DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.8577#0230
XIV
METAL VASES
THE making of bronze vases must have been one of the most important
departments of the Corinthian metal-industry. It is true that we have
scarcely any bronze vases that we can with certainty call Corinthian; that is
because the majority of the specimens which have been found in Greece come
from the great sanctuaries, so that we have no means of telling where they
were made, and because we have little evidence from finds at Corinth. None
the less it is an absolutely certain conjecture from the character of Proto-
corinthian and Corinthian clay vases, that metal vases were made at Corinth
throughout the archaic period. Metal vases of Corinthian make are mentioned
by more than one ancient authority, but it is impossible to say exactly to what
period these belong.1 Although our knowledge is therefore almost entirely
derived at second hand, it will, I think, be worth while to see how much of
the history of this industry we can reconstruct.
For the Protocorinthian period we rely almost entirely on inferences from
the character of clay vases. It is true that we possess a few specimens of Proto-
corinthian bronze—an ovoid aryballos from the Argive Heraeum (A.H. ii,
pi. 117, 2022), others from Delphi (Fouilles de Delphes v, 92, figs. 314, 315),
and a stone mould from the temple of Aphrodite at Aegina,2 but these cannot
be fairly representative of the Protocorinthian output. Cups, kotylai,
oinochoai, and dinoi there must have been, and remnants of these, especially
of the last named, certainly exist among the finds from Delphi and Olympia;
but in the absence of inscriptions, Corinthian examples cannot be distin-
guished from the rest.3 That aryballoi were also made in the 'Corinthian'
1 Cf., especially, Athenaeus, quoting Kallixeinos,
on Corinthian gold craters (Ath. v, 199 E): ixop-evot
Se tovtcdv eTrofinevov ol ra xpvoa>[iaTa (fjepovres,
Kparfjpas Acikcovlkovs rerrapas e^ovras arecjxivovs
ap/ireXLvovs . . . T€Tpap,eTpr]Toi erepoi, KopivdiovpyzZs
8v(d—oStol 8' ef^ov dvcodev KaBr\p.eva Trepicfxivfj
reropevp-eva £a>a Kal h> to> TpaxrjXto Kal h> Tat?
ydcrrpais irpoarvna imp-eXcus ire.TTOvr\p,£va. ix<*>pei 8'
CKaaros fieTprjTas oktcu—eir' iyyvd-qKais (on Kparrjpes
KopivdiovpyeZs cf. also p. 300, note 2); Athen. xi,
488 d, quotes one Asklepiades of Myrlea, who refers
to the remarks of Appelles (1st cent, b.c.) on the
subject of Corinthian metal hydriai (cf. Rossbach
in R.E. s.v. Apelles,no. 14). On Corinthian bronze,
see Appendix iii.
2 This mould is for making ovoid aryballoi, and
dates from the second quarter of the seventh cen-
tury. It is obviously good evidence for the manufac-
ture of 'Protocorinthian' bronze at Aegina, but, it
need hardly be said, has no bearing on the ques-
tion of where Protocorinthian clay vases were made.
It is mentioned by Welter in A. Anz. 1925, pp.
8-9.
3 The metallic character of Protocorinthian cups
and kotylai with their leaf-like walls and fine,
taut, contours has long been recognized; I am
inclined to regard the bronze cup from Syracuse,
N.S. 1895, 181 fig. 82 as Protocorinthian.
