Attic Black-Figure Neck Amphora

Two duels – or perhaps the same combat seen from different sides – adorn this small neck-amphora. There are no inscriptions that name the figures, but their one-on-one combat evokes the duels of heroes in the Trojan War. 

In the early decades of the fifth century B.C. many vase-painters worked in the recently invented red-figure technique. Others, however, continued to work in black-figure. In the changing pottery market, some sought ways to make their product more interesting. One method was to cover the normal reddish color of the clay background with a creamy white slip, as seen here. This white slip created a sharper contrast between the figures and the background.