Hydria

This hydria, a type of vessel or vase that was generally used for collecting and pouring water, served as a grave marker. Mourners would have poured liquid offerings (such as wine) directly into the soil through the vase and the hole at its base. The decoration of the hydria follows the funerary theme. The central figures stand in an elaborately adorned Ionic naiskos, a tombstone in the shape of an entrance to a shrine. Two women, possibly a mother and daughter, are attended by a servant holding a fan. Objects of everyday life complete the scene: a stool, a basket of yarn on a casket, and personal accessories, including a jewel box, ribbons, festoons, a necklace, and a stringed musical instrument. The white pigment used to portray the figures and objects within the naiskos may have been the artist’s way of indicating that these are relief sculptures decorating the shrine. It is also possible that white was used to emphasize these important figures and provide a decorative contrast to the red pigment that was used for the four mourners—three women and a man—outside the naiskos. They carry offerings of a covered dish, a flat dish, a jewelry box, and a brazier (a pan for holding burning coals).

Hydria is attributed to the Patera Painter, named for his frequent use of pateras (braziers), which are characterized by broad, relaxed figures and outlined by fine, fluid strokes. The Patera Painter was active in an area of Italy known as Apulia, where people from overpopulated areas of Greece relocated to establish new colonies. The ceramic tradition in the Greek colonies was preserved first by importing pottery from the mainland. By the mid-fifth century, Greek cities in southern Italy began producing vases locally, inspired by traditional Greek motifs and shapes as well as by the local culture and natural resources.

tags: family, pattern, ancient Greece