Water Jar (Hydria) with Women at a Fountain

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Water Jar (Hydria) with Women at a Fountain

Artist Priam Painter Greek

Place of OriginGreek, Attica

Dateabout 520-510 BCE

Dimensionsto top of handle: 23 1/16 in. (58.6 cm)
to lip: 21 1/4 × 17 3/8 × 13 3/8 in. (54 × 44.1 × 34 cm)
13 1/4 × 10 3/4 × 6 11/16 in. (33.7 × 27.3 × 17 cm)

MediumBlack Figure; Wheel-thrown, slip-decorated earthenware with incised details

ClassificationCeramics

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

Object number

1961.23

On View

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

Collections

Decorative Arts

Published References

Kunstwerke der Antike: Auktion XXII, Münzen und Medaillen AG Basel, 13 May 1961, pp. 72-73, lot no. 139.

Washington, S., "Greek Vase Painting," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, vol. 5, no. 3, 1962, p. 68.

Riefstahl, Rudolph M., "Greek Vases," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, vol. 11, no. 2, 1968, p. 50 and cover.

Gorbunova, K.S., Wissenschaftliche Zeitscrift der Universitat Rostock, vol. 17, 1968, p. 642.

Beazley, John D., Paralipomena, Oxford, 1971, p. 147, no. 5 ter.

Luckner, Kurt T., "Greek Vases: Shapes and Uses," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, vol. 15, no. 3, 1972, pp. 68-69.

Boulter, Cedric G., and Kurt T. Luckner, Corpus vasorum antiquorum: Toledo Museum of Art, U.S.A. Fasc. 17, Toledo, 1976, p. 16-17, repr. pl. 23,2 and 24,3, graffito drawing fig. 4, p. 40.

Berge, Louise, Greek Vase-painting in Midwestern Collections, Chicago, Art Institute, 1979, no. 67, p. 118-119, repr.

Fantham, Elaine et. al., Women in the Classical World: Image and Text, Oxford, 1994, p. 106-108, fig. 3.22.

Berger, Michael, ed., Sources for the History of Western Civilization, vol. I, Peterborough, Ont., Broadview Press, 2003, fig. 14.2, p. 198.

Antigone & the Greek World, Cleveland, OH, Nexus, 1997, repr. (col.), p. 15.

Pomeroy, Sarah B. et. al., A Brief History of Ancient Greece: Politics, Society, and Culture, New York, Oxford University Press, 2004, fig. 5.1, p. 118 (also in 2nd ed.).

Burger, Michael, ed., Sources for the History of Western Civilization, vol. 1 "From Antiquity to he Mid-Eighteenth Century," Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 2015, repr. fig. 12.2, p. 169

Pomeroy, Shrah B., et al., Ancient Greece: A Political, Social, and Cultural History, fourth edition, New York and Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2018, pp.199-200, repr. p. 199.

Matheson, Susan B. and J. J Pollitt, Old Age in Greek and Roman Art, Yale University Art Gallery, 2022, fig. 5 (detail), p. 30-31.

Exhibition History

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

Chicago, Art Institute, Greek Vase-painting in Midwestern Collections, 1979-1980, no. 67.

Comparative ReferencesSee also Dunkley, B., "Greek Fountain-Buildings Before 300 B.C.," Annual of the British School at Athens, vol. 36, 1935-1936, pp. 152 ff. (for a discussion of "the very rich series fo fountain-scenes on Attic black-figure vases") and p. 198 ff. (for a list of such scenes).

cf. Diehl, Erika, Die Hydria, Mainz, 1964, pp. 220-231.

Label TextThe main scene of this hydria shows six women gathering at a fountain house, which was one of Greek women’s limited social activities. They collect water for their homes in vessels like the one the scene is painted on, holding and carrying them in a variety of positions. The artist shows the women talking, gesturing, and making eye contact, with their bodies overlapping each other and the fountain architecture. On the shoulder, a charioteer, an archer, and a foot soldier depart for war; an old man seated on a block bids them farewell.