Zeuxo pouring wine for Chrysippos

Title
Zeuxo pouring wine for Chrysippos
Repository
British Museum
Alternative
Kylix Vase E65
Creator
Brygos Brygos Painter
Photographer
Lowenstam, Steven
Creator Display
Brygos (Attic potter, active ca. 490 to 470 BCE); attributed to Brygos Painter (Ancient Greek vase painter, active ca. 490-ca. 470 BCE)
Description
Pottery: red-figured kylix (drinking-cup). INTERIOR: Warrior and girl. On the left a warrior sits on a stool with fringed cushion decorated with rows of dots and rows of two-tailed blobs. He is dressed in short chiton (dilute glaze folds on shoulder), dotted himation (battlement upper border, black lower border), cuirass, Corinthian helmet and red greave-pads (upper band crenellated, lower plain). His hair and beard are done with dilute glaze; a long curl falls down over his shoulder. He holds a spear upright in his left hand (a group of dilute glaze lines on upper shaft; point breaks the border pattern) and holds out a bossed phiale in his right. The bosses are done with raised clay and then gilded by using red miltos as a bole. His mouth is open and his name is written as if issuing from it: +PVΣΙΠΠΟΣ. On the right stands a girl in chiton (folds of second overfold and sleeve done in dilute glaze; ends of red girdle show over her right knee) and himation. Her blond hair (done with dilute glaze) is tied up at the back with a double reserved cord with three tassels that fall on her shoulder and a hair slide or clip. She supports the rim of a black shield (reserved line at joint with rim) with her left hand and holds up a dipper with a long handle that terminates in a very schematic duck's head: she is about to pour wine into the warrior's phiale. Over her back is written her name: IEVXΣO. Her disc earring is done with raised clay and was gilded, like the phiale. Border: dotted saltire cross (blobs at ends of arms) alternating with three units of stopt maeander (five- to six-stroke, anticlockwise: reversed behind helmet crest and woman's head, and only two units at two o'clock). EXTERIOR: satyrs threaten Hera and Iris. Side A: Hera threatened by satyrs. Creeping out from under the handle root on the extreme left is a satyr, named ΤΕΡΠΟΝ. His left knee is almost on the ground, his right is doubled up under him; both hands are on the ground. Like all the other satyrs on the cup, he has his mouth slightly open, his hairline is receding, he has an erection and he wears a red wreath of ivy leaves. In addition, however, his long hair falls down in curls over his back. Almost alongside him walks another satyr, named BABAK+OΣ. His fists are clenched (the preliminary sketch shows that the left arm was originally raised by c. 90 degrees). In front of him is a third satyr, named HVAPIEI: (the first letter is cramped and may be a mistake for K), who moves forward, but the way he spreads his hands suggests he may be hesitating (his erection is obscured by the tail of the next satyr). In the centre is a fourth satyr, named ΣTVON, who stoops as he moves forward. He is almost in three-quarter back view. Facing these satyrs stands Hermes (HEPMEΣ retr., except final sigma). He wears a dotted chlamys with a black border tied at the neck (circular brooch), petasos (dilute hatching along the curve before the brim, to indicate shadow) with red ties and winged boots and carries a kerykeion (four raised dots for gilding on finial) in his left hand. His right hand is raised with thumb and forefinger together. Behind Hermes, Hera (HEPA retr.) moves rapidly away to the right, her head turned back to the left and her right arm outstretched. She wears a chiton (dilute glaze folds on sleeve) with a red tie under the overfold, a himation with a battlement border, a stephane, a snake bracelet and disc earring (stephane and bracelet are done with raised clay and were gilded). She has gathered some of her chiton in her left hand to aid her flight. On the far right Herakles (HEPAKLEΣ retr., except final sigma) moves rapidly to the left: his left foot is off the ground. He is dressed in a striped