Detail of a Terracotta Hydria Attributed to the Iliupersis Painter in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, January 2012

Title: Terracotta hydria (water jar)

Artist: Attributed to the Workshop of the Iliupersis Painter

Period: Late Classical

Date: ca. 375–350 BCE

Culture: Greek, South Italian, Apulian

Medium: Terracotta; red-figure

Dimensions: H. 16 1/16 in. (40.8 cm)

Classification: Vases

Credit Line: Fletcher Fund, 1956

Accession Number: 56.171.65


Although funerary scenes abound in South Italian vase-painting, few depict activities at a grave site. In a rare exception, this vase shows a woman tying a fillet around the pillar-shaped monument while the two others pour a libation and prepare to place a wreath. The type of grave marker and the dedications are comparable to those associated with Athenian lekythoi (oil jars) and stelai, except for the prominent pomegranates here.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/254924