DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4760#0007
2 CATALOGUE OF VASES.
The terms " black-" and " red-figured " would then cease to imply, as they now
do, an exact contrast of black figures on red ground and red figures on black
ground. Still worse, the name of " black-figured vases," if the class were enlarged
to that extent, would cease to represent, as it now does, a limited period of
vase painting immediately preceding the introduction of the red-figured style.
At the same time there is among these vases with black figures on a
cream ground a certain number from Daphnae and Naucratis in Egypt, with
others which have been assigned to Cyrene on the North Coast of Africa, on
which the drawing of the human figure may fairly be compared with that
of the black-figured vases, usually so called. They may be regarded as
representing the climax of one period or the beginning of another. It is
difficult to class them exhaustively one way or the other. We have decided
to include most of them in the present volume, placing them at the beginning.
It will be seen that the vases of the so-called Cyrene class frequently have the
body covered with black colour outside the space where the figures are painted.
In that respect they may be regarded as the.immediate predecessors of the
second class of black-figured vases mentioned above. On the other hand
the vases from Daphnae present a continuous surface of cream colour, on
which the designs are painted and fired. They in their turn may be regarded
as the immediate predecessors of the first class of black-figured amphorae,
mentioned above.
We may assign 600 B.C. as, roughly speaking, the earliest limit for
the vases in this volume. To the first half of the 6th cent. B.C. belong
most of those from Naucratis and Daphnae, together with the class which
has been assigned conjecturally to Cyrene. In the two former places
fragments have been found dating perhaps as late as 520 B.C. But the
typical ware of these sites belongs to the earlier period ; the later remains
are almost entirely Athenian. Among the earlier classes the Corinthian
attained to the greatest popularity, and its development can be clearly
traced from a comparatively early period until the latter half of the
sixth century. About this time a great impetus was given to vase-painting,
as to all other branches of art, at Athens, and the aid of celebrated Corinthian
potters was invoked to meet the demand. While owing much and in
fact almost everything to the influence of Corinth, the Athenians yet
exercised to some extent a counter-influence on the former place, which may
be traced in the forms and method of decoration of later Corinthian vases.
From this time forward Corinth sinks into insignificance, and it is to Athens
that we have to turn for the further development of the art to its highest
perfection under the masters of the red-figured style. With regard to
the date of this style a change of opinion has been brought about in
recent years, owing chiefly to excavations on the Acropolis of Athens; it is
now pushed back to the time of the Peisistratidae. For some fifty years it
would seem that the two methods of painting were contemporaneous, but
the red figures gradually proved their superiority, and finally reigned supreme
The terms " black-" and " red-figured " would then cease to imply, as they now
do, an exact contrast of black figures on red ground and red figures on black
ground. Still worse, the name of " black-figured vases," if the class were enlarged
to that extent, would cease to represent, as it now does, a limited period of
vase painting immediately preceding the introduction of the red-figured style.
At the same time there is among these vases with black figures on a
cream ground a certain number from Daphnae and Naucratis in Egypt, with
others which have been assigned to Cyrene on the North Coast of Africa, on
which the drawing of the human figure may fairly be compared with that
of the black-figured vases, usually so called. They may be regarded as
representing the climax of one period or the beginning of another. It is
difficult to class them exhaustively one way or the other. We have decided
to include most of them in the present volume, placing them at the beginning.
It will be seen that the vases of the so-called Cyrene class frequently have the
body covered with black colour outside the space where the figures are painted.
In that respect they may be regarded as the.immediate predecessors of the
second class of black-figured vases mentioned above. On the other hand
the vases from Daphnae present a continuous surface of cream colour, on
which the designs are painted and fired. They in their turn may be regarded
as the immediate predecessors of the first class of black-figured amphorae,
mentioned above.
We may assign 600 B.C. as, roughly speaking, the earliest limit for
the vases in this volume. To the first half of the 6th cent. B.C. belong
most of those from Naucratis and Daphnae, together with the class which
has been assigned conjecturally to Cyrene. In the two former places
fragments have been found dating perhaps as late as 520 B.C. But the
typical ware of these sites belongs to the earlier period ; the later remains
are almost entirely Athenian. Among the earlier classes the Corinthian
attained to the greatest popularity, and its development can be clearly
traced from a comparatively early period until the latter half of the
sixth century. About this time a great impetus was given to vase-painting,
as to all other branches of art, at Athens, and the aid of celebrated Corinthian
potters was invoked to meet the demand. While owing much and in
fact almost everything to the influence of Corinth, the Athenians yet
exercised to some extent a counter-influence on the former place, which may
be traced in the forms and method of decoration of later Corinthian vases.
From this time forward Corinth sinks into insignificance, and it is to Athens
that we have to turn for the further development of the art to its highest
perfection under the masters of the red-figured style. With regard to
the date of this style a change of opinion has been brought about in
recent years, owing chiefly to excavations on the Acropolis of Athens; it is
now pushed back to the time of the Peisistratidae. For some fifty years it
would seem that the two methods of painting were contemporaneous, but
the red figures gradually proved their superiority, and finally reigned supreme