WORLDOFAR ' Athenian 13lack Figure Vases John 13oardman. 3H3 illustrations Atheni.m black figure vases bear the work of consummate artist!>, like Exekias, who depicted on them scenes of myth and everyday life which deepen our knowledge and understanding of Greek antiquity. In this handbook John Boardman enables the reader to study the many aspects of the vases, and to grasp the essential style of a painter or group of painters, without having to consult a number of expensive, and not always easily accessible, publications. A fina l section is devoted to the mythological scenes and other decorative features of the vases. 'Demonstrates a broad and penetrating grasp of Greek art and archaeology ... comprehensive and concise yet never offer<; less than adequate discussion in crisp, lucid prose' (The Time~ Literary Supplement) 'Will undoubtedly become a standard work of reference for many classical students and teachers' Qournal of H ellenic Studies) ThanK'S 1011\'\U' \lcta IJ, T uq unu \.1u\C'UI11 9 Sir John Boardrnan was born in T927. :\nd educated ,\t Chigwell School ancl Magdalcnc College, C.unbridgc. He spent several yeal" in (;recce, three of thf'm as Assistant I )ircctor of the British School of 1\rchaeoloh'Y at Athens, and he l1:1.' exc.tvatcd in Smyrna, Crete, C hios :md Libya. l'or t(>ur yc:trs he w.ts :ut Assistanc Keeper in tht' Ashrnok.m Museum. Oxford, and he subsequc::ntly lwc::nm: Reader in Chssical Archaeology and fc::JI~>w <.>f 1\ilt:rton College, Oxf(·,rd. I le is now Lincoln 1-'r(>fes~or l'.rm:ritus of Cl;1ssical Archaeology and l\rt in O xfim l. :mci a Fdlow of the llrirish Academy. Professor lk>ardrmm lm~ .-..:r:ittcn widely on the -Greece: I art and archaeoloh'Y of Ancient lis other books in the World of Art. series in cl w;lc A.theninll Red r~f!UYI~ Va.<~~S: Th1~ .!ln:haic Paiod, Alht?>'ticm Red F(~urr Vases: 'i'ltt~ Cla.ndc.>n we: T1 1 JC~P In rhe United States plt:asc.; write to: TH.'IMl"S .">ND TllJTJSOI\' INC. 500 Fifth Avenue. N ew York, New York 10110 I \ ' ATHENIAN BLACK FIGURE VASES a handbook JOHN BOARDMAN illustration s 385 - ~ T&H ~ • THAMES AND HUDSON 1 , - ,. Gt • - c - t C('t {' t tU r " r ,. CONTENTS Pref.1ce 7 INTRODUCTION J EARLY ATHENIAN I3LACK FIGURE 2 The Pioneers; The Gorgon Painter to Sophilm; Other groups KLEITIAS, SIANA CUP PAINTERS 3 AND OTHERS 3 I Siana cup painters; Kleitias; Other pot paintl·r~: Tyrrhenian amphorae '"I'' :\m of thl' boo~ l"tu:d lw th~ pubh,her J\ J I''"''' p.1pab.1< 1.. '"bJCCt t<> th<' conduion that 11 4 THE MID CENTURY AND AI TER )·?- ,Jullnor b\ ".1\ nf tr.ld<· or otiH-rWN' be lent. Lydos; The Pamtcr; Exd..t.l\ .md Group E: I ittk· Amasi~ I<'">IJ. lur~·.l our or oth<·r\\ ,,,. nrcul.u,·J Without Masters and other cup paimer'; Other por and rlw pubh,Jll'r \ pnor con,,· m f(>nn of painter~ 111 Jll\' b1nd111!( ur , m~r nth,·r dun diJt 111 \\ hid1 11 IS Niko\thcnc~ puhh,ll<·d .111.! "1thnut .l '11111\Jr nuadltiOII uu hh.hn~ tlu.·,l· wurtl, h('Jn~ unpn'\C'd on ~• THE AGE OF RED FIGURE 103 pun.:h.t,t:"r. \Ub't'lllll'llt Bilinguists I; Cup paimers; The Annmcnes PauHer and • I puhhcation The lek ythos painters; Other late \\'Ork llM\ h~.· n.:produu~d or tl,lll,ntiued in Jtl) fi1rn1 or b\ .\11\ 11H.',II1\. <.·lettromc or IHn h~nJlc,\1. Jncludlng phol<;topy. r<'< nldlllf' or .my otlwr mfonHJtion PANATHENAIC VASES 7 ,tot.\~l' .ut~.l rctrH.'\ ,tl 'Y'tl'lll, \vithout priw P<'l'llll"lnll 111 "n1111g I Will tlw pnbli,hcr. 8 ODDS AND ENDS i'IIN 0-500-.l<> I JX-.?. Six technique; Polychrome; Black vases; Miniaturl·~; Athens or Attica?; Emigr;1tlts and Imitators l'nau<'cl md bound 111 0.,111g.1por<· by C.S. Cr;aphics SHAPES, NAMES AND FUNCTIONS tll4 Amplwrac; Hydriai; Oinochoai; Wine mixers and coolers; Cups; Dowls; Oil flasks; Ritual shapes; Other shapes 1<)3 R ELATIVE AN D ABSOLU TE CHR ONOLOGY 10 PREFACE G F.N .ERAL DECORATION I l Conventions; Inscriptions; Florals; Animals and Monsters 205 Something like twenty thousand Athenian black figure vases have been SCENES Of R.EALIT Y 12 discovered, and many more reach the light of day each yt~ar from excava Everyday life; Fighting; Wine, women, boys and song; tions, controlled and illicit, or from the shclvcs of de:ders and old <:ollections. Sport; Commerce and industry; Religious occaswns Of comparable works surviving from antiquity