Horses by Exekias

Abstract

Exekias painted some of the most splendid horses known to us in vase painting and it is clear that he must have known a great deal about them. What is not so clear, however, is the order in which they were painted, since a detailed chronology of his vases has not yet been agreed upon. The horses painted by Exekias may help us to establish a relative chronology for these vases; they occur on more than one-half of his preserved works and may thus form a basis for a relative dating of all his known production. The preserved work of Exekias' is rather small, about two dozen signed or attributed vases.2 In spite of this, the shapes are surprisingly varied, including amphorae (types A and B), a Panathenaic amphora,' neck-amphorae, a dinos, a cup (type A), a pyxis,4 funerary plaques, and a calyx-krater, the earliest known example.5 Although his shapes are many, Exekias clearly shows a preference for amphorae, especially neck-amphorae and amphorae type A, a later variety of panel amphora which is quickly identified by its decorated flanged handles, a fillet between foot and body and a foot in two degrees, the ver ical member of which is often glazed.6 It is a shape favored by Exekias in contras to the older variety, type B, with its round handles and inverted echinus foot, preferred by his predecessors and by Group E.7 Of this earlier s ape, only one vase by Exekias is preserved: the amphora in Boulogne.! On each type of amphora, the figured decoration is set in a panel on each side and bordered at the top by a frieze-like ornament. On the smooth curving surfaces of his vases, Exekias painted simple uncluttered scenes including only the elements essential to each composition. A sensitive balance is always achieved between the simpl elegant figures and the carefully worked out decoration of garments, weapons, hair and arness parts. Just as Exekias shows a preferenc for certain vase shapes, so, too, does he prefer certai patterns of decoration. All panels of his amphorae are framed above by a chain of palmettes and lotuses;9 the handles of his amphorae type A