Monatsberichte über Kunstwissenschaft und Kunsthandel (1.1900/1901)

444

The Significance of Greek Pottery.
By J. H. Huddilston.* 1)

No remains of Greek art, with the possible exception
of the coins, have been so largely recovered as have
the vases. Of the extensive trade carried on by potters
in Greek lands down to the beginning of the third
Century B. c., it is quite impossible for us to form any
adequate conception. Wagon loads of Greek potsherds
antedating Homer by centuries have been found at
Naucratis in the Nile delta, on Samos, Melos, Thera,
at Troy, and at Mycenae; and these fragments indicate
but imperfectly the wide ränge that the pottery industry
assumed for a thousand years and more before the
earliest date which we are able to name in Greek history.
From the seventh Century b. c., there seems to have been
no article in Greek commerce which appealed so generally
to the Italian races, and certainly none whose course
from Athens to distant lands so easily traced. The
practical and the ornamental were so well combined
in the vases that they were sold by the hundreds of
thousands, and those recovered from classic soil present
an array of testimony on Greek thought and action that
has no parallel outside of Greek literature. The fact
that these vessels went largely into the home to serve
a useful and decorative purpose early induced the artists
to paint upon them scenes that appealed to the indi-
vidual. Whether a Greek was engaged in the pursuits
of peace or in the pursuits of war, whether he was
mixing with mortals or reflecting upon the gods and
the ancient heroes, the pictures on the water jar, the
storing vessel, or the oil cruet, stimulated his thoughts.
Individual experiences in love, war, work, worship, —
these were the subjects that the vas.c-painters found to
be attractive and profitable; they sold their wäre since
it appealed to the public; and in thus reflecting the life
*) Mr. John Homer Huddilston, Professor of Greek, University of
Maine, Orono, Me., U. S., ein Schüler des Herrn Professor Dr. Furtwaengler,
hat schon in der Vorrede zur deutschen Uebersetzung seines interessanten
Buches „Die griechische Tragödie im Lichte der Vasenmalerei“ (Freiburg
i. Br. 1900) eine grössere Arbeit über die Bedeutung der Vasen für
die Erforschung des Lebens der Griechen, ihrer Litteratur, Geschichte,
Sprache, Religion und Kunst versprochen. Mr. Huddilston hatte die
Freundlichkeit, mit mir ausführlich über den Plan dieser Arbeit zu
korrespondieren und mir die fertigen Kapitel zum Abdruck zur Ver-
fügung zu stellen. Ich habe zunächst das obige Kapitel gewählt, weil
es am Besten die ganze Anlage, den Umfang der Arbeit charakterisiert.
Da das Buch im Laufe des kommenden Winters veröffentlicht werden
wird, glaube ich mit einer Uebersicht über seinen Inhalt heute zurück-
halten, vielmehr s. Zeit wie über das eingangs erwähnte treffliche Buch
„Die griechische Tragödie im Lichte der Vasenmalerei“ so auch über die
neue hier angezeigte Arbeit, ausführlich referieren zu sollen.
Günther Koch.

of his contemporaries the artist did an invaluable Service
for us who now grope back through the mist of more
than two thousand years to learn, if we can, how the
Greeks lived, and what went to make up the life of
this wonderful people.
The importance of the vases as mere works of art
cannot but appeal to the eye trained to appreciate lines
of beauty. The graceful outlines that the potter’s wheel
produced are inimitable; the rieh black and red lustre,
that seems still to shine as brightly as it could have
done when turned out of the workshop, defies repro-
duction; and throughout three centuries corresponding
to the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries of Greek
sculpture, advancement in the larger art may be traced
in the lesser one; the styles in dress, the pose of the
figures, the changes introduced in the compositions, are
discernible in the vase-paintings, and the skilful hand
produced in black, red, white, and violet, figures and
scenes that may be looked upon as masterpieces of
grace and elegance.
Of all classes of remains, architecture, sculpture,
terra-cottas, coins, gems, vases, the latter are, it seems
to me, the most interesting for one who desires an
introduction to classical archseology. There are two
phases of vase-paintings that appeal to one at once, —
scenes that portray the outward life, and the inward
life of the Greeks, the objective life and the subjective
life. The former, perhaps, being easier to comprehend,
will arrest our attention first; the Hellenes move before
us, pictured by their own contemporaries, three, four,
five, six, maybe seven hundred years before our era;
they indulge in sports, they go to work and war, and
drive their bargains, and one need be no close Student
of archseology to understand such pictures. For the
second phase we have the scenes depicting gods,
sacrifices, and worship, while the sepulchral lekythi
afford us many glimpses of the Greek’s belief concerning
the mystery of death and the deeper meaning of life.
It is more than probable, however, that once having
taken up the vases for what they teach of Greek life
and literature, one will be attracted to a closer exami-
nation of their place in the history of Greek art; and
finally having entered upon such a course, no one is