The Judgment of Paris

Title: The Judgment of Paris
Repository: British Museum
Alternative: Stamnos Old Catalogue 757 Vase E445
Photographer: Lowenstam, Steven
Creator Display: attributed to Group of London E 445 (Greek vase painters, active ca. 500-ca. 480 BCE)
Description: Pottery: red-figured stamnos. (a) Judgment of Paris. Beneath the left handle of the vase a rough irregular mass of the same height as the figures is left red, and marked with brown brush-marks, indicating Mount Ida. At the foot of it a ram stands to right. Towards this, Paris, a wreathed youth in bordered himation, with chelys in left hand and right hand pressed to side, moves rapidly; he turns to look at Hermes, who strides forward and seizes him by the right shoulder, touching his back with the caduceus, of which the spiked butt-end only is seen; Hermes is bearded and wreathed, and has long hair looped up behind, with one hanging lock (parotis), a short chiton, bordered chlamys, petasos hanging at his back, and talaria laced and winged; on the heel of each is a dotted circle. Behind him come the goddesses; first, Hera, wearing sleeved chiton, a mantle fastened on her left shoulder, on her head a calathos decorated with four horizontal patterns: she carries her sceptre (the ends not shown) on her left arm, and raises her open right with a gesture of encouragement to Paris. Next, Athene, in long chiton with apoptygma, mantle, aegis dotted, with fringe of snakes, and dotted taenia tied in a bow at the back of her head; her long hair hangs loose like that of Hera, but the ends are passed through a knotted cloth (?); she carries her spear horizontally in her left; her right hand, passing across her body, is missing; she turns to look at Aphrodite, whose body is cut in two by the space left under the handle; she wears a long sleeved chiton, a mantle, and a radiated stephane, and holds up in her right a flower towards her face. Her long hair hangs loose down her back. (b) Poseidon, Nike and Dionysos. Poseidon on the left, with a long sleeved chiton and mantle, long beard and hair falling to his shoulders, holding dolphin in left and a long trident resting against his left shoulder, holds out in his right a phiale to be filled by Nike, who moves towards him, holding up an oinochoe in her right; in her left hand is a circular disk, shaded in thinned brown (probably a phiale). Her wings are spread on each side, and she has a long Ionic chiton with apoptygma, undertied, a necklace with cruciform pendant, and a fillet looping up her hair behind. On the right Dionysos, bearded, wreathed with ivy, with long wavy hair, long sleeved chiton and mantle, moves away to right, looking back; on his left arm he holds a thyrsos, in his left hand a cantharos (part destroyed) which he carries by one handle in a horizontal position. Dionysos and Poseidon have the lips parted, as if they were speaking. The design curves up over the shoulder. Later stage of large style. Purple wreaths, fillet of Nike, and flower of Aphrodite. Brown inner markings, and shading of Mount Ida: the sheep is sketched in the roughest manner in thinned black. The hair of Hera and Athene is drawn in long wavy lines of thinned black. Eye in transition type (three varieties of form). Below, pairs of maeander set alternate ways, separated by dotted cross squares and red cross squares, with inner cross of dots; on shoulder, tongue; around lip, egg pattern. --The British Museum A Catalogue of the Greek and Etruscan Vases in the British Museum, London, William Nicol, 1851; Walters, H B; Forsdyke, E J; Smith, C H, Catalogue of Vases in the British Museum, I-IV, London, BMP, 1893; Walters, H B, Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum: Great Britain 4, British Museum 3, London, BMP, 1927
View: Side
Coverage: Attica, Central Greece and Euboea, Greece (creation) Vulci, Lazio, Italy (discovery)
Temporal: 470-450 BCE
Subject: Judgment of Paris Trojan Myth, Priorto, Iliad
Style Period: Red-figure Attic (Mainland Greek pottery styles)
Work Type: stamnoi
Date: -0470/-0450
Identifier: Lowenstam_VRC_00023
Item Locator: Box 1, Section 2
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: 36.83 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: 1837,0609.64