ABSTRACT
It is argued that artisans, painters and pottery workshops based in mainland Greece produced large quantities of pictorial kraters that were exported to Cyprus during the Late Helladic (LH) IIIA-B periods. Up to that time, Cypriot merchants and local pottery workshops did not need to imitate Aegean pottery until the end of the Aegean palatial administrative system (in LH IIIB2) and the end of the pottery exports to Cyprus. However, it is striking that they did not seem willing to imitate all aspects of the older Aegean pottery and specifically seemed negative towards depictions of human figures on their Aegean-style pottery. Was it a technological choice of artisans based on the island of Cyprus? Was it a social strategy, as these pictorial kraters used to function as symbols of status, authority and/or wealth? Or was it a purely commercial move in regard to the East Mediterranean market? There is clearly a close relationship between artisans, merchants, elites and clientele and this chapter will attempt to explore precisely these associations.
