Archeology of 7th C BC

3b Pottery

Orientalizing pottery

Beginning of Black-figure

Attic pottery

Text book:

• Boardman, J. 1998:

Early Greek Vase

Painting.

http://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk

Sir John Davidson Beazley

(13 . 9. 1885 to 6. 5. 1970)

was a British classical archeologist

and art historian, known for his

classification of attic vases by artistic

style. He was Professor of Classical

Archeology and Art at the University

of Oxford

from 1925 to 1956.

Geometric Greece – self-sufficient in its

economy as well as in art.

Mid of 8th Century – expansion of Greek = >

trade

Changes in pottery style: curves, flora and

fauna, human figures

• Animal style • Human figures

• Corinth – cca 725 BC: First Greek city which

developed the Orientalizing style

• About one generation later: Athens and Cycladic

islands

• East Greece – geometric style during all 7th C

• Orientalizing and Black figure pottery kept ca 2

Centuries

• Many local styles and schools

Corinth • Due of its trade activities

• Corinthian pottery is found on almost every contemporary Greek sit both at home and overseas.

• The style of Corinth is easy to clarify, since its evolution is generally even and steady

EARLY PROTOCORINTHIAN

(C.725 – 700 BC)

- Sphings and oriental flora

- The commonest and characteristic Protocorinthian

shape is the ARYBALLOS

- Globular (in middle Corinthian ovoid)

- Animals and birds are rare and vary a lot

- kotyle, oinochoe, straight-sided pyxis w/ flattish

knobbed lid

- Corinth was the dominant supplier of the grooving

export trade in Greek pottery

Aryballos

Oinochoe Kotylai

MIDDLE PROTOCORINTHIAN

(C. 700 / 650 BC)

Black-figure technique:

1. Black siluette

2. Engraving of details, or contours by

sharp point

- It was done before the vessel was fired

and was still wet.

Decoration motives

• dot-rosettes, chain of lotus blossoms,

palmets

• Protocorinthian was essentially a

miniaturist style

LATE PROTOCORINTHIAN (650 –

640 B.C.) and TRANSITIONAL

(640 – 625) - Transformation to black figure animal

- „industrial“ production

- The style was cheapened

- Bigger and longer animals

- Panters are replacing lions

- Bull between lion and panther

- Black band with white, purple and yellow strips

• White figures on black ground, or black on black

TRANSITIONAL PHASE

• New tendencies are visible

• Less precise contures

• New shapes

• The commonest shape still ARIBALLOS, but lengthened and narrowed, pointed or piriform

• The olpe is new

• Oinochoe – more popular

• Subgeometric decoration on the neck

• Kotylai and concave-sided pyxides

THE RIPE ANIMAL STYLE

(625 – 550 BC) • Early ripe period > its heyday

• The painters’ effort was to obtain quickly and easily a rich and decorative effect

• Broad friezes

• Long careless animal

• Thick details

• Filling ornaments

• Less lions, more panthers

• Boar, bull, goat, deer remain popular

• Hares, eagles, geese and snakes on aribbaloi

• Owls are more numerous

• Hybrids appear: typhon, trithon, boread, mistress of beasts

• Floral ornaments: almost only lotus and palmettes

• Continous chains. If single floral motive then doubled lotus

• Assyian influences to corinthian art

• Ariballos, alabastron >> kotylai, olpe, oinochoe >> neck-amphora and column krater appear

• Middle ripe period > the animal style is disintegrating

THE RIPE STYLE – HUMAN

FIGURES (625 – 550 BC)

• Protocorinthian pots with human figures

are RARE

• Two influences: from animal style and

from “free” paiting

• Column crater (from Louvre)

• Strong influence on Attic

• Timonidas: the only Corinthian vase-

painter whose name we know

Timonidas

• Protocorinthian pottery was a luxury

• A lot of wares made very simply with

simple decoration of plain bands, animal

silhouettes (dogs, hares)

SUBGEOMETRIC AND LINEAR

STYLES (725 – 5TH C BC)

• The invention of protocorinthian style didn’t pushed out the geometric tradition

• Enrichment of repertory

• Some oriental novelties

• Spiral hook and four-leaved flower

• Solid triangles firstly on shoulder, later transfered to bottom

• Simple linear decoration – better: linear style.

TECHNIQUES

• Corinth: deposits of whitish clays containing the traces of iron oxide

• After firing very pale yellow

• Very distinguished from the redder clays for other Greek region

• Pinkish tinge, from 7th C greenish tinge

• Red tones are avoided >> paint in brown, reddish brown, dark brown, black

• For ornament: white, purple, yellow

EXPORT & INFLUENCES

• Exported to all parts of Greek world with

exception of the East

• The only pottery which was widely exported

• The trade reached the peak in Early Ripe period.

