Classical
Renaissence
Amphora
Amphoras
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RED-FIGURE NECK-AMPHORA
Attributed to the Hector Painter
Greece, Attica, about 440-430 B.C.
Ceramic, h. 19 1/4 in. (48.9 cm)
William Randolph Hearst Collection 50.8.23
Between the seventh and second centuries B.C. huge quantities of Greek decorated pottery were shipped all over the ancient world. Corinth claimed this market until overwhelming demand caused careless and mechanical production. Athenian potters, who had mastered sophisticated kiln techniques employing sequences of oxidation and reduction firing, next came to dominate the export trade, first with black-figure and then red-figure vases, executed with enormous skill in a great variety of shapes. Extraordinary numbers survive; their imagery reveals much about the ancient Greeks' life and mythology.
This two-handled amphora, used to store wine or olive oil, is decorated with the trio resposible for the seasons, harvest, and fertility. In the winged chariot sits the demigod Triptolemos, who taught mortals the arts and techniques of agriculture. Behind him stands his foster mother, Demeter, patorn goddess of agriculture. Her daughter Persephone pours wine from an oenochoe into Triptolemos's extended phiale, a broad, shallow wine cup.
Triptolemos and Demeter carry stalks of wheat, and Persephone holds the torch that lights her way in the underworld, where she is confined part of each year, causing winter to appear in the mortal world. Upon reemerging she brings spring with her, an annual cycle of renewal that was a major preoccupation of much of Greek religion and ritual.
Greek painters are often named after their vases and are identified by motif and style; few vases are actually signed. The Hector Painter is named for a vase that depicts a scene from Homer's Iliad in which the Trojan prince Hector sets out for war.
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FS430: Understanding Wine and Beer