Terracotta krater | Hirschfeld Workshop | All | Greek and Roman Art | Collection Database | Works of Art

Description

During the Geometric period, monumental grave markers were introduced in the form of large vases, often decorated with funerary representations. It was only in the Archaic period that stone sculptures were used as funerary monuments. On this magnificent krater, the main scene, which occupies the widest portion of the vase, shows the deceased laid upon a bier surrounded by members of his household and, at either side, mourners. For optimal clarity, the dead man is shown on his side and the checkered shroud that would normally cover the body has been raised and regularized into a long rectangle with two projections. The zone below shows a procession of chariots and foot soldiers. The figures may refer to the military exploits of the deceased; however, as hourglass shields and chariots played a more limited role at this time than in the earlier Bronze Age, the scene more likely evokes the glorious ancestry and traditions to which the dead man belonged.

ProvenanceFound in Attica (Richter 1915, p. 71).

Selected BibliographyRichter, G. M. A. 1915. Department of Classical Art: The Accessions of 1914." MMA Bulletin 10: 26, 70-72, fig. 2.

Richter, G. M. A. 1915. "Two Colossal Athenian Geometric or 'Dipylon' Vases in The Metropolitan Museum of Art." American Journal of Archaeology 19 (October-December): 385ff., pls. XVII-XX, XXIII, 1.

McClees, H. 1924. The Daily Life of the Greeks and Romans as Illustrated in the Classical Collections. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, p. 124, ill. p. 121 and fig. 148.

Villard, F. 1949. "Un nouveau cratère du Dipylon au Musée du Louvre." In Mélanges d'archéologie et d'histoire offerts à Charles Picard à l'occasion de son 65e anniversaire. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, vol. 2, p. 1071, n. 3.

Marwitz, H. 1961. "Ein attisch-geometrischer Krater in New York." Antike Kunst 4: 44, n. 29, 45, n. 31.

Carpenter, R. 1962. Greek Art: A Study of the Formal Evolution of Style. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, pp. 43-46, fig. 6.

Richter, G. M. A. 1966. The Furniture of the Greeks, Etruscans and Romans. London: Phaidon, pp. 19, 50, 55, fig. 293.

Benson, J. L. 1970. Horse, Bird and Man: The Origins of Greek Paintings. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, pp. 53, 58, 59, 83, 93, 96, 107, 145, n. 23, 152, n. 21, 157, n. 8, pl. XVI, fig. 3, pl. XXV, figs. 12, 20, pl. XXXIII, fig. 2, pl. XLI, fig. 4.

Ahlberg, G. 1971. Fighting on Land and Sea in Greek Geometric Art. Stockholm: Svenska Institutet i Athen, pp. 61-62, fig. 56.

Ahlberg, G. 1971. Prothesis and Ekphora in Greek Geometric Art. Göteborg: P. Åström, fig. 25.

Greenhalgh, P. A. L. 1973. Early Greek Warfare: Horsemen and Chariots in the Homeric and Archaic Ages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, no. 7.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1987. Greece and Rome. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, p. 22, pl. 7.

Mertens, J. R. 1998. "Some Long Thoughts on Early Cycladic Sculpture." Metropolitan Museum Journal 33: 14, fig. 13.

Picón, C. A., et al. 2007. Art of the Classical World in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, p. 413, no. 29, ill. p. 48.

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