DRAG IMAGE TO ROTATE ARTWORK
Oenochoe (Apulian red-figure ware)
320 BCE-310 BCE
- Medium
- earthenware
- Measurements
- 26.1 × 18.0 cm diameter
- Place/s of Execution
- Apulia, Italy
- Accession Number
- D28-1979
- Department
- Antiquities
- Credit Line
- National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Felton Bequest, 1979
© Public Domain
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 - Gallery location
- 17th to 18th Century European Paintings Gallery
Level 2, NGV International - About this work
-
This slender wine jug is decorated with the head of Aphrodite, Greek goddess of love, flanked by winged putti, representing Eros, who grasp the red veil over Aphrodite’s head. The scene is framed by a riot of scrolling tendrils from which flowers bloom, including the flower from which Aphrodite’s face emerges. The scrolling vegetation occupies both sides of the vase and directly meets the more formal yet complex palmette design on the back of the vase whose motifs are also framed by shorter, more contained scrolling ornament.
- Physical description
- Tall vase with a high-looped handle from the shoulder to the trefoil mouth and an ovoid body tapering sharply to a long, slender neck. The foot is in three degrees. On the neck are white horizontal stripes above long white rays to the shoulder. On the shoulder is a band of rosettes with centres in added yellow. The scene depicts the head of Aphrodite in white, with added colour for her hair and veil (yellow, orange, crimson). The head faces three-quarter front. A naked Eros stands on either side of the head, one hand holding a garland, the other holding Aphrodite's veil. The head rises from a campanula flower flanked by tendrils and scrolls. On the reverse is a palmette. On the ridged handle is a moulded female mask at each end (rim and shoulder).