BMCR 2009.02.44, Beryl Barr-Sharrar, The Derveni Krater

Beryl Barr-Sharrar, The Derveni Krater:  Masterpiece of Classical Greek
Metalwork. Ancient Art and Architecture in Context, vol. 1.  Princeton:
ASCSA Publications, 2008.  Pp. xvi, 239; figs. 169, map 1, pls. 32.
ISBN 9780876619629.  $75.00.

Reviewed by Alexis Q. Castor, Franklin & Marshall College
([email protected])
Word count:  1826 words
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This detailed and copiously illustrated study offers a complete
technical and stylistic analysis of one of the best-known metal vessels
discovered in Greece. The gilded bronze krater decorated with a
Dionysiac scene stands almost a meter high and was discovered in an
intact late fourth-century tomb at Derveni. While the book is focused
on the interpretation of one bronze vessel, readers will also be
treated to chapters concerning the manufacture of bronze vessels in
Greece, Macedonian elite burial practices, Dionysos and funerary
imagery of the Classical period. B.-S.'s goal is, "to place the Derveni
krater in historical perspective, exploring its importance to the study
of ancient Greek art in general and ancient Greek metalwork in
particular." (p. xiii) She accomplishes that goal through her
meticulous study of a truly expansive array of evidence:  coins, bronze
handle fragments, scientific analysis, clay impressions of metalwork,
South Italian metal vessels, iconography and myth. Barely a page passes
without an illustration: 168 black-and-white figures in the text and 32
color plates at the end. A stack of bookmarks will come in handy to
mark both the black-and-white and color images and the endnotes while
reading the text, as the author points the reader to fine points
captured in the figures and the plates. In the opinion of this
reviewer, the study will stand as the definitive analysis of the
Derveni krater and serve as an important contribution to the study of
Classical Dionysiac iconography.

The book is divided into three sections: the first two chapters
describe the excavation history of the Derveni tombs and the use of
metal vessels in Macedonian society.  The second part of the book is a
traditional shape study of volute krater shape and the details of its
manufacture, in both clay and metal versions. In the third section,
B.-S. examines the complex and intriguing iconography of the vessel.

Chapter 1 (Metal Vessels in Macedonian History) sets out the social
contexts in which Macedonians used metal sympotic ware, particularly in
burial settings. The array of silver and bronze drinking equipment
discovered in the Derveni tombs in 1962 gave archaeologists their first
real hint that metal vessels enjoyed a wider use than previously
suspected, and since then the inventory of excavated bronze and silver
vessels has increased substantially. B.-S. summarizes that evidence
here. Macedonians used some containers, such as the Derveni krater, to
hold the remains of the dead. Other pouring vessels such as oinochoai,
open containers such as situlai, ladles and many cup types were
invested regularly in tombs as part of Macedonian elite funeral rites.
Despite these new finds, the Derveni krater remains the only known
example of a metal vessel so elaborately embellished with relief frieze
and figural attachments.

Chapter 2 (The Derveni Tombs) describes the Derveni tomb group which
consisted of five cist-tombs and a pit-grave.[[1]] Tomb B, which held
the Derveni krater, also contained forty-three vessels and other
sympotic accoutrements, divided almost equally between bronze and
silver, were interred in Tomb B. Elements of parade armor and horse
trappings also accompanied the dead. The krater held the cremated
remains of an adult male (35 to 50 years old) and a female whose age
could not be established. Tomb B was the richest of the graves found at
Derveni, but all the burials had goods of similar character, perhaps
suggestive of a family grouping, but at the very least, "there can be
little question that they were members of the Macedonian elite." (27)

In Chapter 3 (The Derveni Krater), B.-S. turns to the second part of
the book, a close study of the vessel and its manufacture. The krater
is dominated by the figural repousse/ frieze that spreads across the
body of the vessel:  a young Dionysos sits with one arm over his head
and his right leg resting on the lap of Ariadne on side A. Five maenads
and a Silenos sport across Side B; the final figure in the frieze is a
bearded man in hunting costume, but with his right foot bare. Pairs of
animals, sometimes a singleton, are positioned below the main scene,
and the neck is decorated with more animals--felines, deer, a griffin
and a stag--added in applique/. Bronze statuettes are fastened to the
shoulder of the krater and the handles are ornately decorated with
masks of underworld deities.

An inscription in Thessalian script inlaid on the mouth of the Derveni
krater states that it is a, "krater of Astioun, son of Anaxagoras from
Larissa." Whether the occupant of the krater was Astioun himself or a
descendent remains an open question. B.-S. discusses the Macedonian
predilection for heirlooms as grave goods throughout her analysis of
the krater, since this habit has important ramifications for
establishing the date of the vessel. B.-S. identifies the occupant of
Derveni Tomb B was a high-ranking cavalryman who had moved to Lete by
the mid-fourth century, quite possibly a veteran who served with
Alexander the Great.

Chapter 4 (Precursors to the Derveni Krater) and Chapter 5 (Elaborated
Volute Kraters of the Late 5th and Early 4th Centuries) discuss the
volute krater and its typological development. Seven complete bronze
volute kraters, only two of which have a secure provenience -- one from
Derveni Tomb A and one from a shaft grave in Agrigento -- are
identified by B.-S. as belonging to a group that dates to the late
fifth century. The Derveni Krater itself belongs to the next generation
of bronze volute kraters, a form that developed fully in the fourth
century when luxury goods were again in wide circulation.

