Chalkidian black-figured column-krater, attributed to the Inscription Painter

The front of this column-krater has a scene showing a four-horse chariot flanked by horsemen, and on the back, youths, a woman, dogs and horses. It belongs to the Chalkidian class of black-figured vases, named by a scholar in the early twentieth century. He recognised that inscriptions on some of the vases (but not this one) were written in a script very like that used at Chalkis in Euboea, central Greece. However, these vases have all been found in Italy, both in Etruria and in the south, and today it is generally accepted that they were made by Chalkidians working in Italy, probably in the Chalkidian colony of Rhegion. The Chalkidian class of vases has much in common with the black-figure schools of the Greek mainland, though east Greek and even Etruscan influences have also been detected. The stirrup-like handles of this vase are found on contemporary Corinthian kraters, while the horsemen and the frontal chariots are paralleled in Athenian vase-painting. Peculiar to the Chalkidian class, however, are the bulbous bases of the interlaced lotus buds below the figure scene.