ArtPage on Amphora

amphora - A large Greek storage vase with an oval body usually tapering toward the base, and two handles extending from just below the lip to the shoulder. The plural form is amphorae.

Among the various types of Greek vases are the alabastron, hydria, kantharos, volute and calyx krater, kyathos, kylix, lekythos, oinochoe, pelike, phiale, pinax, pithos, pyxis, and rhyton.

(pr. AM-fö-ruh)

Examples:

Greece, Attic, attributed to Exekias, Black-Figured Neck-amphora with lid, c. 540 BCE, Archaic, black-figure, terra cotta, height 18 1/2 inches (46.99 cm), Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY. See black-figure.

Greece, Attic, attributed to the Rycroft Painter, Black-Figured Amphora, about 530-520 BCE, slip decorated terra cotta with incised details, Worcester Art Museum, MA. On one side Hermes stands beside Leto, takes a chariot with her adult children to join the Olympian gods. On the other side Dionysos raises his drinking cup, accompanied by dancing maenads and lustful satyrs.

Greece, Amphora of the Berlin Painter, c. 490 BCE, terra cotta, height 81.5 cm, Antikensammlung, Berlin.

Greece, Attic, attributed to the Berlin Painter, Red-Figured Amphora, c. 490 BCE, classical, terra cotta, height 16 5/16 inches (41.50 cm), Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY. On the obverse a young man sings as he plays the kithara; on the reverse is a judge. See obverse and red-figure.

China, Amphora (Ping) with Dragon Handles, early T'ang dynasty, about 618-700, ceramic, wheel-thrown stoneware with molded, modeled, and applied decoration and cream glaze, height 21 1/4 inches (53.98 cm), Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Syria or Iraq, Amphora-Shaped Jar, 12th century, ceramic, fritware, underglaze painted, 14 1/4 x 4 1/2 inches (36.2 x 11.43 cm), Los Angeles County Museum of Art. See Mesopotamian art.

Also see vessel.