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Bottle with Stopper (Primary Title)

Attributed to the "Monumental", Lentini-Manfria Group (Artist)

ca. 340 BC
Greek, South Italian (Sicilian)
Ceramics
Containers-Vessels
terracotta
Ancient Art
Overall (with stopper): 7 3/4 × 4 1/8 in. (19.69 × 10.48 cm)
Other (without stopper): 6 3/4 in. (17.15 cm)
82.136a-b
G227 - Greek, Roman & Hellenistic Galleries

“The woman is going down to the house of Hades. I go to her to take the first sacrificial cutting of her hair. For when this sword has consecrated the hair of someone’s head, he (she) is the sacred property of the gods below.” —Euripides, Alkestis

The scene has been interpreted as the parting of the mythical King Admetos from his wife Alkestis, the subject of Euripides’s play Alkestis. Admetos is fated to die unless someone offers to take his place. Alkestis sacrifices herself on Admetos’s behalf, but Herakles brings her back from the underworld and restores her to life. A chain or thong secured the top to the vessel.

Adolph D. and Wilkins C. Williams Fund
“The Art of South Italy: Vases from Magna Graecia,” Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (Richmond, VA): 12 May-8 August 1982; Philbrook Art Center (Tulsa, OK): 20 November 1982-9 January 1983; The Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, MI): 7 February-10 April 1983.
Image released via Creative Commons CC-BY-NC

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