only A them' red figun· vases are more numerous and diverse in shape and subject. The black figure v~ses 215 SCEN ES Or MYTH 3 present the earlit:st major corpus of mythologi<:al scenc:s in Gnx:k art, and reek art or myth, and 234 arc conspicuous in nniseun!S and collections of C lassical art. Nevl:rtheless, C hronological chart publications of the major collections havt: never also given a cornprchensive 235 Abbreviations account of the history of the subject, while monographs on vase painting have 235 never been so fully illustrated that ~tudents have Jl(lt het'll obliged to tum to N otes and bibliographies many other books for pictures, and there is no systematic account of the 2.p List of illustrations subject-matter oft he scenes painted nn This handbook hopes to remedy V<\SCS. these shortcomings - to give a history of the ••rt full and detailed enough index of artists and groups for connoisseur and student, supported by pictures numerous enough to r ndex of m ythological subjects demonstrate the quality of the work of the fincst artist~ as well as rhe appearance of the work by le~~ competcnt painters, and to add an account of General indcx the subsidiary decoration and the figure since these often have more to sccm~s, convey to the museum visitor or student than simple consider<~tions of style, shape and date. If this has meant tharalipomena, publis~ted . posd~u mean 'potted ', can imply ' painted' and may imply ' painted and potted' mouslv in l97I. The principles of attribution, based on the combmanon of an whi<:"h must often have been true in many workshops. ' Owner-potter' may overall appraisal of style and composition, with comparative study of detail, then be im plied. It has been suggested that ' epoieseu ' usually means' owner' : as in the rendering of drapery or anatomy, were well demonstrated in his then we would expect detectahly different potter work with the same owner early essay on a black figurt: artist, the Antimenes Painter, published in 1927. signature. Nikosrhenes' many signatures might seem evidence fcwthis, but These principles arc the ont:s which have guided the work of many other the signed vases nearly all have a distinctive originality of shape and we may scholars who have contributed to this field of study. And Beazlcy was no art be misled by his pas.sion for advertisement and his devotion to the export historical snob. He devoted as much care to assigning and collecting the -.,vork trade which guaranteed a better survival rate fur his work. it is difftcult to sec of po<.1r or hack artists as to that of tbc masters. As a result, his view and ours all the ' epoiescn' names ofLittle Masters as own en of separate establishments can be ~:omprch(:nsivc over the full range of the ware, and this has made rather than simply p<.mers. ln the fac(: of the rare twill' epoiescn ·signatures (as possible its archaeological use as a yardstick for the relative and absolute of Archikles and Glaukytes 1116], Anaklcs and we must assume Nikosth~~ncs) chronology of Archai~: Greece. The historiral importance of this work cannot collaboration, but surely not in the potting, here an owner or painter may be argued in detail here, but will receive passing mention where the principlt:s $(.) be involved too. We also find examples where we be reasonably sure ~hall ~:an of d tronol<.)gy are discussed. that potters' signatures reveal painters' names (as with A masis). But .most W e know the names of about a dozen Athenian black ftgure painters for surviving signatures seem to be of potters or owners, and that they were ct:rtain, but tleazlt:y has somt: four hundred artists or groups. The new names TT ' ' ' \ ' . Etruscan marker. So the of potters have been ~talll\ ~omc 'urcc~,ful 111<1)' imcribed b~ painter~ who by choice or necessity renuined .monynwu~ is .1 acqUJr:d throug.h wealth. We have no rt'.lson "d1.1tever to believe that reAe<.:tlon upon the Importance of the potter in the industry. an import.lncc ArchaiC vase pamters won e\tc:em ·" 111 tht• way that sculptors or .1ni~ts "hich we. preoccup1ed "vith the decoration, may roo easily forget. .uch.necb n~1~ht; but '' c m a) smpcct ~hat \OI1K' of our v.l\e p.unten practi~ed In the t·.uly ~i:-..th ccmury the Athenian law-giver Solon i~ said ro haw other and se m or Thc,e arc all