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To produce the characteristic red and black colors found on vases, Greek craftsmen used liquid clay as paint (termed “slip”) and perfected a complicated three-stage firing process. Not only did the pots have to be stacked in the kiln in a specific manner, but the conditions inside had to be precise.
To produce the characteristic red and black colors found on vases, Greek craftsmen used liquid clay as paint (termed “slip”) and perfected a complicated three-stage firing process. Not only did the pots have to be stacked in the kiln in a specific manner, but the conditions inside had to be precise.
Painted vases were often made in specific shapes for specific daily uses—storing and transporting wine and foodstuffs (amphorai), drawing water (hydriai), drinking wine or water (kantharoi or kylikes), and so on—and for special, often ritual occasions, such as pouring libations (lekythoi) or carrying water for the bridal bath (loutrophoroi).
Materials and Techniques: Greek vases were typically made from terracotta, a type of clay. The process involved several stages: shaping the clay on a potter's wheel, drying, and then painting before firing in a kiln. The two primary painting techniques were black-figure and red-figure.
16 mar 2018 · The pottery of ancient Greece from c. 1000 to c. 400 BCE provides not only some of the most distinctive vase shapes from antiquity but also some of the oldest and most diverse representations of the cultural beliefs and practices of the ancient Greeks.
The BAPD is the world's largest database of ancient Greek painted pottery (‘Greek vases’). It contains records of more than 130,000 ancient pots and 250,000 images. Nearly all of the pots included were made during the 6th to 4th centuries BC, and about three quarters of them were made in Athens.
Take a closer look at the beautifully preserved designs on red-figure and black-figure pottery in the Greek vases gallery.
