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Jan 5, 2010

Red-Figure Calyx-Krater (Mixing Vessel): Medea in Chariot (A); Telephos with Baby Orestes (B)

c. 400 BC

near the Policoro Painter

(South Italian, Lucanian, active c. 400 BC)

South Italian, Lucanian

Ceramic

Diameter of mouth: 49.9 cm (19 5/8 in.); Overall: 50.5 cm (19 7/8 in.); Diameter of foot: 22 cm (8 11/16 in.)

Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund 1991.1

Location

102D Pre-Roman

Did you know?

This vase includes scenes connected to two Athenian tragedies dealing with children—Medea and Telephos.

Description

The remarkable scene on the front of this vase relates to the famous tragedy Medea, written by Euripides and first produced in Athens in 431 BC. Framed in the center by a halo (recalling her sun god grandfather Helios), the sorceress Medea flies off in a dragon-drawn chariot. Seeking revenge against her husband Jason, leader of the Argonauts, Medea has just slain their two children. Two Furies flank her, while Jason and a distraught nurse and teacher approach the bodies on the altar below.

A different tragedy unfolds on the other side of the vase, from Euripides’s Telephos (438 BC). The wounded warrior Telephos holds the baby Orestes hostage at an altar, with Agamemnon and Clytemnestra rushing to save their son.

Video

Provenance

1991-

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Citations

Beazley Archive. n.d. Beazley Archive Pottery Database. Oxford: Beazley Archive. BAPD 1002926 www.beazley.ox.ac.uk

Matheson, Susan B., and J. J. Pollitt. Old Age in Greek and Roman Art.New Haven : Yale University Art Gallery, 2022. Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 30-31, fig. 6

Lexicon iconographicum mythologiae classicae (LIMC), vol. I. Zürich: Artemis, 1981. s.v. Agamemnon, p. 260, no. 14a (O. Touchefeu).

Von Bothmer, Dietrich. Wealth of the Ancient World: The Nelson Bunker Hunt and William Herbert Hunt Collections. Fort Worth, Tex: Kimbell Art Museum, 1983. pp. 76-79 (cat. 14).

Apollo 117 (June 1983). pp. 493-95, fig. 7 a-b

Lexicon iconographicum mythologiae classicae. 3.1, 3.1. Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae : LIMC / Publié Par La Fondation Pour Le Lexicon Iconographicum Mithologiae Classicae (LIMC). Zurich: Artemis, 1986. s.v. Erinyes, p. 837, no. 101 (H. Sarian).

Lexicon iconographicum mythologiae classicae 1. 1. Zürich: Artemis-Verl, 1990. 635, no. 71

Sotheby's (Firm). The Nelson Bunker Hunt Collection: Highly Important Greek and Roman Coins. 1990. no. 14

Lexicon iconographicum mythologiae classicae, vol. V. Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae : LIMC / Publié Par La Fondation Pour Le Lexicon Iconographicum Mithologiae Classicae (LIMC). Zurich: Artemis, 1990. s.v. Iason, p. 635, no. 71 (J. Neils).

Turner, Evan H. "Acquisitions: 1990." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 78, no. 2 (1991) p. 72 www.jstor.org

Carpenter, Thomas H. Art and Myth in Ancient Greece: A Handbook. London: Thames and Hudson, 1991. fig. 283

Kozloff, Ariellé P. "Notable Acquisitions." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 78, no. 3 (1991): 63-147. Reproduced and Mentioned: p. 72 www.jstor.org

Turner, Evan H. "Selected 1991 Acquisitions." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 79, no. 2 (1992) p. 76, no. 1 www.jstor.org

Lexicon iconographicum mythologiae classicae 2. 2. Zürich: Artemis-Verl, 1992. no. 36, pl. 199

Cleveland Museum of Art. Masterpieces from East and West. New York, NY: Rizzoli International, 1992. pp. 18-19

Taplin, Oliver. Comic Angels: And Other Approaches to Greek Drama Through Vase-Paintings. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993. 16-17, 22-23, 26, 37-38, 116-17, nos. 1.101 and 1.102

Lexicon iconographicum mythologiae classicae, vol. VI. Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae : LIMC / Publié Par La Fondation Pour Le Lexicon Iconographicum Mithologiae Classicae (LIMC). Zurich: Artemis, 1992. s.v. Medeia, no. 36, pl. 199 (M. Schmidt).

