History of Ancient Pottery 12

History of Ancient Pottery 12

Bologna_ has been the scene of discoveries sufficiently important to

demand a separate paragraph. These were made by Signor Zannoni, in

1869–76, in the cloister of the Certosa convent, and a fully

illustrated description was published by him at the conclusion of his

labours.[214] The finds include, besides remarkable bronzes of the

Villanova period of Italian civilisation (800–500 B.C.), a large number

of B.F. and R.F. vases covering the whole period of exportations from

Athens to Etruria (550–400 B.C.), and also some local imitations of

B.F. fabrics. All these are now in the Museo Civico at Bologna.

 

Turning now to the important district of ETRURIA, which has been so

prolific in discoveries of ancient vases, we come first to _Pisa_,

where, in the beginning of the last century, a potter’s establishment

was discovered. Since that time red-figured vases both of the severe

and fine styles have been found, including a hydria figured by

Inghirami.[215]

 

At _Volterra_ (Volaterrae) Jahn states that many painted vases have

been found[216]; but the contents of the local museum are limited to

inferior Etruscan pottery of the later period with yellow figures on

black ground or staring heads painted in silhouette. On the other hand

some of the plain black ware is remarkably good.[217]

 

_Arezzo_ (Arretium) enjoyed in Pliny’s time an even wider reputation

than the places already mentioned, for its pottery of all kinds, not

only cups[218]; its ware is also referred to by Martial and other

authors. These allusions have been fully borne out by the extensive

discoveries of potteries that have been made; the red glazed ware,

stamped with the potter’s name and with designs in relief, has been

found in large quantities, and fully justified the substitution of the

name Arretine for the old “Samian” in relation to the whole class. It

is more fully dealt with in the section on Roman pottery (Chapter

XXII.). Few Greek vases have been found here; but _Lucignano_ in the

neighbourhood is mentioned as a site where they have been

discovered.[219]

 

_Perugia_ was another important town of ancient Etruria, but does not

appear to have been a centre either for the manufacture or importation

of pottery. The museum, however, contains several good Greek vases with

mythological subjects, and some Etruscan imitations of R.F. vases have

also been found here.[220]

 

At _Chiusi_ (Clusium), on the other hand, some very important

discoveries have been made, including the magnificent krater of the

Florence Museum, known as the “François Vase,” after its

discoverer.[221] It was found in a tomb which had been already

pillaged, and was broken to pieces, but entire. Many vases of the B.F.

and R.F. periods have been found, some signed with artists’ names,

including those of Pamphaios and Anakles. On the whole, this site has

yielded more fine vases than any in Etruria, except Cervetri, and of

course Vulci; it is also noteworthy for the early Etruscan black wares,

of which there are many remarkable specimens in the Museum.[222] The

Casuccini collection, which was very representative of Chiusi finds,

has now been disposed of _en bloc_ to the Museum at Palermo.[223]

 

In the immediate neighbourhood is _Sarteano_, also remarkable for the

specimens of early black ware which it has yielded, but almost entirely

deficient in painted vases. At _Roselle_ (Rusellae) and _Orbetello_ in

the Maremma the finds of pottery have been of a comparatively

insignificant character, the vases of Orbetello being nearly all late

Etruscan fabrics, of rude forms, with coarse ill-drawn subjects. The

same remark applies to _Toscanella_, near Vulci, where Greek vases are

seldom found.

 

_Bolsena_ (Volsinii) is specially distinguished by a curious class of

late vases of coarse red ware with designs in relief, which show

evident signs of having been coated with a solution producing the

effect of silver.[224] They seem to be peculiar to this locality,

though Athenaeus[225] tells us that a similar practice was in vogue at

Naukratis. No other kinds of pottery have been found.

