The Kleophrades Painter
Michael Padgett, Princeton University

15. Shapes: Panathenaic and Pointed Amphorae

Four of his amphorae are of panathenaic shape, a type well-known to the artist as a painter of the larger black-figure prize amphorae. Like those by the Berlin Painter, they feature single figures on either side, unframed and isolated against the glossy black background; for example, Boston 10.178; ( no. 16; ARV2, 183, 9), with a youth proffering a wreath on one side and the object of his attention, a boy decked with fillets and laden with love-gifts, on the other (Illustration 90; Illustration 91).

Illustration 90

Illustration 91

Illustration 92

Illustration 93

The painter's two pointed amphorae both have multi-figure compositions. On the splendid Munich 2344 (ARV2, 182, 6), one of the his finest works, the procession of Dionysos, satyrs, and maenads winds uninterrupted around the body (Illustration 92; Illustration 93; Illustration 94; Illustration 95; Illustration 96) while on Berlin inv. 1970.5, the scene of Theseus and the Minotaur is separated from the youths on the reverse by a pair of columns.[78]

Illustration 94

Illustration 95

Illustration 96

The same approaches are used for the smaller figures on the necks, with athletes on both sides of the neck in Munich, and the neck of the Berlin vase divided between warriors arming and satyrs molesting maenads.[79]

79. The ornamental groundline of the Berlin amphora is described above; that of the Berlin amphora, which might be called a "Tau" maeander, is employed again on the calyx-krater Tarquinia RC 4196 (ARV2, 185, 35; Ferrari 1988, supra, pl. 32).