Column krater (Lucanian red-figure ware)
420 BCE-400 BCE
Medium
earthenware
Measurements
42.8 × 40.8 × 35.0 cm
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Felton Bequest, 1977
© Public Domain
Gallery location
18th Century Decorative Arts - Great Hall Costume Corridor
Level 2, NGV International
About this work
A krater was a large two-handled vessel that was used for mixing water and wine. This column krater, a variant with columns forming the handles, was made and decorated in the earliest Lucanian workshop in southern Italy. However, its style and subject matter could have come from Athens. The scene on the front is taken from the palaestra, or wrestling ground, of the Greek gymnasium. A woman on the left offers an athlete a garland or crown, a symbol of victory. On the reverse, less carefully detailed, are two pairs of draped youths facing each other. The Amykos Painter was one of the pioneers of the earliest Lucanian workshop.
Artwork Details
Place/s of Execution
Lucania, Italy
Accession Number
D150-1977
Department
Antiquities
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of Digitisation Champion Ms Carol Grigor through Metal Manufactures Limited
Physical description
Large open vessel with globular/ovoid body, short thick neck below a flat rim, with twin columnar handles rising from the shoulder to plates extending from the rim. On the edge of the rim is a band of laurel. On the neck of Side A, a panel of ivy pattern. On the top of the rim, ivy pattern.
Side A: two pairs of figures, a draped female facing a youth, naked except for drapery over his arm. These are palaestra scenes. Side B: two pairs of draped youths facing each other, less carefully drawn.