There is, however, a class of wares found at Naukratis which does not seem to be of local origin. This is the so-called Polledrara fabric, or black ware resembling that found in Etruria, and especially in the tomb of that name at Vulci (see Chapter [XVIII].). It has also been found in Rhodes, where black wares are by no means uncommon, some closely resembling the Italian bucchero in character. It is hardly likely that this ware is Naucratite in origin, although the Polledrara tomb contains objects undoubtedly exported from Egypt. Professor E. A. Gardner[[1131]] has pointed out that one of the black-ware vases bears an inscription showing that it was dedicated by a Mytilenaean, and others have inscriptions in Aeolic dialect. Hence he deduces the theory that this black ware was made in Lesbos, and exported thence both to Rhodes and to Naukratis. He also points out that it is really distinct from the Italian variety both in style and technique, as, for instance, in the Italian use of blue.
But there is a class of pottery, unfortunately only represented by fragments, which appears to be developed partly from the “Lesbian” ware, partly from the early Naucratite fabric, and must certainly be of local origin. It has never been found elsewhere,[[1132]] and the combination of “Lesbian” and Rhodian elements also points to this conclusion. The vases, which seem to have been large bowls, are covered on the inside with a black varnish, on which patterns of purely decorative character (palmettes, pear-shaped rays of Rhodian or Aeolic form, etc.) are painted in white and red. The outside, on the contrary, is covered with a white slip, the designs being painted, partly in outline, in various tints, such as flesh-colour, dark brown, purple, dark red, yellow, and even opaque white. In spite of the retention of the Rhodian system of outlines and absence of incised lines, the style is remarkably advanced, and the treatment of details often most careful and elaborate; moreover, the subjects are almost exclusively human figures, although the fragmentary nature of the remains renders the interpretation in many cases almost impossible. They seem to stand on the same level as the Daphnae pottery (see below), both in style and range of subject.[[1133]]
To return to the vases of “Rhodian” type, a few typical characteristics may be noted, showing their development. The earliest specimens are decorated exclusively with animals, painted in the Rhodian fashion, with heads and other parts in outline and details only indicated by leaving them in the colour of the clay. The typical ground-ornaments are the cross with hooked arms, the spiral, and a pattern of diagonals with chevrons between.[[1134]] Later, a preference is shown for large vases, usually bowls or kraters, sometimes also large plates, with friezes of animals and Sphinxes on a corresponding scale. The Rhodian style still obtains, with the addition of purple accessories. The favourite animals are the lion, bull, boar, and Cretan goat; a broad plait-band or guilloche as border is of frequent occurrence; and in addition to the ground-ornaments already mentioned, various forms of rosettes and borders of maeander are found. On a large bowl dedicated to Aphrodite by one Sostratos (Plate [XXIV].), besides lions, Sphinxes, and water-fowl, two dogs are seen attacking a boar; the drawing is more advanced than in most examples.[[1135]]
The next stage in which the incised lines begin to appear is best illustrated by the fine plate with a seated Sphinx,[[1136]] where they are combined with outlined contours (in the head), and details rendered by white laid on the black, as also are the patterns round the rim. Another large plate (A 986) has a dance of men and a frieze of animals with incised lines and purple accessories, but the surrounding patterns (lotos-flowers and palmettes, tongue-pattern, etc.) are in plain black.
Lastly, there is the stage which forms a transition from the earlier or “Rhodian” style to the black-figured, in which for a time the influence of Corinth seems to make itself felt. The figures are painted in black, which often turns to red through faulty firing, on a warm buff ground, sometimes with purple accessories. The favourite shapes are the lebes or deinos with flat rim, and the column-handled krater so popular at Corinth in the sixth century, with flat-topped handles, on which human heads or animals are painted. Corinthian influence is sometimes also seen in the designs, as in the Sphinxes of B 100; or in other ways, as in the olpe A 1534, with a ram in a panel on one side of the handle. Another curious example is the column-handled krater A 1533, with two friezes of animals, of which the lower is more Ionic in type. The British Museum collection also contains numerous fragments (B 102–3) in this local style, together with a few of other fabrics,[[1137]] among which an interesting representation of Odysseus passing the Sirens may be noted; also a series of chariot-scenes and horsemen, which in style recall the Caeretan hydriae (see p. 355). The merging of the local style in the fully-developed black-figure Athenian style is clearly visible in these fragments, which are interesting from their parallelism, though not their resemblance, to those of Daphnae.
Among the later Ionic fabrics, of practically fully-developed black-figure style (i.e. with buff ground, incised lines, and accessory colours), not the least interesting is the group of vases and fragments from Daphnae in the Egyptian Delta, now in the British Museum.[[1138]] Like the pottery of Naukratis, they illustrate the relations between Ionia and Africa in the sixth century, but even in a more marked degree, inasmuch as they were more directly influenced by local circumstances.
This pottery was discovered by Mr. Flinders Petrie in 1886, on a site known as Tell Defenneh, representing the Tahpanhes of the Hebrew prophets and the Daphnae of Herodotos,[[1139]] from whom we learn that a fort was found here by Psammetichos I. at the beginning of the sixth century. As Naukratis guarded the west of the Delta, so did Daphnae the east, with the highway to Syria. Herodotos[[1140]] also speaks of camps garrisoned by Ionian and Carian troops; and if we might identify these with Daphnae, we should have a terminus post quem for the pottery, as the camps were desolated by Amasis about 560 B.C. On the other hand, the pottery is hardly to be dated so early from its style, and it is important to notice that it is practically unrepresented at Naukratis, that meeting-place of all early fabrics.
The chief problem with which we are confronted in regard to the Daphnae pottery is whether it is a local fabric or imported. Opinions of scholars are somewhat divided, Dümmler and Endt declaring for the local fabric,[[1141]] Zahn for importations from Clazomenae.[[1142]] The close connection with the fabrics of Asia Minor, such as the Caeretan hydriae and the Clazomenae sarcophagi, cannot be denied, and there are many small details which are peculiar to Ionic vases; but, on the other hand, there is much that is peculiar to this group and tells in favour of a local origin. It is also important to bear in mind that the Daphnae pottery has little in common with that of Naukratis, in spite of the relation of both to Ionia.
FIG. 95. “EGYPTIAN SITULA,” FROM DAPHNAE
(BRITISH MUSEUM).