The metallic character of the oinochoai is equally
obvious; some of the characteristic ornaments like-
wise reflect the influence of bronze prototypes;
this may be the explanation of the sudden fondness
for scale and tongue patterns, incised on a black
ground, which we find in the late Protocorinthian
and transitional periods. The tongue-pattern at
least is always a favourite motive with the makers
of bronze vases. There are several representations
of bronze dinoi on painted Protocorinthian vases :
Johansen pi. 5,6 a and b, pi. 22, 2d, pi. 34,1; add to
these a fragment of an oinochoe in Aegina with
women drawing wine from a griffon-head dinos
like those on two of the three Protocorinthian
METAL VASES
THE making of bronze vases must have been one of the most important
departments of the Corinthian metal-industry. It is true that we have
scarcely any bronze vases that we can with certainty call Corinthian; that is
because the majority of the specimens which have been found in Greece come
from the great sanctuaries, so that we have no means of telling where they
were made, and because we have little evidence from finds at Corinth. None
the less it is an absolutely certain conjecture from the character of Proto-
corinthian and Corinthian clay vases, that metal vases were made at Corinth
throughout the archaic period. Metal vases of Corinthian make are mentioned
by more than one ancient authority, but it is impossible to say exactly to what
period these belong.1 Although our knowledge is therefore almost entirely
derived at second hand, it will, I think, be worth while to see how much of
the history of this industry we can reconstruct.
For the Protocorinthian period we rely almost entirely on inferences from
the character of clay vases. It is true that we possess a few specimens of Proto-
corinthian bronze—an ovoid aryballos from the Argive Heraeum (A.H. ii,
pi. 117, 2022), others from Delphi (Fouilles de Delphes v, 92, figs. 314, 315),
and a stone mould from the temple of Aphrodite at Aegina,2 but these cannot
be fairly representative of the Protocorinthian output. Cups, kotylai,
oinochoai, and dinoi there must have been, and remnants of these, especially
of the last named, certainly exist among the finds from Delphi and Olympia;
but in the absence of inscriptions, Corinthian examples cannot be distin-
guished from the rest.3 That aryballoi were also made in the 'Corinthian'
1 Cf., especially, Athenaeus, quoting Kallixeinos,
on Corinthian gold craters (Ath. v, 199 E): ixop-evot
Se tovtcdv eTrofinevov ol ra xpvoa>[iaTa (fjepovres,
Kparfjpas Acikcovlkovs rerrapas e^ovras arecjxivovs
ap/ireXLvovs . . . T€Tpap,eTpr]Toi erepoi, KopivdiovpyzZs
8v(d—oStol 8' ef^ov dvcodev KaBr\p.eva Trepicfxivfj
reropevp-eva £a>a Kal h> to> TpaxrjXto Kal h> Tat?
ydcrrpais irpoarvna imp-eXcus ire.TTOvr\p,£va. ix<*>pei 8'
CKaaros fieTprjTas oktcu—eir' iyyvd-qKais (on Kparrjpes
KopivdiovpyeZs cf. also p. 300, note 2); Athen. xi,
488 d, quotes one Asklepiades of Myrlea, who refers
to the remarks of Appelles (1st cent, b.c.) on the
subject of Corinthian metal hydriai (cf. Rossbach
in R.E. s.v. Apelles,no. 14). On Corinthian bronze,
see Appendix iii.
2 This mould is for making ovoid aryballoi, and
dates from the second quarter of the seventh cen-
tury. It is obviously good evidence for the manufac-
ture of 'Protocorinthian' bronze at Aegina, but, it
need hardly be said, has no bearing on the ques-
tion of where Protocorinthian clay vases were made.
It is mentioned by Welter in A. Anz. 1925, pp.
8-9.
3 The metallic character of Protocorinthian cups
and kotylai with their leaf-like walls and fine,
taut, contours has long been recognized; I am
inclined to regard the bronze cup from Syracuse,
N.S. 1895, 181 fig. 82 as Protocorinthian.
The metallic character of the oinochoai is equally
obvious; some of the characteristic ornaments like-
wise reflect the influence of bronze prototypes;
this may be the explanation of the sudden fondness
for scale and tongue patterns, incised on a black
ground, which we find in the late Protocorinthian
and transitional periods. The tongue-pattern at
least is always a favourite motive with the makers
of bronze vases. There are several representations
of bronze dinoi on painted Protocorinthian vases :
Johansen pi. 5,6 a and b, pi. 22, 2d, pi. 34,1; add to
these a fragment of an oinochoe in Aegina with
women drawing wine from a griffon-head dinos
like those on two of the three Protocorinthian