Amazzonomachia (hydria) di Pittore di Creusa

An early Christian hydria, or water jar, attributed to the Creusa Painter. This is a vessel of considered form: an expanded lip, a rolled rim, a concave neck, a rounded shoulder, and a globular body tapering to a moulded, truncated conical base. Two twisted, rod-like handles rise obliquely from the shoulder and curl inward.

The decoration is the real event. The body is organised into two distinct bands, separated by vegetal motifs and framed by geometric patterns. The rim and neck are also dressed with similar geometric and vegetal designs. In early Christian art, such vessels often carried narrative scenes, here, the subject is an amazzonomachia, a battle between Greeks and Amazons, a mythic trope reused in this later period to suggest order overcoming chaos. The jar is a fine object, but its iconography speaks of an older, pagan world being reframed for a new age of faith.

Description via source. Coordinates and heritage data from the Atika atlas.