Collection: Istanbul Archaeological Museum
Summary: Ploutos and Eleusinian divinities
Ware: Attic Red Figure, Kerch
Painter: Attributed to the Helen Painter
Context: Found in Rhodes
Date: ca. 370 BC - ca. 360 BC
Dimensions: H. 0.46 m; max. diam. (body) 0.305 m
Primary Citation: UKV 18 no. 152, pls. 1-2, fig. 26, 34
Shape: Hydria
Period: Late Classical

Decoration Description:

Upper level: A female figure, seated profile to the left, with her head turned profile to the right, wearing a himation wrapped around lower body, a sakkos, a gold beaded necklace, gold bead earrings, and two gold bands on her left wrist, holds with her right hand drapery above her right shoulder, and rests her left hand on the rock to her right; Triptolemos, seated near profile to the right in his winged chariot, legs crossed, wearing a red taenia, holds a phiale in his slightly raised left hand, leans a scepter on his left shoulder, and raises one stalk of grain in his right hand; a female figure seated 3/4-view to the right, with her legs crossed, and her head tilted up, wearing a peplos, a sphendone, a gold necklace, and sandals, holds an implement (usually interpreted as a temple key, although it is large enough to be a plow ) over her right shoulder, and places her right arm on the back of her chair; a youth, standing profile to the left, with his right foot raised on a box, wearing a chlamys and a narrow taenia, holds in his upraised right hand in front of his head, and points down to the left with his left hand.

Lower level: A female figure, standing 3/4-view to the right, wearing a himation enveloping her arms, a kekryphylon (?), and a flower over her ear; Kore, standing near frontal, with her head profile to the right, wearing a chiton with shoulder straps, a himation draped over her thighs, a taenia, two necklaces, and two bands on her right wrist, holds an indeterminate object in her left hand, and in her upraised right hand torches resting over her shoulder; to the right of her, a long cylindrical object with a tip; a large female figure, probably Ge, rising out of the ground, 3/4-view to the right, wearing a peplos, a sakkos (?), a grain crown, and a necklace, rests a staff on her left shoulder, and with both hands lifts a keras on top of which is seated Ploutos, 3/4-view to the left, with his head turned profile to the right, wearing a himation over his lower body, extending both arms toward Demeter; a small square object is above "Ge," divided in half and decorated with two large sigmas (perhaps a Bakchos ring, as suggested by Beazley 1941, 4); Demeter, standing 3/4-view to the left, with her weight on her right leg, her left leg relaxed, wearing a peplos, a himation veiled over her left shoulder and head, a grain crown, a gold beaded necklace, and two gold bands on each wrist, holds a scepter in her upraised right hand, and holds her left hand at waist level, reaching toward Ploutos; Iakchos, running 3/4-view to the right, wearing a short, belted oriental tunic, a taenia, and high leather boots, holds a short torch in each hand.

Sources Used: LIMC, 7.416-17 s.v. Ploutos no. 7 (K. Clinton); Clinton 1992, 103-104, 133 no. 3, fig. 29; LIMC, 4.174 s.v. Ge no. 28, pl. 98 (M.B. Moore), 44 s.v. Eubouleus no. 8 (G. Schwarz), 58 s.v. Eumolpos no. 28 (L. Weidauer), 876 s.v. Demeter no. 403 (L. Beschi); Schwarz 1987, 149, 154 V 128; LIMC, 3.693 s.v. Eileithyia no. 81 (R. Olmos); Pingiatoglou 1981, 138.8; Schefold 1981, 64 n. 116; Bianchi 1976, no. 3; H. Métzger, ""Athéna soulevant de terre le nouveau-né. Du gest au mythe,"" Mélanges d'histoire ancienne et d'archéologie offerts à P. Collart (Lausanne 1976) 298-99 fig. 4a-b; Bérard 1974, 148, 150, fig. 8; A. Peschlow-Bindokat, "Demeter und Persephone in der attischen Kunst des 6. bis 4. Jahrhunderts," JdI 87 (1972) 149 V 133; Kerenyi 1967, 164 s fig. 51a-b; E. Simon, "Neue Deutung zweier eleusinischer Denkmäler des vierten Jahrhunderts v. Chr.," AntK 9 (1966) 82 fig. 3; Hamdorf 1964 108 no. 403c; Hibbs 1961 79, fig. 96; G.E. Mylonas in AE 1960, 112-13 fig. 21; Grossman 1959, 303-305 no. FP 33, pl. 13.2; Laager 1957, 202; Métzger 1951, 244 no. 12 pl. 32; MMR2, 559; H. Métzger, ""Dionysos Chthonien,"" BCH 68-69 (1944-1945) 330-36 no. 2 fig. 13; M.P. Nilsson, "Die eleusinischen Religion," Die Antike 1942, 223 fig. 7; Beazley 1941, 3-4, fig. 3; M.P. Nilsson, "Die eleusinischen Göttheiten," Archiv für Religionswissenschaft 32 (1935) 95-96; Schefold 1930, pl. 6b; Jacobsthal 1927, pl. 131a; FR 2.59 fig. 25; Farnell, 3.255-57, pl. 21.b; Harrison 1903, 524-26, fig. 151; J.N. Svoronos, "Interpretation of the Monuments of the Eleusinian Mystic Cycle," JIAN 3 (1901) 386-87; S. Reinach, "L'Hécate de Ménéstrate," RA 38 (1901) 87; S. Reinach, ""La Naissance de Ploutos,"" RA 36 (1900) 93; J.E. Harrison and D. MacColl, Greek Vase Paintings (London 189