Phoenix Ancient Art S.A.

The white-ground surface of this alabastron provided the Syriskos Painter with an opportunity to create a simple, well-designed composition with an economy of line. The Syriskos Painter demonstrates his painting abilities with a subtle contrast between light, dilute glaze lines that delineate the figure, and those of dark, black glaze used for the border of her himation and the vessels she holds, creating a dynamic, if monochromatic figural scene. This particular white-ground alabastron is among his finest, both in drawing and figural composition.

This alabastron, a slender ovoid form with a disk rim, is in a wonderful state of preservation: intact and with only minor flaking of the delicate white ground surface. It is decorated on the front with the figure of a woman drawn in outline in both dilute and black glaze that creates a pleasing visual composition, contrasting with the reserved clay color of the rim, the vessel’s white-ground, and the black glaze areas and bands decorating the neck and rounded bottom of the vessel. In her left hand she carries another type of container for scented oil, called an exaleiptron, also known as a plemochoe. She wears a finely pleated chiton and is wrapped in an elegant, black bordered himation. Dots decorate the border of the himation, which adds a delicate detail to the garment. Her head is covered with an undecorated sakkos. She moves to the right where a palm tree and small stool are depicted on the opposite side of the vase.

The Syriskos Painter is named after the potter, Syriskos, meaning “little Syrian,” who made an unusual knucklebone shaped vase (astragalos) for this painter. The Syriskos Painter also produced a large number of white-ground alabastra, the Group of the Negro Alabastra, which depicted blacks and occasionally amazons. The palm tree, similar to the one depicted on this alabastron, was a common feature on the Syriskos Painter’s white-ground alabastra, especially those of the Group of the Negro Alabastra. A painter whose work spanned the transitional period between late Archaic and early Classical, he was called “brother” of the Copenhagen Painter by J. D. Beazley, who sometimes found it difficult to distinguish between them. New evidence has established that the Copenhagen Painter was, in fact, the potter Syriskos.

Robertson, M. The Art of Vase-Painting in Classical Athens. Cambridge 1992, pp. 135 – 142.

Reeder, E. D. Pandora: Women in Classical Greece. Exhibition catalogue. Walters Art Gallery. Princeton 1995, pp. 379 – 380.

Beazley, J. D. Paralipomena: Additions to Attic Black-Figure Vase-Painters and to Attic Red-Figure Vase-Painters. 2^nd edition. Oxford 1971, p. 352, ARV² 264.58-65.

Neils, J. “The Group of the Negro Alabastra: A Study in Motif Transferal” Antike Kunst 23 (1980): 13-23.

Published:

The Christos G. Bastis Collection, Sotheby’s, NY, Dec. 9, 1999, no. 136.