History of Ancient Pottery: Greek, Etruscan, and Roman. Volume 1 (of 2)

Chapter XI: White-Ground and Later Fabrics (2)

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The designs are usually somewhat severe and restrained, and characterised by a certain stiffness of drawing and largeness of scale. The heads of figures are abnormally large, with great staring eyes and masses of hair rendered without detail. The draperies are comparatively free from ornamentation, only broad black borders and patterns of small dots being admitted. The clay is of a rich red colour, but accessory colours are exceedingly rare. Hence they present a great contrast to the Apulian and Campanian, with their masses of white and generally gaudy appearance. Another peculiarity is that fillets in the hair are rendered simply by leaving a narrow band across the head in the colour of the clay. The figures often stand in the air without the usual dotted ground-lines, but sometimes the ground is represented by a heap of loose stones. A favourite device is that of a half-shield seen in the upper part of the scene, as a sort of indication of locality or action.[1473] Fig. 108 gives a typical example of Lucanian vase-painting.

Among the favourite shapes are the bell-shaped krater and the amphora, also the hydria and column-handled krater. The hydria is generally employed, as in Campania, for sepulchral subjects. The vases are mostly of large size, whence a corresponding largeness of the figures; whereas Campanian vases are generally small, and make up for the absence of imposing figures by their colouring. An entirely new shape, peculiar to this style, is the four-handled krater, to which the name of _nestoris_ has been somewhat absurdly given[1474]; it is undoubtedly a local form, being found in the indigenous pottery of the district.[1475] There are two varieties, one with a high neck, the other with sloping shoulder and no neck. The handles are usually ornamented with discs painted with rosettes, and the designs are in panels surrounded by ornament, sometimes on the second variety with a lower frieze of figures. Generally speaking, secondary ornamentation is largely employed on these vases, especially on the last-named shape. The palmette patterns under the handles are usually very luxuriant.

The vases of =Campania= present in many ways a striking contrast to those of Lucania. Their chief characteristic is, as has been noted, love of picturesque effect and variety of colour, even to the extent of introducing attempts at shading (see above, p. 471). The vases are mostly small, and none of the large kraters or amphorae belong to this class. The favourite shapes are the hydria, lekythos with bulbous body, and amphora; the latter is clearly an imitation of the Attic “Nolan” amphorae, which were so largely imported into the district, but the body is usually more symmetrical. The clay is usually of a buff or dull yellow ochre tone, and red and yellow washes are frequently used, as well as large masses of white; these tints are laid on very carelessly, and the white is of a kind that is apt to flake off and disappear. Yellow, purple, and white are largely used as accessories, and the drawing has a tendency to become very careless. The lines of the ground are indicated by occasional strokes of white, or by rocks strewn with flowers. Ornamental patterns are not so popular as in Lucania; the favourite is the wave, and the palmettes under the handles are thick and ugly, with angular leaves. Some decorative motives seem to be derived directly from nature.

The subjects are often interesting and uncommon, introducing recondite or unusual myths; many of the vases with comic scenes appear to belong to this class, and one in the British Museum has an Oscan inscription. Local peculiarities of costume and armour, which Signor Patroni calls Osco-Samnite, are often found; for instance, warriors wear a very short chiton with broad girdle, a helmet with waving crest and tall side-plumes of Italian type,[1476] and a remarkable breast-plate formed of three circular plates of metal arranged in a triangle.[1477] These same peculiarities are found on the wall-paintings at Paestum, and there are indications that Virgil was familiar with them.[1478]

Signor Patroni, by dint of an exhaustive study of the Naples collection, has made a tentative classification of Campanian vases according to fabric; he distinguishes those of Cumae, Saticula (Santa Agata dei Goti), and Abella; but those of Capua, Nola, and Neapolis appear to have no distinctive style. The Cumae fabric, for studying which the _Raccolta Cumana_ in Naples gives exceptional facilities, is represented by the long, straight-bodied amphorae, the hydriae with female heads under the handles, and kraters on which the design is framed by stylised floral patterns or heavy palmettes. Among the characteristic patterns are the wave, large flowers in profile, and ground-ornaments generally, such as ivy-leaves, branches, and small windows. The strong tendency to polychromy seems to be the result of using the late Attic polychrome vases as models. In the colouring a new feature is the use of a carmine red, which, according to Patroni, is only found in the Cumae fabrics.[1479] Mythological subjects are rare,[1480] sepulchral common, and shrines are found on these alone; but the majority have scenes from daily life,[1481] banquets, return of warriors, etc. It is on these that the local costumes are usually found.

The Saticula fabrics are very uniform,[1482] practically all bell-shaped kraters with red clay; colours are sparingly used, and then only white; a maeander takes the place of the wave-pattern as a border; ground-lines are usually indicated. Of subjects Dionysiac have the preference. The vases of Abella are of late date, chiefly hydriae of very pale clay with accessory colours; among the typical patterns are arabesques ending in white daisies. They sometimes show reminiscences of the Paestum style.[1483]

