Attische Mantelfiguren

Mantle figures, a central motif of the Attic red-figure vase production, form the subject matter of the present volume, which introduces an innovative approach towards the representational system of Attic vase painting. So far, the communis opinio on anonymous male figures wearing the himation is dominated by a perception rooted in later depictions, where these seemingly isolated figures are shown only on one side of the vase and are difficult to integrate into existing semantic categories. However, a typological and semantic study of this motif on Attic red-figure vases of the 6th-5th centuries B. C. demonstrates that mantle figures in their diachronic, pictorial and semantic development show both a varied iconographic spectrum and are significant in terms of communication and meaning content. The analysis of an extensive and representative corpus reveals that this motif, one of the most common on Attic red-figure vases, is not only a more complex and relevant element of Ancient imagery than has been realised so far, but indeed can stand as an almost paradigmatic interpretative key for the relationship between producers, viewers, objects and imagery.