Ancient Roman, Empire Ceramic Piriform vase with Hercules - Terra Sigillata -one of the 12 labours of Herakles: Capturing the

Description :
A very beautifull Roman red ware piriform vase from North Africa.
This a very fine example of a narrow mouthed vase, with applied decoration and a slip glaze, produced in the potteries of the Roman province of Africa in the third century AD.
These vases display a wide range of subjects and here we have Hercules standing with his clan and lion skinner under an arch while on the other side a hunter advances with his spear.
A boar leaps under both figures emphasizing the hunting and the strength needed to subdue the wild beast.
Long horizontal branches border the figures and above there are grapes with leaves just below the opening.
The workshops which produced these vessels a century or so later increased their production to the extent that North African wares were found over the whole Mediterranean and beyond...

Period :
Roman empire, 2nd-3rd century A.D.

Height :
17.3 cm.

Condition :
Some pressure cracks to the body but not broken.

Provenance :
Ex private Belgian collection formed between 1980 and 1990's by Professor C.B.

Shipping and insurance by DHL Express.


The Erymanthian Boar
For his fourth labor, Hercules was tasked with capturing the Erymanthian boar alive. This boar, a massive wild pig with a fierce temperament and dangerous tusks, lived on Mount Erymanthus. Each day, it would descend from the mountain, terrorizing the countryside, attacking people and animals, and leaving a trail of destruction.

On his way to confront the boar, Hercules visited his friend Pholus, a centaur who lived in a cave near Mount Erymanthus. Centaurs, as everyone knows, have the upper body of a human and the lower body of a horse. Pholus, hospitable and kind, prepared cooked meat for Hercules, while he himself preferred his meat raw.

When Hercules requested wine, Pholus hesitated, explaining that the wine jar was communal property of all centaurs. Hercules, however, reassured him and opened the jar himself. The scent of the wine soon attracted the other centaurs, who became enraged at the intrusion. Armed with rocks and fir trees, they stormed Pholus's cave.

Hercules, unfazed, defended himself by hurling burning sticks from the fireplace at the attacking centaurs and then pursued them with his club. He shot arrows at the fleeing centaurs, chasing them over a distance of twenty miles. One centaur, Chiron, was mortally wounded, but his fate is another tale. During Hercules's absence, Pholus examined an arrow from a fallen centaur, marveling at its lethality. Unfortunately, he accidentally dropped the arrow on his foot, which proved fatal. Hercules returned to find his friend dead and, after burying him, resumed his hunt for the boar.

Locating the boar was easy, as its loud snorts and stomps betrayed its position. Hercules chased the beast tirelessly around the mountain, shouting to exhaust and disorient it. The frightened boar eventually sought refuge in a thicket. Hercules prodded it with his spear, driving it into a deep snowbank. There, he ensnared the boar in a net and carried it triumphantly to Mycenae. Eurystheus, once more astonished and terrified by Hercules's prowess, sought refuge in his partially buried bronze jar.




Certified authentic by the expert of the Gallery Drees.

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