CA Painter (attributed to the)
Bottle with Aphrodite and Eros between Two Women and a Servant Girlcirca 360-350 B.C.

Not on view

Ancient Greek red-figure ceramic vessel with bulbous body and flared neck, decorated with seated female figure holding a winged child, in terracotta, white, and gold on black ground

Red-figure ceramic lekythos with bulbous body and narrow neck, decorated with standing draped figures in terracotta against a black ground, flanked by spiral and scroll motifs, with a wave pattern border at the base.

Red-figure ceramic lekythos with globular body and flared neck, decorated with terracotta figures on black glaze: a seated woman in white slip at center, flanked by a standing draped figure and a large palmette scroll motif, with a wave pattern border at the base.

Ceramic lekythos with globular body and narrow neck, decorated in red-figure technique with a large palmette and scrolling tendrils against a black-glazed ground; wave pattern at the base.

Artist or Maker: CA Painter (attributed to the)
Title: Bottle with Aphrodite and Eros between Two Women and a Servant Girl
Place Made: South Italy, Campania
Date Made: circa 360-350 B.C.
Medium: Red-figure ceramic with added gold
Dimensions: Height: 7 7/8 in. (20.0 cm); Diameter: 4 5/16 in. (10.9 cm)
Credit Line: William Randolph Hearst Collection
Accession Number: 50.8.26
Classification: Furnishings
Collecting Area: European Painting and Sculpture: Greek and Roman
Curatorial Notes: Five figures are spread across the body of this intricately detailed bottle. At center, Eros, the winged god of love, embraces his mother Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty and love, who sits on a klismos (chair). The goddess is elaborately dressed, wearing a sleeveless girt chiton (long tunic) and himation (mantle) with a polos (crown hat) atop her coiffed hair. To the right, a partially nude woman sits on two pillows with her himation fallen to her waist. These figures seem to be situated outside, as demonstrated by the tufts of grass below the pillows and small bushes to either side of Aphrodite. To the left of the goddess, past the incense burner (thymaterion), the vase is damaged by surface corrosion, but two figures are still identifiable: a woman who stands with a small branch in her hand and an enslaved girl holding a mirror and a wreath. A large palmette flanked by tall scrolls covers the back.

This bottle was likely intended to hold oil, and such vessels were commonly used for cosmetic purposes or for various rituals. It is decorated in the red-figure style, where slip (liquified clay) that turned black during firing was applied to the background and outlines of figures, while the figures themselves were left in the natural red-orange color of the clay. Parts of this vessel were originally gilded, adding to its visual detail. The CA Painter was a red-figure painter who worked in Cumae in the Campania region of southern Italy during the fourth century BCE. He is best known for depicting ritual scenes and warriors.
Selected Bibliography: Levkoff, Mary L., ed. Hearst the collector. Exh. Cat. New York: Abrams and Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2008.
Clement, Paul A. "Geryon and Others in Los Angeles." Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens 24, no.1 (1955): 1-24.
Hope, Francis, and E.M.W. Tillyard. The Hope Vases: a Catalogue and a Discussion of the Hope Collection of Greek Vases. Cambridge: University Press, 1923.
Reinach, Salomon. Répertoire des Vases Peints Grecs et Étrusques. Paris: E. Leroux, 1922.

Related Unframed

A New Year’s Kiss

December 29, 2011

CA Painter (attributed to the)
Bottle with Aphrodite and Eros between Two Women and a Servant Girlcirca 360-350 B.C.

Not on view

Artist or Maker: CA Painter (attributed to the)
Title: Bottle with Aphrodite and Eros between Two Women and a Servant Girl
Place Made: South Italy, Campania
Date Made: circa 360-350 B.C.
Medium: Red-figure ceramic with added gold
Dimensions: Height: 7 7/8 in. (20.0 cm); Diameter: 4 5/16 in. (10.9 cm)
Credit Line: William Randolph Hearst Collection
Accession Number: 50.8.26
Classification: Furnishings
Collecting Area: European Painting and Sculpture: Greek and Roman
Curatorial Notes: Five figures are spread across the body of this intricately detailed bottle. At center, Eros, the winged god of love, embraces his mother Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty and love, who sits on a klismos (chair). The goddess is elaborately dressed, wearing a sleeveless girt chiton (long tunic) and himation (mantle) with a polos (crown hat) atop her coiffed hair. To the right, a partially nude woman sits on two pillows with her himation fallen to her waist. These figures seem to be situated outside, as demonstrated by the tufts of grass below the pillows and small bushes to either side of Aphrodite. To the left of the goddess, past the incense burner (thymaterion), the vase is damaged by surface corrosion, but two figures are still identifiable: a woman who stands with a small branch in her hand and an enslaved girl holding a mirror and a wreath. A large palmette flanked by tall scrolls covers the back.

This bottle was likely intended to hold oil, and such vessels were commonly used for cosmetic purposes or for various rituals. It is decorated in the red-figure style, where slip (liquified clay) that turned black during firing was applied to the background and outlines of figures, while the figures themselves were left in the natural red-orange color of the clay. Parts of this vessel were originally gilded, adding to its visual detail. The CA Painter was a red-figure painter who worked in Cumae in the Campania region of southern Italy during the fourth century BCE. He is best known for depicting ritual scenes and warriors.
Selected Bibliography: Levkoff, Mary L., ed. Hearst the collector. Exh. Cat. New York: Abrams and Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2008.
Clement, Paul A. "Geryon and Others in Los Angeles." Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens 24, no.1 (1955): 1-24.
Hope, Francis, and E.M.W. Tillyard. The Hope Vases: a Catalogue and a Discussion of the Hope Collection of Greek Vases. Cambridge: University Press, 1923.
Reinach, Salomon. Répertoire des Vases Peints Grecs et Étrusques. Paris: E. Leroux, 1922.

Related Unframed

A New Year’s Kiss

December 29, 2011