Detail of a Terracotta Pelike Attributed to the Plousios Painter in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, November 2010

Title: Terracotta pelike (wine jar)

Medium; Technique: Terracotta; black-figure

Culture: Greek, Attic

Period: Archaic

Date: ca. 520 B.C.

Artist or Maker: Attributed to the Plousios Painter

Dimensions: H. 12 1/16 in. (30.7 cm)

Classification: Vases

Credit Line: Gift of Walter Bareiss, 1968

Accession Number: 68.27


Description:

Obverse, two men playing board game
Reverse, flute player between two athletes

Introduced by red-figure artists, the pelike was adopted as well by their black-figure counterparts. The subject here is a further modification of the theme of Ajax and Achilles gaming (compare hydria 56.171.29). Two men sit at a three-legged table playing a board game, as indicated by their gestures. A flute case and a lyre hanging on the wall above them suggest that the men are professional musicians taking a break. The implied comparison with the Homeric heroes is amusing.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/Works_of_Art/collection_database/greek_...