85-98

Alabastron by the Euergides painter

• Τζάχου-Αλεξανδρή,  Όλγα

The alabastron published here was found in a tomb in 1966, during the digging of a ditch at theintersection of Serron and Spyrou Patsi Streets. The group of tombs discovered here belongs to the cemetery that extended along the side of the ancient street leading to the sacred gate to Plato’sThe vase is now in the storeroom of the III Ephorate of Antiquities and bears the number 4374. It is 0.161 m. high. The scene is drawn from the life in his women’s quarters, and consists of a female figure on either side (A and B), with floral decoration on the narrow sides beneath the handles. The lack of inscriptions, symbols, or any other defining feature reveals the painter’s intent to produce a scene of generalised content. The interpretation of the representation on this alabastron is of necessity, therefore, confined to describing it as a conversation between two women, or more specifically as a visit by one woman to the house of another, without reference to the spe cific occasion.The shape of the alabastron from Serron Street has the same proportions as the alabastron from the National Archaeological Museum, Athens, no. 1740, by Paseas (the Cerberus Painter), which dates from the decade 520-510 BC.In terms of the arrangement of the composition and decoration, the artist drew his inspiration from his earlier colleague Psiax. The separation of the images on the two sides of an alabastron by bands of palmettes or other linear ornamentation is also found in the alabastra of the Paidikos Group. The Athens alabastron is attributed by the present writer to the Euergides Painter, and is assigned amongst the earlier works of the artist, in the years 515-510.The Euergides Painter belongs to the second generation of red-figure artists and is contemporary with the Pioneers Group. His artistic activity is placed between 515 and 500 BC. The painter’s oeuvre reveals the influence of the art and achievements of the earlier artist Psiax, and also the contemp orary, though slightly older Oltos Painter. There is great similarity between the style of the painter and the drawing of the Delos Painter. Similarities in the linear rendering can also be detected with the works of other contemporary painters, such as Pheidippos and the younger Pasiades Painter. The Euergides Painter dedicated some of his vases on the Acropolis, and will have been regarded by his contemporaries as a good, technically skilled artist. The majority of the vases created by the painter were exported to Western markets.The attribution of the Athens alabastron no. 4347 to the Euergides Painter offers a reasonable explanation of the similarity observable with style of the Paidikos Group, is therefore due to the influence exercised by the painter’s manner on younger artists, who also painted alabastra.

• History and Archaeology

• Αρχαιολογία
• Τέχνη
• Decorative arts

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