Apulian Red-Figure Krater with Mascarons

A: within a naiskos, a woman pouring a libation to a warrior standing beside a horse. The warrior wears a short tunic in added red, and over it a muscled cuirass. His stance is almost frontal but his head is turned to left; his right arm is outstretched and in his left hand he holds a whip. His horse stands with the left foreleg raised. The woman (his wife?) wears a long tunic with short sleeves; painted in shades of yellow ochre, it has two broad red stripes running down the front. She holds an oinochoe in her right hand and a phiale in her left. Through the use of shaded tones of color, the objects she holds and the warrior's armor are given a three-dimensional effect. Hanging from the ceiling beams in upper right corner are a sheathed sword in added red and white, and a pilos-helmet. The floor, inner walls, a ceiling beams of the naiskos are also in red. The beams are outlined with white, heightening the contrast with the black areas between them. The architrave of the naiskos is decorated with a row of dentils and, above it, an egg pattern. This is repeated on the sloping sides of the pediment, which displays a scroll motif on either side of a rosette on a black background. The palmette akroteria on the roof intrude onto the patterns on the shoulder of the vase. On the base of the naiskos, between white and black bands, is a swastika meander accompanied by black squares edged in white. Outside the naiskos are four figures, two male and two in female, arranged chiastically. To left is a seated woman, partly missing, but wearing a long garment with a beaded girdle and a cloak draped over her lap and behind her. In her upraised right hand, she holds a white oinochoe and in the other hand, a cista with a row of eggs on top. In the opposite corner a nude youth sits on a ground red line of dots. Drapery, looped over his shoulder, falls behind him and is gathered in folds between his knees and under him. He wears a broad white fillet and holds in his left hand an oinochoe in added yellowish white, to which is tied a white ribbon. In his right hand, he holds a phiale containing two floral sprays and an alabastron. Against his shoulder rests a branch with reserved leaves, and berries and stem in white. In the lower left corner stands a nude youth. He wears a broad fillet and a cloak draped behind him over his right shoulder and left forearm. In his upraised right hand he holds a fan. In his left hand, he has a phiale with eggs and a fillet. A knotty slender staff rests against his forearm. In the lower right corner stands a woman dressed like the first, except for a double-strand necklace. In her right hand she holds a cista with decorative patterns and a fillet; in her left, a beaded wreath.

On the neck, Nike behind a biga drawn by white horses; in front of them, an attendant Eros, with whip. Nike wears a sleeveless chiton fastened at the shoulder by a brooch and gathered at the waist by a belt. She moves toward the chariot, as if about to step up into it. She holds the reins in both hands and a whip in her right hand. The box of the chariot is in added red; its wheels and pole are yellowish white. Between the legs of Eros has a phiale mesomphalos; behind the horses, a plant.

B, youth in red-figure, with drapery gathered over his left arm, facing left within a naiskos. Around his head is a broad white fillet. A long branch with reserved leaves and white berries is held in the crook of his arm. His right hand is extended holding a phiale. Below it is a branch of leaves and berries on a white stem. In the top left corner is an ivy leaf. The back columns and floor of the naiskos are painted red; the ceiling is black without beams. Outside the naiskos, on the upper left, a nude youth is seated on folded drapery. He holds a long, leafy branch with berries in his right hand, and a phiale in his left. Above the phiale is another phiale seen obliquely. On the right is a seated woman, wearing a long sleeveless chiton, who holds a mirror in her right hand and an ivy leaf in her left. In the lower left corner stands a woman clad almost identically; she has no hair ribbon, but has a belt. In her right hand she holds a situla, and in her left, a cista. Before her in the field is a phiale mesomphalos. On the other side stands a youth, nude but for a broad fillet on his head. He holds a situla in his right hand and a staff in his left. In the field above the situla is a phiale on its side.

The krater has a broad mouth, with an overhanging lip in two degrees; fillet at join of mouth to neck; concave neck, with upper part slightly offset; sloping shoulder; ovoid body. High volute handles, flanged in section, above vertical loop handles; on the volutes, plastic masks; plastic swan heads at join to shoulder. Pedestal foot with edge in three degrees and with narrow indented band at join to body.

A, side of lip: egg pattern; under lip: wave. Neck: be and reel; wreath with berried leaves alternating in and white, meeting in central rosette with white-tipped petals and white center. Shoulder: between reserved bands, tongues divided by black lines; egg pattern.

B, side of lip: egg pattern; under lip: wave. Neck: band of white dots on black; between reserved bands, berried laurel wreath with a central rosette; large central palmette fan flanked by scrolls and smaller palmettes.

A and B, below scene and encircling vase: meander band interspersed with hollow squares. Beneath handles: two superposed palmettes; on either side: above, enclosed palmettes with small fan on inner side at top; below, palmette and scroll pattern.
Handle-medallions: A, female heads in white with dilute glaze for hair, diadems, and facial features. B, female heads in reserve with black glaze for dots on diadems, and facial features.

After Jentoft-Nilsen, M. R. and Trendall, A.D., CVA Malibu 3 (1990).