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Hydria (Attic black-figure ware)
700 BCE
Medium
earthenware
Measurements
45.2 × 29.3 × 23.3 cm
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Felton Bequest, 1982
© Public Domain
Gallery location
18th Century Decorative Arts - Great Hall Costume Corridor
Level 2, NGV International
About this work
A hydria is a water-carrying jar, and has three handles, a vertical one at the back and two on the belly. This particular hydria was made for a funeral ritual, pictured in Geometric style on the neck. The Geometric style, named after the schematic style of vase decoration, emerged around 1000 BCE and flourished in Greece during the ninth and eighth centuries BCE, particularly around Athens. The scene shows the dead man lying on an elaborate bier, or stand, surrounded by mourning women. The main body of the vase shows two savage-looking lions clawing at the air. Their presence here may be symbolic of power and ferocity, perhaps referring to the dead warrior shown lying on the bier. The applied snakes around the rim and shoulder are symbolic of the cult of the dead, snakes being associated with underworld deities in Greek mythology.
Artwork Details
Place/s of Execution
Attica, Greece
Accession Number
D23-1982
Department
Antiquities
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of Digitisation Champion Ms Carol Grigor through Metal Manufactures Limited
Physical description
Tall jar with an ovoid body, wide tall neck and three handles, one vertical and two smaller belly handles. The rim edge, handles and shoulder are decorated with applied plastic "snakes". The vase is covered with geometric black-figure decoration. On the neck is a band of grazing deer above a prothesis scene, then a band of spirals. On the body are bands of geometric decoration with two rampant lions facing left in the handle zone panels, above another band of grazing deer.