Pelike (storage vessel for a tomb)

Artist The Painter of Athens 1472 (Greek)

Date350-330 BCE

DimensionsH: 14 7/16 in. (37.6 cm); Diam (rim): 8 7/8 in. (22.5 cm); Max Diam (body): 9 1/4 in. (23.5 cm); Diam (foot): 5 7/8 in. (14.8 cm)

MediumWheel-thrown, slip-decorated earthenware

ClassificationCeramics

Credit LinePurchased with funds given by Rita Barbour Kern in memory of Marguerite Wilson Barbour

Object number

1993.49

Not on View

Label TextA startled Thetis, daughter of sea god Poseidon, is shown here crouching with her hand raised in surprise. Zeus, king of the gods, knows that his command that sea nymph Thetis is to marry the mortal Peleus will not be well received and hence gives the advice to Peleus to surprise her while she sleeps and bind her down. However, Thetis managed to shift herself into many forms to combat the assault, including fire, water, a lioness, and a serpent. Peleus remained unscathed by the shapeshifting however, and here catches Thetis and her sisters unaware while they bathe. Some sources believe the figure in the upper left to be a representation of guilt or shame, Adios, since her face is partially hidden by a cloak; others speculate that this figure might be Aphrodite, the co-conspirator of Peleus’ final and successful plot to capture Thetis.Published ReferencesMcPhee, Ian, "An Attic Red-figuredBell-krater from Corinth and the Painter of Athens 1472", in Studi Miscellanei di Ceramografia Greca V, 2019, Catania, Sicily, Ediarch, pp. 126, 131, 133, 134, repr. (col.) fig. 17, p. TAV. VIII.Exhibition HistoryToledo Museum of Art, Inspired Giving: The Apollo Society 25th Anniversary Exhibition, October 15, 2010-February 13, 2011 (not in catalog).Comparative ReferencesSee also Beazley, J.D., Attic Red-figure Vase-painters, Oxford, 1963, vol. II, p. 1477 (for the Painter of Athens 1472).

cf. Beazley, J.D., Paralipomena, Oxford, 1971, p. 496 (for the Painter of Athens 1472).

cf. Simon, E., Die Griechischen Vasen, Munich, 1976, pp. 157-160.