Terracotta volute-krater (bowl for mixing wine and water)
Obverse, the abduction of Antiope by Theseus
Reverse, Amazons riding up
In its mythological beginnings, Athens was attacked by the Amazons, warrior women whose homeland lay to the north and east of the Black Sea. The incursion was repulsed, and Theseus, the ruler of Athens, took Antiope, the Amazon queen, as his wife. Of special interest on the obverse is the shield device of a flute-playing crab. The motif plays on the name of a famous flute-player in late-sixth century B.C. Athens, Karkinos, crab. The device occurs again on the reverse of the calyx-krater by Euphronios and Euxitheos (1972.11.10) exhibited in the Greek galleries on the main floor.
Reverse, Amazons riding up
In its mythological beginnings, Athens was attacked by the Amazons, warrior women whose homeland lay to the north and east of the Black Sea. The incursion was repulsed, and Theseus, the ruler of Athens, took Antiope, the Amazon queen, as his wife. Of special interest on the obverse is the shield device of a flute-playing crab. The motif plays on the name of a famous flute-player in late-sixth century B.C. Athens, Karkinos, crab. The device occurs again on the reverse of the calyx-krater by Euphronios and Euxitheos (1972.11.10) exhibited in the Greek galleries on the main floor.
Artwork Details
- Title: Terracotta volute-krater (bowl for mixing wine and water)
- Artist: Attributed to the Karkinos Painter
- Period: Archaic
- Date: ca. 500 BCE
- Culture: Greek, Attic
- Medium: Terracotta; red-figure
- Dimensions: H. with handle 22 5/16 in. (56.7 cm); H. without handle 20 1/16 in. (50.9 cm); diameter of lip 16 3/4 in. (42.6 cm); diameter of foot 8 13/16 in. (22.4 cm)
- Classification: Vases
- Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1959
- Object Number: 59.11.20
- Curatorial Department: Greek and Roman Art
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Karkinos Painter
ca. 500 BCE
Greek, South Italian, Apulian
3rd quarter of the 4th century BCE
Greek, South Italian, Apulian
3rd quarter of the 4th century BCE
Painter of the Woolly Satyrs
ca. 450 BCE
Hirschfeld Workshop
ca. 750–735 BCE
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