Signed by Euxitheos as potter and Euphronios as painter, this calyx krater depicts the death of Sarpedon from the story of the Trojan War. Scenes of mourning were a favorite subject of the Greeks from the Geometric period onward.  In this scene, Sarpedon, a Trojan leader and son of Zeus and Europa, is lifted by the twin brothers Sleep and Death in the presence of Hermes and two Trojans.  All the names of the figures are inscribed, sometimes written right to left.

        Around 530 BC this new style of vase painting was introduced in Athens, called Red-figure, which is essentially an inversion of the black-figure technique. This red-figure style replaced the black-figure one by 500 BC, and put Athens at the forefront of the vase-producing industry.  In the last quarter of the 5th century BC, Athenian vase painting was at its peak, and the city was to maintain its monopoly on the industry for about 200 years.  Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.