f - The American School of Classical Studies at Athens

388 MARIO IOZZO
Magna Graecia,'33 and on rims of bowls produced
in Greece'34 and Sicily.'35
Clearly architectural in origin, the motif of alternating
eggs and darts also appears very frequently,
beginning about the middle of the 6th century
B.C.,136 and figuring as one of those mostly secondary
decorations which enjoyed particular favor in
the Greek decorative repertoire. Like all the varieties
of maeander and other geometric or floral motifs
with a repetitive scheme (i.e., the continuous rows of
flowers, ivy vine-shoots, olive branches, laurel) the
continuous rows of eggs and darts are well suited to
circular surfaces. On the rim of 62, the egg decoration
does not really seem to be secondary to the maeander
underneath, unlike a bowl fragment from
Reggio Calabria:137 here it seems to be of equal importance.
The conformation of the darts, which are
wide and showy and invade the spaces between the
eggs, and the checkerboard decoration in the cartouche
of the double maeander138 easily fit into the
time limits of the context in which 62 was found.
The first half of the 4th century B.C. seems the most
appropriate date for this piece.
63. Bowl fragment Fig. 3, P1. 72
IPG 1971-5. H. 0.04, W. 0.115, rest. D. 0.605,
Th. 0.04. Handle: H. 0.022, L. 0.065.
Impure clay, pink (5YR 7/4) at the core with
gray inclusions and red particles; a very fine, very
pale brown slip (1OYR 7/3) covers the rim top
and the band bordering the interior as far as the
small projecting ridge; the rest of the surface is
covered with a white slip (1OYR 8/2) through
which show fine dark grains. A small part of the
original circumference is preserved; chipped
surface.
Overhanging, thickened rim; horizontal top and
slanted underside with short appendage. The ex-
tremely inward slanting side has a carinated profile,
bordered top and bottom by a ridge; under the cari-
nation is a ribbon-lug handle with a clay reinforce-
ment above. A slightly diluted brown band covers the
outer edge of the rim; red bands are painted on the
carinated sections and on the lower ridge. The han-
dle, whose articulations are alternately red and
brown with color dribblings, is decorated above with
a red band which falls to the sides in two curls.
There are traces of brushwork, mostly on the handle
reinforcement.
Findspot: Isthmia, East Field;139 random surface
find.
4th century, perhaps into the 3rd century B.C.
64. Base fragment P1. 73
C-62-373. H. 0.076, W. 0.064, rest. D. 0.33, Th.
0.025. Stamp: H. 0.022, W. 0.017.
133Jozzo, nos. 20-22, 24, 25, 41, 44, 45, and 71, pls. XXXVIII:c, d, XXXIX:c, XL:a, b, XLIV:a-d,
XLV:c, and L:a.
134 Perdrizet (footnote 18 above), p. 182, no. 478.
135 Allegro (footnote 32 above), pp. 153-154, nos. 43, 44, note 180, pls. XXXVII:1, 2 and XXXVIII:6, 7;
P. Marconi, Agrigento, Florence 1929, pp. 207-208, fig. 150.
136 The motif appears already on the earliest Clazomenian sarcophagi, class of Monastirakia (ca. 550), and
it becomes the usual border decoration or secondary ornament on sarcophagus fagades beginning in 530 B.C.
(Borelli Painter and Hanover Painter): Cook, pp. 86-88.
137 Jozzo, no. 21, pl. XXXVIII:d. Cf. also basins 33, 35, and 36, pls. XLII:42 b, d, and XLIII:a, where the
eggs and darts are secondary to other decorations.
138 The checkerboard pattern, already used as a decoration in the 6th century B.C. (exergues of Attic plates
and of Segment Group cups, shoulders of black-figured alabastra, etc.) is found as a filling element in the little
cartouches inserted into various types of maeanders beginning at least as early as 550 B.C. It is a painted
decoration on garment hems and statue bases: J. Boardman, Greek Sculpture. The Archaic Period, London
1978, passim. It appears rather frequently by the beginning of the 5th century B.C., especially on Attic pottery.
It was particularly popular with the Meidias Painter and his contemporaries, all of whom showed a liking for
the detail in secondary decorations as well. Aison: Simon (footnote 122 above), pls. 220, 221; Schuwalow
Painter: A. Lezzi Hafter, Der Schuwalow-Maler, Kerameus II, Mainz 1976, p. 31. These artists generally
used it with black dots placed in the light squares. The checkerboard cartouche was very widespread during
the 6th century B.C., passing ultimately into Italiote pottery which continued the tradition with very few
variations. (For the Meidias Painter, see G. Becatti, Meidias. Un manierista antico, Florence 1947, pls. I-III,
V, VI, VIII-X, XII, and XIV.)
139 P. A. Clement, "Isthmia Excavations," /iEXT 27, B' 1 (1976), pp. 224-231.