Page images
PDF
EPUB

found at Amathus, with free drawing. C855 has a quite exceptional scene of a rural picnic.

Cases 48, 49. Cypriote ware of the so-called 'ornate embroi

Fig. 100a.-Cover of Sarcophagus from Clazomenae.

dery' style, with the field fully occupied by rosettes and other patterns, combined with figuresubjects and animals. 7th-6th centuries B.C. (Fig. 99.)

Cases 50, 51. Cypriote red ware of the 6th-5th centuries B.C. The decoration consists mainly of concentric circles, in black or white, on the rich red ground.

Cases 52, 53. Later Cypriote fabrics. These include degraded forms of geometric decoration, and a series of pitchers, which have spouts in the shape of vases held by female figures, attached in high relief.

Cases 54-57. Later variations of the geometric style, from the western area. Examples from Sardinia and South Italy. 7th-6th centuries B.C.

Cases 56-57 (lower part). A group of vases found together in an early tomb at Corfu, identified by the inscription as the tomb of one Menecrates, of Oeantheia. Menecrates was drowned at sea, and his tomb was erected by the people of Corcyra (Corfu), for whom he had acted as Proxenos (Consul, cf. p. 167).

Case 58. Degraded and late forms of geometric ornament from South Italy, of the fifth century or later..

Cases 59, 60, 61 and the two large standing cases (see also above, 48 and in Cases 62, 63) contain terracotta Sarcophagi of the sixth century B.C., obtained for the most part from Clazomenae, a town at the entrance of the Gulf of Smyrna.

Case 59. Sarcophagus from Clazomenae. At the head is a Sphinx between two lions. The Sphinx, which apparently has two bodies and one head, is drawn according to a not uncommon conven

[graphic]

tion in early art, whereby the artist attempts to give both sides of an object.

Case 60. Small terracotta sarcophagus from Cameiros, painted in the style of the Rhodian vases. The subjects consist of an ox between two lions, two helmeted heads, cable borders and lions.

[graphic][subsumed]

The two standing cases contain the cover and the body of a large terracotta sarcophagus from Clazomenae (fig. 100, a and b).

*

*Illustrated and described by A. S. Murray, Terracotta Sarcophagi, Greek and Etruscan, in the British Museum, 1898 (28s.).

Fig. 1006.-Sarcophagus from Clazomenae.

The sarcophagus is richly adorned, both within and without, with geometric patterns and figure-subjects. On the cover arelong side (A), three friezes: (1) Odysseus and Diomede are slaving Dolon, in the middle. On each side of the central group are three two-horse racing-chariots approaching the centre. (2) Sphinxes and Sirens. (3) Combat between Greeks on foot and mounted barbarians, probably raiding Cimmerians. Long side (B), three friezes: (1) In the middle, a combat over a fallen warrior. On each side, stationary chariots. A warrior mounting one of the chariots seems to be leading a female captive by the wrist. (2) Animals. (3) Combat of figures on foot. End (A), two horsemen and two figures on each side of a central column. End (B), two Centaurs and two Sphinxes on each side of an Ionic column. On under side of cover: two pairs of Sphinxes; two scenes of the slaying of Dolon; combat of chariots and footmen.

On the body of the sarcophagus are: interior, long sides, scenes of preparation for chariot races, and other sports held as funeral games. In the middle a boy playing on double pipes is significant as showing that the scene is one of games and not of war. sides armed warriors, horses and dogs.

Short

On the upper margin of the body are a series of chariot races. At each end of the long bands is a caldron on a column, presumably a prize vase. The figure beside the column may be the shade of the deceased person in whose honour the games are held.

This sarcophagus, with its long multitudinous friezes, is a characteristic example of the early art of Ionian Asia Minor. Its date is probably the middle of the sixth century B.C.

Cases 62-64. A collection of objects in glazed faience ware (sometimes incorrectly called 'porcelain), of all periods.

