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PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF ALFRED E. MIRSKY, SOLD FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE GRADUATE STUDENT PROGRAM OF THE ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY

AN ATTIC BLACK-FIGURED NECK-AMPHORA

ATTRIBUTED TO THE PRINCETON GROUP, CIRCA 540 B.C.

Details

AN ATTIC BLACK-FIGURED NECK-AMPHORA
ATTRIBUTED TO THE PRINCETON GROUP, CIRCA 540 B.C.
One side with Herakles wrestling the Nemean Lion, the bearded nude hero with his head lowered in front of the lion, his left arm wrapped around the lion's neck, his right hand grasping the lion's upper jaw, the lion rearing on his right hind leg, the left hind leg forward, the forepaws raised, his open mouth revealing teeth, the scene flanked by a female onlooker to the left, wearing a belted peplos, holding a spear in her left hand, a warrior to the right clad in a short chiton, armed with a high-crested helmet, greaves, a spear, a scabbard and a circular shield with an eye as the blazon; the other side with a similar scene but for Herakles who is here clad in a short chiton, his lowered head behind the lion, a fillet in his hair, and a cock as the blazon of the warrior's shield; with dotted lotus bud chain on the neck, alternating red and black tongues on the shoulders, rays above the foot, and a complex of buds and palmettes under the reeded handles, details in added red and white
13 in. (33 cm.) high

Provenance

Alfred E. Mirsky (1900-1974).

Special notice

No sales tax is due on the purchase price of this lot if it is picked up or delivered in the State of New York.

Lot Essay

As punishment for killing his wife and children in a fit of insanity, Herakles was sentenced by the oracle of Apollo to serve Eurystheus, the king of Tiryns and Mycenae, for twelve years. As part of his sentence, Eurystheus required that Herakles complete twelve seemingly impossible labors - the first of which was to bring back the skin of the lion terrorizing the hills around Nemea. Soon after tracking the ferocious beast, Herakles realized that his arrows and club were useless against the thick pelt and he would need to find another way to dispatch his prey. Following the lion to a cave, Herakles blocked one of the two entrances and approached the lion through the other. Grasping the lion tightly in his powerful arms, the hero wrestled with the beast until it was strangled to death. Herakles proceeded to skin the lion using the beast's own sharp claws and then threw the pelt over himself as a cloak which would protect him in his future labors. From this time on the skin of the Nemean lion would become one of the attributes associated with Herakles.

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