Czére Andrea szerk.: A Szépművészeti Múzeum közleményei (Budapest, 2007)
ANDRÁS MÁRTON AND GYÖRGY NEMES: Corinthian White-Ground Lekythoi
the ivy pattern still decorates only the shoulder, while later on it becomes the favourite design on lekythoi made by the Painter and his workshop. 86 The ivy pattern on most of the vases from group i exactly follows the Attic type. The slight variations of the motif on a few vases 8 ' can be explained by the fact that the masters changed the design according to their own tastes over three decades of production. The horizontal ivy branch can be found among the motifs of Corinthian conventionalizing pottery as well. According to A. Steiner the ivy design of the conventionalizing pottery could have served as a model for the decoration of the Corinthian white-ground lekythoi. 88 It is, however, more probable that the Attic pieces were the pattern from which both white-ground vases and conventionalizing pottery were derived. The large, upright red palmettes painted on the body, which are typically Corinthian, appeared early, already in group i. The palmettes that crown the tops of grave stelae, the painted palmettes of marble lekythoi, 89 and the red-figure aryballoi with palmettes appearing in the second half of the fifth century BC were possible sources for this design. Group ii is typically Corinthian not only in its shape, but also regarding the motifs used that only rarely reach back to those of the Beldam workshop, which completely disappear from among the motifs used in group iii. Among the shoulder patterns of the vases from all three groups we find rays and palmettes; lotus-buds only occur on lekythoi from group iii. An exact match for the palmettes on the shoulders is not known from Attic pieces. They vary in quality of their production from Attic ceramics; but their styles do not differ. ATTICA —CORINTH —ERETRIA Although the Outline style, similar to the white-ground one, appeared in Corinth already in the second quarter of the fifth century BC, this group was not produced with a "true" whiteground technique. 90 The type of white paint used on the white-ground vases was unknown in Corinthian pottery before the appearance of the Corinthian white lekythoi. Considering that the earliest Corinthian white-ground and black-figure white lekythoi can perhaps be connected to an Attic master, the Beldam Painter, and their shape and motifs definitely to the Beldam workshop, it can be presumed that Corinthian production was started by the workshop of the Beldam Painter. 91 This may be the reason why the products of the rather productive Beldam workshop do not appear in large quantities among vases imported from Attica. Perhaps this was because a branch of the workshop produced the lekythoi locally. Corinthian potters familiar with the Outline style quickly took a liking to the new white-ground technique.
