Vase Catalog Number: London F 159

Decoration:

Side A: Sacrifice of Iphigenia. In the center of the scene is a square altar with two steps. To the right of the altar stands Iphigenia; with her head bowed she looks up in trepidation at the altar. Her hair is loose and flowing over her shoulders and she wears armlets and a chiton. Behind her and almost concealed is a deer standing on its hind legs, which was substituted for her as a sacrificial victim. Behind the altar stands Calchas, the priest. He wears a mantle wrapped around his waist and draped over his left arm, and holds out the sacrificial knife towards the head of the deer. In his left hand he holds a sceptre. Above him hang two garlanded bucrania. On the left of the altar is a youthful beardless attendant, stooping forward with a basket of fruits and branches in his left hand, and an oinochoe in his right. he wears a mantle which is wrapped around his waist and looped over his left arm. Above and to the right of him is Apollo, seated on a chlamys which is thrown over a rock. He is beardless and holds a laurel branch in his right hand. His body is in three-quarter profile to the left, but he turns his head to the right to watch the sacrifice. On the far left is a female standing at ground level, who holds a flower (?) in her left hand, and rests her right on her hip. Her hair is in a bun, and she wears a necklace, armlet, a chiton, and a peplos. On the far right Artemis stands in the middle field (level with the top of the altar). In her right hand she holds a bow, and in her left two spears. Her hair is drawn back and held in place with a diadem, and she wears earrings, a necklace, armlets, a knee-length chiton, a black bordered chlamys fastened at the breast with a circular brooch, and high, lace-up boots. The chiton is belted and has straps criss-crossing her breast.

Side B: Two youths and two women. In the center is a youthful seated male (Adonis?), looking to the right and holding two spears in his left hand. He is nude, and seated on a chlamys. Above his head hangs a shield with a star decoration. To the right stands a youthful male, who holds a staff in his right hand, and has a chlamys draped over his left arm. He and Adonis wear diadems. Next to him is a female holding a phiale. She wears earrings, a necklace, an armlet, and a chiton. To Adonis' left is a female holding up a mirror, who also wears earrings and an armlet.

On the neck, Side A, are two griffins with palmette between. On the handles are gorgon masks, with white faces and brown eyes and hair. At the lower attachments the handles terminate in swans' heads.

This vase reflects the influence of both the Iliupersis Painter and the Painter of Athens 1714. Cp. reverse to Leningrad 586 (no. 6) and also vases in subgroup of Copenhagen 335.

Parallels:

This vase reflects the influence of both the Iliupersis Painter and the Painter of Athens 1714. Cp. reverse to Leningrad 586 (no. 6) and also vases in subgroup of Copenhagen 335.

Sources Used:

J. Pinsent Greek Mythology (New York, 1982), 119; Smith 1896, no. 1428.

Other Bibliography:

FR, 165, fig. 80

(Anne Leinster)