The Attraction of the Pictorial: Observations on the Relationship of Theran Pottery and Theran Fresco Iconography

This paper pursues the long-standing question of the nature of the relationship between vase painting and wall painting by considering the decoration of a number of individual vases as a whole and comparing it to the way in which frescoes are used to decorate rooms or entire buildings. The results shed further light not only on the iconographical, technical and social aspects of Theran vase painting, but also on the history of Theran wall painting.

INTRODUCTION

Most Theran pottery is decorated. Vases with pictorial decoration are not the exception, as at other Aegean sites contemporary with Akrotiri (see, for instance, the situation at Ayia Irini on Keos: Cummer and Schofield 1984, 140-141), but constitute a considerable corpus. Furthermore, these vessels are decorated with a much wider variety of motifs than is known from other sites. For these two reasons, Thera occupies a prominent position as the producer of the richest pictorial pottery in the Aegean in the first period of the Late Bronze Age.

The pictorial motifs of Theran vases belong to two different iconographic cycles which do not appear together on the same vessels. The motifs of one cycle are cultivated plants and painted representations of vessels (Marthari 1987, 376; 1993, 387-389). The appearance of these designs on a whole category of vases is a unique phenomenon in Aegean pottery decoration which appeared on Thera in the early Late Bronze Age and disappeared with the volcanic destruction of the island. The interpretation of these motifs requires comprehensive and detailed discussions which are well beyond the scope of this paper. The other iconographic cycle draws its subject matter from the natural marine and terrestrial worlds. The components of the representations in this cycle are landscape elements, wild plants, animals and, very rarely, the human figure. In many cases, animals, plants and landscape elements are placed in such a way that naturalistic scenes are created, full of movement and vividness (Marthari 1987, 377-378; 1993, 384-386).

As a result of a detailed study of this second iconographic cycle, it is now clear that all its themes, without exception, recall, directly or indirectly, the themes of Theran frescoes. This relationship between two different Theran arts - vase painting and wall painting - requires special consideration and study. The presence of a vast number of vases and frescoes in an excellent state of preservation at Akrotiri strongly supports such a study.

The relationship between vase painting and wall painting is an interesting aspect of the research into the societies which developed these two arts. This interrelation, as far as the Aegean world is concerned, has sustained research and discussion from even before the time of Evans to the present (see for instance, Rodenwaldt 1912, 220f.; Evans 1921, 554, 603-609; 1928, 468-512; Furumark 1941, 137-148; Hood 1978, 47-48 with bibliography; Walberg 1986, 57-88; Immerwahr 1990a, ch. 3, 41 with n.1; Boulotis 1995, 15-16). Regarding Thera, the topic was introduced years ago by the writer (Marthari 1987, 377, 379) and has been given special attention quite recently by S.A. Immerwahr (1990b; for discussions on this subject during the Third International Congress, see Hardy (ed.) 1990, 66, 244-245; for an interesting comparison of Theran frescoes with Theran pottery on a stylistic level, see Davis 1990, 223-224). Immerwahr reached her remarkable conclusions after considering the presence of two motifs, the swallow and the dolphin, in both media.

My approach in this paper continues to a next stage. Rather than examine selected isolated elements on vases and frescoes, I have considered the decoration of each vase as a whole, and compared it to a fresco or group of frescoes decorating a room or building. It has been shown by some scholars that the decoration of a building at Akrotiri is based on an iconographic programme - that is, each individual fresco was thematically related to the others in the room or building (Morgan 1983, 85-87; Marinatos 1984, 34, 123-124; Hägg 1985; Morgan 1990, 261-263; Doumas 1992, 19-20; Televantou 1994, 365-375; Boulotis 1995, 29-32). After careful study ofthe ceramic evidence from Akrotiri, a picture of the vase painter emerges which reveals him to be as concerned with the thematic unity of the decoration on an entire vessel as the fresco painters were in their building assemblages of wall paintings. Before starting work, he decided what theme to use and how to develop it on the surface of the vase. He decided in advance what elements to place on each section of the vase, what would adorn the neck, base or foot, and the body. The considerations for the body included whether one single scene would encircle it or whether it would be divided into two panels intended to depict two different scenes. These scenes were always related to one another in juxtaposition.

