Brygos

Dionysos and satyrs on a vase made by Brygos and painted by the Brygos Painter, ca. 480 BC (Cabinet des Médailles, Paris)

Brygos was a potter who is conventionally placed among the major Attic potters active around 490–470 BC, based on the dating of workshop vases and the stylistic chronology of red-figure pottery. The majority of surviving vessels associated with Brygos are kylikes, many of which depict scenes related to wine drinking or symposia. This suggests that Brygos’ workshop may have specialized especially in the production of symposium cups. Fourteen surviving drinking cups carry the inscription "Brygos made me" , which indicates that his workshop mainly produced cups rather than other vessel types. Several vase painters worked for him, including the well known Brygos Painter, and the workshop played an important part in early Classical Athenian pottery.

Workshop Researchers identify Brygos as the head of an active workshop with more than one painter in early 5th century BC Athens. Cups linked to his workshop are thin, smooth, and well formed, which suggests high skill in clay preparation and throwing. The most famous artist who painted on Brygos cups is the Brygos Painter. His work features detailed figures and confident linework. The presence of works by several painters, including the Brygos Painter, the Briseis Painter, and the Dokimasia Painter, suggests that Brygos managed a workshop rather than painting the vessels himself.

Brygos and the Brygos Painter The name Brygos refers to the potter who produced red figure drinking cups in Athens in the early 5th century BC. The Brygos Painter is the name given by modern scholars to the painter who decorated many of these cups. Although they are closely connected, they are not the same individual. For these reasons, most scholars understand Brygos as the potter and the Brygos Painter as the most skilled artist who worked in his workshop.

Signatures At least twelve surviving cups carry the inscription "" meaning "Brygos made me". Tonks notes that the inscription is most often written on the underside of the foot of the cup, which was a common place for Athenian potters to sign their work at this time. The fact that nearly all signed vessels are cups suggests that this was the main product of his workshop. In 1992, Williams' studied museum inventories and archival records to reconstruct the group of objects said to come from the tomb. He concluded that several cups made in the Brygos workshop were part of the original assemblage. Williams explains that the vessels linked to the Brygos Tomb were not documented at the time of discovery and were dispersed through the antiquities market in the 19th century. Because the objects were removed and sold without records of where they were placed or how they were associated with each other, the tomb assemblage has to be reconstructed using museum inventories and dealer archives rather than direct excavation notes. For this reason, the original contents of the burial cannot be verified with certainty.