Monumental grave markers were first introduced during the Geometric period. They were 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 occupies the widest portion of the vase and 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. Because 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.
#1006. Terracotta krater
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Artwork Details
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Title:Terracotta krater
Artist:Attributed to the Hirschfeld Workshop
Period:Late Geometric I
Date:ca. 750–735 BCE
Culture:Greek, Attic
Medium:Terracotta
Dimensions:H. 42 5/8 in. (108.3 cm) diameter 28 1/2 in. (72.4 cm)
Classification:Vases
Credit Line:Rogers Fund, 1914
Object Number:14.130.14
Found in Attica (Richter 1915, 71)
[Until 1914, with M.L. Kampanes]; acquired in 1914, purchased from M.L. Kampanes.
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Richter, Gisela M. A. 1917. Handbook of the Classical Collection. p. 41, fig. 21, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
McClees, Helen. 1924. The Daily Life of the Greeks and Romans: As Illustrated in the Classical Collections. p. 124, ill p 12, fig. 148, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1926. Ancient Furniture: A History of Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Furniture. p. 23, 67–7, fig. 57, Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1927. Handbook of the Classical Collection. pp. 48–49, fig. 27, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1930. Handbook of the Classical Collection. pp. 48–49, fig. 27, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
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Ahlberg-Cornell, Gudrun. 1971. Fighting on Land and Sea in Greek Geometric Art. pp. 61–2, fig. 56, Stockholm: Svenska Institutet i Athen.
Ahlberg-Cornell, Gudrun. 1971. Prothesis and Ekphora in Greek Geometric Art, Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology. fig. 25, Göteborg: Paul Aströms Förlag.
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Howard Kathleen. 1994. Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide: Works of Art Selected by Philippe De Montebello. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
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Platt, Verity. 2017. "Introduction." The Frame in Classical Art : A Cultural History, Michael Squire, ed. pp. 14–17, fig. 1.2, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
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Brulé, Pierre. 2017. "Les funérailles : Les rites funéraires dans le monde grec." Rituels Grecs : Une Expérience Sensible, Evelyne Ugaglia and Adeline Grand-Clément, eds. p. 140, Toulouse: Musée Saint-Raymond, Musée des Antiques de Toulouse.
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Zanker, Paul. 2022. Afterlives : Ancient Greek Funerary Monuments in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. pp. 15–17, fig. 1, New York: Scala Publishers.
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