Vase Catalog Number: Malibu 86.AE.293

Decoration:

Exterior: youths and revelers. Ten men and youths dressed up as women, wearing long chiton, himation, sakkos and earrings, and one female attendant dance around the entire circumference. Some participants carry wine cups, two play flutes, two others play krotala (castanets) and the girl and one older figure hold parasols.

From left to right, the scene begins with a column krater under the signed handle. 1) a man in a long chiton and himation, carrying a knobbed staff in his left hand and a skyphos in his right; 2) another man in similar dress, holding his himation up in both hands; 3) a youth playing an aulos, wearing long chiton, himation and sakkos; a long spotted fillet and a pair of castanets in the field; 4) a man turning back and offering the youth a skyphos in his right hand, his left hand hidden under his himation; 5) a figure (head broken away) holding a parasol back to the left. On the other side, 1) an older man looking back to his left; 2) a small girl holding a parasol over the man to her right; 3) an older man playing castanets, his head thrown back in ecstasy; a spotted fillet and a pair of castanets in the field; 4) a man standing frontally, his head turned up and to the left, lifting his himation with both hands; 5) a youth playing an aulos, and 6) a youth playing castanets. The only interruption to the rightward movement are the parasol carrier, who is turned to the left beside one handle, and the large column krater under the other, signed handle, which not only holds the wine for the komos but begins and ends the composition. Such transvestites are fairly common subjects on Attic vases of the late sixth and early fifth centuries BC.

Tondo: youth and hetaira. A youth carrying a knobbed staff offers a flower to a rather disinterested-looking woman, who carries a mirror. Behind them, a bed. The woman holds her right arm behind her.

Signature inside one handle: BRUGOS EPOIESEN ("Brygos made it")

Inscriptions:

Inside one handle: BRUGOS EPOIESEN ("Brygos made it")

Collection History:

From collection of Molly and Walter Bareiss.

Shape Description:

Type B cup.

Sources Used:

Kurtz & Boardman 1986; Bareiss Collection 1983, no. 32, 46-7.

(Beth McIntosh)