Vase Catalog Number: Malibu 82.AE.83

Decoration:

Side A: A bearded piper stands frontally between two dancing men dressed as birds. The piper is wearing a chiton decorated with pictures of a charioteer on his left chest, winged horses, deer and hares, crosses, dots, pi shapes and a meander around the skirt. He is playing his double pipes. The bird-men wear large spherical masks in dilute glaze with hooked beaks and combs or crests, tights and wings, spurs at the ankles, shoes, and attached erect phalloi and tails. Their costumes are decorated with circles filled with dots, and solid black circles with traces of added white. White was probably also added to the shoes of the righthand bird-man. Relief contour was used for the righthand man's phallos, face, beak, upper chest, shorts, right leg and spur, and one circle on his hip. For the piper relief contour appears on the left side of the chiton's overfall. Below the scene the pattern band includes two groups of three and one group of two meander squares, each separated by saltires.

Side B: A naked youth is standing, holding a spear in his left hand and Corinthian helmet in yellow brown wash in his right. He is facing an older man in a himation, who holds a curly stick in his right hand. His hair is straggly and long. To the left, a standing woman is wearing a chiton and himation. Her left hand is extended. The groundline for all three figures is a little above the pattern band that runs from handle to handle. The band is made of three groups of three meander squares separated by saltires. A laurel band runs around the whole vase above the scene, right under the lip. Added white was probably used for the laurel stems and relief contour for the back of the shoulders of the man on the right.

Parallels:

The closest parallel is the Birds oinochoe, London B 509.

Date Description:

Shape and drawing style suggest a date in the later fifth century BC, probably shortly after the production of the Birds in 414 BC.

Sources Used:

J.R. Green 1985

(Deirdre Beyer-Honça, Beth McIntosh)