9 Reconstructing the Scale of Athenian Vase-Painting Workshops
-
Philip Sapirstein
Abstract
This paper builds upon recent quantitative research on the Athenian pottery industry which demonstrated that the number of vases attributed to a painter is strongly correlated to that individual’s years of activity. It considers the broader question of workshop staffing in light of this new approach to painters. This is a more difficult problem since we possess fewer means of extracting individualized information about potters and their lesser-skilled co-workers. It reviews the evidence for studying potters - some of whom have been identified through poietes-inscriptions and shape analysis - alongside other methods for modelling workshop production, including ethnographic analogy, energetics, and economic analysis. A generalized model is developed and applied to the workshops around the potter Nikosthenes and the Penthesilea Painter, two of the larger operations of the Late Archaic and Classical periods. The Nikosthenes workshop appears to have employed a smaller group of artisans than previously believed, and the Penthesilean group, while certainly larger, is too ill-defined to determine the precise scale of operations.
Abstract
This paper builds upon recent quantitative research on the Athenian pottery industry which demonstrated that the number of vases attributed to a painter is strongly correlated to that individual’s years of activity. It considers the broader question of workshop staffing in light of this new approach to painters. This is a more difficult problem since we possess fewer means of extracting individualized information about potters and their lesser-skilled co-workers. It reviews the evidence for studying potters - some of whom have been identified through poietes-inscriptions and shape analysis - alongside other methods for modelling workshop production, including ethnographic analogy, energetics, and economic analysis. A generalized model is developed and applied to the workshops around the potter Nikosthenes and the Penthesilea Painter, two of the larger operations of the Late Archaic and Classical periods. The Nikosthenes workshop appears to have employed a smaller group of artisans than previously believed, and the Penthesilean group, while certainly larger, is too ill-defined to determine the precise scale of operations.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgements V
- Editorial Board VI
- Contents VII
-
Introduction
- 1 The A.G.A.T.H.O.C.L.E.S. Project and Beyond: Archaeology of Gesture and Material Consciousness in Ceramic Studies 1
-
Section I: The Shapes of Clay: Manufacturing and Local Traditions
- 2 What Makes Aeginetan Cooking Pots So Special? Technological Choices in Ancient Aegina’s Pottery Production 13
- 3 Production Relationships between Attic Black-glazed and Figured Pottery 25
- 4 Potters in South Italian Red-Figured Workshops: An Overview 35
- 5 Clay Crafting, Hand Modeling: A Coroplastic Perspective. Case-Studies from Sicily and Magna Graecia 49
- 6 The Manufacture of “Thickened-edge” Roof Tiles between Unintentional Traces and Intentional Marks: The Case of the Hellenistic-Roman Temple in Agrigento 69
- 7 Teanum Ware Pottery from Loc. Cappella Marcella (Castrocielo, Frosinone) 79
-
Section II: Populating the Ancient Pottery Industry
- 8 Timing Euxitheos and Euphronios: Energetics and the Scale of Production in the Athenian Potters’ Quarters 91
- 9 Reconstructing the Scale of Athenian Vase-Painting Workshops 111
- 10 Potters’ Tools at the Kerameikos of Selinous 125
- 11 Pottery Production in Pompeii, Step by Step: From Excavations to Experimental Archaeology 133
- 12 Republican Kilns at Pollentia-Urbs Salvia: An Interdisciplinary Approach to the Study of a Local Ceramic Production 147
-
Section III: Workshop Recipies and Craft Production Systems: Technologies Magnified
- 13 Magnific Magnification at Locri Epizephyrii: An Insight into the Surface of Western Red-figured Vases 157
- 14 Examining the Red and Black Surfaces of Apulian Red-figured Pottery: Raw Materials and Technological Features 173
- 15 Reconstructing Pottery Production in Archaic Rome and Latium: Integrating Traditional Approach and Archaeometry 183
- 16 Black-glazed Pottery from Locri Epizephyrii: New Evidence from the Technological Study of the Local Hellenistic Production 193
- 17 Roof Tiles with the ΣΩΣΗΝΟΣ Stamp: Calabrian Production in Sicily 199
- 18 Preliminary Observations on the Interdisciplinary Project of Roman Amphorae from the Territory of Ostia 207
- 19 A True Melting Pot: The Production of Cooking Ware at Fregellae, Southern Lazio (Italy), between the 4th and the 2nd Centuries B.C. 213
-
Section IV: From Invisible to Visible: Artisanal Gestures, Ontologies, and Ceramic Networks
- 20 From Micro to Macro and Vice Versa: Technology Studies and Network Analysis on Red-figured Vase Production between Sicily and Campania 223
