Oinochoe with a Sacrifice Scene
Kraipale Painter (active c. 430-420 BC) · c. 430-425 BC
On the front of this wine jug three young men, each crowned with leaves, perform a sacrifice. One leans on a staff in his cloak and watches. The central figure, also cloaked, pours a libation from a cup over a burning altar on which parts of the animal are already roasting. The third, naked, holds spits with four pieces of meat over the flames. The fire is picked out in added white and yellow, a rare touch of colour in red-figure painting. A painted inscription above the central figure is an acclamation praising a youth.
The scene shows the everyday side of Greek religion: the gods received the smoke and the burning portions, while the worshippers ate the rest. Made in Athens around four hundred and thirty to four hundred and twenty five BC, it is attributed to the Kraipale Painter, named after a figure labelled Kraipale, the personification of a hangover, on another of his vases. It was found in 1829 in an Etruscan tomb at Vulci, north of Rome, and the Louvre bought it in 1879. The body has been cleaned of old overpainting, and some gaps remain visible.
Did You Know? The painter's modern name comes from a figure on another vase labelled Kraipale, the ancient Greek word for a hangover.
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