Red-Figure Wine Bucket (Situla) with the Death of Acteon and an Offering Scene with Eros
| Attributed To | near the Hippolyte Painter |
|---|---|
| Culture | Greek |
| Title | Red-Figure Wine Bucket (Situla) with the Death of Acteon and an Offering Scene with Eros |
| Date | 360–340 BCE |
| Medium | Terracotta with added color |
| Dimensions | Base (diameter of foot): 5 3/8 in. (13.7 cm) Overall (height with handles): 14 9/16 x 10 5/8 in. (37.1 x 27.1 cm) |
| Credit Line | Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University |
| Accession Number | 70.97.1 |
| This artwork is currently on view. | |
Wine bucket with two handle attachments on the rim is decorated on one side with many figures. The main action occurs on the lower level where a young man with horns is seated with with two dogs at his feet and two women staring at him. Three figures watch this scene from the top level and, on the other side of the bucket, two figures give gifts to winged Eros who is seated above them.
This situla, or bucket, exhibits painting of a very fine quality. Its liberal use of color is characteristic of Greek pottery from southern Italy, and it specifically represents the ornate style that flourished in Apulia by the mid-fourth century BCE. Apulian vase painters of this time favored grand, multi-tiered compositions, and mythological subjects associated with well-known Greek plays. The scene on one side of this vase depicts the story of Actaeon. Having incurred the wrath of the goddess Artemis—either for watching her as she bathed and/or for boasting of his greater skill as a hunter—Actaeon is punished by being turned into a deer. The moment depicted on the vase is an unusual choice, since it portrays the tragic hunter just as the transformation begins, before he realizes what is happening to him. The arrangement of the figures may be informed by a theatrical performance (plays about this subject are known to have existed but do not survive). The viewers of both the play and the situla would have known that Actaeon’s fate is to be torn apart by his own dogs; therefore, the scene is fraught with dramatic emotion.
Provenance research is ongoing for this and many other items in the Eskenazi Museum of Art permanent collection. For more information about the provenance of this artwork, please contact the department curator with specific questions.
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"Red-Figure Wine Bucket (Situla) with the Death of Acteon and an Offering Scene with Eros | Collections Online." Collections Online. Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University, 2025. https://artmuseum.indiana.edu/collections-online/browse/object.php?number=70.97.1