FROM THE GROUP OF TORONTO 305, CIRCA 520 B.C.

Details

AN ATTIC BLACK-FIGURED NECK-AMPHORA
FROM THE GROUP OF TORONTO 305, CIRCA 520 B.C.
One side with two horsemen in combat over a fallen hoplite, both horses rearing, the riders each clad in a corselet, greaves and a high-crested Corinthian helmet, holding a spear in each hand, a sheathed sword suspended from a baldric, the hoplite wearing a chiton, corselet, greaves and a crested Corinthian helmet, a sheathed sword at his waist, lying on his left elbow with both knees bent, his head turned back, his right hand holding a circular shield with a white sphere as the blazon; the other side with Artemis, Apollo, Leto and Hermes, each depicted standing, Artemis clad in a belted peplos, her head and right arm lowered, gesturing to the fawn at her side, Apollo wearing a chiton under a voluminous himation, playing a kithara, Leto clad in a belted chiton, facing her children, her hands extending forward, bearded Hermes walking to the right but looking back, wearing a short chiton, chlamys, boots and a petasos, holding his kerykeion in his right hand; with bands of key and lotus bud chain below, red and black tongues above, rays above the foot, palmette chain on the neck, lotus bud and palmette complexes below the triple-reeded handles, dipinti on the underside of the foot reading, SO, details in added red and white; together with a separately-made lid, concentric circles radiating from the central knob, a band of ivy at the rim
16 5/8 in. (42.2 cm.) high

Provenance

with Royal-Athena Galleries, New York, 1989.

Literature

A.J. Paul, Exhibition catalogue, A View into Antiquity: Pottery from the Collection of William Suddaby and David Meier, Tampa, 2001, no. 18.

Exhibited

Tampa Museum of Art, A View into Antiquity: Pottery from the Collection of William Suddaby and David Meier, 14 October 2001-13 January 2002.

Lot Essay

Boardman (Athenian Black Figure Vases, pp. 109-110) informs that the Group of Toronto 305 is one of many followers of the Antimenes Painter who worked in a comparable style on the same shapes, although not as prolific.
Johnston (Trademarks on Greek Vases, p. 46) states that the SO mark is "more often on later Antimenean vases and also appears on rather more Leagran pieces; yet the mark had a long life, first occurring in the mid 530s."
For the composition of horsemen in combat compare the amphora by the Swing Painter, pl. 7 in Clark, Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, The J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, Fascicule 1 [U.S.A. Fascicule 23].

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