Lot 84
84
AN APULIAN RED-FIGURE RHYTON

Details
AN APULIAN RED-FIGURE RHYTON
Circa 360-350 B.C.

Molded in the form of the head of a Laconian hound, which is black glazed except for the interior of its triangular ears tinged with red and the alert eyes, the irisis and pupils in black, the bowl with flaring lip, painted with the hunter Actaeon, with stag horns in added white protruding from his forehead, nude but for his boots and a mantle tied around his neck, his left leg bent at the knee, a spear in his right hand, his hound attacking his upper left thigh, palmettes on either side, a band of dotted egg below the scene and on the rim, a strap handle in back, intact
8in. (20.3cm.) long

Lot Essay

Mythological subjects on Apulian rhyta are comparatively rare. The story depicted here of the youthful hunter Actaeon, who stumbled upon the bathing Artemis and was turned into a stag by her and killed by his own hounds, is uniquely appropriate for a rhyton in the form of a hound. Probably by the Iliupersis Painter.

For other Rhyta in the form of Laconian hounds see pl. 28-31 in Hoffman Tarentine Rhyta