Black-Figure Nikosthenic Amphora (Storage Vessel): Dancing Youths; Sphinxes and Lions; Satyrs and Maenads (c. 530–510 BCE): Art, History and Details

Black-Figure Nikosthenic Amphora (Storage Vessel): Dancing Youths; Sphinxes and Lions; Satyrs and Maenads (c. 530–510 BCE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Nikosthenes (Greek, Attic, active c. 545–510 BCE); Painter N, Thiasos Group (Greek, c. 530–510 BC).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

The distinctive shape of this amphora—wide strap handles, conical neck, and ribs running around the upper body—is a trademark of the potter Nikosthenes, who signed his name below the partially restored handle (together with the verb EPOIESEN, for “made”). Nikosthenes signed nearly 150 surviving vases, more than any other named potter or vase-painter. Made in Athens with an Etruscan clientele in mind, Nikosthenic amphorae emulate precious metal and ceramic bucchero vases made in Etruria (central Italy), where many examples have been discovered. The painted figures include dancing youths (on the neck), sphinxes between lions (on the shoulder), and a continuous procession of dancing satyrs alternating with women (on the body).

Object facts

• Title: Black-Figure Nikosthenic Amphora (Storage Vessel): Dancing Youths; Sphinxes and Lions; Satyrs and Maenads
• Date: c. 530–510 BCE
• Creator attribution: Nikosthenes (Greek, Attic, active c. 545–510 BCE); Painter N, Thiasos Group (Greek, c. 530–510 BC)
• Culture: Greek, Attic
• Type: Ceramic
• Technique: ceramic
• Dimensions: Diameter: 16.9 cm (6 5/8 in.); Overall: 31.1 cm (12 1/4 in.); Diameter of rim: 13.3 cm (5 1/4 in.); Diameter of foot: 10.7 cm (4 3/16 in.)
• Collection: GR - Greek
• Department: Greek and Roman Art
• Accession number: 1974.10

A detail from the museum

The painter of this vase decorated nearly every available surface; the undecorated handle section is modern.

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Beazley Archive. n.d. Beazley Archive Pottery Database. Oxford: Beazley Archive.
• Padgett, J. Michael. “Book Reviews: Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum. USA 35: The Cleveland Museum of Art 2, by Jennifer Neils and Gisela Walberg. Pp. 64, pls. 57. Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland 2000. $100. ISBN: 0-940717-61-1 (cloth).” American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 106, No. 1 (January 2002): p. 136.
• Beazley, J. D. Attic Black-Figure Vase-Painters. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1956.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.