1963.01

Attic Red-Figure Skyphos (type B; Glaux)

Purchased. Ht 8.2cm; diam. 10.6cm.

Reconstructed from fragments: the owl on B is somewhat damaged.

A and B: An owl standing to right but facing front, between two olive sprigs. The inner face of the foot is black but the resting surface and the underside are reserved, the latter decorated with a small central circle and dot. The reserved areas are strongly reddened.

Notice how the black line round the lip was done with the pot on the wheel after the owls were painted, and has cut off the scalp of that on side A.

Both owl and olive are symbols of Athena and one may reasonably compare the owl with the device on Athenian coins (e.g. 1973.24). Skyphoi of this type, with one vertical and one horizontal handle, are sometimes found covered simply in black glaze (see 1966.04) but are more often found decorated in this fashion. They appear fairly early in the fifth century and continue until the last quarter, but the majority belong to the second and third quarters. J.D. Beazley, Attic Red-Figure Vase-Painters (2nd ed., Oxford 1963) 982 gives a comprehensive list of references to studies of the type. The most important are those by F.P. Johnson in Studies Presented to D.M. Robinson, ii (1953) 96-105 and American Journal of Archaeology 59, 1955, 119-124. With ours compare especially Geneva 12476, American Journal of Archaeology 1955, pl. 36 fig. 26.

Towards the middle of the fifth century BC. The motif begins on a wide range of shapes in the later part of the sixth century but in the course of the earlier half of the fifth is more and more confined to drinking vessels, largely but not exclusively both of this type and of standard form. They continue until the later part of the fifth century, but most seem to belong to the middle years. There is an excellent brief note on their chronology and use by B. Kreuzer, “Athenische Eulen fürs Symposion”, in: R.F. Docter and E.M. Moormann (eds), Proceedings of the XVth International Congress of Classical Archaeology, Amsterdam, July 12-17, 1998 (Amsterdam 1999) 224-226, with good bibliography; ead. “...έν Αθήναις δέ γλαυκας...": Eulen in der Bilderwelt Athens”, Jahreshefte des Oesterreichischen Archäologischen Institutes 79, 2010, 119-178. Chr. Bron, “Chouettes”, Etudes de Lettres (Lausanne) 4, 1983, 39-53 looks at owls as the attribute of Athena Polias, the goddess of the city, and their role as a civic emblem, for example on coins. They are also shown on disci used by athletes: P. Valavanis, “Γλαῦκες ἐπὶ δίσκων”, Nikephoros 18, 2005, 91-101. Note too interesting observations in A. Steiner, Reading Greek Vases (Cambridge 2007) 47-49.

R. Stupperich looks at the occurrence of such owls on other shapes in “Eulen der Athena in einer Münsterschen Privatsammlung”, Boreas 3, 1980, 157-173, esp. 157-159; and there is a good study looking at their use in scenes on Athenian pottery by B. Kreuzer, “‘...en Athenais de glaukas...’ Eulen in der Bilderwelt Athens”, Jahreshefte des Oesterreichischen Archäologischen Institutes 79, 2010, 119-178. Note also her “Eulen aus Athen: 520-480 v.Chr.”, in: C. Weiss and E. Simon (eds), Folia in memoriam Ruth Lindner collecta (Dettelbach 2010) 66-83.

Despite their link to Athens, or perhaps because of it, owl-skyphoi were widely exported, not least to Italy, and there were also local versions made in southern Italy and in Etruria. For Attic pieces from the upper Adriatic, see for example F. Wiel Marin, “La collezione Bocchi di Adria: il caso di tre classi di vasi attici come documento degli scambi di un emporion dell’Alto Adriatico”, in: Docter and Moormann, op. cit., 458-460. It is interesting that the scheme also occurs in Laconian red-figure, for example on a pelike: Athens 19448, J. Stroszeck, “Laconian Red-figure Pottery: Local Production and Use”, in: S. Schierup and V. Sabetai (eds), The Regional Production of Red-figure Pottery (Aarhus 2014) 137-155: 154 no. 13, fig. 11a-b (with further refs).

For South Italian versions of various kinds, in addition to those noted by Johnson in 1955, see K. Schauenburg, “Eulen aus Athen und Unteritalien”, JdI 103, 1988, 67-85, and then the same author’s Studien zur unteritalischen Vasenmalerei, iii (Kiel 2001) 44-51 (“Eulen und andere Vögel”). Trendall gave a list of Metapontine examples to be associated with the workshop of the Pisticci Painter in Suppl. 3 (London 1983) 9-10 to A.D. Trendall, The Red-figured Vases of Lucania, Campania and Sicily i-ii (Oxford 1967), then see L. Burn’s catalogue in J.C. Carter (ed.), The Chora of Metaponto. The Necropoleis (Austin, Texas, 1998) 613-640. An example of an Apulian version is published in M. Flashar (ed.), Stifter und Sponsoren der Archäologischen Sammlung. Fünfzig Beispielen antiker Kunst (Munich 2003) 54-55 no. 23 (colour ill.) where B. Kreuzer again provides a good discussion and further bibliography. For Etruscan versions, and particularly those decorated in added red, see for example the collection from Tarquinia: G. Pianu, Ceramiche etrusche sovradipinte (Rome 1982) nos 92-109.

Sotheby (London), Sale Cat., 29 April 1963, no. 167; J.R. Green with B. Rawson, Catalogue of Antiquities in the Australian National University, A.N.U. (Canberra, 1981) 40. Beazley Archive Pottery Database 7650.