The

Table-case E contains smaller objects, of the period of strong Oriental influence, that is, about the seventh century B.C. objects in question consist of vases of variegated glass and alabaster ; objects in ivory and bone; and especially of vases, statuettes, scarabs, etc., in faience. The latter have a strongly-marked Egyptian character. They reproduce Egyptian forms of decoration, Egyptian types of deities, and Egyptian hieroglyphics. These, however, are usually more or less blundered and unintelligently rendered, and the faience wares found in non-Egyptian sites are therefore for the most part imitations and not genuine Egyptian products. A faience vase (A 1184) from Cameiros, with hieroglyphic new year greetings, should be compared with the similar vases from the Polledrara tomb (p. 173).

This table-case also contains (186) a Phoenician bronze bowl, with subjects incised. In the centre is an Egyptian type of a king. seizing his enemies and slaying them with a mace in the presence of the god Menthu-Ra. Round the margin is a semi-Egyptian rendering of a banquet scene. From Cyprus.

Objects of the class here Mediterranean sites, to which

represented are usually found in the Phoenicians had ready access,

such as Rhodes and Cyprus, and also in Sardinia and Etruria. They were also found, however, at Naucratis in Egypt, with moulds for the manufacture of scarabs, and in part at least they may therefore be attributed to that town. The theory of a Greek source is confirmed by the faience vase in form of a dolphin, which has the name of Pythes inscribed in archaic Greek characters round the lip. In the same table-case is a shell (Tridacna squamosa) ornamented with a female head, and with an incised design of winged Sphinxes, probably of Phoenician origin. This shell is from a tomb at Canino in Etruria. Beside it is a fragment of a similar shell found at Cameiros in Rhodes; other fragments found at Naucratis, on the site of the Temple of Apollo, are in the same case.

Above Table-case E are:

Two shades with select objects in glass and faience.

THE SECOND VASE ROOM.*

SUBJECT:—CORINTHIAN AND OTHER EARLY WARES,
BLACK-FIGURE VASES, ETC., OF THE
SIXTH CENTURY B.C.

The majority of the vases in this room belong to the Blackfigured class, and the remainder are of an allied character. In the two subsequent rooms the majority of the vases are Redfigured. The meaning of this fundamental distinction is illustrated by the annexed cut (fig. 101) after a part of a vase (at Palermo) by the painter Andokides, who has combined the two styles by caprice. It is apparent that on the right side of the illustration the figure is drawn in black on the coloured ground and relieved with lines incised in the black. On the left hand the figure is left in the ground colour of the vase, while the varnish covers the background. The interior lines are drawn in the black. The two styles may be compared to a negative and positive in photography.

In the Second Vase Room we see the art of vase-painting carried on almost independently in various local potteries, all of which are after a time overpowered by the growing skill and popularity of the black-figure pottery of Athens, and only continue to exist for strictly local purposes.

The non-Attic groups occupy the Wall-cases 1-17 and 52-64 at the north end of the room (adjoining the First Vase Room), together

* Described in the Catalogue of Vases, Vol. I., Part I. (forthcoming) and Vol. II., by H. B. Walters, 1893 (24s.). A copy can be borrowed from the commissionaire.

with Table-case L, while the remainder of the room is occupied by We deal first with the non-Attic wares.

the Attic group.

Wall-cases 1-3. (Cf. also shade on Case L.) The so-called Proto-Corinthian vases. This group is marked by a certain amount

[graphic]

Fig. 101.-The black-figure and red-figure styles. (From a vase by Andokides.) of simple geometrical ornament, combined with bands of animals, etc., and by a sparing use of the rosette and other ornaments, that are so abundant on the Corinthian fabrics.

Cases 4-11. Vases of the Corinthian style, chiefly obtained from Corinth and Rhodes (fig. 102). The Corinthian vases are

[graphic][graphic][merged small]

marked by profuse ornamentation, consisting of bands of real and fabulous animals, such as lions, panthers, oxen, Sphinxes, Gryphons, etc., and having rosettes, flowers, etc., sown in extraordinary abundance in every vacant space in the field. Fantastic combinations

« PreviousContinue »