure plate by Psiax (London B 590; ABV 30,1); for a satyr-warrior blowing a salphinx, cf. a bilingual kylix by Epiketos (London E 3: ARV 70,3) Broken and repaired, with some restoration, particularly on the reverse; part of the face of the youth with a wreath. There are some small smudges of red on the obverse. A reserved groove separates the body from the disk foot with reserved sides. A single laurel wreath circles the vase below the rim. On either side, the unframed pictures have ground lines consisting of groups of linked maeanders to right alternating with saltire squares. The shape and ornament are typically Lucanian, but the figure decoration is somewhat unusual, as are the subjects. |
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