claybair on sun 24 sep 06
Vince,
Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faience
if they have it wrong you can edit the page.
Gayle Bair
Bainbridge Island, WA
Tucson, AZ
http://claybair.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Clayart [mailto:CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG]On Behalf Of Vince
Pitelka
Sent: Sunday, September 24, 2006 10:37 AM
To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
Subject: Re: amphorae and rhytons
> " Amphora" is a collective general name for all kinds of
> Greek shapes. There are crater amphorae, arybellos, column crater
> amphorae, neck amphorae, volute krater amphorae,calyx krater, hydria,
> neck and amphorae of Panathenaeic shape. And a few more. A rhyton is
> a name for a specifically shaped amphora, sometimes pointed,
> sometimes with a rounded bottom. It would generally have two, three,
> five or seven handles.
But Rogier, if you go online as I suggested and research the term "rhyton,"
you will see that it specifically refers to the horn-shaped drinking vessel,
often with molded animal imagery. There are all sorts of examples of art
historians and archaeologists who have misused local terminology, and the
fact that some highly respected older texts misapplied the terms "amphora"
or "rhyton" and used them in an overly-generalized fashion is no reason that
we should continue to do that today.
There are so many similar examples. You find numerous art historians
referring to the red or black "glaze" on Greek pottery, when it is not a
glaze, but a terra sigillata. You find regular reference to Egyptian
"faience," when in fact ancient glazed Egyptian ceramic items are either
Egyptian paste, or are glazed with a clear alkaline glaze that is clearly
not a faience glaze. There are too many examples where this kind of misuse
of terminology has just been accepted, and I think it is our responsibility
to try to use the language correctly when we can. In some case, the misuse
simply becomes an accepted part of the lexicon, and at a certain point there
isn't anything that can be done. That's probably the case with "Egyptian
faience," but let's at least use the terms "amphora" and "rhyton" correctly.
Is that a reasonable request?
I hope that didn't sound too much like a rant. It's really impossible to
absolutely define "proper" use of the terminology, but I think we can at
least work towards clarity in use and meaning.
- Vince
Vince Pitelka
Appalachian Center for Craft, Tennessee Technological University
Smithville TN 37166, 615/597-6801 x111
vpitelka@dtccom.net, wpitelka@tntech.edu
http://iweb.tntech.edu/wpitelka/
http://www.tntech.edu/craftcenter/
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