UvA-DARE (Digital Academic Repository) Athenian little-master cups Heesen, P. Publication date 2009 Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): Heesen, P. (2009). Athenian little-master cups. General rights It is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), other than for strictly personal, individual use, unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). Disclaimer/Complaints regulations If you believe that digital publication of certain material infringes any of your rights or (privacy) interests, please let the Library know, stating your reasons. In case of a legitimate complaint, the Library will make the material inaccessible and/or remove it from the website. Please Ask the Library: https://uba.uva.nl/en/contact, or a letter to: Library of the University of Amsterdam, Secretariat, Singel 425, 1012 WP Amsterdam, The Netherlands. You will be contacted as soon as possible. UvA-DARE is a service provided by the library of the University of Amsterdam (https://dare.uva.nl) Download date:30 Sep 2021 11. FINAL OBSERVATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS Based on the foregoing discussions of individual potters, painters and workshops, this chapter examines more general matters and trends. It draws, of course, mainly on the 738 cups listed in the catalogue and appendix, which are below referred to as the corpus. Often, however, reference is also made to cups in the rest of the author’s database, that is, outside the corpus. It must be kept in mind that statistics about Athenian pottery are always provisional and subject to change when new (and as yet unpublished) material becomes known; the effect can be particularly significant on our view of potters and painters whose extant, recognized work is small in number.1384 Shape and dimensions (charts 32-33, figs. 125-26) Potter Gordion cup Type B Lip-cup Band-cup Fragment1385 Total Eucheiros 11 2 13 Eucheiros’ son 1 1 Sondros 5 2 5 12 Sokles 2 5 5 4 16 Xenokles 26 8 2 36 Potter of London B 425 3 3 6 Phrynos 1 6 4 1 12 Archikles 1 1 1 3 Glaukytes 2 6 8 Exekias 5 11386 6 Taleides 7 1 8 Hermogenes 1 20 15 36 Tlempolemos 3 1 4 Kaulos 1 1 Thrax 1 1 Hischylos 2 2 Neandros 2 3 2 7 Amasis 3 3 Epitimos 8 8 Nikosthenes 1 2 1 4 Anakles 4 1 5 Nearchos 4 4 Tleson 173 24 30 227 Ergoteles 2 1 3 Centaur Painter 122 41 163 Total 10 408 123 47 541 Chart 32. Numbers of preserved cups according to the catalogued potters and type. Although most potters of little-master cups made both types, some of them may have had a preference (chart 32). A band-cup has not yet been attributed to Eucheiros, Eucheiros’s son, Sondros, Epitimos or Ergoteles, and neither Kaulos, Thrax, Hischylos nor Amasis is known to have fashioned a 1384 Consider, e.g., the recent publication of large amounts of Athenian black-figure from Gravisca (B. Iacobazzi) and the forthcoming publications of Athenian black-figure from Miletus (N. Kunisch) and the Sellada necropolis (N. Malagardis). Cf. also n. 101. 1385 These are fragments of which can not be determined whether they belong to a lip- or band-cup. Obviously, fragments of which the shape can be determined have been counted according to their shape. This applies to all charts in this chapter. The Gordion cups are only mentioned in charts concerning the corpus. 1386 It remains unclear whether band-cup 122, attributed to the Painter of Louvre F 54, who painted the lip-cups of the potter Exekias, was also fashioned by Exekias. 228 lip-cup. Furthermore, considerably more lip-cups are assigned to Xenokles, Tleson and the Centaur Painter, whereas Glaukytes has noticeably more band-cups. In the preceding chapters, the shape characteristics of the cups of individual potters have been noted, for instance the extremely delicate, early cups of Eucheiros, the very large and heavy cups of Epitimos, the curled-up feet of the cups of Neandros and associates, the fine potterwork and low, horizontal handles of Nearchos, and the small cups of both Tleson and the Centaur Painter. Yet a general overall development in both the lip-cup and the band-cup can be discerned (figs. 125-26 on the next pages). Probably the most obvious change is seen in the foot: starting as somewhat trumpet-like, with a thin, rounded base edge, the stems tends to get more slender and higher, as the base becomes sturdier, with a sharp, high edge. The standard little-master foot emerged between c. 555/50 BC and was generally in use from about 550 BC. Over the years, the bowl becomes more shallow and the handles, which are at first rather close to horizontal, curve up more, and the lip tends to stand more upright.1387 Lip-cup diameter Band-cup diameter Extremely small smaller than 12.0 2 (0.3 %) smaller than 12.0 10 (1.0 %) Extra small 12.0 - 13.9 86 (12.7 %) 12.0 - 14.9 73 (7.7 %) Small 14.0 - 16.9 206 (30.5 %) 15.0 - 18.9 50 (5.3 %) Medium 17.0 - 20.9 152 (22.5 %) 19.0 - 22.9 684 (72.2 %) Large 21.0 - 24.9 211 (31.2 %) 23.0 - 26.9 51 (5.4 %) Extra large 25.0 - 29.9 15 (2.2 %) 27.0 - 34.9 74 (7.8 %) Extremely