Klein in his _Meistersignaturen_ (2nd edn.) reckons a total of ninety-five signatures, a number which has probably been largely increased since he wrote in 1887. These names he finds distributed over some 424 vases, one name, that of Nikosthenes, occurring on no fewer than seventy-seven; he divides them into four classes, as follows: (1) masters in the B.F. method; (2) masters combining the two methods; (3) masters in the R.F. method (including S. Italy vases); (4) masters whose names appear on vases without subjects. These four classes are not mutually exclusive, as names in (1) and (3) appear again in (2) and (4). The form which the signature takes is usually (1)— ὁ δεῖνα ἐποίησεν (of the potter); or (2)— ἔγραψεν (of the painter); or (3), the two combined, either under one name, as— Ἐξηκίας ἔγραψε κἀποιησέ με; or (4), with separate names, as on the François vase— [Illustration: FIG. 175.] Κλίτιας μ’ ἔγραψεν Ἐργότιμός μ’ ἐποίησεν. The form (3) may possibly indicate the priority of the artist, but it is more probable that it was adopted as forming an iambic trimeter. When ἐποίησεν only occurs on a painted vase, it is generally to be assumed that the potter is also the painter. The older artists avoided, as a rule, the imperfect ἔγραφε or ἐποίει, but its use came into fashion for a short time among the early R.F. artists, such as Andokides, Chelis, and Psiax, who use ἐποίει (Vol. I. p. 430); it was again adopted by the Paestum and Apulian schools, as a modest affectation that their work was as yet unfinished.[2147] But the majority preferred the more decided aorist, indicating completeness. The word με or ἐμέ is usually added by the earlier artists, as in the instance already quoted from Exekias. Generally speaking, ἔγραψεν rarely occurs on B.F. vases, ἐποίησεν being the rule. A rare form of inscription is the formula ἔργον (τοῦ δεῖνα), as in the doubtful signature of Statios[2148]; and even more unique is the use of the word κεραμεύειν by the early Attic potter Oikopheles,[2149] as a synonym for ποιεῖν. Other peculiarities of signature are to be seen on the works of Lykinos (ἠργάσατο), Paseas (Πασέου τῶν γραμμάτων), and Therinos (Θερίνου ποίημα).[2150]