Attic red-figure pottery
4th c. BC
Sant Sebastià de la Guarda (Palafrugell - Baix Empordà)
The crater was used to mix wine with water at the funeral banquet. In the Iberian world, Attic tableware was a symbol of wealth and denoted social prestige. The bell crater was one of the most prestigious and probably the most expensive pieces. This example has a decoration with a garland of olive leaves below the rim. The preserved scene shows a female figure, probably a Maenad, dancing with a thyrsos (a staff or rod covered with vine or ivy leaves) in her right hand. On the left there is a griffin, a legendary creature – half bird, half lion– related to death and resurrection.
