#ancient vase

[sweet-harmony]

…I finally found a place for these flowers… and for the vase that contained some ugly succulents…

@sweet-harmony

[letsgostealthelouvre]

Please enjoy this duck vase with the face of a beautiful woman on it. 

[ID: A vase in the shape of a duck, with the neck of the face emerging from its lower back. The duck has no legs and is presumably seated; its head is held up above its breast with a long slightly curved beak and wide eye. Its neck and breast are decorated with feathery swirls; right on its shoulder is the profile of a woman with dark hair and a dangling earring. The duck’s body and tail are painted with long, elegant feathers and delicate tailfeathers.] 

[silveroliveleaf]

*Pics from Classical Art Research Centre, University Of Oxford

Hydria with the Sack Of Troy by Kleophrade's Painter, early 5th century

This red-figured style vase was painted at the time of the Persian Wars. The Persians plundered Athens destroying the first temples erected on the Acropolis (before the Parthenon) until the Greeks defeated them at the Battle Of Salamis (480 BC). Athens' sack becoming a trauma to the Athenians inspired the so-called Kleophrade's Painter to depict the most legendary sack of a city, none other than Troy, 4 centuries before Virgil.

Second picture

On the left, Aeneas bears his old father, Achises, on his shoulders in order to save him from the massacre. His son, Ascanios, leads them. This moving moment, when Aeneas decided not to leave behind his father despite the danger, signifies the beggining of gods' plan for him, as he'll become the predecessor of the first Romans. The depiction of Aeneas' myth on the vase indicates that Aeneas' destiny was known to the Greeks, before the Aenead, no matter the little written sources about it (of course, this doesn't reduce at all Virgil's marvellous illustration of the myth that turned out to be one of the most famous epic poems ever written).

On tne center, Ajax The Lesser aggressively approaches Cassandra and the other women (perhaps, Andromache, too) who have found refugie to Palladion, Athena's altar. Athena as the Parthenos, meaning the virgin, is supposed to protect the women who turn to it. Therefore, Cassandra was protected by the moral laws of the society as a sacred beggar. Nonetheless, Ajax The Lesser didn't obey to the divine laws and raped the misfortuned Cassandra -the one who had foreseen Troy's end, but no one believed her. The violence of the scene is intesively transmitted, as Cassandra streches her hand pleading and the other women hide their faces and pull their hair in grief, while the heartless Ajax The Lesser walks towards them looking terrifying in full armor. (Nemesis (=punishment) always being important for the greek way of thinking, Ajax The Lesser will suffer Athena's wrath and will be finally killed by Poseidon -in a rare case where Athena and Poseidon's intentions are in line).

Third picture

On the center, it's one of the most realistically painted scenes; Neoptolemos, Achilles' son, after having killed Astyanax, Hector's little son, strikes Priam, who is covered with blood. The old king will die along with his city, completely defenceless. The vivid red color not only attracts the viewer's attention, but makes it look like it comes straight out of a horror film increasing the scene's drama.

All in all, I love this vase, as it enclosures many different myths connected with a single event. There's much movement and tension, while the bodies' position (for example, look at the last pic how Neoptolemos has turned his body) and the effort to depict real space (for instance, at Neoptolemos' feet a dead soldier looks like he's three dimensional) make the scene a lot realistic. Forgetting the virtuous Achilles and Helen's beauty, we come face to face with the war's cruelty, where the heroes turn to beasts.

[archaeologs]

Photo: Terracotta column-krater with symposion scene. © The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Learn more/Daha fazlası Symposion: http://www.archaeologs.com/w/symposion/

[theancientwayoflife]

~ Vase with Snake-Thread Decoration.

Date: late A.D. 2nd-mid 3rd century

Period: Roman Imperial

Place of origin: Germany, Cologne (Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium)

Medium: White, yellow, and turquoise glass, blown and trailed .

[ancientstuff]

Ancient Greek Vase Shaped Like a Lobster Claw

Terracotta vase in the form of a lobster claw from the collection at the Met. Circa 460 BC. Because so many aspects of Greek

I’m posting this because it’s just such a beautiful thing.

[letsgostealthelouvre]

Greeks really did go in for chickens in a big way.

[Description: A round vase with a wide mouth and narrow footed base; the neck of the vase has a painting of a man’s head, and two handles emerge from the neck to attach to the wide sides of the vase. Painted on the body of the vase, above a thick black stripe, are two roosters facing each other, a decorative fan design between them.]

[letsgostealthelouvre]

This is, I believe, the oldest item in the Louvre’s collection to have an attributed artist; it’s certainly one of the oldest, anyway. It is attributed to the Sphinx Painter, who also has work on exhibit at the Met. It’s difficult to learn much else about this artist, since most of the discussion about them is confined to extremely scholarly articles in obscure archives or German (or both) but I like their work. 

[Description: A large vase with a pouring spout and handle at the top; the body is pear-shaped, and has four horizontal “fields” divided by dark stripes. Each field contains delicate paintings of a number of animals, including birds, big cats, ungulates, pigs, and at least one sphinx, rearing back from a bird flapping its wings.]