Byzantine Polychrome Pottery

Author(s): D. Talbot Rice

Source: The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs, Vol. 61, No. 357 (Dec., 1932), pp. 277+280-
282+287
Published by: The Burlington Magazine Publications, Ltd.
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/865310 .
Accessed: 07/05/2011 15:29

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at .
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless
you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you
may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use.

Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at .
http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=bmpl. .

Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed
page of such transmission.

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

The Burlington Magazine Publications, Ltd. is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend
access to The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs.

http://www.jstor.org

that practice was not uniform either at different
kilns or at different periods.
The conclusion is that Hsiang's Album, as
represented in extant copies, does not provide
a reliable basis for estimating the wares
BYZANTINE POLYCHROME POTTERY
BY D. TALBOT RICE
HE subject of Byzantine ceramics
constitutes a field in which our
knowledge is still very incomplete,
but now that scientific excavations
dealing with the medieval period in
the Nearer East are being undertaken on a more
extensive scale, our fund of information is slowly
accumulating and we are coming to realize that
Byzantium boasted a very definite ceramic art of
her own. In addition to sgraffito and painted
wares closely related to those of Persia and
Egypt, but developed along individual lines,
Byzantine culture was responsible for a purely
original group, where the decoration of various
colours was laid directly upon the body, the whole
being coated with a thin layer of transparent
glaze. Blue, brown, yellow, green, gold leaf,
and an upstanding tomato red are the most
characteristic colours The decoration is often
outlined in manganese or black. The body is
invariably fine and delicate, the colour varying
from white, to pink, yellow or grey in different
regions; it is, however, never red or heavy.
The ware was used for diverse purposes, for
we find vessels of every shape, for table, per-
haps also for ecclesiastical uses, ornamental
plaques intended for wall decoration or as borders
and plaques bearing separate figure subjects,
which may be classed as " ikons." The most
prolific finds were made at Patleina in Bulgaria
before the war; they include vessels, ornamental
plaques and " ikons," among them the superb
Portrait of St. Theodore, which has been pub-
lished more than once,' all dated on archaeological
grounds to the ninth or tenth century. Some
fine revetment plaques [PLATEII] and fragments
of vessels, dated to the eleventh century at
latest, were found during the British Academy
excavations at Constantinople in 1928, and they
are, in general, so akin to the Patleina ones that
there can be no doubt that the two are closely
related. Further fragments of the same family
were unearthed by the author around the Church
of the Myrelaion at Constantinople in 1930, while
others, belonging to the twelfth century, were
found by Macridy Bey of the Ottoman Museum,
during British excavations in the Church of St.
1 Filow: " L'ancien Art Bulgare," Berne, 1919, pl. xlix.
Grabar: " Les Influences Orientales dans l'Art Balkanique,"
1928, pl. i. D. Talbot Rice: " Byzantine Glazed Pottery,"
1930. Frontispiece. A full bibliography of the subject is
given here.
S 28S
Hsiang'sAlbum
portrayed, in respect of either form or colour.
The reputed author's comments on technical
details are often mistaken. Bushell pointed out
errors, and the editors of the recent publication
have made further corrections.
Mary Panachrantos in the same city.2 Portion
of a plaque, bearing the figure of a Saint, prob-
ably also from Constantinople, was published by
Ebersolt in Byzantion (vi, 1931, p. 559). And
now Dr. Miatev, of the National Museum of
Sofia, has published further finds from the round
church of Preslav, which date from the end of
the ninth or the beginning of the tenth cen-
tury. They comprise fragments of vessels and
of plaques, some bearing naturalistic or formal
designs [PLATE I, E, F and G] some inscriptions,
some figures of animals or Saints [PLATE I, J]l
and Fig. below. The style, the ornament and
the technique are well nigh identical with what
we see nearby at Patleina, so that we may con-
clude that these two groups are to be attributed
to an art which was in general popularity and
which was well known in Bulgaria when
Preslav was the capital of the land (893-972).
U1 oa
--LLF
OO I1I o1Ia III II * * *
•L
_•I11 o
10o O jo
0.
a o jj
00 0Io0
o0
0 IF 0
al
C.
.
10 a I
c•Io1IoU- i -0 0la F2to 'I- 1 -II-
The pottery from both Bulgarian sites is
related to that from Constantinople, though there
are certain differences between the various finds
2
Archdiologischer Anzeiger, 1929, pp. 343 ff. Also article
by the author in Antiquity, iv, No. 16, December 1930, entitled
" British Excavations at Constantinople."
3 K. Miatev: " The Round Church of Preslav," Sofia,
1932, Ch. viii (in Bulgarian, with summary in French). The
photographs reproduced here were kindly communicated by
Dr. Miatev.
ByzantinePolychrome
Pottery
in the latter city which suggest that they are not
