A Siana cup is a type of Attic cup decorated in the black-figure technique. They are named after one of their find locations, the Necropolis of the ancient city of Siana on Rhodes. During the second quarter of the 6th century BC, Siana cups were the predominant cup shape in Athens. The shape remained popular later and was still being produced in large quantities during the era of the Little-master cups.
Siana cups were the successors of Komast cups, produced by the Komast Group. In fact, the last representatives of that group were the first to manufacture Siana cups. Typical features include the clearly distinguished lip or rim, and the concave foot, which is taller than in Komast cups. The handles are slightly upturned. A new development is the use of painted tondos on the cup interior. These were often framed by bands of flames or other ornamentation; the central image was frequently of a running human figure in a semi-crouched position.
There are two separate decorative schemes for the exteriors. Some of the images are painted straight across the carination (or fold) between the bowl and the rim. This is known as the "overlap" scheme. In other cases, the parts above and below the carination are painted separately and described as "double-deckers". In that scheme, the upper frieze is often purely ornamental, especially with vegetal patterns of ivy or laurel. This type is especially common in East Greece. Animal friezes are comparably rarer. Figural decorations occur in the handle zone, as do handle palmettes. Popular pictorial themes include symposia, komasts, cavalcades, duels, as well as athletic and mythological scenes.
John Beazley: Attic Black-Figure Vase-Painters, Oxford 1956, S.
John Beazley: Paralipomena. Additions to Attic black-figure vase-painters and to Attic red-figure vase-painters, Oxford 1971, S. 23–29.
John Boardman: Schwarzfigurige Vasen aus Athen. Ein Handbuch, von Zabern, Mainz 1977 (Kulturgeschichte der Antiken Welt, Band 1). ISBN3-8053-0233-9. S. 34–37.
Herman A. G. Brijder: Siana cups I and Komast cups (2 vols.), Allard Pierson Museum, Amsterdam 1983 (Allard Pierson Series vol. 4). ISBN90-71211-06-1.
Herman A. G. Brijder: Siana cups II: the Heidelberg painter (2 vols.), Allard Pierson Museum, Amsterdam 1991 (Allard Pierson series. Studies in ancient civilization, Bd. 8). ISBN90-71211-20-7.
Herman A. G. Brijder: Siana cups III. The Red-Black Painter, Griffin-Bird Painter and Siana cups resembling lip-cups (2 Teilbände: Text- und Tafelband), Allard Pierson Museum, Amsterdam 2000 (Allard Pierson series. Studies in ancient civilization, Bd. 13). ISBN90-71211-34-7.
External links
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Black-figure pottery painting, also known as the black-figure style or black-figure ceramic, is one of the styles of painting on antique Greek vases. It was especially common between the 7th and 5th centuries BCE, although there are specimens dating as late as the 2nd century BCE. Stylistically it can be distinguished from the preceding orientalizing period and the subsequent red-figure pottery style.
Nikosthenes was a potter of Greek black- and red-figure pottery in the time window 550–510 BC. He signed as the potter on over 120 black-figure vases, but only nine red-figure. Most of his vases were painted by someone else, called Painter N. Beazley considers the painting "slovenly and dissolute;" that is, not of high quality. In addition, he is thought to have worked with the painters Anakles, Oltos, Lydos and Epiktetos. Six's technique is believed to have been invented in Nikosthenes' workshop, possibly by Nikosthenes himself, around 530 BC. He is considered transitional between black-figure and red-figure pottery.
Lydos was an Attic vase painter in the black-figure style. Active between about 560 and 540 BC, he was the main representative of the '’’Lydos Group’’’. His signature, ό Λυδός, ho Lydos ", inscribed on two vases, is informative regarding the cultural background of the artist. Either he immigrated to Athens from the Lydian empire of King Kroisos, or he was born in Athens as the son of Lydian parents. In any case, he learned his trade in Athens.
Andokides was an ancient Athenian vase painter, active from approximately 530 to 515 B.C. His work is unsigned and his true name unknown. He was identified as a unique artistic personality through stylistic traits found in common among several paintings. This corpus was then attributed by John D. Beazley to the Andokides Painter, a name derived from the potter Andokides, whose signature appears on several of the vases bearing the painter's work. He is often credited with being the originator of the red-figure vase painting technique. To be sure, he is certainly one of the earliest painters to work in the style. In total, fourteen amphorae and two cups are attributed to his hand. Six of the amphorae are "bilingual", meaning they display both red-figure and black-figure scenes.
The pottery of ancient Greece has a long history and the form of Greek vase shapes has had a continuous evolution from Minoan pottery down to the Hellenistic period. As Gisela Richter puts it, the forms of these vases find their "happiest expression" in the 5th and 6th centuries BC, yet it has been possible to date vases thanks to the variation in a form’s shape over time, a fact particularly useful when dating unpainted or plain black-gloss ware.
