The trades and occupations represented on vases are very varied,
ranging from mining to shoemaking. The representations of miners in
caves which appear on some of the early Corinthian _pinakes_[1730] most
probably refer to the digging out of the clay for the potteries rather
than to mining for metals. This seems the more probable when it is
taken into consideration that potters’ workshops and furnaces are so
frequently depicted in the same series.[1731] Besides these we find
later instances of potters turning vases on the wheel,[1732] painting
them, or finishing them off,[1733] as already described in a previous
chapter: one vase represents the interior of a potter’s workshop with
vases in various stages[1734]; another, a man painting the design with
a sort of quill.[1735] Young men and girls are depicted negotiating the
purchase of completed vases in the shop.[1736] Another of the
Corinthian _pinakes_[1737] represents the exportation of vases in a
ship. Metal-work is represented by a well-known R.F. kylix in
Berlin,[1738] showing a bronze foundry, with statues in various stages
of completion; there are also representations of a smithy,[1739] in
some of which writers have seen an allusion to Hephaistos and the
Kyklopes (see p. 37). A man is depicted finishing off a bronze
helmet,[1740] or carrying a completed terminal figure[1741]; and of
similar import is the subject of Athena modelling a horse.[1742]
Agriculture is represented by vases in Berlin and the Louvre with
scenes of men ploughing with oxen (Fig. 136) or hoeing, sowers, and
mules carrying sacks of grain[1743]; and certain vase-paintings have
been interpreted as referring to the digging of a well.[1744] A man is
seen cutting down a tree,[1745] and another birds’-nesting.[1746]
Shepherds with flocks of sheep and goats are seen on two early Boeotian
vases,[1747] and also fishermen,[1748] and men crushing grapes in a
wine-press.[1749] The various stages of oil-making include the
gathering of the olives from a tree,[1750] the pressing in an
oil-press,[1751] and lastly the merchant measuring out and selling his
oil.[1752] A butcher is represented cutting up meat,[1753] and also the
preparing and cutting up of a tunny-fish,[1754] and the baking of
bread[1755]; on a B.F. vase two men weigh goods in a balance[1756]; and
the export of the silphium (?) on the Arkesilas vase may also be
mentioned here.[1757] Lastly, we have a shoemaker in his shop,[1758] a
carpenter working with an adze,[1759] and a boy going to market with
two baskets carried on a pole.[1760]