Vase Catalog Number: Munich 2308 (inv. no. Munich J 374)

Decoration:

Side A: Arming. A youth puts on a corslet while a youth in Scythian costume looks on from either side. At the left of the composition an unbearded youth in Scythian costume is shown in profile, facing right. He wears elaborately decorated close-fitting trousers and long-sleeved shirt, as well as a Scythian cap with rounded crown and long neck and cheek pieces. A quiver is attached to his waist. He holds up a bow in his left hand and a shield, presumably belonging to the youth who is arming, held in his right almost touches the ground. The shield is shown in profile view and is decorated with a dancing satyr. In the center, a youth looks down with concentration while he fastens a leather corslet over his chitoniskos. He is depicted as unbearded, but the first growth on his cheek is shown with dilute glaze. He wears a fillet rendered in added red in his hair. The youth in Scythian dress at the right of the composition in profile faces left. He is outfitted like his companion on the left, but instead of a shield he holds an axe in his right hand. The figures are labelled. The majority of scenes of Scythian archers are produced in the period 530-500. Pinney has pointed out that the costume loses any specific ethnic meaning and is often used to represent a generic archer, Pinney 1983, 130.

Side B: Athletes and trainer. In the center of the scene, a naked youth, shown in profile facing right, lifts a discus over his head with both hands. This youth is labelled as Phayllos, a famous pentathlete. At the right of the composition, a trainer stands facing this youth. He is older and bearded with a mantle wrapped around his torso and draped over one shoulder. He gestures with his left hand and holds out a forked stick in his right. A second naked unbearded youth is shown in profile facing right at the left of the scene. The first growth of beard is shown on his cheek in dilute glaze. The two youths wear fillets in added red and the man a wreath. The figures are labelled.

Many elements of this vase are found in other work by Euthymides. The painter appears to have been very fond of three figure compositions, often breaking the frame. Also the extensive use of inscriptions is typical of his work. More important, however, is the painter's interest in rendering anatomy and perspective. Euthymides and the other Pioneers were concerned with rendering the human body in motion and seen from different angles. The earlier Archaic convention of showing a body with profile legs and frontal torso is replaced with attempts to render the torso in proper profile and three quarter views. This becomes most difficult when trying to show the naked body without drapery which can be used to hide awkward transitions in anatomical rendering. Euthymides' scenes of athletes and komasts show the artist attempting to master a more accurate rendering of the body seen from several views. His foreshortened views such as the profile shield and the frontal foot on Side A of this vase are relatively successful. His interest in anatomy is also seen in Euthymides' extensive rendering of interior musculature with dilute glaze lines.

Inscriptions:

On Side A the youth arming is labelled THORUKION, Thorykion, downwards to the left of the figure. The Scythian archer to the right is labelled EUTHUBOL[O]S, Euthybolos, downwards retrograde in front of the figure. The figure at the left has two fragmentary inscriptions in front of him. The letters MDE are preserved on a fragment between the archer's arms. A S preserved in front of the shield appears to continue this inscription. Between the body of the archer and the shield, the letters CHUCHOUPI are painted downwards. This appears to be a nonsense inscription. The vase is signed [O POLI]O E[GRA]PHSEN EUTHUMIDESES, "the [son] of Pollias painted it," i.e. Euthymides.

On Side B, the athlete at the left is labelled PENTATHL[O]S, Pentathlos, vertically in front of his leg. The discus thrower is labelled PHAULOS, Phayllos, downwards in front of the figure. The trainer at right is labelled OPSIMENES, Orsimenes, retrograde along the line of his outstretched arm. The vase is signed EUTHUM[I]DES [O] POLIO (Euthymides [son] of Pollias) retrograde, in the space between the trainer's stick and his body.

Collection History:

Once in the Candelori collection.

Sources Used:

CVA, Munich 4, pls. 169-172; AVMunchen I, pl. 6-7; Pinney 1983, 127-146; Gardiner 1930.

(AH)