The Comast Group was a group of Attic vase painters in the black-figure style. The works of its members are dated to between 585 and 570/560 BC. The artists of the Komast Group are seen as the successors of the Gorgon Painter. Its most important representatives were the KX Painter and the slightly later KY Painter. They painted vases shapes that had been newly introduced to Athens or that had not previously been painted. Especially commonly painted by them were '’kothon’’ and lekanis. From Corinth, then still the centre of Greek vase painting, they adopted the Komast cup and the skyphos (known as kotyle. The KY Painter introduced the column krater. Also popular at the time was the kantharos. The group adopted the Corinthian habit of depicting komasts, after which the group is named. It provided the group’s most commonly painted motif. The komast scenes permit Attic artists for the first time to reach the artistic levels of middle-ranking Corinthian vases. While the older KX Painter still mostly painted animals and only the occasional komast scene, the komos became a standard motif for the KY painter and further inferior successors. It is not clear to what extent the painters of the group really cooperated. It is possible that they all worked in the same workshop. The group influenced later Attic vase painters, including the Heidelberg Painter. Works by the Komast Group were not only found in Attica, but appear to have been exported widely. Vases and fragments have been found at many sites, including Naukratis, Rhodes, Central Italy, Taras, and even Corinth.
The KX Painter was an Attic black-figure vase painter. He was active between 585 and 570 BC. Besides the KY Painter, the KX Painter was the main representative of the Comast Group, which succeeded the Gorgon Painter. His conventional name was allocated by John Beazley. He is considered the better and chronologically somewhat earlier representative of the group. He was the first painter in Athens to occasionally depict komasts on his vases, a motif adopted from Corinthian vase painting. He mainly painted skyphoi, lekanes, kothones and Komast cups. In contrast to later representatives of the group, he still mostly painted animals, in a more careful and powerful style than the Gorgon Painter. Some mythological scenes by him are also known. Especially famous are his small-fornat mythical scenes placed within animal friezes. The KX Painter can be considered the first Attic painter to achieve a quality at par with that reached in Corinth, then the dominant centre of Greek vase painting. Imitations of his works are known from Boeotia.
The KY Painter was an Attic black-figure vase painter. He was active between 585 and 570 BC.
The Komast cup is a cup shape at the beginning of the development of Attic drinking cups. Komast cups were widespread especially in Ionia and Corinth. Like other vase painters of the time, the Attic painters were under strong influence from Corinthian vase painting.
Nearchos was an Attic potter and vase painter of the black figure style, active in Athens c. 570 to 555 BC.
The Ptoon Painter was an ancient Greek vase painter of black-figure style active in Athens in the middle third of the 6th century BC. His real name is unknown.
The C Painter was one of the most important Attic black-figure vase painters. His works date to circa 575–550 BC. His conventional name was allocated by the archaeologist John Beazley. The C stands for "Corinthianising", a reference to the strong influence of Corinthian vase painting on the artist. He was successor to the Comast Group and used the relatively old-fashioned range of vessel shapes preferred by that group, including lekanis, tripod kothon and skyphos. In contrast, he also painted quite innovative lekythoi with pronounced shoulders, although the more conservative Deinaeira type was still in use by some workshops at his time. The C Painter was the first Attic vase painter to paint cups without an offset lip, the Merrythought cup.
The Heidelberg Painter was an Attic vase painter of the black-figure style, active between about 575 and 555 BC. He is considered one of the most important painters of Siana cups. Along with the C Painter, he is considered the main representative of his style. Generally, the Heidelberg Painter is regarded as the more accomplished artist of the two, although his work did not reach the same breadth of scope. In contrast to many of his contemporaries, he placed special emphasis on the depiction of human figures, at which he was very adept. His figures are very detailed, but often drawn rather sloppily. His early works resemble those of the Comast Group, the later ones those of the Amasis Painter.
Little-Master cups are a type of Attic black-figure cups, produced around the middle and third quarter of the sixth century BC. Their name is based on their fine small-format decoration. Little-Master cups are later in origin than Siana cups, but both types were produced over a considerable period of time. The Little Masters painted only the small upper frieze above the carination of the cup, at times also the lip or handle areas. It is probably that only few of the painters of Siana cups also painted Little-Master cups. One of the first artists to introduce the Little-Master cup in Athens was Kleitias. The change in decoration went along with a lengthening of the cup foot. The dedicated painters of Little-Master cups rarely painted larger formas, whereas painters primarily specialised in large vases are known to also have painted Little-Master cups. Stylistic comparison between larger and smaller formats of the period remains difficult.
The Kassandra Painter was an Attic vase painter in the black-figure style. His known works date to between 570 and 565 BC, and he was associated with the C Painter. The painter was identified by H.A.G. Bridjer.
Phrynos was a Greek potter, active in Athens, circa 560–545 BC. He is one of the Little masters. Three signed lip cups by him are known:
The Phrynos Painter was an Attic black-figure vase painter, active in Athens between c. 560 and 545 BC. He was allocated the conventional name "Phrynos Painter" after the potter Phrynos, as he had painted three cups signed by the latter:
The Xenokles Painter was an Attic vase painter in the black-figure style, active around the middle of the 6th century BC. His real name is unknown. His conventional name is based on the fact that he often painted vases made by the potter Xenokles, with whom he may be identical. In artistic terms, he did not reach the talent of comparable painters, such as the Tleson Painter. Characteristic of his work is his habit of cramming lip cups with figures, comparable to the normal decoration of Siana cups.
Boeotian vase painting was a regional style of ancient Greek vase painting. Since the Geometric period, and up to the 4th century BC, the region of Boeotia produced vases with ornamental and figural painted decoration, usually of lesser quality than the vase paintings from other areas.
The Pontic Group is a sub-style of Etruscan black-figure vase painting.
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