( fl c. 430–c. 410 BC). Greek vase painter. About 21 vases or fragments have been ascribed to him, ranging from kraters to oinochoai and lekythoi. Active in Athens, his name is known from the signature on a large Red-figure volute krater (New York, Met., 27.122.8) depicting Apollo Preparing to Mount his Chariot. The scene covers both sides of the vase, showing Apollo taking his lyre from Leto, while Artemis, holding the reins, looks back at him. Hermes stands at the horses’ heads, Athena behind them, and Zeus, Hera, Dionysos, Poseidon and Herakles are also present. The figures are statuesque and rather static, and are arranged along a single ground-line. Most are swathed in drapery, with their bodies and legs in three-quarter view and their heads in profile. The painting is careful, the effect dignified, yet both subject and composition seem unenterprising. Polion was apparently aware of new advances in composition though not altogether comfortable with them. This impression is confirmed by scenes on a second large volute krater (Ferrara, Mus. N. Archeol., T. 127) showing Thamyris Playing his Lyre before the Muses and the Return of Hephaistos. Here, though the figures are not set on a single ground-line, they are not dispersed freely over the field in the more progressive manner of the Meidias Painter and other contemporaries. Instead they are simply arranged on two discrete levels. While Polion’s subjects are often conventional, some are more unusual. The scene of Thamyris is remarkable for its representation of the xoana (wooden statues) of the Muses and may show the influence of a dithyramb, as may a scene on a bell krater (New York, Met., 25.78.66) depicting comic silenoi dancing and strumming their lyres below an inscription referring to the Athenian festival of the Panathenaia.

Part of the Vase painters family

• Polion
  • Greece, ancient, §V, 6(i)(d): Attic Red-figure pottery: Late 5th century B