The central part of a late Hellenistic marble krater. The receptacle has high reliefs which show the mythical fight of the lapiths against the centaurs, understood in the fifth century B. C. as a symbol of the fight between Greek civilisation and Persian savagery. The figures reproduce the design which the famous painter Parrhasius made circa 420 B. C. to adorn the shield of Phidias’s Athena Promachos . The Romans used these marble receptacles to decorate the gardens of their mansions. The foot, the top part with the long, narrow neck and the scroll-shaped handles are missing.