What is a “hydria”?
A hydria is a Greek vase with three handles, originally used for conserving water.
Two handles are placed on each side of the vase, allowing to carry it, while the third one, in the middle of the vase, allows to lift it to serve water.
The particular shape of this vase allows to develop large decorative paintings on its surface, such as narrative scenes.
The legend of Heracles
The scene deals with one of Heracles' adventures: the tripod dispute.
In order to atone for a crime, this demigod of the Greek mythology consults the Pythia of Delphi, who communicates the wishes of the god Apollo. But as Herakles does not purify himself, she refuses to talk with him.
Furious, Heralkes takes away the tripod in order to find his own sanctuary.
Apollo struggles with him in order to regain possession of the tripod, but only Zeus can separate them.
Five figures are represented in a frieze on the hydria : on the left, Artemis, the goddess of the hunt, is turned towards her brother, Apollo, who hangs the tripod, confronting Heralkes, wearing the skin of the Nemean lion. The fifth figure is Athena, wearing a helmet.
A black-figure pottery
Main styles of ancient ceramics are distinguished and named after the colours of their ornamentation, such as black-figure pottery, and red-figure pottery.
Developed between the 7th and 5th century Before Christ, black-figure pottery, also named black-figure style or black-figure ceramic, marks out the apology of Greek vase painting. Originated in Corinth, this style was adopted by painters in Attica, where it became the main style to dominate the pottery market in Mediterranee for the next 150 years.
The figures and ornamentation were drawn on the natural reddish orange clay surface of the vase in glossy black pigment. The finishing details were incised into the black silhouetted figure before firing.
Some colour conventions were adopted, such as white for female flesh, as we can see with Artemis and Athena, and purple-red for clothes and accessories.
If the corinthian ornamentations were animal friezes, the Attic painters developed narrative scenes and perfected the black-figure style. They are known for their innovations, and excel above all others in black-figure style. That is why, black-figure style was the first art on vases to give rise to a significant style and allowed to identify different artists, with their names or pragmatic names, such as Exekias and the “Amasis Painter”.
Black and red-figure vases are important sources of mythology and iconography.
The scenes offer the oldest and most diverse representations of Greek mythology, religious, social and sporting practices.
Anonyme grec, Hydrie, terre cuite, décor à figures noires sur fond rouge, argile rosée, rehauts blancs et rouges, incisions, fin 6e siècle avant JC, © Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dijon/François Jay
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