The term Three Line Group describes a group of
Attic black-figure
Black-figure pottery painting, also known as the black-figure style or black-figure ceramic ( grc, , }), is one of the styles of painting on antique Greek vases. It was especially common between the 7th and 5th centuries BCE, although there are ...
vase painters, as well as a type of vase. They belong to the last quarter of the sixth century BC.
The group's conventional name is based on its habit of separating the individual decorative stripes on small-format
neck amphora
An amphora (; grc, ἀμφορεύς, ''amphoreús''; English plural: amphorae or amphoras) is a type of container with a pointed bottom and characteristic shape and size which fit tightly (and therefore safely) against each other in storag ...
e with three separating lines. The group produces work of increasingly worse quality during its period activity. Its decorations are rarely better than poor. In spite of the limited quality, their work reminded
John Beazley
Sir John Davidson Beazley, (; 13 September 1885 – 6 May 1970) was a British classical archaeologist and art historian, known for his classification of Attic vases by artistic style. He was Professor of Classical Archaeology and Art at the Un ...
of the
Andokides Painter
Andokides was an ancient Athenian vase painter, active from approximately 530 to 515 B.C. His work is unsigned and his true name unknown. He was identified as a unique artistic personality through stylistic traits found in common among several pai ...
. The group's vases are often extensively inscribed. Apart from names of depicted figures, they can also bear
''kalos'' inscriptions for ''Onetorides'' or ''Hippokrates''.
Bibliography
*
John Beazley
Sir John Davidson Beazley, (; 13 September 1885 – 6 May 1970) was a British classical archaeologist and art historian, known for his classification of Attic vases by artistic style. He was Professor of Classical Archaeology and Art at the Un ...
: ''Attic Black-Figure Vase-Painters'', Oxford 1956, p.
* John D. Beazley: ''Paralipomena. Additions to Attic black-figure vase-painters and to Attic red-figure vase-painters''. Oxford 1971. p.
*
John Boardman: ''Schwarzfigurige Vasen aus Athen. Ein Handbuch'', Mainz 1977, , p. 123
{{Commons category, Three-Line Group
Ancient Greek vase painters