Nothing was painted by chance; each design reflects the intent of the painter. In the most representational scenes, this is immediately understandable. On the other hand, in the more abstracted ones, which are composed of a few selected motifs without any obvious connection, this is more difficult to discern. However, the systematic study of the whole repertory of Theran pictorial pottery, and its comparison with the much more complex fresco iconography, has now made it possible to decipher the correlations, even in this latter case. In order to make this clear, I will discuss some characteristic examples of vases with pictorial decoration, more or less complex, and compare them to frescoes.

THE STRAINER OF THE SWALLOWS (New Museum, Thera no. 3592) (Fig. 1)

On the spherical body of the polychrome strainer found in the first floor of Xeste 3 (Marinatos 1976, 29, pl. 47c), swallows fly above blossoming crocuses; on its conical foot, there is a band of white lily flowers. The combination of the swallow and crocus motifs also occurs on the fresco of the 'Blue Monkeys' in Sector B and in the 'Frieze of Swallows' in Xeste 3.

In the first fresco, still undergoing restoration, swallows (Doumas 1992, fig. 146), blue monkeys and other animals are depicted in a landscape characterised by a river and rocks sprouting myrtle, reeds and crocuses (S. Marinatos 1970, 63-64, pl. 62:2, col. pl. B1; N. Marinatos 1984, 112-116, fig. 83; Doumas 1992, 110-111, figs. 85-91). The composition of the fresco is much more complex than that on the strainer. On the second fresco, swallows are shown bringing food to and feeding their chicks in their nests among rocks and crocuses (S. Marinatos 1976, 26, pl. 39b; N. Marinatos 1984, 65-66, fig. 47; Doumas 1992, 128, figs. 97-99). The two main components are the swallows and the crocuses, exactly as on the strainer. However, the lyricism of the theme, with the inclusion of the ducks, on the fresco makes the scene on the strainer look dull and conventional by comparison.

Thematically, the decoration of the strainer is closer to the 'Spring Fresco' of Complex Delta. In this mural, however, swallows are shown flying over lilies rather than crocuses (Doumas 1992, 100, figs. 66, 69). The relationship between swallows and lilies, as shown in the fresco, is echoed in the representation of the lilies on the foot of the strainer, even if the lilies on the fresco are red and those on the vase white. Otherwise white lilies do not occur on Theran frescoes, possibly for technical reasons; they cannot be combined with the white background which is ubiquitous in Theran mural art (Davis 1990). The only exception to this is the bouquet of white lilies carried by one of the ladies with bouquets (Marinatos 1974, 17, pl. 24c; Davis 1990, 215-220; Televantou 1994, 374, pl. 60). This mural decorated a room on the first floor of Xeste 3 (Marinatos 1984, fig. 44; Doumas 1992, figs. 131-134), a building in the iconographic programme of which the 'Frieze of Swallows' is included, and where the strainer was excavated.

Although there are thematic similarities between the strainer and the three aforementioned frescoes ('Blue Monkeys', 'Frieze of Swallows' and 'Spring Fresco'), the execution of the former is significantly poorer than that of the latter. First, the ability of Theran vase painters, including the painter of the strainer, to render the movement and volume of the swallows, while advanced for the evolution of their own art, is inferior to that of Theran fresco painters. Second, the strict rules governing the arrangement of the figures in Theran pictorial pottery necessarily result in a depiction which is not as vivid or natural as that in frescoes. These rules, which bound the painter of the strainer, dictate a strict rythmical repetition of the figures in progression moving from left to right around the body of the vessel. Conversely, in the frescoes, there are complicated poses and groupings of swallows.

THE KYMBAI OF THE 'DEER' AND DOLPHINS (National Museum, Athens nos. 3266, 3267) (Figs. 2-7)

Although found in different buildings and undoubtedly made by different hands, the polychrome kymbai from the House of the Ladies, Room 7 (Figs. 2-4) and the West House, Room 5 (Figs. 5-7) (Marinatos 1974, 10, 25, pls. 80-83, col. pl. 11) present the same themes arranged in the same way on their surface. On one long side, quadrupeds gallop on ground depicted with rounded rocks and blossoming crocuses (Figs. 2, 5). On the other long side, dolphins swim among seaweed springing from the rocks of the sea bed (Figs. 3, 6). These scenes are separated by pictorial motifs on both short sides. On the kymbe from the House of the Ladies, these dividing motifs are different: a crocus plant on one short side, and two rocks with seaweed sprouting from them on the other (Fig. 4). The short sides relate thematically to the larger scenes - the crocus to the land scene, and the rocks with the seaweed to the marine scene. On the kymbe from the West House, however, the two dividing motifs are identical: a young palm tree (Fig. 7). In this case, the palm trees can only be related to the land scene and serve as a framing device for the animals.