Attic competition appeared.

• 6th C – rapid decline

• Imitation only in the West (Ischia, Cumae) =

Italo-corinthian school.

• The Ripe style: in Etruria and Attica

ATHENS

• The geometric style of Athens had been

distinguished by a strong sense of order –

collapse of the approach

• Experiments with the forms = Protoattic

style

EARLY PROTOATTIC

(710 – 680 BC)

• The lower half of the body is still geometric

• Above we are in the “new world”: lions, birds with cracked necks

• A native development from Geometric, not the adaptation of Oriental models

• ANALATOS painter started his carrier as an geometric style painter and after 20 – 30 years can be described as a pioneer of Early Attic school

The bell-Krater in Munich (ca 690):

- Protocorinthian school

Analatos’ hydria: different

• Popular motives: sphinx, horse, winged man,

Centaurus

• Dogs, cocks, eagles

• Bulky figures

• More movement

• Hunting scenes, chariots parades

• Two parallel schools: new figural painting and

still geometric tradition

• Shapes: hydria = new invention, amphora,

small globular oinochoe, stemmed bowl,

mug

• The wide-necked oinochoe disappeared

THE BLACK AND WHITE STYLE

(680 – 650 BC)

• This generation of artists is free of

geometric mannerism

• In Aegina, Boeotia, Megara, Perachora

near Corinth, Haereum in Argos

“New York Nessos Amphora”

ca 660

LATE PROTOATTIC (650 – 610 BC)

• Period of the transition to clear Black-figure style

• The black and white style fell into a decline about 650 BC

• So called “three-colour school”

• Animals became black as first, human figures resisted longer

• On some pots elaborate polychromy: reds, yellow, browns, bluish green

• Period of monumental style

• Shapes> big amphora, kotylai-krates united with its stand and lid

• Decoration in light panel in black

Nessos Amphora in Athens (ca 615)

ATTIC BLACK-FIGURE:

THE PERIOD OF CORINTHIAN

INFLUENCE (610 – 590)

• Nessos painter: boundary between

Protoattic and Attic

• Nessos is followed by the GORGON

painter

• About one generation when Corinth pottery

is influenting Athenian

Gorgon painter

Eurythos Crater

Sophilos painter

• First Attic painter known by his name

• Contemporary with Corinthian Timonidas

• Same school with Gorgon painter, but more laboured

• Corinthian fashion in shapes

• White horses

• Females white, males black (purple in face)

• 570 – the satyrs are appeared

• The art of the 8th – 7th C was indifferent to sex

Francoise vase • Found near Chiusi in Etruria (in Florence today)

• No black-figure vase of so rich and complete decoration survived complete except the Francoise vase

• Theseus returning to Athens

• 200 figures, many of them named

• Meticulous in details

• Microscopic patterns

• Sure and elegant drawing

• Much is derivated from Corinthian style

• Human figures are moving, sphigx and griffons look as sculptures

Cleitias – ca 570

1st real Black-figure vessel

Athenian cups

• They appear about 580

• Comast cups

• Flaring foot, short offset lip

• Shape form Corinth

• Three dancers in chitons, later naked

• Purple faces and chests are common

• 585 – 570

Siana cups

• Rims are higher, cups wider, foot taller

• Contours are more precise

• Balance of white and dark

• Lower part of cup is usually black,

otherwise patterned elaborately

TYRRHENIAN AMHORA

• So called pannel style

• Attic black-figure in early 6th C tends to

human figures

• Animal style faded out about 550 BC

together with all old systems of decoration

• Before 600: starts Athenian influence of

Corinth

• Attic pottery is found in Aegina, Boeotia,

Troy, Naucratis (Egypt), Caere (Etruria)

• Shortly after 600: also Black Sea, Delphi,

Ithaca, Etruria commonly, Massalia, Greek

Italy and Sicily

LACONIA

• The reserving period: Laconian I (700 –

630)

• The Early Black-figure period: Laconian II

(630 – 590)

• The developed Black-figure style:

Laconian III (590 – 550)

Laconian plain wares

Other regions:

• Boeotia

• Euboia (Chlacis and Eretria school)

• Cyclades (Theran Subgeometric, Linear island group, the protome group, Melian group, polychrome plates)

• East Greek cities (Subgeometric and bird bowls, the wild goat style, the Chiot styles, Ionian little mastersFikellura, Clazomenian black-figurs and sarcophagi, Vroulian, Crete, Italy, Etruscan schools: bucchero and black-figures etc.)

Laconia Eretria

Boeotia

Skyros

Eretria

Cycladic

Melos

Ionian

Samian

Sculptures of 7th C BC