Pitcher (Olpe) with Animals and Mythical Creatures

Artist The Painter of Vatican 73 (Greek)

Place of OriginGreece, Corinth; reportedly found in Cerveteri, Italy

Dateabout 640-630 BCE

DimensionsH (to rim): 12 1/4 in. (31.1 cm); H (max): 12 15/16 in. (32.8 cm); Diam (body): 7 1/16 in. (17.9 cm); Diam (rim): 5 13/16 in. (14.8 cm); Diam (foot): 4 3/8 in. (11.1 cm).

MediumWheel-thrown, slip-decorated earthenware with incised details

ClassificationCeramics

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1963.22

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 02, Classic

DescriptionA tall, funnel-shaped pouring vessel with a wide mouth, narrow foot, and a flat, triple-part handle joined by rotellas. The body is divided into four horizontal friezes populated with lions, panthers, boars, stags, sphinxes, sirens, and birds, framed by red and black bands. The figural decoration includes white and incised dot-rosettes. The surface is well-preserved with only minor glaze flaking.

Label TextThis elegant pouring vessel, called an olpe, was made in Corinth around 640–630 BCE, a time of artistic change. It has four bands showing lions, sphinxes, sirens, boars, and birds, all carefully detailed and surrounded by rosettes. One repeated scene shows a bird between two sphinxes—mythical beings with human heads, lion bodies, and wings. The artist, known as the Painter of Vatican 73, played an important role in developing Corinthian vase painting by combining Near Eastern designs with Greek storytelling.Published References

Auktion XXVI, Basel, Münzen and Medaillen A.G., 5 Oktober 1963, p. 28 and pl. 17, lot no. 58.

Toledo Museum of Art, A Guide to the Collections, Toledo, 1966, p. 7.

Mogan, C.H. "The Classical Collection at Amherst College," Archaeology, vol. 20, no.1, 1967, p. 2.

Vermeule, E., "Myths, Shapes and Colors," Apollo, vol. 86, no. 70, 1967, pp. 418, 420 (fig. 2), p. 419, pl. IV.

Riefstahl, R.M., "Greek Vases," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, vol. 11, no. 2, 1968, p. 31, repr.

Luckner, Kurt T., "Greek Vases: Shapes and Uses," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, vol. 15, 1972, p. 74, fig. 16.

Amyx, D.A., Corinthian Vase Painters, Berkeley, no. a-12.

Boulter, Cedric G., and Kurt T. Luckner, Corpus vasorum antiquorum: Toledo Museum of Art, fasc.2, U.S.A. fasc. 20, Mainz, 1984, pl. 72.

Amyx, Darrell A., Corinthian Vase-painting of the Archaic Period, Berkeley, 1988, p. 68.

Exhibition History

Toledo Museum of Art, Treasures for Toledo, Toledo Museum of Art, Dec. 1964-Jan. 1965.