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Vase Finds from Athens [on the western slope of the Acropolis], part 5.
24.
Large bowl with two handles from Athens (fig.29A), height 28 cm, diameter 29 cm. Athens,
National Museum Inv. 2201. A white stripe with yellow leaves on the
edge, a white vine branch with yellow tendrils and white grapes around
the neck, black and white checkerboard patterns around the belly,
alternating with yellow squares. A deep incised line at the bottom as a
conclusion. Black Varnish.
Fig.29: A. Large bowl with two handles (24). B. Skyphos with leaves on handles (25).
25. Skyphos (fig.29B), height 8 cm. Athens,
National Museum Inv. 2309. Applique heart leaves on the handles. A
garland of yellow leaves runs from handle to handle on both sides.
Black Varnish.
26. Skyphos (fig.30A), height 11 cm. From Piraeus. Athens,
National Museum Inv. 2217. On the handles masks with large (p.79)
mouths, on the body above scratched and white-filled chessboard
patterns, which alternate with scratched net patterns, underneath
yellow cornucopia with scratched outlines between two yellow twigs.
Uneven, black-grey varnish [21].
Fig.30: A
27. Mug with two handles (fig.30B), height
9.5 cm. Athens, National Museum 2310. Masks with large mouths, poorly
executed on the handles. A carved branch with yellow leaves runs from
handle to handle. Traces of red paint in the unvarnished areas. Black
varnish [22].
28. Beaker (p.80) with two handles from Athens (fig.31A), height 7 cm,
diameter 12.5cm; Heidelberg Archaeological Institute. Ivy leaves on the
handles, only a deeply carved ring on the outside. Inside two wreaths
and two dolphins facing each other, in between garlands of ivy and
borberry, thyrsos with bandage and frond ; in the middle a white star.
Dark gray varnish.
Fig.31: A
29.
Deep bowl with a sharply defined rim and several rings pressed in on
the outside (fig.31B). Height 6 cm, diameter 15 cm. Athens, National Museum Inv. 2258.
Yellow laurel band with white punctate flowers at the top inside; in
the middle yellow and white star, (p.81) around it a yellow circle with
yellow arches and yellow leaves. Poor grey-black varnish.
30.
Deep bowl from Boeotia (fig.32A), height 7 cm, diameter 17 cm. Athens, National Museum
Inv. 12286. Several deeply pressed rings on the outside; Inside at the
top three black and white chessboard patterns, which alternate with
scratched net patterns, in the middle on the circle, which has turned
red from the burning, a yellow and white star. Grey-black varnish.
Fig.32: A
31.
Deep bowl with sharply defined upper edge (fig.32B). Height 6.5 cm, diameter 17 cm. From
Athens, now in the Academic Art Museum in Bonn. On the inside at the
top scratched net patterns, alternating with scratched squares, in the
middle in high relief the head of a (p.82) youthful satyr with ruffled
hair and pointed ears, a fur knotted at the front around the neck. Red
burnt varnish.
32. Plate with two holes for hanging (fig.33), from
Athens, now in the Academic Art Museum in Bonn, diameter 26 cm. Outside
undecorated, the edge unvarnished. Yellow star in the center,
surrounded by two yellow ivy garlands and two white bows with yellow
bobbles, then a stripe surrounded by two deep, engraved rings with
black and white checkerboard patterns alternating with incised squares
and yellow triangles in a white frame. Black Varnish.
Fig.33: A
33. Askos
with two mouths (fig.34A), curved handle and with (p.83) the lid attached to the
body, height 15 cm. Athens, National Museum Inv. 2375. Yellow leaf tendrils
around the two openings, on the lid a band with amulets (?) and yellow
net patterns alternating with yellow squares. Around the belly vine
with yellow leaves and bunches of grapes. Black Varnish.
Fig.34: A
34.
Askos in the form of a mule carrying two pointed amphorae on its back (fig.34B),
from Thebes, height 18.5 cm. Athens, National Museum Inv. 2231. Around the
neck tendril with (p.84) yellow bobbles, around the body in front
arches with yellow dots scratched, below tendril with yellow leaves and
scratched net and checkerboard pattern, behind tendril with yellow dots
and white-filled wavy band between two yellow ones branches. Garlands
with yellow bobbles [23] scored all around the bottom.
Discussion of vessel decorations.
The
varnish of the vases collected here is of quite variable color and
quality. A few specimens stand out, the varnish of which still has the
deep black color and the beautiful metallic luster of Attic vases. The
small jug No. 10 and the vessels listed under Nos. 17-20 belong to this
group. By far the majority of the vases, however, show a poorer, more
black-grey varnish, which shimmers in rainbow colors in some places.
The pieces with gray and red varnish are to be lined up as a third
group. A sharp distinction between these groups is not possible; one
clearly developed from the other, as can easily be shown by a few
examples. Thus, the relief jug No.5, which comes from the well on the
western Acropolis slope, was originally varnished in black; but the
black varnish has survived only in a few places, while the rest has
apparently turned gray from excessive burning. Corresponding pieces,
where the gray coloring of the varnish is apparently intended, are the
cup No.28 and the bowl No.29. In the case of the deep bowls (p.85), the
inner circle is usually burned red, the rest of the part appearing gray
or black . We then observe a completely red varnish on bowl No.31 and
the two-handled bowl from the western slope No.14. This development
finally ended in the invention of the red glaze of the Greek
terrasigillata vessels, which took the place of the glazed vessels. The
fact that the development of the vase species really took this course
can also be demonstrated from the ornamentation.
The
painterly decoration is done with very little means. Of the two
different elements of decoration, the geometric and the naturalistic,
the second only appears with the deterioration of the black varnish. It
is entirely absent from the vases of the first group listed above, and
when it appears it consists of checkerboard patterns with white
fillings, yellow net patterns, and yellow squares set one inside the
other; however, in the further course of development, roughly parallel
to the appearance of the gray and red varnish, the colors gradually
disappear, and all these patterns are only executed in incised lines.
The naturalistic elements are tripods on a broad base, cornucopias,
bucrania, dolphins, thyrsoi and wreaths, as well as wavy bands, arched
friezes, garlands with bobbles and amulets, tendrils with leaves and
flowers, vine branches and ivy garlands, which can already be seen on
vases from the fourth century BC. As the varnish deteriorated, these
decorations gradually disappeared, eventually giving way to simple,
incised geometric designs. In all larger vessels, this decoration is
limited to the upper part, flals and shoulder, the lower part is always
left undecorated. How this fact favors the appearance of relief
decoration will become clear when considering the individual forms.
The
ornaments are executed in two colors, a thick, dirty yellow and a thin,
chalky white, which are applied to the black ground. Where the white
paint has chipped off, the base of the varnish appears red, so that at
times the appearance of three colors is aroused. The drawing, initially
rather careful, becomes more and more cursory (p.86), the colors are
applied unevenly and without regard to the incised contours. The third
color to be mentioned is a beautiful dark red, with which the parts
uncovered by the black varnish are coated. But this color is only found
in the older specimens and disappears in the course of development.
Another peculiarity of the older vases is their predilection for short
captions identifying the vessels as gifts or votive offerings. The
forms of the letters point us down from the IV century BC, without
allowing a definite dating. Forms such as C for S appear on red-figure
vases as early as the beginning of the IV century.
The next
precursor to these vases are the Attic vessels of the 4th century,
which have yellow, mostly gilded garlands and tendrils attached to the
glossy black varnish [24]. They share with them the use of the dark red
color to cover the unvarnished parts of the vessel and, at least at the
beginning of development, the good black varnish. They differ from
them, however, in their new, much richer ornamentation and in their
peculiar forms, which deviate from anything customary up to that point.
Horns of plenty, dolphins, thyrsoi and wreaths appear as decorations
applied to the varnish base on omphalos bowls as early as the 5th
century; in the Hellenistic period we encounter all these ornaments on
the light yellow varnished bottles, where they are usually painted in
brown on the bottom [25]. The Hellenistic funerary hydria from
Alexandria also show similar ornaments in combination with other
ornaments [26]. The appearance of the [p.87] checkerboard pattern [27]
is probably related to the general decline of vase painting in the
Hellenistic period, which is now being replaced by other techniques
had, is completely dying out. The craft of pottery, which in an earlier
great period had raised to the limit of art, is thus declining to its
beginnings, to the lowest stage of its development; in the forms it
moves from now on in the wake of toreutics. We shall be able to follow
this in detail in the following overview of the forms.
The
question of the starting point for the manufacture of these vases
cannot yet be answered with certainty. However, since the majority was
found in Athens and there is initially no reason to take them for
foreign imports, Athens will have to be used as a place of manufacture
[28]. However, it seems doubtful to me that the production started
here, because the new decorative elements have not yet been found in
Attica apart from on these vases. The relationships to the Gnathia'
vases also tend to point to a common source.
Discussion of vessel forms.
It
is now a question of following the development of this type of vase in
detail using the various forms. The shape of the handles with the
attached rattan, masks and ivy leaves, the masks at the base of the
handle and the sharp structure of the vessel body, which is
particularly emphasized by deep, engraved rings, prove that metal
models were imitated. For some forms we can even still prove the metal
models.
The deep handleless bowl with
decoration on the outside is represented in the list by one surviving
and three fragmented specimens, which at the same time represent
different stages of development of the whole genus. The oldest piece is
the bowl from Crete in Berlin (No.20), which has painted decoration on
the outside and whose base is formed by three heads in relief. The
fragments from the western slope of the Acropolis (No.8 a,b.) show
combined painted and plastic decoration. The bowl in Heidelberg (No.6)
only has incised patterns in the form of polygons.
The rim
fragments from the west slope of the Acropolis are the most instructive
for the evolutionary history of the genus. From the relief patterns of
one piece, the egg-stick and volute band, which are well known to us as
the rim ornament of Megarian cups, are still preserved. The usual white
tendril with yellow leaves and white flowers is painted on top. On the
other piece, too, the upper stripe of relief is just preserved: spirals
with palmettes above, towards which dolphins are approaching from each
side, below a chain of small plastic rings. In the free space above,
the painter has repeated the same ornament in yellow and white colors.
A white dot stripe corresponds to the chain; Above it are yellow and
white spirals with dolphins, only the palmettes are replaced by yellow
dotted rosettes.
The development of this bowl form thus ends
in the form of the Megarian cup. We see how the relief rises from below
and pushes the painted decoration more and more upwards to the edge,
until it finally disappears from here too, giving way to the relief
decoration. The other two bowls also clearly show the close connection
with the Megarian cups. The use of relief heads to form the base is
very popular with Megarian cups; I saw plastically applied polygons,
which corresponded perfectly to the incised ones on the Heidelberg
bowl, on a Megarian cup in the Athenian art trade. The pom-pom ornament
also recurs in metal vessels that are depicted on Megarian cups (p.89)
(cf. fig.35). However, it has long been recognized that the Megarian
cups are only surrogates for metal cups.
The
material flows more richly for the same shape of the bowl, the
decoration of which is limited to the inside. It gradually develops
into a distinct metal form, for which the inner circle is divided into
two by a protruding, usually ornamented circlet and the associated
inward retraction of the body.
The sherds from the west slope
of the Acropolis (No.7 a,b.) together with the fragment (No.7 c)
and the bowl in Fleidelberg also belong to the older stage of
development according to their varnish. The interior is not yet divided
into two concentric rings, but the painted decoration is still freely
distributed in the room. The shell at Athens (No.29) has already formed
the metal mold; the upper part of the body separates from the lower
part in a sharp bend and accordingly the ornaments expand on two
concentric rings. Up to now the incising technique has hardly been
noticed next to the painted decoration, but it already predominates in
the decoration of the Boeotian bowl (No.30), which is decorated with a
chessboard pattern and incised network at the upper edge. In the middle
of all these vessels there is usually a star or a rosette painted in
yellow and white.
The final stage of development is shown by
the bowl in Bonn (No.31), which has already been varnished red. Now the
relief has also appeared: a sculptural head of a satyr sits in the
middle. The scratched decoration is limited to net patterns, which have
been preserved at the very top edge. If these also disappear, what
remains is the form commonly known as the deep Calener bowl, which is
chronologically parallel to the Megarian cup and is also dependent on
Toreutic models.
Analogies in toreutics can also be demonstrated
for the shells mentioned. Bowl No. 29 corresponds in shape and in the
distribution of the decoration to a silver bowl in the National Museum
in Athens (inv. 3736), which was acquired in Athens with the indication
of provenance as Locris (cf. fig.36) (p.90).
A rosette is
engraved in the gilded round in the middle, a strip with gilded wavy
band runs around the edge, the spaces between which are filled with
fine engraved lines. On the concavity of the body, slightly above the
middle, there is an engraved ivy tendril, which is gilded. In form and
division of the inner surface it agrees with the clay shell; the
ornaments, although not the same, are found on other vases belonging to
the same genus.
Two silver bowls from Taranto can be compared
with the Bonn Bowl No.31, which were found together with other silver
vessels under the pavement of Roman buildings and were published by
Patroni1. Both are of the same shape and decorated in the same way. A
plastic egg stick is laid around the edge; a little lower runs around
the inner surface a protruding ring decorated with a plastic pearl
stick. A circle is set in the center, on which a youth and a maenad are
depicted in very high relief, embracing and kissing. On one bowl,
behind the two, the bush of Thyrsos appears, which has the shape of a
pine cone.
The (p.91) ornaments are gilded in the same way as
the silver bowl from Locris [29]. Both bowls will relate to each other
in exactly the same way as the older and younger specimens of the vase
genus. On the one hand, the gilded ornaments are all still engraved, on
the other hand they are embossed and stand out three-dimensionally, and
the figurative emblem has appeared in the middle. According to the
similarity in form, they will also be about as far apart in time as the
vases with painted ornaments and those decorated only with relief, and
one can assume that the development of the vase type also reflects the
development of the Toreutic factory who provided the models for those.
An
overview of the various forms of the skyphos (cf. numbers 25 and 26 in
the list) shows the attempt to achieve an ever sharper articulation of
the body by dividing the abdomen into an upper and a lower half, which
are separated by deep incised lines . This division into two unequal
parts is hardly noticeable in No.25, and is most pronounced in the two
Skyphoi from Olbia. If one imagines that the incised line originated
from a painted or recessed line, which originally separated the
pictorial field from the lower part on the stomach, then one may
perhaps claim the Kabirion skyphos as the precursor to this form. The
roundness of the belly is still very close to that of the Skyphos
No.25, the shape of the handles with the attached plates is the same,
and the Kabirion skyphos must also be understood as an imitation of a
metal form in clay [30].
(p.92) The metal model for jug No.3 and
the fragment No.12 belonging to it was a silver jug from Kerch, which
came to light from a tumulus together with other silver vases and rich
gold jewelery [31]. A satyr's head is attached in high relief to the
base of the knitted handle. A wreath of leaves with a bow adorns the
neck, and a vine branch with grapes between a wavy band and a chain
with bobbles adorns the shoulder. These ornaments are gold plated.
The
similarity of shape, the recurrence of the same ornaments on the vases
of the type discussed leaves no doubt that a metal jug from the same
factory was the model for jug No. 3. Small fragment No.12 indicates how
the form then changed further. Here the relief decoration has been
added to the painted ornaments. Just as with the shell, it attaches
itself to the originally smooth and undecorated surface and from there
penetrates further. Here, too, the entire lower part of the body of the
jug, up to the shoulder, where the painted ornaments were initially
retained, was covered with plastic scales, just like those we so often
encounter on Megarian beakers.
From the same tumulus comes a
beaker with upturned handles, which corresponds perfectly to beaker
No.18 in shape and decoration [32]. With this the same garland, which
appears in yellow on the varnished ground of the clay cup, is applied
in gilding to the silver ground. It will therefore be worthwhile to
take a closer look at the other silver vases that came from this
tumulus. The following are added to the pot and the mug:
1. Two
shallow, two-handled bowls of Calener’s shape. The depiction of Helios
on the (p.93) four-horse chariot is engraved in the circle in the
middle. An engraved net pattern runs around the circle, which is
gilded, like Helios' robe and the horses' harness (Annali 1840 Act B 1,2. Ant. du Bosphore Taf. 38, 5. 6.).
2. Bowl with one handle, around the neck gold-plated chain with bobbles (Annali 1840 Taf. C 7.)
3.
Large vessel with a high lid, resembling the shape of a samovar. The
belly is fluted, the shoulder is engraved with a zigzag tendril with
vine leaves and grapes between wavy bands and fleeting tendrils. Two
Silenas blowing the syrinx form the handles; the spout is in the form
of a mask with a huge mouth supported by a female head in high relief.
Figures and ornaments are gilded. (Annali 1840 taf. B 5. Ant. du Bosphore taf. 37,5.).
4. Covered bowl on a high foot, resembling the shape of a luterion. (Annali 1840 taf. C 9. Ant. du Bosphore taf. 38,4.).
All
of these vessels form a closed group in terms of technique and
ornamentation. The ornaments are engraved and then gilded. Only in the
case of vessel No.3, which is probably the youngest piece of the whole
group because of the predominance of the sculptural decoration, is the
lower part of the body provided with embossed corrugation.
Particularly
important here is the appearance of the flat, two-handled bowl with an
engraved depiction on the inner circle. It is clearly the precursor to
the Calen relief bowl of the same shape, in which either a relief is
embossed in the middle or a plastic emblem is attached. We can
therefore place it in chronological parallel with the Athenian silver
bowl of the deep Calenian form. Because even in this case the
representation of the round in the middle is not three-dimensional, but
executed in engraving and then gilded.
The ornaments of the
silver vessels, vines, garlands with bobbles, tendrils and wavy bands
are the same as on the clay vases. On these, the mask with the wide
open mouth, which serves as a spout in N° 3, is one of the most
characteristic sculptural decorative elements. Particular weight is to
be attached to this coincidence, because identical (p.94) masks do not
appear with such frequency in any other of the later, Hellenistic vase
types. These relationships are confirmed by the fact that an amphora
was found in the same grave from which the silver vases come (abg. Annali 1840
Taf. C 4), which in its clumsy form is directly related to the amphorae
discussed above and also to their decoration belongs very closely to
the vase group.
