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Neck Amphora (storage jar): Nereus (or Triton) with Scepter and Dolphin; Woman Running

View through Harvard Museums
On one side: a half-anthropomorphic, half-fish sea-god, Nereus, or perhaps Triton. He faces to the right and carries a scepter in his right hand with his little finger extended, and a dolphin in his left, which he holds by the tail. He has long curly hair tied into a bun and a beard. He wears a wreath in added red on his head, and a cloak (himation) decorated with triple dot motifs over a long-sleeved tunic (chiton). Instead of legs, he has a huge fish tail, which rises out of the bottom of his cloak (which conceals the junction between man and fish) and curves around before it ends in a stylised crescent-shaped tail fin, more like a dolphin’s tail than a fish’s. The tail is slightly tinted with dilute glaze and is decorated with single dots in a grid-like arrangement, with a reserved stripe marked out along its length. There are two pairs of fins coming out of the tail. On the other side: presumably a Nereid. The Nereids were the sea-nymph daughters of Nereus, the most famous of whom is Thetis, the mother of Achilles. She walks to the left with a wide step, her arms extended in front of her. Her right hand is higher up and seems to point toward the left. She wears a long-sleeved tunic (chiton). This woman is not specifically identified by an inscription or by any iconographical detail, but we can be reasonably sure from the context – alongside the sea god – that she is a Nereid. Strips of meander pattern act as ground line for the two figures, and are the only ornamental decoration. A small trident/psi has also been carved into the foot, apparently in modern times; the same mark is found on the foot of 1927.148, another amphora donated by Edward Perry Warren.
Department of Ancient and Byzantine Art & Numismatics Edward Perry Warren Esq. London (by 1927-1928) gift; to Fogg Art Museum 1927. Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum Gift of Edward P. Warren Esq.
Title: Neck Amphora (storage jar): Nereus (or Triton) with Scepter and Dolphin; Woman Running
Description:
On one side: a half-anthropomorphic, half-fish sea-god, Nereus, or perhaps Triton.
He faces to the right and carries a scepter in his right hand with his little finger extended, and a dolphin in his left, which he holds by the tail.
He has long curly hair tied into a bun and a beard.
He wears a wreath in added red on his head, and a cloak (himation) decorated with triple dot motifs over a long-sleeved tunic (chiton).
Instead of legs, he has a huge fish tail, which rises out of the bottom of his cloak (which conceals the junction between man and fish) and curves around before it ends in a stylised crescent-shaped tail fin, more like a dolphin’s tail than a fish’s.
The tail is slightly tinted with dilute glaze and is decorated with single dots in a grid-like arrangement, with a reserved stripe marked out along its length.
There are two pairs of fins coming out of the tail.
On the other side: presumably a Nereid.
The Nereids were the sea-nymph daughters of Nereus, the most famous of whom is Thetis, the mother of Achilles.
She walks to the left with a wide step, her arms extended in front of her.
Her right hand is higher up and seems to point toward the left.
She wears a long-sleeved tunic (chiton).
This woman is not specifically identified by an inscription or by any iconographical detail, but we can be reasonably sure from the context – alongside the sea god – that she is a Nereid.
Strips of meander pattern act as ground line for the two figures, and are the only ornamental decoration.
A small trident/psi has also been carved into the foot, apparently in modern times; the same mark is found on the foot of 1927.
148, another amphora donated by Edward Perry Warren.

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