ATTRIBUTED TO THE CLASS OF BRUSSELS A 3099, MANNER OF THE MEIDIAS PAINTER, CIRCA 420-400 B.C.

Centered on the body is a seated Aphrodite, who is identified by an inscription above. She wears a sleeveless, belted chiton and a sakkos, holding a mirror in her outstretched right hand. She is accompanied by three other similarly-clad female figures. The one to the left holds a fruit in one hand and a sash and kista (casket) in the other while, below, the seated figure extends her right hand toward a goose. Hornbostel (op. cit.) identified the three figures as Aglaea, Euphrosyne and Thalia, or the Charities (commonly referred to as “The Three Graces”), the personification of charm and beauty. Hermary (op. cit.) remarks that the inscription identifying Aphrodite “inserts this scene of banal adornment into a divine context”.

This vase is connected to two other hydriai (one in the Musées Royaux in Brussels and the other at the Harvard Art Museums) by their shape, patterns and elaborate floral designs on the back, which may be by the same hand. As J.D. Beazley remarks (p. 1341 in Attic Red-Figured Vase-Painters, second edition), “the figure work has the same general character…but cannot be said to be by one hand.” This hydria has been assigned by Burn (op. cit.) to the Manner of the Medias Painter.