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

by Gisela M. A. Richter

REPRESENTATIONS WRONGLY INTERPRETED AS POTTERY SCENES

From time to time various representations have been interpreted as pottery scenes which probably have no such significance. The following are the two most important.

1. Interior of a kylix in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

A satyr is stoking the fire of an oven on which is a skyphos. This scene is figured in many of the books on vases (cf. e.g. Walters, History of Ancient Pottery, I, p. 216, fig. 68) and interpreted as a satyr firing pottery; probably he is simply cooking his dinner.

2. Interior of a kylix.

Gerhard, Auserlesene Vasenbilder, pls. CLXXX-CLXXXI.

Youth holding the rim of a large krater with both hands. He is sometimes interpreted as a potter working on a vase; but there is no clear connection with pottery work.