Fikellura-style ware is one of the most recognizable types of East Greek pottery because of its distinct decorations and motifs of guilloche and lattice patterns, as well as bands of crescents. Certain motifs appear as paintings, including animals and birds, human and subhuman figures, vegetables and abstract ornament, and volutes (Cook 1933). Fikellura ware was typically made from grey or red-pink clay. It nearly always has a yellow, off-white, or pink slip. Both the clays and slips used contain mica in most cases. The paint ranged in color from dark brown to olive-brown, and sometimes red. Fikellura potters made shapes for table use, both vessels for serving, such as table amphoras and oinochoai, and cups for individual drinking (1933).
The ware is named for the place it was first found and identified, which was at the cemetery of the ancient town of Fikellura on the island of Rhodes. However, provenience studies (i.e. elemental analysis) suggest that it was actually made at Miletus, a major city in Ionia (Kerschner 2006). Fikellura ware was exported outside of Miletus and throughout Ionia, as evidenced by its discovery in a number of sites beyond Miletus. Kerschner et al. conducted NAA analysis on an assemblage from the Ionian colony of Berezan, located on the Black Sea. They found that the samples of Fikellura ware originated from workshops at Miletus (2006).
“The distribution [of Fikellura ware] is wide, but the mass of finds are concentrated in the south East Greek area, South Russia, and the Delta” (Cook 1933). Beyond Berezan, Fikellura pottery was distributed to Italy in the West, Egypt, Cyprus, and the Cyclades to the South, and Samos and Rhodes to the East (1933). In the early 5th century BCE, Fikellura ware was replaced by Late East Greek black-figure pottery, “examples [of which] have been noted on Rhodes and at Berezan” (Cook 1998).
Fikellura ware was preceded by East Greek Wild Goat style - another type of decorated table ware. This style was also produced in Ionia and made into table dishes, including oinochoai. Like Fikellura ware, one of its major production centers was located at Miletus. As evidenced by the name, feral goats were a popular decoration, but decorative motifs like triangles and flowers filled the empty space. In the same study by Kerschner (2006), he analyzed samples of Wild Goat Style ware and found that they too came from Miletus and were imported to Berezan. In fact, Wild Goat Style wares have been found all throughout Asia Minor.
One of the most distinctive and specific things about Fikellura ware is that two individual Fikellura painters have been named – the very notion that specific artists can be identified is not usual in ceramic production. “Because there were so few painters working in Fikellura and their relationships in style are much less complex than one finds in Attic work, attributions… can be made with a good deal more confidence” (Schaus 1986). These two Fikellura painters have been called the Altenburg Painter (named after a notable Fikellura vase located in Altenburg, Germany) and the Painter of the Running Satyrs. The Altenburg Painter was a primary figure in establishing the ware, as he contributed to changing it from an animal to a human-figure style of pottery. Cook first attributed vases with komos scenes on to the Altenburg Painter in his original classification. This painter often depicted komasts and animal friezes as well. The Painter of the Running Satyrs on the other hand strayed from tradition as he showed a proclivity for mythical scenes and creatures. Vessels with scenes of satyrs running after maenads and individual human figures have recently been attributed to this painter (1986).
R.M. Cook’s original classifications of Fikellura ware have been essential to subsequent studies of the ware, though they have been modified since its initial publication. According to Schaus (1986), “[t]here is little scope at present for improving Cook’s organization of the many Fikellura vases” – it seems that further scholarship of Fikellura ware would necessarily involve provenance studies, much like Kerschner’s (2006).
