Part 1

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THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART

SHAPES OF GREEK VASES

NEW YORK 1922

COPYRIGHT, 1922, BY THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART

SHAPES OF GREEK VASES

The appreciation of beautiful form, with the ability to create it, which was characteristic of the Greek people, is nowhere better illustrated than in the shapes of their pottery. These vases—the jars, dishes, and cups made for household and religious use—were designed with intelligent skill to serve their purpose in the most effective fashion, and are valued for their fine shapes no less than for their interesting and beautiful decoration.

The following reproductions of the most important shapes in use among Athenian potters during the sixth and fifth centuries B. C. will show with what care the relation of the height to the width and the proportion of the parts to the whole were designed with a view to harmonious effect, and how skilfully the forms of the neck, the mouth, and the foot, and the position of the handles were planned for practical use.

The vases have been selected where possible from the collection in this Museum; but when a certain shape was not represented here or conspicuously better examples were available elsewhere, vases in other collections have been included. Unless otherwise stated the vases here illustrated are in this Museum.

AMPHORA. Two-handled jar for holding provisions.

STAMNOS. A development of the amphora.

LOUTROPHOROS. Water-jar for the bride’s ceremonial bath.

KRATER. Vessel for mixing water and wine. It was from the krater that the wine was ladled into the cups.

HYDRIA. Water-jar having three handles. The handle at the back was used for pouring or for carrying the vessel; the handles at the sides, for lifting.

OINOCHOË. Wine-jug.

DRINKING CUPS—KYLIX. The kylix with two handles and high foot was the favorite cup shape of the Athenian potters. The difficulty of decorating the strongly curving surface of the body invited the best efforts of contemporary vase painters.

DRINKING CUPS—KANTHAROS.

DRINKING CUPS—SKYPHOS.

DRINKING CUPS—OTHER FORMS.

MOULDED VASES. The bodies of these vases were made in moulds in the form of human and animal heads while the mouths were shaped on the wheel. Such moulds, however, were not used for producing hundreds of identical vases, as nowadays.

LEKYTHOS. Oil-jug. The narrow neck and deep mouth were designed to make the liquid flow out slowly.

TOILET JARS.

TOILET JARS—PYXIS. Small terracotta box for holding toilet articles. It regularly has a cover provided with a knob or a bronze ring for handle.

ILLUSTRATIONS FROM ATTIC VASES. The theory has often been advanced that the painted black-figured and red-figured vases were made for decoration and for votive and funeral purposes but not for actual use. The following illustrations from Attic vases show some of the best-known types in use in the daily life of the Greeks, and thus furnish us with contemporary evidence that the vases were made to serve the purposes for which they are so well adapted.

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES

1. Silently corrected typographical errors and variations in spelling. 2. Retained anachronistic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings as printed. 3. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.