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PLATE XLIV

SOUTH ITALIAN VASES (BRITISH MUSEUM).
1, 2, APULIAN VASES; 3, CAMPANIAN.
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There are a few peculiar fabrics which we may also attribute to a Campanian origin, including rude imitations of the B.F. style, chiefly small amphorae with single figures; imitations of Nolan amphorae, reproducing both their form and their scheme of decoration[1484]; and bell-shaped kraters imitating the Attic style, which Signor Patroni has associated with Saticula. The imitations of Nolan amphorae have a slim body, twisted handles, and a sharply set-off shoulder forming a right angle with the neck instead of a graceful curve. As in their prototypes, the subjects are confined to one or two figures each side. The lustrous black glaze of the Attic vases is admirably reproduced. There is also a class of vases with designs painted in opaque red on the black ground, reproducing the method of the transitional vases described on p. 393.[1485] They are very rude in character, with roughly incised details and subjects of a simple kind; the red pigment appears to have been made from fragments of pounded pottery (_testa trita_). There is, however, one remarkable exception—a small phiale in the British Museum,[1486] dating from the third century, with the subject of a shepherd-boy with his dog. The design is carefully painted in opaque red and white in the style of the Pompeian wall-paintings, and the effect of light and shade produced by hatched lines is both remarkable and unique. A krater found at Civita Castellana (Falerii),[1487] the paintings on which are in Campanian style, is unique in having Latin inscriptions over the figures, a group consisting of Zeus (... SPATER, _Die_]_spater_), Ganymede, Eros (CVPIDO), and Athena (MENERVA). The subject is conceived rather in the style of the Etruscan mirrors than that of the painted vases, and is obviously under local influence. As Falerii was destroyed in 243 B.C., a _terminus ante quem_ may be obtained for the date of the vase, as for others found on this site (see p. 75).

The vases of =Apulia= are not only more numerous, but of more merit and greater interest than those of the other two classes. In them may be observed two or three stages of development, beginning with a fifth- or early fourth-century group of Attic type, consisting of large amphorae with two friezes of figures.[1488] Both in shape and method of decoration these form the prototype of the large kraters and amphorae which comprise the second class; they are distinguished from the latter by severity of treatment and absence of colour. The second class includes the large vases with mythological and tragic subjects, the Under-world vases, and those with sepulchral scenes; they are all richly decorated from head to foot, with two main rows of figures, smaller subjects on the neck, and ornamentation over every available space. The theatrical characteristics of which we have spoken above (p. 472) are best illustrated by some of this series.

The third class includes some large vases, such as the so-called _pelikae_ and the large phialae, and the smaller forms, the oinochoë and its varieties, and kanthari, rhyta, and other kinds of drinking-cups. Some shapes are peculiar to this class. In spite of the great variety of shape, there is a remarkable poverty of conception in the subjects, which show a tendency to become purely decorative, and are mainly confined to the vague “courting” scenes or “toilet” scenes, or to single figures of Eros and Nike. On the smallest vases the commonest subject is often that of a female head covered with a cap, sometimes of a relatively colossal size, and this also occurs, surrounded by foliage, on the necks of the large vases. The shapes, as in the case of the _epichysis_ (p. 179), often tend to ugliness and over-refinement.

The conception of Eros on the later Apulian vases is one of their chief characteristics (cf. Plate XLIV.). An almost invariable participant in every scene, his form assumes an androgynous character; his hair is arranged in feminine fashion, and his person adorned with necklaces, earrings, and other jewellery. Among other peculiarities we may note the double line of white or yellow dots for ground-lines; the characterising of Oriental figures by tiaras and cross-belts; the general treatment of the hair of women, at first long, thick, and wig-like, but later gathered up in a cap, from which the ends float out behind; the thick but effeminate proportions of the men; and the small heads of the horses.

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PLATE XLV

_To face page 486._

APULIAN AMPHORA.
PERSEPHONE IN HADES.
(BRITISH MUSEUM).
]

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There does not seem to be any possibility of distinguishing different centres of fabric in Apulia. Nor can Tarentum have been a centre of vase-fabrics, although Lenormant stoutly upheld its claims, as the chief centre of Greek civilisation in that region. But Tarentum has been the scene of much excavation, and results do not point to that conclusion; most of the vases found there are purely Greek. On the other hand, enormous numbers have been found at Ruvo, and this was undoubtedly the chief centre, though without a distinguishing style of its own. Ruvo was famous for its red clay, and remains of furnaces and potteries have been found there. Other sites where vases have been found are Bari, Canosa, and Ceglie. At Canosa there was a preference for the tall amphora with scroll-handles, the large phiale, and the prochoös,[1489] and purple accessories were largely used here. It is also interesting to recall that Canosa seems to have been the centre for the large ornamental vases of terracotta painted in _tempera_ (p. 119).

On some of the column-handled kraters[1490] local costumes appear, probably representing the Peucetians, and having some affinities with those of Lucania; the principal features are the tall pointed cap and short striped chiton worn by both sexes. Another group peculiar to Apulia is formed by the fish-plates[1491]—a peculiar form of plate, with low stem, a sinking in the centre, and edge turned over, all being painted with fish of various kinds (Plate XLIV.). They were no doubt used for eating fish, the sinking being for the sauce; but they may also have been hung up as votive offerings in the temple of some marine deity.

* * * * *

The last efforts of vase-painting on the soil of Magna Graecia date from the latter half of the third century B.C. By this time vase-painting had reached a stage of complete decadence, devoid of style or taste, and rapidly verging on barbarism, as shown in some specimens, which seem to be the efforts of local craftsmen to copy the better examples, but with the same want of success as the Etruscans.[1492]

Another direction which vase-painting took before it finally disappeared is illustrated by a group of vases mostly found at Egnazia (Gnathia) in Apulia, which clearly form a final stage in the evolution of the local fabric just discussed. Originally known from the place where the majority was found as _vasi di Egnazia_ or Gnathia vases, they were in the view of Lenormant more probably made at Tarentum.[1493] But we have seen that there is slight evidence of local fabric there,[1494] and their connection with the fabrics of Ruvo and Canosa makes it more likely that they came from that neighbourhood. It is therefore probable that the old name is the correct one.

The characteristics of this group are: (1) the black varnish with which the _whole_ vase is covered; (2) the designs painted in opaque colours—white, purple, and yellow; (3) the tendency to imitate vases of metal, as seen in the vertically ribbed bodies and other details of form. The important _rôle_ played by the black varnish is interesting, as showing the increasing tendency to reduce the painter’s labour to a minimum, combined with a striving after novelty and the rejuvenation of the art. The practice, no doubt, arose from the discovery of the painter that it was easier to paint the figures on the black in opaque colour than to trace them out in the clay and work round them with the varnish, especially in the case of the elaborate foliage patterns which played so important a part in Apulian vases.

The subjects are usually confined to the shoulder or neck, at least of the larger vases; but figures are comparatively rare. One krater in the British Museum (F 543) which belongs to the comic series is a notable exception; and there is a pleasing subject on a skyphos in the Louvre[1495]—a cock and goose confronted, and greeting one another with the respective salutations, “Ah, the goose!” “Oh, the cock!” But in the majority of cases the only designs are female heads, Erotes (Fig. 118), birds, comic and tragic masks suspended from wreaths, and simple foliage patterns. The reverse of the two-sided vases is often undecorated.

FIG. 109. HYDRIA WITH OPAQUE PAINTING ON BLACK GROUND, FROM CURIUM
(BRITISH MUSEUM).
]

It is interesting to note that specimens of this ware are sometimes found on Greek sites, such as Athens, Myrina in Asia Minor, Melos, and Cyprus. At Curium in the latter island a fine hydria in this style, with figures on the shoulder (Fig. 109), was found in 1895.[1496] Whether these were imported from Italy or made elsewhere is quite uncertain.[1497]

FIG. 110. PHIALE WITH LATIN INSCRIPTION: “THE CUP OF AEQUITIA”
(BRITISH MUSEUM).
]

Another interesting but much smaller class which belongs to the latter half of the third century is formed by a group of vases, mostly small phialae, which are distinguished by bearing painted Latin inscriptions.[1498] Some also have figures (Eros, a female head, etc.), which are treated in the same manner as the Gnatia vases. It is probable that Rome was the place of origin of this class, in spite of the fact that most of them were found in Etruria.[1499] But the Latin language at that time was more at home in Campania than anywhere else outside Rome. The inscriptions take the form: AECETIAI POCOLOM, _Aequitiae poculum_ (B.M. F 604 = Fig. 110); IVNONENES POCOLOM, _Junonis poculum_; and so on,—Saturn, Mercury, and other Roman deities being included in the list. Reasons have been given for dating this series in the First Punic War, 260–240 B.C.

* * * * *

Formerly it was universally supposed that the art of vase-painting was brought to an end in 186 B.C. by the action of the Roman Senate when they issued their edict against Bacchanalian ceremonies, which undoubtedly affected Southern Italy. But this was only a natural view to be taken by writers who associated the painted vases with the Eleusinian mysteries and similar ideas; on other grounds it is hardly tenable. Especially in regard to the general putting back of the chronology of the art, it is impossible to suppose that painted vases with mythological subjects were still made in the second century. The character of the mid-third-century vases just described is sufficient to indicate that they represent the last stage to which Greek painting could ever have reached.

§ 3. FIGURE-VASES AND VASES WITH RELIEFS

We propose to conclude this sketch of the history of Greek vase-painting with a few words on a principle which, while always present in Greek pottery, yet at all times lay in the background, until the latest stages of the art, when it entered on a phase of increased popularity. This is the principle of combining the ceramic with the plastic art—in other words, the manufacture of vases in the form of human or animal figures or heads.

It has already been noted, in discussing the primitive pottery of Troy (p. 257), that the idea of associating the vase form and the human form is a very old one. At Troy it is of course seen in its most rudimentary stage, when correct modelling was a thing quite beyond the potter’s scope, and he could only roughly indicate features and limbs on the surface of the vase, which thus always remained a vase, and the figure idea never gained, as in later times, the predominance. In the Mycenaean period the advance in modelling was great, but only reached a high level in Crete. It is only since the discoveries at Knossos that we have been able to account for the astounding group of porcelain _rhyta_ from the Enkomi tombs in Cyprus (see Plate X., fig. 4),[1500] which at first sight seem to have been made by a sixth-century artist, so admirable and lifelike are they. Although the rams’ heads bear the palm, the female heads are, for the period, a _tour de force_, so advanced in type that it would be pardonable to argue—apart from the circumstances of their discovery—that they must belong to a later stage of art.

Apart from these, however, the principle did not find its way into Greece before the seventh century B.C., and then its origin is indubitably Oriental. It is best exemplified by the discoveries in Rhodes, especially at Kameiros,[1501] where vases of porcelain and terracotta are found modelled in the form of helmeted heads or heads of animals (see Plate XLVI., fig. 1, and p. 127). The type adopted is that of the aryballos (p. 197); it was no doubt a comparatively easy matter to model its spherical body into the form required, applying paint where necessary to bring out the details as on the vases. In the Western Mediterranean the _alabastron_ form seems to have been more popular.[1502] It is often adopted for the Canopic vases of Etruria (see Chapter XVIII.). Many of these are unpainted, or rather are covered with a white slip and then painted in _tempera_ like the ordinary terracotta figures; they are, in fact, figurines in essence, vases by accident; whereas in the first-named group the vase idea retains the predominance. But it is almost impossible to draw the line. A fine early instance of imitation of metal in early Greek pottery is the British Museum jug from Aegina (A 457) terminating in the head of a Gryphon.

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PLATE XLVI

GREEK VASES MODELLED IN VARIOUS FORMS (BRITISH MUSEUM).
1, 6, SIXTH CENTURY; 2, 4, 5, FIFTH CENTURY; 3, FOURTH CENTURY.
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During the sixth century painted figurine vases are rare, though there are not wanting various examples of the class just described, which belong to this period; but at all events hardly any examples can be traced to Athenian manufacture during the age of B.F. vase-painting. Towards the end of the century, however, the fashion was reintroduced by the potter Charinos, who belongs to the transitional period (about 525–500 B.C.). A vase signed by him, which was found at Corneto, is in the form of a female head surmounted by a _kalathos_.[1503] It was made in a mould like the terracotta figures, but the painted decoration, which is remarkably elaborate and minute, is entirely B.F. in character. The patterns on the head-dress include maeander, stars, ivy-leaves, lozenge and net patterns, and a minute frieze of animals, painted in black on the clay ground. A similar vase, but later in date, is in the Berlin Museum[1504]; in this example we may note the introduction of R.F. ornamentation, in the palmettes and diapering round the top.

These two stand at the head of a series of similar vases extending throughout the succeeding periods down to the end of the age of painted vases. They compare for style with the heads of the female statues found on the Acropolis, which belong to the same period. Two other potters, Kaliades and Prokles, made similar vases.[1505]

The fashion started by Charinos continued throughout the fifth century, but the plastic conception tended to become subordinate to the ceramic, and it became more and more customary to decorate the non-plastic portions in the manner of the vases. Of this development the most noteworthy example is the beautiful rhyton in the British Museum in the form of a Sphinx (E 788), the upper or vase part of which is ornamented with the subject of Kekrops and Erichthonios. The body of the Sphinx is covered with a fine white slip, and the details are picked out with red and gilding. This vase dates from about the middle of the century. There also exist many examples of rhyta or kanthari, formed of a head or two heads back to back, usually a Maenad and a Seilenos.[1506] Another favourite type is that of a jug in the form of a negro’s or Aethiopian’s head[1507]; and there are also rhyta which terminate in the head of a lion, mule, or other animal finely modelled (Plate XLVI., figs. 2, 5).

Towards the end of the fifth century there is a reversion to the purely plastic figure-vase, usually in the form of a lekythos with spherical body, to the front of which the figure is attached (Plate XLVI., fig. 4). The vase is usually covered with black glaze, and the figure with a white slip like the terracottas, with polychrome colouring. Examples of this class are the series of lekythi representing Aphrodite Anadyomene in a scallop-shell, of which there are examples at Athens and Petersburg,[1508] and the fine vase in the British Museum (E 716) with the bust of Athena Parthenos. A series of smaller lekythi, of which the British Museum possesses examples (G 2–7), represents Eros on a dolphin, the young Dionysos in a sort of canopy, Europa on the bull, a boy with a dog, and other subjects; the technique is similar to that of the larger specimens, with pink and green colouring. They form charming little objects, and are often well executed.[1509]

In Southern Italy many of these types are continued, the most popular being that of the rhyton ending in an animal’s head (p. 193), of which many examples have been found in Apulia. They usually have some simple design painted on the upper part, such as a figure of Eros. There are also numerous examples of vases in the form of animals or human figures (Plate XLVI., fig. 3), some of which are in black glazed ware with patterns in white like the vases of Egnazia, others being covered with white slip like the terracottas. With the decay of painted decoration the plastic element gradually predominates more and more, until the vase form becomes, so to speak, purely accidental. Thus in the third century the fabrics of Canosa, of which we have spoken in a previous chapter (p. 118), entirely hold the field, and the vases pass out of the sphere of the history of vase-painting.

In all or nearly all of the vases just described we observe the same principle at work—namely, the tendency to imitate metal in terracotta. It is one that is constantly recurring throughout the whole history of Greek ceramics, with more or less persistency and prominence. Sometimes, as in the Melian, Proto-Attic, and other fabrics, the imitation is limited to the form of the handles, which is, strictly speaking, inappropriate in terracotta, though frequently found in early bronze vessels.[1510] It is seldom found in Ionia, but in Western Greece there are many examples during the seventh and sixth centuries, as in some of the Proto-Corinthian and early Corinthian wares,[1511] This is doubtless in a large measure due to the influence of the great centres of metal-work at that time, Corinth and Chalkis. We are not, therefore, surprised to find the tendency exemplified in the pottery fabrics of those two centres, and at Chalkis, as has already been noted (p. 321), it is especially conspicuous in the form and minor details of the vases. At Athens examples are rare, with the exception of the vases of Nikosthenes, who not only copies complete vases in metal, as in his peculiarly-shaped amphorae and in a small _phiale mesomphalos_ in the British Museum,[1512] but is also addicted to adorning the handles of jugs with female heads in relief, as on specimens in the Louvre and elsewhere.[1513] After the sixth century the tendency is far less conspicuous, owing to the high esteem in which vase-painting was then held, and little is seen of attempts at imitating metal until the revival of the plastic element in pottery in the fourth century. An almost unique exception is the Berlin krater from Corinth (2882), which must date from the fifth century. It is of black ware, with designs in relief round the body.[1514]

