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Lot Essay
PUBLISHED:
J. D. Beazley, 'Hymn to Hermes', in American Journal of Archaeology, vol. 52.3, 1948, pp. 336-340, pl. XXXIV.
J. D. Beazley, 'Some Inscriptions on Vases: V', in American Journal of Archaeology, vol. 54.4, 1950, pp. 318-319, no. 17.
J. D. Beazley, Attic Red-Figure Vase-Painters, vol. I, Oxford, 1963, p. 452 and p. 677, no. 7.
H. R. Immerwahr, 'Book Rolls on Attic Vases', in Classical, Mediaeval and Renaissance studies in honour of Berthold Louis Ullman, vol. I, Rome, 1964, p. 21, no. 5.
F. A.G. Beck, Album of Greek Education: The Greeks at School and at Play, Sidney, 1975, pl. 14.77.
J. Dörig, Art antique. Collections privées de Suisse Romande, Geneva, 1975, no. 214.
H. Blanck, Das Buch in der Antike, Munich, 1992, p. 27, fig. 10.
L. Burn and R. Glynn, Beazley Addenda: Additional References to ABV, ARV and Paralipomena, Oxford, 1982, p. 119.
T.H. Carpenter, T. Mannack, and M. Mendonca, Beazley Addenda, Oxford, 1989, p. 242.
N. Richardson, Three Homeric Hymns: To Apollo, Hermes, and Aphrodite, Cambridge, 2010, no.1.
A. Faulkner, The Homeric Hymns: Interpretative Essay, Oxford, 2011, p. 197.
Beazley Archive Pottery Database no. 205382.
Henri Arnold Seyrig was a famous French archaeologist and historian, founder of the French Institute of Archaeology in Beirut in 1929, which he headed in his capacity of General Director of Antiquities of Syria and Lebanon. He then continued his academic career between Beirut and the United States, until he retired in Switzerland in 1969.
This lekythos was first published by Beazley in his 1948 article, where both Seyrig and the author agree on the attribution of this vase to a hand related to the school of Douris, in particular the Cartellino Painter. Of the seven lekythoi attributed by Beazley to this hand, five are signed ΔΟΡΙΣ without verb.
On this vase, a seated youth wearing the himation is shown seated on a chair whilst reading from a scroll inscribed with the words HERME ΛΕΙΔΟ ('I sing of Hermes'), a writing case hanging in the field. Those two words are the beginning of the first line from the shorter Homeric Hymn to Hermes. This largely anonymous collection of poems, composed in the epic style, possibly dates back to the 7th-6th Century B.C., with some later additions in Hellenistic and Roman times. According to Beazley, it is likely that the inscription in question refers to the beginning of a short Hymn to Hermes, of only twelve lines, which might have been popular with Greek schoolmasters as a simple piece easy to commit to memory and therefore suitable for teaching, cf. Beazley, 1950, op. cit.
Representations of open scrolls on Attic vases are not uncommon, however they usually either omit the writing or use lines and dots to suggest letters. This example is one of only nine other examples listed by Beazley as using a real inscription in representing an open scroll.
J. D. Beazley, 'Hymn to Hermes', in American Journal of Archaeology, vol. 52.3, 1948, pp. 336-340, pl. XXXIV.
J. D. Beazley, 'Some Inscriptions on Vases: V', in American Journal of Archaeology, vol. 54.4, 1950, pp. 318-319, no. 17.
J. D. Beazley, Attic Red-Figure Vase-Painters, vol. I, Oxford, 1963, p. 452 and p. 677, no. 7.
H. R. Immerwahr, 'Book Rolls on Attic Vases', in Classical, Mediaeval and Renaissance studies in honour of Berthold Louis Ullman, vol. I, Rome, 1964, p. 21, no. 5.
F. A.G. Beck, Album of Greek Education: The Greeks at School and at Play, Sidney, 1975, pl. 14.77.
J. Dörig, Art antique. Collections privées de Suisse Romande, Geneva, 1975, no. 214.
H. Blanck, Das Buch in der Antike, Munich, 1992, p. 27, fig. 10.
L. Burn and R. Glynn, Beazley Addenda: Additional References to ABV, ARV and Paralipomena, Oxford, 1982, p. 119.
T.H. Carpenter, T. Mannack, and M. Mendonca, Beazley Addenda, Oxford, 1989, p. 242.
N. Richardson, Three Homeric Hymns: To Apollo, Hermes, and Aphrodite, Cambridge, 2010, no.1.
A. Faulkner, The Homeric Hymns: Interpretative Essay, Oxford, 2011, p. 197.
Beazley Archive Pottery Database no. 205382.
Henri Arnold Seyrig was a famous French archaeologist and historian, founder of the French Institute of Archaeology in Beirut in 1929, which he headed in his capacity of General Director of Antiquities of Syria and Lebanon. He then continued his academic career between Beirut and the United States, until he retired in Switzerland in 1969.
This lekythos was first published by Beazley in his 1948 article, where both Seyrig and the author agree on the attribution of this vase to a hand related to the school of Douris, in particular the Cartellino Painter. Of the seven lekythoi attributed by Beazley to this hand, five are signed ΔΟΡΙΣ without verb.
On this vase, a seated youth wearing the himation is shown seated on a chair whilst reading from a scroll inscribed with the words HERME ΛΕΙΔΟ ('I sing of Hermes'), a writing case hanging in the field. Those two words are the beginning of the first line from the shorter Homeric Hymn to Hermes. This largely anonymous collection of poems, composed in the epic style, possibly dates back to the 7th-6th Century B.C., with some later additions in Hellenistic and Roman times. According to Beazley, it is likely that the inscription in question refers to the beginning of a short Hymn to Hermes, of only twelve lines, which might have been popular with Greek schoolmasters as a simple piece easy to commit to memory and therefore suitable for teaching, cf. Beazley, 1950, op. cit.
Representations of open scrolls on Attic vases are not uncommon, however they usually either omit the writing or use lines and dots to suggest letters. This example is one of only nine other examples listed by Beazley as using a real inscription in representing an open scroll.