Geometric beginnings (ninth and eighth centuries)
Of the physical remains of Greek art that survive antiquity the most substantial in all
periods comprises the decorated pottery that was used extensively in daily life and
came to be traded between states throughout the Greek world. It was manufactured
in many centres and while the style of each centre might vary, over the centuries
definite stylistic phases can be distinguished, though little if anything is known about
individual painters and artists.
It is in pottery that the distinctive character of the geometric style is most easily
demonstrable. The geometric style, so called from the linear regularity of its orna-
mentation, represents an advance on the pottery of the preceding era (called the
proto-geometric) by virtue of the increased ornamentation covering the vase. A fine
example of developed geometric is the magnificent Dipylon vase of about 750, so
called from the place at which it was discovered in a cemetery by the Dipylon gate
at Athens. The vase (fig. 44) is about five feet in height and stood as a monument over
a grave. A prominent feature of the decoration is the meander or key pattern, which
is repeated (with variation) on the neck where it occurs three times and on the body
where it is used four times in the horizontal bands as well as in vertical bands between
the handles. There are rows of triangles and one row of oval shapes towards the
bottom of the vase. The thick black bands painted at the top and the bottom of
the neck, and the more extensive area of black at the base (together with the two
thick bands there) accentuate the shape of the vessel, which is simply but finely
proportioned.
On the neck are two bands of animal figures, all in the same attitude; in the upper
band they are grazing while in the lower they are lying down. The animal figures are
made to fit easily into the pattern of abstract designs. Between the handles, in a
central position to which the eye is unerringly drawn, is framed a representation of
mourners at a funeral, a subject which reflects the purpose of the pot. The human
figures have the form that predominates in early Greek painting, with a triangular
chest tapering to a thin waist and highly developed thighs in a roughly ovular tear
drop shape tapering to the knee. The chest is full-frontal while the legs and head are
in profile. The arms above the head in mourning attitude complete a triangle, which
ascends from the waist. The same pattern is repeated for the corpse, which conse-
quently appears to be suspended in mid-air above the bier.
The vase is a highly sophisticated work of art, but the painting of the human
figures is naive; the parts of the body are simply stylised shapes that do not corre-
spond to the natural shape of the human form. Moreover, the proportions of the
figures in relation to each other are not determined by nature. The size of the figures
below the corpse matches neither the size of the standing mourners nor the corpse.
Similarly, the corpse is longer than the standing figures are tall. Their proportions are
220 THE GREEKS