Pair of Stands in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Sept. 2007

Pair of Stands
Greek, Attic, red-figure, ca. 520 BC
Sphinx and Iris (65.11.14); two sphinxes (1980.537)

Accession #s 65.11.14 and 1980.537

A significant amount of Attic pottery was produced for export to Etruria. Indigenous Etruscan shapes were reinterpreted in Athenian workshops; the Hellenized varients were then sold to Etruscan patrons and often buried in their tombs. The Etruscan prototypes generally exist in the sturdy black ware called bucchero. This pair of stands represents the phenomenon of adaptation with a shape unique in Attic vase-painting. They probably held floral or vegetal offerings.

Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.