Hydria (Campanian red-figure ware)
350 BCE-325 BCE
Medium
earthenware
Measurements
43.3 × 30.2 × 26.2 cm
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Felton Bequest, 1969
© Public Domain
Gallery location
Not on display
About this work
A hydria is a water-carrying jar characterised by two horizontal handles and a vertical handle at the back, but it also played an important role in ancient funerary rites. The main scene on this hydria depicts a statue of the deceased, over-painted in white to represent marble, standing upon a plinth draped with red fillets and surrounded by tendrils of a flowering plant. Four mourners – three women and a youth – surround the statue, offering gifts.
Artwork Details
Place/s of Execution
Campania, Italy
Accession Number
D119-1969
Department
Antiquities
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of Digitisation Champion Dame Carol Colburn-Grigor CBE through Metal Manufactures Limited
Physical description
Large jar with ovoid body tapering sharply to narrow neck and flaring mouth. Three-handled: one at rear from shoulder to rim and two loop handles at either side of body. Decorated in black-glaze with red-figure scene on the body: statue of a woman standing on a plinth, with four mourners (on two levels) bringing gifts on either side. Around the statue are flowers and plant tendrils. The statue holds a golden phiale full of eggs. On the back and neck, palmettes and scrolls. On the edge of the rim and below the scene, a wave pattern band.