The iconography of both kymbai is connected with the miniature fresco in the West House (Pls. 1-3; Marinatos 1974, 30-45, pls. 91-112, col. pls. 7-8; Morgan 1988; Doumas 1992, 47, 49, figs. 26-48; Televantou 1994, 59-121, 165-396), where one of them was found. The dolphin imagery calls to mind the south frieze where dolphins swim among the ships of the fleet (Pls. 3, 14; Doumas 1992, figs. 35-37, 41-43). However, there is a difference. The rocks and seaweed of the kymbe scene clearly indicate that the setting is the depths of the sea. In the south frieze, the dolphins are swimming among the ships, that is they appear to be on the surface of the sea.

The scenes of galloping animals recall two scenes of the miniature frieze where deer run to escape their predators. In the south frieze, antlered deer are hunted by a lion in a wooded, mountainous setting (Pl. 3, 0-1.80 m.; Doumas 1992, fig. 36). In the east frieze, a fawn (Morgan 1988, 54-55, pl. 73) runs along one bank of a river, fleeing from a griffin on the other (Doumas 1992, figs. 30, 32).

The animals on the kymbe from the West House resemble the fawn on the east frieze in both form and movement. They have pointed ears, small tails and stippled hides (Fig. 5), as does the fawn of the east frieze (Doumas 1992, figs. 30, 32). In addition, the gallop, as rendered by the 'S' shape of the body and the splayed legs, is exactly the same in the animals of both representations.

Finally, the quadrupeds of the kymbe are framed, as previously noted, by two young palm trees. Similarly, the dominant elements on the river banks in the east frieze are the two adult palms with many young palms to the side (Pl. 2; Doumas 1992, figs. 30-34). 

The landscape and the seascape play off each other, in contrast and similarity, in the miniature frieze; the same interplay is achieved, in a different way, in the representations on the kymbai. First, the sea and land are not combined in a single scene, as in the fresco, but are clearly juxtaposed with each long panel devoted to one subject. Second, the two worlds are not presented analytically, but suggested in a kind of shorthand. Two characteristic episodes of the frieze, each symbolising one world - two ideograms, one might say, standing for the sea and the land - are transposed to the sides of the kymbai, but adapted to the rules and style of vase painting.

It must also be noted that, in addition to iconographic correlations, there is another element which is common to both the kymbe from the West House and the miniature frieze. In the kymbe, figures of animals or dolphins partially overlap one another, indicating position in space; in the frieze, the same technique is used to show the positions of the stags and dolphins (Doumas 1992, 36, 41-42). The vase painter of this kymbe is, so far as has been deduced from the evidence, one of the most daring and gifted Theran vase painters. He has attempted the spatial technique of overlapping, having possibly been inspired by the miniature frieze or other frescoes. Nor has he hesitated to break the inviolable rules of vase painting for the ordering and rhythmic procession of the motifs.

THE EWER OF THE REEDS (Figs. 8-10)

Reflections of the 'Nilotic' landscape of the east miniature frieze also occur on a series of other, much simpler, ewer representations. These representations also recall other Theran frescoes depicting riparian surroundings, such as the 'Reed Fresco' of Xeste 3 (S. Marinatos 1974, 17, pl. 24b; 1976, 27, 34, pl. 42a, col. pl. IB; N. Marinatos 1984, 68-70). Otherwise, it is in this building that most of these vessels have been found. The motifs on a ewer with a tubular spout (New Museum, Thera no. 3720 from Xeste 3, Rooms 2 and 3), adult palm trees with reeds (Fig. 8), directly remind us of the east miniature frieze (Pl. 2; Doumas 1992, figs. 30-34). A whole series of such jugs, decorated with reeds only, recall primarily the 'Reed Fresco'. The leaves of reeds on jug New Museum, Thera no. 4944 (Xeste 3, Room 11) (Fig. 9) are overlapping, as are the reeds in the fresco (Pl. 16; Doumas 1992, fig. 135). On jug New Museum, Thera no. 2157 (Complex Delta, Room 16) (Fig. 10), black and red reeds alternate, which reminds us of the alternation of blue and ochre reeds in the fresco. Both the jug and the fresco images reflect the true colour difference between the green young shoots of reeds and the yellow older, more mature stalks. However, the fresco painter has chosen the colours which are closer to the real ones from his rich palette, whereas the vase painter uses the only two colours at his disposal, black and red, to show the difference.

