Description:
A beautiful and published Attic oinochoe (wine jug), made in Athens on the potter’s wheel and decorated by the painter of Würzburg 351, a well known artist. The vase has a rounded body with trefoil mouth and is made of fine quality reddish clay with a black glaze and applied red and white paint.
The picture panel shows, in black-figure technique, a richly dressed and bearded Dionysos, the god of wine, walking towards the right and holding a cornucopia (horn of plenty) in his left hand.
In front of him is a dancing satyr, naked, also walking towards the right but looking back towards Dionysos.
Ivy plants can be seen in the background. The vertical border of the picture panel contains rows of dots and the top border consists of a tongue pattern. Above it a meander pattern can be seen.
White paint has been applied for the undergarment of Dionysos, the small dots on his mantle, the contents of the cornucopia, fruits on the ivy and the sling around the neck of the satyr, as well as in his hair. Red paint was used on the mantle of Dionysos and in the hair and beard of both figures.
The vase was decorated by the Painter of Würzburg 351 around 490 B.C.; he was first identied by Beazley on an oinochoe in the Martin Von Wagner Museum, Universität Würzburg, inventory number L351; this museum also has another of his works (inventory number L352). Several other vases, decorated by the same painter, are in major museums of the world:
- London, British Museum, Inventory Number 50.12-4.1 (3)
- Oxford, Ashmolean Museum (fragment) (4)
- Malibu (CA), J. Paul Getty Museum, 76.AE.128
- Washington (DC), National Museum of Natural History, Inventory Number 1359 (5)
- Basel, Antikenmuseum und Sammlung Ludwig, Inventory Number Z374 (6)
- Paris, Musée Auguste Rodin, Inventory Number 293 (7)
- Ferrara, Museo Nazionale di Spina, Inventory Numbers 161 (8), 169 (9), 191 (10), 10986 (11), 16274 (12), 16278 (13), T164 (14), T167 (15), T267 (16)
- Palermo, Mormino Collection, Inventory Number 1041 (17)
- Rhodes, Archaeological Museum, Inventory Numbers 13349 (18), 13435 (19), 13489 (20)
Published:
This oinochoe was published by Kurt Deppert, Griechische Vasen (1984), nr. 9.
Dating:
Greece, Attica, circa. 490 B.C.
Size:
Circa 24 cm high, circa 26.5 cm including handle; diameter of foot 8.3 cm
Provenance:
Collection of Dr. Wilhelm Hartwig, Weinheim, Germany.
Condition:
Intact. The black glaze was applied rather thinly on the back of the vessel, turning it into a slightly brownish black colour; the same phenomenon can be observed with some other vessels decorated by the same painter. Handle professionally reattached. As usual with ancient vases there are some scratches and small spots with some loss of glaze, but these do not detract. Overall an excellent vase.
SOLD
Stock number:
C0480