The KX Painter was an Attic

black-figure Black-figure pottery painting, also known as the black-figure style or black-figure ceramic ( grc, , }), is one of the styles of painting on antique Greek vases. It was especially common between the 7th and 5th centuries BCE, although there are ...

vase painter. He was active between 585 and 570 BC. Besides the KY Painter, the KX Painter was the main representative of the Comast Group, which succeeded the

Gorgon Painter The Gorgon Painter was one of the early Attic black-figure vase painters. He was active between 600 and 580 BC. His name vase, ''Dinos of the Gorgon Painter'', is currently on display in the Louvre and depicts Perseus fleeing the Gorgons. The Go ...

. His conventional name was allocated by

John Beazley Sir John Davidson Beazley, (; 13 September 1885 – 6 May 1970) was a British classical archaeologist and art historian, known for his classification of Attic vases by artistic style. He was Professor of Classical Archaeology and Art at the Un ...

. He is considered the better and chronologically somewhat earlier representative of the group. He was the first painter in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

to occasionally depict komasts on his vases, a motif adopted from Corinthian vase painting. He mainly painted '' skyphoi'', '' lekanes'', '' kothones'' and

Komast cup The Komast cup (also Comast cup) is a cup shape at the beginning of the development of Attic drinking cups. Komast cups were widespread especially in Ionia and Corinth. Like other vase painters of the time, the Attic painters were under strong in ...

s. In contrast to later representatives of the group, he still mostly painted animals, in a more careful and powerful style than the Gorgon Painter. Some mythological scenes by him are also known. Especially famous are his small-fornat mythical scenes placed within animal friezes. The KX Painter can be considered the first Attic painter to achieve a quality at par with that reached in

Corinth Corinth ( ; el, Κόρινθος, Kórinthos, ) is the successor to an ancient city, and is a former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese (region), Peloponnese, which is located in south-central Greece. Since the 2011 local government refor ...

, then the dominant centre of Greek vase painting. Imitations of his works are known from

Boeotia Boeotia ( ), sometimes Latinized as Boiotia or Beotia ( el, Βοιωτία; modern: ; ancient: ), formerly known as Cadmeis, is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Central Greece. Its capital is Livadeia, and its ...

Bibliography

: ''Attic Black-figure Vase-painters''. Oxford 1956, p. 23-28. * John Boardman: ''Schwarzfigurige Vasen aus Athen. Ein Handbuch'', von Zabern, 4. edn, Mainz 1994 (Kulturgeschichte der Antiken Welt, Vol 1) , p. 19. {{DEFAULTSORT:KX Painter Ancient Greek vase painters