Warren G. Moon, Greek Vase-Painting in Midwestern Collections

Omaha 1953.255

Lent by the Joslyn Museum of Art; Membership Purchase Fund (1953.255). Ex collections Earl Fitzwilliam and W. R. Hearst; purchased from Jacob Hirsch, Parke-Bernet sale 1294 (7-8 December, 1951) no. 9, ill. II.

The Vase: H. 43.9 cm; H. without handle 41.4 cm; W. 35.1 cm; D. of mouth 19.8 cm; D. of base 15.7 cm. Excellent condition: handle broken and mended, some slight glaze loss under right handle. Pink-orange clay; vitreous glaze but applied sloppily under lip; inside of neck glazed, inside of handles and underside of base reserved.

Decoration: Panel: quadriga (r.) wheeling around, Scythian driver and warrior in chariot, warrior (r.) behind. Added red: helmets, greaves, shields (either inside or out); crown of charioteer's petasos, rows of dots on his robe, his beard and hair; necks of pole horses; harnesses of trace horses, and three stripes on their flanks; chariot-car. Added white: horses' teeth and dots in series on breastbands, reins and other parts of tracing; warrior (in chariot) for tunic; dots in series outlining warriors' helmets, helmet crests, and shields; striding warrior's chiton, greaves, breastplate, and elsewhere. Shoulder: Amazonomachy with Herakles. Added red: helmets, shields (either inside or out), blades of swords, greaves, patches on Amazons' breastplates, chitons, for lion's neck (shield device) and beard of satyr (shield device). Added white: Amazons' flesh, Herakles' chiton and teeth of lion's scalp; dots in series, etc.

There are three imitation rivets, painted red, at the origin of the pouring handle inside the rim; tongue patterns, alternately red and black, at the base of the pouring handle and between the neck and the body of the vase; ivy leaves, in pairs alternately red and black, frame the panel and shoulder scenes at the sides; double red lines encircle the vase both under the main panel and on top of the zone of rays; a raised fillet, red with two reserved lines above and below, marks the junction of the base to the vase proper. Under the base is an "Alpha-rho" graffito. The same mark appears on the foot of the hydria by the Affecter in Madrid (ABV, 247, no. 92).

At first glance this hydria by the Affecter seems much earlier in date, by twenty years, in terms of the shape in Attica, and still more old-fashioned because of the use of certain decorative schemes. Of the more than one hundred vases attributed to him, only three are hydriai, and these seem to appear in the last years of his production, closer to 520 B.C. The pouring handle here and on the other complete hydria in Madrid (Madrid 10919; ABV, 247, no. 92; Mommsen 1975, no. 90, pl. 98) does not rise above the lip, contrary to contemporary fashion (see Cleveland 75.1, Toledo 1961.23, Toledo 1950.261, Madison 68.14.1; Moon 1979, nos. 48, 61, 66, 67). The neck itself is low and broad, cylindrical instead of funnel-shaped, the shoulder is rounded, not set-off, that is, nearer to hydriai of an earlier generation (see Columbia 72.22). While the double-rounded foot is early, the handles show definite contemporary features in the size, shape and angle of attachment. The shoulder frieze is wider than the picture panel, a format expected of the mid-sixth century. The painter's name derives from this archaism, which is extensive and deliberate. The heart-shaped red and black ivy leaves, which laterally frame his panel and shoulder scenes, can be found earlier on hydriai and on the handles of some cups, (e.g., Boston 99.518, "Merrythought cup" by the Painter of Boston Polyphemus [ABV, 198]). His use of small white dots in series adds exoticism and preserves the flatness of his figurative scenes. The rows of dots recall Lydos, the Painter of Berlin 1686 (see Moon 1979, No. 31) and the painter of the St. Louis pyxis in the late Corinthian red-ground style (see Moon 1979, No. 28). Red dots in rows which decorate the charioteer's robe on this vase appear frequently, especially on his earlier vases, e.g., neck-amphora, Boston 01.8053 (Mommsen 1975, no. 15, pl. 24). The Amasis Painter decorates the clothes of his figures similarly e.g., shoulder lekythos in New York (New York 56.11.1; D. von Bothmer, AntK 3.2 [1960] 73, pl. 7.2). The Boston vase by the Affecter has a floral frieze above the picture panel which seems to take inspiration from Tyrrhenian amphorae, e.g., Louvre E 861, a neck-amphora by the Omaha Painter (Para., 33). Tyrrhenian amphorae may have contributed to the art of the Affecter the rare double row of rays above the foot (Tyrrhenian Louvre E 861), possibly through the agency of the Amasis Painter. For shield devices, the free-standing protomai, the writhing snake at which the striding warrior aims (picture panel) and the horse's head and foreparts on an Amazon's shield (shoulder scene) can be compared to the blazons found on Tyrrhenian amphorae (see Moon 1979, No. 45). In fact the peculiar shape of neck-amphora which the Affecter preferred to decorate looks similar to these Tyrrhenians and to some earlier Panathenaics.¹

Like the Amasis Painter (see Bloomington 71.82) the painting style of the Affecter is light and playful. The tunic of the warrior in the chariot-car is delicately incised with details of a human face. The face may have been apotropaic but it is treated comically, having small eyes with red centers and a long nose. Such highly individualistic style was doubtless the result of considerable business acumen. Nearly all of the Affecter's pottery has been found in Etruria and at Naukratis.

Bibliography

W.G.M.