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Terracotta neck-amphora (jar)

Attributed to Exekias 

Period:
Archaic
Date:
ca. 540 B.C.
Culture:
Greek, Attic
Medium:
Terracotta; black-figure
Dimensions:
H. 18 1/2 in. (47 cm) diameter 9 3/4 in. (24.8 cm)
Classification:
Vases
Credit Line:
Rogers Fund, 1917
Accession Number:
17.230.14a, b
  • Description

    On the body, obverse and reverse, man and woman in chariot accompanied by woman and kithara player
    On the shoulder, combat of foot soldiers and horsemen

    Black-figure was a cumbersome, restricted, and quite artificial technique. The vases in this room testify to the variety of effect and the forcefulness of expression that is nonetheless permitted. Probably the greatest single black-figure artist was Exekias, who was both potter and painter. Although the essential ingredients of this work are traditional, its particular character is evident in the robust shape, the extraordinary precision and vitality in the figures and ornament, and the perfect relation of the decorative elements to the body beneath.

  • Provenance

    Possibly between 1787-1790, acquired by Sir William Hamilton (British Envoy and Plenipotentiary at the court of Naples), Naples; from the late 1780's to 1801, possibly in the collection of Sir William Hamilton; 1801-1917, vase and lid probably in the possession of the Hope Family, at Deepdene, Surrey, England (1801-1831 with Thomas Hope; 1831-1862 with Henry Thomas Hope; 1862-1877 with Mrs. Henry Thomas Hope; from 1877 with Henrietta Adela Hope and the Sixth Duke of Newcastle; already in 1893 with Lord Henry Francis Hope, the second son of the Sixth Duke of Newcastle); vase acquired July 24, 1917, purchased at auction, Christie, Manson and Woods, London; lid acquired 1926, gift of J. D. Beazley, who purchased it July 24, 1917, at auction, Christie, Manson and Woods, London.

  • References

    Christie, Manson & Woods, London. Sale cat., July 23-24, 1917, p. 9, no. 33.

    Richter, Gisela M.A. 1920. "Recent Accessions of the Classical Department." Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art 15(5): p. 108.

    Tillyard, E. M. W. 1923. The Hope Vases: A Catalogue and a Discussion of the Hope Collection of Greek Vases. Cambridge: University Press, pp. 30-31, no. 15, pl. 3.

    Beazley, J. D. 1928. "Attic Black Figure: A Sketch." Proceedings of the British Academy 14: p. 242, no. 18.

    Technau, W. 1936. Exekias. Part 9 of Bilder griechischer Vasen, edited by J. D. Beazley and P. Jacobsthal. Berlin: H. Keller, p. 22, no. 17, pl. 4.

    Beazley, J. D. 1956. Attic Black-Figure Vase Painters. Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 144, no. 3.

    Richter, Gisela M.A. 1970. "The Department of Greek and Roman Art: Triumphs and Tribulations." Metropolitan Museum Journal 3: p. 92, fig. 37.

    Bothmer, Dietrich von. 1972. "Greek Vase Painting: An Introduction." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 31(1): no. 9, pp. 4, 24-25, 67.

    The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1987. Greece and Rome. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, no. 24, pp. 40-41.

    Manchester, Karen. 1999. “The new Greek and Roman Galleries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.” Apollo 150: p. 8, fig, 10 (left and right reversed).

    Picón, Carlos A., et al. 2007. Art of the Classical World in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, no. 75, pp. 78, 420.

    Mertens, Joan R. 2010. How to Read Greek Vases. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, no. 11, pp. 24, 26, 70-74, 88, 112.

  • See also
130011032

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