Phoenix Ancient Art S.A.

This striking and well-preserved Athenian black-figure neck-amphora is signed in bold black letters by the potter Pamphaios: ΦΑΝΦΑΙΟΣ ΜΕΠΟΙΕΣΝ ("Pamphaios made me"). The underside of the foot of the amphora is marked with a graffito in the form of an alpha and lambda: AV. There are over sixty vases with the signature of Pamphaios, attributed to a variety of painters. Most are cups, and only a few are on large pots. As many as fifty are red-figure while only a dozen or so are black-figure. Pamphaios seems to have taken over the workshop founded by the potter Nikosthenes, whose own signature appears on even more vases of the preceding generation, most of them black-figure. It is debated whether Nikosthenes and Pamphaios were actual potters or instead were the owners of the workshop, which was known for its openness to innovative techniques and new pottery forms, some of which were clearly designed to appeal to the tastes of customers in Etruria. Among the most distinctive shapes produced in the workshop was the Nikosthenic amphora, named for the frequency with which examples were signed by Nikosthenes. These copied the form of a popular Etruscan bucchero shape, with a tapering body, trumpet-shaped foot, tall neck, and broad, flattened handles, the latter springing from a ribbed frieze running around the shoulder to merge seamlessly with the vessel's wide flaring rim. In the succeeding generation, "sub-Nikosthenic" amphorae of various types continued to be made, but in fewer numbers. This vase can be assigned to the Class of Cabinet de Médailles 218, which differs from the Nikosthenic amphora in omitting the shoulder frieze and replacing the flat handles with a triple-reeded variety. The ornament beneath the handles resembles that of standard neck-amphorae of the last quarter of the sixth century, with coiling tendrils terminating in symmetrically placed black palmettes that frame the two figure scenes. A band of black and red tongues circles the upper shoulder below the fillet at the base of the neck. Black rays spring from the red fillet separating the foot and body, and above these a broad band of key pattern provides a ground line for the figures. The spreading foot has a reserved edge and a slightly concave upper surface. Black stripes run down the ribs of the handles and around the edge of the lip, the top of which is decorated with two pairs of preening panthers. On either side of the tall, concave neck, a satyr dances in pursuit of a white-skinned nymph, who is dressed in a belted gown decorated with white dots and red and black stripes. The nymph on the reverse also wears a goat skin (nebris).

The subject is the same on either side: the god Apollo is playing the kithara before a goddess, possibly his mother Leto but more probably his sister Artemis. Apollo is dressed the same on either side, in an ankle-length chiton and a colorful red-and-black striped himation, its hem decorated with incised zigzags. The himation hangs in nearly equal length down his front and back, like a poncho. On the obverse side, where Pamphaios's signature is written vertically on either side of Apollo, the god wears an incised wreath and his hair is simply drawn. On the reverse, however, the wreath is replaced by a fillet of added red, and the hair over his face and nape is rendered as a mass of carefully incised curls. On the reverse he looks down slightly, while on the obverse his head is raised. In both cases he holds the heavy instrument level by means of a sash around his left wrist, the ends of which dangle to one side. With the fingers of his left hand he touches the strings, while the right hand clutches a plektron, a heavy pick for striking the strings. The arms of the kithara are painted white.

On the obverse, Artemis flexes both arms but holds them low, while on the reverse she has raised her right hand as though in greeting. In both cases she wears a tall polos crown decorated with a red stripe and incised running spirals. Both goddesses wear long chitons, and over these are worn a second garment, which differs in treatment. The Artemis on the reverse wears a peplos, the front of which is tucked under a belt to pull up the hem in zigzag folds, revealing the chiton underneath. The folds of the peplos, in alternating red and black, are the same on both the lower body and on the overfold that extends to her waist. The goddess on the obverse wears a similar garment over her chiton, but the overfold is decorated with a grid of incised squares and circles, while the lower part terminates just below the knees in a straight hem, like an ependytes, another type of garment, quite distinct from a peplos. Both goddesses have long black hair that falls in tresses onto their shoulders, and their flesh is rendered in added white slip, slightly worn in places to reveal the black slip underneath.

The Euphiletos Painter decorated a variety of large vase shapes, including some of the finest Panathenaic prize amphorae. His drawing could be lose and even careless, but at other times, as here, he was fussily precise, laboring particularly over the incision of Apollo’s features, as well as his hair and hands. For these details, the closest parallels are on a pair of hydriai in Paris and London, both also signed by Pamphaios as potter. Apollo and Artemis are again featured on the otherwise unattributed name-vase of the Class of Cabinet des Médailles 218, but that vase has a different foot and flat handles. A closer parallel is an amphora of this Class in Basel, also with Apollo playing the kithara before Artemis, which has triple handles and an identical foot.

Bibliography:

Beazley, J. D. Attic Black-Figure Vase-Painters. Oxford 1956, pp. 321-326.

Immerwahr, H. R. “The Signatures of Pamphaios,” American Journal of Archaeology 88 (1984): 341-352.

Tosto, V. The Black-figure Pottery Signed NIKOSTHENESEPOIESEN. Amsterdam 1999, 35-37, pls. 49-50.