Baltimore, Hopkins AIA B10
Kylix by Makron with Dionysiac Scene
490-480 B.C.
B 10. Baltimore Society AIA, formerly Hartwig Collection. "Caere."
Ht, 12.5 cm; diam with handles, 39 cm; diam rim, 29 cm; diam foot, 11.1 cm.
Mended from many pieces. Surface abraded.
Interior
On exergue, dancing to their right, are two maenads in girded chitons
with overfolds, necklaces, bare feet. Maiden in advance stands with weight on
frontal left leg, right leg bent and in left profile, thyrsos in right hand. She
glances back at her companion, with her head in right profile, long hair bound
in fillet and knotted at tip. Her companion steps forth with right leg extended,
left knee bent, torso frontal. Upraised right hand holds small branch. Left hand
at hip holds end of thyrsos. Head in left profile, with hair gathered up at nape
and bound in fillet. Tondo is bordered by leftward meander.
Side A
Goat beneath handle follows maenad standing in right profile holding
torches. In front of her is another maenad, also in right profile, carrying
kithara. Approaching them is Dionysos, who is standing in left profile and is
wearing ivy wreath and chiton beneath mantle draped over left shoulder and
around waist. He carries a kantharos in upraised right hand, a vine with two
grape bunches in left. Behind him are a maenad with castanets, another in right
profile blowing double flute, and a final frontal maenad with castanets. All
maenads wear chitons and mantles except for end maenad with castanets, who wears
chiton only. Sketch lines visible beside head of maenad blowing flute.
Side B
Beneath handle is lotus and palmette scheme. Four pairs of satyrs and
maenads clad only in chitons and wreaths or fillets: satyr carrying maenad;
maenad with thyrsos repelling satyr in fawnskin, maenad resisting satyr with
thyrsos; dancing satyr and maenads.
Relief contour throughout, except for reserved hairline. Added red
for vine leaves and some wreaths. Reserved line beneath scene; reserved line
above scene except at handles.
Makron was a prolific painter; almost three hundred fifty vases are
attributed to him.
1 He primarily painted cups, but he also worked on skyphoi, plates,
aryballoi, askoi, and at least one pyxis. He signed only one vase, a skyphos in
Boston that also bears the signature of Hieron the potter.
2 We know that Hieron and Makron had a particularly close association,
since thirty-one vases that bear the signature of Hieron have been attributed to
Makron; occasionally, however, Hieron fashioned vases for other artists.
3 Our cup has the unusual shape of Type C, which is characterized by an
offset lip, a bulge in the stem, and a flat, platelike foot.
4
Makron has a penchant for komos scenes involving numerous animated
figures with objects in uplifted hands. The maenads usually wear closely pleated
chitons with billowing overfolds and carry thyrsoi. The ornamental motifs under
the handles vary greatly.
5
Makron did not rely heavily on his sketch lines, but often
disregarded those delineating the drapery or the head, as can be seen in the
figure of the maenad in the middle of side A.
6
Bibliography
P. Hartwig, RömMitt 2 (1887):168, no. VII;
Hartwig 1893, 289-94, pls. 30.3 and
31;
FR, 251-52, no. 1;
FR, 237;
Beazley 1918, 101, 103, no. 28;
Hoppin 1919, vol. II, 96, no. 43;
Beazley 1925, 214, no. 35;
Jacobsthal 1927, 132;
L. Lawler, MAAR 6 (1927), pls. XIX.1, XX.4;
Philippart 1928, 50-51;
CVA, USA fasc. 6, Robinson fasc. 2, 17-18, pls. XV,
XVI.1;
ARV2, 463, no.
51.
