Chapter XVIII
.).
They were first collectively discussed in 1888 by Dümmler, who gave a list of fourteen, assigning them to Phocaea; a more complete list of twenty has since been drawn up by Endt, who to some extent endorses Dümmler’s views, but is inclined to attribute them to Clazomenae, on the opposite side of the Gulf of Smyrna, thus bringing them into closer relation with the sarcophagi. Whichever be the correct view, there is no doubt that they come from this region, and the existence of a ceramic fabric at Clazomenae, as attested by the sarcophagi and a few painted fragments of pottery, is in favour of Endt’s attribution. We have also to set by the side of this the absence (so far) of any pottery at Phocaea. In any case the place must have formed part of the Naucratite confederation, and it was perhaps influenced much by Rhodes.[1154] That the vases have all been found at Cervetri need excite no surprise, as there is abundant evidence that certain fabrics were specially favoured by different places, and apparently made for exclusive importation.
From the circumstances of discovery of some of them they may be dated about the middle of the sixth century B.C.; the style is remarkably advanced, and shows the rapid development of Ionian art as compared with that of Continental Greece. As regards the form of the hydria, it is characterised by the egg-shaped body, the division of neck from shoulder by a moulded ring, the low flat-ribbed handle at the back, and the high concave foot. Even more marked is the system of ornamentation. The main design runs in a broad frieze round the body, broken at the back by a palmette pattern under the handle, on either side of which are usually grouped two similar or opposed figures, distinct from the principal subject. The rest of the surface is given over to floral patterns, which assume great prominence on these vases. The normal arrangement is as follows: inside the mouth a large tongue-pattern in red, bordered with black; on the neck, palmette-and-lotos pattern; on the shoulder, ivy-wreaths or other plants, treated in a naturalistic manner; round the lower part of the body, a broad band of large palmettes and lotos-flowers alternating, forming a very effective pattern and enhanced with white and purple details. An illustration in colours of a typical specimen is given on Plate XXVI.
------------------------------------------------------
PLATE XXVI
[Illustration:
_To face page 354._ CAERETAN HYDRIA. (BRITISH MUSEUM.) ]
------------------------------------
The range of subjects is wide and original, both in choice and method of treatment. We find among mythological scenes the return of Hephaistos to heaven, the rape of Europa, the contest of Herakles with Busiris, and the hunt of the Calydonian boar.[1155] Other subjects, such as combatants or horsemen, are more in the manner of the Clazomenae sarcophagi. A curious feature of the group is the entire absence of friezes of animals. The realistic treatment of the Egyptians on the Busiris vase, and the introduction of apes and other African animals into some of the scenes, clearly indicate a relation with that part of the world, obviously through the medium of one of the Greek colonies of Egypt. Naukratis, as we have seen, was largely colonised from Phocaea, and some of the later fragments from this site[1156] show a parallelism with the hydriae.
Among the smaller details which are typically Ionian may be mentioned the horse-hoofed type of Seilenos (as at Daphnae); the four-winged deities and winged boars[1157]; the favourite types of stag-hunts,[1158] horsemen, and combats, all appearing on the sarcophagi; the running dogs and the owls on horses’ backs; the high-peaked cap of women and shoes with turned-up toes. All these are generally, but not invariably, characteristic of the Ionian fabrics, as is the peculiar treatment of boys’ hair, which is tied in a tuft at the back.
In regard to technique the chief point is the extensive use of accessories, which give a bright and varied appearance to the vases. And we must also note the general use of white for flesh, of men as well as of women, the white being laid on the black varnish in the Attic fashion, and not on the clay, as usual in Ionia. The clay, too, is not covered with the characteristic creamy slip, but with a red glaze approaching more nearly to the “continental” fabrics. Incised lines are used with great care, and folds of drapery are always indicated; the male eye is always oval, and undistinguished from the female.
