- Laura Ambrosini –
THE ORIENTALIZING POTTERY^8The decoration was fi rst branded Subgeometric (fi sh and herons), then, in the middle of the
seventh century bc a change of style takes place, bringing big heraldic animals and decorative
motifs (with the Painter of the Calabresi Urn^9 and the Painter of the Birth of Menerva). At
the beginning of the Late Orientalizing the mythological themes spread on these and other
Caeretan productions. In the fi rst generation we have the Workshop of the Civitavecchia
Fishes, the Workshop of the Stockholm Fishes and the Cranes Painter. In Caere, in the fi rst
quarter of the seventh century bc is located the Workshop of the Civitavecchia Fishes Painter
and later the Workshop of the Stockholm Fishes with fi shes of Protocorinthian-Cumaean
origin; the Cranes Painter, active in Caere, has Hellenic character with Cycladic infl uence
and uses a monumental and fi gurative style. In the fi rst half of the seventh century bc the
Cranes Painter is the pioneer of the Orientalizing pottery decoration of Caere in impasto and
in fi ne pottery; he is also the author of the fi rst models in “white on red”-fi gured decoration.
Recent discoveries in Veii suggested to F. Boitani that the Painter of the Cranes had moved
from Caere to Veii. He is limited in the choice of subjects and is mainly bound to the
zoomorphic repertoire and to Subgeometric texture. He extends the decorative repertoire,
however, also working in the “white on red” technique, and paints not only fi shes and birds,
but also other animals and even humans (warrior) and demi-humans (Centaur).
The human fi gure becomes the protagonist of monumental pottery decoration: the
innovation is due to the Caeretan Heptachord Painter (680–660 bc),^10 who prefers
narrative scenes of mythic content. He is an experimentalist who belongs to a mythological
and epic tradition of Greek origin. We can see the change in customers’ taste: on the
Heptachord Painter’s vases we have the narrative scenes, zoomorphic fi gures, but also
the knowledge of Greek sagas (probably Helen and Menelaus). He is an innovator with
creative abilities; his anthropomorphic fi gures, drawn with the silhouette technique, do
not have the serial nature of the Subgeometric repertoire. In the eponymous vase he
depicts a cithera-player in a poetic performance while fi ve armed men perform a dance (for
a party or a ceremony of worship). The local aristoi want to buy vases that will refl ect their
ethics and behavior through comparison with characters of Greek myth and epic cycles.
Narrative scenes that denote the knowledge of Hellenic legends are introduced (see
Chapter 24). Aristonothos^11 is a Greek itinerant artisan who worked in Caere and who
signed his vases. His monumental style is inspired by the Cycladic Orientalizing and
by Early and Middle (Early) Protoattic (perhaps he is Cycladic). The fi gures are taken
from episodes of the Trojan cycle, and probably from the Theban cycle. The work of
Aristonothos is not isolated, but, with courtly monumental tones, fi ts into the local
tradition in which are Late Geometric infl uences together with the fi rst results of
Greek Orientalizing. Between the middle and the end of the seventh century bc, other
adventures of Odysseus, set in the Tyrrhenian Sea, the blinding of Polyphemus and the
escape from his cave, the collision with Scylla, are incorporated in Etruria. This highlights
the symbolic importance of the Tyrrhenian nostos of Odysseus for the Etruscan aristocracy,
as a symbol of the dangerous experiences of sea journeys. In the Middle Orientalizing
stands the Amsterdam Painter, who uses a shape of amphora derived from SOS amphorae
or from the Chiot amphorae. In the eponymous vase with Medea and the dragon of
Colchis (660–640 bc), he uses an Orientalizing decorative dossier and expressions of
Hellenic imprint. The theme of Medea, by the extrapolation of the Golden Fleece and the
myth of the Argonauts, was, perhaps, a theme linked to the transmarine travels.