THE PITHOS OF THE BULL, GOATS, DOLPHINS AND SEAGULLS (New Museum, Thera no. 4854) (Figs. 11-15)

Let us turn now to a pithos and a sherd with bichrome decoration, which differ stylistically from all other pictorial Theran vases. The surface of the pithos is divided into two distinct panels by two different vertical motifs - a spiral and a group of bands (Figs. 13-14). One panel presents a pastoral scene (Figs. 11, 15) and the other a marine scene (Fig. 12). Although the idea of juxtaposition of a seascape and a landscape brings to mind the two kymbai presented above, the themes are quite different. On one panel seagulls fly over swimming dolphins, while on the other a bull is flanked by two goats. This decoration, too, appears close to the iconography of the miniature frieze of the West House, where the pithos was found (in Room 3c) (Doumas 1980, 294, pls. 178-179).

In the marine scene, the swimming dolphins and the seagulls are placed in the upper half of the panel. The lower half is devoted to the representation of the depths of the sea; this is indicated by the wavy strokes delineating the sea bed and by marine vegetation. This depiction relates, in a much more comprehensive way than the scenes on the kymbai, to the south miniature frieze (Pl. 3; Doumas 1992, figs. 36-37). The inclusion of seagulls, like the ships in the frieze, signifies that the dolphins are swimming on the surface.

In addition, the specific details in the rendering of the dolphins on this jar tie it more directly to the illustration of the dolphins in the frieze than to those on other Theran vases with dolphin images. The thick bodies, the wavy line of the back, the twin pectoral fins and the long beak are common characteristics of the dolphins on both the jar and the fresco (Pl. 14; Doumas 1992, figs. 41-43).

The most striking common feature, however, is the similarity in the organisation of the elements in the seascapes of the jar and the south frieze (Pl. 3; Doumas 1992, figs. 35, 36-38). The main motifs - dolphins and birds on the jar, ships on the fresco - are arranged in two rows. On the jar, the central dolphin on the upper row is larger than the rest. On the fresco, the central ship on the upper row has more impressive ornamentation than the rest in the fresco. In both, the elements of the lower row cover the blank space between the elements of the upper row.

In the fresco, the central position and the differentiation in ornamentation have been used specifically to draw attention to this ship and to emphasise its importance. It has been interpreted as the flagship of the fleet (Marinatos 1976, 35; Morgan 1988, 121-122; Televantou 1994, 106-108, 335). The general layout of the scene has been considered cartographic, that is, the nearest elements of the scene have been drawn on the lowest level of the field and those farther away are arranged on upper levels. Following this interpretation, the ships in the upper row are farther away than those in the lower (Iliakis 1978, 621; Betancourt 1977, 19-20; Televantou 1994, 298 with footnote 5). The painter of the jar seems merely to have copied the schematic layout of the fresco without realising the intent behind it. The drawing of one dolphin larger than the others and its central placement probably do not mean that it is more important than the others. The combination of dolphins and seagulls in the upper space on the jar makes it questionable that the vase painter was conscious of the cartographic rendering system used in the miniature fresco.

In the pastoral scene, the bull and goats occupy the upper space, and foliated plants occupy the lower space of the panel. Toward the right border, still in the lower space, are two crocuses and a lily-like plant. The co-existence of a bovid and goats is rare in Aegean iconography. It occurs on the Theran north miniature frieze of the West House and possibly, according to some scholars, on the Knossian 'Town Mosaic' (Polinger Foster 1979, 105; Morgan 1988, 57 with n.146, 59 with n.187). On the north miniature frieze, a herd of bulls (for the herd of bulls, see mainly Televantou 1994, 232-233, col. pl. 30, pl. 28b, folded drawing 1; see also Morgan 1988, 56-58) and a flock of sheep and goats are shown (Pl. 1, 0.70-2 m.; Doumas 1992, figs. 26, 28).

The connection between the north miniature frieze and the pastoral scene of the jar is also suggested by the similarities in the rendering of the animals. The animals of the pithos, like some of the animals in the fresco, are depicted in outline with their horns and hooves detailed in silhouette. In addition, there are animals with dappled hides in both scenes.

