Terracotta Stamnos Attributed to the Menelaos Painter in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, February 2012

Terracotta stamnos (jar)
ca. 450 B.C.

Attributed to the Menelaos Painter


Object Details

Title: Terracotta stamnos (jar)

Attributed to the Menelaos Painter

Period: Classical

Date: ca. 450 B.C.

Culture: Greek, Attic

Medium: Terracotta; red-figure

Dimensions: H. 14 7/8 in. (37.8 cm)
diameter 11 7/8 in. (30.2 cm)

Classification: Vases

Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1906

Accession Number: 06.1021.178


Obverse and reverse, maenads making music

Wine, women, and song are integrated here into an exceptionally rhythmical composition. The elongated women in fluidly pleated garments move slowly forward on the obverse and stand still on the reverse. Their instruments, drinking cups, torches, and thyrsoi (fennel stalks) introduce variety into a composition that might otherwise appear stiff. The quality of the music is conveyed more by the movement of the figures than by facial expressions.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/247341