Krater

Object Number

SMP7239

Name

Krater

Description

Krater rim. PH. 0.07m. D. of rim c. 0.32m. Orange clay; dull black glaze

flaking. Slight flange at inner edge of rim

perhaps for a lid. Neck separated from shoulder by a shallow groove. Inside glazed. Neck glazed

with one white stripe. Representation of a three-handled tripod lebes

preserved down to the top of the legs. Two diagonal struts. Handles filled with dots; diagonal rows of dots on either side. LG. In Cretan Geometric the only other known picture of a tripod is on the Zeus lid

Fortetsa pl. 107

no. 1414. By comparison

out tripod is rendered in much greater detail; it is

in fact

one of the most faithful representations in Geometric vase painting. The lebes itself is seen almost in strict profile

with only a slight concavity along the rim; the broad and solid legs recall the vast bronze cauldrons of the mid and late eighth century - objects of prestige rather than utility. (cf. especially Miss Bentons reconstructions of the Ithaca tripods

BSA xxxv (1934-5) 64 ff. figs 14-17). But there are two features which make it seem likely that the painter was drawing from memory

and not from life: First the large diagonal struts cannot be matched on any surviving bronze cauldron. On the developed examples of the eighth century - e.g. those from Ithaca - the struts are proportionately much smaller; there are two to each leg

and in no case do they come below the base of the lebes. Ampong the representations

the nearest counterparts to our struts are those on the two clay models from an early PG grave in the Athenian Kerameikos (Benton

BSA xxxv (1934-5) 77 fig. 1b)

where the struts are more substantial

and extend some way down the leg below the lebes; but if these are accurate copies of a bronze type

then that type had surely been long out of fashion by the time of our krater. Indeed

the struts here are so huge that one is reminded rather of the rod-tripod stand (note: but here too there are chronological difficulties. Although rod-tripods were known in Crete

the three examples so far recorded are from contexts much earlier than LG: see H.W. Catling

Cypriot Bronzework in the Mycenaean World (Oxford

1964) 198-9 nos. 18-20. In Athens

however

a rod-tripod was found in a grave of LG IB (Catling

op.cit. 194 no. 6; for the date

GGP 46).); was there perhaps some confusion in the mind of our painter between the two different types

the stand and the cauldron? At all events

we do not encounter these struts in any other Geometric painted representation - although it is just possible that an Argive Subgeometric vase-painter began to draw such a struc

and then thought better of it (note: BSA xxxv (1934-5) pl. 26.2. Miss Benton

ibid. 105 n.6

considers the mark on the tripod-leg to be accidental.). Secondly

the addition of a third handle

as Miss Benton has pointed out (loc. cit. 105)

is surely a negation of function; for if the vast tripods of the eighth century were ever used for cooking

they could only be removed from the flame by means of a pole inserted through two diametrically opposite ring handles. But the rendering of three handles

one opposite each leg

indicates a perfectly natural misunderstanding in the mind of our painter

working conceptually rather than from direct observation. A similar mistake evidently occurred on an Attic LH IIb vase from the Acropolis

of which only a fragment survives (note: Ibid. 105 no. 12

fig. 13b.). Finally

dots seem to be a favourite filling ornament in Geometric tripod representations (note. Ibid. 102 ff. nos. 1 (Paris A 547)

2

3

8

9

15

17

23). Miss Benton wondered (note: ibid. 106 n.4) whether they might not indicate fillets for the victors in a contest

such as were once hung on a tripod in the Temple of Zeus at Olympia (Paus. V.12.5). Our piece is too fragmentary to supply any new information on this issue; but the diagonal dot-rows do seem to lead the eye outwards from the tripod

as though it were the centre of an antithetical composition: the prize

perhaps

for a pair of contestants - athletes or horses - confronting one another on either side.

Specimen Count

1

Preservation State

Fragment

Department

Knossos

Collection

Stratigraphical Museum

Other IDs

G83

EMu IRN

91552