Attic Pottery - Black-Figure Ware: Olpe

Inv. No.: 83.038
Provenance: Attica
Date: late 6th century BC
Height: 231mm
Diameter: 114mm
 
Connected with the Leagros Group.

The name olpe is used for a type of jug that is found in Corinth and Athens starting in the seventh century BC. In this example the lip has a cyma recta profile. The neck passes smoothly into the body of the vase which has a gently curving shape. The characteristic feature of the olpe is the fullness of the body towards the bottom of the vase. The foot is a flat disc. There is a flat strap handle which passes from the middle of the body of the vase to the lip. The black-figure decoration includes both geometric and floral patterns which frame a panel which contains the main image: a reclining, draped female figure (maenad?) who plays a double flute against a background of vines and grape bunches. The main colours are black (which has fired red in places), the red of the clay, added white and added red. The surface of the vase has some incrustation and the lip is chipped.

Function:
The olpe was used for pouring liquids such as wine. It was filled with wine by being dipped into a larger vessel such as a crater. The wine could then be poured into cups.

Manufacture:
This vase was thrown on the wheel with the lip and foot being turned at the leather-hard stage. The handle would have been made by hand and joined to the vase with slip.

Decoration:

1. The interior of the mouth and neck of the vase is black ending in a ring of added red. There is another added red ring above this, about 26 mm from the rim.
2. The exterior of the lip is painted black except for the section above the main panel which has a checkerboard pattern consisting of seven rows.
3. The handle is black except where it has misfired red.
4. The body of the vase is black (which has fired red in places) except for the main reserved panel which is framed by black-figure floral and geometric patterns each of which is encased in double black lines (except for the outer line at the bottom of the panel which is painted with added red). On the neck, below the lip, is an unusual lotus and palmette pattern in which the volutes of the three inverted palmettes form the sepals of the two upright lotuses. Below this is a running meander pattern facing right while the sides of the panel are formed by a vertical dot pattern. Below the panel is another running meander pattern, again facing right.
5. The main figured scene shows a female figure, depicted in profile facing left, reclining on a mattress with a cushion supporting her back. She plays a double flute. Her hair is decorated with a ribbon and she is dressed in a long Ionian chiton which falls in graceful folds (detail is incised). Added white is used for her face, arms and left foot (the right foot is not visible) and for her mattress. The field is filled with grapevines and hanging bunches of grapes. Her flute bag hangs from a vine on the left side of the scene.
6. The foot of the vase is black except for added red rings that encircle the top and bottom of the edge of the disc.

Painter:
This vase has been connected with the Leagros Group which was a large group consisting of vase painters who worked in the late 6th century BC and frequently included the name Leagros in kalos inscriptions on their vases. Common characteristics that have been used to identify the work of members of this group include a forceful style and busy, complex compositions. Dionysiac scenes are common. The use of vines to fill the background of scenes is typical of their work.

Bibliography:
Beazley, J. D., Attic Black-Figure Vase Painters, New York, Hacker, 1978, 354-382, 695-696, 715 (note p. 382).

Beazley, J. D., Paralipomena: Additions to Attic Black-Figure Vase-Painters and to Attic Red-Figure Vase Painters, second edition, Oxford, Clarendon, 1971, 161-167, 519.

Carpenter, T. H., Beazley Addenda: Additional References to ABV, ARV2 & Paralipomena, second edition, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1989, 95-101.

Christie's Catalogue, 16 December 1982, No. 286.

Folsom, R. S., Attic Black-Figured Pottery, Park Ridge, New Jersey, Noyes, 1975.

Comparanda:
Blinkenberg, C. and K. F. Johansen, Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, Denmark 3, Copenhague 3 (undated), Plate 124, 1 a and b. , Italia 7, Bologna 2 (undated), III H e, Tavola 37, 4. , Italia 36, Roma 1 (undated), III H, Tavola 33, 1.

Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum

Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum

Marstrander, S. and A. Seeberg, Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, Norway 1 (1964), Plate 13, 1-2 (similar cyma profile of lip).

Pfisterer-Haas, S., Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, (1993), Deutschland 65, München 12, Tafel 39, 2-6.

Robinson, D. M., Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, USA 4, Baltimore 1 (1934), Plate XXXVII, 1.

Smith, H. R. W., Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, USA 5, University of California 1 (1936), Plate XXVI, 2 (similar lotus-palmette pattern on neck).