The Amasis Painter - II: Attic black-figured Alabastron
This small vase, remarkable especially for the precise drawing and the attention to ornamental detail, is the earliest Attic black-figured alabastron, and one of the Amasis Painter's very early works.
The figured decoration continues round the vase. In the middle of one side, a winged goddess runs to right, looking around, flanked on the right and left by a youth wearing a long chiton with a himation over it and holding a spear. The goddess wears a peplos and has two pairs of wings. She may be Artemis. The lack of an attribute makes the identification difficult. Near the goddess is a group of five youths, two standing to right, three to left; some wear cloaks; some long himatia. Above the figured zone is a row of vertical zigzags, and above that on the shoulder at the junction with the neck is a tongue pattern. On the bottom, rays; round this, a narrow black band with lines above and below.
Amasis signs as potter only, whence the painter takes his name. The Amasis Painter's career spans at least four decades, beginning in the second quarter of the 6th century and lasting until ca. 520 B.C. or slightly later. Well over 130 of his vases have survived, and three vases from the Agora are attributed to him, and two others may be by him
Source: Moore B. M., “The Athenian Agora, Vol XXXIII, Attic Black-Figured Pottery”
Black-figured alabastron
Dimensions: height 9,2 cm, diam. 4,7 cm
Attributed to the Amasis Painter
Ca. 560 BC
From Athenian Agorà
Athens, Ancient Agora Museum
The Amasis Painter - II: Attic black-figured Alabastron
This small vase, remarkable especially for the precise drawing and the attention to ornamental detail, is the earliest Attic black-figured alabastron, and one of the Amasis Painter's very early works.
The figured decoration continues round the vase. In the middle of one side, a winged goddess runs to right, looking around, flanked on the right and left by a youth wearing a long chiton with a himation over it and holding a spear. The goddess wears a peplos and has two pairs of wings. She may be Artemis. The lack of an attribute makes the identification difficult. Near the goddess is a group of five youths, two standing to right, three to left; some wear cloaks; some long himatia. Above the figured zone is a row of vertical zigzags, and above that on the shoulder at the junction with the neck is a tongue pattern. On the bottom, rays; round this, a narrow black band with lines above and below.
Amasis signs as potter only, whence the painter takes his name. The Amasis Painter's career spans at least four decades, beginning in the second quarter of the 6th century and lasting until ca. 520 B.C. or slightly later. Well over 130 of his vases have survived, and three vases from the Agora are attributed to him, and two others may be by him
Source: Moore B. M., “The Athenian Agora, Vol XXXIII, Attic Black-Figured Pottery”
Black-figured alabastron
Dimensions: height 9,2 cm, diam. 4,7 cm
Attributed to the Amasis Painter
Ca. 560 BC
From Athenian Agorà
Athens, Ancient Agora Museum