The Kleophrades Painter
Michael Padgett, Princeton University

20. Shapes: Stamnoi

Most of the painter's stamnoi are later works, dating to the 470s; the sole early example is unpublished (Louvre C 10748; ARV2, 187, 55). All of them have groundlines of key-pattern, except for one with egg-pattern, London E 441 (ARV2, 187, 57). The latter is the only fifth-century stamnos with neither a foot nor a base, the tapered lower body only flaring slightly at its termination.[101] On one side Theseus dispatches the Minotaur and on the other side kills Procrustes, a subject encountered on both early and late cups by the painter (ARV2, 191, 104 and 192, 107; see below). On another stamnos, Philadelphia L-64-185 (ARV2, 187, 62), Theseus' capture of the Bull of Marathon is contrasted with Herakles' victory over the Nemean Lion (Illustration 126 and Illustration 127).

Illustration 126

Illustration 127

Both heroes were favored by vase-painters of the period, and it was not uncommon for them to be placed on opposite sides of a vase. The Philadelphia stamnos and several others by the painter were assigned by Philippaki to her Class of the Louvre Kaineus Stamnos: broad and heavy, with a thick disk foot and a mouth of distinctive profile (Illustration 128). [102] The Class is named for the scene on another vase by the Kleophrades Painter, Louvre G 55 (ARV2, 187, 58), with Kaineus being hammered into the ground by two tree-wielding centaurs (Illustration 129). [103]

Illustration 128

Illustration 129

Centaurs appear on another stamnos of this type, Tarquinia 711 (ARV2, 187, 59), with Herakles and Pholos at the pithos and two centaurs bringing up amphorae to be filled.[104]

A stamnos in Rome is of a different type, with a simple ring foot and a band of egg-pattern around the rim.[105] The subject may be another one drawn from the Trojan War: Achilles saying good-bye to Patroklos. The athletes and trainers on another late stamnos — Florence V 15 (ARV2, 187, 60) — show the continuing appeal of a subject which appears on works from nearly every period of the artist's career.[106]

103. For the Louvre stamnos, see J. Boardman, "Centaurs and Flying Rocks," ÖJh 3 (1984) 123-26. On the painter's only skyphos, Florence 4218 (ARV2, 191, 102), the centaurs attack not Kaineus, but Iris.

104. Although also of the Class of the Louvre Kaineus Stamnos, this vase has a unique spreading foot; see Philippaki 1967, 50, and Ferrari 1988, pls. 34-36.