The tendency also manifests itself in a marked degree in another direction in early Greek art—namely, in that of ornamenting vases with reliefs. So much evidence of this has been yielded by discoveries on Greek soil that it is now certain that this method of decoration had its origin in Greece, and not in Etruria, although the close resemblance between early relief-wares from Rhodes and the large πίθοι of Cervetri (see p. 153) had led archaeologists in the past to regard Etruria as its original home. The Etruscans always preferred modelled vases or relief decoration to painted ware, as their _bucchero_ fabrics show; but we know that they had no inventive power, and even in this they have proved to be only imitators.[1515]

Turning to details of the early Greek vases with reliefs, we may note that there are two varieties: firstly, those in which the reliefs are made by rolling a cylinder round the vase, the design being repeated over again; secondly, those in which the reliefs are made from separate moulds, and attached with some kind of cement.[1516] In both classes the shape usually affected is that of a large πίθος (cf. p. 151), of a somewhat coarse red clay. It is the first variety which so closely resemble the πίθοι found at Cervetri, and which are now known to be the prototypes, not imitations, of the Etruscan examples.[1517]

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PLATE XLVII

From Ἐφ. Ἀρχ.
ARCHAIC PITHOS WITH RELIEFS FROM BOEOTIA (ATHENS MUS.).
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In Greece fragments of the first class have been found on the Acropolis at Athens, the recurring design being a two-horse chariot which a warrior mounts, with a scorpion in the field. The similarity in the clay, the shape, and the technique of the reliefs with the Cervetri vases is remarkable; the subject is one common on Corinthian vases. Other fragments have been found at Tanagra, and there is a good example in the Louvre with a series of figures, representing a dance of women, all of similar types, yet not from the same stamp, but different moulds.[1518] The variations of detail in dress and hair show conclusively that the cylinder process is not employed here, but that the figures are freely modelled from a single type. The costume is that typical of the women on early B.F. vases (cf. p. 372). Some very fine examples of πίθοι with reliefs, dating from the end of the seventh century, have been published by De Ridder.[1519] They are all from Boeotia, and are similar to those made in Rhodes, but with the characteristic ornamental handles of metallic form. Here again the figures are freely modelled with variations of detail, and they afford interesting points of comparison with the painted vases and with the early bronze reliefs which are variously attributed to Corinth and Chalkis.[1520] One in Athens (_Cat._ 462) has the interesting subject of Artemis Diktynna; another (_Cat._ 466 = Plate XLVII.), an accouchement scene. Similar finds have been made in Kythnos, Tenos, Crete, and Rhodes,[1521] the ornamentation being for the most part purely geometrical, but sometimes with Centaurs or human figures.[1522] In none of these examples is there any peculiarly Etruscan feature; all is purely Hellenic, presenting close analogies not only with metal-work in relief, but also with the Oriental art to which the Greek work of that age was so much indebted, as in the case of the cylinder process.[1523]

A new method of decorating vases, which first makes its appearance towards the end of the fifth century, is by means of _appliqué_ reliefs. It is doubtless due to the influence of sculpture, and perhaps more especially to that of the bronze reliefs which on vases and mirror-cases were now becoming popular. The former influence is clearly at work in the great Kertch vase with the contest of Athena and Poseidon (Plate L.), where we may see in the two central figures, which are modelled in relief and applied to the surface of the vase, an undoubted reminiscence of the western Parthenon pediment. There are also vases from Athens, Kertch, the Cyrenaica, and Southern Italy,[1524] in which the figures are either partially or wholly modelled in relief, like the vase of Xenophantos or a fine lekythos in the British Museum (G 23) representing the rape of Kassandra by Ajax. Another fine specimen, found at Cumae and now at Petersburg, has a group of Eleusinian deities in relief on the shoulder.[1525] Yet another example, recently found at Lampsakos, has the Calydonian boar-hunt as its subject; the figures are in relief on a gilded ground.[1526]

The imitation of metal technique[1527] is even more marked in the vases of Southern Italy than in those from other parts. At Capua, Cumae, and Metapontum amphorae, hydriae, and oinochoae are found, covered with a very brilliant black varnish, but without any painted decoration; the only ornament is in the form of gilded wreaths and other simple patterns, or designs in relief. The British Museum has a fine series from Capua with garlands of foliage and ornaments in the form of festoons and pendants, the whole forming, as M. Collignon says, “a brilliant and luxurious system of decoration which contrasts with the sober taste of the Attic potters.” Some of the hydriae are clearly of local fabric, imitations of the Campanian hydriae of bronze.[1528] The forms are often very elaborate, with ornamental handles, ribbed bodies, and moulded stems. An oinochoë has been found with an inscription which gives the names of leῖa for smooth-surfaced vases, ῥαβδωτά for those ribbed or fluted. Heavy imitations of the gilt and relief wares have often been found at Alexandria,[1529] and isolated specimens occur in Attica, Rhodes, and the Cyrenaica.