only of different ages but were also made in
different workshops, albeit, under the same
inspiration. Thus there is more red and gold on
the plaques from the Myrelaion than on any
others known; those from Panachrantos are
bright and shiny [PLATE I, A, B], whereas those
from the region of the great palace are matt in
texture [PLATEII] ; the Saint published by Eber-
solt is executed in much thinner and washier
colours than are other plaques from Constanti-
nople or Bulgaria. Moreover, it is, as Ebersolt
points out,. strikingly Hellenistic in style, where-
as the Patleina St. Theodore is typically
"Oriental." That the Hellenistic and "Oriental"
styles developed along contemporary lines in
Byzantine lands is well known, but in this case
it is tempting to suggest that the differences
are to be accounted for by date, and, as the St.
Theodore is to be assigned to the ninth-tenth
century, the Constantinople plaque may perhaps
be put back before the iconoclast period.
Various suggestions have been put forward as
to the origin and manufacture of this wa're.
Grabar thought that the Patleina examples were
made by Eastern workmen, either in the East or
after their immigration to Bulgaria; Strzygowski
was of much the same opinion, but considered
the masters Armenian; the author of this article
suggested that the examples from the region of
the great palace at Constantinople were made at
Nicaea, the Turkish Isnic, and that they were the
direct precursors of the famous Turkish pottery
formerly known as " Rhodian." But until
Miatev's excavations of 1928, no actual kiln site
had been found. He, however, was lucky
enough to discover close to the church some
wasters, heaps of clay, vessels containing colour
and glazing material, and other debris which
pointed to the existence on the spot of a potter's
workshop. It is one of the most important dis-
coveries made in connexion with Byzantine
ceramics, for it tells us where some, at least, of
the examples that we know were made, but it
still leaves us in doubt as to who the workers
were and as to whether those of Bulgaria were
the same as those whose products we find at
Constantinople.
I have pointed out elsewhere that many of the
motives which we see on the plaques from the
palace region at Constantinople are of an Hellen-
istic character [PLATE II], and that others are to
be associated with ;Moslem, rather than with
Sasanian art in the Near East [PLATE I, H].
And though there can be no doubt of the Sasanian
affinities of many of the Bulgarian examples,
there seems no reason to believe that any of the
specimens that we know or even their predeces-
sors are contemporary with the Sasanian
dynasty. They are, it would seem, one and all
28z
of a much later date, and though they owe a great
debt to Sasanian art, there is no reason to sup-
pose that this debt is a direct one. We see many
of the same motives developed and used in
Moslem art as we see in Bulgaria, and we must
conclude that it was by way of Moslem art of
Sasanian style that they reached the West.
But though the motives are often enough of
Eastern inspiration, the technique, the colours
and style are peculiar, as. far as we know at pre-
sent, to Bulgaria and Constantinople, though it
has been suggested that similar wares might be
found in Armenia. Nothing that could ever
be mistaken as an example of the ware has
appeared in the East, in Egypt, Mesopotamia,
Syria or Persia, and the possibility that models
were imported from these countries in large
quantities is thus definitely excluded. It seems
equally rash to conclude that artisans from one
or other of these lands were entirely responsible
for the work. A few designers may have come
westward, but had more than a very few of these
been potters at this early, ninth-century date,
one would surely expect to meet in the West a
style and technique of a definitely eastern
character in addition to an Eastern motive of
decoration. In the thirteenth and fourteenth
centuries we see so close a relationship between
the sgraffito potteries of Byzantine lands, of
Egypt and of Persia, that the transport not only
of numerous vessels, but also,of the potters them-
selves, can hardly be doubted, but this is never
the case with regard to the polychrome ceramics
which we are discussing. We prefer to con-
clude in this case that the models reached the
West in the form of drawings, of textiles, and of
perhaps a very few actual vessels, both of baked
clay and of metal.
It has usually been suggested that this Eastern
inspiration came to Bulgaria owing to a direct
communication between the Balkans and the
East, independent of Constantinople. But recent
discoveries in the two areas show examples
which are so close (see PLATE I, A-F), that a
connexion between the Byza'ntine and the Bul-
garian capitals is not to be doubted. In addition,
we have examples from Constantinople which
suggest a direct Moslem inspiration [PLATE I,
H], so that there is no reason to suppose a round-
about connexion with the East by way of Bul-
garia. We must hence conclude that Bulgaria
was influenced from the East, in some cases at
least, by way of Constantinople, though the
existence of an additional and independent route
is not, of course, to be denied.
In spite of the fact that the Hellenistic style
which we see at Constantinople does not seem
to have been popular in Bulgaria, there is every
reason to suppose that the two groups shared a
common origin. We have attempted to show

