Potters Glorification - I
Coronation of craftsmen at work in their workshop.
The so-called Leningrad Painter shows with a good deal of life, a scene in a workshop. Craftsmen (and unexpectedly one craftswoman in the right corner of the frieze) are seen applying decoration to completed vessels: two volute-kraters and a large kantharos; while another large kantharos stands on the floor, a ribbed oinochoe standing in it, and a smaller kantharos and oinochoe hang on the wall. In the midst of this activity appear Athena and two winged victories, all carrying wreaths.
In the center of the frieze, the goddess Athena, patron of the artists, advances to crown an artisan who, concentrated on the decoration of a huge kantharos, does not seem to have realized her divine presence. The same scene is repeated on both sides of the frieze, where two Nikai, emissaries of the goddess Athena, are coming up to two potters of the workshop holding laurel wreaths: one craftsman, caught in surprise, turns backward his head; the other potter, focused on his work, is portrayed bent over a calyx krater while painting the lower frieze of the vase. On the frieze right corner, a woman committed to decorating the handles of a volute krater is sitting on a podium. She stays solitary and excluded from any merit and recognition.
The venue is normally taken for a pottery; but the very metallic character of the vessels has led to a well-argued suggestion that these are rather bronze-workers or silversmiths. The shapes in question, however, though certainly of metallic origin, were all reproduced in pottery. Undeniably the painter's intention is to emphasize the glorification of craftsmanship.
CARC / CAVI @ www.beazley.ox.ac.uk
Source: M. Robertson, “ The Art of Vase-Painting in Classical Athens”
Attic red figure kalpis
Heght 32.2 cm
Attributed to The Leningrad Painter
470 – 450 BC
Coll. Banca Intesa, Vicenza, Palazzo Leoni Montanari
Potters Glorification - I
Coronation of craftsmen at work in their workshop.
The so-called Leningrad Painter shows with a good deal of life, a scene in a workshop. Craftsmen (and unexpectedly one craftswoman in the right corner of the frieze) are seen applying decoration to completed vessels: two volute-kraters and a large kantharos; while another large kantharos stands on the floor, a ribbed oinochoe standing in it, and a smaller kantharos and oinochoe hang on the wall. In the midst of this activity appear Athena and two winged victories, all carrying wreaths.
In the center of the frieze, the goddess Athena, patron of the artists, advances to crown an artisan who, concentrated on the decoration of a huge kantharos, does not seem to have realized her divine presence. The same scene is repeated on both sides of the frieze, where two Nikai, emissaries of the goddess Athena, are coming up to two potters of the workshop holding laurel wreaths: one craftsman, caught in surprise, turns backward his head; the other potter, focused on his work, is portrayed bent over a calyx krater while painting the lower frieze of the vase. On the frieze right corner, a woman committed to decorating the handles of a volute krater is sitting on a podium. She stays solitary and excluded from any merit and recognition.
The venue is normally taken for a pottery; but the very metallic character of the vessels has led to a well-argued suggestion that these are rather bronze-workers or silversmiths. The shapes in question, however, though certainly of metallic origin, were all reproduced in pottery. Undeniably the painter's intention is to emphasize the glorification of craftsmanship.
CARC / CAVI @ www.beazley.ox.ac.uk
Source: M. Robertson, “ The Art of Vase-Painting in Classical Athens”
Attic red figure kalpis
Heght 32.2 cm
Attributed to The Leningrad Painter
470 – 450 BC
Coll. Banca Intesa, Vicenza, Palazzo Leoni Montanari