The growing fashion of using only vases of chased gold and silver in preference to painted pottery made itself more and more felt both in Greece and Italy during the Alexandrine period. The same tendency which we have already noted, to reproduce as far as possible the characteristics and appearance of metal, may be observed in all the pottery of this period. Not only do the subjects moulded in relief reproduce the appearance of the chased and _repoussé_ designs, but the shapes are those of the metal vases, and even in the black glaze there are attempts to produce a metallic effect. It is clear that the pottery of this period presents throughout the effect of a striving after outward show on the part of those who were unable to afford the more precious metal for their household utensils, and were forced to be content with imitating it to the best of their ability in the humbler material.

In Greece this tendency is best illustrated by a series of vases known as Megarian or Homeric bowls, of hemispherical form,[1530] without handles. The former name was given to them by Dumont[1531] and Benndorf,[1532] but with little authority beyond the fact that several were found at Megara. But they might on equally good grounds be called Boeotian, others having been found at Thebes and elsewhere in the neighbourhood. They have also been found in Kalymnos, Crete, and Cyprus, but the majority are from Thebes, Tanagra, and Anthedon. Professor Robert thinks they may be identified with the _vasa Samia_ so often mentioned by ancient writers (see Chapter XXII.), and refers to the μαστοί dedicated at Oropos and Paphos.[1533] All are of red clay, with a thin metallic black glaze giving a quasi-metallic appearance; the hemispherical form is only departed from in one or two instances.[1534]

The other name, Homeric, has been applied to them by Professor Robert with reference to the well-known passage of Suetonius, which describes Nero as using bowls (_scyphi_) called Homeric because they were chased with subjects from Homer’s poems.[1535] Our clay examples would then be reproductions of the chased metal vases, used by those who could not afford originals, and corresponding in some degree to modern plaster casts. It is true that only five of the examples we possess have subjects from Homer; but most of the others may be so called as belonging to the Epic cycle. They thus differ from most relief-vases of the period, in that the designs are not purely decorative or repetitions of simple motives, but are, so to speak, “illustrations of the classics.”

Professor Robert distinguishes two classes: (1) those with figures made from separate stamps, attached to the vase after it was made, and often repeated; (2) vases made wholly, figures and all, in a mould, like the Arretine wares.[1536] In the latter case they were doubtless made from the same moulds as the metal vases, and of this we have an undoubted example, not indeed among the “Megarian” bowls, but in analogous specimens from Italy. It has already been noted (p. 134) that in the British Museum there are two examples of a silver bowl with _repoussé_ designs, representing round the interior four deities in chariots, which form part of a silver treasure found at Èze in the south of France; and that in the same collection there is also a clay bowl (_Cat._ G 118 = Plate XLVIII., fig. 5) which exactly reproduces the silver vase in shape, size, and decoration.

Among the subjects we have the rape of Persephone[1537]; the sacrifice of Iphigeneia; Achilles and Priam[1538]; the flight to the ships (from the _Iliad_), the sack of Troy and the sacrifice of Polyxena; the destruction of the suitors (from the _Odyssey_). From the Theban legend we have the stories of Oedipus’s childhood and the Seven against Thebes[1539]; other vases give the labours of Herakles or his rape of Auge (Plate XLVIII., fig. 2)[1540]; and a jug made by Dionysios has the interesting subject of Autolykos and Sisyphos.[1541] The British Museum possesses a very interesting bowl with scenes taken directly from the _Phoenissae_ of Euripides,[1542] and other comparisons with that author may be made in the case of the bowls with Iphigeneia and Polyxena. Sometimes the scenes are inscribed with verses from the poems or plays illustrated, or with a prose description of the scene,[1543] or merely with the names of the figures. The letters in all cases are raised. It is clear that all these bowls belong to the same period and fabric, and many small details point to the third century as their date. We may bear in mind that this was the time of the great revival of Homeric study at Alexandria.

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PLATE XLVIII

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In Italy the introduction of relief wares became general as painting was abandoned, but did so gradually, not suddenly. In the third century both existed side by side. The principle of a purely mechanical process in pottery, which now first appears in the manufacture from a mould, was not, strictly speaking, a new one in Italy, nor yet in Greece. It is first seen in the early Etruscan and Rhodian vases (see p. 496) with stamped and rolled-out designs repeated in long friezes. And we shall see later how for several centuries moulded vases, in the form of _bucchero_ ware, formed the national pottery of Etruria. There was always in Etruscan, as also in Greek pottery,[1544] a tendency towards the imitation of metal, and this tendency about the fourth century seems to have spread over the rest of Italy, even to the Iapygian Peninsula. Thus it is that the vases of Gnatia (p. 488) are largely metallic in form and treatment, with their ribbed bodies and other details. To the same cause is mainly due the series of Capua and Cumae vases which has already been discussed, with its brilliant varnish and gilding. Signor Gamurrini actually gave to the Italian black glaze wares the name of “Etrusco-Campanian.”[1545] After the disappearance of _bucchero_ ware similar vases came to be made at Cervetri, Chiusi, Corneto, and Bolsena, the principal art centres of Etruria. At Bolsena in particular they have been found in considerable numbers; and as this city (_Volsinium novum_) was only founded in 264 B.C., a _terminus post quem_ for their date is afforded.

