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 Ms Carol Grigor 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.