Large, highly ornamented volute kraters such as this example were the preferred type funerary monument in southern Italy during the fourth century BC. Funerary vases are typically decorated with a small temple-like shrine called a naiskos. Within the architectural setting, a figure or group of figures painted white — presumably to identify the material as marble or stone — are generally understood to be depictions of the deceased and their companions. In this vase, the temple is surrounded by figures including women and nude youths bearing a variety of offerings to the grave site, which usually include objects such as fillets, boxes, perfumed vessels, libation bowls, bunches of grapes, and rosette chains. A large stele on the reverse side is flanked by two figures also bearing gifts. An isolated, ghostly white female head, painted on the vase’s neck rises from flowering vines. The significance of these figures has been difficult to accurately define. In addition to the main scenes, the vase features elaborate palmette ornament, four goose heads at the shoulders, and masks on each handle.
