An Attic Black-Figured Column-Krater
Circa 525-475 B.C.
Height 19 inches (48.3 cm).
Property from a Southern Collector

Provenance:
Private Collection (Mr. B.), Switzerland, acquired between 1960 and 1980.
Bonhams, London, Antiquities, 30 October 2003, Lot 201.
Jean-David Cahn Auction, Basel, Auktion 5, 23 September 2005, Lot 104.
Royal Athena Galleries, New York, January 2006 (Art of the Ancient World, Vol. XVII, no. 103, p. 57).

Published:
Beazley Archive Pottery Database no. 9001999.

The chariot race was the most prestigious event at all the Panhellenic games held in Greece. Only the wealthiest of families could afford the four-horse chariot (quadriga) and professional driver needed to enter the competition. This exceptionally large column-krater with depictions of chariots must have pleased the symposiasts whose wine was mixed in it.

The subject of the principal side is a chariot procession with Athena standing in the box of a quadriga. The panel is ennobled with three additional Greek gods: Apollo and his lyre, Hermes with his winged shoes (petasos), and Artemis with a young stag at her side. The two male figures on the reverse side comprise a different kind of chariot procession, that of the hunt. Both men are shown bearded and gripping spears. The first man mounts a quadriga, readying for departure while the second man looks back, and a molossian hound waits patiently to lead the way forward. Across the thick flat rim, a pride of lions and passel of wild boar faceoff between two large palmettes.

The body is repaired from multiple large fragments with overpaint and restoration evident. The rim is partially restored, about 50 percent, and one handle on that side of the rim also restored with apparent overpaint.