Amphora with Herakles, Athena, and Ceryneian Hind

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Amphora with Herakles, Athena, and Ceryneian Hind

Artist The Acheloos Painter, Leagros Group (Greek)

Place of OriginGreece, Athens

Dateabout 510 BCE

DimensionsH: 19 11/16 in. (50 cm); Diam (rim): 6 3/8 in. (16.2 cm); Diam (body): 12 19/32 in. (32 cm); Diam (foot): 3 in. (7.6 cm)

MediumBlack-figure, wheel-thrown, slip-decorated earthenware

ClassificationCeramics

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

Object number

1958.69A

On View

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

DescriptionA tall, pointed neck-amphora with a narrow foot requiring a stand for support. Decorated in black-figure technique, both sides show the hero Herakles grasping the Ceryneian Hind, assisted by Athena. Herakles is rendered in dynamic motion, dressed in lionskin, while Athena approaches with her aegis and spear.

Label TextThis striking black-figure amphora, made in Athens around 510 BCE, illustrates one of the most celebrated stories from Greek myth: Herakles capturing the sacred Ceryneian Hind, his third labor. Herakles, wearing his lion skin and armed with a bow, grapples with the swift deer as Athena approaches, signaling divine support for the hero’s task. The scene is repeated with slight variations on both sides. The amphora’s sharply pointed foot means it could not stand upright by itself and required a separate support. In the museum, it is paired with a black-figure stand (1958.69B) acquired at the same time. Although the two pieces were not originally a set, their modern association allows visitors to explore both mythological narrative and scenes of daily Greek life side by side.Published References

Kunstwerke Der Antike, Auktion XVIII, Münzen und Medaillen, A.G., Basel, November 29, 1958, lot 102 (1).

Arts, Paris, Dec. 31, 1958, no. 703.

"Accessions of American and Canadian Museums, July-Sept. 1959," Art Quarterly, vol. 22, 1959, p. 385, repr. p. 384.

La Chronique des Arts, (supplement a la Gazette des Baux-Arts), no. 1092, Jan. 1960, p. 29, repr.

Brommer, Frank, Vasenlisten zur greichischen Heldensage, 2nd ed., Marburg, 1960, p. 62, no. 23.

Washington, Seldon, "Greek Vase Painting," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, new series, vol. 5, no. 4, Winter 1962, repr. p. 90.

Vermuele, Emily, "Myths, Shapes and Colors," Apollo, vol. 86, no. 70, Dec. 1967, p. 424, p. 422 repr., figs. 7.

Riefstahl, Rudolf M., "Greek Vases," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, new series, vol. 11, no. 2, 1968, repr. p. 37.

Beazley, Sir John Davidson, Paralipomena, Oxford, 1971, pp. 168-169 and note, p. 169.

Luckner, Kurt T., "Greek Vases: Shapes and Uses," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, new series, vol. 15, no. 3, 1972, pp. 64, 65, repr. fig. 2 and cover (col.).

Brommer, Frank, Vasenlisten zur griechischen Heldensage, 3rd ed., Marburg, 1973, p. 76, no. 12.

Boardman, John, Athenian Black Figured Vases, London, 1974, p. 111, repr. fig. 209.

Moret, Jan-Marc, LiIlioupersis dans la céramique italiote, Rome, 1975, vol. I, p. 198-199, no. 3.

Boulter, Cedric G., and Kurt T. Luckner, Corpus vasorum antiquorum: Toledo Museum of Art, U.S.A. Fasc. 17, Toledo, 1976, p. 8-9, repr. pl. 14; 15,1 and 2, fig. 3-4.

Johnston, Alan, "Hunting scenes on Greek vases," Connoisseur, vol. 196, no. 789, Nov. 1977, p. 165, repr. (col.) p. 161.

Greek Vase-Painting in the Midwestern Collections, Chicago, Art Institute, 1980, no. 73, p. 128, repr. (col.) pl. IV.

Moore, Mary B. and Mary Zelia Pease Philippides, The Athenian Agora. Volume XXIII: Attic Black-Figured Pottery, Princeton, The American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 1986, p. 11 (n. 31), p. 31 (n. 13).

Lexicon iconographicum mythologiae classicae, Zurich, 1990, v. V, pt. 1, p. 50, no. 2184, repr. v. V, pt. 2, pl. 67.

Trantalidou, Katerina, and Marco Masseti, “Archaeozoology of the Red Deer in the Southern Balkan Peninsula and the Aegean Region During Antiquity: Confronting Bones and Paintings,” in Deer and People, edited by Karis Baker, Ruth Carden, and Richard Madgwick, Oxford, Oxbow Books, 2014, p. 70, fig. 6.4d.

Goldthwaite, Lora Holland, “Cervidology and the Antlered Female Deer of Artemis: Representation Between Myth and Reality,” Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome, vol. 68, 2023, p. 127, n. 31.

Exhibition History

Chicago, Art Institute, Greek Vase-Painting in the Midwestern Collections, 1979-1980, no. 73, p. 128, repr. (col.) pl. IV.

Comparative ReferencesSee also Beazley, Sir John Davidson, Hesperia, vol. V, 1936, pp. 68-69.
cf. Walters, H.B., Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, Great Britain, fascicule 4, British Museum, fascicule 3, London, 1927, Group III H e, p. 6-7.

cf. Deppert, Kurt. Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, Germany, fascicule 30, Frankfurt-am-Main, fascicule 2, Munich, 1968, pl. 46, nos. 4-6, pp. 11-12.

cf. Lullies, Reinhard, Die Spitzamphora des Kleophrades Malers, Bremen, 1957, list no. 9.

cf. Robinson, David M., Cornelia G. Harcum and J.H. Iliffe, Greek Vases at Toronto, Toronto, 1930, p. 99, pl. XXVII.

cf. Smith, Sir Cecil H., Catalogue of the First Portion of the Foreman Collection of Antiquities, 2 vols., 19, p. 64, no. 330.