 

At _Orvieto_ excavations were first made in 1830, but without very

great results; the site was then neglected until the ’seventies, during

which years Signor Mancini’s excavations were so successful that a

local Museum has been established, which now contains many good

specimens of Greek vases, as well as Etruscan black wares.[226] At

_Viterbo_ various Greek vases, mostly black-figured, were found in the

early ’twenties, and later on a kylix by the master Euphronios came to

light.[227] _Bomarzo_ has yielded some good Greek vases, including

signed examples by Euphronios and Hieron.[228]

 

_Corneto_ is more famous for the splendid wall-paintings of its tombs

and for its coloured sarcophagi than for painted vases, but has

nevertheless yielded some vases of considerable interest, notably a

fine R.F. kylix with representation of the Olympian deities, signed by

Oltos and Euxitheos, the beautiful kylix representing the desertion of

Ariadne by Theseus,[229] and some specimens of Corinthian wares. Under

its ancient name of Tarquinii it was of course famous as the spot to

which Demaratos and his artist-companions were said to have fled from

Corinth. Excavations were first begun in 1825–27. Besides the

collection now in the public Museum,[230] there is a large one made by

Count Bruschi from excavations on his own lands, the majority of the

vases being of the B.F. period.[231] Not far distant are _Civita

Vecchia_, represented only by some remarkable early vases in the

British Museum,[232] Italian imitations of the Greek Dipylon ware, and

La Tolfa, where Etruscan, Corinthian, and Ionic B.F. vases have been

found.[233]

 

Few finds, at least of Greek pottery, have been made at _Civita

Castellana_, the ancient Falerii; but this town appears to have had a

special manufacture of its own in the fourth or third century B.C.,

like all other Etruscan fabrics an imitation of Greek vases, but with

certain strongly marked peculiarities of drawing and colouring. There

is a fine specimen in the British Museum.[234] These vases have only

been found in recent years. The British Museum also (among others)

possesses an interesting collection of local early black and red wares

from this site, including two large caldrons on open-work stands, with

Gryphons’ heads projecting. _Isola Farnese_, the ancient Veii, again,

is more celebrated for its local fabrics than for Greek importations.

Painted vases were found in 1838–39,[235] and in 1843 Campana

discovered a remarkable tomb containing vases of early character

without human figures, and early Italian wares. The archaic paintings

of this tomb are of special interest for comparison with the vases of

the period.[236]

 

Next to Vulci, which we have reserved for the last, by far the most

important discoveries in Etruria are those made in the tombs of

=Cervetri= (Caere), mostly of early fabrics. In 1836 the famous

Regulini-Galassi tomb came to light, a passage-like structure sixty

feet in length, with doorway of slabs sloping forward to form an arch;

but it contained few vases. In the same year was found a remarkable

vase of plain black ware, on which was engraved an early Greek

alphabet, with a sort of syllabic primer.[237] Another tomb contained a

series of slabs painted with archaic Etruscan figures in the style of

early B.F. vases, which are now in the British Museum. Others of

similar character are in the Louvre.[238] But though these large tombs

yielded little painted pottery, yet Cervetri has been the site of many

notable discoveries, chiefly of early B.F. vases illustrating various

developments of vase-painting. The most important is formed by the

series of hydriae named “Caeretan,” after the site, which are fully

discussed in Chapter VIII.; and among other finds we may note the

Amphiaraos krater at Berlin,[239] of Corinthian style. Excavations went

on for many years from 1831 onwards, and yielded also some interesting

later vases, including examples with the signatures of Nikosthenes,

Xenokles, Pamphaios, Euphronios,[240] and Charitaios, and the famous

vase representing the oil-merchant.[241] Jahn[242] gives a list of the

most important red-figured vases found here. At _Selva la Rocca_, near

Monteroni in the same neighbourhood, the Duchessa di Sermoneta

excavated a series of Greek painted vases of all periods. Other sites

in Etruria on which vases have been found are Doganella,[243] Ferento

near Viterbo,[244] Capannori,[245] Montepulciano,[246] Pitigliano,[247]

Poggia Sommavilla on the border of the Sabine territory,[248] S.

Filippo dei Neri, Tragliatella.[249]

 

But the discoveries made on all the other Etruscan sites combined are

surpassed, both in number and interest, by those of =Vulci=, a name

which eighty years since was scarcely known, but now represents to us

one of the most important cities of antiquity. The site is represented

by the modern Ponte della Badia, a district of about five miles in

circumference round the bridge over the stream Fiora, between the

estates of Canino and Montalto. The former estate lay on the left bank,

distinguished by a hill named Cucumella.