All these observations justify the conclusion
that the same factory from which the silver vessels came also donated
the prototypes for the clay vessels. We shall soon be able to follow
the development of this factory further. They are dated with absolute
certainty by a coin of Lysimachus that was found in the same grave with
the silver vases [33].
According to the images, Alexander with
Ammon's horns on the obverse, the seated Athena with the inscription
ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΝ ΛΥΣΙΜΑΧΟΥ on the reverse, the coin belongs to the period
between 306 and 281 BC and was minted during the king's lifetime. The
silver vases found in this grave and their surrogates, which belong to
the older stage of development of the ceramic factory, can also be
dated to the beginning of the III century BC [34].
The amphora
with the short belly, the sharply defined shoulder and the broad,
strong neck bears a great resemblance to a relief amphora found near
Kerch, which only lacks the redella at the top and the masks at the
base of the handle [35]. The decoration, centaurs and amazons in
relief, is limited to the vessel body; its neck and shoulders are not
decorated.
Judging by the black varnish, the motifs of the
(p.95) figures, whose connection with the Megarian cups cannot be
misunderstood [36], this amphora belongs to the relief vases that we
have already got to know above as the direct continuation of the
painted vases. It shows that the decoration of the amphora developed
from painting to relief in the same way as that of the vases discussed,
and thus confirms the correctness of the above account of the
development. The middle link between the two amphorae is formed by the
amphorae from Taman in the Hermitage and from Olbia in the Bonn Art
Museum, already mentioned p. Grooving is already appearing on the
belly, while the upper part is still decorated with painted and
scratched ornaments.
Pot No.5, which was found together with
the other vases in the well on the western slope of the Acropolis, and
is already only plastically decorated, also supports the assumption of
such a development of the amphora. The ornaments and their distribution
in the ring are the same as on a Megarian cup from Boeotia in the
National Museum inv. 11556 [37].
Because of the close connection
with the Megarian cups, the probably two-handled cup No.14 and the rim
fragment No.16 should also be mentioned. The body of the bulbous bowl
presents itself as a large Megarian cup; Large, narrow leaves and small
flowers on dotted stalks surround it in relief. The red burnt varnish
and the sparse incised ornamentation on the shoulder also indicate that
this bowl is one of the youngest pieces of the genre.
The rim
fragment probably belonged to a handleless kantharos with a wide mouth.
Because the edge is not only decorated on the outside, but also on the
inside. Here, too, the body must have been covered with plastic
ornaments (p.96); a spiral band and a row of blossoms with dolphins
approaching from each side can still be seen on the small surviving
remains.
Although not the original, the closest analogy to
both vessels seems to me to be a silver kantharos without a handle from
Ithaca, which was found there with other vessels and gold jewelery and
is now lost [38]. The belly decoration consists of vigorously driven
out, alternately articulated and unarticulated leaves, between which
there are flowers on dotted stalks. A zigzag tendril with vine leaves
and grapes runs around the neck, which clearly corresponds to the same
tendril on vessel No. 3 from Taman. We may rank the kantharos from
Ithaca as the youngest member of the Toreutic factory discussed above,
with which it also shares the use of gilding in embossed ornaments.
The
two kantharoi No.21 and 22 represent at the same time two different
stages of development of this kantharos form. If the kantharos from
Gabbari in Alexandria, which is decorated only around the neck with
painted ornaments, stands at the beginning of the development, then the
kantharos in Athens belongs to the further development. The body, which
was previously simply varnished black, is now given sculptural
decoration, three rows of pointed, upward-pointing prongs applied using
the barbotine technique. Such prongs are well known as ornaments on
Megarian cups; Corresponding fragments have also been found in the
excavations on the western slope. With this kantharos form one may
perhaps compare a kantharos from Taman, whose form, which is the same
in the essential elements, is more broadly developed [39]. Small leaves
lie on the knotted handles; around the neck is a fine tendril, around
the shoulder a plaited band; the decoration of the abdomen consists of
embossed, articulated (p.97) and unarticulated leaves. Here, then, the
same ornament begins to spread from the foot upwards, which in the case
of the Megarian cups is accustomed to weave over the whole body. The
small plates placed on the handles are particularly common in the vase
type discussed and also recur on the two kantharoi No.21 and 22. The
Kantharos No.17 has knotted handles, but its shape is somewhat older.
