Getty Museum

Rear Handle of a Kalpis

Date

450–425 B.C.

Medium

Bronze

Culture

Greek

Department

Vessels

Institution

Getty Museum

A siren--a hybrid mythological creature that is half-human, half-bird--decorates the base of this bronze handle. Originally, this piece was the upright rear handle of a kalpis, a container for carrying water. Although the vessel itself no longer survives, the handle testifies to its elaborate nature. It is fluted and the convex circular plate that attached to the neck of the kalpis is decorated with a tongue-pattern and beading. The siren stretches out her wings to form the plate that attached to the body of the vessel. Palmettes and spiraling tendrils run under the siren creating a lacy openwork pattern through which the highly polished surface of the vessel's body would have shown. Known for their hypnotic singing that could lure men to their deaths, sirens were the most popular handle element for bronze hydriai in the mid-400s B.C.

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