DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.8577#0233
METAL VASES 213
It is not merely more massive and better proportioned than any earlier
hydriai the emphasis which is laid on the separate parts, notably the handles
and the foot, is something new:2 the handles are heavy, and grooved like
those of metal vases, and the foot is decorated with tongue-pattern.3 The
reason for these developments is not far to seek; early in the sixth century
a new technique for the manufacture of bronze vases had been introduced:
the body was still normally hammered as before, but mouth, handles,and foot
were cast separately. As a result of this procedure, the separate parts
assumed a new importance and came to be treated with greater elaboration.
It was this technique, already in a comparatively advanced stage, which was
responsible for many of the developments in shape which are reflected in
Corinthian pottery in the second quarter of the sixth century.4
At the base of the vertical handle of the hydria no. 1446 there is a palmette,
shown in fig. 61; this motive recurs on several other hydriai of the same
group (nos. 1444-6), and is a well-known bronze-worker's device for masking
the junction of the handle with the body. In the oinochoe no. 1404, fig. 98, the
palmette is actually rendered plastically, precisely as on bronze vases.5 On the
hydriai nos. 1444-5 there are raised bosses on the horizontal handles, a
motive which we know in various forms from many existing bronze vases.6
Several oinochoai and hydriai (nos. 1403-4,1441 -3) show heavy grooved mouth-
or neck-mouldings, such as we know from contemporary Tyrrhenian vases,
obviously imitations of metal forms. The new types of amphorae and craters
(pi. 40 and fig. 174) are likewise certainly metallic. True, there are no metal
vases of these shapes in existence, but one has only to look at the handles of
the crater to see that they could not have been invented in pottery, and at the
amphora to see that it is directly dependent on the crater.7 Both shapes are
elaborately ornamented with tongue-pattern on mouth and foot.
There are three of these late Corinthian oinochoai which will repay closer
study, because they are exceptionally close copies of metal originals. The
1 There are, of course, late hydriai and oinochoai
of the old type (cf. nos. 1379-82, 1440).
2 Contrast the early type, no. 1150 and ff., where we
have thin cylindrical handles, like those of kotylai,
at the sides, and a thin vertical strip, like a strip of
metal, at the back.
3 The use of the tongue-pattern on the mouth or
foot is invariably a sign of metallic influence. We
never find it, at Corinth or elsewhere, except on
vases which show metallic influence in other
ways.
4 On the earliest group of cast hydria-handles, see
Neugebauer in A. Anz. 1926, 177. Neugebauer's
date for the earliest examples, c. 600 B.C., agrees well
with the chronology here proposed, for on these the
decoration is still for the most part engraved, and
there is little plastic ornament. The Corinthian
vases which I attribute to the second quarter of the
century show a much more advanced stage of
development (cf. infra on the handles with snake-
finials).
5 Cf. p. 215, note 2; such clay copies are very
common : cf. the Chalcidian hydria, Rumpf pi. 22;
Laconian fragments B.S.A. 1908/9, 27 fig. 4; &c.
6 See Neugebauer in R.M. 1923/4, 418.
7 Note the similarity of the mouth-moulding, a very
peculiar form, which is, no doubt, metallic in origin.
It suggests a metal band passed round the mouth of
the vase; later this band, which was cast, was greatly
elaborated with mouldings and patterns.
It is not merely more massive and better proportioned than any earlier
hydriai the emphasis which is laid on the separate parts, notably the handles
and the foot, is something new:2 the handles are heavy, and grooved like
those of metal vases, and the foot is decorated with tongue-pattern.3 The
reason for these developments is not far to seek; early in the sixth century
a new technique for the manufacture of bronze vases had been introduced:
the body was still normally hammered as before, but mouth, handles,and foot
were cast separately. As a result of this procedure, the separate parts
assumed a new importance and came to be treated with greater elaboration.
It was this technique, already in a comparatively advanced stage, which was
responsible for many of the developments in shape which are reflected in
Corinthian pottery in the second quarter of the sixth century.4
At the base of the vertical handle of the hydria no. 1446 there is a palmette,
shown in fig. 61; this motive recurs on several other hydriai of the same
group (nos. 1444-6), and is a well-known bronze-worker's device for masking
the junction of the handle with the body. In the oinochoe no. 1404, fig. 98, the
palmette is actually rendered plastically, precisely as on bronze vases.5 On the
hydriai nos. 1444-5 there are raised bosses on the horizontal handles, a
motive which we know in various forms from many existing bronze vases.6
Several oinochoai and hydriai (nos. 1403-4,1441 -3) show heavy grooved mouth-
or neck-mouldings, such as we know from contemporary Tyrrhenian vases,
obviously imitations of metal forms. The new types of amphorae and craters
(pi. 40 and fig. 174) are likewise certainly metallic. True, there are no metal
vases of these shapes in existence, but one has only to look at the handles of
the crater to see that they could not have been invented in pottery, and at the
amphora to see that it is directly dependent on the crater.7 Both shapes are
elaborately ornamented with tongue-pattern on mouth and foot.
There are three of these late Corinthian oinochoai which will repay closer
study, because they are exceptionally close copies of metal originals. The
1 There are, of course, late hydriai and oinochoai
of the old type (cf. nos. 1379-82, 1440).
2 Contrast the early type, no. 1150 and ff., where we
have thin cylindrical handles, like those of kotylai,
at the sides, and a thin vertical strip, like a strip of
metal, at the back.
3 The use of the tongue-pattern on the mouth or
foot is invariably a sign of metallic influence. We
never find it, at Corinth or elsewhere, except on
vases which show metallic influence in other
ways.
4 On the earliest group of cast hydria-handles, see
Neugebauer in A. Anz. 1926, 177. Neugebauer's
date for the earliest examples, c. 600 B.C., agrees well
with the chronology here proposed, for on these the
decoration is still for the most part engraved, and
there is little plastic ornament. The Corinthian
vases which I attribute to the second quarter of the
century show a much more advanced stage of
development (cf. infra on the handles with snake-
finials).
5 Cf. p. 215, note 2; such clay copies are very
common : cf. the Chalcidian hydria, Rumpf pi. 22;
Laconian fragments B.S.A. 1908/9, 27 fig. 4; &c.
6 See Neugebauer in R.M. 1923/4, 418.
7 Note the similarity of the mouth-moulding, a very
peculiar form, which is, no doubt, metallic in origin.
It suggests a metal band passed round the mouth of
the vase; later this band, which was cast, was greatly
elaborated with mouldings and patterns.