Vase Catalog Number: Harvard 1925.30.46

Decoration:

Side A: A youth in oriental dress is seated to right on a rock or hummock, the latter indicated by incision directly on the black ground. His trousers and long-sleeved tunic are decorated with rows of zigzags. Over the tunic is belted a sleeveless, knee-length tunic richly embroidered with rays, wreaths, maeanders, checks, white dots, and egg pattern. There is egg pattern on his spotted Phrygian cap, which is tinted brown with dilute glaze, perhaps to suggest leather, as it is also used to render the details of the shoes. The youth uses a spotted cloak for a cushion and holds a pair of spears in his left hand. Before him stands a woman wearing a chiton and a broad girdle with eye-shaped ornament. Her chignon is supported by a sphendone decorated with egg pattern. With her right hand she plucks up her chiton at the shoulder and with her left holds out a phiale. Above the latter is the diminutive figure of Eros, apparently flying but seeming to stand between the heads of the woman and the youth. He wears a broad fillet and his spotted wings, tinted with dilute glaze, extend to either side. With both hands he reaches to crown the youth with a wreath of added white, now much eroded. At far right stands a second woman, also in chiton and sphendone, who like Eros holds up a white wreath to crown the seated youth. At far left, a boy, possibly a servant, advances toward the seated youth. He carries a rhyton with black fluting, the latter, like the lobes on the phiale, indicating it is of metal. He is dressed like the youth, in oriental fashion, differing only in the plainness of his cap and the less elaborate design of his outer tunic (branches instead of wreaths; black stripes instead of checks). Kahil (LIMC, IV, 522) suggests he may be Aeneas.

The subject is unusual and has been differently interpreted. Paris is sometimes shown seated in oriental costume as he judges the beauty contest of the goddesses, and Eros too is often included in representations of the Judgement. In this case, however, only two women are present. Judging by her action, the woman with the phiale is more likely to be Helen than Aphrodite. The second woman is probably not Peitho (Persuasian), as her presence here would be redundant, neither Paris nor Helen needing any persuasion at this point. Despite her apparently subsidiary status, the second woman may be Aphrodite, who is often shown presiding over the introduction of the two star-crossed lovers. The composition is unusual, however; Paris, for example, is not normally attended by a cup-bearer. Beazley suggested that the youth might be Adonis, an Easterner beloved by Aphrodite herself (ARV2, 1341. The spears are appropriate both for the hunter Adonis and the shepherd Paris. R. Hampe included the youth in his list of representations of Paris: LIMC, 506, pl. 384, Alexandros 47. As a third possibility, Hoppin (CVA, 11) suggested Anchises, another love of Aphrodite, but the absence of parallels makes it more likely this is a variation of scenes of the Judgement or the introduction of Paris and Helen. Side B: Three standing women. The central one, in a belted peplos with a black border, stands in three-quarter view to right. She holds a taenia embroidered with zigzags in her right hand, and in her left hand a spotted taenia and a small chest decorated with dots and egg pattern. Facing her on either side are two women in chitons and black-bordered himations. The one at left has wrapped her himation around her arms, but the one at right holds a necklace drawn in added white and red. All three have their hair tied up with white fillets. The woman at center may be a servant, who has brought the box of ribbons, scarves, and jewelry to her mistress.

The scenes are framed above and below by bands of egg pattern. At the root of each handle is a pair of addorsed palmettes divided by coiling tendrils.

Parallels:

For a nearly contemporary depiction of the Judgement, with Paris seated in oriental costume next to the tiny Eros, cf. Karlsruhe 259 (ARV2, 1315, 1. For Aphrodite and the tiny Eros introducing Helen to Paris, cf. Cincinnati 1962.386-388 (ARV2, 634, 5. Several Apulian vase-paintings show the meeting of Helen and Paris: cf. esp. Taranto 22488 (LIMC, IV, pl. 313, Helene 117, where Helen again faces Paris holding a phiale.

Collection History:

Bequest of J. C. Hoppin. Bought in Rome in 1898.

Condition:

Unbroken; some abrasion, particularly on left-hand woman on Side B.

Sources Used:

CVA, Hoppin-Gallatin; LIMC, I; LIMC, IV.

Other Bibliography:

CVA, Hoppin-Gallatin, USA 1, 10-11, pl. 17, 4-5; LIMC, I, 228, Adonis 52 (identification as Adonis termed "doubtful"); LIMC, I, 506, pl. 384, Alexandros 47; LIMC, IV, 522, Helene 119 (L. Kahil is not sure the woman with a phiale is Helen; she retains Anchises or Adonis as possibilities).

(Michael Padgett)