This type of krater, or bowl for mixing wine and water, takes its name from the resemblance of its shape to an inverted bell. In the center stands a warrior, whose long spear breaks the picture plane into two parts. Since he hands his helmet, decorated with a leaping dolphin, to a woman wearing a diadem, or crown, who stands before him, he may be returning from battle. Behind him, another woman extends her hand as if to take his shield, which bears the image of a lion, its tongue extended.
This scene is believed to depict Achilles, the great Greek warrior of the Trojan War, at home with his mother, Thetis, her father, and Nereus, and a Nereid, or sea nymph. His helmet pushed back, Achilles is seated before a column, holding a spear in one hand and a libation, or offering, bowl in the other. Before him, Thetis holds an oinochoe, or pitcher, from which she has filled or is about to fill his bowl, while also supporting her son’s shield. Nereus looks on from the right, and a Nereid, a long fillet in her hand, stands behind him. His greaves, or shin protectors, are stored on a shelf in the background.
Date
Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.
38.4 × 41.2 cm (15 1/8 × 16 1/4 in.); Diam.: 41.2 cm (16 1/4 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Martin A. Ryerson
Reference Number
1922.2197
IIIF Manifest
The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.
Wilhelm Fröhner, Collection van Branteghem: Vases peints et terre cuites antiques (Paris, 1892), no. 86.
Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 16 (1922), pp. 59 and 63.
Daniel C. Rich, “Five Red-Figured Vases in the Art Institute of Chicago,” American Journal of Archaeology 34 (1930), pp. 171-6 (ill.).
T.B.L. Webster, Der Niobidmaler (Leipzig: Keller, 1935), p. 21, no. 15c, pl. 192.
Erika Simon, Opfernde Götter (Berlin: Röll, 1953), p. 102 n. 67.
John D. Beazley, Attic Red-Figure Vase-Painters, vol. II (Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1963), p. 610, no. 21.
Warren G. Moon and Louise Berge, Greek Vase-Painting in Midwestern Collections (Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1979), pp. 208-10, no. 117.
Elena Epifanio, “Un cratere Imerese dell’officina del Pittore dei Niobidi”, in L. Beschi, G. Pugliese Carratelli, G. Rizza and S. Settis (eds.), Aparchai: Nuove ricerche e studi sulla Magna Grecia in onore di P.E. Arias (Pisa: Giardini, 1982) 347-56, pl. 90, 1.
Mathias Prange, Der Niobidenmaler und seine Werkstatt (Frankfurt: Lang 1989), pp. 26-7, 35 and 212 no. GN 35.
S.B. Matheson, “Beardless, Armed, and Barefoot: Ephebes, Warriors, and Ritual on Athenian Vases”, in D. Yatromanolakis (ed.), An Archaeology of Representations, Ancient Greek Vase-Painting and contemporary Methodologies (Athens: Kardamitsa, 2009), pp. 402 and 404, fig. 8.
Karen B. Alexander, “From Plaster to Stone: Ancient Art at the Art Institute of Chicago,” in Karen Manchester, Recasting the Past: Collecting and Presenting Antiquities at the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012), p. 38.
Art Institute of Chicago, A Case for Wine: From King Tut to Today,Regenstein Hall, July 11 – September 20, 2009.
Art Institute of Chicago, Ancient Art Galleries, Gallery 155, 1996 - July, 2009 and September, 2009 - February 2012.
Art Institute of Chicago, Of Gods and Glamour: The Mary and Michael Jaharis Galleries of Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Art, Gallery 151, November 11, 2012 - March 24, 2023.
Said to have been found at Capua [according to van Branteghem catalogue]. Alphonse van Branteghem, Brussels; sold, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, May 30-June 1, 1892, lot 86, to Martin A. Ryerson, Chicago; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1922.
Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.
