Klazomenian vase painting (also Clazomenean vase painting) was a regional style of ancient Greek vase painting, belonging to the East Greek representations of that form of art. By the middle of the 6th century BC (c. 550–530 BC), the workshops of

Klazomenai Klazomenai ( grc, Κλαζομεναί) or Clazomenae was an ancient Greek city on the coast of Ionia and a member of the Ionian League. It was one of the first cities to issue silver coinage. Its ruins are now located in the modern town Urla n ...

mainly painted amphorae and ''

hydria The hydria ( el, ὑδρία; plural hydriai) is a form of Greek pottery from between the late Geometric period (7th century BC) and the Hellenistic period (3rd century BC). The etymology of the word hydria was first noted when it was stamped o ...

i'', as well as deep bowls, usually with large, rather angular figures. The vessels are not very carefully made. Popular motifs are circles of dancing women, and animals. The leading workshops were those of the Tübingen Painter, the Petrie Painter and the Urla Group. The majority of the vases were found at

Naukratis Naucratis or Naukratis (Ancient Greek: , "Naval Command"; Egyptian: , , , Coptic: ) was a city and trading-post in ancient Egypt, located on the Canopic (western-most) branch of the Nile river, south-east of the Mediterranean sea and the city ...

and at Tell Deffenneh, a site abandoned in 525 BC. Their origin was initially unclear, but the archaeologist was able to determine it through comparison with the imagery on the so-called

Klazomenian sarcophagi Klazomenian Sarcophagi (also Clazomenian Sarcophagi or Klazomenai Sarcophagi) are a type of ancient Greek sarcophagus named after the Ionian Greek city of Klazomenai, where most examples were found. They are made of coarse clay in shades of bro ...

. The pots were often decorated with added plastic women's masks. Mythological scenes are rare. Popular decorative motifs are scale ornaments, rows of white dots and stiff dancing figures. Singular and unusual is the depiction of a herald in front of a king and queen. Men are usually marked by massive spade-shaped beards. Since around 600 BC and until c. 520 BC, Clazomenai probably produced the rosette cup, successor shape to the East Greek bird cup.

Bibliography

Thomas Mannack Thomas Mannack (born in 1958) is a German classical archaeologist. Mannack obtained his Doctorate in 1992 with at the University of Kiel. The thema of his dissertation was ''Beazleys spätere und späteste Manieristen''. He is a specialist in ...

: ''Griechische Vasenmalerei. Eine Einführung''. Theiss, Stuttgart 2002, p. 81f., 90-94, 134f. . * Matthias Steinhart: ''Schwarzfigurige Vasenmalerei II. Ausserattisch''. In: Der Neue Pauly, vol. 11, cols. 276-281. {{Greek vase painting Ancient Greek vase-painting styles