We have not yet named the most productive amphora painter. Nikosthenes supplied some fine examples of the method of Amasis, some of which like the Exekias lebes (Fig. 99) on the body of the vase help the fine black colour to exclusive possession; besides a quantity of notably metallic amphorae with band handles, the production of which in quantities seems to be his speciality, though other masters adopted and modified the shape (Fig. 104). The often very hasty and conservative decoration of these vases cannot come from one painter. Nikosthenes, of whom almost a hundred signed vases are extant (kraters, ‘Amasis’ and ‘Nikosthenes’ amphorae, ‘little master’ kylikes, eye kylikes, neatly painted jugs with white ground, and red-figured vases) must have employed a series of painters. The only one who gives his name, Epiktetos, we shall hear of later. The hydria too, which often shows its use in pretty fountain scenes (Fig. 106), alters its form. As in Chalkis (p. 76) the egg-shaped type of the Klitias period, shown _e.g._ on the Troilos frieze of the François vase, gradually gives way to the later type with picture field and horizontal, separately adorned shoulder. Timagoras, a contemporary of Exekias, still prefers a broad-bellied shape and does not form handle and foot as elegantly as Pamphaios. His Paris vase with the later type of the contest with Triton (p. 67), on which he still paints the monster’s face red for colour contrast, is very important for chronology by a declaration of love for [Illustration: PLATE LVI. Fig. 100. FROM A LATE ATTIC BLACK-FIGURED HYDRIA.] Andokides, a young colleague and later chief master of the early red-figured style. If Timagoras is the predecessor of Andokides, Pamphaios is his rival. His slim London hydria with the slightly bent up handles, on which the vine of Dionysos overgrows the whole picture, and the dark-red striping of the cloak assumes pure fold-character, falls into the red-figured period, which after the second third of the century begins to compete with the old technique, and to which Pamphaios himself opens his workshop. The new style did not abruptly drive out the old: from the time of its predominance perhaps more black-figured vases are preserved than from the preceding period. In the leading studios for a time both techniques were practised side by side, often by the same painters. The balance inclined quickly to the side of the style which painted the background and not the figure, and after the transitional time of Andokides and Pamphaios only inferior talents experiment in the old silhouette style. But though driven out of the leading position, this old style was still busy and productive at least to the beginning of the 5th century: especially necked amphorae and hydriae, which the new style did not zealously affect, keep the tradition.