FIG. 27. PANEL-AMPHORA.
(5) This type, on the other hand, is later in the period, being developed out of the last, from which it is marked off only by the form of the handles, which are broad and flanged, and often decorated with patterns. These vases are mostly of large size, and are transitional, some R.F. varieties being known. The paintings on them are in the style of Exekias, Andokides, and Euthymides (see for an example Plates [XXXI.], [XXXII].).
(6) The shape of the “red-bodied” amphora (Fig. [28]) is peculiar to the black-figure period.[[539]] Its characteristic features are the straight, cylindrical neck, with its chain of lotos-and-honeysuckle, the width of the shoulder, and the ribbed handles, formed from moulds in two or three parallel pieces. Artistically it is far superior to the black-bodied, and includes some of the finest specimens of B.F. painting (as in the vases of Exekias), while the decorative element reaches the perfection of beauty and symmetry.
FIG. 28. RED-BODIED AMPHORA.
(7) The red-bodied amphora seems to have been the prototype of what is the most characteristic form of the red-figure period—the so-called “Nolan” amphora (Fig. [29]).[[540]] These have been largely, but not exclusively, found at Nola, whither they seem to have been imported in large numbers from Greece. The whole vase is covered with black, and the decoration confined to one or two figures each side, while the elegant and beautiful outline, the lustre of the varnish, and the restraint of the designs combine to render these perhaps the most beautiful products of Athenian ceramic art. The handles are sometimes four-sided, more often ribbed, and sometimes formed of two twisted strands, produced by rolling up the soft paste; the general outline is that of the last class, but the proportions are far more slender and graceful.
FIG. 29. “NOLAN” AMPHORA.
(8) The Apulian amphora (Fig. [30]) illustrates the form which, though generally adopted in Apulia, may have had its origin at Athens, as it is adopted for the fourth-century Panathenaic amphorae.[[541]] It is distinguished by its great size and egg-shaped body; the mouth is thick and high, spreading out like an inverted cone, and the neck is not cylindrical, but merges into the shoulder. A variety of the Apulian amphora, hardly common enough to form a separate class, was formerly known as the “candelabrum-amphora,” from its resemblance to an incense-burner (an object wrongly interpreted formerly as a candelabrum, or lamp-stand). Its peculiarities are the cylindrical body, tall neck, and elaborate handles in the form of double scrolls.[[542]]
