Inching into the worlds of ancient Greek pottery.

Inching into the worlds of ancient Greek pottery. RUDOLF WACHTER. Non-Attic Greek vase inscriptions. xxi+462 pages,figures, b&w photographs. 2001. Oxford: Oxford University Press;0-19-814093-2 hardback 100 [pounds sterling]. PHILIPPE ROUET. Approaches to the study of Attic Vases--Beazley andPottier. Translated by Liz Nash. 194 pages, b&w photographs. 2001.Oxford: Oxford University Press; 0-19-815272-8 hardback 50 [poundssterling]. THOMAS MANNACK. The late mannerists in Athenian vase-painting,xviii+180 pages, 90 figures, 95 b&w photographs. 2001. Oxford:Oxford University Press; 0-19-924089-2 hardback 60 [pounds sterling]. These three Oxford Monographs on Classical Archaeology 'Classical archaeology' is a term given to archaeological investigation of the great Mediterranean civilizations of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. Nineteenth century archaeologists such as Heinrich Schliemann were drawn to study the societies they had read about in Latin and are allconcerned with Greek vases: representing three completely differentapproaches to different aspects of the subject, they offer a vividdemonstration of the scope and diversity of study that it can inspire.Most readily fulfilling most people's expectations of a traditionalOxford Monograph is Thomas Mannack's analysis of a large group of5th-century Athenian red-figured vase painters. Philippe Rouet'svolume provides a perceptive and usefully European angle on thecontinuing largely British debate on the pros and cons of the work andlegacy of Sir John Beazley Sir John Davidson Beazley (Glasgow, Scotland, 1885 - Oxford, England, 1970) was an English Classical scholar.Beazley attended Balliol College, Oxford, where he was a close friend of the poet James Elroy Flecker. . Meanwhile, readers who value length, densityand sheer volume of information will find plenty to interest them inNon-Attic Greek vase inscriptions, with its detailed catalogues andtranscriptions of known inscriptions on vases other than those of Athensand south Italy. The Late Mannerists is a thoughtful and logical presentation of arelatively neglected Group of painters, `humble craftsmen', who aresometimes difficult to define as individuals by virtue of their`relative lack of artistic ability' (p. 1). Mannack devotes muchtime to defining the term `mannerism' and its meaning in referenceto vase painters. He concludes that in this context it `can be equatedwith archaism ar��cha��ism?n.1. An archaic word, phrase, idiom, or other expression.2. An archaic style, quality, or usage.[New Latin archaeismus, from Greek arkhaismos, from and may be applied to vases which display ...characteristics of an earlier period in style, pattern or subject'(p. 8): the red-figure Mannerists are notable for their retention orrevival of traits of the Late Archaic period The name Archaic Period is given by archaeologists to the earliest periods of a culture. In particular, it may refer to: the Archaic period in the Americas (8000 BC–1000 BC) the Archaic period in Greece (1000 BC–500 BC) . The reasons for theirconscious archaism are far from obvious and may range from workshopconnections and traditions to religious factors or even the demands ofthe Italian market. The first part of Mannack's book consists ofbrief studies, first of the seven chief `Earlier Mannerists', themost memorable of whom is the Pig Painter, and then of ten `Later'and `Latest' Mannerists. He discusses workshop, teacher and pupilconnections between all his subjects, along with observations on thepersonal style, favoured shapes and subjects of the individual painters.The second part of the book surveys aspects of the work of the Group asa whole. The chapter on shapes shows that the column-krater was theMannerists' favourite, although hydriai and pelikai were alsocommon; close analysis of the dimensions and profiles of numerousexamples of particular shapes, most notably the column krater kra��teror cra��ter ?n.A wide, two-handled bowl used in ancient Greece and Rome for mixing wine and water.[Greek kr , hasallowed Mannack to suggest that certain painters shared the services ofthe same potter (p. 55). Further chapters demonstrate that ornament wasunsurprisingly conventional, but that iconography can bememorable--highlights include the Nausikaa Painter's Odysseus &Nausikaa and the Pig Painter's appealing encounter of large andtiny pigs!--and can be shown to have been influenced by such factors asthe theatre and wall paintings as well as by other vase painters. Thediscussion of chronology emphasizes and underpins the immense longevityof the workshop. A concluding summary of the evidence so far provided isfollowed by a catalogue of vases attributed to the painters and groupsdiscussed. The illustrations are well chosen, elegant and practical,combining reproductions of Beazley's drawings with Mannack'sown designs of ornaments and profiles, and 64 black-and-whitephotographs. The only real problem `with this book is that the author clearlyexpects readers to work through it from cover to cover. This is quitenatural on the part of one who has toiled for many years to provideanswers to almost all the questions that anyone might ask, and those whodo read it all will be richly rewarded. Anyone, however, who tries touse it rather as a work of reference may get frustrated. A museum indexand/or a concordance with AR[V.sup.2] (Beazley 1963) would have beenuseful for hurried curators seeking references to specific pots. And anycasual reader thinking, for example, that he would like to know moreabout Vase T.2, illustrated as Pl.21, can discover from the list ofplates at the front of the book that the vase is in Tarquinia but,unless he has observed the unobtrusive note that follows the list ofabbreviations on p. xviii, he will not know that `T' represents the`Painter of Tarquinia 707'; even then he will not know that thispainter's work is listed on pp. 145-6; nor will he discover fromthe brief catalogue entry there for T.2 that the vase is discussed on p.31. But these are perhaps minor criticisms and the author is very muchto be congratulated on shedding so much light on material that might atfirst seem quite unpromising. Studies of this kind, filling in the lowground, as it were, between the peaks provided by more eye-catchingpainters, are invaluable in inching forward our understanding of theworkings of the pottery industry in 5th-century Athens. Mannack's attitude to Beazley is admirably straightforward: hesubscribes to the basic principles of the `Beazley method' becausehe knows, and demonstrates, that it works: we know the `real' namesof only two of the red-figure `Mannerists', but at least 15 other`hands' have been convincingly identified. In recent years,Beazley's approach has been much criticized in some circles, butnot everyone may be aware that even in his lifetime he was not withouthis detractors. Rouet sets out to trace the development of the study ofGreek pottery Greek potteryPottery made in ancient Greece. Its painted decoration has become the primary source of information about the development of Greek pictorial art. It was made in a variety of sizes and shapes, according to its intended use; large vessels were used for storage in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with particularemphasis on the contrasting approaches and philosophies of Sir JohnBeazley and Edmond Pottier Edmond Fran?ois Paul Pottier (1855-1934) was an art historian and archaeologist who was instrumental in establishing the Corpus vasorum antiquorum, and a pioneering scholar in the study of Ancient Greek pottery. , Keeper at the Louvre Louvre(l`vrə), foremost French museum of art, located in Paris. The building was a royal fortress and palace built by Philip II in the late 12th cent. between 1910 and 1924,and founder of the Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum was the first research project of the Union Acad��mique Internationale of France. Its first meeting was held in 1919 in Paris, where Edmond Pottier made the motion that a comprehensive catalogue of ancient Greek vases should be drawn up. (hereinafter CVA).Rouet's book will be of interest not just to students of Greekvases but indeed to anyone with an interest in the history of classicalscholarship: many of the issues and debates on which it touches arestill alive today. Not all the ground that Rouet covers is exactly new.His introductory rehearsal of the history of Greek This article is an overview of the history of Greek. OriginsMain article: Proto-Greek languageThere are several theories about the origins of the Greek language. vase scholarshipbefore the later 19th century contains much information that may befound elsewhere, and occasionally he seems to be repeating theories bynow thoroughly exploded: for a definitive refutation ref��u��ta��tion? also re��fut��aln.1. The act of refuting.2. Something, such as an argument, that refutes someone or something.Noun 1. of the idea that`It was with a view to selling his collection to the British Museum British Museum,the national repository in London for treasures in science and art. Located in the Bloomsbury section of the city, it has departments of antiquities, prints and drawings, coins and medals, and ethnography. thatHamilton brought out his luxurious four-volume catalogue' (p. 14),for example, see Jenkins & Sloan (1996: 45-51, 62). The moreinnovative part of Rouet's book starts with his analysis of thestate of Greek vase studies in the later 19th century, and of thesuccessive attempts of Klein, Hartwig and Furtwangler to identify andcharacterize the personalities of individual vase-painters. The shortageof `real' names had delayed or impeded previous research in thisarea: while Klein concentrated on `signatures', the other twopioneered the identification of anonymous `hands' and so wereinstrumental in paving the way for Beazley. Rouet is particularly interesting on Pottier's attitude tothese studies, and to those of Beazley. He carefully explains how it wasin part moulded by contemporary events: French intellectuals felt thatFrance's humiliating hu��mil��i��ate?tr.v. hu��mil��i��at��ed, hu��mil��i��at��ing, hu��mil��i��atesTo lower the pride, dignity, or self-respect of. See Synonyms at degrade. defeat in the Franco-Prussian war of 1870 wasdue to the superior scientific competence of the Germans, and Pottiergrew up in a generation determined to inject greater scientific rigour rig��our?n. Chiefly BritishVariant of rigor.rigouror US rigorNoun1. into all its endeavours. This aim is already clear in his three-volumework on the ancient vases at the Louvre, in which identification ofindividual hands is eschewed in favour of a rigorous classification ofthe vases both geographically (by the place where the vases had beenfound) and chronologically; at the same time, he used the Campanagalleries at the Louvre as a sort of laboratory, reorganizing thedisplay of vases so that the basic divisions corresponded with those ofthe catalogue. Such an arrangement was in itself quite novel, andreflected Pottier's anthropological interest in comparativestudies. But his major and most influential contribution to cataloguingwas his simple insistence on illustrating, preferably by photographs, asmany vases as possible. The design of the CVA volumes, in which everyobject is illustrated and (nowadays at least) the photographs are atleast as important as the text, was of course the logical conclusion ofthis emphasis. The original and highly ambitious aim of the CVA, aninternational collaborative project initiated by Pottier in 1919, was topublish all vases of the Mediterranean world, of the Near and MiddleEast, and also the pottery of prehistoric Europe This bulk of this article encompasses the time in Europe from c 900,000 years ago to 8th-7th century BCE. Pre-PleistoceneThrough most of Earth's history, various subcontinental land masses such as Baltica and Avalonia that would later be part of Europe moved about the globe ; only as late as 1956was it formally agreed that the scope should be restricted to thepottery of the classical world, with especial es��pe��cial?adj.1. Of special importance or significance; exceptional: an occasion of especial joy.2. emphasis on painted Greekvases. The classification and plate-numbering systems werePottier's: baffling baf��fle?tr.v. baf��fled, baf��fling, baf��fles1. To frustrate or check (a person) as by confusing or perplexing; stymie.2. To impede the force or movement of.n.1. to future generations, these were designed sothat plates from different fascicules could be re-organized tofacilitate comparisons of material of the same class in differentmuseums and countries. Elsewhere, Pottier struggled to identify andassign the correct ancient name to each ancient shape, relentless in hisattempt to introduce scientific and objective accuracy into the study ofGreek vases, and it was small wonder that he found himself at odds withthe more humane and perhaps more imaginative approach of Beazley. Although Rouet is sympathetic to both the principal characters inhis story, his discussion of Beazley's work and motivation seems tome slightly less compelling than his account of Pottier, but perhapsthat is simply a reflection of the fact that Beazley's story hasbeen more often told before, at least in English. While much of hisdiscussion of Beazley's background and methods seems sensitive andaccurate, there are perhaps a few occasions when he may just slightlymiss or not see all of the point. To take just one example, he stresseshow important an influence poetry was on Beazley, who had several poetfriends and was himself a poet--and he suggests that the often memorablenames (such as the `Painter of the Woolly Satyrs') that Beazleybestowed on the anonymous vase painters whom he identified spring fromBeazley's poetic leanings. He may be right, but to me some of themore fanciful names seem rather to reflect a very English sense ofhumour Noun 1. sense of humour - the trait of appreciating (and being able to express) the humorous; "she didn't appreciate my humor"; "you can't survive in the army without a sense of humor"sense of humor, humor, humour , and perhaps also, more subtly, a slightly self-deprecatingmockery, and even a defensive barrier against critics who might suggest,had he given them more formal names, that he was `valuing' thesepot-painters too highly. Pottier was fiercely critical of Beazley's work. He remainedhostile to the whole concept of the anonymous painters, and he stronglydisapproved of the emphasis he felt that attribution studies laid on theindividual at the expense of workshops. Beazley was far more positiveabout Pottier's projects and especially supportive of the CVA,writing two fascicules himself and providing meticulous reviews of 62others. The CVA, and especially its illustrations, was obviously veryuseful to Beazley, but probably he also saw, as Pottier would not, thattheir approaches were complementary rather than alternative and that noone individual could hold a monopoly on the correct form of scholarship. Both Beazley and Pottier would have approved of the aims ofWachter's compilation and commended the author for assembling thislarge body of material in so convenient and accessible a form.