Side A: scene at center

Side A: bodies of first and second centaurs

Side B: oblique from left

Side B: man, mid-section

Side A: scene at center

Floral decoration at rim

Collection: Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design
Summary: Side A: Herakles fighting two centaursSide B: Man and youth
Ware: Apulian Red Figure
Painter: Attributed to the Painter of the Berlin Dancing Girl
Attributed By: W.G. Moon
Context: Excavated at Capua
Date: ca. 430 BC - ca. 420 BC
Dimensions:

H. 0.316 m., D. rim 0.312 m., D. through handles 0.295 m., D. foot 0.155 m.
Primary Citation: Trendall & Cambitoglou 1978, 1,617, Ano.9)
Shape: Calyx krater
Ceramic Phase: Early Apulian, Plain Style
Region: Campania
Period: Classical

Condition:

Minor surface wear does not obscure figured areas.

Decoration Description:

Side A: Herakles fighting two centaurs. To the left a statuesque Herakles is shown in heroic nudity, beardless and youthful, striding right and swinging his club behind his head against two centaurs. One centaur advances with furrowed brow to fight back, armed with a stone in his right hand and a chlamys or cloak tied around his neck and thrown over his left arm as a shield. The other flees to right with arms unusually twisted behind his back, as if to rub a bruise or pull out an arrow (von Bothmer). He grimaces in pain with his mouth open, as if howling. The Centaurs are bearded, with short, woolly hair, snub noses with flaring nostrils, large ears and African (?) profiles. Around their waists are girdles of hair to mark the change between human and equine bodies. The coarseness of the faces of the centaurs is in marked contrast to that of Herakles and those of the youth and man on Side B.

Side B: A youth and a man. In the center is a Doric column. To the left a youth draped in a himation faces right. To the right a bearded man similarly attired faces left. His right arm hangs at his side while he leans on a staff with his left. Both man and youth wear fillets of added white on their heads.

Above, on lip, continuous laurel-leaf pattern with a line down the center leaf decorates the exterior. Below, on each side, from handle to handle, a coarse meander and dotted square pattern occur. Grooves and fillets accent subdivisions of the krater and serve as discreet decorative elements.

Material Description:

Rose clay

Collection History:

Formerly in Hope Collection. Gift of Mrs. Gustav Radeke, 1922. Excavated during the eighteenth century.

Sources Used:

CVA, USA 2, RISD 1 pp. 39-40, Pl.28: 1a-b; Ashmead & Phillips 1976, pp. 48-50, no.58, p.49, fig.58, Pl.58: a-i

Other Bibliography:

Moon, BSR XI (1929) p.35