Search the collections

Terracotta chariot krater

Fullscreen

Eros, God of Love

Eros, God of Love
(00:49:32) 820 views

Related Content

Terracotta krater

Terracotta krater

Terracotta krater (deep bowl) with four handles

Terracotta krater (deep bowl) with four handles

Terracotta chariot krater

Terracotta chariot krater

Terracotta pithoid jar

Terracotta pithoid jar

Vase fragment

Vase fragment

Browse current and upcoming exhibitions and events.

Exhibitions:

Events:

Events:

Terracotta chariot krater

Period:
Late Helladic IIIA:1
Date:
ca. 1375–1350 B.C.
Culture:
Helladic, Mycenaean
Medium:
Terracotta
Dimensions:
H. 14 7/16 in. (36.7 cm) diameter 10 11/16 in. (27.2 cm)
Classification:
Vases
Credit Line:
The Cesnola Collection, Purchased by subscription, 1874–76
Accession Number:
74.51.964

This artwork is currently on display in Gallery 173

  • Description

    During the fourteenth century B.C. broad and deep-bodied kraters, often decorated with complex pictorial scenes, were produced in Greece, particularly in the Argolid and in Cyprus. A great number of these works came to light on Cyprus, and they were often attributed to artists working in a Cypro-Mycenaean idiom. Evidence had increasingly indicated that trade between the Argolid and Cyprus was active and that the pictorial vases were a major commodity made on the mainland and traded eastward, probably for their contents as well as the ware itself. Scientific tests have corroborated these findings. Recent analyses have shown that this chariot krater came from a well-attested workshop in the vicinity of Mycenae and Berbati.
    The chariot was an important motif in art from the Greek mainland; its frequency on Mycenaean pictorial vases has characterized an entire subgroup. These vases were probably connected with funerary practices, and, in some regions, they may have served as sarcophagi. The occupants of the chariots may be the deceased, while the ancillary figures may be deities or participants in funerary observances.

  • Provenance

    Probably from Maroni, between Larnaca and Limasol, Cyprus

  • References

    Slenczka, Eberhard. 1974. Tiryns: Forschungen und Berichte, Vol. 7. Figürlich bemalte mykenische Keramik aus Tiryns. Mainz am Rhein: Verlag Philipp von Zabern, pl. 40.3.

    Karageorghis, Vassos. 2000. Ancient Art from Cyprus. The Cesnola Collection. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, no. 70, pp. 47-48.

    Picón, Carlos A., et al. 2007. Art of the Classical World in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, no. 271, pp. 234, 459-60.

  • See also
    What
    Where
    When
    In the Museum
    Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History
    MetPublications
130001018

Close