Museum Object Number: 30-4-1
THE Attic vase, [Plates VI and VII], recently acquired by the Museum, is one of the largest and finest known specimens of Loutrophoroi, the tall amphorae which were used at weddings and funerals. It stands thirty-six and a half inches high, and is decorated with figures in red against a black background, in the style of one of the chief Attic painters of the earlier classical period, the Achilles painter, to whom the vase is attributed by Beasley. It can he dated about 430 B.c.
The main picture represents a battle: on one side are two helmeted warriors, one bearded, the other younger, striding to attack a third wearing a petasos on his head, who turns to flee. From the other side comes a horse, with the rider wounded and apparently falling off (this part of the vase is fragmentary, and filled in with plain clay). Behind the horse, on the other side of the vase, is a fifth warrior wearing chlamys and petasos, and carrying a spear, his back turned to a helmeted, bearded warrior who attacks a light armed cavalryman. Below this main scene runs a narrow frieze of ten male figures, men and youths, all wearing the himation and extending their arms in the gesture of farewell to the dead. Four face to the left, six to the right, and between the two groups is the door of a house. On one side of the neck above palmettes, is the figure of a young warrior, and on the other that of a bearded man, wearing chiton and himation, and carrying a long sceptre. The mouth of the vase is decorated with conventionalized snakes in white, and the handles with white rosettes.
This important acquisition was made through the Sharpe Fund, and it will soon be placed on exhibition with the other Classical Collections in the Sharpe Memorial Gallery.
