Collection Online as of August 14, 2022

Red-Figure Column Krater (Mixing Vessel): Komos (Revel)

c. 470–460 BC

attributed to Pig Painter

(Greek, Attic, active c. 480-460 BC)

Greek, Attic

Ceramic

Diameter: 40.6 cm (16 in.); Overall: 42.5 cm (16 3/4 in.)

The A. W. Ellenberger, Sr., Endowment Fund 1926.549

Location

102B Greek

Fun Fact

These three bearded men wear earrings and Eastern-style headdresses—unusual features in fifth-century BC Athens.

Description

Used for mixing wine and water at a symposium (drinking party), this vase bears images of komasts, or revelers, potentially mirroring the actions of its users. The three bearded men on side A stand out for their earrings, long drapery, and Eastern-style headdresses, and for the parasol held by one. Similar features have been noticed on numerous other red-figure vases, now called “Anakreontic” by scholars. This name refers to Anakreon, a 6th-century BC lyric poet from East Greece sometimes credited with inventing the barbitos, the long-stringed lyre played by the central figure on side A. The youths on side B, one draped, two nude and dancing, are less unusual.

Provenance

?-1926

Mr. Mario de Ciccio, Naples, Italy, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art

1926-

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Citations

Beazley Archive. n.d. Beazley Archive Pottery Database. Oxford: Beazley Archive. BAPD 206434 www.beazley.ox.ac.uk

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1928. Reproduced: p. 74 archive.org

Beazley, J. D. Attic Red-Figure Vase-Painters, First Edition. Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1942. P. 379, no. 30 (Agrigento Painter).

Beazley, J. D. Attic Red-Figure Vase-Painters. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1963. p. 563, No. 9

Boulter, C. G., Jenifer Neils, and Gisela Walberg. Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1971. p. 16, Plates 25-26

Burn, Lucilla, Ruth Glynn, and J. D. Beazley. Beazley Addenda: Additional References to ABV, ARV² & Paralipomena. Oxford [Oxfordshire]: Published for the British Academy by Oxford University Press, 1982. p. 127

J. Paul Getty Museum. Greek vases in the J. Paul Getty Museum. Malibu, Calif: The Museum, 1983. p. 62, Fig. 25

Bérard, Claude, Christiane Bron, and Alessandra Pomari. Images Et Société En Grèce Ancienne: L'iconographie Comme Méthode D'analyse : Actes Du Colloque International, Lausanne 8-11 Février 1984. [Lausanne]: Institut d'archéologie et d'histoire ancienne, Université de Lausanne, 1987. p. 107, Fig.10

Carpenter, Thomas H., J. D. Beazley, Thomas Mannack, Melanie Mendonça, and Lucilla Burn. Beazley Addenda: Additional References to ABV, ARV² & Paralipomena. Oxford: Published for the British Academy by Oxford University Press, 1989. p. 260

Maas, Martha, and Jane McIntosh Snyder. Stringed Instruments of Ancient Greece. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989. p. 135, Fig. 13

Lissarrague, F. The aesthetics of the Greek banquet: images of wine and ritual. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1990. p. 12, fig. 2

Driscoll, Ann. "The Pig Painter: Parties, Poets, and Pollaiuolo." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 80, no. 3 (1993): 83-111. Reproduced: p. 89-90, 101; Mentioned: p. 83-111 www.jstor.org

Delavaud-Roux, Marie-Hélène. "L'Énigme Des Danseurs Barbus au Parasol et Les Vases « Des Leneennes »." Revue Archéologique, no. 2 (1995) p. 234, fig. 10 www.jstor.org

Zanker, Paul. Die Maske des Sokrates: Das Bild des Intellektuellen in der antiken Kunst. München: C.H. Beck, 1995. p. 32, Fig. 13

Boardman, John. The History of Greek Vases: Potters, Painters, and Pictures. New York, N.Y.: Thames & Hudson, 2001. p. 222, Fig. 240

Martin-Gropius-Bau (Berlin, Germany), Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, and Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz. Die griechische Klassik: Idee oder Wirklichkeit : eine Ausstellung im Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, 1. März - 2. Juni 2002 und in der Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Bonn, 5. Juli - 6. Oktober 2002 [i.e. 12. Juli - 13. Oktober 2002]. Mainz: Zabern, 2002. cat. no. 171, p. 282

Bundrick, Sheramy D. Music and Image in Classical Athens. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005. p. 86, Fig. 53

Pantò, Gabriella, Valentina Barberis, Angela Deodato, Gian Battista Garbarino, Patrizia Petitti, Maria Cristina Preacco, and Anna Maria Riccomini. I modi dell'Eros: reperti archeologici a tema erotico del Museo di Antichità di Torino. Torino: Edizioni Nautilius, 2011. p. 13

Bierl, Anton, Nils Büttner, Kordelia Knoll, Bernhard Maaz, Sebastian Oesinghaus, Ernst Osterkamp, Michael Philipp, Stephan F. Schröder, and Saskia Wetzig. Dionysos: Rausch und Ekstase. 2013. p. 29, fig. 5

Heinemann, Alexander. Der Gott des Gelages: Dionysos, Satyrn und Mänaden auf attischem Trinkgeschirr des 5. Jahrhunderts v. Chr. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2016. p. 89, Fig. 35

Exhibition history

Greek and Roman Art. The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH (organizer) (February 15-March 12, 1965).

Die Griechische Klassik: Idee oder Wirklichkeit. Martin Gropius Bau, Berlin, Germany (March 1-June 2, 2002).