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Pitsa panels
The Pitsa panels or Pitsa tablets are a group of four painted wooden tablets found near Pitsa, Corinthia, Greece. They are the earliest surviving examples of Greek panel painting, and are now in the National Archaeological Museum of Athens, with the catalogue numbers NAMA 16464 to 16467.
The four panels, two of them highly fragmentary, were discovered during the 1930s in a cave near the village of Pitsa, in the vicinity of Sicyon. They can be stylistically dated to 550–500 BC, i.e., to the late Archaic period of ancient Greek art; this is at least as much from the style of the writing as that of the images. They are presumed to be the remains of four different works, rather than a series, which were all votive offerings commissioned by different people, and deposited in a cave regarded as a holy place, perhaps after being displayed elsewhere. Modern archaeologists use pinax as the general term for such votive panels, of which there are many examples from later periods, in various materials, but no other painted examples from so early.
The tablets are connected with the rural cult of the nymphs, which was widespread throughout ancient Greek religion. Stylistically and technically, the tablets are on par with other surviving Archaic paintings, namely Greek vase paintings and Greek-influenced tomb paintings from Ancient Etruria and Asia Minor.
References to wooden painted or inscribed votives at other Greek sanctuaries (e.g. Epidaurus), suggest that the Pitsa tablets belong to the types of votives available to the lower, or poorer, sections of population.[citation needed] Such simple votives may have been far more numerous originally, but the fact that they are made of perishable materials, whereas richer votives were of stone, bronze or precious metals, has led to their near-total disappearance from the archaeological record.
The tablets are thin wooden boards or panels, probably of pine, some 0.5 to 1 cm thick. These were covered with stucco (plaster, "white calcium sulphate dehydrate") and painted with pigments including "carbon black, calcium carbonate white, Egyptian blue, red and yellow ochre, cinnabar, orpiment and realgar". Their bright colours are surprisingly well preserved. Only eight colours (black, white, blue, red, green, yellow, purple and brown) are used, with no shading or gradation of any sort. Probably, the black contour outlines were drawn first and then filled in with colours.
Differences in styles suggest that different artists may have produced them, but perhaps from the same workshop. Technical analysis does not support significant differences in dating between the panels, which some had proposed on stylistic grounds. The panels were found some 60 metres from the cave entrance, piled on top of each other. There are two nail holes each in the top edges of the two largest panels, suggesting they had once been nailed to a wall or tree, and were perhaps already in a worn-out condition when stacked deep in the cave.
From 2013 on, extensive modern scientific research into the panels was conducted. The panels are discussed in the order in which they were found stacked, from top to bottom.
This was the top panel in the stack in the cave, and the most exposed to the local conditions before it was excavated. It is 31.6 cm wide x 14 cm high. Only a corner retains all the layers of the painted surface, but ghostly traces can be seen over other parts, with imaging techniques giving further information. Parts of five female figures remain in the top right corner, and there were at least four more figures over the rest of the panel, one a bearded flute player. The women face each other in small groups, which is interpreted as a dance, festival or social gathering. Perhaps they are deities; there is writing above their heads, which may be their names, or possibly these are the names of donors. The figure furthest on the left appears to be seated on a throne; perhaps nymphs are dancing for an enthroned goddess.
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Pitsa panels
The Pitsa panels or Pitsa tablets are a group of four painted wooden tablets found near Pitsa, Corinthia, Greece. They are the earliest surviving examples of Greek panel painting, and are now in the National Archaeological Museum of Athens, with the catalogue numbers NAMA 16464 to 16467.
The four panels, two of them highly fragmentary, were discovered during the 1930s in a cave near the village of Pitsa, in the vicinity of Sicyon. They can be stylistically dated to 550–500 BC, i.e., to the late Archaic period of ancient Greek art; this is at least as much from the style of the writing as that of the images. They are presumed to be the remains of four different works, rather than a series, which were all votive offerings commissioned by different people, and deposited in a cave regarded as a holy place, perhaps after being displayed elsewhere. Modern archaeologists use pinax as the general term for such votive panels, of which there are many examples from later periods, in various materials, but no other painted examples from so early.
The tablets are connected with the rural cult of the nymphs, which was widespread throughout ancient Greek religion. Stylistically and technically, the tablets are on par with other surviving Archaic paintings, namely Greek vase paintings and Greek-influenced tomb paintings from Ancient Etruria and Asia Minor.
References to wooden painted or inscribed votives at other Greek sanctuaries (e.g. Epidaurus), suggest that the Pitsa tablets belong to the types of votives available to the lower, or poorer, sections of population.[citation needed] Such simple votives may have been far more numerous originally, but the fact that they are made of perishable materials, whereas richer votives were of stone, bronze or precious metals, has led to their near-total disappearance from the archaeological record.
The tablets are thin wooden boards or panels, probably of pine, some 0.5 to 1 cm thick. These were covered with stucco (plaster, "white calcium sulphate dehydrate") and painted with pigments including "carbon black, calcium carbonate white, Egyptian blue, red and yellow ochre, cinnabar, orpiment and realgar". Their bright colours are surprisingly well preserved. Only eight colours (black, white, blue, red, green, yellow, purple and brown) are used, with no shading or gradation of any sort. Probably, the black contour outlines were drawn first and then filled in with colours.
Differences in styles suggest that different artists may have produced them, but perhaps from the same workshop. Technical analysis does not support significant differences in dating between the panels, which some had proposed on stylistic grounds. The panels were found some 60 metres from the cave entrance, piled on top of each other. There are two nail holes each in the top edges of the two largest panels, suggesting they had once been nailed to a wall or tree, and were perhaps already in a worn-out condition when stacked deep in the cave.
From 2013 on, extensive modern scientific research into the panels was conducted. The panels are discussed in the order in which they were found stacked, from top to bottom.
This was the top panel in the stack in the cave, and the most exposed to the local conditions before it was excavated. It is 31.6 cm wide x 14 cm high. Only a corner retains all the layers of the painted surface, but ghostly traces can be seen over other parts, with imaging techniques giving further information. Parts of five female figures remain in the top right corner, and there were at least four more figures over the rest of the panel, one a bearded flute player. The women face each other in small groups, which is interpreted as a dance, festival or social gathering. Perhaps they are deities; there is writing above their heads, which may be their names, or possibly these are the names of donors. The figure furthest on the left appears to be seated on a throne; perhaps nymphs are dancing for an enthroned goddess.