The Kleophrades Painter
Michael Padgett, Princeton University

7. Kraters: Harvard 1960.236

One of the painter's grandest works is the calyx-krater at Harvard, said to have been found at Taranto (ancient Taras) and formerly in the collections of Jacob Hirsch and Frederick Watkins (Harvard 1960.236).[43] Beazley called it "very early" (ARV2, 185), but if the vases of the Pezzino Group are indeed his earliest works, the Harvard krater must date slightly later, around 500, before the smooth opulence of the still early pointed amphora in Munich (Munich 2344; ARV2, 182, 6), on which the Dionysos is more Olympian and the satyrs less robustly Euthymidean (Illustration 37). There is a clear kinship between these satyrs and those on the psykters in Paris and Compiègne (Louvre G 57 and Compiègne 1068; ARV2, 188, 65-66). As Robertson has noted, although the figures on the Harvard krater owe much to Euthymides, the shape does not, for no calyx-kraters have been attributed to the older artist.[44]

Illustration 37

Illustration 38

Illustration 39

As with most archaic calyx-kraters, the diameter of the Harvard vase is greater than its height.[45] The wide foot is in two degrees, with a riser above a torus base, and the flaring rim is of the usual type: torus above fascia. The handles and half of the foot are restored. [46] The groundline on either side is a band of key pattern, an ornament much favored by the artist throughout his career (Illustration 38). [47] The rim is circled by a band of enclosed, upright palmettes, with smaller, unenclosed palmettes in the spandrels (Illustration 39).[48] There is a band of black tongues on the lower body, which is otherwise black except for the spaces between the handles; foot, handles, and interior are also black.

43. ARV2, 185, 31; Beazley Addenda 2, 187. Attributed by Richter, who first published it (Richter 1936, passim). See also The Frederick M. Watkins Collection, exhibition catalogue, Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, Mass. 1973) 50-53, no. 20; and Lissarrague 1991, 273, fig. 2a-b.

46. Several missing pieces are restored but not repainted, except for simple outlines. The new handles are too slender and are not curved correctly; cf. those on Tarquinia RC 4196 (ARV2, 185, 35); G. Ferrari, I vasi attici a figure rosse del periodo arcaico. Materiali del Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Tarquinia XI (Rome 1988) pl. 31.

Illustration 40

48. This is a departure from his usual manner of drawing such palmettes, in which the spandrels are filled either by single fronds (e.g. Würzburg L 507; Illustration 40; ARV2, 181, 1), or by coiling tendrils on alternate palmettes (e.g. New York 08.258.58; ARV2, 185, 36).