Hydria with Tomb Scene

Hydria with Tomb Scene

TERRACOTTA

A hydria with an ovoid body tapering to a flaring foot that is separated from the body by a groove. The foot is in two degrees and has a wide, flat base with a broad, shallow groove on its upper surface and a flaring profile, grooved at the top. The shoulder is flat and the narrow neck is concave in profile. It leads to a wide, flat, overhanging rim. There is a wide, shallow groove on the top of the rim and the edge is flaring in profile with a narrow groove at the top. The two horizontal handles are round in cross section. They are set just below the shoulder, one on each side of the vase, and they curve around at the top towards the edge of the shoulder. The vertical handle at the back of the vase is round in cross section. It passes up from the edge of the shoulder and curves around and attaches to the top of the neck, below the rim. The vase is black inside the mouth and neck and on the exterior except for the red-figure naiskos scene at the front, the geometric and floral patterns and the following orange-red reserved areas: the top and under surface of the rim, the groove between the body and the foot, a ring between the two sections of the foot, and the outside edge of the wide base. Red wash plus added white and yellow are used on the decoration. The vase has been re-assembled from fragments with some infilling; there is also some flaking of the black.

A) The edge of the rim is painted black at the top and there is a black wave pattern along the bottom.
B) On the front of the neck is a laurel spray with yellow/white berries and a central rosette. The central stem is orange-red. On each side of the rosette, two pairs of orange-red leaves frame a central white pair of leaves. The rosette has orange-red petals with white outer edges and white dots and a yellow centre.
C) The main decoration is a mourning scene with two women dressed in peploi and carrying offerings standing either side of a white ionic naiskos or shrine. The naiskos has palmette acroteria and a solid white circle in the pediment space. Within the naiskos are a central upright fan painted white with yellow details, a yellow/brown fillet suspended above the fan, a white/yellow alabastron which leans against the right side of the naiskos and a white/yellow ball (?) to the left of the fan. The woman on the left of the naiskos holds a bunch of grapes in her lowered right hand and a fan in her raised left hand. The pose of the woman on the right is the mirror image of the left-hand one. She holds a fillet in her right hand and a box in her left hand. Both women have their hair tied up in buns and wear white necklaces and white bracelets. White is also used for details of the offerings. There is a yellow/red rosette in the field behind the head of the left hand woman.
D) The naiskos scene is placed on a black meander and square pattern ground line that continues around the vase.
E) Short black rays on a narrow reserved band enclose the bases of the horizontal handles.
F) There is an elaborate red palmette pattern on the back and sides of the body and shoulder of the vase.

Aegean

Greek

Classical

Purchased from Holland Coins and Antiquities Ltd, California, 1982.

400 - 300 BC

82.045

Italy

Apulia