Ure Museum Database



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Accession_Number 26.12.19
Shape Lekythos
Shape_description Single curved handle. Foot in two degrees, top; base has central concave section.
Material Terracotta
Fabric Attic
Fabric_description
Munsell_color 5YR 6/4
Decoration Handle black on outside and reserved underneath. Shoulder: rays and long, thin lotus buds; black band at join with body. Top of bod: two rows black dots bordered by smaller white dots. Body: ram in cauldron set on tripod over a fire, flanked by two females holding wreaths on either side. Below is a broad black band with a thin band between reserved bands either side. Lower step of foot black; base reserved. This is probably the scene in which Medea tricked the daughters of Peleus: she killed an old ram, cut up its body and threw it in a boiling cauldron. Medea, a sorceress, restored the ram's life and made it young. Whereupon Pelias' daughters kill Pelias and toss his body into the cauldron. Medea did not, however, restore Pelias' life and was driven out of Iolcus.
Inscriptions
Condition Mouth and upper part of neck missing. Foot badly damaged making pot stand unevenly. Chips to shoulder. Colours on main design are worn and the black stem ahs faded to red.
Technique/Style Black figure; added white
Provenance
Period Classical
Date 470
Dating_details
Artist Emporion Painter
Attribution Ure (CVA) attributes this vase to the 'Manner of the Emporion Painter'
Image

2003.12.0008.jpg
Two Attic black-figure lekythoi, 45.6.17 (left) and 26.12.19 (right).

2003.12.0082.jpg
Right side view of an Attic black-figure lekythos, showing two women, probably the daughters of Pelias, holding garlands, as they watch the boiling of Medea's ram.

2003.12.0084.jpg
3/4-view of the left side of an Attic black-figure lekythos, showing daughters of Pelias holding garlands. Cauldron with tripod (and ram) at right.

2003.97.0416.jpg
Left side view of an Attic black-figure lekythos, showing two women, probably the daughters of Pelias, holding garlands, as they watch the boiling of Medea's ram.

2003.97.0417.jpg
Top view of an Attic black-figure lekythos, showing rays on shoulder.

2003.97.0418.jpg
Bottom view of an Attic black-figure lekythos, showing the reserved base and some of the body.
Comparanda
Bibliography CVA Reading 1, 22,pl.(539) 12.13a-b
Archive_Ref reference 1
reference 2
Beazley_DB 14340
Height 20.0
Diameters 7.1; base 5.1
Handle_height 4.0
Other_dims.
Location Myth and religion
Edited_by Denise; Karen; Kinsey
Date_edited 28.08.2002; 05.04.2004; 11.01.2006
The Ure Museum is part of
The University of Reading, Whiteknights, PO Box 217, Reading, RG6 6AH