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Lot Essay
The Painter of the Oxford Grypomachy was named by J.D. Beazley after a bell-krater in the Ashmolean Museum, depicting a battle between Arimasps and griffins (see p. 1428, no. 1 in Attic Red-Figure Vase-Painters, second edition). The obverse shows Dionysos, holding a thyrsos in his left hand, dancing next to a female figure, perhaps Ariadne, whose flesh is distinguished by the use of added white. Flanking the scene are a satyr and two maenads – one dancing, the other sitting. On the reverse is a winged goddess between two draped men. For a closely related krater by the same painter, see the example sold at Christie’s, New York, 29 April 2019, lot 147.
Although Beazley only assigned 16 vases to the artist, all of which are bell-kraters, the Painter of the Oxford Grypomachy belonged to a flourishing tradition at the end of the Attic sequence rendered in the “Kerch Style,” named from the site in eastern Crimea where a number of late red-figured vases were discovered (see p. 190 in J. Boardman, Athenian Red Figure Vases: The Classical Period). They are characterized by slender figures and polychromatic effects achieved by the use of added white (as here) or other supplemental colors and occasional gilding.
Although Beazley only assigned 16 vases to the artist, all of which are bell-kraters, the Painter of the Oxford Grypomachy belonged to a flourishing tradition at the end of the Attic sequence rendered in the “Kerch Style,” named from the site in eastern Crimea where a number of late red-figured vases were discovered (see p. 190 in J. Boardman, Athenian Red Figure Vases: The Classical Period). They are characterized by slender figures and polychromatic effects achieved by the use of added white (as here) or other supplemental colors and occasional gilding.