University of Chicago 1967.115.141
Attic Black-Figure Dinos Fragment
Group E.
ca. 540-530 B.C.
Lent by The David and Alfred Smart Gallery, The University of Chicago
(1967.115.141; formerly UC 284). Ex collection E.P. Warren; said to be from
Attica.
The Vase: H. 4.2 cm; W. 7.2 cm; th.
5.0 cm. Irregularly broken rim fragment, much chipped on outer edges and
scratched across painted scene on top.
Decoration:
Outer face of rim: ivy leaves.
Top of rim: a scene of chariots and warriors. At left are
four pairs of front legs from a chariot group; in the center is another
quadriga, two of whose horses are preserved. In the chariot are two figures
— the charioteer in a long sleeveless chiton with wavy incised lines, and
a warrior, helmeted, with round shield and two spears. The charioteer holds the
reins to the central pair of horses; smaller lines run from chariot to the two
outside horses. At right edge of fragment above horses is part of a man's bent
arm. Three inscriptions: below left hand chariot...
ΙΦΟΣ above charioteer, retrograde,
ΚΑΛ or possibly
ΚΑΓ above warrior
ΔΙΟΜΕΔΕ[Σ]
Applied white: originally used for
charioteer's robe;
applied purple used on
chariot box and horses' tails.
Inside rim:
forepart of warship; ocean below is black with an incised line to mark the
surface. The prow of the ship ends in a ram in the shape of a boar's head;
incised lines on the ram may indicate reinforcing bands of metal, and the curved
lines the junction of ram to bow. An incised line along the hull indicates a
wale; at the left end of the wale is a curved line which marks a stanchion to
support the cathead (it is drawn backwards, a unique error in the depiction of
these vessels); above is a bow screen decorated with a checkerboard pattern; the
stem post of the ship rises in front of a single warrior armed with spear, round
shield and Corinthian helmet. A corner of the sail and yardarm are preserved; at
the end of the yard are incisions for the beginning of braces (the ropes that
set the yard to the wind), and other incisions mark the ropes lashing the sail
to the yard.
Applied white originally used on
surface of sail;
applied purple along lower
hull of ship.
This fragment of an Attic dinos (see
Cleveland 71.46) is remarkable for several reasons although the small
amount preserved makes detailed discussion impossible. The chariot scene is
unusual in having inscriptions painted beside the figures and in the choice of
subject. While miniature scenes are common enough on the tops of dinos rims, no
others known to me are inscribed and no others have chariots actually going into
battle. The François Vase preserves the only other miniature Diomedes in
a chariot; there he is racing his own vehicle in the funeral games for
Patroklos. He appears twice in a frontal chariot on larger vessels, a
tripod-pyxis in Athens and a hydria in Vienna. On the Chicago fragment he is
riding into battle, armed, in epic fashion, with two spears, and his chariot's
horses overlap a standing warrior of whom only a bent arm survives; another
quadriga follows Diomedes closely. The freedom with which vase painters treated
their epic sources makes reference to actual events in the Iliad risky, but one
is reminded of the opening of Book Six where Diomedes slays a number of Trojans
from his chariot. One of these is a charioteer, Kalesios, whose name may have
been transferred by the painter to Diomedes' own driver above whose head appear
the letters
ΚΑΛ..., if
indeed the name does not refer to the figures following. The other fragmentary
inscription/at the bottom (...
ΙΦΟΣ) may identify the following warrior: on the François
Vase the hero Damasippos follows Diomedes; if aspiration of the "p" occurred, he
might become the (Damas)iphos of our scene. As far as names go, there are no
other likely candidates amongst either Greeks or Trojans. It is possible,
although much less likely, that the names may refer to painter, potter or
"kalos" figure.
The ship on the interior is one of the most neatly drawn of its type;
the conceit of a tiny fleet sailing over a wine-dark sea evidently appealed to
painters in the second half of the sixth century and a number of kraters, dinoi
and cups with such decoration are known. Many of these can be seen in
Morrison & Williams 1968, pl.
13-18, a fundamental though incomplete source of information, and in
Schauenburg 1970, pls. 12-14.
Others are known, including one in Cleveland (see
Cleveland 71.46) and an unpublished fragment from a calyx krater in
Corinth. The earliest example may be one in Boston that Schauenburg dates to
about 540 B.C., although the rigging with halyards flanking the mast is a type
only found much later on other vases (The Boston vase was recently published and
dated later in
CVA, USA 19, Boston 2, pp.
9-10). The scenes are always warships under sail and oar; often the
artist misjudged the space available and was forced to omit the upper parts of
mast and sail, although there seems to be space for them on the Chicago
fragment. Details of rigging are generally included, as are details of hull
structure; rarely does an artist make so elementary a mistake as drawing the
cathead stanchion backwards, as he has done here. Rare also is the neatly drawn
warrior in the prow; normally the
proreus, or
lookout, is unarmed. Another unusual feature is the checkerboard decoration of
the bow screen; usually the decoration is lozenge-shaped. On the famous cup by
Exekias in Munich, with Dionysos on the pirate ship, there appears a
checkerboard screen; the ships on the Villa Giulia dinos by Exekias have,
however, the more conventional lozenges (see
Morrison & Williams 1968, pls. 13 and 14 c-d; an
illustration of the Cahn fragment with checkered screen to which they refer on
p. 93 appears in
Brommer 1970, pl.
27.3; for a recently published drawing of a lost sherd with a similar
screen see
Greifenhagen 1978, 545, no.
72a).
For other dinoi with ships inside and miniature scenes on top see
CVA, Poland 4, Warsaw I, pl. 24 (row of
animals);
D. Gray 1974, pl. 12c
(row of animals);
CVA, France 2,
Louvre 2, III He, pls. 1.2, and 2.1-4 (four waiting quadrigae and various
myths);
CVA, France 19, Louvre 12,
III He, pl. 154.3 (chariot race);
CVA, Spain I, Madrid I, III He, pls. 4-7 (warriors fighting and waiting
chariots);
Johnson, infra, figs. 1-4 (combat and psychostasia on a
dinos in Vienna); See also the lists in
Mingazzini 1930, 212-215, including a list of earlier
lists;
Casson 1971, 60-65;
D. Gray 1974, 26-28;
Morrison & Williams 1968, 92-116.
For the theme of chariot warfare see a miniature frieze on a volute
krater in Copenhagen:
CVA, Denmark 8,
Copenhagen 8, pl. 322.1 a, b; also see
Beazley 1951, pl. 13 for a larger version by the
painter of Acropolis 606 with chariots following one another and warriors on
foot in combat. On chariots generally see
Mercklin 1909;
Vigneron 1968, ch.
4;
D. K. Hill 1974, 441-446.
Johnson tentatively suggested that the piece might be by Exekias but
Beazley apparently did not follow him in this attribution and indeed omitted the
fragment from ABV; perhaps a safer attribution is to the general class of Group
E, which was responsible for a number of similar ship scenes.
Bibliography
F. P. Johnson, "A Fragment of
an Attic Dinos," Art in America 29 (1941)
208-216. "For dinoi with ships see
CVA, Boston 2 (1978) p. 9 (Letter of Dietrich von
Bothmer to Warren G. Moon, 15 Feb. 1980).
Hector Williams The University of British Columbia
