Already from the beginning of the 8th century B.C. an important increase in the bronze vases and utensils is noticable in the large Greek sanctuaries; these are generally called "oriental". They comprise Phoenician and north Syrian phiale, Phrygian "plates", Cyprian tripods and bronze lebes of different types, mainly of Ionia. At the same time a spread of a new technology is observed both in the treatment and casting of the metals, and in the finishing treatment of the metal products. The techniques of hammering and repousse, engraving, casting in bivalve moulds, of casting with "cire perdue process" and the finishing in the wheel. Most of the aforementioned types of vases during the 7th century B.C. were also imitated by the Greek workshops. The lebes with busts of gryffins on the lip stand out, and the two most important production centres were Samos and Olympia.

According to ancient writers, many large vases of precious metals were dedicated to the Panhellenic sanctuaries by the kings of Lydia, such as Gyges and Croesus. Herodotus refers with admiration to oversized gold and silver craters of Samian manufacture. For many years only a gold phiale, a dedication of Cypselids in Olympia, and a silver kantharos from Rhodes were known from the early toreutics works of precious metals. However, it was recently proved that a group of exquisite silver vases of the middle of the 6th century B.C., that arrived secretly in USA, came from the grave of a Lydian ruler near the city Usak in Turkey. The group includes phiale, oinochoe, chalices, alabastron, incense burners, arytaina (ladle) and pyxis. Each of them is the work of Ionian artists of toreutics, who managed to apply the characteristics of Greek art, even when accurately following the oriental standards of shape and decoration. Some silver vases, of Ionic origin or inspiration, have also been found in tombs in Macedonia, Thrace and Scythia. Of special interest is the development of the phiale that is decorated with lotus flowers, examples of which have been found from the Balkans to Caucasus.

With the exception of lebes, few things are known about the bronze vases of the workshops in Asia Minor. Some large vases (amphoras, kadoi, hydriai) that have been found in Macedonia and Scythia are attributed by some scholars to Ionia. From the small vases of the end of the 7th century some bronze "plates" with engraved decoration are notable, although their attribution to Ionia or Corinth is still being debated by the specialists. Neither have many metallic vases survived from Attica and the fragmentary findings of Acropolis have not contributed greatly to the identification of the Attic types, since the sanctuary attracted many pilgrims, especially Ionians. At the end of the Archaic period lebes and hydriai were manufactured and were often used as ash urns.