The Kleophrades Painter
Michael Padgett, Princeton University

23. Provenances of His Works

The Kleophrades Painter was a great artist, but like all Attic vase-painters, he was probably a man of humble status, possibly even a slave, who worked with his hands for a living. He and his fellow vase-painters toiled to produce painted pottery not only for domestic consumption but also for export to foreign markets, particularly Italy. A relatively large percentage of the vases attributed to him, some 82%, have known provenances. Of these, over half (54%) were found in Italy: 43% in Etruria and 11% in South Italy and Sicily. The rest were found in Greece, the vast majority in Athens or Attica.[124] Of those from Etruria, well over half are from Vulci (63%), including not only most of his early works with provenances, but a few late works as well.[125] A few works, both early and late, have been found at Tarquinia and Cerveteri, and a few others at Chiusi and Viterbo. The relatively small number of pieces from Greek southern Italy and Sicily attests the continued dominance of the Etruscan market during most of the painter's career, a balance that shifted in the following decades. The large number of pieces from Athens may indicate that our appreciation for the painter's talents was shared by his compatriots, who purchased his works for dedication on the Acropolis and for inclusion among the goods buried with their kinsmen in the Kerameikos.

124. My count is 40 from Etruria, 5 each from Sicily and South Italy (including Nola and Salerno), 38 from Athens or Attica, two from Corinth, and one each from Delos (Rheneia) and Kamiros).

125. Vulci also predominates among the Etruscan provenances of the Berlin Painter, perhaps indicating a Vulcian taste for pots over cups rather than a connection between the two workshops.