The first attempt at an organised method of decoration is seen in the vases of Corinth and Ionia, and is exemplified principally in the arrangement of the friezes of animals. Roughly speaking, there are two main tendencies, one characteristic of each line of development—the procession and the heraldic group. Both are essentially Oriental (i.e. Assyrian) in origin, the prototype of the latter being the familiar motive of the two animals and the sacred tree, which is so frequently found on Mycenaean gems, and is best exemplified in the famous Lion Gate of Mycenae.[[2010]] Yet this typically Mycenaean and Oriental motive was not the one adopted by its natural inheritors, the Ionians, and it is in Dorian Corinth that we find its reflection on the painted vases. On one Corinthian vase[[2011]] it actually occurs in the form of a conventional palmette and lotos-pattern (representing the tree), on either side of which two lions are confronted in true Mycenaean fashion. Later, it becomes a common device on the necks of vases, the ornament taking the form of a decorative combination of palmettes (see below, p. [226]). Even when on Corinthian vases a whole frieze of animals is found, there is always a central “heraldic” group of two, towards which the whole seems to lead up, or else the frieze is broken up into several isolated heraldic groups.[[2012]] But on the Ionic vases, as on those of Rhodes and Naukratis, we have over and over again regular processions of animals all facing the same way, or, as at Daphnae, solemn dances of women, similarly placed and joining hand-in-hand (see Plate XXV.).
In the developed B.F. vases the same principles are observed to some extent, especially where friezes of animals are introduced; but there is much greater freedom of treatment within the limits of the field available. Generally speaking, however, all designs on B.F. vases may be regarded as following one of the three methods of architectural composition—the frieze, the pediment, or the metope. The frieze style, which is seen on the shoulders of hydriae, the exteriors of kylikes, and sometimes on the bodies of amphorae, oinochoae, or lekythi, implies a series of figures, all turned in the same direction, but without any central point for the action, as in processions of warriors, dances of Satyrs and Maenads, and so on. In the pediment style of composition the essential feature is a centre-point, in which the interest of the subject is concentrated, as in such scenes as the Birth of Athena[[2013]] or Theseus killing the Minotaur.[[2014]] The central group is then flanked by figures immediately interested in the action (Eileithyia and Hephaistos, or Ariadne, in the instances quoted; Athena and Iolaos at the labours of Herakles); and the ends of the pediment, so to speak, are occupied by groups of bystanders, often nameless and uncharacterised, who are in fact only included to fill up the space required.
The metope style, which only admits of three, or at most four, figures, was found convenient for all the vases with subjects on panels, where space was restricted, and also on the kylikes of the “minor artist” class, on which a limited use of figures was preferred, and on those of later date where the space was mainly taken up by the large eyes. But in all these cases—friezes, pediments, or metopes—one thing was held to be essential: the correspondence of the two halves of the design (except in friezes), producing perfect symmetry in the composition.
Lastly, there are a limited number of cases where a single figure was found sufficient, as in the interior of kylikes, on the circular pinakes,[[2015]] and sometimes on the vases where the large eyes take up most of the space.[[2016]]
Subordinate designs, bordering the main design of an amphora above or below, or decorating the cover, are usually in the form of animals or chariot-races, in the frieze style of composition. Similar friezes are sometimes also found (in the old B.F. method) on R.F. vases, and even on the kraters of Southern Italy.
The earlier R.F. vases preserve the principles of the preceding period; and, in regard to the kylikes, the system of decoration has been discussed in detail elsewhere (Vol. I. p. [427]). In all of them we see particular attention paid to arrangement, and the variations in the principles of composition form one of our guides in determining the development of the style. In the amphorae and hydriae of the transition from the severe to the strong period the number of figures employed in one scene was diminished, while they became larger in their proportions and were treated with more care; the usual number on the Nolan amphora is one or two each side. On the smaller vases, such as the oinochoë, the number of the figures never exceeds three. Sometimes the hydriae have an elongated composition on the shoulder, containing a frieze of several figures[[2017]]; but usually the design runs into both shoulder and body. Designs in framed panels are rare, except on the earlier amphorae and hydriae, and on the column-handled kraters. The latter are unique in preserving the older methods of decoration right through the R.F. period down to the fourth-century specimens from Southern Italy.
The influence of Polygnotos and his contemporaries brought about, as we have seen, a great change in the arrangement of the compositions, by the introduction of landscape and perspective, and the depicting of figures at different levels. This new development was subsequently exemplified in the large vases of Kertch and Apulia, but in the late fine period at Athens small vases with single friezes or simple subjects were the rule. In the pyxides and other vases with frieze subjects the figures are often crowded together and of dwarfish proportions (Plate XLII. fig. 3). A return to the old system of several friezes is seen where the figures are arranged in two or more rows divided by bands of ornaments, as in the Meidias hydria, or the early Apulian and some of the Lucanian vases.[[2018]]
The earlier vases of Southern Italy, especially those of Lucania, preserve in some measure the spirit of the best R.F. vases, in the arrangement of the figures, and at all times the composition is one of the best features of these vases; but in the later examples the purely decorative element obtrudes itself; single figures of little more than ornamental character abound, and the old preference for mere ornament asserts itself, the patterns encroaching all over the scenes.
§ 3. Ornamental Patterns
Although by far subordinate to the subjects in point of artistic or archaeological interest, the ornamental patterns which are employed on the vases are by no means without their value in both respects.[[2019]] They are, indeed, intimately interwoven with the subjects themselves, which they frame in, relieve, or embellish. Numerous vases are decorated with ornaments only, even in the advanced stages of the art; and this is, of course, an extremely common occurrence in the earlier fabrics, such as the Geometrical and Rhodian. Others, again, are only ornamented in the simplest fashion, with plain bands of red left to show through the black varnish round the body or foot. That the artist took a pride even in this form of ornamentation is shown by the fact that some potters, such as Nikosthenes and the “minor artists,” have left their names on vases only decorated with simple patterns.