Fig. 38.—Amphora.
As to the age of the Greek vases there are some evidences. The Greek poet Pindar, who lived between 520 and 440 B. C., describes the amphoræ, those painted vases which were given as prizes at the Panathenaic festivals (see Fig. 36), and they are spoken of by Aristophanes, Strabo, and others.[3]
Many attempts have been made to classify the works of the Greek potters, and the result is of some value, though a considerable degree of vagueness must attach to such as cannot be fixed by any signature or by the subject. Demmin,[4] Brongniart,[5] Birch, and others, have attempted classifications. We give here a sketch of that of the last as, on the whole, the most simple and probable; the writer follows Gerhard:
1. The “Ancient” or “Archaic” style, from B. C. 700 to 450.
2. The “Fine Style” from B. C. 450 to 328. The best were during the time of Phidias.
3. The Decadence, from B. C. 228 to the end of the Social Wars, B. C. 87. This includes all made in Italy down to the time of Augustus, at which period most of the towns and works in “Magna Græcia” and the south of Italy had been destroyed.
To the first or Archaic period are attributed the vases with yellow ground, having brown and maroon figures, mostly hatchings, flowers, or rude representations of animals, such as the goat, the pig, the stork, etc., etc. Whenever the human figure appears on the vases of this period it is shorter and less graceful than that on later work.
The next period is likely to show the figures in yellow upon black ground; the designs here are more beautiful; the subjects are mythological, historical, and poetical, and the human figures often have the grace and beauty which mark the best period of Grecian art.