Kraters (mixing bowls) were vessels used for mixing undiluted wine with water and probably various spices as well, the drink then being ladled out to fellow banqueters at ritual or festive celebrations. The krater was discovered buried, as a funerary urn for a Thessalian aristocrat whose name is engraved on the vase: Astiouneios, son of Anaxagoras, from Larissa. Large metalwork vessels are extremely rare survivals in Ancient Greek art, and the Derveni Krater is the outstanding survival from Hellenistic art, as the Vix Krater is from the Archaic period. It is dated to the 4th century BC, and was probably made in Athens.
Weighing 40 kg, it is made of a bronze with a high tin content of about 15%, which endows it with a superb golden sheen without use of any gold at all.
The Derveni Krater is a volute krater, the most elaborate of its type, discovered in 1962 in a tomb at Derveni, not far from Thessaloniki, and displayed at the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki.
0 kommentar(er)