- 21 The Craft of Centuripe Vases: Techniques, Colors, Patterns 241
- 22 Kerameikos.org and Digital Accessibility for Ancient Greek Vases 255
- 23 New Perspectives in the Study of Western Greek Amphorae 269
- 24 Economic Principles in the Roman Economy: Modelling Mass Ceramic Production and Trade 285
- 25 Looking for the Lost Decoration of an Apulian Volute Krater by the Painter of Sèvres 1 303
-
Section V: Craftspeople’s Mobility and Knowledge Transfer: Distribution and Statistics
- 26 Technology Transfer and Mobility During the Period of Greek Migrations to Italy (8th to 6th Centuries B.C.): Insights from Coarse ware Pottery 313
- 27 Regional Markets and Distribution Patterns of Laconian Pottery in Crete and Beyond: The Aeginetan Hypothesis (6th–5th Centuries B.C.) 327
- 28 Consumers and Vases in Early South Italian Vase-Painting 347
- 29 Hybridity and Exchange Models in Campania: The Case of Ionian Cups from Ancient Cumae 357
- 30 East Greek Inspirations on Attic Black-figured Pottery: The Implications for Clients and Trade Networks 365
-
Epilogue
- 31 Greek and Roman Ceramic Producers: Operational Knowledge and Networked Mobilities 373
- List of Contributors 381
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgements V
- Editorial Board VI
- Contents VII
-
Introduction
- 1 The A.G.A.T.H.O.C.L.E.S. Project and Beyond: Archaeology of Gesture and Material Consciousness in Ceramic Studies 1
-
Section I: The Shapes of Clay: Manufacturing and Local Traditions
- 2 What Makes Aeginetan Cooking Pots So Special? Technological Choices in Ancient Aegina’s Pottery Production 13
- 3 Production Relationships between Attic Black-glazed and Figured Pottery 25
- 4 Potters in South Italian Red-Figured Workshops: An Overview 35
- 5 Clay Crafting, Hand Modeling: A Coroplastic Perspective. Case-Studies from Sicily and Magna Graecia 49
- 6 The Manufacture of “Thickened-edge” Roof Tiles between Unintentional Traces and Intentional Marks: The Case of the Hellenistic-Roman Temple in Agrigento 69
- 7 Teanum Ware Pottery from Loc. Cappella Marcella (Castrocielo, Frosinone) 79
-
Section II: Populating the Ancient Pottery Industry
- 8 Timing Euxitheos and Euphronios: Energetics and the Scale of Production in the Athenian Potters’ Quarters 91
- 9 Reconstructing the Scale of Athenian Vase-Painting Workshops 111
- 10 Potters’ Tools at the Kerameikos of Selinous 125
- 11 Pottery Production in Pompeii, Step by Step: From Excavations to Experimental Archaeology 133
- 12 Republican Kilns at Pollentia-Urbs Salvia: An Interdisciplinary Approach to the Study of a Local Ceramic Production 147
-
Section III: Workshop Recipies and Craft Production Systems: Technologies Magnified
- 13 Magnific Magnification at Locri Epizephyrii: An Insight into the Surface of Western Red-figured Vases 157
- 14 Examining the Red and Black Surfaces of Apulian Red-figured Pottery: Raw Materials and Technological Features 173
- 15 Reconstructing Pottery Production in Archaic Rome and Latium: Integrating Traditional Approach and Archaeometry 183
- 16 Black-glazed Pottery from Locri Epizephyrii: New Evidence from the Technological Study of the Local Hellenistic Production 193
- 17 Roof Tiles with the ΣΩΣΗΝΟΣ Stamp: Calabrian Production in Sicily 199
- 18 Preliminary Observations on the Interdisciplinary Project of Roman Amphorae from the Territory of Ostia 207
- 19 A True Melting Pot: The Production of Cooking Ware at Fregellae, Southern Lazio (Italy), between the 4th and the 2nd Centuries B.C. 213
-
Section IV: From Invisible to Visible: Artisanal Gestures, Ontologies, and Ceramic Networks
- 20 From Micro to Macro and Vice Versa: Technology Studies and Network Analysis on Red-figured Vase Production between Sicily and Campania 223
- 21 The Craft of Centuripe Vases: Techniques, Colors, Patterns 241
- 22 Kerameikos.org and Digital Accessibility for Ancient Greek Vases 255
- 23 New Perspectives in the Study of Western Greek Amphorae 269
- 24 Economic Principles in the Roman Economy: Modelling Mass Ceramic Production and Trade 285
- 25 Looking for the Lost Decoration of an Apulian Volute Krater by the Painter of Sèvres 1 303
-
Section V: Craftspeople’s Mobility and Knowledge Transfer: Distribution and Statistics
- 26 Technology Transfer and Mobility During the Period of Greek Migrations to Italy (8th to 6th Centuries B.C.): Insights from Coarse ware Pottery 313
- 27 Regional Markets and Distribution Patterns of Laconian Pottery in Crete and Beyond: The Aeginetan Hypothesis (6th–5th Centuries B.C.) 327
- 28 Consumers and Vases in Early South Italian Vase-Painting 347
- 29 Hybridity and Exchange Models in Campania: The Case of Ionian Cups from Ancient Cumae 357
- 30 East Greek Inspirations on Attic Black-figured Pottery: The Implications for Clients and Trade Networks 365
-
Epilogue
- 31 Greek and Roman Ceramic Producers: Operational Knowledge and Networked Mobilities 373
- List of Contributors 381