Some Observations on "Arm Hollows"

[Sam G]

The one on the left could be a veil but I agree that the one on the right seems to argue against that. 

The motivation for extending the tub pattern may have been that the arms needed to be exactly above it with the hands just below the rim. Throughout the whole section, the relative position of body parts compared to rims and borders seems very important.

I agree that many other aspects of the poses are important too.  But if arm position is the only concern here, then why bother to draw the dots at all?

Also, look at the warped rim he drew on this tub:



He could have drawn something far less bent out of shape for the other nymph and then placed the dots under the rim, if the sole motivation was to get the dots in there for whatever reason.  It seems that putting the dots above the rim was important to the illustrator.