COLLECTION NAME:
The AMICA Library
Record
AMICA ID:
MMA_.1989.281.69
AMICA Library Year:
2000
Object Type:
Decorative Arts and Utilitarian Objects
Creator Name:
Oltos
Creator Name-CRT:
Attributed to Oltos
Title:
Psykter (vase for cooling wine)
Title Type:
Object name
View:
Full View
Creation Date:
ca. 520-510 B.C.
Creation Start Date:
-520
Creation End Date:
-510
Materials and Techniques:
Terracotta
Classification Term:
Vases
Dimensions:
H. 11 7/8 in. (30.20 cm)
AMICA Contributor:
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Owner Location:
New York, New York, USA
ID Number:
1989.281.69
Credit Line:
Gift of Norbert Schimmel Trust, 1989
Context:
Around the body, hoplites (foot soldiers) are mounted on dolphins. This procession of identically dressed foot soldiers seems to advance with military precision. A number of other dolphin-riding hoplites appear on vases of this period. All are accompanied by a flute player, suggesting that this scene illustrates a dramatic chorus, probably from a contemporary play. The six dolphins would have seemed to leap and dive as the psykter, filled with wine, bobbed in ice water inside a large krater. Oltos was an early red-figure painter who specialized in decorating cups and other shapes used in symposia (drinking parties).
Related Image Identifier Link:
MMA_.gr1989.281.69.tif
