The Memnon Group

Exhibited by Plektron Fine Arts

Material Τerracotta

Dimensions 33.5 × 0.1 × 0.1 cm

Place of Creation Etruria

Price Available upon inquiry

Status Vetted

About the Work

Our Amphora depicting the combat of Memnon and Achilles over Antilochos, the

group’s eponymous amphora, is among the finest of the group and the only

amphora of the Memnon group wearing named inscription - in Ionic alphabet.

Pseudo-Chalcidian vase painting is an important style among black-figure Greek

vase painting. It was strongly influenced by Chalcidian, but also shows influences

from Attic and Corinthian vase painting. The potters used the Ionic alphabet for

added inscriptions. As per today we know about 60 vases of the style - studied by

Andreas Rumpf for the first time in 1927. The potters/painters may have been the

successors of those who produced Chalcidian pottery, as well as some potters

newly immigrated to Etruria. Pseudo-Chalcidian vase painting is divided into two

groups: the Polyphemus Group and The Memnon Group.

The first group produced the majority of known vases, mainly neck amphorae and

oinochai. They show groups of animals, mythological imagery is rare. The vessels

were found in Etruria and Sicily, but also in Marseille and Vix. The Memnon Group,

to which only 12 vases can be attributed, had a much less extensive distribution,

limited exclusively to Etruria and Sicily. Except for one oinochoe, the Memnon

group only produced neck amphorae, usually decorated with animals and

horsemen. Mythological scenes are rare.

Show moreless

Provenance

Collection Agostino Feoli (1785-1856), Rome
Collection Césaire-Emmanuel-Flavien Henrion-Staal de Magnoncour (1800-1875),
Paris

Agostino Feoli (1785-1856)
Born into a prosperous Roman family, Agostino Feoli was the son of the engraver
and antiquities dealer Vincenzo Feoli (1750–1831). On the family estate at
Campomorto, near the Etruscan necropoleis of Vulci, he directed major excavations in 1829–31 and 1846–47, assembling an important private collection of Greek and Etruscan antiquities. First published in 1837 by Secondiano Campanari, the Feoli Collection was acquired in 1872 by the University of Würzburg and today forms the core of the Antiquities holdings of the Martin von Wagner Museum.
Alongside his antiquarian activity, Feoli pursued a successful career in banking. A
founder and later director of the Cassa di Risparmio di Roma, and subsequently
general administrator of the Banca Romana, he was widely respected for his
financial expertise during a period of papal fiscal instability. He died in Rome in
1856 and was buried at Santa Maria del Popolo.

Césare-Emmanuel-Flavien Henrion-Staal de Magnoncour (1800-1875)
French diplomat and collector, born into a wealthy noble family from Franche-
Comté. He inherited substantial family collections of books, manuscripts, paintings, coins and prints, and a prolonged stay in Italy in 1832–34 inspired him to assemble a collection of ancient vases and bronzes, augmented by purchases at the Durand (1836) and Canino (1837) sales. His engagement with antiquities was, however, relatively brief, and he sold his archaeological collection anonymously in 1839.

Literature

J.J. de Witte, Collection de M. de M(agnoncour) (1839) 48 no. 59; E. Gerhard,
Auserlesene griechische Vasenbilder (Berlin 1840-1858) Taf. 205, 3-4; J. Overbeck,
Die Bildwerke zum troischen und thebischen Heldenkreis (Stuttgart 1857)
520; H. Lückenbach, Das Verhältnis der griechischen Vasenbilder zu den Gedichten des epischen Kyklos (XI, Suppl Bd. d. Jahre. f. cl. Philol., B.G. Teubner 1880), 616; C.I.G. 8409; Arndt, Studien, 52; Rom. Mitt. III 1888, 165 (Dümmler = Kl. Sehr. III, 268); Bern. Philol. Wochenschau. 1888, Sp. 18 (Dümmler = Kl. Sehr. III, 354); Carl Robert, Scenen der Ilias und Aithiopis auf einer Vase der Sammlung des Grafen Michael Tyskiewicz. 15. Hallesches Winckelmannsprogramm (Halle 1891), Anm. 3; Paul Kretschamen, Die griechischen Vaseninschriften ihrer Sprache nach untersucht (Gütersloh:Bertelsmann, 1894) 56 II; Johann Endt, Beiträge zur ionischen Vasenmalerei (Prag 1899) 38; Athenische Mitteilungen XXV, 1900, 79 Abb. 49 (Böhlau); Bern. Philol. Wochenschr.1900, Sp. 369 (Karo); L. A. Milani, Monumenti
scelti (1905), 1 Anm. 1; S. Reinach, Répertoire des vases peints grecs et étrusques II
(Paris 1900) 104f. 2.3; Adolf Furtwängler-Karl Reinhold, Griechische Vasenmalerei:
Auswahl hervorragender Vasenbilder (München 1904, 222; H.B: Walters, History of
Anleint Pottery, Greek, Etruscan, and Roman (1905) 323 Anm. 3 (18), 357. II, 253; P.
Ducati, ÖJh 12, 1909, 79 Abb. 49; E. Langlotz, Zeitbestimmung, 23; Athenische
Mitteilungen, XLVI, 1921, 187f.; P. Ducati, Storia della ceramica Greca I (Firenze
1922) 194; E. Pfuhl, Malerei und Zeichnung der Griechen I, 1876-1923, 196, 202;
Lippold 432; A. Rumpf, Chalkidische Vasen (1927) 156 a, Abb. 12 with earlier
literature; R. Hampe - E. Simon, Griechische Sagen in der frühen etruskischen Kunst (Mainz 1964) 58; F. Canciani, in: Tania. Festschrift R. Hampe (Mainz 1980) 118f. Abb. 1-2; LIMC I (Zürich 1981) s. v. Achilleus (A. Kossatz-Deissmann) Nr. 815; LIMC I
(Zürich 1981) s. v. Antilochos I (A. Kossatz-Deissmann) Nr. 29; F. Canciani, Eine neue
Amphora aus Vulci und das Problem der pseudochalkidischen Vasen, JdI 95, 1980,
145f. Abb. 7. 9; V. Brinkmann, Die aufgemalten Namensbeischriften an Nord- und
Ostfries des Siphnierschatzhauses, BCH 109, 1985, 118 Abb. 88; LIMC III (Zürich
1986) s. v. Eos (C. Weiss) Nr. 302; LIMC VI (Zürich 1992) s. v. Memnon (A. Kossatz-
Deissmann) Nr. 34; Hermes statt SMS (Basel 2010) 88; Wann ist man ein Mann? Das
starke Geschlecht in der Antike. Ausstellungskatalog Basel (Basel 2013), 60.