Detail of a Terracotta Column Krater Attributed to the Orchard Painter in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, February 2010

Terracotta Column Krater (bowl for mixing wine and water)
Greek, Attic, red-figure, ca. 470-460 BC
Attributed to the Orchard Painter
Obverse, Jason about to seize the Golden Fleece, the stern of the Argo at the right
Reverse, woman between two youths

Accession # 34.11.7

Jason led the Argonauts, a band of adventurers who set off on the ship Argo to steal the magical golden fleece of a ram, which was preserved in Kolchis on the Black Sea. With the help of the gods and the sorceress Medea, Jason was able to take the fleece from a grove protected by a dragon. Here, Athena beside him, he reaches for the fleece. A companion prepares to board the ship.

The basis of the legend of the Golden Fleece is probably the ancient practice of extracting alluvial gold by causing deposits in a stream to wash over a fleece, thereby catching the gold-bearing material in the curly pelt.

Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.