Baltimore, Hopkins BMA 51.486
Bell Krater by the Christie Painter
ca. 440 B.C.
51.486. Baltimore Museum of Art, from collection of Saidie May,
purchased from J. Brummer. "Attica." Ht, 37 cm; diam rim, 32.5 cm; diam foot,
17.8 cm. Intact.
Side A
Striding winged Eos in right profile, left leg advanced, arms
extended. She wears chiton with belted overfold; hair gathered at nape and
surmounted by diadem with ornament executed in pellets of clay. In front of her
and moving away is Kephalos, left leg advanced, head turned back in left
profile. He wears chlamys fastened on right shoulder, laurel wreath, petasos
hanging behind neck, and laced sandals. He carries two spears in his right hand.
Behind Eos and moving away from her is similarly attired youth, grazing back at
Eos, with his head in right profile. Inscribed in field above hand of Eos:
Κ]ΑΛΕ.
Relief contour for face, back of neck, edge of wings of Eos, faces,
and spears of youths. Relief line for drapery folds. Dilute glaze for ends of
hair, borders of garments, thongs of boots, details on wings. Added white for
ornament on diadem, laurel wreath, lettering. Reserved hairline.
Side B
Standing youth seen in right profile leans on staff and faces two
other youths standing in left profile. All are draped in himatia and wear
fillets; central youth also leans on staff. In field are halteres and bag. Added
white for cords of bag and fillets. Reserved hairlines.
Beneath pictures is band of meander alternating with dotted
cross-square; reserved band beneath. Leftward laurel wreath between reserved
bands encircles vase above pictures. Band of tongues around base of handles.
Reserved groove at juncture of body and foot.
About fifty vases have been attributed to the Christie Painter, of
which twenty-five are bell kraters, the rest being calyx kraters, stamnoi,
pelikai, and hydriai.
1 Common to many of these vases are a meander and saltire border and a
representation of three standing youths on the reverse.
2
The Christie Painter favors Dionysiac themes and lively mythological
scenes, such as Amazonomachies. On our vase, Eos, the goddess of dawn, is
eagerly pursuing the
Attic hunter Kephalos; according to some traditions, the offspring of that union
will be Phaethon.
3 The Christie Painter took up the subject a second time on a bell krater
(now in Genoa) on which Eos again advances to her left, but now hastens to
embrace a youth with a lyre.
4 That figure is Tithonos, who requested from the deity eternal life but
forgot to ask for eternal youth. As Tithonos grew older and less attractive, Eos
enclosed him in a chamber, where according to some traditions he was transformed
into a cicada.
5 Behind Eos is a youth identical to the figure retreating from Eos on the
Hopkins vase. The youth on the Genoa krater has been identified as Kephalos and
the scene has been described as a conflation of the two romantic episodes.
6 On the Hopkins vase, the retreating hunter is probably only a nameless,
decorative pendant to Kephalos and typical of the unrelated bystanders who often
appear in contemporary representations of the myth.
7
The subjects of Eos and Tithonos and of Eos and Kephalos were very
popular in late sixth- and early fifth-century vasepainting. The striking
similarities between the representations suggest that the vasepaintings were
inspired by a single pictorial prototype.
8
The Christie Painter exercised a tremendous influence on a
contemporary early Lucanian painter, the Pisticci Painter, who imitated the
ornament and style of the Attic artist and even depicted the myth of Eos and
Tithonos on at least three vases. The similarities between the two painters are
so extensive that it is possible that the Pisticci Painter was trained in Athens
and was even Greek.
9
Bibliography
CVA, USA fasc. 6, Robinson
fasc. 2, 32-33, pl. XLV;
ARV2,
1048, no. 27;
S.
Kaempf-Dimitriadou, AntK Beiheft 11
(1979):85, no. 110;
Brommer
1980, 24, no. 49.
