Lydian Orientalizing is one of many decorative styles seen in the painted pottery of Sardis and Lydia, and one of the many variants of a style that was widespread throughout western Anatolia, East Greece/Ionia, the Aegean islands, and Greece. Lydian Orientalizing is itself a version of the East Greek Wild Goat style that was popular in western Anatolia from about the middle of the seventh until the later sixth century BCE. Its basic characteristics include a white slip all over the body of the pot as a ground for a decoration that consists of bands of animals, regularly but not exclusively wild goats, as well as floral designs and filling ornament. East Greek Orientalizing wares differ from most examples from mainland Greece in that there is much use of outline rather than silhouette; and furthermore, the seventh-century mainland Greek style does not usually use white ground. In later examples they use incision for the clarification of details within figures.
The preferred shapes in Lydian Orientalizing wares are jugs, the lebes, dishes with either a low foot or a high stem, flat plates, and belly-handled amphorae. The predominant colors are black, brown, purplish red, and the white background of Bichrome. The decorative scheme for jugs requires a series of broad zones created by thin, dark bands that serve as a groundline for the procession of varied species set around the circumference of the pot.
C. H. Greenewalt, jr. identified a particular approach as the “Sardis Style.” He described it as characterized by a pink-brown highly micaceous clay covered by a white-cream-colored slip. Painters used dark paint for outlines and filling, a dull purple-gray for some details, and red paint as a highlight, as well as to make spots on the animals, birds, and filling ornament. Greenewalt called the the style “bold and sure, often a bit sloppy" (Greenewalt 1970, pp. 58-59).
Sardian potters depicted various animals, of which the most popular were deer, dogs, goats, and lions. In addition to the usual fare of wild animals, here and there an exotic mythical beast such as a sphinx or a griffin is admitted (e.g. Sardis P65.6), and charming fish are found too. Human figures are nonexistent. Usually the animals follow each other, nose to tail, but every so often the pattern changes so that one will turn to confront the follower. Not all the animals are on the move; many of the goats and deer are browsing. The various predators adopt threatening attitudes, but overall most of the presentations resemble a tableau vivant more than a vivid narrative. Painters used a varied stock of filling ornament, including a range of rosettes and sometimes birds, as well as many small geometric shapes like triangles, semicircles, and swastikas.
