Bell crater by the painter from Photos with a scene of Marsias, Apollo and the Muses. Attic Greece, ca. 430-420 BC. Ceramics with red figures. Provenance: - Sotheby's London 1989. - Sotheby's London 1990. - Private collection, South of France, since 1980. Purchased from the Astarte Gallery, London, 11 October 1993. Thermoluminescence test enclosed. In good condition. Restored from original fragments. No repainting, only the lines have been covered. Publications: - Sothebys. Antiquities. London. 11 November 1989. Lot 125. - Sothebys. Antiquities. London. London. 10 July 1990. Lot 511. - LISSARRAGUE, F. La cite des satyres. Une anthropologie ludique. Athenes, VIe-Ve siecle avant J.C. Paris, 2013, p. 163, fig. 137. - CVA Project, University of Oxford, archival item 44266. Parallel: Chalice Crater with Apollo and Marsias, attributed to the Munich Painter 2335. Athens, 450-400 BC, ceramics. Private collection (CVA 215426). Measurements: 33 cm (height) x 38 cm (diameter). The myth illustrated in this krater begins, according to Greek accounts, with the creation of the aulos by the goddess Athena. Athena, however, threw it away in horror after noticing how her cheeks swelled when she touched it, making her face ugly. Attracted by the beautiful sound, the Phrygian satyr Marsias came and picked up the instrument from the ground and soon learned to play it with great mastery. Overcome by pride, the satyr dared to challenge Apollo himself, master of the lyre and chief musician god of the Greek pantheon, to a musical contest. The winner would decide the loser's fate: after the inevitable verdict of the muses in favour of the god, Apollo ruled that Marsias should be flayed alive. From the blood of the satyr (or from the tears of the contestants, according to other sources) flowed the river Marsias, a tributary of the Meander, one of the main waterways of Asia Minor. The crater was a large vessel, intended to contain a mixture of water and wine. It was carried to the place of the meal and placed on the floor or on a platform. The cupbearer administered the drink with a spoon or jug, and then filled the cups of the guests. The type known as 'bell-shaped' has small horizontal, protruding, upward-facing handles and an inverted bell-shaped vessel; it is a late type. The chalice krater is a more modern type than the column and volute kraters, although it predates the bell-shaped krater, and its shape, with an almost inverted trapezoid profile, is reminiscent of the calyx of flowers. In terms of technique, red-figure ware was one of the most important figurative styles in Greek ceramics. It was developed in Athens around 530 BC, and was used until the 3rd century BC. It replaced the previous predominant style of black-figured pottery within a few decades. The technical basis was the same in both cases, but in the red figures the colouring is inverted, with the figures highlighted against a dark background, as if illuminated by a theatrical light, following a more natural scheme. Painters working with black figures were forced to keep the motifs well separated from each other and to limit the complexity of the illustration. The red-figure technique, on the other hand, allowed greater freedom. Each figure was silhouetted against a black background, allowing painters to portray anatomical details with greater accuracy and variety.