Hydria Ricci, from Cerveteri - Necropoli della Banditaccia, 530 B.C.
The hydria is a vessel used in the ancient world to collect, carry and pour water. Its shape is easy to recognise because of its three handles: two horizontal handles placed on the sides of the body were used to lift the vessel, while a third vertical handle along the neck was used for pouring. Although it was originally an everyday object, in a funerary context the hydria took on a different meaning: placed inside the tomb, it became a prestigious object accompanying the deceased and recalling social and ritual practices connected with aristocratic life.
This hydria is attributed to an artist from northern Ionia, in present-day Turkey, conventionally identified as the Painter of Louvre E 739. He was probably part of a group of Greek craftsmen who settled in Etruria during the second half of the 6th century BC to work there, in a period marked by intense cultural and commercial exchanges across the Mediterranean.
The Ricci Hydria is considered an exceptional work both for the quality of its decoration and for the learned and unusual choice of the represented subjects. The figurative programme and the attention to detail suggest that the vase may have been a unique piece, created on commission. References to sacrifice and ritual wine consumption recall the aristocratic banquet, which in the ancient world was not only a moment of eating and drinking but also an occasion for social relationships, prestige and the construction of social identity.
The images decorating the vase are arranged in superimposed registers.