This date is confirmed by both the subject and style of the pictures. Kraters for mixing water and wine are known in every period of Greek vase-painting, but it is only just after the middle of the fifth century before Christ, in about 440, that this type of bell-krater with horizontal handles and simple foot was in vogue. Plate VII - Bell-Krater by the Christie Painter, Obverse
The vase is preserved intact, without a crack, but the black glaze which serves as ground for the design has suffered here and there some small damage. He has very generously lent the vase to the Museum, where, since it was put on exhibition in the Sharpe Gallery, it has attracted the interest of art students and archaeologists, as well as of the casual visitor. Spivey also pursues the figural motif of the slain Sarpedon portrayed on the vase and traces how this motif became a standard way of representing the dead and dying in Western art, especially during the Renaissance.įascinating and informative, The Sarpedon Krater is a multifaceted introduction to the enduring influence of Greek art on the world.SOME years ago Professor Alfred Mansfield Brooks of Swarthmore College had the good fortune to discover in the public market of Canterbury, England, the red-figured vase shown in Plate VII. He explains where, how, and why the vase was produced, retrieving what we know about the life and legend of Sarpedon. Spivey takes the reader on a dramatic journey, beginning with the krater’s looting from an Etruscan tomb in 1971 and its acquisition by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, followed by a high-profile lawsuit over its status and its eventual return to Italy. How this came about is told by Nigel Spivey in a concise, stylish book that braids together the creation and adventures of this extraordinary object with an exploration of its abiding influence. It was decorated some 2,500 years ago by Athenian artist Euphronios, and its subsequent history involves tomb raiding, intrigue, duplicity, litigation, international outrage, and possibly even homicide. Perhaps the most spectacular of all Greek vases, the Sarpedon krater depicts the body of Sarpedon, a hero of the Trojan War, being carried away to his homeland for burial.
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