House of the Warrior Krater – 19cm

Details of the original: culture/period: Mycenaean, production date: 12th c. BC, production place: made in: Mycenae (Greece), excavated/findspot: Greece: Peloponnese: Argolis (province): Mycenae citadel, materials: pottery, ware: Mycenaean Figurative, technique: painted, dimensions: H: 42cm, W: 50cm, D: 50cm, museum: National Archaeological Museum, producer name: attributed to the “Stele Painter”.

The so-called Warrior Krater was collected in fragments by Heinrich Schliemann in 1876 within the Mycenae citadel, in a house which was named after  this, “House of the Warrior Krater”. The vase was part of the banqueting set of the house the post-palatial period and excellent example of the Mycenaean Figurative Ware, providing information on the weaponry and clothing of warriors during the Late Bronze Age. The decoration on both sides has a narrative intention.

(a) In the first scene, warriors lancers are marching to the right in coordination, uniformly dressed and fully armed. They wear a short tunic with long sleeves, a cuirass reaching to the waist, and knitted shoes. Their armament consists of a helmet with horns and crest, a large semi-circular shield, leggings, and a long spear, from which hangs a sack of supplies. At the left end, a standing female figure wearing a long dress reaching her feet as well as a head cover, is depicted with her hands raised in a sign of mourning, bidding farewell, praying, blessing. She may be on the margin of the picture, but her position is essentially significant. She defines the beginning of the narrative in time and space, the point from which the soldiers depart, but also where they long to return. This woman personifies family, home and country.

(b) In the second scene, five warriors are depicted in similar clothing, but with different helmet, attacking by raising their spears. The handles bear a bull's head in relief in the centre, flanked by a pair of birds.

The artist of the large krater is one of the last great vase-painters who worked in Mycenae. He was a “bilingual” artist, since he also decorated the well-known stone stele from Mycenae, using the technique of painting in fresco on plaster. The so called “Stele Painter” lived and created his works in the post-palatial period, at a time when the large palaces had received serious blows and arts like wall-painting were considered in decline. He may then have been the last Mycenaean wall-painter.