DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.8577#0063
V
THE EARLY CORINTHIAN ORIENTALIZING STYLE
IN the last quarter of the seventh century the orientalizing style enters on
a new phase; in the immediately preceding period, as we saw, there was a
manifold reaction against the complexity of Protocorinthian painting, and a
partial anticipation of some of the characteristics of the Corinthian style. But
it was only in the last fifteen or twenty years of the century that the new style
came to a full and final development.
The hall-mark of Corinthian decoration is the 'solid' incised rosette, a form
which was coming into favour at the end of the Transitional period, but which
is, on the whole, foreign to pre-Corinthian vase-painting.1 The change in
filling ornament is not merely the most striking of the innovations which we
find in the Corinthian period; it is also one of the most important, for it had
a profound influence on the development of the orientalizing style. But there
are many things that are new besides this—vase-shapes, decorative motives,
and the actual manner of drawing. All these changes serve not merely to
distinguish the Corinthian series from the Protocorinthian and Transitional,
but to show that it is the product of a later period. We shall see that this con-
clusion is supported by a good deal of external evidence; for the present,
however, let us concern ourselves with the evidence of style; and before we
attempt an analysis of the style of this period, let us glance rapidly at the
principal groups of early Corinthian vases.
We will begin, as usual, with the small vases. First there are the alabastra
of which good examples are illustrated on pi. 17. They are very like the late
Transitional alabastra of pi. 15, and obviously may be in part contemporary
with these. But taken as a whole they stand with the Corinthian incised-
rosette vases, while the others belong to the Transitional dot-rosette group.2
The four kinds of round aryballoi are illustrated in figs. 123-5, 128 (cf.
pis. 18, 21-4); that only one of these is found in the Protocorinthian or
Transitional periods is obviously a fact of some importance for the question
of the relation between the Corinthian and these earlier styles.3 The orien-
talizing aryballoi fall naturally into three principal classes: (1) the 'warrior
group', with shape and patterns as in fig. 123, style as in pi. 21, 5-8 and 10-11;
(2) the 'lion group'—fig. 125 and pi. 22,1 and 3 (cf.also pi. 26,4-5)—evidently
products of a rival establishment (see p. 289); (3) a large miscellaneous group,
which, like the small alabastra, have no bounding lines above or below the
picture. All these groups, and several others which need not be mentioned
here, are contemporary: they are found in the same graves, and, though in a
1 Cf. infra, p. 53. in the catalogue.
2 On the shape and principles of decoration v. supra 3 This is the aryballos 'shape A', fig. 123, of which
pp. 18, 31-2, and the remarks in the catalogue pp. there are three pre-Corinthian examples.
270, 281; the aryballoi are also discussed in detail
THE EARLY CORINTHIAN ORIENTALIZING STYLE
IN the last quarter of the seventh century the orientalizing style enters on
a new phase; in the immediately preceding period, as we saw, there was a
manifold reaction against the complexity of Protocorinthian painting, and a
partial anticipation of some of the characteristics of the Corinthian style. But
it was only in the last fifteen or twenty years of the century that the new style
came to a full and final development.
The hall-mark of Corinthian decoration is the 'solid' incised rosette, a form
which was coming into favour at the end of the Transitional period, but which
is, on the whole, foreign to pre-Corinthian vase-painting.1 The change in
filling ornament is not merely the most striking of the innovations which we
find in the Corinthian period; it is also one of the most important, for it had
a profound influence on the development of the orientalizing style. But there
are many things that are new besides this—vase-shapes, decorative motives,
and the actual manner of drawing. All these changes serve not merely to
distinguish the Corinthian series from the Protocorinthian and Transitional,
but to show that it is the product of a later period. We shall see that this con-
clusion is supported by a good deal of external evidence; for the present,
however, let us concern ourselves with the evidence of style; and before we
attempt an analysis of the style of this period, let us glance rapidly at the
principal groups of early Corinthian vases.
We will begin, as usual, with the small vases. First there are the alabastra
of which good examples are illustrated on pi. 17. They are very like the late
Transitional alabastra of pi. 15, and obviously may be in part contemporary
with these. But taken as a whole they stand with the Corinthian incised-
rosette vases, while the others belong to the Transitional dot-rosette group.2
The four kinds of round aryballoi are illustrated in figs. 123-5, 128 (cf.
pis. 18, 21-4); that only one of these is found in the Protocorinthian or
Transitional periods is obviously a fact of some importance for the question
of the relation between the Corinthian and these earlier styles.3 The orien-
talizing aryballoi fall naturally into three principal classes: (1) the 'warrior
group', with shape and patterns as in fig. 123, style as in pi. 21, 5-8 and 10-11;
(2) the 'lion group'—fig. 125 and pi. 22,1 and 3 (cf.also pi. 26,4-5)—evidently
products of a rival establishment (see p. 289); (3) a large miscellaneous group,
which, like the small alabastra, have no bounding lines above or below the
picture. All these groups, and several others which need not be mentioned
here, are contemporary: they are found in the same graves, and, though in a
1 Cf. infra, p. 53. in the catalogue.
2 On the shape and principles of decoration v. supra 3 This is the aryballos 'shape A', fig. 123, of which
pp. 18, 31-2, and the remarks in the catalogue pp. there are three pre-Corinthian examples.
270, 281; the aryballoi are also discussed in detail