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Inclassical archaeology, aname 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 ofancient Greek and South Italianvase 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. The name can refer to a vase's motif (theMeleager Painter), former owner (theShuvalov Painter), present location (theBaltimore Painter), find location (theDipylon Master), inscription, habitual potter (theKleophrades Painter), shape, and so on. ForAthenian vases, the majority of such names were introduced byJohn D. Beazley, the first scholar to study them systematically; forSouth Italian vases,Arthur Dale Trendall played a similar role.
Important painters given asobriquet based on a name vase include for example thePainter of Berlin A 34, theNessos Painter, theAndokides Painter, theAntimenes Painter, theAntiphon Painter, theBerlin Painter, theBryn Mawr Painter, and thePistoxenos Painter.