Vase Catalog Number: Philadelphia MS5466

Decoration:

Side A: Apollo and Artemis. Apollo and Artemis stand on either side of a low altar, holding offerings. Artemis, on the left, faces the altar holding a bow and arrows in her left hand while she tips an oinochoe toward the altar with her right. She wears a chiton and himation and a diadem. Apollo stands to the right of the altar, facing forward but looking toward Artemis. His lyre is tucked under his arm and held against his body as he strums it with his left hand while pouring a libation from the phiale in his right. The pouring liquid has been painted with a thin white wash. Apollo wears a chiton and himation and has a laurel wreath around his head. The altar, topped with volutes, sits on a low base. There are eight strokes of thin red paint, some crossing one another, on the front of the altar.

Side B: Dionysos and a maenad. A maenad, carrying a snake and an oinochoe, rushes towards Dionysos, her long ringlets flying behind her. Dionysos stands facing her, holding a thyrsos in his left hand and a kantharos in his right. The maenad wears a long sleeved, low-belted chiton and a leopard skin, and has a headband over her hair. Her left arm, holding the snake, is held out toward Dionysos, while she swings the oinochoe behind her with her other hand. Dionysos faces the maenad, resting the thyrsos against his left shoulder and offering her the kantharos. He wears a wreath, chiton and mantle, and has long hair and a long beard. Both figures are barefoot.

Collection History:

The vase was purchased by the University Museum, Philadelphia, from Canessa in 1916.

Condition:

The vase is in excellent condition.

Shape Description:

Neck amphora. The amphora has twisted handles.

Sources Used:

Luce 1917a, 15-23

Other Bibliography:

Luce 1917a, 20, 24-25; ARV2, 415, 39; Le Musee III, 432, pl. 63, 1; Farnsworth 1958, 169, pl. 36b; Farnsworth 1959, 248, fig. 9; Boardman 1979, 4, 35, fig. 4; Beazley Addenda 2, 265.

(Kathleen Krattenmaker)