The attachment of the handles to the body is accented with sculpted necks and heads of swans, and the center of the volutes shows white-face female masks rather than the characteristic scroll. Above, the bust of a winged male wearing a petasos (wide-brimmed hat) appears on the neck of the vase among the curling tendrils of the acanthus plant. These men and women carry such items as a wreath, cista (cylindrical container), mirror, phiale, bell krater, spear, and shield, all offerings for the deceased. Gazing in at the warrior from outside the naiskos are four red figures that sit or stand on rocky ground indicated with thin white lines. Once more Zeus got out the balance, and Hector's fate proved heavier.The body of this volute krater is dominated by the depiction of a naiskos (shrine) that contains the white painted figure of a deceased warrior with spear and shield waiting for his young servant to pour a libation in the phiale (shallow bowl). Achilles again attacks from the left, and this time the heroes are backed by their patron deities: Athena signals encouragement to Achilles, while Apollo turns away, abandoning Hector to his fate. More crucial to the defeat of the Trojans was the death of the Trojan prince Hector at the hands of Achilles, as shown on the other side of this vase. According to tradition, the anxious mothers rushed to Zeus, who weighed the destinies of the pair in his balance and found that Memnon's weighed the heavier. Behind each hero stands his mother - the sea-nymph Thetis behind Achilles, Eos behind Memnon. Achilles attacks from the left (as victors generally do in Greek art) and Memnon falters before his onslaught. On one side Achilles fights the Ethiopian king Memnon, brother of Priam, king of Troy and son of Eos, goddess of the dawn. The uninterrupted, glossy black surface of the body emphasizes its perfect contours, while the lighter clay ground of the curled volute handles and the immaculately painted double lotus and palmette chain draw the eye upwards to the figure scenes. This has the advantage of providing a limited and almost straight-walled field on which the painter can work. The figure scenes on this volute-krater are confined to a narrow, frieze-like band that encircles the lower element of the neck.

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