Mixing Vessel with Adonis & Goddesses (c. 385 BC) Meleager Painter, One Minute Art #art #greece

Added: 2026-06-02

[00:00:00]This is a spectacular piece. It came out of Athens during the last active years of the man we call the Meleager Painter.

[00:00:08]It's almost 80 cm tall or 31 in with the bowl and stand together.

[00:00:15]It was possibly made for sale to the colonies of Southern Italy judging on the style.

[00:00:20]The ostentatious volute handles and the craters ribbed pattern were popular in Italy in those days. So was the motif of an African head seen at the base of the column handles.

[00:00:33]And it has survived some 2,400 years in excellent condition.

[00:00:40]Remarkable.

[00:00:41]The only substantive piece that was reconstructed is the upper part of the base.

[00:00:47]The design on the front of the neck shows two goddesses, Aphrodite and Persephone, surrounding Adonis.

[00:00:54]Eros, too.

[00:00:56]Adonis was a mortal lover of both goddesses and held as the ideal standard for male beauty.

[00:01:03]Too bad we can't see his face here.

[00:01:05]Adonis was later gored by a boar and killed, but his cult was introduced to Athens where it became popular among women in the decades before this was painted.

[00:01:16]The design on the other side's neck is of a group of men at a symposium. The artist has used white sparingly to depict little cakes or fruits on the tables.

[00:01:27]One figure holds his cup to play the drinking game cottabus.

[00:01:31]This involves throwing your wine dregs at a target balanced on a pole.

[00:01:37]A hunting scene wraps around the shoulder of the base.

[00:01:41]A little lower, we see the wine god Dionysus sitting down while some of his companions chase a hare, a symbol of a romantic pursuit. Others are playing music and dancing. Fitting scenes from a wine mixing vessel that was the star of an ancient party.