Red-Figure Calyx-Krater of the Abduction of Europa

AAT Object Form/Functioncalyx kraters

AAT Object TechniqueRed-figure

Place CreatedPaestum, Italy, Europe

CultureGreek, Paestan

PeriodClassical

Dateca. 380 BCE

MediumCeramic

Credit LineCarlos Collection of Ancient Art

Dimensions22 7/8 x 18 1/2 in. (58.1 x 47 cm)

Object number2003.007.001

Label TextEuropa, daughter of Agenor, king of Tyre, was picking flowers in a meadow one spring morning when she was noticed by Zeus. He disguised himself in the form of a bull (or, as some versions relate, sent a bull), who attracted her attention and managed to carry her off across the sea to Crete. There she bore to Zeus a number of sons, most famously Minos, king of Crete. It is after her that Europe is named.

It is the sea voyage between Tyre and Crete that the artist illustrates. Europa, apparently unperturbed and finely dressed, adjusts her veil in a bridal gesture. Around the bull dance the denizens of the deep. They recall the marine escort accorded to Poseidon in the Iliad: "and about him the sea beasts came up from their deep places and played in his path, and acknowledged their master, and the sea stood apart before him, rejoicing."

The gods appear in the upper register. Pothos (longing) leads the procession. Then comes the messenger god, Hermes, with herald's staff (kerykeion). Eros and Aphrodite witness what they have set in motion. Below at left, is a local touch-Skylla, who lived in the Straits of Messina between Italy and Sicily. Canine protomes emerge from her waist. At right, Triton brandishes a helmsman's oar.
Exceptional on this vase are the shading on the sun (Helios) and bull. Wall painting, now lost, is likely to have been the inspiration. Asteas was, together with his colleague Python, the pre-eminent vase-painter in early fourth-century Paestum.

The reverse depicts three revelers: the users, as it were, of this krater. The elaborately profiled foot is intended to be understood as including a stand. For metal vessels, as in some ceramic, these were made separately.
Exhibition HistoryTravelled in conjunction with The Centaur's Smile: The Human Animal in Early Greek Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, August 1, 2003 - May 31, 2004
MCCM Permanent Collection Reinstallation, September 2004 - January 2011
Monsters, Demons & Winged Beasts: Composite Creatures in the Ancient World, Michael C. Carlos Museum, February 5 - June 19, 2011
MCCM Permanent Collection Reinstallation, June 20, 2011 - August 26, 2013
MCCM Permanent Collection Reinstallation, October 2, 2013 - Present
Published ReferencesMCCM Newsletter, March - May 2003.
MCCM Newsletter, September - October 2004.
Jasper Gaunt, "New Galleries of Greek & Roman Art at Emory University: The Michael C. Carlos Museum," Minerva 16 (January/February 2005): 13-17.
MCCM Newsletter, March - May 2006.
MCCM Newsletter, Spring/Summer 2011.

ProvenancePurchased by MCCM from Brian T. Aitken (1952-2009) [Acanthus Gallery], New York, New York.

Status

On view

Collections