 

The discovery of painted vases here was brought about purely by

accident, about the year 1828. Some oxen in ploughing broke through

into an Etruscan tomb containing two broken vases, and thus the local

landlord, the Prince of Canino, was led to further researches. In the

course of four months he discovered about 2,000 objects in tombs on one

small plot of ground, and subsequently other explorers joined in

emulating his good fortune. The number of painted vases alone

discovered during the year 1829 is reckoned at over 3,000, according to

the elaborate report published by Gerhard in the _Annali_,[250]

describing and classifying the results. It would not be too much to

assert that nine-tenths of the painted vases that have been brought to

light in Etruria are from this site. Most of those now in the British

Museum are from Camposcala, on the Montalto estate; but many are from

the collections formed by Lucien Bonaparte, the Prince of Canino, who

continued to excavate intermittently for many years, though the numbers

of the finds materially diminished after the first great discovery.

 

In recent years the only important excavations on this site have been

those conducted by M. Gsell on the estate of Musignano, at the expense

of the proprietor, Prince Torlonia. The object was to exhaust the site

by sporadic diggings over the three principal areas of Ponte della

Badia, Polledrara, and Cucumella. In all 136 tombs were opened, ranging

from the period of “well-tombs” (about the ninth or eighth century

B.C.) down to the chamber-tombs of the early fifth century.[251]

Besides local pottery of all kinds they contained imported Greek

fabrics from the Geometrical ware down to the red-figure period. The

later included Corinthian vases of various kinds, a good “Tyrrhenian”

amphora, and one of the “affected” B.F. style, a cup signed by Tleson

and one in the style of Epiktetos, and Etruscan imitations of B.F.

fabrics.

 

M. Tyszkiewicz, the great collector, in his entertaining

_Souvenirs_,[252] tells a curious story of the fate of one of the vases

found in M. Gsell’s excavations:—

 

“One day I received a visit from a country fellow, who said he had

come from the neighbourhood of Canino, and brought with him a vase

painted in the early Corinthian manner, the names of the figures

being indicated by Greek inscriptions. The man declared he had

discovered it in a tomb which had fallen in after heavy rains. The

price asked was very reasonable, and the bargain was soon concluded.

At that time M. van Branteghem ... was one of the most eager buyers

of Greek vases, and he was so envious of my acquisition that I had

real pleasure in giving it up to him. A little while after this,

there called on me at my house a member of the French School in Rome,

M. Gsell.... He began by asking me if I had not lately purchased a

vase, which he closely described, and which proved to be the very one

I had bought from the native of Canino. Now M. Gsell inspected so

attentively the excavations under his care that it was impossible, he

assured me, for the workmen to have stolen anything. All objects

found were registered as soon as they were taken out of the tombs,

and were locked up every evening in a warehouse. However, one day M.

Gsell perceived that one had disappeared. He sent for the supposed

thief (one of his superintendents), and by means of threats extracted

a confession of the theft, and the name of the amateur to whom the

vase had been sold. In conclusion, M. Gsell entreated me to let him

have the vase.... Having parted with the vase, I felt the situation

very embarrassing, but I told my interlocutor what had happened, and

why I had handed the vase over to M. van Branteghem. The distress of

M. Gsell on hearing this news touched me to such a degree that I

ended by telling him that, knowing M. van Branteghem to be a

gentleman, I would inform him he had become the owner of stolen

goods, and throw myself on his mercy. The same day I wrote to the

Belgian amateur and made a clean breast of the matter, and the vase

was returned as quickly as possible. The vase was replaced in the

museum of the Prince Torlonia at the Lungara.

 

“Years passed away, when one morning I was told that a peasant, who

was waiting in the hall, desired to show me an antique work of art.

This was an event of daily occurrence—indeed, it happened several

times every day, and usually I found that the object for whose sake I

had been disturbed was either quite uninteresting or else a fraud.

But this time—astonishing fact!—I was shown the very vase that I had

restored to the French School, and had afterwards seen at the Lungara

Museum. Once again it had been stolen!”

