Detail of a Terracotta Pelike Attributed to the Pan Painter in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, October 2023

Title: Terracotta pelike (jar)

Artist: Attributed to the Pan Painter

Period: Classical

Date: ca. 470 BCE

Culture: Greek, Attic

Medium: Terracotta; red-figure

Dimensions: H. 7 in. (17.8 cm)

Classification: Vases

Credit Line: Purchase, The Abraham Foundation Inc. Gift, 1978

Object Number: 1978.11.9

Obverse, Silenus being led by Phrygian
Reverse, two Phrygians

Although the Persian Wars did not reach central Greece until 490 B.C., Persian incursions in Lydia and Ionia some thirty years earlier brought increasing knowledge of the Near East to the Greek world. This greater familiarity is reflected in the story of King Midas of Phrygia, who, seeking counsel of a silen, had one trapped at a fountain by mixing the water with wine.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/255623