The Euphronios Krater vase.

The Euphronios Krater,  is a red-figure pottery, in which figure outlines, details, and the background are painted with an opaque black slip while the figures themselves are left in the color of the unpainted terracotta ceramic clay.

The krater is decorated with two scenes An episode from the  Trojan war is shown on the obverse; this illustration depicts the death of Sarpedon, son of Zeus and Laodamia. The reverse of the krater shows a contemporary scene of Athenian youths from the sixth century BC arming themselves before battle. In the scene of Sarpedon’s death, the god Hermes directs the personifications of Sleep (Hypnos) and Death (Thanatos) to carry the fallen away to his homeland for burial. While the subject of Sarpedon’s death might normally be depicted as a stylized tableau, the figures in this scene are painted in naturalistic poses and with schematic but accurate anatomy. This style is emblematic of the Pionner Group of late Archaic painters, of whom Euphronios is considered the most accomplished.^[ The scene of the anonymous Greek youths on the reverse shares this naturalistic style, using all the Pioneer Group’s characteristic techniques of anatomical accuracy, natural poses, foreshortening, and spatial illusion.

Circa 515 B.C

Cerveteri Museum