Apart from the correlation between the pithos and the miniature frescoes, there are other elements which correlate the decoration of the pithos to other, large scale Theran wall paintings. First, the jar painter's attempt to render the volume of the animals by using thicker and narrower outlines recalls a similar technique which appears in the fresco of the 'Antelopes' in Sector B (Doumas 1992, figs. 82-84). However, the vase painter, despite his resourcefulness and talent in creating complicated scenes, pales dramatically in comparison with his colleague the fresco painter in his drawing ability. Second, the two motifs which divide the larger scenes on the jar - the spiral and the bands - find close parallels in frescoes. The spiral is used in isolated decorative friezes, like that in Xeste 3 (Doumas 1992, figs. 93-94), or as a horizontal framing element at the top and bottom of figurative frescoes, as on the 'Blue Monkeys' fresco of Sector B (Doumas 1992, figs. 85-86, 90). The bands are also used as horizontal framing elements at the top and bottom of frescoes (Pls. 5, 7, 12; Doumas 1992, figs. 2-4, 6-7, 18-19, 109-111, 122, 151).

THE SHERD WITH A MALE IN FRONT OF A FLOWER (National Museum, Athens no. 1387) (Fig. 16)

This sherd (Marinatos 1971, 39, col. pl. Ga, pl. 96c) was found, not in a building of the volcanic destruction level dating from a mature stage of LC I like the vases referred to above, but in a deposit of the previous seismic destruction level (Marinatos 1972, 44; Doumas 1978, 780; Marthari 1984; Palyvou 1984; Marthari 1990, 66-68) dating from a very early stage of LC I. It was recovered in pit 14, dug in the area of Telchines Road to the west of Delta 16 for the foundation of one of the pillars supporting the modern roof. In the pit under the clay floor of the Telchines Road there was a fill 1.60 m. thick, which consisted of debris from the seismic destruction (Marthari 1984, 126 with n.2; Palyvou 1984, 134, figs. 1-2), including, according to the diary, the sherd under consideration.

In spite of the stratigraphical difference, the sherd is so similar to the West House pithos (see above, Figs. 11-15) that it must be a work of the same workshop, if not of the same hand. The sherd depicts part of the head of a human figure, bent slightly forward to a lily flower of unnatural size. Here, as on the jar, the same graphic technique, a combination of outline and silhouette, and the same colours, black and red, are used. Especially striking is the similarity between the rendition of the details and the volume of the face on the sherd and the face of the bull on the jar (Figs. 15, 16). The outline of varying width that delineates the nose and mouth of the human figure is also used on the muzzle of the bull; similar lines are used to accent highlights under the eye and on the cheek of the figure and on the jowls of the bull; both have a similar rendering of the eye. Even the way in which the human face approaches the flower reminds us of the bull's face approaching the large flower of the lily-like plant in the pithos pastoral scene.

Consequently, the pithos, found in the volcanic destruction level dating from mature LC I, could be an heirloom from the period before the seismic destruction; this idea is also supported by the archaic shape of the vase. Such a suggestion explains the stylistic differences between the representation on the pithos and the sherd, on the one hand, and the rest of the Theran pictorial vases found in the buildings, on the other. There is, however, a problem. The great similarity of the pithos, on the levels of iconography and rendering of figures, to the West House miniature frieze suggests that the creator of the pithos was inspired by the frieze. The frieze, however, is believed to have been painted "immediately after the seismic destruction or a little later" (Televantou 1992, 146). The solution to the problem may be that the painter was instead inspired by one or more frescoes decorating the edifices before the seismic destruction, which had many elements in common with the later frieze.

As in the case of the pithos, the image on this fragment shows a connection to the wall paintings. In terms of the representation of the figure, the head on the sherd is depicted in profile with a frontal eye, as is the case with every human face on the wall paintings. The slight forward inclination of the head parallels three figures in the frescoes: one of the two fishermen from the West House (Pl. 5; Doumas 1992, figs. 19, 23); a seated man holding a golden jug from Xeste 3 (Doumas 1992, figs. 110, 114); and the more richly clothed of the two boxing boys from Sector B (Doumas 1992, figs. 79, 81).