In the course of her research, B.-S. investigates the famous "pottery"
workshop scene on the Caputi Hydria and re-identifies it as a
metalworking shop creating the recently-introduced volute krater form
and other metal vessels. The brushes wielded by male and female workers
are not for painting, but instead, B.-S. argues, for the patination of
bronze vessels. (66-68) This is but one of several examples in which
B.-S.'s careful study of the Derveni krater allows her to illuminate
other aspects of Greek artistic production. Examples such as this help
to locate this single artifact firmly within the wider cultural and
historical context and make this study valuable to any reader
interested in Classical art.

Chapter 6 (Relief Friezes, Further Elaboration, Floral Ornament, and
Workshops) serves as a transition from the discussion of the form of
the volute krater to its embellishment. Here, B.-S.'s careful
description of the manufacturing techniques required to make the relief
frieze is complemented very well by the exceptional photos of the
exterior and interior of the vessel. She estimates that it took "five
or six artisans, working together, more than 18 months to produce."
(103) Although a specific workshop cannot be identified, B.-S. assigns
the krater to a southern Greek workshop and argues that it was a
special commission that carried an important religious message to the
owner.

Chapter 7 (The Major Repousse/ Frieze) tackles the main decoration on
the vessel: the frieze of ten figures that represent Dionysos, Ariadne
and a retinue of Dionysiac followers, including a hunter, whom B.-S.
identifies as Pentheus. The overtones of mystery cult or initiation
ritual are carefully set out by B.-S., and she persuasively argues for
an emphasis on the dangerous power of Dionysos. (156) Each figure is
described and placed within its iconographic context. The long analysis
of the maenads on the frieze and their analogues in red-figure pottery
and Neo-Attic reliefs offers B.-S. the opportunity to present a master
class of art historical interpretation. Her descriptions encouraged
this reviewer to see details of pose and clothing missed even through
study of the close-up illustrations. For example, in reference to the
exhausted maenad who collapses into the lap of her companion, B.-S.
writes that, "Her feet, previously in a dance step, have lost all
intention, and while she still gains some support from the right one,
the heel of her left foot is raised off the ground and turned slightly
inward without purpose, as if weakening at the ankle." (134) Such a
sensitive and thoughtful description demonstrates the value that a true
understanding of style can bring to iconographic interpretation.

Chapter 8 (Animal Friezes, Volute Masks, and Cast Shoulder Figures)
demonstrates that even the seemingly adjunct decoration of the krater
plays an important role in connecting the imagery to the religious
themes established by the main frieze. Animal combats carried chthonic
overtones in South Italian art and B.-S. links their presence on the
Derveni krater with the future death of Pentheus. (161-163) The bronze
statuettes depict sleepy and ecstatic maenads and a Silenos, all
suffering the consequences of their ritual frenzy, and a young
Dionysos, the only figure who is awake. Underworld deities appear as
masks in the volute handles, suggesting to B.-S. that there may be
implied, "a relationship between such Dionysiac activity, which is
shown on the frieze itself, and the promise of an afterlife." (175)

Chapter 9 (The Uses and Workshop Origin of the Derveni Krater)
concludes the study. B.-S. proposes that the figures on the frieze
replicated a lost fifth-century monument on display in Athens. The
detailed comparison that she draws between the style of the figures on
the Derveni krater and Neo-Attic relief figures makes her argument
entirely convincing to this reviewer. As for the function of this
extraordinary vessel, B.-S. moves into the religious sphere,
specifically the realm of mystery initiations, so closely connected
with Dionysos. This suggestion must remain speculative, but the imagery
resonates with ideas of mystic rites that may have carried Orphic
connotations.

Studies of luxury goods--either through literary descriptions or realia
like the Derveni krater--in the late 20th and early 21st centuries have
reminded us that Greeks enjoyed, traded and recycled gold, silver and
bronze goods on a greater scale than the archaeological record
suggests. [[2]] Macedonian, Thracian and Scythian tombs preserve some
valuables--and more will likely be discovered--but it has proven
difficult to fully integrate these goods used by barbarians into
traditional mainland Greek art and life. B.-S.'s study situates the
Derveni Krater squarely within the artistic bounds of Classical Athens.
This book will be valuable for any student or scholar interested in the
Classical iconography of Dionysos, and it provides an especially cogent
discussion of maenad iconography presented in Classical and
Neo-Classical art. Future investigations of connections between
southern and northern Greece will now be able to refer to this study
for key evidence of such cultural links.

In sum, The Derveni Krater offers a significant contribution to the
study of Classical Greek art. Those interested in bronze and metalwork
production will find a thorough discussion of the history of Greek
metal vessels and a new typology of the bronze volute krater type. In
her analysis of metalworking in Classical Greece, B.-S. collects
preserved handles and attachments, gathering this diverse--and
understudied--material in one location. The range of media analyzed in
this study reminds us of the complete integration of figural themes and
motifs in both the so-called major and minor arts.


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Notes:


1.   The Derveni Tombs have been fully published by P. Themelis and I.
Touratsglou, <greek>*Oi ta/phoi tou *Derbeni/ou</greek> (Athens, 1997).
One of the tombs, Tomb A, contained fragments of the Derveni papyrus
scroll with an Orphic text, studied by Gabor Betegh, The Derveni
Papryus (Cambridge, 2004)[reviewed BMCR 2005.01.27] and published with
commentary by Theokritos Kouremenos, George M. Para/ssoglou and
Kyriakos Tsantsanoglou, eds., The Derveni Papyrus (Florence, 2006)
[reviewed BMCR 2006.10.29].

2.   For example, Margaret C. Miller, Athens and Persian in the Fifth
Century B.C.:  A Study in Cultural Receptivity (Cambridge, 1997) Leslie
Kurke, Coins, Bodies, Games and Gold: The Politics of Meaning in
Archaic Greece (Princeton, 1999); Kenneth D.S. Lapatin,
Chryselephantine Statuary in the Ancient Mediterranean World (Oxford,
2001).