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Lot Essay
Depicted on this elegant volute-krater is the opening scene of the Choephoroi (Libation Bearers), the second play of Aeschylus’ trilogy, the Oresteia. On the obverse, Elektra is seated on a low altar in front of the tomb, wearing a chiton and himation which veils her head. Behind her is an offering, an amphora, brought to the tomb by order of Clytemnestra. To the right stand Orestes, wearing boots, a chlamys and a pilos helmet, holding a hydria and two spears, together with Pylades, wearing a chlamys and a petasos, also holding two spears. To the left stands Elektra’s maid, wearing a peplos and holding a parasol. The tomb takes the form of a stele ornamented with a palmette and tendrils, surmounted by two sphinxes each with a kalathos atop her head. The three-figured scene on the reverse, probably not connected to that on obverse, is centered by a nude youth seated on his chlamys, holding a pilos and two spears, with a shield below. Before him stands a youth with a spear and shield, with a tree between them, and behind is a draped woman holding a phiale and an oinochoe.
The opening scene from the Choephoroi appears only once on Attic vases, on a red-figured skyphos by the Penelope Painter (see no. 20 in M.L. Hart, ed., The Art of Ancient Greek Theater). The subject was much more popular with South Italian vase-painters, especially in Lucania and Apulia (see pp. 41-44 in A.D. Trendall and T.B.L. Webster, Illustrations of Greek Drama, and nos. 21 & 22 in Hart, op. cit.). A veiled Elektra was similarly depicted seated on the steps of the tomb on a Lucanian pelike and hydria by the Choephoroi Painter (pls. III.I.4 &5 in Trendall and Webster, op. cit.). The Dijon Painter, who takes his name from a bell-krater in that city, was considered by Trendall to be “one of the most important vase-painters of the 'Plain' style” (The Red-figured Vases of Apulia, vol. I, p. 146). Like his contemporaries, he favored Dionysiac themes, scenes with Oscan warriors, and occasionally mythology and drama, as here. He was chiefly a painter of bell-kraters; the volute-krater presented here is the only known example assigned to him.
The opening scene from the Choephoroi appears only once on Attic vases, on a red-figured skyphos by the Penelope Painter (see no. 20 in M.L. Hart, ed., The Art of Ancient Greek Theater). The subject was much more popular with South Italian vase-painters, especially in Lucania and Apulia (see pp. 41-44 in A.D. Trendall and T.B.L. Webster, Illustrations of Greek Drama, and nos. 21 & 22 in Hart, op. cit.). A veiled Elektra was similarly depicted seated on the steps of the tomb on a Lucanian pelike and hydria by the Choephoroi Painter (pls. III.I.4 &5 in Trendall and Webster, op. cit.). The Dijon Painter, who takes his name from a bell-krater in that city, was considered by Trendall to be “one of the most important vase-painters of the 'Plain' style” (The Red-figured Vases of Apulia, vol. I, p. 146). Like his contemporaries, he favored Dionysiac themes, scenes with Oscan warriors, and occasionally mythology and drama, as here. He was chiefly a painter of bell-kraters; the volute-krater presented here is the only known example assigned to him.