Attic black-figure

Museum: Florence, Museo Archeologico
Size: 66cm. (volute-crater)
Function: convivial
Technique: black-figure
Style: Miniature black-figure
Subject/s: seven figure friezes on the body above one animal frieze; pygmies fight cranes on the foot
Side A (top to bottom): Kalydonian Boar Hunt, Patroklos' Funeral Games, Wedding procession moves towards the house, Achilles chases Troilos and Polyxena at the fountain house drops her water pot, animal frieze. Pygmies fight cranes (foot).
Side B (top to bottom): Athenians arrive at Crete by boat and Theseus leads the group, Lapiths fight Centaurs, Wedding procession, animal frieze. Pygmies fight cranes (foot).
Date: near mid 6th c.
Analysis: unusual and finely made shape (first Athenian known in clay), wealth of small and finely executed mythological scenes, and proliferation of inscriptions, including the names of the painter Kleitias and the potter Ergotimos, indicate that this was a very special piece, exported to northern Italy in antiquity.