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Source Description
The two separate areas of figural decoration on this vase have been attributed to different painters: the small satyr and maenads on the shoulder to the Berlin Painter; and the larger figures of Athena and the slain Giant Enkelados on the body to the Painter of Goluchow 37. Scholars have named these two painters, whose actual names remain unknown, after other vases they have painted, now in Berlin and Warsaw. The victory of Athena and the Olympian gods over the Giants has been interpreted as a metaphor for the Greek victory over the Persians around the time this vase was made. Thus, although Enkelados appears as a fully armed warrior, he falls in utter and complete defeat—bleeding from multiple wounds, eyes rolling back, sword dropping from his hand.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
149405
label
Red-Figure Lekythos (Oil Vessel): Athena Slaying Giant (body); Satyr between Maenads (shoulder)
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
149405
contentType
object
title
Red-Figure Lekythos (Oil Vessel): Athena Slaying Giant (body); Satyr between Maenads (shoulder)
description
The two separate areas of figural decoration on this vase have been attributed to different painters: the small satyr and maenads on the shoulder to the Berlin Painter; and the larger figures of Athena and the slain Giant Enkelados on the body to the Painter of Goluchow 37. Scholars have named these two painters, whose actual names remain unknown, after other vases they have painted, now in Berlin and Warsaw. The victory of Athena and the Olympian gods over the Giants has been interpreted as a metaphor for the Greek victory over the Persians around the time this vase was made. Thus, although Enkelados appears as a fully armed warrior, he falls in utter and complete defeat—bleeding from multiple wounds, eyes rolling back, sword dropping from his hand.
date
c. 490 BCE
citation
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q60757207
creators
306250
306248
genreSpecific
Ceramic
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Diameter: 14.1 cm (5 9/16 in.); Diameter of mouth: 8.7 cm (3 7/16 in.); Overall: 38 cm (14 15/16 in.); Diameter of foot: 10 cm (3 15/16 in.)
cul
Greek, Attic
accession
1978.59
Source extras
tec
ceramic
tombstone
Red-Figure Lekythos (Oil Vessel): Athena Slaying Giant (body); Satyr between Maenads (shoulder), c. 490 BCE. Shoulder attributed to Berlin Painter (Greek, Attic, active c. 505–460 BC), body attributed to Painter of Goluchow 37 (Greek, Attic, active c. 490–460 BC). Ceramic; diameter: 14.1 cm (5 9/16 in.); diameter of mouth: 8.7 cm (3 7/16 in.); overall: 38 cm (14 15/16 in.); diameter of foot: 10 cm (3 15/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1978.59
collection
GR - Greek
didYouKnow
First attributed to Douris, this vase is now thought to have been painted by two anonymous painters.
citations
citation
Beazley Archive. n.d. <em>Beazley Archive Pottery Database</em>. Oxford: Beazley Archive.
page_number
BAPD 5168
citation
Boulter, C. G., Jenifer Neils, and Gisela Walberg. C<em>orpus Vasorum Antiquorum</em>. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1971.
page_number
pp. 33-35, fig. 4, pls. 1816-1817, 70.2-3, 71.1-3
citation
Moon, Warren G., and Louise Berge. <em>Greek Vase-Painting in Midwestern Collections.</em> Chicago: Art Institute, 1979.
page_number
Pl. 6, p. 186, no. 105.
citation
Lee, Sherman E. “The Year in Review for 1978.” <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 66, no. 1 (January 1979): 3–47.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 6; Mentioned: p. 42, no. 1
citation
<em>Lexicon iconographicum mythologiae classicae</em> (LIMC). Zürich: Artemis, 1981.
page_number
Pl. 147
citation
McNiven, Timothy John. <em>Gestures in Attic Vase Painting: Use and Meaning, 550-450 B.C. </em>1982.
page_number
p. 155, pl. 5d
citation
Cleveland Museum of Art, and Jenifer Neils. <em>The World of Ceramics: Masterpieces from the Cleveland Museum of Art.</em> Cleveland: The Museum in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1982.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: p. 15, fig. 17
citation
<em>International Congress of Classical Archaeology.</em> Praktika tou XII Diethnous Synedriou Klasikēs Archaiologias: Athēna, 4-10 Septembriou 1983. Athēna: Hypourgeio Politismou kai Epistēmōn, 1985.
page_number
VOL.B, PL.24.2
citation
Korshak, Yvonne. <em>Frontal Faces in Attic Vase Painting of the Archaic Period. </em>Chicago: Ares Publishers, 1987.
page_number
pp. 38-39, 144, fig. 95
citation
J. Paul Getty Museum. <em>Greek vases in the J. Paul Getty Museum.</em> Vol. 4. Vol. 4. Malibu, Calif: The Museum, 1989.
page_number
p. 120, figs. 2A-B
citation
Arafat, K. W. <em>Classical Zeus: A Study in Art and Literature</em>. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990.
page_number
p. 184, no. I.28, 205
citation
Neils, Jenifer. <em>Goddess and Polis: The Panathenaic Festival in Ancient Athens</em> : [Exhibition]. Hanover, N.H.: Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, 1992.
page_number
p. 147, no. 4
citation
Buitron-Oliver, Diana. <em>Douris: A Master-Painter of Athenian Red-Figure Vases. </em>Mainz am Rhein: Philipp von Zabern, 1995.
page_number
p. 65, n. 464
citation
Bol, Peter, and Marianne Kreikenbom. <em>Zum Verhältnis von Raum und Zeit in der griechischen Kunst: Passavant-Symposion, 8. bis 10. Dezember 2000</em>. Möhnesee: Bibliopolis, 2003.
page_number
pl. 54, fig. 108
citation
International Union of Academies.<em> Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum. United States of America Fasc. </em>35 United States of America Fasc. 35. München: Beck, 2000.
page_number
p. 33, pl. 70.2-3, 71.1-3, fig. 4
citation
Woodard, Roger D.<em> The Cambridge Companion to Greek Mythology. </em>2007.
page_number
fig. 11
citation
Muth, Susanne. <em>Gewalt im Bild: das Phänomen der medialen Gewalt im Athen des 6. und 5. Jahrhunderts v. Chr.</em> Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2008.
page_number
p. 297, fig. 196
citation
Bark, Julianna M. "Liotard, History Painting, and Mimesis," <em>Cantor Arts Center Journal</em> vol. 6 (2008- 2009).
page_number
pp. 19-26, fig. 5
citation
Guy, Robert J. "In the Shadow of the Berlin Painter." In <em>The Berlin Painter and His World: Athenian Vase-Painting in the Early Fifth Century B.C. </em>J. Michael Padgett,J ed., 188-211. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Art Museum; New Haven, Connecticut: Distributed by Yale University Press, 2017.
page_number
Reproduced: P. 190-191, fig. 1-3; Mention: P. 194, 199, 203
creditline
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
sketchfabId
c02becb745284060be6fbc88de7bf798
updatedAt
2026-06-18 21:18:24.343000
sourceId
149405
dept
Greek and Roman Art
coll
GR - Greek
med
ceramic
creatorTags
gender unknown
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
bd82852681501760