The piece is known as the Chalcidian Black Figure Krater and is attributed to an artist known to scholars only as the Inscription Painter.  It is from the Archaic period of Greek art, circa 540 B.C., and can be found in the Martin von Wagner Museum in Germany. Chalchis (Hal-kees) was the central town on the island of Evia, separated from mainland Greece by only a few hundred feet.  This town was known for its copper and purple dyes.  The Chalcidian krater uses muted purple tones to highlight its figures.  The artist has also incised details with a knife to add white dimensional lines to the scene. 

This beautifully hand painted lidded krater depicts the Trojan hero Hector saying farewell to his wife Andromache on his way to battle. According to the story, Andromache is trying to stop Hector from going to the battle because she knows that he is doomed to fall.  In one  of the sadest scenes from the Iliad, Hector, with compassion and tenderness, explains that he cannot personally refuse to fight and comforts her with the idea that no one can take him until it is his time to go. His mother, Hecuba, also begged in vain.

  In the Iliad, Hector says at this time:  "How can I, by whose command the people went to this day's contest where so many have fallen, seek refuge for myself from a single foe? Or shall I offer to yield up Helen and all her treasures and ample of our own beside? Ah no! even that is too late. He would not hear me through, but slay me while I spoke."

  On the right hand side of the vase there is a youth riding a horse, most likely Kebriones,  Hector's squire, ready to go off with his master. To the left, Paris, with the bow and arrows, stands with his wife Helen, the kidnapped queen of Sparta and cause for the Trojan war.  This younger couple, whose relationship is full of passion, betrayal, abandonment, jealousy and violence, don’t even face each other, in contrast to Hector and his wife, who are looking at each other in quiet understanding.

  On the reverse side two youths dressed in short purple tight-fitting chitons are galloping on horses. In the free spaces of the side there are four birds. The motif of the birds carries on to the front side of the vase with a bird diving at Hector’s horse.

  Under the handles there are two small figures. Under the left one, a bearded nude male running; under the right, a walking man wearing a purple chlamys.  The lid of the vessel has a circular band of wild boars interspersed with rosettes.