From
the same tumulus on the peninsula of Taman, but from a different grave
comes the silver, two-handled beaker, the shape of which corresponds to
that of the beaker No.27 in Athens and No.28 in Heidelberg [40]. The
two clay beakers are related in that one has the decoration only on the
outside and the other only on the inside, roughly the same as the
"Megarian" beaker to the Saldier's bowl. The handles of the silver cup
are knotted like those of the kantharos. A weakly embossed and engraved
plaited band runs around the neck, the belly is covered with acanthus
leaves, the spaces between which are filled with tendrils of blossoms.
Winter already pointed out the connection between this decoration and
the Megarian cups when discussing the silver find in Hildesheim [41].
A
clay cup, which not only corresponds to the silver in shape but also in
decoration, does not exist among the vessels that I know of; but the
Heidelberg cup clearly stands at the beginning of the development, the
end of which is represented by the silver cup. This can easily be
deduced from the comparison with the history of the deep bowl, the jug,
the amphora. The relief decoration begins on the surface free of
painted ornaments, here the lower part of the belly. The result of this
must be that the painted decoration is pushed up towards the edge and
finally disappears entirely from the outside. Thus one will understand
why both (p.98) forms are to be related in spite of their apparently
different decoration.
According to the other finds, the tombs
from which Skyphos and Kantharos come belong to the same period, as
Stephani correctly recognized [42]. The similarity in technology speaks
for the origin of both vessels from the same factory, insofar as one
can judge at all from the description and illustration. The ornaments
are embossed with fairly little elevation, then engraved and gilded. In
the use of embossed relief there is an advance over the group of silver
vases discussed above, the decoration of which, apart from the
'samovar', is carried out only in engraving. The logical further
development would then consist, completely corresponding to that of the
thong vessels, in the restriction of the engraving to the emphasis of
individual parts and in the increasing elevation of the embossed
relief, as is assured to us by the kantharos from Ithaca. According to
their technique and decoration, the following silver vessels from these
graves also belong to the same factory:
1. Shallow silver bowl with narrow rim and lid; in addition a fluted foot: the whole has the form of a luterion. Compte rendu 1880 plates II 20,21.
2. Silver box with engraved and gilded ornaments, wavy band above, meander below; op.cit. Plate II 23. Ant. du Bosphore Plate XXXVII 3.
3.
Silver alabastron with embossed and engraved ornaments. Around the foot
elliptical leaves, around the neck bar band, around the belly wavy band
and triple stripe of pointed leaves; op.cit. Plate IV 9.
Other vessels known to me that belong to this genus are:
4.
Small bottle, the neck is decorated with two rows of elliptical leaves,
the belly with a wavy band, tendril of leaves, ovarian, arched frieze
and again ovarian. Museo Gregoriano Tab. 59, 3
6.
Small bottle in the Berlin Museum, from a Boeotian grave. The foot is
decorated with articulated and unarticulated leaves, between which
tendrils rise, the body is decorated with a volute band, corrugation,
egg and palmettes. Arch. Anzeiger 1899, 129 Figs. 11 —13 [43]
The
connection between these six vessels is immediately obvious. The
ornaments are all known from the Thong vessels except for the meander
of the small box No.2. The return of the arched frieze and leaf
tendrils characteristic of the ornamentation of the vases is
particularly important. A comparison with the group discussed above,
which is older in terms of technique, is also instructive. The two
^Luteria' here and there agree perfectly in form. The Aeolian kyma,
which forms the foot decoration of the two-handled beaker (above, p.
92), recurs here in exactly the same way in the two-handled relief
beaker. We have already compared the vine tendril on the kantharos of
Ithaca with that on the ^Samovar' of Kerch.
The relationship
between the two groups of vases and the later development of the Attic
vase factory leads to the conclusion that both are to be understood as
products of the same factory that differ in time. This conclusion is
confirmed by the coin finds made in the tumulus of Taman, a gold coin
of King Lysimachus in the tomb from which the relief cup comes, and a
gold coin of King Pairisades II [44]. Because of the inscription BY,
the coin of Lysimachus was minted in Byzantium after his death in 281
BC, that of the Pairisades belongs to the time after 285 BC. So we will
not go wrong if we place the graves and thus also the silver vessels in
the middle of the III century BC [45]. If (p.100) we had to place the
silver vessels with engraved ornaments in the first half of the 3rd
century according to the coin finds, the dating of the second group to
the middle of this century now offers the best support for our
assumption that in this only one further development of those can be
seen.
