Hydria with Pegasus

On the shoulder of this water jar, a pair of large eyes looks out between ivy leaves. Below, on the body, a winged horse, Pegasus, shares the field with a bird. It was painted at Vulci in the late 6th century BC by the Etruscan artist known as the Micali Painter.

The jar comes from the area of the Cuccumella, the largest burial mound in Etruria, some 65 metres across. When diggers working for Lucien Bonaparte, Napoleon's brother, began opening tombs on his land at Vulci in 1829, they found the mound guarded by stone sphinxes and lions. This hydria was once kept in the museum at Vulci itself, before it came to the Villa Giulia.