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Lot Essay
PUBLISHED:
R. Bianchi Bandinelli, 'La tomba dei Calini Sepus presso Monteriggioni,' Studi Etruschi II,1928, p. 133ff., no. 172 (S.160f), Taf. 34.
R. D. De Puma, ‘A Fourth Century Praenestine Mirror with Telephos and Orestes,’ Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts. Römische Abteilung 87, 1980, pp. 20-22, fig. 7.
I. Krauskopf, 'Agamemnon,' Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologicae Classicae I, Zurich and Munich, 1981, p. 261, no. 20.
K. Shauenburg, ‘Zur Telephossage in Unteritalien,’ Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts. Römische Abteilung 90, 1983, p. 348, no. 79.
E. Böhr and W. Martini, (ed.), 'Der wiedergefundene Telephos,' Studien zur Mythologie und Vasenmalerei. Festschrift für Konrad Schauenburg zum 65. Geburtstag am 16. April 1986, pp. 139-144, pl. 24, 1-3.
H. Heres, 'Telephos', Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologicae Classicae VII, Zurich and Munich, 1994, p. 867, no. 70, pl. 70.
In 1892, the Calini Sepus tomb was discovered within the Necropoli del Casone, near Monteriggioni, whilst preparing a vineyard owned by Count Giulio Terrosi Vagnoli (b. 1851). The tomb held an entire aristocratic Etruscan family. All the finds were kept in Count Terrosi's collection in Florence, and were later dispersed between Italian museums and abroad.
Bandinelli had studied the accounts of the earlier 19th Century excavations, and carried out further excavations himself in the 1920s. He published all the finds in 1928.
The mirror is finely engraved with an elaborate scene depicting Telephos grasping the young Orestes by the hair and drawing him onto the altar to be slaughtered. The older figure of Agamemnon, with a hairy paunch revealed by his himation, raises his sword arm to defend his son, but is restrained by the draped figure of Clytemnestra, who clutches his arm with both hands. Two naked females stand either side, the figure on the left beseeching Telephos to resist from committing the murder.
This scene was chronicled in Euripides' lost play Telephos. Telephos was king of Mysia, where the Greeks mistakenly landed on their way to Troy. In the ensuing battle, Telephos was wounded by Achilles. As the wound would not heal, Telephos consulted the Delphic oracle, who advised, "he that wounded shall heal." Telephos travelled on to Aulis to ask Clytemnestra for help and she advised him to kidnap her own son, Orestes, and threaten to kill him if Achilles would not help heal his injury. However, Achilles refused. It was only when Odysseus cleverly deciphered the oracles true meaning: the “wounder” was not Achilles but in fact his sword. Scrapings of the weapon were then applied to the cut, which subsequently healed. As recompense, Telephos guided the Greek fleet on to Troy. Telephos was the father of both Tyrrhenus and Tarchon, two of the legendary founders of the Etruscan race, which may indicate why this subject appears so frequently in Etruscan art.
R. Bianchi Bandinelli, 'La tomba dei Calini Sepus presso Monteriggioni,' Studi Etruschi II,1928, p. 133ff., no. 172 (S.160f), Taf. 34.
R. D. De Puma, ‘A Fourth Century Praenestine Mirror with Telephos and Orestes,’ Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts. Römische Abteilung 87, 1980, pp. 20-22, fig. 7.
I. Krauskopf, 'Agamemnon,' Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologicae Classicae I, Zurich and Munich, 1981, p. 261, no. 20.
K. Shauenburg, ‘Zur Telephossage in Unteritalien,’ Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts. Römische Abteilung 90, 1983, p. 348, no. 79.
E. Böhr and W. Martini, (ed.), 'Der wiedergefundene Telephos,' Studien zur Mythologie und Vasenmalerei. Festschrift für Konrad Schauenburg zum 65. Geburtstag am 16. April 1986, pp. 139-144, pl. 24, 1-3.
H. Heres, 'Telephos', Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologicae Classicae VII, Zurich and Munich, 1994, p. 867, no. 70, pl. 70.
In 1892, the Calini Sepus tomb was discovered within the Necropoli del Casone, near Monteriggioni, whilst preparing a vineyard owned by Count Giulio Terrosi Vagnoli (b. 1851). The tomb held an entire aristocratic Etruscan family. All the finds were kept in Count Terrosi's collection in Florence, and were later dispersed between Italian museums and abroad.
Bandinelli had studied the accounts of the earlier 19th Century excavations, and carried out further excavations himself in the 1920s. He published all the finds in 1928.
The mirror is finely engraved with an elaborate scene depicting Telephos grasping the young Orestes by the hair and drawing him onto the altar to be slaughtered. The older figure of Agamemnon, with a hairy paunch revealed by his himation, raises his sword arm to defend his son, but is restrained by the draped figure of Clytemnestra, who clutches his arm with both hands. Two naked females stand either side, the figure on the left beseeching Telephos to resist from committing the murder.
This scene was chronicled in Euripides' lost play Telephos. Telephos was king of Mysia, where the Greeks mistakenly landed on their way to Troy. In the ensuing battle, Telephos was wounded by Achilles. As the wound would not heal, Telephos consulted the Delphic oracle, who advised, "he that wounded shall heal." Telephos travelled on to Aulis to ask Clytemnestra for help and she advised him to kidnap her own son, Orestes, and threaten to kill him if Achilles would not help heal his injury. However, Achilles refused. It was only when Odysseus cleverly deciphered the oracles true meaning: the “wounder” was not Achilles but in fact his sword. Scrapings of the weapon were then applied to the cut, which subsequently healed. As recompense, Telephos guided the Greek fleet on to Troy. Telephos was the father of both Tyrrhenus and Tarchon, two of the legendary founders of the Etruscan race, which may indicate why this subject appears so frequently in Etruscan art.