Two groups of fragments from sites in Asia Minor, though differing in some degree from the Caeretan hydriae, yet obviously stand in close relation. Of these, one set, forming a large krater of the Corinthian type, was found at Kyme in Aeolis[1159]; they appear to be later than the hydriae, _i.e._ about 500 B.C., but the style and technique are not dissimilar, except that the white is here laid on the clay ground and the drawing tends to freedom and carelessness.[1160] Folds of drapery are not indicated; the typical Ionic motive of a large bud in the field is found.[1161] They may be described as a local differentiation from the hydriae, representing the transition from the sarcophagi[1162] to B.F. fabrics, or rather, perhaps, forming a link between the Caeretan group and that next to be discussed. The other set was found at Clazomenae,[1163] and appears to stand midway between the Daphnae pottery and the hydriae; it is probably of local origin, and also exhibits points of comparison with the sarcophagi. The influence of this fabric has been traced in some Attic B.F. vases which represent a similar scene—the harnessing of a chariot.[1164]
There are also various groups of vases (mostly amphorae) of advanced B.F. technique, but thoroughly Ionian characteristics,[1165] which seem to trace their descent mainly from the Caeretan hydriae, although the scheme of ornamentation is widely different. In the majority the most striking feature is the adoption of the panel-design, the rest of the vase being covered with black. This is clearly non-Ionic, and probably due to the growing influence of Attic vase-painting, in which it early became a marked feature; but it is usually combined with a distinct neck, on which is a smaller design, and this, on the other hand, is a non-Attic idea. These vases were all most probably made in the Clazomenae region; they are, however, rather to be regarded as forming links between the Ionian fabrics proper and the Attic B.F. vases, and are the predecessors of a group of vases of fully-developed B.F. technique which are yet more Ionic than Attic in feeling and treatment (see below, p. 387).
Among these may be mentioned two groups of kylikes, one found in Rhodes and richly decorated with figures within and without, the form suggesting a metallic original.[1166] The other consists of a series of kylikes decorated on the outside with large eyes (formerly thought to be of symbolical import), at the head of which stands the well-known Würzburg cup, with the subject of Phineus attacked by the Harpies.[1167] This vase bears remains of inscriptions in the Ionic alphabet; the cup is of a form afterward introduced at Athens by Exekias, in which the off-set rim and high foot of the other group are replaced by a wide-spreading bowl of plain convex section, with a low foot. Once adopted at Athens, this type remained firmly in favour throughout the R.F. period.
It has often been remarked that inscribed vases are remarkably rare among Ionian fabrics; there are not more than six at the outside, including the Euphorbos pinax, the alphabet of which we have seen to be Argive.[1168] But there are two vases the alphabet of which apparently belongs to the island of Keos, being one of the Ionic or Eastern group, and of these one[1169] may well be associated with the later Ionic fabrics. The other, however, is in a style which is usually associated with the Chalcidian group[1170]; there is the typical feature of the fallen warrior with face turned to the front. If the two can both be assumed to have been actually made in Keos, the geographical position of that island would account for the combination of these Eastern and Western elements.[1171]
A complete and detailed list of the Caeretan hydriae and of the allied types may be found in Endt’s book (pp. 1, 21, 29, etc.); but a brief summary may also be found useful:—
1. _Caeretan hydriae_: B.M. B 59 (Plate XXVI.); Louvre E 696–702; Vienna 217–18; _Ant. Denkm._ ii. 28 (in Berlin); _Mus. Greg._ ii. 16, 2_a_; Jahn, _Entführung der Europa_, pl. 5_a_; Endt, figs. 1–2, 5–8; four others unpublished. See also generally Dümmler in _Röm. Mitth._ 1888, p. 166 ff., and Pottier in _Bull. de Corr. Hell._ 1892, p. 253 ff., and _Louvre Cat._ ii. p. 534.
