The Dipylon Amphora (also known as Athens 804) is a large Ancient Greek painted vase, made around 760-750 BC, and is now held by the National Archaeological Museum, Athens. Discovered at the Dipylon cemetery, this stylistic vessel belonging to the Geometric period is credited to an unknown artist: the Dipylon Master. The amphora is covered entirely in ornamental and geometric patterns, as well as human figures and animal-filled motifs. It is also structurally precise, being that it is as tall as it is wide. These decorations use up every inch of space, and are painted on using the black-figure technique to create the silhouetted shapes. Inspiration for the Greek vase derived not only from its intended purpose as a funerary vessel, but also from artistic remnants of Mycenaean civilization prior to its collapse around 1100 BC. The Dipylon Amphora signifies the passing of an aristocratic woman, who is illustrated along with the procession of her funeral consisting of mourning family and friends situated along the belly of the vase. The woman's nobility and status is further emphasized by the plethora of detail and characterized animals, all which remain in bands circling the neck and belly of the amphora.
Discovery
The Dipylon Amphora was found intact on an aristocratic gravesite at the Dipylon cemetery, near the Dipylon Gate, in Kerameikos, the ancient potters' quarter on the northwest side of the ancient city of Athens. The cemetery is referred to as such, for that it was located near the Dipylon, or "double gate", which was also the city gate.
Attribution
It is one of around 50 examples amongst the Dipylon gravesites attributed to an unknown artist given the notname of "the Dipylon Master". Also known as the Dipylon Painter, the Dipylon Master is one of the earliest individually identifiable Greek artists, who specialized in not just large funerary vases, but pitchers, high rimmed bowls, tankards, as well as giant and standard sized oinochoai. This artist was therefore named for their supposed work on many stylized pieces found within these graves that have been ascribed to the same creator and workshop by multiple historians.
The main characteristics of the Dipylon Painter's works include characteristic human figures where geometric shapes are utilized including triangular torsos that narrow at the waist, concave-outlined chests, prominent chins, and wasp-like legs that are thinner towards the feet. These figures are silhouetted, as well as the animal motifs, and are all deliberately placed as to not overlap one another, emphasizing the theme of pattern by the painter.
Description
The amphora was made on a potter's wheel in three sections that were joined to form a single large vessel, standing at over five feet tall (1.55m).The artist's construction was intended to fit the specific proportions of having the same height and width, and possessing a neck that's half of the body's length. The base has a hole to allow libations to be poured for the dead, and it has small handles on the shoulders of the ovoid body.
The supposed purpose for the shape of the Dipylon Amphora potentially stems from the artist's usage of the composition for the decorated registers on the piece. A specialist of ancient ceramics, Dr. Thomas Mannack, indicates that the style of the Geometric period derived certain aspects of the Protogeometric and intertwined new features, hence the separated bands on the neck and body of the pottery. The geometric patterns are what define the style, with an array of shapes within and around the friezes: including battlements, concentric circles, meanders, and key patterns. The entirety of the vase, excluding the main frieze, is ornamented with precisely balanced patterns utilizing light and dark pigments; these decorative forms including meanders have been proposed by multiple scholars to be the invention of the very Dipylon Master.