366 TWO VASES BY PHINTIAS. TWO VASES BY PHINTIAS. [PLATES XX.—XXIII.] IT was my interjtion to publish in the Journal of Hellenic Studies a cylix by Phintias in the Central Museum at Athens, together with the substance of a paper read at a meeting of the British Archaeological School in March of this year. Learning, however, that Dr. P. Hartwig was anxious to publish the cylix in his forthcoming Meisterschalen, I entered into correspondence with him, and by his kindness am enabled to publish in its place the well-known hydria in the British Museum (Klein, Meistcrsignaturen 3) and fragments of a stamnos in the possession of Dr. Friedrich Hauser, now at Stuttgart, whose kindness in furnishing me with drawings by his own hand I would gratefully acknowledge. A.—The first vase to be discussed is the hydria in the British Museum (E 264) found at Vulci.1 The form is the older one with sharp divisions be- tween neck, shoulder, and body, which is characteristic of b.f. hydriae, and disappears after the ' severe ' period of r.f. vase-painting, shoulder and body passing into oae and leaving only one field for decoration. On the inside of the lip, in front of the junction with the handle, are three round knobs sug- gesting pegs or nails. These are in this case painted purple, whereas usually when they appear they are varnished—cp. Petersburg 1, 337 and Berlin 1897 = Gerhard, A. V. 249, 250.2 The handles are left unvarnished, which is also comparatively uncommon. The maiu field of the vase is occupied by a scene, which if not of surpassing originality or interest, is at least unusual. Three naked ecf>r)/3oi, are represented in the act of carrying water from a fountain in hydriae which are of the same form as the vase itself, except that that which is carried by the second youth from the right on his shoulder is apparently of a more developed form, in which the sharp division between shoulder and body is given up. On the extreme right a stream of water issues from a 1 The body of the vase is reproduced at three- Museum contains a pinax of Hischylos (2100). quarters of the original size on Plate XX., the I mention this because Klein (Vasen mit shoulder at two-thirds of the original size on Lieblingsinschriften p. 22) speaks of the hydria Plate XXI. inscribed Te'Arjs KO.\6S (Jahrbuch 1889 x.) as '- This splendid vase Furtwiingler conjectures 'in the style of Hischylos.' What is the style to be by Hischylos, on what grounds it is not of Hischylos ? easy to see, probably because the Berlin TWO VASES BY PHINTTAS. 367 lion's head of admirable execution, worthy to stand beside analogous portions of the work of Sosias and Peithinous, and a youth fills his hydria. Behind him comes a second, bearing an empty hydria on his shoulder, and turning his head to look at a bearded figure, presumably the irai§0Tpi8r)<;, clothed in a ifiaTiov «hich passes over the left shoulder, and leaning on a staff. On the left the scene is closed by a third youth, carrying a hydria with both hands. All the figures wear vine-wreaths like those of the Kottabospsykter of Euphronios, with the exception of the youth who carries his hydria on his shoulder, who is crowned with laurel. In the field is inscribed Meya/cXi)*; icaXos, the significance of which will be discussed later on. The subject may be regarded as a variant for the scenes so common on b.f. hydriae where a train of maidens is represented in the act of drawing water from a fountain (cp. British Museum B 93 with the inscription 'iTnroicpdTr)? KO\6<}). An exact parallel from a later period is? furnished by the painting in the interior of a cylix from Bomarzo of later ' fine ' style preserved in a drawing in the library of the Berlin Museum (Mappe xxi. 89), which repre- sents a youth drawing water from a fountain in the shape of a lion's head. The scene immediately succeeding that depicted on our vase—viz. the act of washing, in which the contents of the hydriae are poured by one youth over the kneeling figure of another, is not uncommon on cylices. (Cf. Gerhard. A. V. 277.) The subject of the shoulder is drawn from a sphere as well-known to the early r.f. vase-painters as the palaestra, viz. the symposion. Two figures —one bearded and one youthful—are represented lying on couches, with 1/jba.Tia thrown over the lower half of their bodies and crowned with vine- wreath?. The elder of the two, on the left, holds in either hand a cylix, that in his left hand being