Beschreibung:

AN APULIAN RED-FIGURED VOLUTE-KRATER
CIRCA MID-4TH CENTURY B.C.
AN APULIAN RED-FIGURED VOLUTE-KRATER CIRCA MID-4TH CENTURY B.C. The obverse in two registers, the upper with a quadriga driven by an Amazon wearing a Phrygian cap and belted chiton over long sleeves, in front another Amazon wearing similar, holding a pelta shield and spear, her right arm outstretched towards the lead horse, dotted rosettes, two hanging fillets, a phiale and Phrygian cap in the field; the lower register with four figures, on the left a seated nude youth, wearing a chlamys fastened at the neck, resting a shield on his knee, a spear resting in the crook of his left arm, his head turned back towards another nude youth, who is offering him a pilos helmet and sheathed sword, a cuirass resting on the ground between them, a draped female figure standing behind, holding a mirror and a casket, turning towards a seated nude youth, holding a spear, his pilos helmet hanging behind his head, a shield on the ground behind, a hanging fillet and dotted rosette in the field, all with dotted ground lines; the neck with an Amazonomachy, depicting on the left a nude Greek warrior, wearing a billowing chlamys and crested helmet, with raised shield and sword, confronting a fleeing Amazon, wearing a Phrygian cap and belted chiton over long sleeves and patterned trousers, carrying a spear and a pelta shield, central rearing horse, on the right another nude Greek warrior, wearing crested pilos helmet and chlamys, holding a shield and a spear, a sheathed sword slung around his body, two hanging fillets, dotted rosettes and floral motifs in the field, a band of complex meander, a band of ovolo and a wave band above. The reverse with a central funerary stele tied with black and white fillets and topped with a kylix, flanked by four offering-bearers, to the left a draped seated female, holding a cista, grape cluster and situla, beneath a standing, nude, wreathed youth, a chlamys over his arm, his left leg raised on the stele step, holding a beribboned wreath and a grape cluster, to the right of the stele a seated, wreathed, nude youth, holding beribboned cista and a situla, a thrysos leaning against the crook of his arm, beneath a seated draped female, holding a beribboned wreath, phiale and grape cluster; two hanging fillets, dotted rosettes and floral motifs in the field, a panel of bands of dotted ovolo, rays, palmettes, laurel and waves above. Band of meander and chequered squares below the scenes, rays above the foot, palmette complexes below the handles, the volutes with moulded female masks, swan heads in relief on either side of the handles, details in added white, red and yellow 29 1/8 in. (74 cm.) high