Art in CONTEXT

Pottery was an essential component of everyday life in Greece; terra-cotta (fired clay) containers of various shapes were used to hold or serve wine and store grain, honey, oil, and other commodities. This amphora (which may originally have had a cover) for example, would have been used to store food. Usually a pottery vessel was produced by one craftsman and painted by another. Although some vessels were signed by the artisan, most were not; in modern times, as a way of helping to identify them, vessels are often named for the collection in which the piece is located. In 1964, Greek pottery specialist Dietrich von Bothmer baptized the unnamed craftsman who painted this particular amphora as "The Dayton Painter." Consequently, Dayton's piece is known as the "name vase" which helps to identify other works by the same hand. A companion vase by "The Dayton Painter" of similar shape and decoration is in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

The early Greeks were fond of decorating these vessels with stories taken from their religious myths or scenes of daily life; often they extolled the beauty or heroic deeds of a particular person. One side of this amphora shows a crowded chariot scene, while the other is decorated with a figure of Apollo, Greek god of music, poetry, and dance, playing a kithara (lyre), accompanied by two gesturing female figures. The neck and lower part of the vessel are decorated with bands of geometric and highly stylized plant forms.

This amphora was decorated with its male figures painted in black and detailed with elegantly incised lines; women, however, are depicted in a cream-colored glaze. The background has been left the natural red color of the fired-clay body. Consequently, this style of vase painting is called "Black-Figure" - in contrast to "Red-Figure" decorations in which the background is painted out and the figures are left the natural color of the terra-cotta. These decoration styles were employed during 6th and 5th century B.C. respectively, in Attica, one of the most important production sites of ancient Greece pottery.

Dominique H. Vasseur

SUGGESTED READINGS:

Boardman, John. Athenian Black Vases. New York: Oxford University Press, 1974.

Moon, Warren G. and Louise Berge. Greek Vase-Painting in Midwestern Collections. Exhibition catalogue. Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1980.

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