History of Ancient Pottery 17

History of Ancient Pottery 17

The clay models used by sculptors as the basis of their work, which

were known as προπλάσματα, were probably made on the same lines as the

large works of art in clay. We read that Lysistratos of Sikyon, the

brother of Lysippos, was the first to make casts of statues by means of

terracotta moulds,[390] implying that it was about this time that the

practice arose of multiplying the principal statues in the same manner

as is now done by means of plaster casts. Some of the latter artists

combined the plastic art with that of painting, and Zeuxis is said to

have previously modelled in terracotta the subjects which he afterwards

painted. Pasiteles, an artist who lived at Rome in the first century

B.C., always first modelled his statues in terracotta, and spoke of the

plastic art as the mother of statuary.[391] But it must not be supposed

that as a general rule the Greek sculptors worked their marble statues

from models; rather, the contrary was the case, and Pasiteles seems to

have been peculiar in this respect.

 

The statue of Zeus, which has already been mentioned as made by

Theokosmos for Megara (p. 92), appears to have been made from a clay

model. It was intended to be of gold and ivory, but the breaking out of

the Peloponnesian War prevented the artist from carrying out his

intention, and only the head was completed, the other portions being of

gypsum and terracotta. At a later period gypsum was sometimes used for

sculpture, as in the case of an Apollo mentioned by Prudentius,[392]

and some fragmentary remains from Cyprus in the British Museum.

 

The clay models were sometimes made entirely by hand, but more usually

on a wooden core known as κάναβος,[393] which we may conjecture to have

been formed of two rods in the form of a cross, from the use of the

Latin word _crux_ in this connection.[394] It was certainly a

framework, not a solid core, and must be carefully distinguished from

κίνναβος, a lay-figure. Aristotle, in an interesting passage, uses the

word in speaking of skeletons drawn on a wall.[395] The modelling of

details was done partly with tools, partly with the finger. The use of

the finger-nail for this purpose became proverbial, as in the saying

attributed to Polykleitos: “When the clay has reached the finger-nail

stage, then the real difficulty begins.”[396]

 

The chief attention of inferior artists was directed to the production

of small terracotta figures, which the Greeks used as ornaments or

household gods, buried in their tombs, or dedicated in their temples.

They follow the same lines of development as the larger sculptures,

beginning with the columnar (ξόανα) and board-like (σανίδες) types

found in the primitive tombs of the Mycenaean and early Hellenic

civilisation. Originally they seem to have been manufactured purely for

religious purposes, but in course of time, with the gradual

rationalising of religious beliefs and consequent secularisation of

art-types, they lost this significance, and, while the _types_ were

preserved, they were converted into _genre_ figures from daily life.

 

These statuettes have been found on nearly all the famous sites of

antiquity from Babylonia to Carthage and Kertch; the most fruitful have

been Tanagra in Boeotia, Rhodes, the Cyrenaica, Capua and Canosa in

Italy, and various sites in Sicily. In Cyprus, Sardinia, and to a great

extent also in Rhodes, Phoenician influences seem to have been

dominant, and the earlier types bear a markedly Oriental character. For

beauty and charm the palm has by general consent been given to the

Tanagra statuettes of the fourth and third centuries, which were known

in antiquity as κόραι or “maidens,” from the prevalence of the seated

or standing types of girls in various attitudes.

 

The makers of these charming figures, known as κοροπάσται or

κοροπλάθοι, were, like the vase-painters, quite in a subordinate

position in the artistic world, and are spoken of with some contempt by

Isokrates, as if it would be absurd to compare them with a Pheidias or

a Zeuxis.[397] A fable of Aesop’s[398] represents Hermes being offered

a statue of Zeus for a drachma and one of himself for a mere song; the

low price seems to suggest that they were of terracotta, but the vendor

is called an ἀγαλματοποιός, not a κοροπλάθος. Demosthenes[399] condemns

the Athenians for voting for figure-head generals like makers of toys

for the market; and in further illustration of the uses to which they

were put, we may cite the definition of Suidas, of “those who fashion

little images out of clay of all kinds of creatures, with which to

trick children”; and the remark of Dio Chrysostom, who speaks of those

who buy the “maiden” figures for their children. A pretty epigram in

the _Anthology_[400] tells how Timareta, when about to marry, dedicated

to Artemis the playthings of her childhood, including her terracotta

dolls (κόρας). Lastly, Plato speaks of κόραι and images hung up in

shrines.[401]

 

The processes employed in the manufacture of terracotta statuettes were

five in number: (1) the preparation of the clay; (2) moulding; (3)

retouching; (4) baking; and (5) colouring and gilding. It does not

follow that all five were employed in the production of any one object;

on the other hand, all processes necessary to the completion of any one

object fall under one or other of these heads.

