AN ATTIC BLACK-FIGURED AMPHORA (TYPE B)

ATTRIBUTED TO THE PAINTER OF BERLIN 1686 CIRCA 550-540 B.C.

Details

AN ATTIC BLACK-FIGURED AMPHORA (TYPE B)
attributed to the Painter of Berlin 1686
circa 550-540 b.c.
The obverse with a Gigantomachy, with Zeus driving a quadriga to the right, clad in a short, white chiton, a red mantle and greaves, holding the reins in his right hand, wielding his thunderbolt in his left, with two of his sons lending support, Ares to the left kneeling in reserve, fully armed in crested helmet and cuirass, supporting a shield in his left hand, and Herakles, clad in his lion-skin, leaping out of the chariot, taking aim with bow and arrow (omitted by the artist) at the giant at the far right, the giant in a crested helmet, cuirass and greaves, carrying a large Boeotian shield adorned with a palmette, another fully armed giant collapsing beneath the horses, while a third crouches for attack behind the horses, a band of lotus-palmette chain above the scene; the reverse with "The Capture of Silenos," the Phrygian king Midas seated in the center, Silenos before him, his hands bound together, his right leg tied to a rope which is held by Hermes who stands to the right, his right hand raised, with a winged goddess, perhaps Iris, gesturing behind Midas, a young male attendant standing to the left, a band of lotus bud chain above; with rays above the foot, extensive use of added red and white, a dipinto on the underside of the foot (a large Delta in red)
173/8 in. (44.1 cm) high

Provenance

Antiquities, Sotheby's London, 1 December 1969, lot 90
Antiquities, Sotheby's London, 12 July 1971, lot 114

Literature

Beazley, Paralipomena, 129,17ter.
Brommer, Vasenlisten zur griechischen Heldensage, 64, 14.
Bourlard-Coilin, et al. (eds.), De Gyptis à Jules Cèsar ou Marseilles Grecque, 83-84, no. 147.
Guy in Leipen, et al., Glimpses of Excellence, A Selection of Greek Vases and Bronzes from the Elie Borowski Collection, no. 5.
Carpenter, Beazley Addenda, 78, (297.17ter)
Vian, with Moore, "Gigantes," in LIMC, Vol. IV,1, p. 217, no. 115 (obverse).
Moustaka, Goulaki-Voutira and Grote, "Nike," in LIMC, Vol. VI,1, p. 858, no. 70 (obverse).
Miller, "Midas," in LIMC, Vol. VIII,1, p. 849, no. 36, Vol. VIII,2, p. 571 (reverse).

Exhibited

Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, 18 December to 30 June 1985

Lot Essay

According to Guy (op. cit., p. 9), the reverse "preserves one of the earliest versions in Attic vase-painting of a rare myth, the capture of Silenos." The presence of the winged goddess is an anomaly to this myth. It seems that the painter may originally have intended this scene to be the "Birth of Athena" from the head of her father Zeus, but chose instead to alter the scene to the "capture" by adding Hermes with the bound satyr, thus converting the seated Zeus into Midas and the winged birth goddess Eileithyia into Iris.

The Painter of Berlin 1686 leads a long list of "Other Pot-Painters" of the second half of the sixth century whom Beazley (Attic Black-figure Vase-painters, p. 296) grouped together, the earliest of which were "contemporary with the very earliest members of Group E."

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