The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 25, 2023

Red-Figure Calyx-Krater (Mixing Vessel): Medea in Chariot (A); Telephos with Baby Orestes (B)

c. 400 BC

near the Policoro Painter

(South Italian, Lucanian, active c. 400 BC)

South Italian, Lucanian

Ceramic

Diameter of mouth: 49.9 cm (19 5/8 in.); Overall: 50.5 cm (19 7/8 in.); Diameter of foot: 22 cm (8 11/16 in.)

Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund 1991.1

Location

102D Pre-Roman

Fun Fact

This vase includes scenes connected to two Athenian tragedies dealing with children—<em>Medea</em> and <em>Telephos</em>.

Description

The remarkable scene on the front of this vase relates to the famous tragedy Medea, written by Euripides and first produced in Athens in 431 BC. Framed in the center by a halo (recalling her sun god grandfather Helios), the sorceress Medea flies off in a dragon-drawn chariot. Seeking revenge against her husband Jason, leader of the Argonauts, Medea has just slain their two children. Two Furies flank her, while Jason and a distraught nurse and teacher approach the bodies on the altar below.

A different tragedy unfolds on the other side of the vase, from Euripides’s Telephos (438 BC). The wounded warrior Telephos holds the baby Orestes hostage at an altar, with Agamemnon and Clytemnestra rushing to save their son.

Provenance
1991-
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Citations
Beazley Archive. n.d. Beazley Archive Pottery Database. Oxford: Beazley Archive. BAPD 1002926 www.beazley.ox.ac.uk
Lexicon iconographicum mythologiae classicae (LIMC), vol. I. Zürich: Artemis, 1981. s.v. Agamemnon, p. 260, no. 14a (O. Touchefeu).
Von Bothmer, Dietrich. Wealth of the Ancient World: The Nelson Bunker Hunt and William Herbert Hunt Collections. Fort Worth, Tex: Kimbell Art Museum, 1983. pp. 76-79 (cat. 14).
Apollo 117 (June 1983). pp. 493-95, fig. 7 a-b
Lexicon iconographicum mythologiae classicae. 3.1, 3.1. Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae : LIMC / Publié Par La Fondation Pour Le Lexicon Iconographicum Mithologiae Classicae (LIMC). Zurich: Artemis, 1986. s.v. Erinyes, p. 837, no. 101 (H. Sarian).
Lexicon iconographicum mythologiae classicae 1. 1. Zürich: Artemis-Verl, 1990. 635, no. 71
Sotheby's (Firm). The Nelson Bunker Hunt Collection: Highly Important Greek and Roman Coins. 1990. no. 14
Lexicon iconographicum mythologiae classicae, vol. V. Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae : LIMC / Publié Par La Fondation Pour Le Lexicon Iconographicum Mithologiae Classicae (LIMC). Zurich: Artemis, 1990. s.v. Iason, p. 635, no. 71 (J. Neils).
Turner, Evan H. "Acquisitions: 1990." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 78, no. 2 (1991) p. 72 www.jstor.org
Carpenter, Thomas H. Art and Myth in Ancient Greece: A Handbook. London: Thames and Hudson, 1991. fig. 283
Kozloff, Ariellé P. "Notable Acquisitions." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 78, no. 3 (1991): 63-147. Reproduced and Mentioned: p. 72 www.jstor.org
Turner, Evan H. "Selected 1991 Acquisitions." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 79, no. 2 (1992) p. 76, no. 1 www.jstor.org
Lexicon iconographicum mythologiae classicae 2. 2. Zürich: Artemis-Verl, 1992. no. 36, pl. 199
Cleveland Museum of Art. Masterpieces from East and West. New York, NY: Rizzoli International, 1992. pp. 18-19
Taplin, Oliver. Comic Angels: And Other Approaches to Greek Drama Through Vase-Paintings. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993. 16-17, 22-23, 26, 37-38, 116-17, nos. 1.101 and 1.102
Lexicon iconographicum mythologiae classicae, vol. VI. Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae : LIMC / Publié Par La Fondation Pour Le Lexicon Iconographicum Mithologiae Classicae (LIMC). Zurich: Artemis, 1992. s.v. Medeia, no. 36, pl. 199 (M. Schmidt).
Aellen, Christian. A la recherche de l'ordre cosmique: forme et fonction des personnifications dans la céramique italiote. Kilchberg/Zürich: Akanthus, 1994. p. 39, n. 39
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Easterling, P. E. The Cambridge Companion to Greek Tragedy. 1997. p. 79, fig. 12
Clauss, James Joseph, and Sarah Iles Johnston. Medea: Essays on Medea in Myth, Literature, Philosophy, and Art. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1997. pp. 269-71, fig. 3
Matheson, Susan B. "Hounded by Furies." Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin, 1997 pp. 23-24, fig. 5 www.jstor.org
Open University. An Introduction to the Humanities. Milton Keynes: Open University, 1997. color plate 68
Schulze, Harald. Ammen und Pädagogen: Sklavinnen und Sklaven als Erzieher in der antiken Kunst und Gesellschaft. Mainz: P. von Zabern, 1998. no. 1.2, plate 34
March, Jennifer R. Cassell Dictionary of Classical Mythology. London: Cassell, 1998. p. 245, fig. 88
F. de Angelis, "Tragedie familiari. Mitigreci nell'arte sepolcrale etrusca," Palila 6 (1999). pp. 63-64, figs. 13-14
De Angelis, Francesco, and Tonio Hölscher. Im Spiegel des Mythos: Bilderwelt und Lebenswelt : Symposium, Rom 19. - 20. Februar 1998 = Lo specchio del mito. Wiesbaden: Reichert, 1999. fig. 13-14, p. 64
Young-Sanchez, Margaret, "A Royal Plaque", Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine. Vol. 39 no. 07, September 1999 Mentioned & reproduced: p. 8-9 archive.org
Hardwick, N. 1999. "A Triglyph Altar of Corinthian Type in a Scene of Medea on a Lucanian Calyx-Krater in Cleveland," Quaderni ticinesi di numismatica e antichita classiche, vol. 28, pp. 179-201.
Euripides, and John Harrison. Medea. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 2000. p. 90
Neils, Jenifer, and Gisela Walberg. Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum: The Cleveland Museum of Art. [Cleveland, OH]: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2000. p. 48-49, pl. 89-91
Harris, Stephen L., and Gloria Platzner. Classical Mythology: Images and Insights. Mountain View, Calif: Mayfield Pub. Co, 2000. p. 801, fig. 17-2
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Ankarloo, Bengt. Satans raseri: en sannfärdig berättelse om det stora häxoväsendet i Sverige och omgivande länder. Stockholm: Ordfront, 2007. p. 161, color plate 1
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Hart, Mary Louise, and J. Michael Walton. The Art of Ancient Greek Theater. Los Angeles, Calif: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2010. cat. no. 27, p. 72-73
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Exhibition history

Wealth of the Ancient World, Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, (25 June-18 September 1983); Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, (19 October-11 December 1983); Detroit Institute of Arts, (1 February-24 March 1984); and Dallas Museum of Art, (25 April-10 June 1984).

Notable Acquisitions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 7-September 15, 1991).

Coming of Age in Ancient Greece. Hood Museum of Art, Hanover, NH (organizer) (August 23-December 5, 2003); Onassis Foundation Cultural Center (January 20-April 15, 2004); The Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, OH (May 21-August 1, 2004); J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA (September 14-December 5, 2004).

The Art of Ancient Greek Theater. Getty Villa, Pacific Palisades, CA (August 26, 2010-January 3, 2011).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1991.1