The assumption, to which the Kantharos of Ithaca has led
us, that the goal and the climax of the development of this factory is
the ever-increasing use of high relief in the decoration of vessels, is
confirmed by the silver find made in Taranto in the fondo Cacace, to
which we therefore still have to refer briefly. The use of gilding
to emphasize the individual ornaments is the same as in the other two
groups of vases. The forms clearly continue their forms. We have
already connected the deep bowl to the "Calener" in which the
development of the terracotta bowls ends. The vase in the form of a
luterion (note 1S96, 379 fig. 4) with a top and fluted foot immediately
turns out to be a further development of the luteria described above;
however, after its decoration, it will be the most recent piece from
the Tarentino finds. The magnificent kantharos with the high curved
handles (ibid. 0. p. 380 f.
Fig. 5.5a) is a continuation of forms from the end of the fourth
century. A specimen of the same shape, but without the ornaments in
high relief, only with a simple corrugation on the belly, has come to
light from a grave near Kerch, which is dated to the turn of the IV and
III century BC [46] The same shape recurs very frequently on Megarian
cups, when a crater is depicted, towards which satyrs or goats are
running from either side.
The (p.101) fragments of the vessel covered with fine scales (ibid.
p. 382 Fig. 8) bring to mind not only the same decorations of Megarian
cups, but also the curious Kantharos No.4, whose body is similarly
decorated. Two silver bowls from the Borgia Collection, unfortunately
of unknown provenance, which are now in the Naples Museum, are very
similar to the Tarentine vases in the bold execution of the relief and
the use of precious stones for decoration. Winter has already seen
their stylistic resemblance to the Tarentine vessels [47]. As models of
megaric [48] cups, they go parallel to the Tarentine cup 'Calener's
form. A cup found in southern Russia is of particular importance
because it establishes the connection between the 'Megarian' cup and
the deep Calener' cup [49]. On the outside it was decorated with
figurative reliefs, which are now very much in ruins and which one
might think of as terracotta beakers (op.cit.
Fig. 9) can be reconstructed. On the inside, however, runs the same
plastic ring that divides the inner surface into two rings in the
Tarentine bowl and its other analogies.
The heyday of the
Toreutic factory, to which the last discussed belong, must be
placed in the second half of the third century BC. Their forms have
survived until later times. In the silver find in Hildesheim there are
two Megarian cups with foot and handle which, based on the style of
their ornaments, can still be dated to the 1st century BC [50].
Regarding the two-handled cup from Taman, based on the naturalistic
style of its ornaments, Dragendorff rightly placed it in the Augustan
period [51]. The question of the homeland (p.102) of this factory,
which we have been able to trace to its greatest and most brilliant
development on the basis of the ceramic finds, cannot yet be answered
with certainty. However, the find sites, Asia Minor, Lower Italy,
Boeotia, the occurrence of local ceramic imitations in southern Russia,
and the complete absence of metal forms, which have been claimed for
Alexandria [52], point with the greatest probability to the coast of
Asia Minor.
Athens.
Carl Watzinger.
Footnotes:
21
In the National Museum Inv. In 2221 there is a third skyphos of the
same form from Megara, with an incised tendril of yellow ivy leaves
running around its body. The two Skyphoi from Olbia in the Bonn Art
Museum, which Loeschcke Arch. Anzeiger 1891 p.19, 3 described, also belong here.
22
A very similar cup is in the museum in Alexandria: on the handles masks
with large mouths, around the belly yellow tendrils with yellow leaves.
23.
Fragments of this type are also found among the Acropolis Sherds, among
which the handle of a large vessel, formed by a female winged figure,
stands out; on the surviving piece of the rim white wavy band bordered
in yellow. The wealth of forms in this genre is by no means exhausted
with the examples given above. From other forms I still know of a
cylindrical beaker with a ring handle that I saw in the Athenian art
trade, a skyphos from Acarnania (shape like Furtwängler's description
of the vase sanctuary in Berlin 297, but slimmer) in a private Athenian
collection, a small amphora in Berlin (Furtwängler 2871), the decorated
with checkerboard patterns and network on the shoulder, a kantharos
from Boeotia, (ibid. 2872) and three bowls from Boeotia (2873 - 2875);
also a bowl with a wide rim and high curved handles from Olbia (from
Comfite rendu 1896 p. 207 fig. 592); an ivy tendril runs around the
edge, over which the inscription ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΥ is painted. The form is a
further development of metal shells of the 5th century, see Compte rendu 1881 plate I, Fig. 2.
24.
Cf. especially Furtwangler's description of the vase collection in
Berlin No 2851-2864. The garlands with hanging amulets, e.g. on a small
jug from the Crimea Compte rendu 1866, 182.
25. Cf. p. 57 note 1 above.
26.
The same ornaments can also be found on the so-called Gnathiavase in
southern Italy, the forms of which show many points of contact with the
genre discussed. Unfortunately there is not enough published material,
so that I reserve the right to examine these relationships in a larger
context for later.