jacket, trousers decorated with stripes, rows of dots and double tailed blobs, a short chiton and his lion-skin. The upper folds of his chiton are done with dilute glaze. He holds a bow (red string) and arrow out in his left hand and a club, which is done with raised clay and was gilded, back in his right hand. A quiver with two arrows in it hangs from a red strap at his left hip. He is shown in three-quarter back view. Side B: Iris caught by two satyrs, Dionysos and a satyr. On the left a satyr, named ΔΡΟMΙΣ, runs past a plain block: both his feet are off the ground and his arms are outstretched. The preliminary sketch lines indicate that the artist had once intended to draw a folding stool covered with an animal skin on this block. In front of him stands Dionysos (ΔIONVΣOΣ) with his legs crossed, the left frontal, the right on tip toe behind. He is dressed in a long chiton with a red girdle and a himation and has an animal skin (pardalis) tied around his neck and a red ivy wreath in his hair. He has a striped sceptre in his left hand and a black kantharos in his right. The preliminary sketch indicates that a regular vine branch was once intended. In the centre is an altar with volute finials and an ovolo pattern. At the centre of either volute is a lump of raised clay that was gilded. The altar is wreathed with ivy and has three splashes of red, either blood or wine. A satyr, named Ε+ON, is climbing over the altar to reach Iris. He is seen in three-quarter back view and has his right foot on top of the altar, next to the fire-brick, his left leg trails behind. He has gripped Iris' right wrist with his left hand and tugs at the upper folds of her chiton with his right. Iris (IPIN) tuns away to the right, left foot off the ground, but turns her head back towards Echon. She has scaly wings and is dressed in a chiton (dilute glaze folds for second overfold), a plain sakkos and disc earring (raised clay for gilding). In her right hand she holds a kerykeion. In her left hand she has an elongated object filled with a dilute glaze wash: it continues in dilute glaze without relief line contouring up in a high curve with a slight blob at the end. On the right a third satyr, named LΕΦΣΙΣ, stops Iris' flight. He has caught her left elbow with his right hand and endeavours to wrench the object from her with his other hand. He is seen in three-quarter back view; his left foot is off the ground. Ground line: single reserved line. On edge of foot: BPVAOΣ EΠOIEΣEN, in glaze, spaced and divided so that Brygos is under side A, epoiesen under side Β (see fig. 3g). Relief line contours throughout (except hair); dilute glaze for minor interior markings; added red for inscriptions; thin reserved line outside at juncture of offset lip and wall. --The British Museum Williams, Dyfri, Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum: Great Britain 17, British Museum 9, London, BMP, 1993; Walters, H B; Forsdyke, E J; Smith, C H, Catalogue of Vases in the British Museum, I-IV, London, BMP, 1893
Inscription
Interior: +PVΣΙΠΠΟΣ; IEVXΣO. Exterior: ΤΕΡΠΟΝ; BABAK+OΣ; HVAPIEI; ΣTVON; HEPMEΣ retr., except final sigma; HEPA retr.; HEPAKLEΣ retr., except final sigma; ΔΡΟMΙΣ; ΔIONVΣOΣ; LΕΦΣΙΣ; BPVAOΣ EΠOIEΣEN
View
Interior
Coverage
Attica, Central Greece and Euboea, Greece (creation) Brygos Tomb, Capua, Campania, Italy (discovery)
Temporal
ca. 480 BCE
Subject
Brygos Painter Pottery IV Black Figure, Red Figure
Style Period
Red-figure Attic (Mainland Greek pottery styles)
Work Type
kylikes
Date
-0485/-0475
Identifier
Lowenstam_VRC_06056
Item Locator
Box 13, Section 30
Rights
In Copyright
Dc Rights Holder
University of Oregon, Department of Classics
Local Collection Name
Steven Lowenstam Collection
Type
Image
Format
image/tiff
Measurements
Height: 12.7 cm Diameter: 27.94 cm
Material
pottery | painted
Set
Lowenstam Collection of Ancient Western Art and Archaeology
Primary Set
Lowenstam Collection of Ancient Western Art and Archaeology
Institution
University of Oregon
Cultural Context
Attic (culture)
Id Current Repository
1873,0820.376