Large Attic red-figure bell-krater, attributed to the Christie Painter

Period

Classical period, mid-5th century B.C.

Dimension

38 cm. high

Provenance

James Edwards (1757-1816), London

Catalogue Evans sale April 5-11, 1815

Major Sir Richard Guy Rasch, 3rd Bt. (1918-1996), Great Britain

Christie’s, Fine Antiquities, London, 31 mai 1979, p. 67, pl. 69

Publications

Aubin Louis Millin

Monumens Antiques : inédits, ou nouvellement expliqués, tome II, Paris : Imprimerie impériale, 1806, p. 115, pl. XIV

Dietrich von Bothmer

Amazons in Greek Art, Oxford, 1957, 39 bis, addendum to p. 178, p. 229
J.D. Beazley, ARV2, vol. II, p. 1049

J.D. Beazley

ARV², vol. II, 1963, p. 1049

L. Burn-R. Glynn

Beazley Addenda (Oxford, 1982), 157

T.H. Carpenter-T. Mannack-M. Mendonca

Beazley Addenda (Oxford, 1989): 321

Comparanda

J.D. Beazley, ARV2, vol. II, 1963, p. 1048.33

A. Scene of amazonomachy representing the Amazon Hippolyta left on a prancing horse and with a lance, warding off the spear thrusts of two Greeks, one a warrior in a helmet and tunic and with a shield emblazoned with a star, the hero Theseus, behind him a youth in a chiton and chlamys and wearing sandals ;
B. Three figures ; at the centre a bearded man with a spear facing right, one woman behind him and another confronting him ; palmettes and volutes beneath the rim
15 in. (38 cm.) high

Note

The Christie Painter was named after a bell-krater from Tapley Park, Devon (see ARV2, 19(13), p. 1047 and vol. III p. 1866), and was one of the most definite personalities of the Polygnotan Group of which the leading artist has been designated as ‘Polygnotos I’ (ARV2, vol. II, p. 1027). Millin compares this vase with one belonging to a certain M. Durand, and comes to the following conclusion, ‘Quoique son attitude soit un peu différente de celle de Thesée sur le vase de M. Durand, on ne peut cependant s’empêcher de reconnôitre ici la même action et de voir encore Thesée qui tue l’Amazone Hippolyte’.