Anonymous painters

The men who made and decorated the pottery rarely signed their work. A potter or maker could sign with an epoisen signature, a painter with an egraphsen signature. Less than 1% of the vases Beazley studied had a signature. The vase-painters, unlike the painters who decorated the walls of famous buildings, were not named in ancient literature.

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  Berlin Painter's name vase in the Antikensammlung, Berlin.

In the absence of a signature Beazley needed to create a name to distinguish one anonymous painter from another. For example, he named the man who decorated a large and fine vase found at Vulci in Italy in the 19th century, today in Berlin, the Berlin Painter.