Crater Attributed to SYRISKOS

Column crater. Attica. Athens, 5th century BC.
Attributed to SYRISKOS (475-450 B.C.)
Black ceramic with red figures.
Restored
Measurements: 36 x 36 x 31 cm.
The column krater, the oldest sub-type of the krater, is characterised by its vertical handles like column shafts, topped by horizontal projections. In this case, the decoration features three figures in the red-figure technique. One of them seems to identify Dionysos.
Syriskos worked as a vase-painter and potter in Athens in the 470s and 460s BC. Syriskos' vases include a wide variety of forms and even some unusual ones. As a vase painter, he worked mainly with the red-figure technique, but occasionally painted vases with white backgrounds. He painted scenes from myth and everyday life. Like other artists who were both painters and potters, Syriskos' days as a painter may have preceded those as a potter. The case of Syriskos provides an insight into the social status of potters in Athens. Changes in the way he signed his works can trace his rise in Athenian society. The name Syriskos means "little Syrian" and probably indicates that he was a slave, as many potters and painters seem to have been. The "Syriskos" signatures of this artist appear early in his career. Later vases were signed as Pistoxenos Syriskos, "Trusted Stranger, the little Syrian" and finally just Pistoxenos. The change of name may indicate a new status of freedom for a former slave.
Red-figure pottery was one of the most important figurative styles in Greek ceramics. It was developed in Athens around 530 BC, and was used until the 3rd century BC. It replaced the previous predominant style of black-figured pottery within a few decades. The technical basis was the same in both cases, but in the red figures the colouring is inverted, the figures being highlighted against a dark background, as if illuminated by a theatrical light, following a more natural pattern.