Chicago 1978.114
Attic Black-Figure Amphora (Type B) The Painter of Berlin 1686 ca. 550 B.C. The Art Institute of Chicago; Katherine K. Adler Fund (1978.114). Color Plate 11 The Vase: H. 28.2 cm; W. 21.1 cm; D. of mouth 12.7 cm; D. of foot 11.0 cm. Intact and in excellent state of preservation: minor chips from lip; flaking of added red on Side B. Black glaze applied unevenly under overhang of lip. Top of lip and underside of foot reserved; interior of neck glazed to a depth of 4.5 cm. Decoration: Side A: Herakles and the lion. Added red: hair and beards of men, circles indicating hair around nipples, Herakles' chiton, Hermes' winged boots, panels on women's peploi, crest of Athena's helmet, patch on lion's flank, tips of arrows and flap of quiver. Red is also used for the cuffs of the lotuses, the bases of the interior spray of lotus petals and for the hearts of the palmettes. Added white: female flesh, band at the base of Athena's helmet-crest, shield device, designs on the rim of Athena's helmet-crest, shield device, designs on the rim of Athena's shield, star-patterns on clothing, lion's teeth, feathers on Herakles' arrows. Side B: combat. Added red: greaves, rims of shields, insides of shields, chiton of warrior on far left, stripes and overfold on himation, various bands on helmet crests, helmets (except for left-facing warrior of central pair) breastplate of the warrior behind the latter, fillet in the hair of the small figure. Red in the lotus-palmette festoon is the same as Side A. Red circles on upper and lower edges of work, on edge of foot, and above rays. Added white: stripes on crests, arm-bands of shields, shield-devices, sword-hilt, chapes, baldrics, dot clusters on clothing, studs along edge of greaves and helmets; fillet on helmet of fourth warrior. The red-brown dipinto under the foot appears on another amphora by this painter, in Madison (see Moon 1979, no. 32). There is also a graffito on the slope of the foot Π. The subject on A is known from hundreds of Attic black-figured vases. In the scheme here represented, the hero stands to right and has lifted the forepart of the lion off the ground. Its right hind leg and foreleg are raised, and its head is turned back (Brommer 1973, pp. 126-127, Arc, nos. 1-29). This is the standard scheme employed by the painters of Group E and their contemporaries, and normally there are, in addition to Herakles and the lion, two flanking figures, a woman and a man, often nude. The man must be Iolaos, and the woman is frequently called Athena on the analogy of those scenes (e.g., Para., 56, no. 42 bis) in which she wears a helmet and carries a spear. On this amphora, however, there are five figures (not counting the lion). The nude man holding a spear on the extreme left may be Iolaos and his counterpart on the extreme right is clearly marked as Hermes by his petasos, the boots, and the caduceus. Athena faces Herakles and is fully armed with an Attic helmet, a round shield emblazoned with a cock, and a spear. But who, in this case, is the woman behind Herakles who extends both hands? She can only be Nemea, daughter of Asopos, granddaughter of Okeanos, and sister of Aegina. The battle scene on the reverse is equally crowded. Two pairs of hoplites face each other in a battle over a fallen warrior. The devices are four bent, conjoined legs and a star. A diminutive man holding a spear is added on the right, almost as a space-filler. This amphora can be attributed to the Painter of Berlin 1686, one of the painters whom Beazley recognized almost fifty years ago (CVA, GB 9, Oxford 2, p. 98). From a nucleus of four vases established in 1931, the list grew to eleven in 1934 (BSA, 32 [1934] 10-11), almost doubled to twenty in 1956 (ABV, 296-297; 692) and counted 27 at the time of Beazley's death in 1970. In addition to Chicago 1978.114, at least six other amphorae of type B can be added to the known attributions, notably one in Orvieto: the three kithara players on the reverse are very close to ABV, 296, no. 4, and Herakles with Zeus and Athena in a gigantomachy on A should be compared with the obverse of Para., 129, no. 17 ter (identical with Brommer 1973, 64, no. 14). Even closer to the amphora in Chicago is St. Petersburg 1470 (St. 31) which is unpublished. An unusual feature of the Chicago amphora is the lateral frame composed of chevrons. The pattern is rather rare in Attic black-figure. It first occurs on the sides of panels on an amphora of type B in Halle (Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift der Martin-Luther-Universität, Halle-Wittenberg 2 [1952-53] 120-122, pls. 8-10) and on top of the panels on another amphora B once in the Basel market (Münzen, vol. 26 [October 5, 1963] pl. 27, no. 88). For a late survival of the pattern, compare a black-figured oinochoe (shape 1) put by Beazley near the Altenburg Class (Para., 182; Cat. Sotheby-Parke-Bernet 17 Feb. 1978, no. 80: now New York, Leon Levy). The amphora once in the Basel market was attributed by Cahn to the Circle of Early Lydos, but Beazley did not cite it in Paralipomena. There are enough resemblances to the amphora in Chicago to consider whether the Basel amphora may not also count as an early work of the Painter of Berlin 1686.(unpublished) Dietrich von Bothmer, The Metropolitan Museum of Art