Terracotta krater

Find the horizontal figure in the broad band around the middle of the vessel. The deceased lies on a funeral bier, surrounded by household members and mourners. Above the body, a checkered cloth has been lifted into a long rectangle so the scene remains easy to read. This enormous terracotta krater served as a grave marker in eighth-century BCE Greece. Repeated bands of ornament frame its human story. The tiny bodies fit into the same strongly patterned world as the vessel’s geometric decoration, yet their raised arms and positions make the funeral recognizable. A lower band carries chariots and armed figures. These may evoke the dead person’s ancestry and traditions rather than record a battle that can be named. The pictures associate the burial with a larger history, while leaving the individual’s identity unknown. Try moving your attention from one mourner to the procession below, then out to the vessel’s full outline. The maker had to organize people, movement and patterned borders on a curved surface. The widest part gives the funeral scene room to hold your eye.