The skin colour of the human figure on the sherd is also the same as the colour of the male figures in the frescoes. The face is completely coloured brown-red, with the exception of the eye which is left unpainted. Consequently, we suppose that the figure on this sherd is male. Apparently, the Theran vase painters, like their colleagues the fresco painters, followed the colour convention for the male figure used in Egypt and the Aegean (Immerwahr 1990a, 51 with n.6).

The detailing of the hair recalls the hairstyle of young boys and girls in Theran frescoes; this may indicate, as has been suggested by some scholars, pubescent children in a transitional stage of their initiation (Davis 1986; Marinatos 1984, 35-37, 124; Doumas 1987; Karageorghis 1990). In these images the head is shorn, except for some parts on the crown and above the forehead from which hang, respectively, tresses and short locks. The short locks protruding above the brow in the figure on the sherd lead us to conclude that this figure, too, is a youthful male.

The theme of the representation on the sherd, a male in front of a plant, recalls two fragments of frescoes from Sector A, the 'African' fresco (Doumas 1992, fig. 148) and the fresco of the blue monkeys in front of an altar (Doumas 1992, fig. 147). In the former, the head of a male is shown near a palm tree. In the latter, a blue monkey is in front of the column of an altar or shrine, the capital of which has the shape of two large antithetic papyrus flowers. For the compositions of both of these frescoes interesting suggestions have been made, based on iconographic parallels from wall paintings and seals (S. Marinatos 1969; N. Marinatos 1988; 1998). I am cautious about adopting these for the composition of the vase to which the sherd belonged. However, the associations between the sherd and the figurative wall paintings reflect, as in the case of the pithos, the fact that figurative murals adorned Akrotiri mansions before the seismic destruction.

In spite of all the affinities with the wall paintings, there are differences due to technical peculiarities or difficulties. On the sherd, a combination of outline and silhouette is used to define the figure, while in the wall paintings only silhouette is used. There is also an attempt to define the inner contours of the face of the figure on the sherd through the use of line. In the male figures of the murals, only flat colour is employed, with no additional shading or any other technique to model the volume. Finally, the eye of the figure on the sherd is disproportionately large, while that on the fresco is more in harmony with the overall proportions of the face and figure.

The figure on this sherd recalls the figures on the 'Fishermen's Stand' from Phylakopi on Melos (Atkinson et al. 1904, 123-125, 263-264, fig. 95, pl. 22). They are painted in outline which is then filled in with red-brown to represent their bare skin. Their faces are depicted in profile, like the Theran sherd figure. However, their eyes are disproportionately large, more so than in the Theran sherd figure, in comparison to their faces. Furthermore, the eyes are located in what we would commonly recognise as the middle of their cheeks. It is clear that both the Akrotiri sherd and the Phylakopi stand reflect the same step in the evolution of Cycladic pottery. They owe their differences to the fact that they are from different workshops on different islands, Thera and Melos.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

       Social aspect

The comparisons above demonstrate without a doubt that Theran vase painters were attracted by the pictorial repertory of wall painting. On the other hand, the fresco painters adopted the imagery of the swallow from the repertory of pottery (see below). What is hidden, however, behind this preference for the pictorial? It is the attempt of the artists to mirror a concrete social background. It is, in fact, Akrotiri society, with its ideology, religious beliefs, mythology and experiences of everyday life, which has been crystallised in pictorial art. This art challenges us to decipher its codes.

Each iconographic programme in the entire assemblage of frescoes emphasises those aspects of society most closely related to the owner of the building in which they are painted. Some movable objects in the buildings appear to be intended to stress the same aspects. The West House and Xeste 3 provide two characteristic examples.

The focal point of the West House iconographic programme is the sea. This led to the proposal that the owner of this private house could be a seafarer (Marinatos 1974, 35; Doumas 1992, 49; Televantou 1994, 369-370). This view is supported by the large amount of imported pottery unearthed in the house (Marthari 1990, 61-65) in comparison to other buildings. Some movable objects with marine decoration found in the house, such as the kymbe (Figs. 2-4) and the pithos (Figs. 11-15), as well as a stucco offering table (Doumas 1992, figs. 142-144), also reflect the identity of the owner.