that the prototypes are not to be sought in the
East (Mesopotamia, Persia, Syria, Egypt). But
Armenia is still an unknown quantity; Anatolia
still remains unexplored in this respect; we know
all too little of Bulgaria and the soil of Con-
stantinople, the great mother city of the middle
SHORTER NOTICES
A REDISCOVERED PICTURE BY JAN
LIEVENS.-In the Liechtenstein Gallery, Vienna,
is a Portrait of a Girl, attributed until now to Rem-
brandt's pupil, Ferdinand Bol. On the back of this
picture is an old inscription " Rembrandt " and the
words " Prince Regniant Joseph Wenceslaus de
Lichtenstein " (died 1772) [PLATE'A].
At the request of the author, Professor Eigen-
berger of Vienna was so kind as to have the picture
cleaned. After the removal of dirt and over paint-
ings, one had the impression that the technique of
the painting recalled not so much Bol's manner as
that of Lievens. The background and the colours
are so thin that the brownish red wood shines
through. This effect is especially remarkable in the
part where the girl's flowing light hair lies on her
shoulder. The hair is held together by a red band
with yellow spots. Moreover, a certain stiffness of
profile is characteristic of Lievens, for he was more
a technical expert than a master portraitist like,
Rembrandt.
The attribution to Lievens receives further support
by a fact hitherto unknown. The Vienna picture is
a counterpart of the etching, Rov. 25, by the master
[PLATE B]. This etching belongs to a series, added
to by Lievens about 1637, at Antwerp, achieved by
working up some early pictures after the more elegant
manner of Van Dyck's etchings. No. 25 is, there-
fore, the reproduction of a picture belonging to the
master's early period. This coincidence and,
above all, the technique of the painting which
betrays the hand of the clever friend of Rembrandt,
lead us to assume that the picture in Vienna was
painted about 1631-32.
It should be mentioned that, in the eighteenth
century, the painting was extended to the right and
left by 14 mm., and at the foot by 35 mm.; these
parts are now covered over by dark paint, so that
the picture is once more in its original form.
CARL ERNST
KO)HNE
THE STEFAN VON AUSPITZ COLLECTION.
-In Vienna, to be sure, the collecting of fine
pictures and other works of art has traditions of
long standing: and no greater praise could be
accorded to the collection, formed in the last thirty
years or so by Herr Stefan von Auspitz, than saying
that it worthily upheld those traditions. The break-
up of the collection is one of the direct consequences
of the acute financial crisis which developed in
Vienna during the spring and summer of 1931; and
we owe it to these tragic circumstances that some
of the finest paintings in the collection should now,
by courtesy of Herr Walter Bachstitz, be on exhibi-
tion in London, at Messrs. Agnew's Galleries.
The selection on view-comprising some thirty
pictures-gives a good idea of the Viennese collec-
Pottery
ByzantinePolychrome
ages, has but been scratched. And though the
latter area must always be regarded as the
greatest emporium, to which of them must be
assigned the invention of our group will only be
known when further and much more extensive
excavations have been undertaken.
tor's catholicity of taste and exacting standard of
artistic excellence. Within the space at our dis-
posal, it would be impossible to deal adequately with
all the points, which suggest themselves for dis-
cussion by the several pictures,: and we will there-
fore in the main restrict ourselves to a few com-
ments on those of the examples of which we are able
to give reproductions.
The noble portrait of an old woman by Memling
(PLATE I, A) will probably be new to most visitors to
the exhibition. Though it belonged for years a
to.
well-known Berlin collection, that of the late Herr
von Hollitscher, it was never, so far as I am aware,
either then or when it belonged to Herr von Auspitz
lent to any public exhibition, and has indeed but
comparatively recently been introduced by Dr.
Friedlander into art literature.' The singularly
imposing simplicity of design, and powerful inter-
pretation of character give the panel a place apart
among Memling's works as a portrait painter, and
denote indeed the closest point of affinity to, the
manner of Rogier van der Weyden ever reached by
the Bruges master. As regards the date of this
work, it has been thought that it should be placed
in the neighbourhood of works such as the Chats-
worth triptych and the Danzig altarpiece, both of
them painted about 1470 : and characteristics of style
no less than certain details of costume may be said
entirely to bear out this suggestion.
A later Netherlandish master who may be seen at
the exhibition to particular advantage is Joos van
Cleve. There is, for one thing, by him the charmingly
fantaisiste half-length of Lucretia stabbing herself,
a comparatively early work, dating from about
and still entirely conceived in the Gothic spirit-
1520
the spirit, that is, of flamboyant Gothic. There is
further the lovely Madonna (PLATEI, B) which dis-
closes the full extent of the approach to the ideals
of the Italian Renaissance which, in the course of
the next twenty years, was made by the master.
Indeed, I think it possible to point to the very
picture by Raphael which haunted the artist's
imagination when he conceived his design: it was,
surely, the Bridgewater Madonna, the Infant Christ
in which is very distinctly echoed in the present
picture. Of course, Joos van Cleve, being the fine
artist that he is, had no need to follow his model
slavishly: but the source from which he got his cue
is, to my mind, quite unmistakable. The picture has
extraordinary charm of positive, harmonious colour :
and altogether serves to demonstrate once again
how Joos van Cleve, unlike so many contemporary
Flemish artists, managed to retain an indisputable
1 See M. J. Friedliinder, " Altniederliindische Malerei," Vol.
vi, No. 139.
287
 C