 

There were many varieties of clay in use among the Greeks, some being

considered more suitable for one purpose, some for another. These clays

vary in their characteristics in different parts of the Greek world,

and this may often be an important criterion for distinguishing fabrics

and detecting instances of importation. The clay of Cyprus differs much

from that of Rhodes, and that of Naukratis again from either, being of

a dark, coarse, and brick-like consistency. M. Pottier noted nine

varieties of clay in use at Myrina in Asia Minor, and M. Martha

distinguishes five in the terracottas of Athens. But these differences

may be explained by variations in the length or temperature of the

firing rather than in the clay.

 

Generally speaking, the clay of the terracottas is softer and more

porous than that of the vases. It is easily scratched or marked, and

does not ring a clear sound when struck; nor does it when submitted to

a high temperature become so hard as the pottery.[402] Its colour

ranges from deep red to a pale buff colour, and its texture and density

vary greatly in different localities. It was prepared by being washed

free of all granular substances, and then kneaded with the aid of

water. So, as we read in Hesiod’s account of the creation of

Pandora,[403] the god directed the mixing of clay and water, in order

to form his new creation.

 

The modelling of the figures was done by hand in the case of the

earlier fabrics, and of small objects such as the toys and dolls; the

clay was worked up into a solid mass with the fingers, and the marks of

these, left while it was wet, may still be often seen. Subsequently the

use of moulds became universal, the final touches being given to the

figure either with the finger or with a graving-tool, traces of which

are often visible on the faces and hair of the Tanagra figures. These

were invariably moulded, and the finer ones show traces of having been

most carefully touched up.

 

There is a pretty epigram in the Anthology,[404] which seems to imply

that the wheel was sometimes brought into use for modelling figures,

perhaps for the first rough outlining. A statuette of Hermes is

supposed to say:

 

The rolling circle of the potter’s wheel

Me, Hermes, formed, of clay from head to heel.

Mud-made, I lie not: the poor potter’s art,

Stranger! was ever pleasant to my heart.

(MACGREGOR.)

 

The process of moulding gave scope for reducing the “walls” of the

figure to the smallest possible thickness, thereby avoiding the danger

of shrinkage in the baking; it also rendered them extremely light, and

allowed of great accuracy in detail. A model (πρότυπος) was made in

terracotta with modelling-tools, from which the mould (τύπος) was

taken, also in terracotta,

 

------------------------------------------------------

 

PLATE V

 

[Illustration:

 

MOULDS FOR TERRACOTTA FIGURES, WITH CASTS FROM THE MOULDS.

2, 3. ARCHAIC, FROM RHODES; 1, 4. ARCHAISTIC, FROM TARENTUM (BRITISH

MUSEUM).

]

 

------------------------------------

 

usually in two pieces, which were then baked to a considerable

hardness. From this mould the figure was made by smearing it with

layers of clay until a sufficient thickness was reached, leaving the

figure hollow. The back was made separately, either from a mould or by

hand, and then fitted carefully on to the front, the join being

concealed by a layer of wet clay. The base was usually left open, and a

vent-hole was left at the back which may have served a double

purpose—first to allow the clay to contract without cracking, and

subsequently in some cases for the suspension of the completed figure.

 

The heads and arms were usually moulded separately and attached

afterwards, and altogether the average number of moulds employed—say

for a Tanagra figure—was four or five. M. Pottier[405] quotes an

instance of an Eros from Myrina which is made up of no less than

fourteen; yet it is not a specially complicated figure.

 

Greek moulds, either for statuettes or reliefs, are somewhat rare; but

the British Museum contains a fair number from Tarentum of all kinds

(see Plate V.).[406] Those that we possess are mostly for small

objects, such as figures of animals; but in the Museum collection there

are several moulds for reliefs, as well as for vases of the later class

with reliefs (see Chapters XI., XXII.), such as the Calenian phialae

with embossed designs.[407] Moulds employed for making stamps of

various kinds are also in existence; at Naukratis Mr. Petrie found

several circular “cake-stamps” with various designs. Of the moulds used

by forgers or others for copying coins we have already spoken (p.

106).[408]

 

The shrinkage of the clay as it dried afterwards permitted the figure

to be withdrawn easily from the mould, and it was then ready for the

necessary retouching. It is obvious from a glance at any collection of

terracottas that there is a great similarity between the various

representatives of any one type, and that actual or virtual repetitions

are by no means uncommon. This was, of course, due to the fact that

only a limited number of moulds were used, corresponding to the

different types. At the same time there are in almost all cases minute

differences which redeem them from a charge of monotony, and these were

obtained in various ways: by varying the pose of the head or attaching

the arms in different positions; by retouching before the baking; or by

the addition of attributes and colouring. As it has been neatly put by

M. Pottier,[409] “All the Tanagra figures are sisters, but few of them

are twins.” But retouching is not invariable, and is, in fact, confined

to the finer specimens, such as those of Tanagra. In the statuettes

from the Cyrenaica and Southern Italy it is the exception. The

difference which it effected may be well observed by comparing two

statuettes of Eros in the British Museum from Myrina (C 535–36), which

are from the same mould. They are identical in style and type, yet one

is far superior to the other in artistic merit, just because of the

greater finish of detail.

