Dipylon amphora
The Dipylon amphora , also known as the Dipylon vase , is one of the most famous ancient Greek vases , which was created by the Dipylon painter at the beginning of the late Geometric style (around 760/50 BC) in Athens . The vase painter was probably also the potter of the piece.
The Dipylon vase was found in Athens at the Dipylon Gate , which was built later, near the cemetery on Kerameikos . Since both the painter and the vase got their names because of where they were found, it is the artist's name vase . It is possible that the vase came after the city was destroyed by the Persians in 490 BC. BC there and previously stood on a grave. The piece is now in the National Archaeological Museum of Athens .
Description and classification
The monumental, 1.55 meter high belly handle amphora - two double handles are attached to the point of the largest diameter on two opposite sides - was a grave vase and marked the grave of a woman. Men's graves were marked by monumental craters . The Dipylon painter's workshop specialized in the manufacture of such vases.
The Dipylon amphora is considered to be the most important work of geometric vase painting , in which the best ceramicist of his time has put all his skills. “The architecture of the vase and the structure of its parts are incomparable. Geometric art finds its richest and most perfect expression in its decoration ”. The main frieze of the vase shows a prosthesis , the laying out of a dead person, as was customary on such vases. In the framed main field, the painter depicts 19 people in the silhouette technique customary for the time the vase is set. The dead woman lies on a stretcher, nothing is withheld from the viewer. Even the sheet is lifted by the people to the left and right of the stretcher and shown over the dead person. At the head of the stretcher is a child, followed by six women. Another five women and two men stand at the foot of the bier. The child and the women put their arms on their heads as a gesture of lament. The men, recognizable by their swords and daggers, only raised one arm in mourning. There are four other people in front of the stretcher. Two women kneel, another woman and a man sit on chairs in front of the dead. As usual for the Dipylon painter, the chest of the figures forms an equilateral triangle, which is continued by the arms stretched upwards. Hands and fingers are only shown if they are important for the action. In this representation you can only see the splayed fingers on the dead person, who is also marked as deceased in this way. The deceased is identified as a woman by her skirt.
Filling ornaments are painted between the figures, integrating the scene into the rest of the decoration of the vase. In this way, they soften the contrast between the ornamental, geometric patterns and the portrayal of people, which otherwise would have looked like a foreign body. The ornaments on the belly and neck of the amphora are of the highest quality. They emphasize the structure of the vase and also adapt to the shape of the vase. In the middle of the neck, on the shoulder and in the middle of the stomach, the Dipylon painter shows an ornament that he probably invented himself, the double meander . Another innovation are the two animal friezes on the neck. They are probably based on oriental models and there possibly on gold ribbons. The upper frieze shows grazing deer, the lower ibex resting on their buckled front legs.
literature
- Thomas Mannack : Greek vase painting. An introduction . Theiss, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-8062-1743-2 , p. 94.
Web links
supporting documents
- ↑ Inventory number 804.
- ↑ Manolis Andronikos : National Museum , Ekdodike, Athens 1980, p. 60.