 

The tombs in which the vases were found were mostly small grottoes

hollowed in the tufa, and with a few exceptions only a few feet

underground. There was nothing remarkable in them except the vases, for

they were neither spacious nor decorated, nor finished with splendid

ornaments like the tombs of Corneto and of Magna Graecia. Some had

seats for holding the objects deposited with the dead; others pegs for

hanging the vases on the walls. The wonder was to find such fine

specimens of art in tombs so homely. These vases were of all styles and

epochs from early Corinthian of about the seventh century to the

Decadence. Besides these, an immense number of vases painted black

only, without any subject, and others of the black _bucchero_ ware,

were discovered in the various tombs, along with bronzes, ivories, and

other objects peculiarly Etruscan.[253]

 

This vast discovery naturally attracted the attention of Europe.

Notwithstanding the obvious fact of their possessing Greek

inscriptions, and the light thrown upon them by the researches of

Winckelmann, Lanzi, and other enlightened scholars, the Italian

antiquaries, fired with a mistaken patriotism, insisted on claiming all

the vases as Etruscan fabrics. The history of this error, long since

discredited, is briefly summarised in the Introductory chapter.[254]

 

* * * * *

 

Turning now to Southern Italy, _Latium_ need not detain us long. It is

true that Greek vases have from time to time been found at Rome, or at

any rate fragments, as in the recent excavations in the Forum[255]; but

few of these are of importance except as historical data. When Rome is

given as the provenance of a vase, it probably implies nothing more

than that it has been acquired from some dealer in that city. At Civita

Lavinia Lord Savile found some fragments of painted pottery of

different periods. Alba Longa is famous as the site whence the

hut-urns, elsewhere discussed, have been obtained; but on the whole

Rome and the cities of Latium seem to be quite barren in regard to

finds of pottery. With the three main divisions of the southern half of

Italy the case is quite different. It is true that there has been no

Vulci in these districts, and indeed that no scientific excavations

have taken place compared with those in Etruria; yet the yield of vases

from these parts is extraordinarily large. In the eighteenth century

the neighbourhood of Naples, Paestum, etc., was a favourite

hunting-ground with dilettanti, such as Sir William Hamilton, who

appear to have acquired their large collections chiefly from Campanian

tombs; but unfortunately they have left no record of the sites on which

these vases were found. In the Samnite district and north of the

Apennines pottery-finds are almost unknown; while the barbaric regions

of Bruttii and Calabria are only represented by a few late painted

vases of the rudest local fabrics.

 

It may be noted that as a general rule the Greek colonies on the coast,

which maintained from the earliest times a constant intercourse with

Greece, have yielded from their tombs a fair proportion of the older

Greek fabrics, whereas the inland cities are more remarkable for their

remains of the later Athenian and local wares, being of more recent

origin.

 

Beginning with Campania, we take first the famous colony of _Cumae_,

the most ancient in Magna Graecia, which was founded by the Chalcidians

of Kyme in Aeolis at an unknown date, but not later than the eighth

century. Vases of all periods have been found here, though not in great

numbers. The earliest belong to the infancy of the colony, and include

the famous lekythos of Tataie found in 1843, and now in the British

Museum.[256] It bears an inscription in the Chalcidian alphabet. But

the majority of the finds belong to the period when there appears to

have been a flourishing local fabric, about the third century B.C. They

are the most typical representatives of the Campanian style, and may be

studied to best advantage in the Raccolta Cumana of the Naples Museum,

where they are collected together.[257] Many of these were found in

1842. Cumae was famous for its pottery even in Roman times,[258] and

specimens of Roman ware with reliefs have been found here, as also at

the neighbouring Puteoli (Chapter XXII.)

 

Next in importance for the history of local fabrics are the vases found

at _S. Agata dei Goti_, the ancient Saticula, which can also claim a

manufacture of its own.[259] They are for the most part bell-shaped

kraters, and were chiefly excavated at the end of the eighteenth

century. Signed vases by the Paestum masters Assteas and Python (see

below) came from this site. The vases of _Abella_ form another class of

Campanian ware, but of a degenerate and late type, mostly hydriae of

very pale clay. Other sites which have yielded Campanian vases are:

Naples (Neapolis), Telese, Teano, Acerra, Sessa, and Nuceria Alfaterna

(Nocera).[260]

 

