Amasis Painter - Wedding

Gap fill exercise

Fill in all the gaps, then press "Check" to check your answers. Use the "Hint" button to get a free letter if an answer is giving you trouble. You can also click on the "[?]" button to get a clue. Note that you will lose points if you ask for hints or clues!
   arm      body      bride      carriages      clothing      crown      death      everyday      flesh      frontal      greeting      groomsman      incised      lekythos      mother      movement      muzzles      overlapping      profile      roof      tomb      torch      torches      torchlight      wedding      women   
1. Name the shape of this vase, give its function and explain why this type of vase was unique.

It is a , which is an oil jug often used in rituals and placed beside the . It was unique because the Painter was the first to depict scenes from life, especially the world of Athenian .

2. Identify the central figures and explain what is happening.
Amasis Painter - Wedding.jpg

A procession is depicted on the body of the vase. It took place by , and brought the from her father's to her husband's home. The bride's leads the procession, holding in her hands; in the view shown here, the bride and groom ride in a mule-drawn cart together with the , and the bride grasps her veil in the gesture called anakalypteria ('unveiling'), which was the focus of a wedding ceremony of the same name. In the same hand, the bride holds the or stephanê, which she had worn beneath her veil before the anakalypteria. The groom's stands in the doorway of the couple's new home, holding a in one hand and raising the other in a gesture of . Another mule-cart follows (its front section just visible on the left here), with four men seated in it, and other men and women walk alongside; all of them, presumably,wedding guests.

3. Explain how the style of the vase is typical of Black Figure Technique. Make specific references to examples on the vase.

* figures painted in black silhouette (e.g. the dancers)
* figures for detail (e.g. the horses and people)
* eyes (almond and disc shapes) quite large in proportion to the face, in a head (e.g. best man in the cart)
* women's is painted in white paint, as are the of the front donkeys, the body of both , and the Doric columns holding up the porch
* use of dots and designs on (e.g. bride, bridegroom)
* little sense of depth or perspective - top dancers have frontal bodies and profile heads - although figures in the procession do give some sense of depth
* is indicated by the donkeys' feet and legs, and the figures' positions (e.g. lady with the torches, bride with the crown, indicating movement to the right)
* is solid but shows some folds
* drapery ignores the shape of the underneath (e.g. dancers)