Greece (Athens)

Bilingual Belly Amphora by the Andokides Painter: Herakles and Athena

2431

Created around 520–510 BCE during the Archaic period (Late Archaic phase, coinciding with the experimental invention of the red-figure technique around 530–520 BCE).

This object is a complete, monumental ceramic belly amphora (amphora a colpo) crafted from Attic terracotta. It is executed using a rare bilingual technique, meaning one side is painted in the traditional black-figure style while the reverse side (shown here) depicts the same or a parallel mythological scene in the innovative red-figure style. The technique involves fine clay slip applied to shaped pottery and fired in a sophisticated multi-stage reduction-oxidation kiln process that turns the background glossy black while leaving figures orange-red.