Attributed to a painter of the Leagros group Greek; Athens
About this artwork
This large handled jar held the water used to dilute large quantities of wine in preparation for the Greek symposium. It was considered uncivilized for a Greek to consume undiluted wine, so water was fetched from a public fountain house in a jar like this one. The horizontal handles made it easier to carry, while the vertical handle at the back was used for pouring.
On the front of this vase, the hero Hercules wrestles Triton - the messenger of the sea who is depicted as a merman - as a man and a woman look on. They are likely Nereus and Triton’s mother Amphitrite, but we cannot be certain. The intricate composition has the Greek hero astride the monster, his arms locked around Triton’s neck in an implacable grip, while Triton flails his arms, black fingers stretched against the red background. They face different directions-Herakles to the viewers’ right and up, victorious, and Triton to the left and down, vanquished. Precise incision renders the outline and details of the lion skin that Herakles wears, as well as the contour and detail of Triton’s scales and fins. Above this scenethe artist has written kalo[s]p[u]this – or “Pythis [is] beautiful”; exactly who Pythis is is another mystery.
On the shoulder of the vessel, the area above the front scene on the flat surface between the handles, another mythological scene plays out. This time it is the judgement of Paris, in which the handsome youth must judge a beauty contest between three goddesses - Aphrodite, Hera and Athena (shown seated). Aphrodite famously wins the contest by promising Paris the love of the most beautiful woman in the world. The woman in question turns out to be Helen of Troy, whose love affair with Paris would set in motion the deadly Trojan war.
Date
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Gift of Philip D. Armour and Charles L. Hutchinson
Reference Number
1889.15
IIIF Manifest
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William M.R. French, Notes [on a] journey to Europe with Mr. and Mrs. C.L. Hutchinson starting from New York Sat’y Mch. 9, 1889- , (unpublished manuscript, Art Institute of Chicago Archives), p. 23.
Art Institute of Chicago, Preliminary Catalogue of Metal Work, Graeco-Italian Vases, and Antiquities, December 9, 1889 (Chicago: Early and Halla Printing Company, 1889), p. 47, no. 374.
J. D. Beazley, “Some Inscriptions on Vases: V,” American Journal of Archaeology, 54, 4 (October-December 1950), p. 315, no. 7.
C. Clairmont, Das Parisurteil in der antiken Kunst (Zurich 1951), pl. 22.
J.D. Beazley, Attic Black-Figure Vase Painters (New York: Hacker Art Books, 1978), p. 673 (kalos name).
A.W. Johnston, Trademarks on Greek Vases (Warminster: Aris and Phillips 1979), p. 148 no. 23E 9 and p. 149 24E 6; fig. 10x.
John Griffiths Pedley, Ancient Art at The Art Institute of Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies, 20, 1 (1994), pp. 39-40 (ill.).
Karen B. Alexander, “From Plaster to Stone: Ancient Art at the Art Institute of Chicago,” in Karen Manchester, Recasting the Past: Collecting and Presenting Antiquities at the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012), p. 18.
Lyndsay Coo, “A Judgment of Parodies? ‘Momus’ on a Black-Figure Hydria in Chicago,” in Mouseion: Journal of the Classical Association of Canada (vol. 19, no. 2, 2022), pp. 175-195.
The Art Institute of Chicago, “Myth and Legend in Classical Art,” Gallery 101A, March 1, 1987-August 31, 1987.
The Art Institute of Chicago, “Human Figure in Early Greek Art,” Gallery 101A-Preview Part I, September 1, 1988-September 24, 1989.
The Art Institute of Chicago, “The Human Figure in Greek and Roman Art: From the Permanent Collection,” Gallery 120A-Part II, January 13, 1989-February 21, 1990 (object added to gallery September 24, 1989).
The Art Institute of Chicago, Ancient Art Galleries, Gallery 155, April 20, 1994-February 6, 2012.
The Art Institute of Chicago, “Of Gods and Glamour: The Mary and Michael Jaharis Galleries of Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Art,” Gallery 151, November 11, 2012-May 2, 2022.
Said to be found in Cerveteri, 1878 [Old Register at the Art Institute of Chicago]. Augusto Mele, Naples, Italy; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago through J.C. Fletcher as agent, 1889; price reimbursed by Charles Hutchinson and Philip D. Armour, 1889.
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