Attic Black Figure, White Ground, ca. 500 BCE–ca. 490 BCE (Archaic)
The Sappho Painter
Alabastron
Gift of Harlan E. and Theresa Moore
Shape: Alabastron; Thin mouth, flat on top, articulated neck, flat shoulder with small handles; Alabastra were used for holding oil, perfumes, or other precious liquids. They were used both by women (as depicted in vase paintings of women at their toilette) and as offerings to the dead.
Decoration: Reserved areas (left in natural clay color); two circles on mouth, one on top and one on bottom surface of mouth; ring on base
Body: band of ivy leaves above figures
Panel scenes: Dancing maenads (female followers of the god of wine, Dionysos)
The Sappho Painter was one of the more talented painters in the white ground, black-figure style. He generally painted lekythoi, but he decorated larger vases as well. The artist's work is also evident on much smaller vases, such as KAM's alabastron. The field also has an inscription of letters that do not spell any words. It was not unusual for artists to decorate their vases with alphabet letters; but since many were illiterate, their "words" did not make sense. The Sappho Painter often used letters for decoration as on this alabastron.
This vase depicts three dancing maenads (female followers of the god of wine, Dionysos). They are moving to the right with their heads facing in the other direction. Their hair is tied into a krobylos (a manner of tying up long hair at the nape). Each wears a long chiton (a fine fabric undergarment) and a short himation (a heavier outer garment). Two of the maenads carry krotala (an instrument clicked, like castanets, in order to help keep time when dancing). The depiction of maenads dancing is common, usually associated with the thiasos. The thiasos was a revel of maenads and satyrs (male followers of Dionysos with a horse's tail and ears) who were a part of the entourage of Dionysos. In contrast, the komos, which also depicts drinking and dancing, was just a general revel or celebration of wine, dance, and music. It often took place before or after a symposion, a drinking gathering for men.
For further discussion of this type of vase see: Angermeier, H.E. Das Alabatron. Giessen: Glagow, 1936. Boardman J. Athenian Black-Figure Vases. London: Thames and Hudson, 1974. Knigge, U. "Ein rotfiguriges Alabatron aus dem Kerameikos." Athenische Mitteilungen (1964), 79, 105–113. Noble, J.V. The Techinques of Painted Attic Pottery. 1965, 11. Richter, G.M.A. Shapes and Names of Athenian Vases. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1935, 24–25. Schauenburg, K. "Unteritalische Alabatra." Jahrbuch des deutschen archaeologischen Instituts, 87, 259–298.
For more information about the Sappho Painter see: Beazley, J.D. Attic Black-Figure Vase Painters. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1956, 507–508, 675, 677, 702. Boardman J. Athenian Black-Figure Vases. London: Thames and Hudson, 1974, 148–149, figures 260–266. Robertson, M. The Art of Vase Painting in Classical Athens. Cambridge: University Press, 1992, 130–132.
For more information on maenads and the thiasos in ancient Greek art see: Edwards, M.W. "Representation of Maenads on Archaic Red-Figure Vases." Journal of Hellenic Studies (1960), 80, 78–87. Berard, C. and C. Bron. "Satyric Revels." A City of Images. Princeton, University Press, 1989.
For more information on depictions of wine and celebration in ancient Greek art see: Arias, P.E., M. Hirmer, and B.B. Shafton. A History of Greek Vase Painting. London: Thames and Hudson, 1962, plates 132, 135, 138, 148, 165. Durand, J.L., F. Fontisi-Ducroux, and F. Lissaurrague. "Wine: Human and Divine." A City of Images. Princeton: University Press, 1989. Griefenhagen, A. Eine attische schwarzfigurige Vasengattung und die Darstellung der Komos im VI Jahrhundert. Königsberg: Grafe ung Unzer, 1929. Lissarrague, F. The Aesthetics of the Greek Banquet. Princeton: University Press, 1987. Perkins, A. "Attic Red-Figure Oinochoe." Greek Vase Painting in Midwestern Collections. Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1979, 160–161.
Krannert Art Museum and Kinkead Pavilion
500 East Peabody Drive
Champaign, IL 61820
http://www.kam.uiuc.edu/collection/a...kVaseTour.html
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