Two New Corinthian Kotylai Painters from San Francesco Square's 'Stipe

BaBesch 75 (2000)

Two new Corinthian kotylai painters from San Francesco Square’s ‘stipe’ in Catania

Lorenza Grasso

Among the Corinthian pottery from the San Francesco reasons here given, seems of some interest. We are Square’s deposit,1 the kotylai are the most numerous able to assign twelve specimens, among which one class (906 pieces),2 as it is the rule in the case of nearly complete one for each hand. These are big votive-deposits (for example Tocra, Perachora, kotylai (h. max. 12 cm without foot, diam. rim 19 Selinus3). Most specimens with black figures date cm) with a large and low body and a convex-recti- back to the Middle Corinthian period, probably to linear profile; the foot, preserved only with one frag- the advanced phase. In fact, only the latest products ment, has a rectilinear profile and is similar to the of the most typical Middle Corinthian painters are VII type of Lawrence’s classification.8 The clay is represented, while the kotylai painters, who started very purified, typical of Corinthian vases, and the their activity in the Early Corinthian period, are not colour is yellow with pinkish overtone.9 Common represented. Moreover, to the Late Corinthian period to all specimens (which belong to Payne’s class NC we can assign only specimens, numerous though 928-940)10 is the decoration with the animal frieze they are, by the Chaeroneia group and only one constituted by a goat to the right under one of the specimen of the kotylai with a row of goats to the handles between two panthers and a bird, also to the right which are typical of advanced Late Corinthian. right, under the other handle. The quadrupeds bod- Most of the black-figured kotylai from the San ies are very long and the faces have a funny expres- Francesco’s deposit are of poor quality. They were sion. On the field there are big irregular blobs and manufactured in workshops of the Potters’ Quarter in rows of dots above the back and under the stomach Corinth by painters who elaborated an ordinary style of the quadrupeds. The animal frieze is bordered by suitable to the form of vases and to the tastes of cli- double bands; in the handle’s area there are always ents, ever more numerous and ever less demanding. vertical wavy lines, one band on the rim, and long J.L. Benson has labelled this output ‘mass produc- rays at the base. The stylistic elements, which per- tion’. While not undervalueing the difficulties, he mit to distinguish the works of the two painters, are has stressed the importance of a study about the the rendering of the panther’s heads and shoulders identification of different workshops and painters of and the incised details on the backs; moreover, the kotylai, even of poor style of drawing, in order to de- goat’s heads and the backs of the regardant birds dif- fine a more complete picture of the production and fer in drawing. distribution of Corinthian workshops.4 D.A. Amyx To the first painter (figs. 1-4), named the Painter of overlooked this point in his comprehensive study Catania KC 4125 from his best preserved specimen, about archaic Corinthian pottery, ignoring most of we can attribute nine specimens from Catania. The the kotylai painters identified by Benson and limit- panther’s shoulder resembles an omega with a ing his attention to the painters of fine style.5 curved incision in the centre, and this shoulder’s Benson’s study has been continued by C.W. Neeft, drawing can also be seen with his goats. In the pan- who has recognized, though with some specifica- ther’s heads, the ears are not indicated with incisions tions, the painters and groups identified by Benson, and the vertical lines of the nose run all the way to even increasing the number of attributions and iden- tifying also new painters and workshops, above all 6 on the basis of vases from Taranto and Gela. 1 Rizza 1960. Systematic study of the Corinthian kotylai from the 2 Grasso 1998. San Francesco Square’s deposit has permitted to 3 Boardman-Hayes 1966; Dunbabin 1962; Dehl-von Kaenel count thirty-eight painters or groups, some already 1995. 4 Benson 1983; Benson 1985. known – of which, in some cases, we have precisely 5 Amyx 1988. defined activity and characteristics – and some new, 6 Neeft’s study on Corinthian vase painters is forthcoming. identified on the ground of unpublished material.7 In 7 I would like to thank C.W. Neeft for his readiness to let me particular, we have identified two new painters who, consult his photographical archive. 8 Amyx-Lawrence 1975, 76 fig. 1. for their stylistic similarity, probably worked in the 9 Torrisi a.o. 1996. same workshop and whose identification, for the 10 Payne 1931, 308.

165 Figs. 1-4. Painter of Catania KC4125.

the forehead; moreover, there are one or two inci- with a central incision. In the heads, the outline of sions resembling concentric semicircles on the left the faces is indicated with a single curved incision; side of the head. On the back, there are three char- the vertical lines of the nose meet the ear’s incisions acteristically curved lines, and in the central part of in the panthers to the right, while in the panthers to the body there are four or five transversal lines. In the left the lines of the nose meet a straight line the goats’ heads, the eyes are oval and the eyebrows which marks the superior limit of the faces. On the are indicated with two incised curved lines, two back there are three long parallel lines and two small more incised lines mark the left side of the head; the incisions, curved in the panthers to the right and horns are drawn like a single element with two small straight in those to the left. The goats’ eyes show protuberances. The regardant bird has a bulging two concentric circles, while the horns are two body, no neck, and, on the body, the wings are indi- divergent elements of different dimensions. The cated with vertical and horizontal incisions. regardant bird has a biconical body, a long neck To the second painter (figs. 5-8), named the Painter running without demarcation into the head, in which of Catania KC 4144 from the homonymous kotyle, only the eye is drawn with a small circle. it is possible to assign three fragments.11 In these specimens, the shoulders of the panthers to the right are drawn like an omega, while the shoulders of the 11 We have attributed to this painter also the fragment KC 4128 panthers to the left are drawn like a pressed cushion before assigned to workshop (Grasso 1988, 33-34 no. 83).

