Meehan - Ancient Spartan Art
"In the seventh and sixth centuries B.C., and especially in the first half of the sixth century B.C., Sparta and its region, Laconia, had its own workshops in several genres of artistic craft, such as vase painting, metalwork, ivory and bone carving, and even stone sculpture, in which artists created works in an original, often well-recognizable style with a distinct iconographic repertoire."(Agnes Bencze. The MET) Contrary to the popular belief that Sparta(Laconia) was simply a warrior state, they were known throughout the Greek world for a great amount of their work, especially their unique bronze-working at the time which this exhibit will examine closely.
VASES
Laconian vases were widely popular throughout their culture as they produced geometric vases and and terracotta figurines after they began to use the highly popular process of the black-figure technique. The painted pottery that they created was even found at every stretch of the Mediterranean. The most popular painted vase that they produced was the kylix which was a shallow drinking instrument. The kylix was generally geometrical and many of them featured some sort of mythological being on them like the example that is featured.
Mysterious Offerings
In various ancient Spartan sanctuaries that have been discovered, there have been mysterious figurines that have been found that are more than likely offerings to their Gods for good fortune. These figurines were made out of lead and in one sanctuary find there were multiple lead figures that represented a winged goddess like the one here.
Bronze
The most respected and famous works of Spartan and Laconian art came from their bronze-working. At its peak of popularity, many of the bronze crafts throughout Greece can be traced back to Laconian men. Laconian bronze included everything from large scale sculptures, vessels, mirrors, tripods, tools, etc. Disk shaped mirrors of nude women were especially unique to Sparta as well. Laconian bronze work was very unique in the sense that it had many of its own traits and features that were essential to creating the various artworks. The bronze-working in Laconia can be seen as some of the finest examples in ancient times.Citation
Bencze, Agnes. Art and Craft in Archaic Sparta. Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