w '" h1ch then·"' ill be ro art~. ~ubject~ occa~ion t•ncouragcd the immigr.uion of non-Athenian cr.tftsmen. Apart from some return at vanous stages in the narrauve. CornHlH.m-msplrcd porter work there i~ no clear evidence from the v.ISt'S for For Athem' potter~· qu.uter it'>df we lun~ to await sull the c\·idcncc of the worl- of hand' trained elsewhere, bur the srorv doe' refleC£ on the and rhat e\·1dencc be 'cr.lppy. f'ht· quarter la) in the ovcr ' ex~avauon, lll:l} 1mpon;mt role: of non-citizen mctics in the practiCe of the arts m A them. And bllllt bcnYccn the A menc.ln t•xc.l \.ltiOII\ tht• Agora and the Gerfnan ar~ 111 we can .1dd to th1s the c,·idence later in the cenrur~ for the pre~ence of 1sland cxca,·auom ar the D1pylon Gate. lt m.1y seem too w romance, e\·en t'.l~) ,111d lom.m sculptors working in Athens. We may catch a little of this the 111 unscholarly, bur we a lot in our undt·r,r.wdmg ofantlqlnty by lctring lists lo~e potter .111d p.lintt·r name~ - L ydos, who signs si m ply .Is 'the Lyd1.111'; A m.1sis and and alleged aflin1t1cs dommatc \tudy. ror thc\c were ,,hen s~apes vear~ "ho c.1rne~ the llcllcniscd form of a common but .1bo royall:gypri.ln n.1111e; AmaSIS and Exekia<> .-men, not typolog1ral upher~ - ,at at tht·ir.benrhcs in \1!-clm, the ethnic of.1 native of Sicily: Thrax, ofThrace; Kokhm. Colchb. Athens at no grcat d1smnce from each other. and no doubt passed each other To these we nl.l) .1dd some name~ of potter~ and painters ofe.1rly red figure da~l Y; '~hen the dand1es, pohtici.m~. po_cts .u~d sold ic:rs of Athens strolled by SiLmos, .mothL·r Sicilian native name; Mys, of Mysia; Skythcs, ofScythia: the .>tails, over the bnght vases fresh from the kiln, approved a mottO nod~ed llrygos, oi"Tbr,ln'. But, except possibly f(>r 'the Lydian', we arL' not bound pr:mmg a fashionable beauty, ~mile? at m.111y :111 allmion to the life or politics ro look lor non-Athcnian or servile blood in the~e men, nor is there .111ything of which eludes now, t'll.JOycd the f1rst truly popular figurative art the.da~ u~ gencrJ them the human faces- indudiug one named hero are drawn in outline Chapter Two in the old manner, the dress is with red, white and rosettes, the CQVt~red background ftll is orientalising with zigzags dot rosettes, and there is still ~nd EARLY ATHENIAN BLACK FIGURE to he seen the old bla<.:k-and- white pattern of rays. llut rite rest black figure i~ with lavish additions of red and white. Examples of his work from Athens show how he abando ned outline for laying white over black in the proper r black figure manner - as fo r his sphinxes' L1Ces 4]. and whik the 1111 remains the same the subsidiary patterns are d oser to those oft he Late Protoa>rimhian Athenian vase painrers of the middle of the seventh century <.:ould achieve a vases of the 63o's. He was probably at work by 630, but not as late a·s since grandeur of scale and composition wbit:h the miniaturist blat:k figure tech 620 there is no sign of the influence of the full Corinthian style ofblack figurc.llis niques of Corinth, although more controlled and preose, <.:ould not match. human figures belong still to the Athenian tradition, but his animals, with The Athenian painter was well aware oft he new technique since, alt!10~1gh Ins their new te<.:hnique and monumentality, are novel, and fi>r their sheer size own vases never travelled further than Acgina or the Islands, the Corllltlllan and presence ea si\ y challenge any products of Corinth in these years although did, and they were well known in Athens itself. Nor did he have an): pos!tivc there is still some stiffness and rigidity ofo utline, for instance in the treatment abhorrence of incision, and he was prepared to use it for lllinor detaJls ot hau of wing feathers. The Painter of .l:lerlin A34 was a pioneer, and claims an or anatomv f the ~~s~ of . involved, and his stature and importance can now he properly judged. the new technique in Athens. A few pamters could nse above th1s rcstr~cttO~l Bcazley called him the Chimaera and Nectos Painter; I leave him with the and offer finely composed narrative ~cenes, while the quality ~f pottmg ts first sobriquet he acquired - the Nessos Painter. H is earliest vases resemble alw<~ ys high. ft may be again Corinth whose influence was, th1so t:1 1ne, S1. 1u those of the P;~inter of Berlin A34, with 'J>rotoa>rinthian' filling Qrnamcnt. tary, introducing new shapes (column craters, cups) and_ a range narrao:e Dut, on the shoulder ofh is name [5] there is a new black figure treatment v;~se figure scenes which perhaps depended on Pelopmmes_1an narrattv~ arts m of the floral chain "\vhich the Protocoriuthian artist normally drew in outline. other m;~terials, and wbit:h encouraged the A thent an pamters to reahse rnorc On later work the incised rosettes of the fi.tll Corinthian black figure are fully the qualities of monumental narrative they had n:ver re~Jiy l~st. By the styl~ admitted, and then become the rule, so we may believe his ·working life to end(.)[ the phase described in this chapter, the regtme of the ammal fnezes was span the last quarter of the seventh century, seeing out the transition from coming to an end. Protocorind1ian to the full Early Corinthian style. I6J His vases, like his figures, are big: the massive skyphos-craters rn. (1.10 The Pioneers (c. 635 to 600) high), often with domed lid and high <:onical stand, which are the pride of the Vari find; a big neck amphora - name vase; and a new invention of the hi~ One artist illustrates within his surviving attributed work the transition from Athenian potters' quarter, the 'belly amphora' with one pie<.:e profile which the idiom of orientalising Protoauic to full black figure. He is the P AlNTEn OF T) 14 offers a fuller ftdd for tl1c figures although many early examples keep a The Gorgon Painter to Sophilos (c. 600 to 570) separate neck panel [81. The only small vases he painted were_of ano~her new shape, the shallow bowl known as a lckane, reserved for ammal fnczes and The early years of the sixth century see a !;Onsidcrable c:hang~ in the fortunes with animals or a gorgoncion in the tondo within. He did not wholly esc~tew of the Athenian potters' quarter. Several new vase shapes and schemes of outline drawing, fur some "vomcn's faces, lions' teeth and the gorg~>neta (a decoration arc introduced, and the example set by Corinth can be obscrv(x\ both in the dominance of animal frieze decoration and by the fact that for the convention v.:hich died hard) but he develops subtle new conventions for first time Athenian vases begin to compete in the HL'lrkets of the Greek world black. figure using double or treble inc~sed lines _eo a~centu_atc important and are fimnd from the Black Sea ro Libya, from Spain to Syria. features where the smaller Corinthian ammals earned smgle hnes only. The double shoulder line for beasts soon becomes a hallmark of Attic painting, as The GoRGON Pt.JNTER (c. 6oo w 58u) is the most prolific succes~or to the Nessos Painter. H e is sparing with mythologic.al scenes and human fig well as the greater detail bestowed on animal features and limbs. He is particularly good at incised surface patterns on bodies, ofloc_ks, scalc_s, ~eath_ers ures [ 11], and they arc aJwa )'S accompanied by animals or animal frit:7.eS. Other vases carry animal frie1.es only, or single animah [12- 14], but many are or circles. He uses little white, except in the lines of dots m the Connth1an manner and for some female flesh, but he likes red in broad masses, or fur rcdtKed in size from those of the late seventh centurv. Tht~ stvle is still ' ' precise and his lions in particular are distinctive for their square muzzles, alternating with bla(.;k for wing feathers. and for male and so~e monster toothy grins, hatched forelocks, and the end locks of the back mane, often f.'lces. The • male = red, female = whit<~' conventions of Egypnan art may overlapping. W ings arc executed with neat rows of secondary feathers. A few h;we had some direct effect here and arc the only realistic features on the otherwise unrealistically coloured black figures. The debt to Corinth i~ his of the old dot rosl~ttes linger in the field and thl~ old rosette borders are not f(>rgotren, while a new ff what was stJJI the In the same circle was born the series of HmtstH HiAD AMI'HOltAE, of the d()IJ1inant va~e painting (.;entre of these years. new ' belly' shape, with a horse's head and neck on each side [tBJ, and one, exceptionally, with an outline-drawn woman's head drawn on one side. 17 ' ' I.

Athenian Black Figure Vases

Similar Athenian Black Figure Vases