Wine Pitcher (Oinochoe) with Amazon Head

Place of OriginItaly, Apulia, perhaps Ruvo di Puglia

Date330-320 BCE

DimensionsH 9 1/4 × W 4 7/8 × D 5 3/8 (23.5 × 12.4 × 13.7 cm)
Rim: 3 1/8 × 3 1/2 in. (7.9 × 8.9 cm)
Base Diam: 2 5/8 (6.7 cm)

MediumWheel-thrown earthenware with polychrome slip decoration on a black slip ground

ClassificationCeramics

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

Object number

1973.6

On View

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

DescriptionThis vessel is taller than its companion (73.5) and features a profiled lip, a ridged handle, and a raised fillet separating the shoulder and neck. The decoration is executed in the Gnathia technique, using added white, red, and ochre slip on a black slip ground. The main panel features the head of an Amazon facing left, set between elaborate floral designs. Her face is rendered in added white, with features and hair in ochre. She wears a red Phrygian cap decorated with triplets of white dots. The florals are largely washed in ochre. The neck is decorated with a band of egg and dot and a band of pendent rays in added white, set between pairs of incised lines. The main panel is bordered above and below by bands of white dots washed with ochre. Below the main panel is a wreath of laurel leaves and berries in added white and ochre, centered on a rosette.

Label TextThis tall oinochoe, or wine jug, comes from Magna Graecia (“Great Greece”), the network of powerful Greek colonies established in southern Italy. These colonies flourished for centuries, trading and interacting with native Italic peoples like the Apulians. This vessel is a product of that hybrid world, skillfully combining Greek mythology with local Italic funerary customs. This jug, along with its smaller companion and a large pail (1973.5 and 1973.7) , are the "namesake vases" used by experts to identify the unique hand of an anonymous master artist, now known simply as the Toledo Painter.

The head in the Phrygian cap, a motif repeated on all three vases, was intentionally vague. It could be seen as an Amazon, the hero Orpheus, or a god, allowing it to resonate with both Greek and Italic beliefs about the afterlife. The painted laurel wreath below the head is a clear symbol of victory. Because this vase was discovered in a tomb, the wreath represents a triumph over death. It was a luxury object used during funerary rites and then deposited as a grave good, a final gift to the deceased expressing a sophisticated, cross-cultural hope for regeneration.

Published ReferencesWittmann, Otto, ed., "Treasures for Toledo," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, vol. 19, nos. 2-3, 1976, p. 48, repr.

Green, J.R., "Gnathia Vases by The Toledo Painter," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, vol. 22, no. 2, 1980, pp. 26-36, fig. 2.

Luckner, Kurt T., The Art of South Italy: Vases from Magna Graecia, Richmond, 1982, p. 269, no. 128.

Boulter, Cedric G., and Kurt T. Luckner, Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, Toledo Museum of Art, fasc. 2 [U.S.A., fasc. 20], Mainz, 1984, p. 26, pl. 108.3-4. Kossatz-Deissmann, Annelise. "Eine Neue Phrygerkoph-Situla des Toledo-Malers," Archaölogisches Anzeiger, 1990, p 511, n. 176.

Exhibition History"The Art of South Italy: Vases from Magna Graecia" The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond (May 12-Aug. 8, 1982); Philbrook Art Center, Tulsa (Nov. 20, 1982 - Jan. 9, 1983); The Detroit Institute of Arts (Feb. 7 - April 10, 1983); no. 129.