27. Geometric ornaments, checkerboard
patterns and zigzags also show the sherds of a large vessel in the
Museum of Alexandria, which belongs to the Hellenistic period and
probably had the shape of a pedestal, found in Botti Fouilles a la
colonne Theodosienne 73. Also one of the Hellenistic ones found in
Hadra Grave hydria have a very appropriate geometric decoration.
28.
Boeotia will also be considered for manufacture. The unvarnished Askos
No.34, which has the shape of a mule, seems to me to have been made
there. The horse from the Kabirfon offers the best example of the use
of animal forms in Boeotian pottery. 'Megaric' cups found in Boeotia
are also often unvarnished. This is also indicated by the revival of
the form of the askos, which does not appear to occur in Attica.
29.
In shape, one corresponds to the Tarentino silver bowls. Bowl in the
Museo Gregoriano etrusco I Tat. 36, 3, whose provenance is unknown. In
the center is a veiled female head in high relief. A ring runs around
the inside towards the edge, which is decorated with a plastic egg
stick. In Athens and in Italy the same models were used for the shape
of the relief bowl.
30. On the Pompeian wall painting in the house of Pan (Roux Peintures de Pompeii
V Ser. 6 Taf. 29) the little demon "Ακρατος" riding on the lion holds a
metal skyphos in the form of a cabirion in his hand Perhaps this gives
a clue as to when and from what circle of ideas the picture is thought
to have originated.
31. Cf. the report by Achik Annali 1840, 13 ff. Plate B 3, better illustration Antiquitis du Bosphore Cimmerien Plate 38, 3, p. 90.
32. See Achik op.cit. Plate B 16. Ant. du Bosphore Plate 38, I.
33. dec. Annali 1840 plate C14; cf. Head-Svoronos Ιστορία νομισμάτατν I 357.
34.
It is also advisable to approach the beginning of the manufacture of
this vase group as close as possible to the IV century BC, because the
bowl from Olbia mentioned above (p. 84 note 1) has two black-varnished,
grooved pelikes, which are decorated with bobble ornaments around the
plinth are, has been found together. Pharmakowski then correctly dated
this grave to the turn of the IV and III centuries BC (Compte rendu 1896, 207).
35. Stephani Vase collection of the Hermitage 1815; Reinach Ant. du Bosfhore Plate 47,1-3, cf. Compte rendu 1862, 74.
36. Cf. Furtwängler Collection Sabouroff supplement to plate LXXIII p. 6.
37.
Six semicircles with rosettes in the middle adjoin the border strips,
the rest of the ground is covered with plastic dots, between which
there are letters and multi-pointed swastikas. In conservative Boeotia,
this ancient ornament survived into Hellenistic times.
40. Compte rendu 1880 Taf. II 19 p. 17 ff. N*-1 51, found in the second grave with the female corpse.
41 Arch. Gazette 1897, 130.
43 Pernice already recognized the connection with the silver cup from Taman.
44. Cf. Compte rendu 1880 p. 15 N° 19, plates Π 4, 5 ; P. 17 N° 50, Plate II 17,18.
45
. These coin finds also provide reliable dating for two other groups of
vessels from the Hellenistic period, for the bottles with a
yellow-white coating (see above p. 57 Anra. i) and the gray bottles
with white rings, which are so often found as the only accessory in
graves become. Local imitations of the Hellenistic jugs were found in
the vestibule of the second tomb (cf. Compte rendu 1880 p.13 N° 6, p.
14 Nü 8. Supplementary table N° 1,3) and in the third tomb (p.13 N°
33 Supplementary Table N'* 1 6). The gray bottles were found in
all graves (p. 11 N1'38-40; p. 14 N° 13-15; p. 20 N° 69; p. 24 NJ 36).
46. 1 Cf. Ant. du Bosphore plate XXXVIII 2; Introduction p. 20.
47.. The as yet unpublished silver bowl in Bari, described by M. Mayer in the 1896, 547, probably also belongs here.
48. Arch. Anzeiger 1897, 128 f. Fig. 16,17. The two beakers Museo Gregoriano I, pl. 35, 2. 2a; 36, 2a.
49. Lappo Danilevsky Kurgan Karagodevashh (Materials on the Archeology of Russia 13) p. 43 Fig. 8.
50. Cf. Winter a. a. 0. p. 128 Fig. 15.
51. Bonn Yearbooks 103 p. 99 f. Fig. 9.
52. See e.g. B. the forms of the jug compiled by the writer Alexandrinische Toreutik (Saxon treatises XIV 344 ff.),
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