Overtaking on a bend - The motif of the chariot turning in Athenian black-figure vase painting

In Athenian Black-figure and Red-figure vase painting, the same scene often appears on vessels that differ in age, technique, or function. Given that these are not necessarily linked to a single workshop or period, this phenomenon may be explained by the conventional depiction of an episode from a particular mythological story, in which altering the composition can change the message conveyed by the image. However, in the case of vases where no specific story can be linked to the figurative decoration—and even more so when a given scene adorns a large number of vases—the possibility arises that the painters combined pre-existing figures or groups of figures. Understanding the composition of a scene in this way allows for the examination of individual motifs both synchronically and diachronically. In the case of the four-horse chariot depicted in a three-quarter view, we can also speak of such a motif. The turning four-horse team appeared in Attic black-figure vase painting, and its popularity is well illustrated by the fact that it remained a favoured motif even when the red-figure technique became the primary decorative method and black-figure vases were produced only as mass-produced vessels of low artistic quality. The research project titled “Late Archaic Vase Painter(s) – The Turning Quadriga as an Iconographic Scheme in Late Archaic Athenian Vase Painting,” which began in September 2025 and is currently underway in the framework of the Hungarian University Research Fellowship Program, examines this motif in Athenian black-figure vase painting. This presentation aims to outline the theoretical and methodological issues that have arisen so far during the research, as well as possible directions for future work, and to present the preliminary results of the project.