It may also be found convenient to treat the ornamentation of Greek vases from a different point of view, in order to give an outline of the decorative system adopted in each of the principal styles, and as considered appropriate to the various forms.
In the vases of the prehistoric period, from the primitive incised wares down to the end of the Mycenaean style, there is an entire absence of anything like rule or formalism. The principle observed in the very early classes, such as the Cypriote relief and white slip wares (Vol. I. p. [241] ff.), is the imitation of other substances, of metal or leather. The object of the artist was to cover the surface of the vase as far as possible with decorative designs; and if, as was generally the case, his artistic capacity restricted him to linear or simple vegetable patterns, the utmost he could achieve was to adapt these to the whole of the space at his disposal—i.e. the whole body of the vase. Mycenaean vases, however, are usually only decorated on the upper part, as far as the middle of the body, which was encircled with one or more plain bands of black. Thus there remained a sort of panel between the handles, of varying extent.
In the Geometrical period, however, a great change takes place, which from the artistic point of view is a reaction in the direction of formalism, but nevertheless forms the basis of the decorative systems of later times. Here we see for the first time a regular partition of the surface of the vase by means of bands and panels of ornaments, without indeed any restriction of particular patterns to any part of the vase, but yet a deliberate endeavour to establish a decorative system.[[2054]] With the increase of animal and human subjects the ornament becomes more subsidiary, merely a framework to the design, but even in the succeeding Proto-Attic and Melian classes it plays a very important part. In the Melian vases the system is Geometrical, but the ornamentation is curvilinear and Mycenaean. The ground-ornaments, however, are derived from the former source as well (hook-cross and zigzags in conjunction with rosettes). In both these classes the space under the handles is selected for the display of a grouping of ornamental motives, such as spirals or palmettes, or the two combined in a series of heart-shaped motives or panel-compositions; similar patterns cover the neck and the lower part of the body. The ornamentation of Phaleron and Proto-Corinthian vases is an echo of the Geometrical system. The ground-ornaments are the hook-cross, rosettes of dots, and bits of maeander; the bands of pattern consist of zigzags, chequers, double rows of dots, and toothed patterns. The early Ionic vase-painters treat the subsidiary ornamentation as they do their principal subjects, adopting the frieze principle in most cases; the only exception is in the Rhodian pinakes, where it is usually confined to simple patterns round the rim, with a sort of fan-pattern in the exergue below the central design.[[2055]] The ground-ornaments are really the chief feature of Rhodian ornamentation, as in Corinthian vases. The decoration of the Fikellura or Samian ware is very characteristic, and demands separate mention. The patterns are highly developed, and suggest a late date—as, for instance, the scroll, the ivy-leaf, and the framed palmette. In later Ionic vases the ornamentation is not very prominent, except in the Caeretan hydriae, in which the broad bands of palmette-and-lotos ornament, and the exaggerated tongue-pattern on the lip and shoulder, occupy a proportion of the surface unusual at this period. Besides the typical ground-ornaments (rosette and hook-crosses) of the earlier vases, the favourite Ionian patterns are the maeander, the guilloche, and wreaths of ivy and myrtle. At Corinth, as we have seen, for a long time ornament is confined to the ground-filling rosettes, with some simple motives, such as zigzag lines or tongue-pattern, on the mouth and shoulder, or bordering the design; even in the later examples, when the rosettes have disappeared, it is practically confined to the interlacing palmette-and-lotos pattern on the neck, above the design, or inserted in the subordinate friezes of animals.[[2056]] The same principle applies in the Corintho-Attic and Chalcidian fabrics.[[2057]]
In Athenian B.F. vases we at last find a stereotyped system of ornament for each kind of vase, from which there is little or no variation. Generally the system is as follows:—On the panel-amphorae, an interlaced palmette-and-lotos pattern or a row of inverted lotos-buds above the panel, and a calyx of leaves round the foot, those with flanged handles having also ornaments thereon, ivy-leaves or rosettes. On the red-bodied, a chain of double palmettes round the neck, tongue-pattern on the shoulder, a grouping of palmettes, tendrils, and lotos-flowers under the handle, and a row of three or four narrow bands of ornament below the design (lotos-buds upright or inverted, maeander, zigzags), terminating with the calyx round the foot. The Panathenaic amphorae have the same neck-ornament as the red-bodied, with tongues above the panel, and thick rays round the foot; the fourth-century examples have palmettes on the neck, with elongated tongue-pattern immediately below. On the hydriae, tongue-pattern above the shoulder-design, borders to the panels (maeander above, ivy or network down the sides, lotos-buds or framed palmettes below), and calyx round the foot. On the oinochoae, panel-borders like those of the hydriae, but on the olpae (Vol. I. p. [178]) only two or three rows of chequer, maeander, etc., on the neck above; on the lekythi, lotos-buds, ivy-leaves, and palmettes on the shoulder, and a double row of dots above the design. The kylix-ornament is practically limited to the handle-palmettes of the “minor artist” class, and a circle of straight-edged rays, alternately black and outlined, round the stem on the later varieties (together with the large eyes).
In the R.F. period the same system of appropriate patterns for each form of vase is in the main adhered to, but with greater freedom; there is also a wide difference between the earlier amphorae and hydriae, which cling to the old panel-system with its ornamental borders, and the vases of the fine period, in which there is an absence of all restraint on the one hand, and a tendency to dispense with ornament almost entirely on the other (as in the Nolan amphorae). On the kylix, the ornament is throughout confined to the palmettes under the handles and the maeander encircling the interior design, which have been dealt with already (Vol. I. p. [413] ff.). The earlier amphorae and hydriae, as we have seen, have panels with borders as in the B.F. period, usually in the older technique; those of the fine style (including the wide-bellied amphorae) have a short noncontinuous border, such as egg-pattern or maeander, above and below the figures, with similar patterns on the lip and round the bases of the handles. The stamnos has egg-patterns round the lip and handles, tongue-pattern round the shoulder, and a system of palmettes between the designs. The red lekythi have egg-pattern or palmettes on the shoulder, and maeander-pattern (with crosses) above or below the design; the white have black rays on red ground or black and red palmettes on white on the shoulder, and maeander above the designs. The bell-krater and wide-bellied amphora of the late R.F. period, as also those of Southern Italy, have a band of oblique palmettes or a laurel-wreath round the top, maeander with crosses below the design, palmettes grouped under the handles, and egg-pattern round their bases. The column-handled krater, on the other hand, adheres throughout to the B.F. system of ornamentation, with ivy-wreaths and elongated lotos-buds on the rim, similar lotos-buds on the neck, panels bordered with tongue-pattern and debased ivy-wreaths, and the calyx round the foot. The wide-bellied lekythi have palmettes or egg-pattern above the design, and maeander below.
In the vases of Southern Italy there is, as a rule, no system observed in the ornamentation; in the large vases of Lucania and Apulia it is used with great profusion and variety, chiefly in bands on the neck. In the smaller Apulian vases and in those of Campania it is often confined to a wave-pattern below the designs; the Campanian hydriae usually have in addition a wreath of myrtle or laurel round the shoulder. Generally speaking, the large vases, such as the bell-krater, the hydria, and the wide-bellied amphora, continue the principles adopted in the R.F. period. The systems of palmette-patterns under the handles have already been discussed, and for other details the reader is also referred to what has already been said in discussing the individual patterns.
[1942]. To give detailed references throughout may be considered superfluous, the order of subjects followed being that of the preceding chapters, to which reference may in all cases be made without difficulty by the reader.
[1943]. Cf. B.M. B 147; for other representations of Zeus, Figs. [111], [113], [114]; Plate [LI].