
Collection Online as of June 4, 2023
(South Italian, Apulian, active c. 380–360 BC)
Ceramic
Gift of J. H. Wade 1924.534
not on view
The dancing nude youths on the reverse are unusual; typically they would be standing and draped.
This small mixing vessel shows a finely dressed woman seated on a chest and holding up a mirror to admire herself. Before her stands Eros, the winged god of love, holding a ribbon or sash. Behind the woman stands a pillar with the inscription ΑΦΡΟΔΙΤΗ, or APHRODITE, the goddess of love. Such labels are rare on vases, and scholars debate whether this names the woman shown as Aphrodite herself, with her son Eros, or a bride envisioning herself as Aphrodite, just before her wedding.