DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45332#0100
VI
GREEK POTTERY UNDER ORIENTAL INFLUENCE
EAST AEGEAN WARES
A. 1. Rhodian Ware
The vases commonly called “Rhodian” have been found in large numbers on
the island of Rhodes. It has been suggested that they were made on the main-
land, in the neighboring city of Miletus; doubtless many of them were distributed
along the trade-lines centering in Miletus, but the evidence so far favors the view
that the potteries were in Rhodes. Examples of the ware are not uncommon
from the colonies on the Black Sea, south to Egypt and west to Magna Graecia;
in Greece proper it is rarely found.
In Rhodian tombs Mycenaean (late Minoan) pottery has been found in large
quantities. Geometric vases are less common and for the most part of rather
poor quality; ordinarily there is no white slip; the shapes are bowls and some-
what angular pitchers; the decoration in poor lustrous glaze consists of encircling
lines, rows of bars, latticed triangles and lozenges, and water-birds with latticed
bodies; Rhodian geometric ware is not represented in this collection, but it re-
sembles bowls of “island geometric” ware, and in less degree of “ Cretan geomet-
ric” ware. The continuance of Minoan elements in the design is noticeable.
About the end of the eighth century the pottery of Rhodes shows a new and trans-
forming influence; the shapes become more rounded and far more graceful, the
technique greatly improves, and the decoration changes its character radically.
The influence that caused the change is evidently Oriental in origin. It may be
definitely referred to decorated metalwork and textiles, which were imported
from Phoenicia and presently reproduced in the region that centres in Miletus.
The distinctive Rhodian pottery, which belongs to the seventh and early
sixth centuries b.c., shows a well-washed clay of light red tone, with occasional
traces of mica. The surface is covered in places with black glaze of good quality,
elsewhere with a smooth buff slip for the design. The decoration is in black glaze
with reserved details and added purple-red; rarely, and on later examples, in-
cised lines are used for details; but more commonly the figures are partly or
wholly in outline with details in glaze lines. Except on plates the design is ar-
ranged in zones of ornament. As pointed out by M. Pottier {Catalogue des vases
antiques du Louvre, I, 139), the decoration includes certain Greek (non-Oriental)
elements from the Mycenaean and geometric periods, particularly in ornaments
of straight and curved lines, and in the simple, naturalistic treatment of animals.
The scheme of the decoration and the general effect, however, are due to Oriental
influence; this influence is seen in particular in the use of the guilloche, the type
E88J
GREEK POTTERY UNDER ORIENTAL INFLUENCE
EAST AEGEAN WARES
A. 1. Rhodian Ware
The vases commonly called “Rhodian” have been found in large numbers on
the island of Rhodes. It has been suggested that they were made on the main-
land, in the neighboring city of Miletus; doubtless many of them were distributed
along the trade-lines centering in Miletus, but the evidence so far favors the view
that the potteries were in Rhodes. Examples of the ware are not uncommon
from the colonies on the Black Sea, south to Egypt and west to Magna Graecia;
in Greece proper it is rarely found.
In Rhodian tombs Mycenaean (late Minoan) pottery has been found in large
quantities. Geometric vases are less common and for the most part of rather
poor quality; ordinarily there is no white slip; the shapes are bowls and some-
what angular pitchers; the decoration in poor lustrous glaze consists of encircling
lines, rows of bars, latticed triangles and lozenges, and water-birds with latticed
bodies; Rhodian geometric ware is not represented in this collection, but it re-
sembles bowls of “island geometric” ware, and in less degree of “ Cretan geomet-
ric” ware. The continuance of Minoan elements in the design is noticeable.
About the end of the eighth century the pottery of Rhodes shows a new and trans-
forming influence; the shapes become more rounded and far more graceful, the
technique greatly improves, and the decoration changes its character radically.
The influence that caused the change is evidently Oriental in origin. It may be
definitely referred to decorated metalwork and textiles, which were imported
from Phoenicia and presently reproduced in the region that centres in Miletus.
The distinctive Rhodian pottery, which belongs to the seventh and early
sixth centuries b.c., shows a well-washed clay of light red tone, with occasional
traces of mica. The surface is covered in places with black glaze of good quality,
elsewhere with a smooth buff slip for the design. The decoration is in black glaze
with reserved details and added purple-red; rarely, and on later examples, in-
cised lines are used for details; but more commonly the figures are partly or
wholly in outline with details in glaze lines. Except on plates the design is ar-
ranged in zones of ornament. As pointed out by M. Pottier {Catalogue des vases
antiques du Louvre, I, 139), the decoration includes certain Greek (non-Oriental)
elements from the Mycenaean and geometric periods, particularly in ornaments
of straight and curved lines, and in the simple, naturalistic treatment of animals.
The scheme of the decoration and the general effect, however, are due to Oriental
influence; this influence is seen in particular in the use of the guilloche, the type
E88J