Among vases which do not exactly fall under the heading of any particular shape may be noted certain types of moulded vases, and those with reliefs modelled on them or attached. Many of these almost fall under the category of terracotta figures, but still must be reckoned as vases, even when painted in the methods of terracottas rather than pottery. Such are the large aski described on page [119], and the contemporary ornamental vases modelled in the form of female heads, of Maenads, or of Athena (as B.M. G 1). Other types we have described elsewhere,[[735]] such as the rhyta ending in animals’ heads, the kanthari and rhyta of the R.F. period in the form of human or Dionysiac heads, and the analogous vases of the archaic period. Again, there are such forms as the flasks with flat circular bodies, and the large pyxides which are often found in Southern Italy.[[736]] They usually bear a subject in relief, covered with a white slip and painted in pink and blue, like the Canosa vases; a specimen from Pompeii, with rich remains of colouring, has lately been acquired by the British Museum. The curious type of vase sometimes found in Sicily, with a tall conical cover, the ornamentation being partly in encaustic, partly in gilded relief, has been already mentioned.[[737]] There is also a late variety of the so-called kernos (p. [195]), consisting of four cups united on an elaborate fluted stand, of which the British Museum possesses two good examples.[[738]]
It should be borne in mind that all these exceptional shapes are probably imitations of metal-work, perhaps made for the benefit of those who could not afford the more expensive material, just as imitation jewellery was sometimes made in gilt terracotta. Throughout the Hellenistic period (to which the classes we are discussing chiefly belong), the universal tendency is to substitute metal vases for pottery, and moulded or relief-wares for painted decoration, and the potter, finding the painted vases were no longer appreciated, was forced to confine himself to imitating metal, and thus keep abreast with the new fashion. The whole subject of the plastic decoration of vases has been more fully dealt with elsewhere (Chapter [XI].).
[447]. L. 64.
[448]. “And in earthenware baked in the fire, within the closure of figured urns, there came among the goodly folk of Hera the prize of the olive-fruit” (Myers).
[449]. “And he won five garlands in succession at the Panathenaic games, amphorae full of oil” (Frag. 155, ed. Bergk = Anth. P. xiii. 19). See also Schol. in Ar. Nub. 1005, and Inscr. Gr. (Atticae), ii. 965b.
[450]. Cf. Schol. in Plat. Hipp. Min. 368 C: Λήκυθον δὲ ἀγγεῖόν τι φασίν οἱ Ἀττικοὶ ἐων ᾡ τοῖς νεκροῖς ἕφερον τὸ μύρον.
[451]. “And raise the great goblets, or if, Oikis, thou desirest aught else ... pour in and mix one and two full up to the brim, and let the one goblet oust the other.”
[452]. Graec. Ling. Dialect, i. p. 247.