The curvature and the black gloss that coats its interior surface make it possible to determine that this fragment comes from a calyx-krater, a broad-mouthed vessel with two horizontal handles set low on the body. Like all kraters, it was used for mixing wine with water at a symposium, or drinking party. A drill hole preserved on the lower edge shows that it was repaired in antiquity with metal wire, which secured it to an adjacent sherd, no doubt in conjunction with some kind of adhesive. Such repairs are a relatively common feature of painted Attic pottery, suggesting that, although not as expensive as bronze or silver vessels, they were sufficiently valued by their owners to prompt efforts to mend them.
The only red-figure decoration remaining on the fragment are the legs of a figure in an ankle-length gown— a linen chiton— flying through the air to the right. The delicacy of the drawing, the line of the right leg visible beneath the drapery, the double scalloping of the hem, and the distinctive rendering of the ankles allowed Dietrich von Bothmer to identify the piece as an early work by the Berlin Painter. So certainly correct is his attribution that such a fragment admirably demonstrates the essential validity of stylistic analysis and attribution in the study of ancient Athenian ceramics, when practiced by a knowledgeable scholar with a good visual memory and an eye for detail. And yet, while such a flying female finds many parallels among the numerous figures of Nike left to us by the Berlin Painter, none are the same as this one in every respect. The position of the feet is very like that of the Nike flying in to crown a youth on an oinochoe in Berlin (cat. no. 26), but there the multiple folds of the chiton are rendered as two groups of relief lines. The garment of the Princeton Nike has no fold lines at all, but instead is spangled with faint dots drawn with diluted brown gloss. The chiton of the winged Iris on a stamnos in the Louvre displays comparable treatment (cat. no. 62), but the scalloped hem is absent, and the goddess’s legs are spread widely, not close together. In some ways the nearest parallel is the chiton worn by the hideous Gorgon who pursues Perseus on an amphora in Munich (cat. no. 9), which is not only dotted and without folds, but is hemmed in the same fashion. The Gorgon’s garment reaches only to the knees, however, and her legs are again spread far apart.
The Nike on the Princeton fragment was placed relatively high on the body, and is somewhat small for the broad space that would have been available. A primary clue is the inscription written in red letters at the left: [H]EKTOR. If the Trojan prince Hector were on the left side of the scene, and Nike is flying to the right, it is possible, even likely, that she was represented bestowing a crown of victory upon Hector’s killer, Achilles. A similar tableau occurs on a calyx-krater by the Pan Painter, in which an undersized Nike brings a crown to Achilles as he slays the Amazon queen, Penthesilea.1 —JMP
1. Cambridge, Fitz. GR.3.1971: ARV2 550.3; BAPD 206278.
","remarks":"THE BERLIN PAINTER AND HIS WORLD: Athenian Vase-Painting in the Early Fifth Century B.C."},{"texttype":"Online","textpurpose":"Provenance","textentryhtml":"Acquired by Dietrich von Bothmer at an unknown date from an unknown source; given to the Museum in 1985 by von Bothmer in memory of Ernest Theodore DeWald.\n","remarks":null}],"datebegin":-495,"sortnumber":"1985 59y","published_date":"2026-02-11 10:32:26.076523","objectid":32962,"dimensions":"pres. h. 12.2 x pres. w. 8.5 cm (4 13/16 x 3 3/8 in.)","on_view":false}