le. ...
-'***
.......
...
...
.....
tv
tell

?
ii~
i•ii ~i~iii~~•ii~
i•ii•~~~~l
:ii ~iiiiSii~ iiii!iiii~ii
iiijiii
~iii•iii!iiii i~iii~i~iiiii
':?iiiil:l~ :iliii:
i~i~
~i:ii•iiii•i~~iliiiiii:!•iiiiiiiiii• i i i i•il iiiii •
ii B i!~

iL&L

A-F-Fragments of Revetment Plaques. A,B- G-Revetment

Twelfth century (St. Mary Panachrantos, Constanti- Plaques. Ninth-tenth century
(Preslav, Bulgaria)
nople). C,D-Eleventh-twelfth century (Constanti-
nople). E,F-Ninth-tenth century (Preslav, Bulgaria)

A,
ON
mAx
MNE

f,2. 4fimv.,

7 V.

H-Plate, bearing Kufic motive. Twelfth century of Potteryv " Icons."

J-Fragments Ninth-
(Constantinople) tenth century (Preslav, Bulgaria)

Plate I. Byzantine Polychrome Pottery

Fragments of Revetment Plaques from Constantinople, showing Hellenistic motives
Plate II. Byzantine Polychrome Pottery

A-Portrait of a Girl, here identified as by

Jan Lievens. Panel, 46.7 by 36.2 (Liechten- B-Portrait of a Girl. Etching by Jan Lievens (Rov.,
stein Gallery, Vienna) No. 25)
Shorter Notices: A rediscovered Picture by Jan Lievens