The vases of the Middle Period illustrate the consolidation of the two
approaches apparent in Douris' earlier work. From the "rich" vases he retains
a love for elaborate ornament which is developed into a standard scheme for
the decoration of cups: around the tondo a distinctive border consisting of
'Dourian' meanders[9]
alternating with cross-squares; on the exterior, lavish palmette clusters at
the handles. About forty percent of the extant vases by Douris are assigned to
the Middle Period, and it is the work of this period that inspired his
numerous following. As we turn from the charming and lively products of his
formative stages to the balance and grace of his mature work, two distinct
changes must be noted. Douris no longer experiments widely with varied and
lavish ornamental schemes. His standardization of ornament may follow upon his
close association with one potter, Python, who was responsible for almost all
the cups of the period. There is also a change in the inscriptions:
signatures and kalos names become less frequent, and Hippodamas, the kalos
name after which the Middle Period is sometimes called, replaces Chairestratos.
A cup in Berlin
(Berlin F 2285;
Illustration 42; Illustration 43)
was one of the first vases by Douris to provoke extensive scholarly discussion.
It illustrates the three main disciplines of Athenian education: athletics,
music, and grammar. The scene in the tondo shows a youth preparing for
exercise, his discarded clothing on a stool, his walking cane propped against
a basin, his athletic equipment ready at hand (
Illustration
44). The exterior scenes preserve one of the earliest representations of a
school known in vase-painting; its appearance on vases coincides with the
earliest mention of schools in literature.
[10]
The composition is a version of what became the standard courting or
conversation scene, one with figures alternately standing or seated, a type
that dominated Douris' output during the Middle Period. On the Berlin cup, the
details are unusual: the waiting pedagogue to the right of each scene, the
writing tablets in use and hung on the wall, and the roll with the beginning
of a literary text. The man seated in the center of side A holds a partly open
book roll on which can be read:
*M*O*I*S*A *M*O*I /
*A*F*I
*S*K*A*M*A*N*D*R*O*N /
*E*U*R*W*N *A*R*X*O*M*A*I /
*A*E*I*N*D*E*N "Muse to me... I begin to sing of wide-flowing
Scamander." (
Illustration 45) The line has been
associated with
Stesichorus.
[11]
A cup in Malibu (
Malibu 86.AE.290;
Illustration 46; Illustration 47;
Illustration 48) illustrates Douris' developed
conversation scenes. A man and a youth with a
lyre, perhaps engaged in a music lesson, are in the tondo.
The figures are
beautifully placed within the circle, filling it comfortably without a sense
of crowding. The larger figure of the man is slightly closer to the center of
the circle; the smaller youth is to the right, balanced by the stool on the
left. The quiet poses, sense of space, and general lucidity of the composition
suggest an almost classic art. The balance of light and dark achieved in the
figured scene is reinforced by the standard Middle Period border of
cross-squares and meanders alternating one to one. The quiet poses of the
figures in the tondo carry through to the exterior scenes of men courting
youths; on each side are two pairs of seated youths and standing men with
another man to the right of the scene. The basic poses of each pair are the
same, but the gestures vary, and the question arises whether Douris meant to
represent the same couple in four stages of courtship, or four different c
ouples.
A small
stemless cup in Oxford (formerly at Harvard, Rosenberg Collection,
ARV2, 445, 252) decorated inside only gives an unusual
glimpse into a Greek wine shop. A youth wearing soft leather shoes and
carrying a purse stands between two large wine jars. Only the upper corner of
the one on the right is visible. Its scale is larger than the other, which is
set in a stand near the youth's feet. A third vase, a small oinochoe, is
suspended behind the youth. The different sizes, and the arrangement of the
three vases receding in space, suggest some deliberate attempts at perspective.
Other examples of this appear sporadically in Douris' work. The youth holds
either a sponge or a stopper in his right hand. If it is a sponge, he may be
testing the taste and bouquet of the wine. An inscription on the left reads
*T*R*I*K*O*T*U*L*O*S which Immerwahr suggests translating as "holding
three kotylai (or measures)" or "costing (an obol) for three kotylai."
[12]
[9]A meander peculiar to Douris in which the ductus goes into
the center of the maze and does not come out again.
[10]H. Immerwahr, "Book Rolls on Attic Vases,"
Classical, Mediaeval and Renaissance Studies in Honor of Berthold Louis
Ullman vol. I (Rome, 1964) 17; and Immerwahr,
"More Book Rolls on Attic Vases," AK 16 (1973) 143-7.
[11]J.D. Beazley, "Hymn to Hermes," AJA 52
(1948) 338.
[12]H. Immerwahr, "An Athenian Wineshop,"
Transactions of the American Philological Association 79 (1948)
184-190.
Part 2 of this Section