The iconographic programme of Xeste 3, which appears to be a public building and may be a kind of 'cult centre' at Akrotiri (Marinatos 1976, 23; Doumas 1983, 49; Televantou 1994, 366; Boulotis 1995, 30), is related to festivals of renewal and fertility of nature, in which initiation rituals were involved (Marinatos 1984, 61-84; Doumas 1992, 127-175; Televantou 1994, 371-375; Boulotis 1995, 25). In the representation of nature, the 'Swallow Frieze', the 'Ladies with Bouquets' (one of which is of white lilies) and the 'Reed Fresco' are included. The occurrence of the swallow and white lilies strainer (Fig. 1) and a series of reed ewers (Figs. 8, 10) in this building cannot be accidental. Rather, it is possible that their iconography was related to the character of the building.

It is beyond the scope of this paper to comment on the function of pottery workshops at Akrotiri (Marthari 1993, 393-395). I will confine myself to one observation. The ceramic evidence suggests that the potters produced their vases according to the interests of the inhabitants who were familiar to them. Thus there was a stock available, from which the patrons could choose what was best suited to their own needs. There is also evidence that there were commissions for special vases or sets of vases. The pictorial pottery was undoubtedly incorporated in this exchange system. It is possible that the same persons who conceived the iconographic programme of a building (owners of private houses, priests etc.) either chose or commissioned pottery which, like the fresco cycles, projected either the personality of the owner or the function of the building.

       Chronological aspect (Table 1)

Wall painting is an art which arose first in Crete and then spread to Thera and the other islands of the Cyclades (Cameron 1978, 590; Marinatos 1984, 117-118; Boulotis 1992, 89; Televantou 1992, 146-147; for the view that the art of wall painting was introduced from the east directly to the Cyclades and Thera, see Doumas 1992, 17). Decorative frescoes adorn the walls of the Old Palaces, while the appearance of pictorial frescoes coincides with the construction of the New Palaces (Immerwahr 1990a, 39).

It appears that mural pictorial art was introduced to Thera at more or less the same time. Thus, it seems logical that during Neopalatial I (MM IIIB-early LM IA), corresponding to late MC-early LC I (Akrotiri last period, phase A), and well before the seismic destruction of Akrotiri, wall painting was already established on Thera. This is demonstrated first by the fresco fragments found in the deposits of this destruction, and second by some pieces of frescoes discovered underneath the wall paintings which adorned the buildings during their final period (Marinatos 1972, 37, pl. 91a-b; Televantou 1992, 145-146 with catalogue nos. 6, 9, 14, 23, 40 and pl. XXXVII; Televantou 1994, 357-362; Doumas 1992, 29-30, 146 with figs. 149-150). These fragments represent mainly decorative designs but depict pictorial motifs as well (Televantou 1992, 158, catalogue nos. 40a, 40c). During early Neopalatial II (mature LM Ia), corresponding to mature LC I and after the seismic destruction, the remains of the early frescoes were overpainted to represent newer themes. These are the well known frescoes found in situ in the buildings.

As far as the pottery is concerned, the sherd with the male in front of a flower (Fig. 16), and possibly (see above) the pithos with the marine and pastoral scenes (Figs. 11-15), date from Late MC-early LC I, when the earlier frescoes adorned the walls of the buildings. From the same stage of development date the griffin jar (New Museum, Thera no. 7256), excavated from a seismic destruction level deposit, and a similar griffin jar, imported from Thera to Keos (Marthari 1998), as well as a limited number of sherds with pictorial decoration from the same level depicting reeds and other plants and friezes with ivy leaves (Marthari 1984, 129 (polychrome style), fig. 8b; Papagiannopoulou 1991, 38, pl. 9 top).

The pottery evidence indicates to a much greater extent than the evidence provided by the frescoes themselves that, prior to the seismic destruction, there were at Akrotiri rich representational murals similar to the later ones, depicting human figures, griffins and marine and pastoral scenes from which the vase painters were inspired. As has become clear from the examination of the sherd and pithos, the pictorial vases of this period were very closely related in their thematic considerations and style to the frescoes. However, their execution is quite primitive and naive by comparison.

The rest of the Theran pictorial vases, some examples of which have been examined above, (Figs. 1-10), date after the seismic destruction, i.e. from mature LC I (Akrotiri last period, phase B), when the final frescoes adorned the buildings. In addition to the subjects discussed above (swallows among crocuses, dolphins in marine environment, 'deer' among crocuses in wild environment, riparian surroundings with palm trees and/or reeds, friezes of white lilies), there were others such as plants of lilies, crocuses, ivy and myrtles in various combinations, friezes of crocuses, waterfowl (Marthari 1993, ch. 5, motifs 1-10) and lions (Demakopoulou and Crouwel 1993). Still closely related to the murals, the style of the vases is more freely adapted than that of the previously noted vases. Furthermore, their technique is much more accomplished and their themes much simpler. These characteristics are due not only to the evolution of the art, but also to the greater production of pictorial vases in this later stage.