`Inscriptions' here includes all writing, whether painted orincised, that can be seen to have been applied by the potter or thepainter of vases and plaques when the objects were first made. Graffitiand trade-marks are not included, nor, more curiously, are most`nonsense inscriptions'. The first part of the book is a catalogue,in which the inscriptions are grouped according to according toprep.1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians.2. In keeping with: according to instructions.3. their place ofproduction (or occasionally by their find-place). This is followed by ananalysis of such general issues as epigraphy epigraphy:see inscription. , spelling and linguisticproblems, along with a thematic discussion of labelled scenes andobservations on the use of `literary language'. The book concludeswith no fewer than seven invaluable indices, which the author rightlyfeels are a very important part of his work: `I suspect they will proveespecially useful in a book which is meant ... to be consulted mainlyfor reference purposes' (p. 4). The illustrations are well chosenand reproduced. Although more would have been useful, especially foranyone without easy access to the Ashmolean Library, no doubt a morecomprehensive selection would have been prohibitively expensive. The quantity and range of information here presented is highlyimpressive, as, to the non-philologist at least, is the detail of thecatalogue. It is, however, in the interpretation of the evidence thatmost general readers, or those who think they know more about vases thanphilology phi��lol��o��gy?n.1. Literary study or classical scholarship.2. See historical linguistics.[Middle English philologie, from Latin philologia, love of learning , will find material to provoke stimulating discussion andperhaps enjoyable disagreement! The fragments of so-called Chiotchalices with painted dedications, for example, found in large numbersat Naukratis and in smaller but significant quantities in Aegina,Wachter believes were made either all in Naukratis or else in bothNaukratis and Aegina, from imported Chiot clay. Categorizing them as`rather dull' (p. 28) he considers they are likely to have beenmade by the potters for themselves to dedicate: `I have the strongfeeling that we are dealing not with tradesmen but with potters ... whokeep dedicating humble routine gifts'. He thinks the same is trueof the remarkable series of Corinthian clay plaques with scenes relatingto relating torelate prep → concernantrelating torelate prep → bez��glich +gen, mit Bezug auf +accpottery production found at Penteskouphia: their sketchy stylesuggests to him that they have been painted by the people in charge ofthe kilns rather than the regular potters or painters. Such boldconclusions, deriving from philological phi��lol��o��gy?n.1. Literary study or classical scholarship.2. See historical linguistics.[Middle English philologie, from Latin philologia, love of learning analysis rather than aconsideration of all technological and archaeological aspects of thematerial, beg many questions. There are times, too, when it can seemslightly discouraging that so thorough an analysis gets us no furtherthan the following conclusion--sensible but hardly revolutionary--as tohow inscriptions got on to pots: `... one could go into a shop, choose a... vase partly or fully painted and ready for firing.... request ... apainted inscription, and collect the whole on the following day. Or ...such ... inscriptions might be by, and in the name of, the pottersthemselves' (p. 326). Opening up more possibilities, perhaps, isthe discussion of `literary language', linguistic forms that can bedemonstrated to have connections with contemporary poetry: the detectionof such forms might provide invaluable leads in the attempt to findsources for the iconography favoured by various pot painters at varioustimes. But here again, even when Wachter feels most confident (as in thecase of the `intervocalic digamma' found in various Corinthianscenes, pp. 336-40), we may wonder quite where this leaves us inrelation to such wider questions as the prevalence of literacy or eventhe mechanics of the transmission of poetry between poets and potpainters in, say, 6th-century Corinth. Wachter is absolutely right to claim that `The specialsubject-matter of Greek vase inscriptions, as well as the whole field ofComparative Philology concerns Classical Antiquity This article is about the ancient classical era, epoch, or (time) period. For the classical period in music (second half of the 18th century), see classical music era. Classical antiquity (also the classical era or classical period as a totality'(p. viii) and many classical scholars would do well to emulate him inventuring more often across the boundaries between the different areasof their subject. Wachter's aims, and the dauntingly daunt?tr.v. daunt��ed, daunt��ing, dauntsTo abate the courage of; discourage. See Synonyms at dismay.[Middle English daunten, from Old French danter, from Latin huge amount ofwork that this volume represents, must command universal respect. Butwhen he refers to the parallel but much vaster work that remains to bedone on Attic vase inscriptions and asks `Who will embark on that?'(p. viii), the answer is perhaps that a collaborative project in whicharchaeologists and art historians worked alongside the philologistsmight produce a publication still more useful than his own. References BEAZLEY, J.D. 1963. Attic red-figure vase-painters. 2nd edition.Oxford: Clarendon Press. JENKINS, I.D. & K. SLOAN. 1996. Vases and volcanoes: SirWilliam Hamilton and his collection. London: British Museum Press. Lucilla Burn, the Fitzwilliam Museum, Trumpington Street, CambridgeCB2 1RB, England. Lmb50@cam.ac.uk