Amphora (Storage Jar)
460-450 BCE
Medium
terracotta, red-figure
Dimensions
34.3 × 18.2 cm (13 1/2 × 7 1/8 in.); Diam.: 18.2 cm (7 1/8 in.)
Classification
vessel
Department
Arts of Greece, Rome, and Byzantium
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
166
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
This vase has a distinctive shape characterized by an elongated ovoid body on a thick disk foot, an offset flaring neck, an inverted lip with grooves for a lid, and handles that rise from the shoulder and curve below the height of the mouth to join the neck. The type is called a Nolan amphora, after Nola, Italy, the site where the first examples of this shape were discovered and where this example was also found. It probably contained wine, olives, or oil. Nolan amphorae are small, usually less ...
About the Artist
Achilles Painter
**The Achilles Painter** was a leading Athenian vase painter of the Classical period, active approximately from 470 to 425 BC. His conventional name derives from his name vase, a red-figure amphora (Vatican 16571) now in the Vatican Museums that depicts the hero Achilles in a pensive, armored pose, dated around 450–445 BC. As an Attic artist working in the red-figure technique, he produced works t...