Athens, NM 1260 (Vase)
Sappho, Kallis, and Nikopolis, with and musical instruments
- ID:
- aa_5751
- Beazley Number:
- 213777
- Type:
- Vase
- Date:
- ca. -440 — ca. -430
- Period:
- High Classical
- Context:
- From Vari
- Painter:
- Attributed to the Group of Polygnotos
- Dimensions:
- H. 0.39 m; diam. (lip) 0.162 m
- Ware:
- Attic Red Figure
- Shape:
- Hydria-kalpis
Decoration Description
A female figure standing profile to the right, with her left foot advanced, wearing a himation around her lower body and draped over left shoulder, over a short-sleeved chiton, her bent left arm obscured by the himation, and a narrow taenia, extends a wreath, held in her right hand, with which she crowns Sappho (labelled), seated profile to the right on a klismos, wearing a himation draped around her lower body and over her left shoulder, over a medium-sleeved chiton, her hair in a bun, reading a scroll held with both hands in her lap; a female figure, labelled Kallis, standing near profile to the left, with both legs bent, but her left leg slightly advanced, wearing a himation enveloping her body, over a chiton, and a taenia, rests her left hand (obscured by the himation) on her hip, and holds a lyre in her slightly upraised right hand, to the left; a female figure, Nikopolis (labelled), standing 3/4-view to the left, her right leg slightly advanced, wearing a himation over her left shoulder and draped around her lower body, over a chiton, her bent left arm bundled in the himation (and her left hand on her hip?), rests her right arm on the shoulder of Kallis; another wreath is in the field above her head.
Graffiti
According to Matheson (287) "The scroll is written in the Ionic alphabet; the inscriptions on the unrolled section are written lengthwise while those on the rolled parts are written vertically. Some letters are legible, and the word theoi has been read at the beginning."
- Collection:
- Athens, National Archaeological Museum CC 1241
Citations and Bibliography
Classical, Mediaeval, and Renaissance Studies in Honor of Berthold Louis Ullmann 1 (Rome 1964) 26; J.D. Beazley, "Hymn to Hermes," AJA 52 (1948) 338; Beazley 1928, 55 n. 5;