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Stamnos (wine jar): Nike, Amphitrite and Poseidon

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Stamnos (wine jar): Nike, Amphitrite and Poseidon

Artist Syleus Painter (Greek)
Place of OriginGreece, Attica
Dateabout 480 BCE
DimensionsH: 14 1/8 in. (36 cm); Diam. of lip: 8 7/8 in. (22.5 cm), Diam. of body: 11 7/8 in. (30.2 cm), Diam. of foot: 6 1/8 in. (15.5 cm)
MediumRed Figure; Molded, wheel-thrown, and slip-decorated earthenware
ClassificationCeramics
Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey
Object number
1956.58
On View
Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 02A, Wolfe
DescriptionFront: Nike, goddess of victory, between Amphitrite and Poseidon. Back: athletes and a trainer.
Label TextThe scene on this wine storage jar shows Poseidon, god of the sea, and Amphitrite, his queen, sitting facing each other on folding stools. Nike (victory) spreads her wings and stands between them, ready to replenish the wine in their phialai (offering bowls). The symbolism (sea gods, Nike, military camp stools) and the date the jar was made suggest that this composition, also known on other vases, celebrates the historic defeat of the enormous Persian navy by the Athenians and their Greek allies at the Battle of Salamis in September 480 BCE.Published References

Washington, Seldon, "Greek Vase Painting," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, new series, vol. 5, no. 4, Winter 1962, repr. p. 93.

Beazley, John D., Attic Red-Figure Vase Painters, 2nd ed., Oxford, 1963, pp. 251, no. 30, 1963, 1701.

Riefstahl, Rudolph, "Greek Vases," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, new series, vol. 11, no. 2, 1968, repr. p. 42.

Luckner, Kurt T., "Greek Vases: Shapes and Uses," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, new series, vol. 15, no. 3, p. 73, repr. fig. 15.

Beazley, John D., Paralipomena, Oxford, 1971, p. 350.

Philappaki, Barbara, The Attic Stamonos, Oxford, 1967, p. 98, pl. 36,1.

Boulter, Cedric G., and Kurt T. Luckner, Corpus vasorum antiquorum: Toledo Museum of Art, U.S.A. Fasc. 27-28, Toledo, 1976, p. 26, repr. pl. 42, graffiti drawing, fig. 7.

Lexicon iconographicum mythologiae classicae (LIMC), Zurich, 1981, v. I, pt. 1, p. 727, no. 36, repr. v. I, pt. 2, p. 581, (accession number listed incorrectly as 56.24), vol. VI, pt. 1, p. 869, no. 212, vol. VII, pt. 1, p. 472, no. 226.

March, Jenny, Cassell Dictionary of Classical Mythology, London, 1998, p. 45, fig. 15.

Pevnick, Seth D., Poseidon and the Sea: Myth, Cult, and Daily Life, Tampa, Tampa Museum of Art, 2014, pp. 28, 46-47, 60, repr. (col.) p. 143.

Exhibition History

Tampa, Tampa Museum of Art; Hanover, VT, Hood Museum of Art, Poseidon and the Sea: Myth, Cult, and Daily Life, June 14, 2014-Mar. 15, 2015.

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