Terracotta Volute Krater Signed by Polion in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, October 2023

Title: Terracotta volute-krater (bowl for mixing wine and water)

Artist: Signed by Polion as painter

Period: Classical

Date: ca. 420 BCE

Culture: Greek, Attic

Medium: Terracotta; red-figure

Dimensions: H. 23 3/16 in. (58.9 cm); H. with handles 26 5/8 in. (67.6 cm)

Classification: Vases

Credit Line: Fletcher Fund, 1927

Accession Number: 27.122.8

Obverse and reverse, Apollo departing Mount Olympos in his chariot
On the neck, obverse and reverse, athletes
Signed by Polion as painter

In its scale, the pronounced architectonic articulation especially of the lip, and the Olympian iconography that concerns Apollo but features Athena on the obverse, this work is representative of Athens in its glory. The athletic scenes on the neck depict Athenians in a noble and peaceful context. The assemblage of gods who either converse or attend Apollo as he prepares to mount his chariot presents a similar combination of ease and dignity that characterized the gods gathered on the Parthenon frieze.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/252923