ATTRIBUTED TO THE PAINTER OF THE YALE OINOCHOE, CIRCA 470-460 B.C.

A comparatively rare vessel within in the Attic repertoire, the stamnos was used for storing or mixing wine, connected with the worship of Dionysos. Both sides feature Dionysian motifs fitting for its function. On one side, four maenads, wearing peploi, convene around an altar. Three of the four carry torches in both hands while one carries a torch in her raised left hand and a thyrsos in her right. On the other side, a satyr pursues a maenad, who moves to the right but turns back. To either side of the pair is another maenad, the one to the left holding a thyrsos and the one to the right with one hand raised. The scenes are framed by an encircling band of meander below, tongues above, with ovolo on the rim and palmette complexes at the handles.

The Painter of the Yale Oinochoe takes his name from a vessel of that form featuring Poseidon and Theseus in the Yale University Art Gallery. Approximately eleven stamnoi are attributed to his hand and many feature one side with figures around an altar. For another stamnos by the artist, see the example in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, pl. 27, nos. 1-2, in H. W. Catling and T. Mannack, Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum: Great Britain, Oxford, Ashmolean Museum.