Abstract
This paper studies the motif of the palmette on Greek bronze ovoid situlae, mainly of the 4th century BC. It traces its origin through Late Archaic and Early Classical examples to Ionia and Athens and discusses the two principal groups named after the find-spots of two typical paradigms: the Vratsa and Waldalgesheim groups.
A detailed typology of several subgroups is developed in the text and organised in a catalogue as an appendix. The spread of the motif on various toreutics and jewellery is documented from Hellenistic Bactria to the Celtic North and West, as well as in Thrace and Scythia.
The paper argues that this wide diffusion of the palmette-and-scrolls motif owes much to the circulation in these areas of Greek metal vases, and especially of bronze situlae.