A group of vases found chiefly at the last-named place[1546] does not appear to have been covered with black varnish, but with a metallic preparation of gold or silver, which has now mostly disappeared, and they are left with the plain glazed clay. Some of these are not without merit. In the general arrangement of the designs, usually in friezes round the shoulder, there is obviously a reminiscence of _bucchero_ ware. The metallic preparation with which they were covered may have been something of the kind which Athenaeus[1547] describes in speaking of certain drinking-cups made at Naukratis, which “were dipped [in some preparation] so as to appear silver.”

In Italy the manufacture of vases of black ware with reliefs appears to have centred at Cales in Campania during the third century.[1548] The principal type is that of a bowl, not of the hemispherical form, but shallow, with the designs in the interior, either in the form of a frieze or of a central medallion. These are usually called Calene phialae, but it is not certain whether the majority were really made at Cales. At all events, it is, like “Megarian bowl,” a convenient name for the class. The British Museum bowl G 118, with the frieze of chariots (see above), is a good example of the frieze type of design. The subject, which is treated in a very spirited manner, is the apotheosis of Herakles, who is conducted by Athena, Ares, and Artemis to Olympos, accompanied by Victories. There is also a good specimen in Berlin (_Cat._ 3882) with Odysseus and the Sirens. Another with decorative patterns only, bears the signature of the potter, L. Canoleios of Cales, in Latin letters.[1549] Examples are also given in Plate XLVIII., figs. 3, 5, 6.

Of the type with central medallions comparatively few complete examples exist, but the British Museum possesses a series of fragments on which the medallions have been preserved.[1550] The subjects are usually those characteristic of the Alexandrine period: Aphrodite, Adonis, and Erotes; Herakles and Hylas, and others familiar from Theocritus; or Trojan scenes, such as Thetis with the arms of Achilles or Paris attacked by Deiphobos. A unique instance is that of Romulus and Remus suckled by the wolf (G 125). Two names of potters occur—K. Atilius and G. Gabinius. The date of these phialae is probably that of the Second Punic War (about 230–200 B.C.). The designs, being taken from moulds[1551] and inserted separately, are frequently repeated. The fashion—obviously another instance of imitation of metal[1552]—of adorning bowls with central designs also takes other forms at this period. Simple heads of deities or Satyrs are found, and there are also instances of facsimiles of Syracusan coins. Two bowls in the British Museum (G 121–22) have in the centre copies of a decadrachm with the head of Persephone (Plate XLVIII., fig. 4: cf. p. 210).[1553]

Analogous to these in character and technique are the series of small lamp-feeders or _gutti_, a variation of the _askos_ form, which are found chiefly in Southern Italy, but also in North Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean.[1554] In the latter case they are usually distinguished by having an arched handle over the back instead of the usual ring-handle at the side, and the body is flatter. The Italian type has a deep ribbed body, with a flat circular space on the top containing a design in relief, made separately and inserted in the vase (Plate XLVIII., fig. 1). The range of subjects is wide, but the majority are mythological: heads or masks of a Dionysiac character or of Medusa form a large proportion of the whole.

Larger vases of black ware with reliefs inserted or attached are sometimes found, but are not common. The British Museum possesses two good specimens—a krater (G 29) with panels inserted bearing mythological designs,[1555] and a large covered jar (G 28) with the inscription BASSVS in Roman letters, presumably the potter’s name. The subjects, in two friezes, represent Erotes and festoons of vine-leaves, and Poseidon and Victory, five times repeated.

* * * * *

The series of vases which we have been discussing are clearly paving the way for the new development of pottery which prevailed throughout the Roman period—that of the ware formerly known as Samian, but now usually spoken of as Arretine or (a more comprehensive term) _Terra sigillata_. This will of course be more appropriately dealt with in a subsequent chapter under the heading of Roman Pottery. In the course of the second century the Roman dominion spread over most of the Greek lands, and Greek art as an independent entity almost ceased to exist. It is, however, not a little remarkable at what a late date some forms of distinctively Greek pottery lingered on in Hellenic regions, such as Attica, Egypt, and Southern Russia. The subject has hitherto received but little attention, and the materials have hardly been collected with sufficient completeness to admit of adequate discussion and classification.[1556]

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Footnote 1409:

See Hesych. _s.v._ πινάκιον; Athenag. _Leg. pro Christo_, 17, p. 293;
also p. 316.

Footnote 1410:

See Loeschcke in _Ath. Mitth._ 1879, p. 289 ff. The revision of
chronology since his article was written has only served to give
additional support to his view, bringing the white vases nearer in
date to the painted stelae.

Footnote 1411:

_Brut._ xviii. 70: see also Plut. _de defect. orac._ 47, 436 C;
Pliny, _H.N._ xxxv. 50.

Footnote 1412:

See _B.M. Cat. of Vases_, ii. B 613 ff.

Footnote 1413:

Winter in _Arch. Zeit._ 1885, p. 195 ff.

Footnote 1414:

_Ibid._ p. 187 ff.: cf. also Hartwig in _Jahrbuch_, 1899, p. 160.

Footnote 1415:

_Arch. Zeit._ 1885, pl. 12. Cf. B.M. D 22, 32; Dumont-Pottier, i. pl.
11; Rayet and Collignon, pl. 10, 1. The severe type of face should be
compared with Attic coins of the fifth century.

Footnote 1416:

Cf. _Arch. Zeit._ 1881, p. 35.

Footnote 1417:

Cf. B.M. D 65 and Fig. 19, p. 143.

Footnote 1418:

_E.g._ B.M. D 21, 33.

