Terracotta Stamnos Attributed to the Altamura Painter in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, January 2012

Terracotta stamnos (jar)

Attributed to the Altamura Painter

Period: Classical

Date: ca. 470 B.C.

Culture: Greek, Attic

Medium: Terracotta; red-figure

Dimensions: H. 15 3/16 in. (38.5 cm); diameter mouth 9 7/16 in. (24 cm); diameter foot 7 1/4 in. (18.5 cm)

Classification: Vases

Credit Line: Fletcher Fund, 1956

Accession Number: 56.171.51

Description:

Obverse, Peleus wrestles with the sea nymph Thetis while her two companions flee
Reverse, two sea nymphs approach their father, Nereus

Both Zeus and Poseidon desired Thetis; but, after they learned that she was fated to bear a son who would be stronger than his father, she was married off to Peleus, a mortal. As Peleus tried to catch her, she evaded him by changing into many different forms. Here, however, he has finally secured his bride, the future mother of the great hero Achilles.


Text from: www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search/254909