f - The American School of Classical Studies at Athens

392 MARIO IOZZO
Building III.157 The base fragment was found in a
meaningless context; however, the motif of the
tongues edged with little pearls variously numbering
from 20 to 40 can be dated 525-500 B.C.158
73. Base fragment Fig. 4, P1. 74
IPG 1970-7. H. 0.07, W. 0.153, Th. 0.03.
Very impure, pink clay (5YR 8/4) at the core,
with predominantly red inclusions; white clay
(2.5Y 8/2) at the surface. Thick layer of very pure
white slip (2.5Y 8/2) covering the outer surface.
A small part of the original circumference is preserved;
eroded surface with wide areas of
chipping.
Circular base with carinated profile which widens
slightly at the bottom; it is modeled with three ridges
painted alternately brown and dark red. Above the
ridges, a thin groove separates two flat bands. On the
upper band, there remains part of a painted decora-
tion which is difficult to interpret: it is perhaps a
floral decoration painted with the same colors used
on the ridges. The three rounded ends visible on the
right could be the lower part of an anthemion of two
opposing palmettes, the lower one with three petals.
There is, however, no trace of the left tendril.
Findspot: Isthmia, East Field.159
End of 6th century B.C.
74. Base fragment (?) P1. 74
C-39-281. H. 0.043, W. 0.033, est. D. ca. 0.35,
Th. 0.02. Stamp: H. 0.025, W. 0.014.
Weinberg, 1954, p. 128, note 123, pl. 30:m;
Anderson, p. 91, no. 109.
Impure, pink clay (5YR 7/4) with predom-
inantly,red inclusions; fine, reddish yellow slip
(7.5YR 7/6). A very small part of the original cir-
cumference is preserved, and so it is not certain
that this fragment belongs to the class; chipped
surface. Slightly worn matrix.
Circular base, decorated above with a row of concen-
tric chevrons, vertex down, stamped and bordered
top and bottom by a thin groove.
Findspot: well west of the Museum (K: 23) which
has yielded material dating between the beginning of
the 6th century and the third quarter of the 5th cen-
tury B.C.160 Because of the stamped chevrons, the
base fragment can be generally dated to the 6th cen-
tury. Among the various examples of similar decora-
tions used on bowls and stands,'16 those dated
around the middle of the century are most like 74:
they seem to have slimmer proportions, but they also
show a less precise execution compared to earlier ex-
amples which display a much neater design as well
as triangles which are closed at the base, rather than
open chevrons.'62
Ca. 550 B.C.
157 Williams and Fisher, 1973, pp. 1-27.
158 Weinberg, 1954, pp. 128, 129, cf. pls. 28-30; Brann, p. 366, no. 67:a, pl. 57; see also 75, 82, 84-86. The
motif of tongues bordered by little pearls originated in embossed work, passing from the Cretan Orientalizing
repertoire into Corinthian decorative schemes. Such a motif had a certain diffusion during the last decades of
the 6th century B.C. in the Peloponnessos and particularly in the area of Corinth, but I know of few other
comparisons for this tongue pattern. For an analogous scheme of 20 or 21 circular impressions along the
borders of a Cretan pithos fragment found on the Patela of Prinias, see L. Savignoni, "Cretan Expedition
XVIII. Fragments of Cretan Pithoi," AJA 5, 1901, p. 408, iv, pl. XIII:6. See also J. Schafer, Studien zu den
griechischen Reliefspithoi des 8-6 Jahr. v. Christ aus Krete, Rhodes, Tenos, und Boiotien, Kallmunz 1957,
p. 39, fig. 1:2. For its possible presence on a pithos fragment from Knossos, see J. Boardman, "Archaic Finds at
Knossos," BSA 57, 1962 (pp. 28-34) p. 33, no. 3, pl. 5:c. The motif was certainly used until Hellenistic times:
see J. K. Anderson, "Excavations on the Kofina Ridge, Chios," BSA 49, 1954, p. 157, no. 282, pl. 12:c. For a
fragment from Naukratis which is possibly Corinthian, see W. M. Flinders Petrie, Naukratis I, iii, London
1886, tav. IV:5.
159 For the 1970 excavation campaigns conducted in the area between the theater and the east front of the
temple, see Clement (footnote 47 above), pp.105-108.
160 See footnotes 41, 95.
161 See footnote 236 below; cf. also the fragment of a votive koulouri from Perachora, Perachora II,
pp. 328-329, no. 3347, pl. 130.
162 Weinberg, 1954, pp. 124-125, pl. 28:f; Perachora II, pp. 322, 329, nos. 3365, 3453, pls. 126, 130. The
same motif with a less precise design and a looser structure reappears on a fragment of a Corinthian lekane
(C- 1976-323, unpublished) with a modeled rim, from a quarry in the hill of the Temple of Apollo. 74 is cited
for its resemblance to the clay of the tripod bowl from the Argive Heraion (S. Hersom, "A Fragment of an Archaic
Vessel with Stamped Decoration," Hesperia 21, 1952 [pp. 275-278], p. 276, note 6).