Footnote 1419:

As on the Anesidora cup in the British Museum (D 4) and the
Euphronios cup in Berlin (2282).

Footnote 1420:

_Mon. dell’ Inst._ x. 37 _a_; _Annali_, 1877, p. 287.

Footnote 1421:

_Cat._ 208, 332, 336; published in Jahn, _Entführ. d. Europa_, pl. 7;
Furtwaengler and Reichhold, pl. 49 (Fig. 121); and Overbeck,
_Kunstmythol. Atlas_, pl. 9, No. 19.

Footnote 1422:

Rayet and Collignon, p. 223: see _Anzeiger_, 1891, p. 69, where it is
attributed to Sotades.

Footnote 1423:

_E.g._ B.M. D 11 = Plate XLIII. fig. 1; _Mon. Grecs_, 1878, pl. 2 (in
Louvre).

Footnote 1424:

Also attributed by Furtwaengler to Sotades (_Anzeiger_, _loc. cit._).

Footnote 1425:

Formerly in the collection of M. van Branteghem: see his Sale Cat.
Nos. 159–66, and Plate XL.

Footnote 1426:

A complete list of white-ground cups is given by Hartwig,
_Meistersch._ p. 499. Among signed examples are the Euphronios cup in
Berlin (2282); those by Sotades and Hegesiboulos (p. 445), and also
_Mon. dell’ Inst._ x. 37_a_ (—νις ἔποιησεν).

Footnote 1427:

_White Athenian Vases_, p. 5.

Footnote 1428:

See generally Pottier, _Les Lécythes Blancs_.

Footnote 1429:

In the B.M. collection, D 52 is from Locri, D 28, 47, 63, 87 from
Gela.

Footnote 1430:

_E.g._ B.M. D 33, 54–7, 62; Athens 1625 ff.

Footnote 1431:

See Dumont-Pottier, ii. pp. 50, 53.

Footnote 1432:

Notably Athens 688 = Reinach, i. p. 164 (_Mon. dell’ Inst._ viii. pl.
4).

Footnote 1433:

For references to this subject on the lekythi see Chapter XIII., and
for a typical example, _ibid._, Fig. 122. For the different types see
(1) Athens 1662–63; (2) B.M. D 61; (3) Berlin 2680–81, Athens 1661.

Footnote 1434:

x. 28, 1.

Footnote 1435:

On the forms of the stele see Brueckner, _Ornament und Form der
attischen Grabstelen_.

Footnote 1436:

As for instance Naples 1755 = Baumeister, iii. p. 1848, fig. 1939.
See also Roscher, iii. p. 967; B.M. F 57.

Footnote 1437:

Cf. also B.M. D 54; Pottier, pls. 2, 4; and see Chapter XIII.

Footnote 1438:

We may recall the _dictum_ of Aristotle (_Poet._ 2) that Polygnotos
painted men better (or more beautiful) than reality.

Footnote 1439:

_E.g._ B.M. D 54, D 56; and another with horsemen unpublished.

Footnote 1440:

It may be noted conversely that Attic tombstones were often in the
form of lekythi (e.g. _B.M. Cat. of Sculpt._ i. Nos. 681–82, 687 ff.).

Footnote 1441:

See the list of non-funerary subjects given by Pottier, _op. cit._ p.
5. Cf. also B.M. D 21, 51, 57, D 19 and 24 (Nike), 31 (Iris), and 23
(priestess of Athena).

Footnote 1442:

_Lécythes Blancs_, p. 103.

Footnote 1443:

Examples are: Benndorf, _Gr. u. Sic. Vasenb._ pls. 26, 33.

Footnote 1444:

_E.g._ Athens 1626; Benndorf, pl. 18, fig. 2, pl. 20, fig. 2.

Footnote 1445:

_E.g._ Benndorf, pl. 24, figs. 1, 3.

Footnote 1446:

_Jahrbuch_, ix. (1894), p. 57 ff.

Footnote 1447:

Milchhoefer attributes this to Hiero’s victory in 474; but the date
seems too early compared with other evidence.

Footnote 1448:

The latest R.F. vase from Kameiros is the polychrome “pelike” E 424
in the British Museum. Furtwaengler (_Gr. Vasenmalerei_, p. 205)
gives reasons for dating it in the third century; but the
circumstances of its discovery at Kameiros render so late a date
improbable, apart from considerations of style.

Footnote 1449:

Hartwig in _Mélanges d’Arch._ 1894, p. 11.

Footnote 1450:

See above, p. 60, for the sites on which they have been found; also
the plates of the Atlas to Stephani’s _Compte-Rendu_ and of the _Ant.
du Bosph. Cimmérien_.

Footnote 1451:

See above, p. 447.

Footnote 1452:

_E.g._ B.M. F 4–7, 23, 27–9.

Footnote 1453:

See on this group of vases some very illuminating remarks by
Furtwaengler in his _Meisterwerke_, p. 149.

Footnote 1454:

See also what is said below (p. 485) on early Apulian fabrics.

Footnote 1455:

See his _Ceramica Antica_, _passim_.

Footnote 1456:

See generally Chapter IV., p. 162 ff.

Footnote 1457:

Cf. B.M. F 193, F 210, F 542.

Footnote 1458:

Comments

History of Ancient Pottery: Greek, Etruscan, and Roman. Volume 1 (of 2)Chapter XI: White-Ground and Later Fabrics (2)

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