Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 19.djvu/631

Rh PHOENICIAN AND ARCHAIC.] POTTERY 607 common to all races of men in an elementary stage oi progress, and occur on the earliest known pottery, that of the Neolithic age (see fig. 16). (2) Representations of FIG. 16. Archaic vessels decorated with simple line ornament. plants (often seaweeds) and marine animals, such as cuttle fishes, medusa?, and star -fishes, or occasionally aquatic birds. This class of ornament appears to be more native in character derived, that is, from various objects with FK:. 17. Archaic pottery decorated with natural objects cuttle-fish, aquatic plant, and strips of seaweed. which the potter was familiar and not to have been a Phoenician import (see fig. 17). (3) Conventional orna ment, a decorative arrangement in bands or scrolls of certain plants, such as the lotus or papyrus and the palm- tree. This class of ornament is distinctly Phoeni cian, and shows a predominance, sometimes of As syrian, sometimes of Egyptian influ ence (see fig. 18). (4) Very rude and badly -drawn fig ures of men and animals. They are mostly purely decorative and meaningless, are often merely drawn in outline, and have little or no help from incised lines, which became so important in the next stage of the development of pottery. Some of the figures are strongly Assyrian in character, while others of the rudest execution seem to be native. It appears at first sight as if there was a distinct chronological order of development in these four classes of ornament growing from simple line -patterns to the copying of easily represented natural objects, then to the invention of regular geometrical floral patterns, and lastly arriving at the rude depiction of human figures. Various points, however, combine to contradict such a theory of arrangement, such as the combinations in which these vessels have been found, the manner in which the various classes of ornament are mingled on the same vase, and lastly the fact that some elaborate and highly- finished vases, obviously of later date, are decorated solely with the straight-line and hatched patterns of the fort of the four classes of ornament. Again, the ornament of the Archaic pottery with flower ornament worked into conventional patterns. second class, which appears to be native and local, can hardly be so altogether. Pottery found at places so far distant as Rhodes and Mycenae has in some cases exactly similar painting of this sort, showing that a common artistic influence was at work in both places. The whole subject is a very difficult one, and little that is really definite can be asserted about it with safety at least as yet. Fig. 19 gives two vases of great interest. One shows the com mon decoration with wheel-applied circles, and also the Assyrian FIG. 19. Early vases (cenochore) with Assyrian sacred tree, or altar between guardian beasts. altar-like object between two beasts ; the other, from Cyprus, has the Assyrian sacred tree, with similar guardian animals. One of the most striking characteristics of archaic pottery of all classes, and especially of the earliest, is the great use made of the potter s wheel in applying the painted ornaments. Very many of the vessels are decorated with a number of encircling bands or lines, or on their sides with a number of concentric circles. These were easily applied, and very true circles were obtained by setting the pot (after it was dried in the sun) for a second time on the wheel, in the required position, either on its side or upright as it was ori ginally turned. A brush held against the revolving vessel marked out the bands or circles. A very interesting votive tablet from Corinth (now in the Louvre), probably 700-600 B.C., shows a potter at work in his shop, applying painted bands in this way. He sets the wheel in motion with one hand, while with the other he holds the brush against the revolving pot. The wheel here shown (see fig. 20) is one of the earliest form, without the lower foot- FIG. 20. Votive tablet from Corinth, full size ; a potter applying painted bands while the vessel revolves on the wheel. turned disk. 1 The smaller circles were struck out with compasses, the central point of which has usually left a deep mark. The patterns used on the first class of pottery consist mostly of straight lines, hatched and crossed, arranged in squares, chevrons, triangles, and other simple figures, combined with concentric circles or, more rarely, wavy bands, the whole arranged frequently in very com plicated and effective patterns. The second class has frequently varieties of seaweed and many marine creatures, all treated very simply, but drawn with great skill and appreciation of the character istics of each object and its decorative capabilities. The third class that of geometrical floral patterns has but little variety. Some of the lotus patterns are almost identical with those used in Egypt and Assyria, and continued in use for vase decoration down to the most flourishing period of Greek art, though latterly in a stiff and rather lifeless form. The fourth class that of figure- paintings is of great^ interest ; the earlier patterns are merely drawn in outline. Fig. 21 shows an cenoehoe from Cyprus, now in the British Museum, of rather coarse red clay with yellow slip, on which is pencilled in outline a one-horse chariot driven at full speed by a slave ; behind him stands a bowman shooting an arrow ; the whole is strikingly Assyrian in style. Another ceno- hoe, found in Attica, of more primitive style, has a central band 1 The writer of the article in Ann. Inst. (1882) on this painting has missed the chief point of interest, which is that the potter is using his wheel, not to mould the vase, but to apply the bands of colour round it.