The Craft of Athenian Pottery / An Investigation of the Technique of Black-Figured and Red-Figured Athenian Vases

by Gisela M. A. Richter

DECORATING THE VASES

1. Red-figured hydria in Ruvo.

Annali dell’Instituto, 1876, pl. DE.

Fig. 66. Athena and Victories crowning potters at work

Annali dell’Instituto, 1876, pl. DE

Athena and two Victories crowning potters at work. To the left is a potter sitting on a low stool and engaged in decorating a volute krater; he is holding a brush in his closed fist in Japanese fashion, and is looking in surprise at the Nike who is crowning him; by his side are two paint pots. In front of him another workman, comfortably seated on a chair, is busily painting a kantharos which he holds tipped on his lap. He also holds the brush in his fist downwards. Another kantharos and an oinochoë stand on the floor, awaiting their turn to be decorated; on a low stand close by are two paint pots, one with its lid tipped against the side. The artist is completely absorbed in his work and has not yet discovered Athena, the patron of arts and crafts, approaching him with a wreath. Behind Athena a third workman is seated on a low stool, decorating a bell krater with a palmette design. He tips up the vase with one hand, holds the brush firmly in his fist, and has his paint pot within easy reach on the floor. A Nike is about to crown him with a wreath; but he, too, is entirely engrossed in his work and quite unconscious of the honor to be conferred on him. Completing the scene on the right is a girl on a low platform painting the handle of a large volute krater. The figure is of special interest today, for it shows that there were women potters then as now. Above her on the wall are suspended a kantharos and a lekythos. The whole scene is of great importance as the most representative we possess of ancient vase painters at work.

2. Red-figured kylix in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Hartwig, Jahrbuch des Instituts, XIV, 1899, pl. 4.

Fig. 67. Youth decorating kylix

Hartwig, Jahrbuch des Instituts, 1899, pl. IV

A youth is sitting on a stool, holding a kylix by the foot and decorating the outside of it with what looks like a brush with long bristles, though it has also been identified as a feather (by Hartwig). In the hand that grasps the kylix is a pointed instrument which has been identified by Hartwig as the implement with which the preliminary sketch was drawn. The attitude of the painter suggests the quiet absorption required by a delicate task. Behind the youth is his knotted staff, and on the wall hang his oil flask and strigil.

3. Fragment of a red-figured kylix, found on the Akropolis, Athens.

Hartwig, Jahrbuch des Instituts, XIV, 1899, p. 154, fig. 2.

Fig. 68. Potter glazing kylix

Hartwig, Jahrbuch des Instituts, 1899, pl. 154, fig. 2

A potter glazing the inside of a kylix as it rotates on the wheel. A woman appears to be crowning him with a wreath.

4. Corinthian pinax in the Berlin Museum.

Antike Denkmäler, I, pl. 8, No. 18.

Furtwängler, Beschreibung der Vasensammlung zu Berlin, I, No. 868.

Fig. 69. Potter painting bands on a krater

Antike Denkmäler, I, pl. 8, No. 18

A potter is sitting on a stool before his wheel, apparently in the act of painting broad black bands on a column krater while the vase is revolving.

5. Red-figured bell-krater in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.

Beazley, Journal of Hellenic Studies, XXVIII, 1908, pl. XXXII, A.

Fig. 70. Three youths, one painting a krater

Beazley, Journal of Hellenic Studies, XXVIII (1908), pl. XXXII, A.

To the left a youth is sitting on a stool painting the outside of a bell krater. He is steadying the vase with his left arm placed inside the krater, while he lets the rim rest on his lap. By his side is a low stand with a skyphos evidently containing the paint. A second workman is carrying off another krater to the right. He may be going to fetch some water or wine in it, for it is evidently a completed, fired vase, otherwise he would not be carrying it by the handles. A third workman is moving in the same direction holding up a skyphos, perhaps to get more paint or some water or wine to drink. A krater standing on the ground completes the scene. On the wall hang some implements of the potter’s trade, identified by Beazley from the original as (1) a kylix for drinking, (2) a mortar for grinding the ingredients of the glaze, (3) a brush case, (4) a bowl to contain liquid glaze, (5) a strainer for sieving the glaze.

6. Bœotian black-figured skyphos in the Polytechnion in Athens.

Found in Lokris.

Blümner, Athenische Mittheilungen, XIV, 1889, p. 151.

Fig. 71. Pottery establishment

Blümner, Athenische Mittheilungen, XIV, 1889, p. 151

The master of the pottery is sitting with a kylix in one hand, while with the other he is trying to beat a slave who is running off with three skyphoi. Three other skyphoi are on the ground, while a kantharos and a skyphos are near by on a shelf. Another workman is inspecting a skyphos he has just glazed; a paint pot and brush are on a low stand by his side. He takes no notice of a scene which is taking place close by, a man beating a slave suspended from the ceiling. The workmanship is very crude, and if it is a product of the pottery establishment which it depicts, it is a fair sample of the work we might expect from a place run on such methods!