Artworks

Greek red-figure kylix with Bacchic scenes, attributed to the Oedipus Painter (Simon). A very fine early Classical Greek kylix. The tondo shows a maenad standing in a grotto forcing back a satyr with a thyrsus which she wields over her head. It seems clear that she has fled from the Dionysiac revels and sought refuge within the cave, but the satyr has followed her. He is getting the worst of the encounter and is about to be struck. Around the back of the satyr is the inscription ho pais kalos 'the boy is beautiful'. On side (a) Dionysus himself carrying a vine branch offers a kantharos to a satyr holding an oinochoe who seems to be pushing him away (refusing him more wine?). Two frenzied satyrs flank the scene. On side (b) four further bearded komast dancing figures wearing female chitons and himations and, in two cases, Lydian caps. One balances a large skyphos in his out-stretched hand. Palmettes in the handle zones. Recomposed from several pieces, though there are very few lacunae; just a couple of small areas on the reverse, which are obvious from the images. There is some slight misfiring.

The Oedipus Painter is an artist closely associated with Douris.

Provenance

Dr W. Rosenbaum-Kroeber (1894-1984), Ascona, Switzerland; acquired prior to 1978
Dr P. Conradty, Nuremberg, Germany; acquired 1982
Yale University Art Gallery, USA; acquired from Charles Ede in November 2016

Exhibitions

'Dionysos. Rausch und Ekstase', Bucerius Kunst Forum Hamburg (3rd October 2013-12th January 2014) and Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden (6th February 2014-10th June 2014)

Publications

W. Hornbostel, Aus der Glanzzeit Athens (Hamburg, 1986), pp.111-114, no.53
Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae, Vol. VIII (Zurich, 1997), pl.I, p.788/66
E. Simon et al, Mythen und Menschen, Griechische Vasenmalerei aus einer Deutschen Privatsammlung (Mainz, 1997), no.27
Michael Philipp et al, Dionysos. Rausch und Ekstase (Trento, 2013), pp.184-185, no.79