The Metropolitan Museum of Art - Terracotta hydria (water jar)

Terracotta hydria (water jar)

Period:: Archaic
Date:: ca. 490 B.C.
Culture:: Greek, Attic
Medium:: Terracotta; red-figure
Dimensions:: H. 14 1/16 in. (35.7 cm); diameter mouth 6 in. (15.3 cm); diameter foot 5 1/4 in. (13.3 cm)
Classification:: Vases
Credit Line:: Fletcher Fund, 1956
Accession Number:: 56.171.53

This artwork is currently on display in Gallery 156

Description

Triptolemos in his winged chariot bringing wheat to mankind

Athens controlled the sanctuary of Demeter at Eleusis and claimed that the goddess had given wheat and the secrets of agriculture to Triptolemos, a local prince. Numerous Attic vases show the youth in a winged chariot setting off to spread knowledge of the cultivation of wheat.
References

1957. "Eighty-Seventh Annual Report of the Trustess for the Fiscal Year 1956-1957." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 16(2): p. 54.

von Bothmer, Dietrich. 1957. "Greek Vases from the Hearst Collection." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 15(7): pp. 166, 175.
See also
Who
Troilos Painter (2)
What
Clay (23,649)

Vessels (21,921)

Vases (8,895)

Terracotta (8,373)

Hydriae (160)

Kalpides (29)
Where
Europe (148,586)

Greece (6,287)
When
1000 B.C.-A.D. 1 (23,148)
In the Museum
Greek and Roman Art (17,329)
Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History
Ancient Greece, 1000 B.C.–1 A.D.
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