large 30.0 and larger 4 (0.6 %) 35.0 and larger 6 (0.6 %) Chart 33. Diameters of little-master cups in the author’s database.1388 An overall trend in size is not evident. It seems that some potters threw extra large or extremely large lip-cups only, like Epitimos, and others shaped only small or extra small cups of both types, like Xenokles. The section on provenances below considers the sizes of lip- and band-cups in relation to their archaeological contexts with a view to determining whether the different sizes may be indicative of varied usage. The question remains whether the potters and painters of little-master cups specialized in them. Some influence from the painters of Siana cups has been cited above, especially concerning iconography. Furthermore, some Siana potters experimented with the lip-cup shape, as mentioned in the Introduction, and some little-master potters are known to have made Sianas (e.g., Exekias, Taleides, Hermogenes). Finally, the influence by the Heidelberg Painter on the Amasis Painter seems to indicate that the latter was at least very familiar with the former’s work and may have collaborated with him early in his career, as some commentators suggest. Otherwise, close links with Siana workshops have not been recognized. As explained, Eucheiros may have taken over his father’s pottery establishment and collaborated with two other potter-painters, Sondros and Sokles, although it can not be excluded that each of the three ran his own operation. Their only (recognized) work comprises small vessels.1389 Xenokles was responsible for the majority of the cups from his workshop and probably employed a small number of craftsmen: Potter and Painter of London B 425, Mule Painter and a few assistant painters, each represented by a small output.1390 Other shapes are not known to have originated in this pottery establishment. 1387 Clearly, the bowls of lip-cups by Tleson (e.g., 289 and 343) tend to be deeper than their contemporaries (fig. 125). 1388 Obviously, the many small fragments of which the diameter could not be reconstructed, are not counted. 1389 Besides drinking cups, a votive plaque in Athens has recently been attributed to the Sokles Painter by H. Mommsen (NM Acropolis 2526; Mommsen 2005a, 33, pl. 13.5). 1390 It is impossible to determine if the ‘assistants’ made up for their limited output by producing, e.g., black ware. 229 BC 560 1 __________________________________________________________________________________ 555 3 256 264 ___________________________________________________________________________ 550 235 289 __________________________________________________________________________________ 545 88 127 __________________________________________________________________________________ 540 343 __________________________________________________________________________________ 535 178 548 __________________________________________________________________________________ 530 201 __________________________________________________________________________________ 525 Fig. 125. Chronological overview of lip-cups, 560/525 BC.1391 1391 560/55: 1 (Eucheiros). 555/50: 3 (Eucheiros), 256 (Anakles), 264 (Nearchos). About 550: 235 (Epitimos). 550/45: 289 (Tleson). 550/40: 88 (Potter of London B 425), 127 (Taleides). 545/35: 343 (Tleson). 540/30: 178 (Sakonides), 548 (Centaur Painter). 535/25: 201 (Stroibos Painter). As noted above, the depth of the bowl of the heavily damaged cup 1 is probably too shallow due to incorrect restoration. Unfortunately, a drawing of cup 2 is not available. A drawing of the contemporaneous cup signed by Gageos (700), is found in Buranelli 1997, 123. 230 BC 560 ___________________________________________________________________________ 555 266 ___________________________________________________________________________________ 550 99 136 __________________________________________________________________________________ 545 91 110 210 __________________________________________________________________________________ 540 324 227 __________________________________________________________________________________ 535 521 198 __________________________________________________________________________________ 530 525 644 __________________________________________________________________________________ 520 Fig. 126. Chronological overview of band-cups, 555/20 BC.1392 1392 555/50: 266 (Tleson). About 550: 99 (Phrynos). 550/45: 136 (Hermogenes). 550/40: 91 (Potter of London B 425), 110 (Glaukytes), 210 (Neandros). 545/35: 324 (Tleson). About 540: 227 (Amasis Painter). 540/30: 521 (Centaur Painter). 535/30: 198 (Hischylos). 520s: 644 (Centaur Painter). 231 Also Hermogenes, it seems, headed a specialized workshop which produced smaller shapes only.1393 Several other potters and painters were influenced, at least, by Hermogenes and employed possibly in his workshop, each of whom has limited preserved pottery. Another specialized workshop was that of Nearchos, all the more so after Tleson took over the management.