Ionia had been producing high quality pottery already since the 7th century BC. Since about 600 BC, the black-figure style was used to decorate all or part of vases. Apart from gradually developing local styles (e.g. at Clazomenae, Ephesos, Miletus, Chios and Samos), especially northern Ionia developed a variety of distinctive styles, the locations of which cannot be asserted at present. Perfume vessels based on the Lydianlydion shape, decorated merely with stripes, were widespread. Some of the images are highly original, such as a Scythian with a Bactrian camel, or a satyr with a ram. For some styles, the allocation to regions is highly disputed. Thus, the Northampton Group shows a strong Ionic influence but was probably produced in Italy, perhaps by Ionian immigrants.[1]
^See Thomas Mannack: Griechische Vasenmalerei, thesis, Stuttgart 2002, p. 81f.; Matthias Steinhart: Schwarzfigurige Vasenmalerei II. Ausserattisch, In: Der Neue Pauly, vol. 11, cols. 276-281; John Boardman: Early Greek Vase Painting, Thames and Hudson, London 1998, p. 141–151.
