Vases Red-figure Stamnos Stamnos (mixing vessel) with Cover: Dionysos, Maen...
Stamnos (mixing vessel) with Cover: Dionysos, Maenads, and Satyr
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Stamnos (mixing vessel) with Cover: Dionysos, Maenads, and Satyr

Red-figure The Christie Painter · Stamnos · c. 440 BCE
Red-figure stamnos with lid.

Side A: a thiasos. A bearded Dionysos processes to the right, wearing a long chiton, himation, and ivy wreath. In his lowered right hand is a kantharos and in his left is a vertical thyrsos. The god turns back, looking at the maenad behind him. Wearing a peplos, she holds a lighted torch in her left hand and an oinochoe in her right. To the right of Dionysos is a satyr followed by a second maenad, both wearing wreaths. Nude and beardless, the satyr plays the double-pipes. The maenad wears a flowing peplos and her hair is loose around her shoulders. She looks back towards the procession and a kithara hangs from her wrist.

Side B: satyr and maenads. Nude and bearded, a satyr runs to the right, chasing a maenad. Below the satyr is a drinking horn. The maenad, wearing a belted peplos, flees to the right holding a horizontal thrysos in her right hand. At the far left, a second maenad flees the scene. She wears an unbelted peplos and carries a thyrsos. Both maenads wear a fillet and wreath, rendered in added white.

Figures stand on a groundline consisting of maeanders and cross-squares. Added white is used throughout for details including the satyr's musculature, wreaths, and the tips of the thyrsoi. A pair of stacked palmettes with tendrils appear below each handle, which are also topped with an additional palmette.

Shape
Technique
Period
Classical period, High
Date
c. 440 BCE
Culture
Greek
Medium
Terracotta; reddish clay with fine lustrous black glaze
Findspot
Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe, Attica
Museum
Harvard Art Museums
Accession Number
1925.30.42.A-B
Image Source
harvard
Images courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art (CC0)