Fragment of a Column Krater (Mixing Bowl)

This fragment comes from a large bowl that was used to mix wine and water before it was served. Unusually, it is decorated in two techniques. The bearded man holding a spear and the animals to the right and below the scene are decorated in the black-figure technique, but the other figures are simply outlined. The use of yellow for the man’s garment is also unusual.

The seventh century marks the beginning of the Archaic period (700–480 BCE). In Corinth, geometric patterns that had embellished the pottery of the preceding era gave way to depictions of animals, both real and imaginary, and sometimes humans and gods. Painters also explored new ways of decorating their pots, including the outline technique. Ultimately, they settled on painting their subjects in silhouette with black gloss and created details by incising through the black to reveal the lighter clay below and sometimes adding reddish-purple or creamy white gloss. This method of decoration is called the black-figure technique.