Aellen, Christian. A la recherche de l'ordre cosmique: forme et fonction des personnifications dans la céramique italiote. Kilchberg/Zürich: Akanthus, 1994. p. 39, n. 39

Lexicon iconographicum mythologiae classicae. 7.1, 7.1. Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae : LIMC / [Publié Par La Fondation Pour Le Lexicon Iconographicum Mithologiae Classicae (LIMC)]. Zurich: Artemis, 1994. s.v. Telephos, pp. 866-67, no. 59 (M. Strauss).

Easterling, P. E. The Cambridge Companion to Greek Tragedy. 1997. p. 79, fig. 12

Clauss, James Joseph, and Sarah Iles Johnston. Medea: Essays on Medea in Myth, Literature, Philosophy, and Art. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1997. pp. 269-71, fig. 3

Matheson, Susan B. "Hounded by Furies." Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin, 1997 pp. 23-24, fig. 5 www.jstor.org

Open University. An Introduction to the Humanities. Milton Keynes: Open University, 1997. color plate 68

Schulze, Harald. Ammen und Pädagogen: Sklavinnen und Sklaven als Erzieher in der antiken Kunst und Gesellschaft. Mainz: P. von Zabern, 1998. no. 1.2, plate 34

March, Jennifer R. Cassell Dictionary of Classical Mythology. London: Cassell, 1998. p. 245, fig. 88

F. de Angelis, "Tragedie familiari. Mitigreci nell'arte sepolcrale etrusca," Palila 6 (1999). pp. 63-64, figs. 13-14

De Angelis, Francesco, and Tonio Hölscher. Im Spiegel des Mythos: Bilderwelt und Lebenswelt : Symposium, Rom 19. - 20. Februar 1998 = Lo specchio del mito. Wiesbaden: Reichert, 1999. fig. 13-14, p. 64

Young-Sanchez, Margaret, "A Royal Plaque", Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine. Vol. 39 no. 07, September 1999 Mentioned & reproduced: p. 8-9 archive.org

Hardwick, N. 1999. "A Triglyph Altar of Corinthian Type in a Scene of Medea on a Lucanian Calyx-Krater in Cleveland," Quaderni ticinesi di numismatica e antichita classiche, vol. 28, pp. 179-201.

Euripides, and John Harrison. Medea. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 2000. p. 90

Neils, Jenifer, and Gisela Walberg. Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum: The Cleveland Museum of Art. [Cleveland, OH]: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2000. p. 48-49, pl. 89-91

Harris, Stephen L., and Gloria Platzner. Classical Mythology: Images and Insights. Mountain View, Calif: Mayfield Pub. Co, 2000. p. 801, fig. 17-2

Foley, Helene P. Female Acts in Greek Tragedy. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2001. Book Jacket

Kocur, Miros·law. Teatr Antycznej Grecji. Wroc·law: Wydawn. Uniw. Wroc·lawskiego, 2001. p. 306

Cartledge, Paul. The Cambridge Illustrated History of Ancient Greece. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002. pp. 246-7

Bertrand, Jean-Marie. La violence dans les mondes grec et romain: actes du colloque international, Paris, 2-4 mai 2002. Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne, 2005. pp. 48-49, fig. 2A%B

Neils, Jenifer, John Howard Oakley, Katherine Hart, and Lesley A. Beaumont. Coming of Age in Ancient Greece: Images of Childhood from the Classical Past. New Haven: Yale University Press in association with the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, 2003. fig. 17, pp. 23, 217-218

Small, Jocelyn Penny. The Parallel Worlds of Classical Art and Text. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2003. cover

Bianchi, Olivier, Olivier Thévenaz, and Philippe Mudry. Conceptions et représentations de l'extraordinaire dans le monde antique: actes du colloque international, Lausanne, 20-22 mars 2003. Bern: Lang, 2004. fig. 1, p. 24

Neils, Jenifer, John Howard Oakley, Christine Kondoleon, and Katherine Hart. Striving for Excellence: Ancient Greek Childhood and the Olympic Spirit. 2004. p. 29, fig. 20

Pache, Corinne Ondine. Baby and Child Heroes in Ancient Greece. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2004. p. 27, fig. 2

Brown, John Russell. The Oxford Illustrated History of Theatre. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005. p. 23

Storey, Ian Christopher, and Arlene Allan. A Guide to Ancient Greek Drama. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub, 2005. p. 152, fig. 2.4

Revermann, M. 2005. "The 'Cleveland Medea' Calyx Crater and the Iconography of Ancient Greek Theatre," Theatre Research International, vol. 30.1, pp. 3-18.

