BEAZLEY ARCHIVE POTTERY DATABASE (BAPD)
The BAPD is the world's largest database of ancient Greek painted pottery (‘Greek vases’). It contains records of more than 130,000 ancient pots and 250,000 images. Nearly all of the pots included were made during the 6th to 4th centuries BC, and about three quarters of them were made in Athens. This database has its origins in the physical Beazley Archive, which is kept in the Classical Art Research Centre in Oxford. The great majority of its images were collected by the great pottery expert, Sir John Beazley (1885-1970). However, the Archive grew further after his death, and the BAPD contains even more images acquired later from a variety of sources, including major museums, auction-houses, digitized volumes of the Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum series, and Beazley’s own drawings. Where the source of an image is not obvious please contact us for information.
The BAPD continues to grow, with the regular addition of new records, images and, as far as practicable, updated references.
There are different methods of searching the BAPD. The 'Basic Search' option will allow you to carry out very simple filtering of the database. Even advanced researchers sometimes find this a quick and easy way of getting the results they need, but if you want access to all the data with a complete range of search options and tools, please use 'Advanced Search'. Alternatively, most of its functions are available in the 'Traditional Search', which is the old-format search form familiar to many of our long-term users.
For help with advanced searching watch this short video: THE BEAZLEY ARCHIVE POTTERY DATABASE IN SIX MINUTES
See also
Short Guide to the BAPD Traditional Search interface
Guide to searching CARC Open Data Programmatically
Guide to searching CARC Open Data Programmatically
If you create an account you can preserve your Photograph Album.
The BAPD is generously supported by
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A note on vase inscriptions: addition of vase inscriptions to the BAPD began in 1999 with the conversion of Henry Immerwahr's data for A Corpus of Attic Vase Inscriptions (CAVI). The database contains more than 8,000 inscriptions, and includes earlier updates from Rudolph Wachter's Attic Vase Inscriptions (AVI). The most recent version of work by Professor Wachter and his team can be found on the AVI Project website at the University of Basel. Links in BAPD records also direct the user to the Basel database.
