Etruscan Pottery – VI: Charun
Magnificent calyx-krater decorated with a figure representing the main iconographic model of the Etruscan daemon of death, Charun. The name of Charu or Charun, as he is known since the 4th century BC, is related to the Greek daemon Charon, the boatman who for few coins, "obólos", carried the dead across the river Acheron or the Styx lagoon.
His hooked nose is exceptionally sharp; the eyes are deeply sunken; the eyebrows thick and bushy; the beard is curly and thick; the black hair decorated with a wreath falls in strands on the neck. Sunken wide-open eyes complete his grotesque face. The daemon walks holding a heavy hammer leant on his right shoulder and a wreath in his left lowered hand. The hammer used to ravage people is the main iconographic attribute of Charun.
This daemon of the boundary region setting the transition between this world and the Hereafter, could be interpreted as the symbol of death terror and of the implacability of human destiny.
This krater was done by the so-called “Berlin Painter of the Trichter-Gruppe” (active in 325-300 BC). He was an Etruscan vase painters of the so-called Etruscan red-figure style. His conventional name comes from this Berliner calyx-krater.
Etruscan red-figured calyx-krater
Attributed to the Berlin Painter of the Trichter-Gruppe
Late 4th century BC
From Vulci, Viterbo
Berlin, Altes Museum
Etruscan Pottery – VI: Charun
Magnificent calyx-krater decorated with a figure representing the main iconographic model of the Etruscan daemon of death, Charun. The name of Charu or Charun, as he is known since the 4th century BC, is related to the Greek daemon Charon, the boatman who for few coins, "obólos", carried the dead across the river Acheron or the Styx lagoon.
His hooked nose is exceptionally sharp; the eyes are deeply sunken; the eyebrows thick and bushy; the beard is curly and thick; the black hair decorated with a wreath falls in strands on the neck. Sunken wide-open eyes complete his grotesque face. The daemon walks holding a heavy hammer leant on his right shoulder and a wreath in his left lowered hand. The hammer used to ravage people is the main iconographic attribute of Charun.
This daemon of the boundary region setting the transition between this world and the Hereafter, could be interpreted as the symbol of death terror and of the implacability of human destiny.
This krater was done by the so-called “Berlin Painter of the Trichter-Gruppe” (active in 325-300 BC). He was an Etruscan vase painters of the so-called Etruscan red-figure style. His conventional name comes from this Berliner calyx-krater.
Etruscan red-figured calyx-krater
Attributed to the Berlin Painter of the Trichter-Gruppe
Late 4th century BC
From Vulci, Viterbo
Berlin, Altes Museum