166 Figs. 5-8. Painter of Catania KC4144.

As far as chronology is concerned, the poor quality Benson,16 seeing that the clay and decoration are of drawing and the stylistic similarities with the KP- typical of Corinthian products,17 we have to wonder 64 Workshop12 and in particular with the Rennes about the route followed by our vases from Corinth Painter,13 permit us to propose a date at the transi- to Catania.18 They may have been produced mainly tion from the Middle to the Late Corinthian period, for export, in particular to Catania.19 that is, 575-560 B.C. Apart from the Catania specimens, we can provision- ally assign a few other items to these painters. To 12 Amyx-Lawrence 1974, 36 no. 107. the Painter of Catania KC 4125 belong a kotyle in 13 That is, the Painter of the Laon Kotyle (Benson 1983, 325) 14 renamed Rennes Painter by Neeft after a better preserved kotyle Hanover, a fragment from the Asklepieion in in this town (CVA France 29, pl. 10:3-4). Corinth,15 and an unpublished fragment from 14 Terrace 1957, no. 11. Argilos. To the Painter of Catania KC 4144 can be 15 Amyx-Lawrence 1996, 25, pl. 22:88. attributed another unpublished fragment from 16 Benson 1984; Benson 1985. 17 For local imitations of Corinthian pottery in Southern Italy, Argilos and a fragment from the Artemision at see Neeft 1996. Thasos, also unpublished. In other words, only four 18 The presence of similar kotylai in Corinth on the one hand attributable fragments were found in Greece, none and in the West (Taranto, Tocra, Gela, Selinus) on the other in Sicily or Southern Italy except for those from allows us to assume that these vases may have come to Catania following either the ionic-tyrrhenian route or the african route Catania. Since we must reject the possibility of a (Giudice 1987 and 1989). local production, proposed in similar cases by 19 Dehl-von Kaenel 1994.

167 BIBLIOGRAPHY Dunbabin, T.J. 1962, Perachora, The Sanctuaries of Hera Akraia and Limenia II. Amyx, D.A. 1988, Corinthian Vase-Painting of the Giudice, F. 1987, Kokalos 33, 105-114. Archaic Period. Giudice F. 1989, Vasi e frammenti Beazley da Locri Amyx, D.A. - Lawrence, P. 1975, Corinth VII.ii. Archaic Epizefiri. Corinthian Pottery and the Anaploga Well. Grasso, L. 1998, Stipe votiva del Santuario di Demetra a Amyx, D.A. - Lawrence, P. 1996, Studies in Archaic Catania, kotylai e coppe corinzie figurate. Studi e Corinthian Vase Painting. Materiali di Archeologia greca 4/1. Benson, J.L. 1983, Corinthian Kotyle Workshops, Neeft, C.W. 1996, Ceramica di imitazione corinzia, in: I Hesperia 52, 311-326. Greci in Occidente, Arte e artigianato in Magna Benson, J.L. 1984, Where were Corinthian Workshops Grecia, 281-291. not represented in the Kerameikos of Corinth (750- Payne, H.G.G. 1931, Necrocorinthia. A Study of 400 B.C.)?, in H.A.G. Brijder (ed.), Ancient Greek and Corinthian Art in the Archaic Period. Related Pottery, 98-101. Rizza, G. 1960, Stipe votiva di un Santuario di Demetra Benson, J.L. 1985, Mass Production and the Competitive a Catania, BdA 3, 247-259. Edge in Corinthian Pottery, Greek Vases in the J. Paul Terrace, E.L. 1957, Greek Vases at Dartmouth College. Getty Museum 2, 17-20. Torrisi, A., Arena G., Bellia, G., Contino, A., Falco, G., Boardman, J. - Hayes, J. 1966, Excavations at Tocra Grasso, L., Ingrassia, S. 1996, A Study of Greek 1964-1965: the Archaic Deposits I. Pottery and Clay Statuettes from the Votive Deposit Dehl-von Kaenel, C. 1994, Le importazioni corinzie nel in the Sanctuary of Demetra in Catania, Annali di Santuario della Malophoros a Selinunte e le strutture Chimica 86, 329-341. della distribuzione della ceramica corinzia in Sicilia e Magna Grecia. Corinto e l’Occidente. Atti del 34o CONSIGLIO NAZIONALE DELLE RICERCHE Convegno di Studi sulla Magna Grecia, 345-366. CENTRO DI STUDIO SULL’ARCHEOLOGIA GRECA Dehl-von Kaenel, C. 1995, Die archaische Keramik aus VIA A. DI SANGIULIANO 262 dem Malophoros Heiligtum in Selinunt. CATANIA

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