7.

Provenance

–1983, Nicolas Koutoulakis (Geneva, Switzerland); 1983, donated to the J. Paul Getty Museum by Vasek Polak (Hermosa Beach, California), together with entry no. 6 (83.AE.252); according to Museum documentation at the time of acquisition, both vases were formerly in the Schweitzer Collection, but this has not been verified.

Shape and Ornament

Rim slightly convex on top with a vertical overhang; a flat handle plate extending beyond the rim at each side supported by two columns; ovoid body; ogee foot. Top of rim black. On neck: A, black chain of pendant lotus buds between two black lines in a reserve panel; B, black. Reserved for ground lines. Outside of foot black, except for bottom. Resting surface and underside of foot reserved. Interior black.

Subject

A. A woman walking to right approaches a herm. She is dressed in a chiton, a himation, and a sakkos. In her left hand she holds a high-handled hornlike kanoun (sacrificial basket). The ithyphallic herm, depicted with long hair and beard in reserve, stands on a base, facing left. A rectangular boss is rendered as a reserved square outlined in black on the shaft.

B. Ithyphallic herm in profile facing right. The herm stands on a base and is shown with long hair and beard in reserve. A rectangular boss is rendered as a reserved square outlined in black on the shaft.

Attribution and Date

Attributed to the Geras Painter by J. M. Padgett. Circa 480–470 B.C.

Dimensions and Condition

Height 31.3 cm; diam. of rim 25.2 cm (outside); diam. of rim 18.5 cm (inside); width with handles 30.1 cm; diam. of body 23.6 cm; diam. of foot 11.6 cm. Capacity to rim is 5.002 liters. Misfired in places, especially on side B. Vase intact with the black gloss surface chipped, scratched, and pitted in numerous areas, and considerably abraded. Black flaked away in small areas. Black inside. Incrustation inside.

Technical Features

Preliminary sketch visible on A, herm’s head, beard, and shaft; woman’s arm, body, and face; kanoun; B, herm’s face, shoulder, shaft, and phallus. Relief contour on both sides. Dilute glaze: woman’s hair.

Bibliography

Abbreviation: BAPDBeazley Archive Pottery Database. http://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk 28888; “Acquisitions/1983,” Abbreviation: GettyMusJThe J. Paul Getty Museum Journal 12 (1984): 243, no. 58; Abbreviation: Van Straten, Hierà KaláF. T. Van Straten. Hierà Kalá: Images of Animal Sacrifice in Archaic and Classical Greece. Leiden, 1995; new ed., 2016, p. 249, cat. no. V299; Abbreviation: Padgett, “Syleus Sequence,”J. M. Padgett. “The Workshop of the Syleus Sequence: A Wider Circle.” In Athenian Potters and Painters: The Conference Proceedings, edited by J. H. Oakley, W. D. E. Coulson, and O. Palagia, vol. 1, pp. 213–30. Oxford, 1997­ p. 229, note 127.

Comparanda

For the Geras Painter, see Abbreviation: ARV²J. D. Beazley. Attic Red-Figure Vase-Painters. 2nd ed. Oxford, 1963 285–87, 1642; Abbreviation: ParalipomenaJ. D. Beazley. Paralipomena: Additions to Attic Black-Figure Vase-Painters and to Attic Red-Figure Vase-Painters. Oxford, 1971 355, 511; Abbreviation: Beazley Addenda²Beazley Addenda: Additional References to ABV, ARV² & Paralipomena. 2nd ed. Compiled by T. H. Carpenter with T. Mannack and M. Mendonça. Oxford, 1989 209; Abbreviation: Becker, Formen attischer PelikenM. Becker. Formen attischer Peliken von der Pionier-Gruppe bis zum Beginn der Frühklassik. Böblingen, 1977, pp. 53–56; Abbreviation: Padgett, “Geras Painter”J. M. Padgett. “The Geras Painter: An Athenian Eccentric and His Associates.” Ph.D. diss., Harvard University, 1989; Abbreviation: Robertson, Art of Vase-PaintingM. Robertson, The Art of Vase-Painting in Classical Athens. Cambridge, 1992, p. 145; Abbreviation: Agora 30M. B. Moore. Attic Red-Figured and White-Ground Pottery. The Athenian Agora, vol. 30. Princeton, 1997, p. 97; Abbreviation: Padgett, “Syleus Sequence”J. M. Padgett. “The Workshop of the Syleus Sequence: A Wider Circle.” In Athenian Potters and Painters: The Conference Proceedings, edited by J. H. Oakley, W. D. E. Coulson, and O. Palagia, vol. 1, pp. 213–30. Oxford, 1997­; Abbreviation: Gaunt, “Attic Volute Krater,”J. Gaunt. “The Attic Volute Krater.” Ph.D. diss., Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, 2002 pp. 216–18.

The vase has similar dimensions to entry no. 6 (83.AE.252), by the Pan Painter. The herm occurs on other works by the Geras Painter. Cf. the pelike in Paris, Abbreviation: Cab. Méd.Cabinet des Médailles, Paris 397 (Abbreviation: ARV²J. D. Beazley. Attic Red-Figure Vase-Painters. 2nd ed. Oxford, 1963 285.8; Abbreviation: Beazley Addenda²Beazley Addenda: Additional References to ABV, ARV² & Paralipomena. 2nd ed. Compiled by T. H. Carpenter with T. Mannack and M. Mendonça. Oxford, 1989 209; F. Lissarrague, Greek Vases: The Athenians and Their Images [New York, 2001], p. 164, figs. 122–23); pelike in Lausanne, Musée Historique 3250 (Abbreviation: ParalipomenaJ. D. Beazley. Paralipomena: Additions to Attic Black-Figure Vase-Painters and to Attic Red-Figure Vase-Painters. Oxford, 1971 355; Abbreviation: Beazley Addenda²Beazley Addenda: Additional References to ABV, ARV² & Paralipomena. 2nd ed. Compiled by T. H. Carpenter with T. Mannack and M. Mendonça. Oxford, 1989 209; C. Isler-Kerényi, Dionysos in Classical Athens: An Understanding through Images [Leiden and Boston, 2014], p. 53, fig. 25). M. Robertson (Abbreviation: Robertson, Art of Vase-PaintingM. Robertson, The Art of Vase-Painting in Classical Athens. Cambridge, 1992, p. 145) says that “the Geras Painter was a miserable draughtsman, but the scenes on his little pelikai often have a character not unlike that of the Pan Painters’s (both have a thing about herms); and I am sure it does not violate chronological probability to see him in these as a crude imitator of the Pan Painter.”

For herms, see entry no. 6 (83.AE.252).

The boss on the side of the herm on entry no. 6 is black, while here it is a reserved square outlined in black; cf. also the boss on the herm on entry no. 9 (81.AE.37). For a similar herm, cf. a Nolan amphora by the Pan Painter in Laon, Musée de Laon 371023 (Abbreviation: ARV²J. D. Beazley. Attic Red-Figure Vase-Painters. 2nd ed. Oxford, 1963 553.23; Abbreviation: CVACorpus Vasorum Antiquorum Laon 1 [France 20], pls. I, III, 1, 27). Cf. also a column-krater by the Orchard Painter in Naples, Museo Archeologico Nazionale H 3369 (Abbreviation: ARV²J. D. Beazley. Attic Red-Figure Vase-Painters. 2nd ed. Oxford, 1963 523.9; G. Siebert, Abbreviation: LIMCLexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae. 1981–2009, vol. 5 (1990), pt. 1, p. 301, no. 100, s.v. “Hermes”), depicting a procession of females to a herm and an altar; a kanephoros (basket bearer) also stands in front of the herm on this vase. Aristophanes in Lysistrata (642–47) describes the kanephoros as the last religious role of an Athenian girl before marriage. This is mainly related to religious processions and consequently to scenes with similar iconography where the kanephoroi can be recognized as unmarried, but marriageable, young women. The presence of the herm is suggestive of a public space. The absence of an altar or a sacrificial animal could suggest that a bloodless sacrifice is depicted. For kanephoroi, see L. J. Roccos, “The Kanephoros and Her Festival Mantle in Greek Art,” Abbreviation: AJAAmerican Journal of Archaeology 99 (1995): 641–66; Abbreviation: PandoraPandora: Women in Classical Greece. Exh. cat. Walters Art Gallery. Edited by E. D. Reeder. Baltimore, 1995, pp. 185–87, cat. no. 38, and pp. 235–36, cat. no. 60, entries by E. Reeder; M. Dillon, Girls and Women in Classical Greek Religion (London, 2002), pp. 37–42; Worshiping Women: Ritual and Reality in Classical Athens, ed. N. Kaltsas and H. A. Shapiro (New York, 2008), pp. 218–19, cat. no. 95, entry by S. A. Waite; J. B. Connelly, “In Divine Affairs—the Greatest Part: Women and Priesthoods in Classical Athens,” in ibid., pp. 187–241.

For the kanoun, see entry no. 6 (83.AE.252).