Taplin, Oliver. Pots & Plays: Interactions between Tragedy and Greek Vase-Painting of the Fourth Century B.C. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2007. pp. 122-123 (cat. 35), 207 (cat. 76).

Ankarloo, Bengt. Satans raseri: en sannfärdig berättelse om det stora häxoväsendet i Sverige och omgivande länder. Stockholm: Ordfront, 2007. p. 161, color plate 1

Goldhill, Simon. How to Stage Greek Tragedy Today. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007. p. 22, fig. 4

Oakley, John H. "Child Heroes in Greek Art," in Albersmeier, Sabine, and Michael J. Anderson (Eds.). Heroes: Mortals and Myths in Ancient Greece. (Baltimore: Walters Art Museum, 2009): 66-87. See pp. 73, 77-78, figs. 40, 47.

Hart, Mary Louise, and J. Michael Walton. The Art of Ancient Greek Theater. Los Angeles, Calif: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2010. cat. no. 27, p. 72-73

Buxton, Richard. How Medea Moves: Versions of a Myth in Apollonius and Elsewhere. London: Legenda, 2010. p. 34, fig. 2.6

Todisco, Luigi, and Giuseppina Gadaleta. La ceramica a figure rosse della Magna Grecia e della Sicilia. Roma: "L'Erma" di Bretschneider, 2012. Tav 19, p. 299, 1 & 2

Harris, Stephen L., and Gloria Platzner. Classical Mythology: Images and Insights. 2012. p. 776, fig. 17-3

Buxton, R. G. A. Myths and Tragedies in Their Ancient Greek Contexts. 2013. p. 115, fig. 15

Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 82

Fortenberry, Diane and Rebecca Morrill. Flying Too Close to the Sun: Myths in Art from Classical to Contemporary. London: Phaidon Press Limited, 2018. Reproduced and mentioned: p. 189

Dunand, Françoise. Corps Vivants des Dieux: Les Statues Animées dans le Monde Méditerranéen Antique. Paris: Éditions Picard, 2018. Reproduced: p. 139, fig. 96

Craig Jendza. Paracomedy: Appropriations of Comedy in Greek Tragedy. 2020. New York: Oxford University Press. Cover image (side B).

Luckow, Almuth, and William Blake. Die Gottesbilder des William Blake: Kunst und Philosophie. Darmstadt : WBG Academic, 2021. Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 292-293, Abb. 63

Carpenter, Thomas H. Art and Myth in Ancient Greece. 2021. 238-239. Mentioned and reproduced; pp. 238-239, fig. 235.

Exhibition history

Wealth of the Ancient World, Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, (25 June-18 September 1983); Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, (19 October-11 December 1983); Detroit Institute of Arts, (1 February-24 March 1984); and Dallas Museum of Art, (25 April-10 June 1984).

Notable Acquisitions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 7-September 15, 1991).

Coming of Age in Ancient Greece. Hood Museum of Art, Hanover, NH (organizer) (August 23-December 5, 2003); Onassis Foundation Cultural Center (January 20-April 15, 2004); The Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, OH (May 21-August 1, 2004); J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA (September 14-December 5, 2004).

The Art of Ancient Greek Theater. Getty Villa, Pacific Palisades, CA (August 26, 2010-January 3, 2011).

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{{cite web|title=Red-Figure Calyx-Krater (Mixing Vessel): Medea in Chariot (A); Telephos with Baby Orestes (B)|url=https://clevelandart.org/art/1991.1|author=Policoro Painter|year=c. 400 BC|access-date=02 November 2023|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

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Red-Figure Calyx-Krater (Mixing Vessel): Medea in Chariot (A); Telephos with Baby Orestes (B)

Red-Figure Calyx-Krater (Mixing Vessel): Medea in Chariot (A); Telephos with Baby Orestes (B)

near the Policoro Painter

Location

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