 

The process of baking required great care and attention; for if no

allowance was made for the evaporation of moisture, or if too great a

degree of temperature was reached, the result was bound to be

disastrous. It does not appear that a very high temperature was

reached, especially as compared with the pottery. The clay was further

insured against too rapid drying by preliminary exposure to the air. A

story told by Plutarch[410] of the fate which befell the chariot cast

for the temple of Jupiter on the Capitol illustrates the possibility of

disasters either from accident or carelessness. The clay swelled up to

such a size and hardness that it could only be extracted by pulling the

kiln to pieces.

 

The colouring of statuettes may be considered a fairly universal

practice, although not always suggested by their present appearance.

The earlier archaic specimens were not always, or only roughly,

coloured, and those of the Roman period seem to have been often left

plain; but otherwise it is the general rule. The surface on which the

colours were applied was formed by a white slip or _engobe_ of a creamy

colour and consistency, with which the whole figure (except the back)

was coated. This when dry becomes very flaky, and is liable to drop

off, carrying the colours with it; most statuettes retain at least

traces of this coating.

 

The method of painting is that known as _in tempera_, the pigments

being opaque, mixed with some stiffening medium. The colouring was as a

rule conventional, aiming at giving the figure a pleasing appearance,

without any particular regard to nature. It was applied after the

firing, as in that process the colours would have been liable to

injury. The tints are what are known as body-colours, without any

attempts at shading, and those usually employed are red, blue, yellow,

and black, the white slip forming a ground throughout, and left

untouched over the nude parts and often over the drapery; of these the

favourites, especially for drapery, were blue and red, as also we learn

from Lucian.[411] Pollux says it was a speciality of the κοροπλάθοι to

colour their figures yellow, or with a golden tint.[412] The reds range

in shade from scarlet to rose-colour and purple. At all times there was

a tendency to treat the drapery in masses of colour, and this we see

especially in the Tanagra figures, in which the chiton is almost

invariably blue, the himation rose-pink. At a later date it became more

customary to leave the drapery white, with borders and stripes only of

colour. Black was only used for details of features, such as the eyes;

green is very rare; and yellow was employed (in a deep brownish shade)

for the hair, and also for jewellery, etc. The use of gilding is at all

times rare in the statuettes; but some good examples are known—as, for

instance, two archaic statuettes from the Polledrara tomb, and a head

of Zeus, all in the British Museum.[413] Imitation jewellery in

terracotta gilt is not at all uncommon. On many of the earlier figures

from Cyprus the drapery is indicated by stripes of red and yellow laid

directly on the clay, while animals are usually decorated with stripes

of red and black; the method employed is the same as on the

contemporary vases (p. 253). Similarly, in the terracottas of the

Mycenaean and Geometrical periods, such as those from Boeotia, the

technique of the painted vases is closely followed, and the same

decorative patterns are employed.

 

The use of an enamelled glaze first appears at Athens in the fourth

century, and it is also occasionally found at Tanagra. The colour is

uniformly a dull ashen-grey. A few examples are also known from the

Cyrenaica, but it was in Sicily that the practice found most favour.

There we find attempts to reproduce the colouring of the flesh by an

enamel coating varying in hue from rose-pink to orange, and also grey

and purple tints.

 

It is probable that the colours employed for painting terracottas were

made from the same earths, though of a coarser kind, as the ware

itself. Some information on the subject may be derived from

Theophrastos, Vitruvius, and Dioskorides.[414] For white the artist

used a white earth, such as Melos produces, and white lead; it is also

said to have been produced from the burnt lees of wine, and from ivory.

The reds were composed of a red earth, probably ochre from Sinope, and

vermilion or _minium_. Yellow was obtained from Skyros and Lydia; and a

yellow ochre was obtained by burning a red earth.[415] The Egyptian

_smalto_ or cobalt served for blue, and a copper solution prepared with

alkali and silica was also employed. Copper green was obtained from

many places, and mixed with white or black.

