Advanced Search 
Fragment of a krater (mixing bowl) with Athena wearing her aegis
Possibly by: the Altamura Painter
Greek
Early Classical Period
470–455 B.C.
Place of Manufacture: Greece, Attica, Athens
Medium/Technique
Ceramic, Red Figure
Dimensions
7 x 6.8 cm (2 3/4 x 2 11/16 in.)
Credit Line
Samuel Putnam Avery Fund
Accession Number68.540
CollectionsAncient Greece and Rome
ClassificationsVessels
DescriptionThis fragment of a krater shows the goddess Athena. She turns her head, showing the viewer her lotus bud earring and her bound up hair, rendered in diluted glaze in places. Athena wears her aegis, which is covered in scales and has slithering snakes along its border. At the center of the aegis, the gorgon’s frontal face stares out at the viewer, sticking out her tongue and threatening whoever might try to bring harm to the goddess.
ProvenanceSaid to be from Tarentum; by 1968: with Robert E. Hecht, Jr.; purchased by MFA from Robert E. Hecht, Jr., September 11, 1968