Perseus Art and Archaeology Browser

ID:

aa_4813

Beazley Number:

201829

Type:

Vase

Date:

ca. -480

Period:

Late Archaic

Context:

From Vulci

Painter:

Attributed to the Berlin Painter

Dimensions:

H. 0.494 m.

Ware:

Attic Red Figure

Shape:

Neck amphora

Shape Description

Neck amphora with twisted handles

Decoration Description

Side A: An older man, nude except for a cloak draped over his shoulders, walks to the right and looks over his shoulder. He carries a barbiton (stringed instrument) in his left hand. He seems to be distracted by something behind him, and so is not playing the instrument; however, his fingers are poised on the strings and he holds the plectrum with his right hand. He holds a walking stick under his left arm. "His lithe body is strangely both tense and languid; his muscles and sinews are taut, but his down-turned head and slightly flexed knees impart a sense of languorous grace." (Williams, 41). The lower border is a band of stopped meanders alternating with patterned squares (crosses and dotted saltires).

Side B: A young reveler walks to the right. He holds a staff in his right hand and a kylix in his left. He wears a wreath in his hair and a cloak draped about his shoulders. The border below his feet is a meander pattern.

Collection:

London, British Museum

Citations and Bibliography

ARV2, 198, 21; Beazley Addenda 2, 191, 198.21

J. Beazley "The Master of the Berlin Amphora," JHS 31 (1911) 281, pl. 11-12; Kurtz 1983, 76, 79, 86; D. Paquette L'Instrument de Musique dans la cramique de la grce antique, Etudes d'organologie (Paris, 1984):183.; Williams 1985, 41

Beazley 1930, pl. 14; F. Frontisi-Ducroux and F. Lissarrague "De l'ambiguite a l'ambivalence un parcours Dionisiaque," Annali Napoli 5 (1983) fig. 6,1