       Iconographicand technical aspects and their implications

Pottery is an art with a continuous tradition on Thera, starting in the late Neolithic period. After a long evolution of the decoration, including pictorial motifs (see for example the birds and bird-like creatures of the MC Cycladic White ceramic class: Marthari 1998 with footnote 22), it is in the late MC period that the Theran pottery workshops produced a kind of pictorial pottery, the so-called 'black-and-red' style (Marthari 1984, 129 with n.3; 1987, 370; 1993, 30, 34-35; Papagiannopoulou 1991, 35-40), which also occurred at the same time on Melos (Atkinson et al. 1904, 119-120; Dawkins and Droop 1910-1911, 10-11, 21; Barber 1974, 34; 1978, 376). The patterns on these vases were primarily stylised plants and birds which are rarely identifiable with their natural counterparts. In a more evolved stage of the late MC period, vases with swallow representations appear only on Thera (Marthari 1990, 66-67, fig. 13; Papagiannopoulou 1991, 35-36, pls. 6-7).

Thus, when the first pictorial frescoes were painted in Akrotiri buildings, the local pottery workshops had already been producing vases with pictorial motifs. It is from these vases that the fresco painter, with a primarily Minoan repertoire, appropriates the swallow design (Immerwahr 1990b, 238-241).

On the other hand, it is this well established trend of using pictorial motifs which led the Theran vase painter to exploit the much richer and iconographically complex repertory of the imported art of wall painting. This interrelation far surpasses the mere adoption of simple motifs, but also includes the influence on the entire decoration of some vases inspired by the combination of subjects in a fresco or a cycle of frescoes. At the same time, the vases retain their own traditional pictorial motifs, such as the swallow (see above), and transform some of the earlier stylised motifs into more naturalistic rendering (Marthari 1998).

It must be emphasised that, in spite of the similarity in the thematic approach to their subject matter, the visual properties of the two arts are very different due to two specific factors. First, the artists organise their subject matter on different fields. The fresco painter had a large, flat, open visual expanse on which to organise his scene, while the vase painter dealt with the curving surface of the vase, interrupted by handles and spouts. The spatial restrictions of vases and their small size also required that the vase painter choose a schematic style like a shorthand, in order to adapt the execution of his ideas to this limited surface. Second, the palettes of the artists are very different. The fresco painter used a wide variety of colours and shades, from azure blue to brilliant reds and yellows (Iliakis 1978, 626-627; Doumas 1992, 18-19). The vase painter, by contrast, had only red, black and, at times, white.

In spite of these limitations, the Theran vase painters succeeded in creating, in the early Late Bronze Age, the most naturalistic pottery which had appeared until that time in the Aegean. This phenomenon was abruptly cut off at its acme by the volcanic destruction of Thera.

In the immediately succeeding chronological period, we see, for the first time, a systematic production of pictorial vases, those of the Marine and Floral styles, on both Crete and the Greek mainland. It is difficult for someone who studies Theran art and society to think that this evolution is unrelated to the artistic achievements on Thera. The similarity between some motifs of the Marine and Floral styles and Theran frescoes has already been noted (Betancourt 1982, 34; Morgan 1984; 1988, 37 with pls. 23, 47, 48). Consideration of all the Theran pictorial frescoes and vases also shows that the iconographic associations between them and the pictorial styles of Minoan and Mycenaean pottery after the destruction of Thera are much greater than has been previously noticed (Marthari 1993, 305, 310-311, 325-326, 386).

These affinities, as well as the chronological relationship, challenge us to consider the possibility that the artistic dynamic of Thera did not disappear with the destruction of the island. Some Theran fresco and vase painters could have moved to Crete or the Greek mainland and worked in the pottery workshops there. It is possible that the dispersal of Theran artists provided a further impetus to the pictorial trend contributing to the creation of the Marine and Floral styles. From this time onward, the tendency to naturalism, represented in abundance for the first time on Theran vases, was a continuous presence in Aegean pottery.

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