Red-Figure Bell Krater (Mixing Vessel): Aphrodite and Eros

c. 370–360 BCE

attributed to Graz Painter

(South Italian, Apulian, active c. 380–360 BCE)
Overall: 30.5 cm (12 in.)
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Location: not on view

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Did You Know?

The dancing nude youths on the reverse are unusual; typically they would be standing and draped.

Description

This small mixing vessel shows a finely dressed woman seated on a chest and holding up a mirror to admire herself. Before her stands Eros, the winged god of love, holding a ribbon or sash. Behind the woman stands a pillar with the inscription ΑΦΡΟΔΙΤΗ, or APHRODITE, the goddess of love. Such labels are rare on vases, and scholars debate whether this names the woman shown as Aphrodite herself, with her son Eros, or a bride envisioning herself as Aphrodite, just before her wedding.
Red-Figure Bell Krater (Mixing Vessel): Aphrodite and Eros

Red-Figure Bell Krater (Mixing Vessel): Aphrodite and Eros

c. 370–360 BCE

Graz Painter

(South Italian, Apulian, active c. 380–360 BCE)
South Italian, Apulian

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