Clazomenian Sarcophagus

From the Getty Museum record

The extensive and colorful elaboration of the flat, trapezoidal frame of this sarcophagus includes a wide assortment of Archaic Greek motifs. The principal frieze at the top consists of a traditional hoplite duel flanked by bigas (two-horse chariots) and drivers. Since this mode of fighting was no longer in fashion at the time, the manner of battle and the presence of chariots suggest a reference to heroes and legends of the past. Below this, panel squares on either side are filled with a pair of mirrored griffins facing inward. These hybrid monsters have open mouths, lifted paws, and curled wings and tails. A long cable and palmette patterns stretch down the length of the side panels, halted by a checkerboard frieze that introduces boxes containing goats with arched horns facing inward, complementary to the griffins above. The scene at the bottom, a large goat flanked by two panthers, their forepaws lifted to strike, is another popular motif. Clay sarcophagi were a specialty of workshops in the city of Klazomenai in western Asia Minor (present-day Turkey). Artists painted warriors, animals, and other figures on a white ground, and then fired the objects in large kilns. With dark figures shown on a lighter background, their design recalls the black-figured pottery produced in Corinth and Athens. However, since figural details were painted rather than incised into the clay, many features of these sarcophagi have been lost. The Getty Museum's example is exceptional because the decorated frame of the sarcophagus is preserved, as well as the plain body.