Attic Red-Figure Chous (Miniature Wine Jug) with Child

Classical
ca. 420 BCE

2 1/2 x 2 1/16 x 2 7/32 in. (6.3 x 5.2 x 5.6 cm)

This object has the following keywords:

• Attic - Style and culture of the region of Attica. For culture particular to the capital of Attica, Athens, use "Athenian."
• choes - Refers to one of the most common forms of oinochoe. This type is usually red-figured and features a trefoil (three-spouted) mouth and bulbous body continuously curved from neck to foot. The chous was a standard unit of measure, equivalent to about 3.28 liters. The chous was especially associated with the Anthesteria, an Athenian festival celebrating wine, the wine god Dionysos, and the dead. The second day of the festival was called 'Chous.' It was customary during the festival to drink from choes and to pour libations from them at tombs. Miniature red-figured choes, decorated with scenes of children at play, were probably festival gifts to children or gifts offered at a child's grave.
• Classical - Refers to an ancient Greek style and period that begins around 480 BCE, when the Greek city-states defeated the Persian invaders, and ends around 323 BCE, with the death of Alexander the Great. It is characterized by the rebuilding of cities after the Persian wars, the flourishing of philosophy, drama, architecture, sculpture, painting, and the other arts. In the visual arts, it is known for the mastery of the human form and sophistication of architectural design.
• oinochoai - Ancient Greek one-handled vessels used for ladling and pouring wine or water; made in a variety of jug- and pitcherlike forms.
• Red-figure - Refers to a style of Greek vase painting that developed from the Black-figure style. It appeared in Athens around 530 BCE and spread to other areas of Greece, southern Italy, Etruria, and elsewhere in the Mediterranean area, until it disappeared in the third century BCE. The style is characterized by a particular technique, which involves the use of refined slip and a two-phase firing process to create a black ground through sintering, with figures reserved in red. The details of the figures are more fluid than in the Black-figure style, and are typically drawn with a brush, using both a defined, black relief line and a more dilute line that varies in color from dark gold to black.
• vase paintings - Refers to two-dimensional decoration applied to pottery by using paint made of metallic oxides or other pigments held in suspension in slip or another medium. The term is particularly used to refer to Ancient Greek red- and black-figure works. See also "porcelain paintings (visual works)."

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