DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.8577#0284
CATALOGUE OF LATE PROTOCORINTHIAN,
TRANSITIONAL, AND CORINTHIAN VASES
THE catalogue which follows requires a few words of explanation. It
contains neither a complete list of Corinthian vases, nor full desciptions of
the vases which are mentioned. A complete catalogue would no doubt be the
ideal thing; but it would be a costly undertaking, and for that reason, I cannot
offer more than an abbreviated list of vases, with summary descriptions. In its
original form this catalogue, though by no means complete, contained a great
deal of matter which is now omitted. The descriptions have suffered the more
severely in the process of abbreviation, for it seemed of the first importance to
give some idea of the whole range of the Corinthian industry, and of the quantity
of vases which it produced. If this was to be done, it was obviously necessary
to quote more than one or two examples of each class; in order to establish the
existence of a class, one must point to the individuals, or to many of them, of
which the class consists, and this inevitably involves the citation of a very con-
siderable material. A catalogue with a small selection of vases and full descrip-
tions would always be open to the criticism that it was not representative.
The references to literature have been curtailed for the same reasons: a good
many publications have been omitted; a great many comments and discus-
sions which now have little value have been passed over. I hope there is not
very much of importance that I have overlooked. The catalogue contains the
majority of the references, but some which are concerned primarily with
particular aspects of the subject—with mythology, for instance, or with in-
scriptions—are given in the chapters which deal with these aspects of the
subject. I have not been able to be quite consistent in this matter, but that
is the principle at which I have aimed.
In describing the vases, I very rarely make reference to the colour or texture
of the clay. Not because there is no variation in these respects, but because,
within certain limitations, these are not matters of importance. That is
fortunate, for it is difficult enough to carry in one's mind fine distinctions
between various shades of buff and white, and impossible to convey any pre-
cise impression of such distinctions to others. The necessary words do not
exist. The limitations referred to are as follows: the clay may be (i) pale
green; (2) buff, or pale brown: the colour of an oatmeal biscuit. These are
extremes; the normal colour is a kind of very pale greenish buff; but there
are innumerable variations. The finer shades of colour are determined entirely
in the process of firing. It is a very common thing to find one side of a vase
greenish in colour, the other buff. The fact that the varnish regularly varies
according to the colour of the clay,1 proves that variations in the colour of the
1 When the clay is green or white, the varnish is black (or blackish, according to thickness); when the
clay is reddish, the varnish is normally red.
TRANSITIONAL, AND CORINTHIAN VASES
THE catalogue which follows requires a few words of explanation. It
contains neither a complete list of Corinthian vases, nor full desciptions of
the vases which are mentioned. A complete catalogue would no doubt be the
ideal thing; but it would be a costly undertaking, and for that reason, I cannot
offer more than an abbreviated list of vases, with summary descriptions. In its
original form this catalogue, though by no means complete, contained a great
deal of matter which is now omitted. The descriptions have suffered the more
severely in the process of abbreviation, for it seemed of the first importance to
give some idea of the whole range of the Corinthian industry, and of the quantity
of vases which it produced. If this was to be done, it was obviously necessary
to quote more than one or two examples of each class; in order to establish the
existence of a class, one must point to the individuals, or to many of them, of
which the class consists, and this inevitably involves the citation of a very con-
siderable material. A catalogue with a small selection of vases and full descrip-
tions would always be open to the criticism that it was not representative.
The references to literature have been curtailed for the same reasons: a good
many publications have been omitted; a great many comments and discus-
sions which now have little value have been passed over. I hope there is not
very much of importance that I have overlooked. The catalogue contains the
majority of the references, but some which are concerned primarily with
particular aspects of the subject—with mythology, for instance, or with in-
scriptions—are given in the chapters which deal with these aspects of the
subject. I have not been able to be quite consistent in this matter, but that
is the principle at which I have aimed.
In describing the vases, I very rarely make reference to the colour or texture
of the clay. Not because there is no variation in these respects, but because,
within certain limitations, these are not matters of importance. That is
fortunate, for it is difficult enough to carry in one's mind fine distinctions
between various shades of buff and white, and impossible to convey any pre-
cise impression of such distinctions to others. The necessary words do not
exist. The limitations referred to are as follows: the clay may be (i) pale
green; (2) buff, or pale brown: the colour of an oatmeal biscuit. These are
extremes; the normal colour is a kind of very pale greenish buff; but there
are innumerable variations. The finer shades of colour are determined entirely
in the process of firing. It is a very common thing to find one side of a vase
greenish in colour, the other buff. The fact that the varnish regularly varies
according to the colour of the clay,1 proves that variations in the colour of the
1 When the clay is green or white, the varnish is black (or blackish, according to thickness); when the
clay is reddish, the varnish is normally red.