FIG. 175.
Κλίτιας μ’ ἔγραψεν Ἐργότιμός μ’ ἐποίησεν.
The form (3) may possibly indicate the priority of the artist, but it is more probable that it was adopted as forming an iambic trimeter. When ἐποίησεν only occurs on a painted vase, it is generally to be assumed that the potter is also the painter.
The older artists avoided, as a rule, the imperfect ἔγραφε or ἐποίει, but its use came into fashion for a short time among the early R.F. artists, such as Andokides, Chelis, and Psiax, who use ἐποίει (Vol. I. p. [430]); it was again adopted by the Paestum and Apulian schools, as a modest affectation that their work was as yet unfinished.[[2147]] But the majority preferred the more decided aorist, indicating completeness. The word με or ἐμέ is usually added by the earlier artists, as in the instance already quoted from Exekias. Generally speaking, ἔγραψεν rarely occurs on B.F. vases, ἐποίησεν being the rule. A rare form of inscription is the formula ἔργον (τοῦ δεῖνα), as in the doubtful signature of Statios[[2148]]; and even more unique is the use of the word κεραμεύειν by the early Attic potter Oikopheles,[[2149]] as a synonym for ποιεῖν. Other peculiarities of signature are to be seen on the works of Lykinos (ἠργάσατο), Paseas (Πασέου τῶν γραμμάτων), and Therinos (Θερίνου ποίημα).[[2150]]
The potter sometimes added the name of his father, either as being that of a well-known man, or to distinguish himself from others of the same name. Thus Timonidas of Corinth signs
Τιμωνίδας ἔγραψε Βία (sc. son of Bias); Tleson, Τλήσων ὁ Νεάρχου; Eucheiros, Ὁργοτίμου υίυς (the son of Ergotimos); Euthymides,
, ὁ Πολίου. The latter in one instance not only gives his patronymic, but challenges comparison with his great rival Euphronios, in the following terms: