The fourth fascicule of the Greek vases in the collection of Bonn, Akademisches Kunstmuseum is a welcome addition to the study of Protogeometric, Geometric and Early Archaic pottery. In this new volume, P. publishes 73 vessels and some 122 fragments of the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität collection. The vases presented range in date from the tenth to the late seventh centuries b.c. The organisation of each entry follows the format established for the CVA series: accession number, measurements and condition, description of the shape and decoration, then date, followed by comparanda.
The volume is composed of an introduction, abbreviations and catalogue, followed by seven indexes. The presentation of the material in the catalogue is assembled by production centres, placed in an alphabetical order that is unusual and does not follow the typical line of presentation as established by V.R. d'A. Desborough and N.J. Coldstream, and followed in the CVA volumes (e.g. CVA USA fasc. 37, The Metropolitan Museum of Art fasc. 5 [M. Moore]; CVA Great Britain fasc. 25, The British Museum fasc. 11 [N.J. Coldstream]). The last section deals with some Protogeometric to Sub-Geometric vessels of uncertain fabric. The collection presents a large variety of regional styles (Argive, Attic, Boeotian, Corinthian, Cretan, Cycladic, Lakonian and East Greek) following the classifications by N.J. Coldstream.
The Argive material is represented by 22 fragments said to come from the Heraion and Tiryns (pls 1–3). Despite its fragmentary state, it is possible to assign one of the pieces (p. 18 no. 7, pl. 2.7) to the work of the Master of Argos C 201 (N.J. Coldstream, Greek Geometric Pottery. A Survey of Ten Local Styles [1968], p. 139 and pl. 30d). A similar scene of horse taming is presented on a second fragment (p. 18 no. 8, pl. 2.8). Α pomegranate model is the only entire piece to be grouped with the Argive production (pls 3.5–10). Impressed decoration is applied with the use of a cylinder on the surface of the pomegranate that is correctly identified as belonging to the class of the ‘Argive Monochrome’. Nonetheless, its provenance from Thebes, its type and decoration seem to indicate an origin from among the Attic workshops and – most likely – the Eleusis workshop as identified by N. Kourou (‘Roa glykeia’, in Eilapine: Tomos Timetikos gia ton Kathegete Nikolao Platona [1987], pp. 101–16).
The Attic production of the Geometric period is represented by 24 vessels (pls 4–18). A Late Protogeometric lekythos (pl. 4), a small oinochoe (pl. 6), two pyxides (pl. 5) and a terracotta horse attachment from the lid of a house pyxis (pl. 7) are of the Middle Geometric period, while the rest of the vessels belong to the repertory of the Late Geometric period. The krater by the Hirschfeld Workshop (pl. 13.6) is the most characteristic piece of this small collection. Description and attribution follow the 1967 publication of the piece by N. Himmelmann-Wildschütz. A recent approach to the work of the Hirschfeld Painter and his Workshop exists (V. Vlachou, ‘From Pots to Workshops: the Hirschfeld Painter and the Late Geometric I Context of Attic Pottery Production’, in V. Vlachou [ed.], Pots, Workshops and Early Iron Age Society. Function and Role of Ceramics in Early Greece [2015], pp. 49–74). On the tankard (p. 26, pl. 8) the precision of the drawing of the double hatched meander, the stepped zigzag and the dot rosettes on the handle are not unworthy of the work of the Hirschfeld Workshop. A date in LG Ib thus seems preferable. A small high-rimmed skyphos is added to the activity of the Dipylon Workshop (pls 12.1–4). The decoration of a deep skyphos (p. 29, pls 11.4–7) is quite uncommon and seems close to one in Mainz (CVA Zentralmuseum 1, pls 11.1–2) (also, Heidelberg [CVA 3, pls 110.2–3] and Vienna [CVA 1, pls 3.1–2]). The combination of the swastika with the quatrefoil and the narrow chess-motif is characteristic of the transitional LG Ib–IIa phase (Kerameikos V.1, pl. 119, inv. 382 from Grave 72). Most of these vessels are said to come from the earliest excavations of the nineteenth century in the Dipylon burial ground. Among the small open vessels of Late Geometric II are a fragmentary skyphos assigned to the Birdseed Workshop (pls 15.5–9), a trefoil oinochoe of the Concentric Circles Group (pls 16.1–4) and a fragmentary krater of the Athens 897 Workshop (pl. 18.1). The latest vessel is a small oinochoe of the so-called Phaleron Group (pls 19.1–5) that enters the first quarter of the seventh century b.c.
The Boeotian material is small but typical in its figured decoration, shapes and fabrics (pls 19–26). The kantharos (pl. 22) is an excellent example of Boeotian ‘eclectic style’ that nicely integrates the Attic elements in a rather original pictorial synthesis of hunting with axes and spears. The two large pedestalled amphoras (pls 23–6) are among the most distinctive representatives of this production that are equally to be found in Euboea, namely Eretria, and on the opposite coast of Oropos, as well as the Cyclades. Among the Protocorinthian material, the pointed aryballos (pls 28.8–12) presents the most interesting pictorial composition, and it is the only one provided with a watercolour (drawing 23). One Middle Protocorinthian conical aryballos (pls 27.6–9, 28.1) shows armed men and a large panther in what could have been intended as a hunting scene. A single alabastron (pls 29.6–10) is assigned to the Painter of the Shambling Bull.
In addition to the seven fragments representing the Cretan production of the Geometric period (pl. 30), there are two bird-lekythoi (pls 31–2), marking the transition from the latest Geometric to the Early Orientalising phase. The Cycladic material is largely organised in three groups according to their provenance from Delos, Phylakopi/Melos and Thera (pls 33–4) respectively. The small skyphos (pls 35.1–4) has been assigned already by C. Grunwald to Cycladic production (C. Grunwald, ‘Geometrisch’, in Antiken aus dem Akademischen Kunstmuseum Bonn [1969], pp. 103–4). However, its provenance from Dipylon is quite puzzling: Cycladic vessels are almost completely absent from this burial ground of the Athenian elites. The spouted krater or louterion (pls 35.5, 36.1–4) is modelled after the Attic types and follows similar lines of development as in Euboean Workshops (namely Eretria).
The extremely fragmentary Laconian material comes entirely from the sanctuary of Apollo Hyakinthos at Amykles (pls 37–9). Description and chronology follow the seminal work of W.D.E. Coulson. The most characteristic types of skyphoi (some fragments possibly also from kantharoi) and cups of the Protogeometric and Sub-Protogeometric phase are included, and a few kraters. One fragment (pl. 38.10), identified as an amphora, should be corrected to coming from a deep pyxis. The skyphos fragment (pl. 38.10) with its quite different treatment of the surface seems of Argive provenance and not Laconian. It is possible that two sherds (pls 1.9–10), published here as Argive, actually belong to the Laconian production. Furthermore, the fragment (pls 51.4–5) from a large votive plate – placed with the East Greek material – is a shape typical of the early Archaic period in most Spartan sanctuaries.
The East Greek material (pls 39–51) ranges in date from the ninth to the late seventh/early sixth centuries b.c. The Geometric and Sub-Geometric material is assembled on the grounds of its provenance from Miletos (pl. 39), in addition to two oinochoe and two kolylai of the Karian production (pls 40–2) and a fragmentary amphora (pls 44.1–2). The Ionic Archaic material consists of a bird cup (pl. 43), an oinochoe of the Milesian Wild Goat style (pls 45–6) and a single-handled pyxis from Miletos (pl. 48) that has been assigned to the Bochum Group (R.M. Cook). Among the vases of uncertain fabric, the shoulder-handled amphora (pl. 53) is certainly not Attic, but closer to the material of the same period from Kos.
Figures 1–22 offer profile drawings at a scale of 1:2 and 1:1. Figural drawings are not included, although they would be very useful where decoration is faint (pls 35.5, 36.1–3, 45, 56.3–4, 57). The colour plates (1–59) are of excellent quality, providing the reader with multiple views of all pieces. Scale varies between 1:1, 1:2 and 1:3 and is individually indicated for all pieces.
This new volume in the CVA series assembles a wide range of fabrics and pottery styles and constitutes a helpful reference for the students and scholars of Greek pottery.
