Name vase

In classical archaeology, a name vase is a specific "vase"[1] 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 their 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 and South Italian vase painters 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.

For Athenian vases, the majority of such names were introduced by John D. Beazley, the first scholar to study them systematically; for South Italian vases, Arthur Dale Trendall played a similar role.