Greek black-figure skyphos, Mid 6th century BC
Terracotta
Height: 6.7cm, width between handles: 12.4cm
11671
Skyphos of Corinthian type with very fine walls, horizontal handles and a flaring ring foot. Side A shows a warrior, possibly an Amazon, with a shield running to the left...
Skyphos of Corinthian type with very fine walls, horizontal handles and a flaring ring foot. Side A shows a warrior, possibly an Amazon, with a shield running to the left towards a winged goddess, probably Nike. Behind the warrior stands an older robed male with a staff in his left hand. Side B has a buck, doe and fawn, flanked by dogs underneath the handles, one of which has its mouth open to reveal its teeth and tongue. Rows of black dots used as background ornamentation, possibly representing nonsense inscriptions. Both the animals and figures are decorated with added white and red. The underside of the raised foot decorated with concentric circles. The centre of the inner bowl misfired. A large break at the rim restored with a missing area filled in, from which two break lines run up to either side of one handle. Some flaking to the glaze on the handles.
Though the decoration is in black, this is not a black-figure vase as there are no incised lines over the figures. Most vases decorated in such a manner come from South Italy, but there is every chance that this vase comes from mainland Greece,
Though the decoration is in black, this is not a black-figure vase as there are no incised lines over the figures. Most vases decorated in such a manner come from South Italy, but there is every chance that this vase comes from mainland Greece,
Provenance
Raphaël Collin (1850-1916), Paris, FranceSenator William A. Clark (1839-1925) New York, USA: acquired from the above in 1911
Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington DC, USA; bequeathed by the above
Deaccessioned from the above and gifted to the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center, Washington DC, USA, in 2014
Private collection
Exhibitions
Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington DC, USA, ‘The William A. Clark Collection,’ 26th April-16th July 1978Publications
R. Collin, Collection of Antique Grecian, Egyptian and Etruscan Statuettes, Vases, Tanagras, Etc. (Paris, 1911), p.23, no.164.Original Clark Catalog, Part II, p.248, no.164
The Illustrated Handbook of the W.A. Clark Collection, The Corcoran Gallery of Art (Washington D.C., 1928), p.116, no.2666 (and in the 1932 edition of the same name)
Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae, Vol.VI, Zürich, 1992. pl. 567, Nike 85
