The Comast Group (also Komast Group) was a group of

Attic An attic (sometimes referred to as a ''loft'') is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building; an attic may also be called a ''sky parlor'' or a garret. Because attics fill the space between the ceiling of the ...

vase painters in the black-figure style. The works of its members are dated to between 585 and 570/560 BC. The artists of the Komast Group are seen as the successors of the Gorgon Painter. Its most important representatives were the KX Painter and the slightly later

KY Painter The KY Painter was an Attic black-figure vase painter. He was active between 585 and 570 BC. Besides the KX Painter, the KY Painter was the main representative of the Komast Group, which succeeded the Gorgon Painter. His conventional name was all ...

. They painted vases shapes that had been newly introduced to

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

or that had not previously been painted. Especially commonly painted by them were '’ kothon’’ and '' lekanis''. From

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

, then still the centre of Greek vase painting, they adopted the

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 Corinth ( ; el, Κόρινθος, Kórinthos, ) is the successor to an ...

and the '' skyphos'' (known as ''

kotyle :''The cotylae are also features on the proximal end of the radius and of the ulna in birds.'' In classical antiquity, the cotyla or cotyle () was a measure of capacity among the Greeks and Romans: by the former it was also called ; by the latte ...

''. The KY Painter introduced the column krater. Also popular at the time was the ''

kantharos A ''kantharos'' ( grc, κάνθαρος) or cantharus is a type of ancient Greek cup used for drinking. Although almost all surviving examples are in Greek pottery, the shape, like many Greek vessel types, probably originates in metalwork. In ...

''. The group adopted the Corinthian habit of depicting komasts, after which the group is named. It provided the group’s most commonly painted motif. The komast scenes permit Attic artists for the first time to reach the artistic levels of middle-ranking Corinthian vases. While the older KX Painter still mostly painted animals and only the occasional komast scene, the ''komos'' became a standard motif for the KY painter and further inferior successors. It is not clear to what extent the painters of the group really cooperated. It is possible that they all worked in the same workshop. The group influenced later Attic vase painters, including the Heidelberg Painter. Works by the Komast Group were not only found in Attica, but appear to have been exported widely. Vases and fragments have been found at many sites, including Naukratis,

Rhodes Rhodes (; el, Ρόδος , translit=Ródos ) is the largest and the historical capital of the Dodecanese islands of Greece. Administratively, the island forms a separate municipality within the Rhodes regional unit, which is part of the S ...

, Central

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Taras Taras may refer to: Geography * Taras (ancient city) of Magna Graecia, modern-day Taranto * Taras, Iran, a village in Tehran province * Taras, Łódź Voivodeship, Poland * Taraš, a village in Vojvodina, Serbia * Taras, Kazakhstan, a village in ...

, and even

Bibliography

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 ...

: ''Attic Black-figure Vase-painters''. Oxford 1956, p. 23–37. * John Boardman: ''Schwarzfigurige Vasen aus Athen. Ein Handbuch'', von Zabern, 4. edn, Mainz 1994 ( Kulturgeschichte der Antiken Welt, Vol 1) , p. 19. {{Greek vase painters, state=collapsed Anonymous artists of antiquity Ancient Greek vase painters