CIRCA 470-460 B.C.

Cf. J. Harris (ed.), A Passion for Antiquities: Ancient Art from the Collection of Barbara and Lawrence Fleischman, The J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, 1994, pp. 100-102, no. 42 for a chous: "The Attic chous is a specific shape of oinochoe created especially for the three-day festival of the Anthesteria, held in the spring in honor of Dionysos. On the first day, the Pithoigia, the new wine was opened and tasted. On the second, the Choes, the three-year-old male children of Athens were enrolled in their fathers' phratries (kinship groups)... A specific miniature variety of the vase was made especially for children... [see lot 237 for an example]" and "...drinking contests took place on the festival's second day. On the third, the Chytroi, vegetables prepared in cooking pots were offered to Hermes Psychopompos, who conducted the souls of the deceased to the underworld. On this day, the spirits of the dead were free to return from the underworld and roam among the livng; they were sent back at the end of the day by the exhortations of the festal participants". The festival also included musical performances, as depicted on the above chous where the lyre-player accompanies his own singing on his instrument. For other single figure lyre-players on vases, cf. L. Taylor-Guthartz (ed.), Glories of Ancient Greece: Vases and Jewelry from the Borowski Collection, Bible Lands Museum, Jerusalem, 2001, p. 69, no. 77; Christie's London, A Private Collection of Important Greek Vases, 28 April 1993, lot 17; J. P. O'Neill (ed.), The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Greece and Rome, New York, 1987, pp. 54-55, no. 36; H. Bloesch (ed.), Griechische Vasen der Sammlung Hirschmann, Zurich, 1982, pp. 76-77, no. 36. Also, cf. J. D. Beazley, Attic Red-Figure Vase-Painters, II, Oxford, 1963, pp. 873-874 for The Painter of Florence 4021.