Hydria (Water Jar)
470-460 BCE
Medium
terracotta, red-figure
Dimensions
42.4 × 37.6 × 31.8 cm (16 3/4 × 14 3/4 × 12 1/2 in.)
Classification
vessel
Department
Arts of Greece, Rome, and Byzantium
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
65202
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Created by an artist known as the Leningrad Painter, the front of this vessel shows a young couple embracing as three other young women look on. Intimate scenes of couples kissing are unusual in Greek art, especially for women of the Athenian upper class, indicating that the participants depicted here are probably courtesans known as hetairai. Under the foot is an incised letter - upsilon, lambda or gamma - presumably a very simple trader’s mark. This vase is decorated in the red-figure techniq...