Two Naucratite Vases

• Published in: The Journal of Hellenic studies 1887-11, Vol.8, p.119-121
• Main Author: Gardner, Ernest A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Lions; Vases
• ISSN: 0075-4269; 2041-4099
• DOI: 10.2307/623453

The two vases of which portions are reproduced upon Pl. LXXIX. may serve as representative specimens of the two most important classes of Naucratite pottery. They were both found, mixed with innumerable other fragments, amid the rubbish that covered the whole area of the temenos of Aphrodite, excavated by me in the season 1885–6. The two smaller figures represent the two sides of one fragment. These two vases are of especial interest, because they were both beyond any doubt made in Naucratis. Last year the special name of Naucratite ware was given to a class of vases covered with a fine whitish glaze, and with a polychrome decoration outside; black inside, with lotus patterns in red and white. This ware was often found by Mr. Petrie in 1884–5, and also in 1885–6, with dedicatory inscriptions painted on before baking, thus proving beyond doubt its local origin. The fragment now figured with a sphinx is one of the finest specimens of this same ware; in its treatment both inside and outside it preserves the essential characteristics that may be seen in the simpler examples. The other vase, with the lions and the stag, is one of a set of large bowls of which I found several nearly complete; in 1884–5 only a few fragments had appeared. These always have a dark glaze inside—red or black according to the firing; on this are painted concentric circles in white and purple. Their ornamentation is identical with that found on the inside of the eye-bowls; hence it would seem that these large bowls are a development of the eye-bowl type, just as the large polychrome vases are of the other Naucratite ware.