The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 19, 2024

Red-Figure Situla (Deep Bucket): Bellerophon Slaying Chimaera (A); Dionysos, Maenads, Eros (B)

Red-Figure Situla (Deep Bucket): Bellerophon Slaying Chimaera (A); Dionysos, Maenads, Eros (B)

c. 350 BCE
South Italian, Apulian
ceramic
with handle: 30.3 cm (11 15/16 in.); Diameter of rim: 24.5 cm (9 5/8 in.); Diameter of foot: 13.1 cm (5 3/16 in.); without handle: 28 cm (11 in.)
Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund 1977.179
Location: 102D Pre-Roman

Did You Know?

The mythical fire-breathing Chimaera comprises a lion with goat’s head and neck, plus a snake-headed tail.

Description

The dramatic scene on this bucket-like vessel (known as a situla, more common in bronze) shows the hero Bellerophon astride his winged horse Pegasos, taking aim with a spear at the monstrous Chimaera. Combining parts of a goat and snake with the body of a lion, this fearsome fire-breathing creature lived in Lycia (now southwest Turkey), where fire still burns from natural vents in the rock. Also present on the vase are Hermes and Athena, watching Bellerophon, as well as a small Pan and two young satyrs with stones. Are they taking aim at Pegasos or the Chimaera? Dionysos, Eros, and two maenads appear on the reverse.
  • 1977-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Beazley Archive. n.d. Beazley Archive Pottery Database. Oxford: Beazley Archive. BAPD 1002929 www.beazley.ox.ac.uk
    Boulter, C. G., Jenifer Neils, and Gisela Walberg. Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1971. 98.1-4, 99.1-4
    Trendall, A. D., and Alexander Cambitoglou. The Red-Figured Vases of Apulia. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1978. p. 1065, no. 15/44b.
    Mayo, Margaret Ellen. The Art of South Italy: Vases from Magna Graecia : an Exhibition. Richmond: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 1982. pp. 106-109, cat. 32.
    Cleveland Museum of Art, and Jenifer Neils. The World of Ceramics: Masterpieces from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: The Museum in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1982. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 19, fig. 21
    K. Schauenburg, "Baltimoremaler und Bellerophon," Jahrbuch des Museums für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg 3 (1984). pp. 20-21, n. 62, fig. 11
    Neils, Jenifer, and Gisela Walberg. Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum. United States of America. The Cleveland Museum of Art. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1971-2000. p. 53-54, pl. 98-99
    Kilinski, Karl. Greek Myth and Western Art: The Presence of the Past. 2013. p. 17, fig. 6
  • The Art of South Italy: Vases from Magna Graecia, Philbrook Art Center, Tulsa, OK (20 November 1982-9 January 1983); Detroit Institute of Arts, MI, (7 February-10 April 1983).
    The World of Ceramics, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (30 June-September 5 1982).
  • {{cite web|title=Red-Figure Situla (Deep Bucket): Bellerophon Slaying Chimaera (A); Dionysos, Maenads, Eros (B)|url=false|author=Group of the Dublin Situlae|year=c. 350 BCE|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1977.179