Late Geometric Amphora with a Chariot Procession
Workshop of the Athens 894 amphora · c. 725-700 BC
A slender amphora nearly half a metre tall is covered from lip to foot with bands of pattern, and in the middle of the belly a procession of six chariots drives around the vase, each drawn by a horse and steered by a charioteer in a plumed helmet who holds a whip and reins. Modelled clay snakes crawl along the rim, the handles and the shoulder, and a bird perches in the background. Above and below, the painter has packed in every motif in the Geometric repertoire: hatched meanders, chevrons, dotted lozenges, a chequerboard, zigzags and wavy lines.
The vase was painted in Athens in the last quarter of the eighth century BC by the workshop named after a related amphora in the National Museum of Athens, numbered eight hundred and ninety-four. Chariot parades on vases of this period recall the funeral games of the Homeric epics, and the snakes, creatures of the earth and the grave, make it likely that this amphora was made for a burial. The vase is complete, with some chips and flaked paint. It was acquired by the Louvre in 1921 and is recorded simply as coming from Greece.
Did You Know? The clay snakes on the rim and handles were a sign that the vase was destined for a tomb rather than a dining room.
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