PROTO-CORINTHIAN STYLE

Greek pottery style that flourished at Corinth during the Oriental period (c. 725c. 600 BC). Proto-Corinthian pottery, most of which is miniature in size, was the first to be decorated in the black-figure painting technique: figure silhouettes drawn in black and filled in with incised details. The principal motifs, which mirror Middle Eastern styles, are animals in procession and human figures, sometimes in mythical scenes. The small aryballos (scent or oil bottle) is an especially common shape.