2. _Later Ionic B.F. fabrics_, chiefly amphorae, kraters, hydriae, and deinoi, from the region of the Gulf of Smyrna: Louvre E 736, E 737, E 739; Vienna 215; Munich 573, 583, 685; Berlin 1674, 1885, 2154; Würzburg, iii. 328 (= Reinach, ii. 97) and 331; Reinach, ii. 156; _J.H.S._ vi. pp. 181, 185, and _Anzeiger_, 1893, p. 83 (in Berlin); Louvre E 754–81; Berlin 1676 = Reinach, ii. 22, 3–5; and the fragments from Kyme and Clazomenae already discussed. See besides Endt, Pottier in _Bull. de Corr. Hell._ 1893, p. 423 ff.; Zahn in _Ath. Mitth._ 1898, p. 38 ff.; Karo in _J.H.S._ xix. p. 146 ff.
3. _Kylikes of Attic-Ionic style_: (_a_) Rhodian: B.M. B 379-B 382: see _J.H.S._ v. p. 220 ff.; (_b_) later type, with eyes (see p. 374); Würzburg, iii. 354 = Furtwaengler and Reichhold, pl. 41 (Phineus cup) and 349; Berlin 1803, 2054, 2056; Munich 428, 468, 630, 553, 711, 1239, 1316, 1027, 1239; and others given by Böhlau; to which may be added the British Museum cups with eyes, B 427 ff., and the amphora B.M. B 215.
4. _Keos fabric_ (?): Louvre E 732 = Reinach, i. 162; Gerhard, _A.V._ 205, 3–4.
There are also numerous vases scattered about our museums which are of a debased and inferior B.F. type, and on good grounds have been thought to be of Italian manufacture, whether Etruscan or South Italian. The former usually display unmistakable local characteristics, and there is a class so sharply defined that its Etruscan origin is undoubted, in spite of its affinities to the Caeretan hydriae. A full description will be found in the chapter on Etruscan pottery (XVIII.). Others again have more in common with the class next to be discussed; and, generally speaking, they may all be found to show Ionian affinities. But the line is not easy to draw: debased B.F. vases may have been produced in Ionia, as they undoubtedly were at Kameiros[1172]; but, on the other hand, the extensive export of Ionic wares to Cumae, Cervetri, and other places may have incited the Italian potters, as in the case of the Etruscan class just mentioned, to unsuccessful attempts at imitation.
There remains yet one class of Ionic vases to be discussed, a class which can be clearly defined, but for which as yet no satisfactory name has been found. Like the Caeretan hydriae, they were first discussed by the late F. Dümmler; but his grounds for assigning them to the region of Pontus—whence they have been provisionally styled “Pontic”—have not found general acceptance.[1173] They were also originally, like the Caeretan group, thought to be Etruscan, a view which at first sight might seem justified by their rough execution; but style and other reasons preclude such a possibility. On the other hand, it is quite possible that some of them are imitative fabrics made in Southern Italy. All at present known have been found in Etruria.
The group is formed by a series of about twenty amphorae and sixteen oinochoae, to which Endt appends a list of twenty or so which may either be of this fabric or Italian imitations. Another example in the Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington, is illustrated on Plate XXV. The list might doubtless be extended. That they date from the first half of the sixth century seems indicated by the discovery of one at Orvieto, together with an early Corinthian cup. Like so many of the Ionic fabrics, they exhibit a fondness for bright colouring, with an extensive use of accessory colours. In some cases Corinthian influence seems to have been at work, especially in the technique. Incised lines are sparingly and carelessly employed, and seldom for contours. Among the subjects mythological scenes are rare, but one of the British Museum examples (B 57) has a curious subject—the contest of Herakles and the Lacinian Hera (the Roman Juno Sospita), assisted respectively by Athena and Poseidon. Winged male figures are not uncommon, and the typically Corinthian subject of grotesque figures dancing is occasionally found. But the specially characteristic feature of the group is formed by the friezes of animals. Of these there are usually two on each vase, more rarely one; sometimes they are interspersed with figures of men, not representing any definite subject, but as an imitation of stamped metal vases (as on the Bucchero vases of Etruria,
##