In classical archaeology

Classical archaeology

Classical archaeology is the archaeological investigation of the great Mediterranean civilizations of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. Nineteenth century archaeologists such as Heinrich Schliemann were drawn to study the societies they had read about in Latin and Greek texts...

, a name vase is a specific "vase

Vase

The vase is an open container, often used to hold cut flowers. It can be made from a number of materials including ceramics and glass. The vase is often decorated and thus used to extend the beauty of its contents....

" whose painter's name is unknown but whose workshop style has been identified. The painter is conventionally named after the selected "name vase" that embodies his characteristic style, or for one of its distinctive painted subjects, or for other attributes.

The allocation of such names is necessary because the majority of ancient Greek

Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...

 and South Italian vase painters

Pottery of Ancient Greece

As the result of its relative durability, pottery is a large part of the archaeological record of Ancient Greece, and because there is so much of it it has exerted a disproportionately large influence on our understanding of Greek society...

 did not sign their works. For discussion and analysis of the work and career of individual artists conventional names were needed in order to designate them. The name can refer to a vase's motif (the Meleager Painter

Meleager Painter

The Meleager Painter was an ancient Greek vase painter of the Attic red-figure tradition. He was active in the first third of the 4th century BC. The Meleager Painter followed a tradition started by a group of slightly earlier artists, such as the Mikion Painter. He is probably the most important...

), former owner (the Shuvalov Painter

Shuvalov Painter

The Shuvalov Painter was an Attic vase painter of the red-figure style, active between 440 and 410 BC, i.e. in the High Classical period ....

), present location (the Baltimore Painter

Baltimore Painter

The Baltimore Painter was an ancient Apulian vase painter whose works date to the final quarter of the 4th century BC. The Baltimore Painter is considered the most important Late Apulian vase painter, and the last Apulian painter of importance. His conventional name is derived from a vase kept at...

), find location (the Dipylon Master

Dipylon Master

The Dipylon Master was an ancient Greek vase painter who was active from around 760-750 BCE. He worked in Athens, where he and his workshop produced large funerary vessels for those interred in the Dipylon cemetery, whence his name comes...

), inscription, habitual potter (the Kleophrades Painter

Kleophrades Painter

The Kleophrades Painter is the name given to the anonymous red-figure Athenian vase painter, who was active from approximately 510 – 470 BCE and whose work, considered amongst the finest of the red figure style, is identified by its stylistic traits....

), shape, and so on. For Athenian

Athens

Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...

 vases, the majority of such names were introduced by John D. Beazley

John Beazley

Sir John Davidson Beazley was an English classical scholar.Born in Glasgow, Scotland, Beazley attended Balliol College, Oxford, where he was a close friend of the poet James Elroy Flecker. After graduating in 1907, Beazley was a student and tutor in Classics at Christ Church, and in 1925 he...

, the first scholar to study them systematically; for South Italian

South Italian

South Italian is a designation for ancient Greek pottery fabricated in Magna Graecia largely during the 4th century BC. The fact that Greek Southern Italy produced its own red figure pottery as early as the end of the 5th century BC. was first established by Adolf Furtwaengler in 1893...

 vases, Arthur Dale Trendall

Arthur Dale Trendall

Arthur Dale Trendall AC CMG was a New Zealand-born Australian art historian and classical archaeologist whose work on identifying the work of individual artists on Greek ceramic vessels at Apulia and other sites earned him international prizes and a papal knighthood...

 played a similar role.

Important painters given a sobriquet

Sobriquet

A sobriquet is a nickname, sometimes assumed, but often given by another. It is usually a familiar name, distinct from a pseudonym assumed as a disguise, but a nickname which is familiar enough such that it can be used in place of a real name without the need of explanation...

 based on a name vase include for example the Painter of Berlin A 34

Painter of Berlin A 34

The Painter of Berlin A 34 was a vase painter during the pioneering period of Attic black-figure vase painting. His real name is unknown, his conventional name derived from his name vase in the Antikensamlung Berlin. He is the first individual vase painter of the style in Athens recognised by...

, the Nessos Painter

Nessos Painter

The Nessos Painter , was a pioneer of Attic black-figure vase painting...

, the Andokides Painter

Andokides Painter

The Andokides painter was an ancient Athenian vase painter who was active from 530 to approximately 515 BCE. His work is unsigned; he is named after Andokides, the potter for whom he worked. He is believed to be the inventor of the red figure style of vase painting.-Beginnings of his art:The...

, the Antimenes Painter

Antimenes painter

The Antimenes Painter was an Attic vase painter of the black-figure style, active between circa 530 and 510 BC.The real name of the Antimenes Painter is not known; his current name is an archaeological convention. It is derived from the Kalos inscription on a hydria in Leyden. Of the 150 works...

, the Antiphon Painter

Antiphon Painter

The Antiphon painter was an Athenian vase painter of the early 5th century BC. He owes his name to a double Kalos inscription of Antiphon on the dinos stand in the Antique collection of Berlin . He was active between 500 and 475 BC in Athens as a painter of the red figure style in the largest...

, the Berlin Painter

Berlin Painter

The Berlin Painter is the conventional name given to an Attic Greek vase-painter who is widely regarded as a rival to the Kleophrades Painter, among the most talented vase painters of the early 5th century BCE .The Berlin Painter along with the Kleophrades Painter was educated by a member of the...

 and the Pistoxenos Painter

Pistoxenos Painter

The Pistoxenos Painter was an important ancient Greek vase painter of the Classical period. He was active in Athens between circa 480 and 460 BC. His conventional name is derived from his name vase. The vase, a skyphos, now at Schwerin, has a signature indicating that it was made by the potter...

.