_Capua_, on the other hand, does not appear to have had any special

fabric of its own, although the finds of all periods are as numerous as

from any site in Southern Italy except Ruvo and Nola. Among the earlier

specimens may be mentioned the inscribed Corinthian krater in the

British Museum (B 37) from the Hamilton collection (Plate XXI.). The

red-figured vases include cups signed by Euergides, Epiktetos, and

Pistoxenos. The vases of the Decadence have, as indicated, no

distinctive features of their own. Most of the late red-figured vases

of fancy shapes (such as rhyta) in the British Museum are from this

site, whence they passed into the hands of Castellani. The black vases

with gilded ornamentation, of which the British Museum possesses some

fine specimens, are also characteristic of Capua. A large number of the

vases obtained by Sir William Temple are from this site, as is also one

of the later Panathenaic amphorae.[261]

 

At _Calvi_ (Cales) Greek painted vases are almost unrepresented,[262]

but this site is distinguished as the origin of two late varieties of

fictile ware. One is formed by the Calene phialae (p. 502), or bowls of

black ware with interior designs in relief, sometimes signed with the

names of local potters; the other consists of large vases highly

ornamented with terracotta figurines attached in different places, or

else modelled in the form of female figures or heads. Strictly

speaking, the latter must be classed under the heading of terracottas

(see p. 119).

 

Lastly, we have to speak of _Nola_, which, like Capua, was always a

city of considerable importance, and is represented by a large series

of vases of all periods.[263] Here again we can detect no signs of a

special local fabric, though for a long time the so-called “Nolan”

amphorae of the red-figured period were thought to have been made on

the spot, so frequently have they been found. The name is still

retained as convenient for describing this particular form of amphora

(see p. 162), with its exquisite black varnish, graceful outlines, and

simple yet effective decoration; but it is, of course, quite

conventional. The vases are purely Attic (some are signed by Athenian

artists), and it can only be supposed that they found especial favour

in the Nolan market. Corinthian and Attic black-figured vases occur in

large numbers, and both here and at Capua there seems to have been a

tendency to imitate the exported Athenian wares. Thus we find not only

vases with black figures on buff ground on which the drawing is

obviously free and developed, but also imitations of the “Nolan”

amphorae, both classes dating from about the fourth century B.C.

 

At _Sorrento_ and the neighbouring Vico Equense a few vases of

different periods have been found, including a fine R.F. krater signed

by Polygnotos, which was discovered in 1893, and is now in the British

Museum.[264] Salerno is also mentioned as a site where Greek vases have

come to light.

 

The famous city of _Paestum_ lay actually within the borders of

Lucania, but all its relations were with Campania, and it may

practically be regarded as a Campanian city. Little has been found here

except local fourth- and third-century fabrics, but these are for the

most part so remarkable that they have established the existence of a

school of vase-painting at Paestum quite distinct from and earlier than

the fabrics of the three districts of Southern Italy.[265] Nearly all

the vases found here (including three signed by the master Assteas)

have the distinguishing characteristics of this class. They are mostly

to be seen in the Naples Museum; a fuller account of them is given in

Chapter XI.

 

Among the sites in Lucania on which vases have been found,[266] the

most important is _Anzi_, the ancient Anxia, which appears to have been

the chief centre for the manufacture of the Lucanian vases. Earlier

examples of Greek red-figured vases have also come from this site, but

the majority are of the Lucanian class.[267] Provenances in this

district are, however, always doubtful, and in many cases nothing more

definite than “Basilicata” can be ascertained. But discoveries on the

following sites seem to be well attested: Armento,[268] Eboli,[269]

Missanello, Grumento, Potenza,[270] Pomarico, and Pisticci.[271] The

British Museum collection includes a fine B.F. krater (B 360) from

Armento, the famous vase with the Doloneia (F 157 = Fig. 130.) from

Pisticci, several from Anzi, and a few from Pomarico. In the Naples

Museum are vases from Pomarico, Pisticci, and elsewhere (chiefly in the

Santangelo collection), while the Koller collection, now in the Berlin

Museum, contains many from Castelluccio, S. Arcangelo, and other sites.

But none of these finds compare in any sense with those of Apulia and

Campania. There were no ancient cities of special importance in this

region, and hence no large cemeteries, while the local fabric was probably not of long duration.