Another series of vases in close relation to the Proto-Attic fabrics is that found at Vourva, near Marathon[[990]]; they are important as forming a connecting link with the next development of Attic vase-painting, the Tyrrhenian amphorae described at the conclusion of this chapter. They have been studied by Böhlau,[[991]] and more recently by Nilsson,[[992]] and these writers have shown how they represent the influence of Ionic ideas, derived through Euboea. On the other hand the friezes of animals, which are so characteristic of this class, are clearly derived from Corinthian sources, but are distinguished from those on Corinthian vases by the absence of accessory colours. Fig. [89][[993]] may be taken as a typical example. They appear to be contemporary with the later Proto-Attic vases, such as the Burgon lebes, on which also traces of Ionic influence have been noted.
From the Geometrical period onwards the manufacture of painted vases seems to have been continued intermittently in Boeotia down to the fourth century. It would be taking too great a liberty with chronology to deal with all Boeotian fabrics here, and the later must fall into their place with the contemporary Attic fabrics. But there is a small class which seems to take its origin directly or indirectly from the Geometrical pottery; and as it belongs to a period anterior to the perfected B.F. style, it may be treated here as analogous in development to the Proto-Attic vases.
A favourite shape among the Boeotian Geometrical wares was that of a jug with long cylindrical neck and somewhat flat body, of a form clearly imitated from metal.[[994]] This shape, which is also often found in Proto-Corinthian fabrics (see below, p. [308]), was utilised by a potter named Gamedes, whose signature is found on a vase from Tanagra in the Louvre,[[995]] in the Boeotian alphabet of about 600 B.C. It is decorated with the figure of a herdsman driving before him a bull and a flock of sheep, the figures being in black silhouette, with details indicated by white markings within incised lines. This is quite a local peculiarity,[[996]] and seems to be due to a combination of Corinthian and Ionian influences. Gamedes has also signed his name on an unpainted aryballos of the typical early Corinthian globular form (see p. [197]) in the British Museum (Plate [XVII.] fig. 6), and a similar vase in the Louvre is signed by Menaidas.[[997]] Yet another Boeotian potter, Theozotos, has a signed vase with a similar subject to the Gamedes jug, but the style is more advanced.[[998]]
PLATE XVII
Early Pottery from Greece (British Museum).
1, 3, “Proto-Corinthian”; 2, 4, 5, “Phaleron” Ware; 6, Boeotian, signed by Gamedes.
Another typically Boeotian form found in the same period is a kantharos,[[999]] also obviously imitated from metal and decorated with figures of animals or palmette-and-lotos patterns of a peculiarly local type. The style of the animals is, like that of the Gamedes vase, also peculiar and local; but both in decoration and technique these vases seem to reflect Corinthian influence.