 

* * * * *

 

This may be a convenient point at which to speak of a class of vases

which come rather under the heading of terracottas than that of painted

pottery. They are found at Calvi, Canosa, Cumae, and other places in

Southern Italy, and belong to the Hellenistic period, forming a

parallel development to the glazed wares with reliefs of which we shall

speak later (p. 497 ff.). They combine in a marked degree the

characteristics of the vase and the statuette, some being vases with

moulded reliefs or small figures in the round attached in different

places, others again actual figures or colossal heads modelled in vase

form by the addition of mouth, handle, and base (see Plate VI.). They

are usually of considerable—sometimes gigantic—size, and do not appear

to have served any practical purpose; some, indeed, are only imitation

vases with false bottoms. It is reasonable to suppose that they were

manufactured for sepulchral purposes only, like the large painted

kraters and amphorae of Apulia (p. 476).

 

------------------------------------------------------

 

PLATE VI

 

[Illustration: TERRACOTTA VASES FROM SOUTHERN ITALY (BRITISH MUSEUM).]

 

------------------------------------

 

Like the statuettes, they are covered throughout with a white slip laid

directly on the unglazed clay, and this is often richly coloured _in

tempera_. Some of the heads have the hair covered with intersecting

pink lines to imitate a net, and the figures attached to them are

usually coloured in the manner of the statuettes, with blue and pink

draperies. There are some, however, in which the encaustic or a similar

process seems to have been employed[416]; one example, in the British

Museum (D 185, shown on Plate VI.), has a Hippocamp painted on either

side in white and colours outlined with black, the wings being

elaborately rendered in blue, brown, yellow, and pink. The same process

is employed for a large cover of a vase in the British Museum from

Sicily (D 1), but the figures are now nearly obliterated.

 

The prevailing shape of these vases is that conventionally known as the

_askos_, with spherical body, over which passes a flat handle and three

mouths on the top; the latter are often covered in and figures placed

upon them. On the front and back of these vases _appliqué_ masks of

Medusa or figures in relief are usually placed, flanked by the

fore-parts of galloping horses. Others take the form of a large jug or

bowl with _appliqué_ ornaments.

 

It now remains to consider the small but interesting class of

terracotta reliefs, which are nearly all of the late archaic period,

dating from the beginning of the fifth century. Later reliefs are

nearly all architectural in character, and have already been described,

as have those which were made for the decoration of tombs and

sarcophagi. But the purpose for which the reliefs were made, of which

we are about to speak, is not so certain. One group appears from the

character of the subjects to be votive, and they may possibly have been

let into the walls of temples or shrines; but the others are mostly

known to have been found in tombs. The former group are found at Athens

and at Locri in Southern Italy; the latter at Melos and other sites

round the Aegean Sea, being usually known as “Melian” reliefs.

 

The character of the work of these Melian reliefs (see Plate VII.) is

exceedingly delicate and refined; the subjects are mainly mythological,

and include the slaying of Medusa by Perseus and of the Chimaera by

Bellerophon, Helle on the ram, Peleus seizing Thetis, Eos carrying off

Kephalos, and the death of Aktaeon. Three classes have been

distinguished,[417] of which the peculiarly Melian type has the figures

cut out, without background; in the second only the outer contours are

cut round, and the third consists of rectangular plaques.

 

Brunn[418] considers that they served a definite architectural purpose,

being intended to cover a field enclosed by borders, and that the holes

with which they are pierced show that they were used either for

suspension or attachment. But his reasons for regarding them as an

archaistic survival have not been generally accepted.

 

The Locrian type of relief takes the form of a square plaque.[419] They

are easily recognised by the rough micaceous character of the clay, and

by their subjects, which mostly relate to the myth and cult of

Persephone. They were probably dedicated in one of her shrines, as were

those found on the Acropolis at Athens to Athena. All these reliefs

seem to have been impressed in moulds, not modelled by hand, as many of

them exist in duplicate. Those from Greece are sometimes coloured.

 

------------------------------------------------------

 

PLATE VII

 

[Illustration:

 

TERRACOTTA “MELIAN” RELIEFS, ARCHAIC PERIOD (BRIT. MUS.).

]

 

------------------------------------

 

Many little figures in the shape of animals and other objects, such as

goats, pigs, pigeons, tortoises, chariots or boats, boys or apes riding

on animals, women making bread, and similar subjects, together with

jointed dolls or νευρόσπαστα, were evidently used as children’s toys.

They have been found deposited with the bodies of children in the tombs

of Melos, Rhodes, and Athens. In Mr. Biliotti’s excavations at Kameiros

in Rhodes in 1863, one child’s tomb was found containing two of the

“Melian” reliefs, small vases of glass and black-glazed ware, a

terracotta basket of fruit, and a sea-shell; in another were a bird,

two dolls, a child in a cradle, two grotesque figures, a woman playing

a tambourine, and two other terracotta figures.

 

The terracotta dolls were cast in a mould like the ordinary figures,