Side A: satyr on far left, upper half

Side B: woman on left

Side B: scene at center

Side A: maenad with kottabos stand and situla

Side A: Pan picking grapes

Side A: standing fawn

Collection: Toledo Museum of Art
Summary: Side A: Dionysos and Ariadne. Side B: double departure and return scene.
Ware: Lucanian Red Figure
Painter: Attributed to the Creusa Painter
Date: ca. 380 BC - ca. 360 BC
Dimensions:

H. to rim 0.513 m., d. of body 0.37 m., d. with handles 0.45 m., d. foot 0.179 m.

Primary Citation: Trendall 1967, Suppl. III, 66 no. C 22, pl. VII; Trendall 1989, pl. 72
Shape: Volute krater
Period: Late Classical


Condition:

On side A, the woman carrying a kottabos stand had lost part of her right shoulder and a small portion of the hair at the back of her head. In addition, part of a bunch of grapes over Pan's head was restored.

Decoration Description:

Side A: Dionysos and Ariadne. In the center Ariadne sits on the left with Dionysos on the right. They face each other, as Ariadne holds in her right hand a laurel wreath which she will put on his head. With her left hand on Dionysos's shoulder, she is wearing a long sleeveless, diaphanous chiton, through which her breasts and lower legs are visible. She also wears a fillet, bracelets on both wrists, shoes, and a himation of heavier fabric, bunched around her lap and knees. A band runs around the lower border of the himation; its inner edge is marked by regularly spaced dots. Her fillet is wrapped into a bun on her neck. A ringlet curl hangs in front of her right ear. Dionysos sits with his head slightly raised, as if to meet the wreath that Ariadne holds over him. In his left hand he holds a thyrsos and in his right a kantharos. He is wearing a himation which, like Ariadne's, has slipped to his midsection. A band runs along the lower border of his garment. Around his head is a fillet decorated with dots, its end tucked under the main band in a loop and tassel that dangles to his shoulder. He also wears pointed shoes.

The borders of a cave around the two figures, as well as the groundline of the hill above, are represented by an undulating reserved band around them. The upper edge of the cave line has incised tufts of grass and a grape vine over Dionysos's head. Incision is used for the stems of the grape leaves, while the grapes are dots in thick slip.

On top of the cave, Pan is picking grapes. Only his upper body and midsection and the beginning of his goat-like lower body are depicted. Thin slip covers his hair, beard and mustache, and thin lines mark the ridges of his horn. Where his human torso and goat-like legs meet, rows of fine dots are visible on each side of a kottabos stand that is held by a maenad behind him. To the right of the grapevine from which Pan plucks his grapes, a satyr reaches left to offer him a bunch of grapes. The satyr's legs too are invisible behind the hill and cave.

To the left of the cave, a satyr and two maenads are pictured. On the far left the satyr walks right carrying a sitting maenad on his left shoulder. The otherwise naked satyr is wearing shoes; his face is turned frontal, and his right arm supports the maenad on his shoulder, while his left is invisible among the folds of her clothes. The maenad faces right, wearing a chiton, himation, fillet, shoes, and bracelets. She is playing the aulos, as her puffed cheek makes evident. In front of these two figures strides another maenad to the right. Her face is in profile, and she is wearing shoes, bracelets, and a long diaphanous chiton with nebris over it, belted at the waist. Two bands decorate the chiton, one at the hem and another with dotted edge running around the knees. This maenad holds in her left hand the kottabos stand which appears to cut across Pan's rump; in her right hand she carries a situla.

To the right of the cave stands a maenad facing right, holding a fawn in both hands and offering it to another seated maenad. The standing maenad is wearing a knee-length diaphanous chiton marked at the knees by a band, shoes and bracelets. The chiton is belted at the waist, and dots cover the belt. The maenad's hair, minus the fillet, is identical to Ariadne's, with a bun in the rear and a ringlet curl in front of her ear. The fawn, which turns its head sharply backwards, has dots marking its back and neck. The seated maenad is reaching both arms up to receive the animal. She too wears a chiton secured at the waist by a dotted belt, shoes, and bracelets, as well as a necklace.

On the far right, above the seated maenad, the head and torso of a boy satyr appear. He is looking left, while his right hand rests on the incised groundline which obscures his legs from view. An incised tuft of grass marks the groundline near the satyr's hand. Below the two maenads on the right, a left-facing hare and a right-facing fawn are posed. The grazing fawn's back and neck are marked by two rows of short strokes.

Two reserved bands frame the main panel. A tongue pattern bounded above and below by reserved bands covers the shoulder. Below the main panel, a meander band with saltire squares circles the vessel. Four meanders separate each saltire square, except the point below Dionysos's thyrsos, where two meanders mark the beginning and end of the band. Elaborate decoration covers the neck, each section separated by reserved lines. A band of ivy leaves connected by incised stems points right and runs around the top of the neck. Below it is a lotus-palmette band. Finally a black band above the shoulder meets a reserved ridge decorated with diagonal strokes. Under the flaring rim a band of laurel leaves runs to the right. The outside of the rim profile is covered with an egg pattern below an offset black edge.

Ivy leaves on each side of a central stem decorate the coils of the handle volutes. Miltos is used to redden the grooves in the coil. A raised fillet, scored above and below, marks the juncture of the body and foot. The lowest section of the foot is marked by another scored line. The rounded outer edge of the foot is reserved. Each handle root is decorated with a band of tongues. Elaborate palmettes surrounded by florals with coiled tendrils fill the space below the handles.

Side B: double departure and return scene. To the left, a youth prepares to depart while a woman bids him farewell. On the far left, the woman faces right and holds a phiale in her right hand. She is wearing a long chiton belted at the waist; the overfall hem is bordered in a black band, with two vertical, parallel stripes running down both overfall and skirt. The woman also wears shoes, a bracelet on her right arm, and a fillet secured in a bun behind her head. Above the phiale a spotted bird flies to the right, as if rising from the woman's hand. To the right of the woman and facing her, a youth stands preparing to depart, clad only in cloak with black border, laced boots, and a baldric. The baldric supports a sheathed sword and is patterned with horizontal lines except on the shoulder section. Parallel diagonal lines decorate the scabbard, while the sword hilt is black. In his right hand the youth is holding his pilos by the top; its chin straps are tied and hanging down. Against his left arm his spear is resting.

To the right a youth (perhaps the same as the departing youth on the left) stands facing left, with a woman opposite him. The youth is wearing cloak and boots, but no baldric or sword. His spear is resting against his right hand and shoulder, while his left hand touches the rim of his shield, which is resting against him in front. The shield's outer edge is marked by a band set off by a thin line inside which are randomly spaced dots. The shield's device is a star in a circle surrounded by other small circles. In front of the youth stands a woman virtually identical to the woman on the left. She is dressed identically to her counterpart, with an additional himation with banded edge draped over her shoulders and elbows; in her right hand she holds a laurel wreath to place on the youth's head. In addition to a bracelet also worn by the woman on the left, this woman has a necklace with a pendant in the center. Her feet are bare.

The decorations bordering the main panel, as well as those on the shoulder, neck, rim and handle volutes are identical to side A. The foot's underside and the domed vase bottom are reserved.

Sources Used:

CVA, USA fasc. 20, pp. 16-18, pls. 91-93

Other Bibliography:

Luckner, K., 1982, in The Art of South Italy: Vases from Magna Graecia, Richmond, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts