Pamphaios was an

Attic An attic (sometimes referred to as a '' loft'') is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building. It is also known as a ''sky parlor'' or a garret. Because they fill the space between the ceiling of a building's t ...

potter active around the end of the 6th century BC. Pamphaios was the successor of

Nikosthenes Nikosthenes was a potter of Greek black- and red-figure pottery in the time window 550–510 BC. He signed as the potter on over 120 black-figure vases, but only nine red-figure. Most of his vases were painted by someone else, called Painter N ...

in that artist's workshop, and thus took over from one of the most influential and creative potters of antiquity. He probably took over the workshop before 510 BC and continued the tradition of his predecessor by producing typical shapes the latter had developed, such as the Nikosthenic amphora, the Nikosthenic pyxis or the Chalkidian style cup. At times, he developed these shapes further. Unlike Nikostehenes, Pamphaios favoured painters of the red-figure style, which was at the time replacing the previously dominant technique of

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

. He also continued to employ many of the painters that had worked for Nikosthenes, such as

Oltos Oltos was a Late Archaic Greek vase painter, active in Athens from 525 BC to 500 BC. About 150 works by him are known. Two pieces, a cup in Berlin ( Antikensammlung F 2264) and a cup in Tarquinia (Museo Nazionale Tarquiniese RC 6848), are signe ...

Epiktetos Epiktetos was an Attic vase painter in the early red-figure style. Besides Oltos, he was the most important painter of the Pioneer Group. He was active between 520 BCE and 490 BCE. His name translates as "newly acquired", which is most probably ...

and the Nikosthenes Painter. Pamphaios signature survives on more than fifty vases – spelled different ways by various artists, it probably functioned as a trademark on his workshop's products. File:Athena aigis Cdm Paris 254.jpg, Attic black-figured ''

hydria The hydria (; : hydriai) is a form of Greek pottery from between the Geometric art, 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 on a ...

'' depicting

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretism, syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarde ...

wearing the

aegis The aegis ( ; ''aigís''), as stated in the ''Iliad'', is a device carried by Athena and Zeus, variously interpreted as an animal skin or a shield and sometimes featuring the head of a Gorgon. There may be a connection with a deity named Aex, a ...

.
Signed by the potter Pamphaios and the Euphiletos Painter c. 540 BC. Cabinet des Médailles, BNF, Paris Nikosthenic amphora Pamphaios Louvre G3.jpg, The centaur Chiron holding the child Achilles and a hare at the end of a stick, side B of a c. 525–515 BC red-figure Nikosthenic neck-amphora File:Cottabos player Louvre CA1585.jpg, Interior of a red-figure ''

kylix In the pottery of ancient Greece, a kylix ( , ; ; also spelled ''cylix''; : kylikes , ) is the most common type of cup in the period, usually associated with the drinking of wine. The cup often consists of a rounded base and a thin stem under ...

'' depicting '' kottabos'' players.
Signed by Pamphaios, c. 510 BC.

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...

(CA 1585).

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 U ...

: ''Attic Black-Figure Vase-Painters'', Oxford 1956, p. * John Boardman: ''Schwarzfigurige Vasen aus Athen. Ein Handbuch'', Mainz 1977, , p. 72 f., 116 f., 122 {{Authority control Ancient Greek potters