Hydria of the ‘Ηadra type’

The end of the Classical period saw the decline of figurative art, which had flourished in the Aegean for more than four centuries (late 8th to 4th c. BC). In Hellenistic times, only a few ceramic vases bore painted decoration. Among them were the so-called ‘Hadra-type’ vases, on which artists rendered figurative scenes or plain linear motifs with dark paint on a light background (occasionally on white ground).

The illustrated hydria depicts a scene of deer hunting on one side, while the other is decorated with two naked men attacking wolves with club and sword. The precise symbolism of these scenes eludes us.

‘Hadra type’ vases owe their name to a cemetery in Alexandria, Egypt, where many such vessels have been found. In the past it was believed that they were made in Egypt but chemical analysis of clay samples from such vases has proven that many of them were made in Crete. By that time, Crete was part of the Ptolemaic kingdom of Egypt, therefore it has close relation with Alexandria.

PUBLICATION
Saraga Ν. 2006. Cat. no. 94, in Choremi-Spetsieri Α. – Zarkadas Α. (eds), The Paul and Alexandra Canellopoulos Museum. Ancient Art, Athens, 156-157.