inverted, and turns his head to look at his companion. It is noticeable that these cylices are of the characteristic b.f. shape with high 368 TWO VASES BY PHINTIAS. foot, and a division between the upper and lower half of the bowl. The two cylices of course serve for the practice of the tcoTTafio?, as is evident from a comparison with the cylix of Kachrylion in the Museo Bocchi (II. 4 Schone = Klein Utiphronios,2 p. 113). The youth on the right holds in his left hand a lyre. It is useless to multiply parallels for this scene. Besides being extremely common in the interior of cylices (see Klein, Uuphronios,2 p. 310) the subject was found to be well adapted to a field such as that in which it appears in this instance. The best parallel is the hydria of Euthumides (A.Z. 1873 IX.), which has an external point of connection with ourhydria in bearing the inscription Meyaic\rj<; /raXo?. In painting this hydria Euthu- mides has taken the first step towards the later development in which one field of decoration only is offered by the vase. But he has only gone a very short distance. The vase is one of a numerous class of ' severe' r.f. hydriae which appear simply to leave out the main subject and leave us with only the subordinate subject of the shoulder. We may also compare a hydria of Euthumides (Philologus, xxvi. 1867 II.) similar in shape to our vase, where the shoulder is occupied by a scene closely resembling the greatest of all Kottabos vases, the Petersburg psykter of Euphronios. FOOT OF THE BRIT. MUS. HYDKIA. In the alternation of r.f. with b.f. ornament we may compare Phintias with Euthumides, and trace the survival of the influence of b.f. vase-painting. The style of the drawing will be discussed later in relation to that of the period to which Phintias belongs. B.—I also publish (PI. XXII.-III.), from drawings executed by Dr. Friedrich Hauser, fragments of a stamnos in his possession,1 which I have unfor- tunately not seen. I must therefore express my indebtedness to Dr. P. Hartwig, who has examined the fragments in Stuttgart, and has kindly given me such in- formation as I required. The height of the vase is estimated at 35 cm., which corresponds exactly with the average size of an early stamnos with four-figure subjects. As in the case of the British Museum hydria we find b.f. alternating with r.f. ornament—r.f. palmettes above and between the subjects and b.f. 1 The plates reproduce the fragments at rather more than half of the original size. TWO VASES BY PHINTIAS. 369 palmettes below. The signature, of which only four letters remain intact, was inscribed in the upper right-hand corner of the obverse of the vase. From the fragments we can infer a subject consisting of a central group formed by a male and female, symmetrically enclosed by two flying females, of whom the one on the left is turning her head to witness the spectacle, and holds a stylised flower in her right hand. The subject which immediate]}7 suggests itself is the struggle of Peleus and Thetis, and this appears to me to be supported by the following parallel. In the collection of drawings pre- served in the library of the Berlin Museum is to be found a drawing (Mappe xxii. 3) of a r.f. hydria of the same form as that here published, in the style of Euthumides. On the shoulder is represented a dance of five youths, each of whom holds a stick in his right hand and has a chlamys rolled round his left arm, in the presence of a bearded man who plays the fidpfinov. The main subject of the vase, however, is the struggle of Peleus and Thetis, without transformations, in the presence of two Nereids who fly in opposite directions. The arms of the three female figures are symmetrically disposed in the upper part of the field : they are clad in precisely the same manner as the female figures of our stamnos, and the outline of the right leg of Thetis is drawn under the clothing, exactly as that of the female on the right of the vase of Phintias.1 It is true that the position of the male figure as determined by fragment b seems to preclude the possibility of re- constructing the usual scheme according to which Peleus clasps Thetis tightly round the waist, while his head appears in front of her breast. That this was not the only scheme, however, is proved e.g. by the ' vaso a colonnette' published by Kaoul-Rochette, Monumens Inidits, II., where Peleus occupies almost exactly the position in which he would appear on our vase.