Hidden Pictures on a Boiotian Calyx Krater in Zurich

by Christina Avronidaki

Hesperia, Volume 84, Issue 3
Page(s): 533-551
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2972/hesperia.84.3.0533
Year: 2015
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ABSTRACT:

This article reexamines a Boiotian red-figure calyx krater in Zurich (Archäologische Sammlung der Universität 2544) that depicts the meeting of Menelaos and Helen after the sack of Troy on one side and a large palmette on the other. The uniqueness of this vase lies in its abundance of elements in added white, now mostly faded: on the front, a mirror, a kalathos, and a table—together with a cuirass and a quiver—situate Helen's recovery in a domestic setting; on the back, three birds transform the inanimate palmette into an idyllic garden. The krater, dated to the early 4th century B.C., is associated with South Boiotian black-figure workshops.