Ancient Greek Pottery

1. Mouth/Lip

6. Neck

3. Frieze

7. Body

8. Border
4. Foot
VASE SHAPES
• Pots were
shaped
according
to their
function.
 Most common uses
• Storage
• Mixing and cooling wine
• Drawing water
• Drinking or pouring (wine or water)
• Cosmetics
• Athletics
• Rituals (weddings, funerals)
 Storage: Amphora
• Oval body with a vertical handle on either
side. It was used for storage of wine or
sometimes oil. The name "Amphora" is from
the word "amphi" means on both sides and
"phero" means to bring.
 Storage: Amphora
Belly Amphora Neck Amphora
• Oval body with a • Oval body, an offset neck
continuous profile from the with a thick mouth, two
lip to the foot and two vertical handles and a heavy
handles. stand.
 Storage: Lekythos
• A lekythos (plural lekythoi) is a type
of Greek pottery used for storing oil,
especially olive oil. It has a narrow
body and one handle attached to the
neck of the vessel.
• The lekythos was used for anointing
dead bodies and many lekythoi are
found in tombs. The images on
lekythoi were often depictions of
daily activities or rituals, they may
also depict funerary rites, a scene of
loss, or a sense of departure as a
form of funerary art.
 Mixing: Krater
• A krater (meaning: mixing bowl) was a large
bowl with two handles, used for mixing water
and wine.
 Mixing: Volute Krater
• Round body, a offset neck, a heavy stand and
two handles which is in the form of a spiral
with flanged sides rising from loops on the
shoulder to above the rim.
 Mixing: Column Krater
• Round body, a offset neck with a thick lip and
a heavy stand. Each column-shaped handle
ends with a horizontal member joined to the
rim. (Resembles amphora with different
handles and wider mouth.)
 Mixing: Kalyx (Calyx) Krater
• Deep body with the lower convex, the upper
slightly concave. A heavy stand and handles
which are set at the top of the lower part,
curve upward.
 Mixing: Dinos
• The dinos (plural dinoi) is a mixing bowl. It is
meant to sit on a stand. It has no handles and
no feet.
 Water Jug: Hydria
• The hydria was used for carrying
and storing water. The name hydria
comes from the Greek word hudor,
which means "water." Hydriai often
stood about a foot and a half high.
Many ancient pictures show
women going to water sources and
gathering water. This type of vase
has three handles two for
lifting/carrying and one for
pouring. It has a narrow neck to
avoid spilling.
 Drinking: Kylix
• "Kylix" is a drinking cup with a horizontal
handle on either side and used for wine. Its
name seems to be applied to the cup in any
shape.
 You need to be able to recognize:

drinking:
kylix

mixing: water:
storage:
krater hydria
amphora oil:
(3 types)
(2 types) lekythos
VASE VOCABULARY
 Greek Pottery Vocabulary
• Slip – liquid form of clay, used as paint

• Frieze – band of artwork, usually in

center of vase

• Ground-line – represents the ground in a

frieze
 Greek Pottery Vocabulary
Composition:
• Unity: Do all the parts of the composition feel as if they belong
together, or does something feel stuck on, awkwardly out of place?

• Balance: Having a symmetrical arrangement adds a sense of calm,

whereas an asymmetrical arrangement creates a sense of unease,
imbalance.

• Movement: There many ways to give a sense of movement, such as

the arrangement of objects, the position of figures, the flow of a
river.

• Rhythm: In much the same way music does, a piece of art can have a
rhythm or underlying beat that leads and paces the eye as you look
at it. Look for the large underlying shapes (squares, triangles, etc.)
and repeated color.
 Greek Pottery Vocabulary
Composition (cont’d):
• Focus: The viewer's eye ultimately wants to rest of the
"most important" thing or focal point in the painting,
otherwise the eye feels lost, wandering around in space.

• Contrast: Strong differences between light and dark, or

minimal

• Pattern: An underlying structure, the basic lines and

shapes in the composition.

• Proportion: How things fit together, big and small,

nearby and distant.
 Unity? Focus?

Balance? Conrast?

Movement? Pattern?

Rhythm? Proportion?
 Greek Pottery Vocabulary
• Foreshortening – used to
suggest recession of forms
in depth; uses perspective
to make an object appear
natural to the person
looking at it; the form of an
object appears shortened in
relation to the angle from
which it is seen
HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT
 Greek Pottery
• Storage containers,
cookware and dishes
were as necessary for the
Ancient Greeks as they
are for us.

• Without much glass and

with metal expensive,
clay was a very handy
material.
 Greek Pottery
• What survives is often not high art. Really
valuable containers tended to be made of
bronze, silver or gold. However, little of
this survives because the metal was
reused. Pottery fragments, having no real
value, survive.
 Greek Pottery
• Despite it being a lesser
form than metal-craft,
some excellent creations
exist.

• Greek pottery and

painting evolved into a
significant art form.
 Periods and Styles
• Pottery is one of the oldest
surviving art forms from
Ancient Greece.

• Works and fragments survive

from the 2nd millennium BC to
the end of the 1st century BC.

• Greek pottery was traded

throughout the Mediterranean
world and beyond.
 Periods and Styles
Minoan & Mycenaean

• Minoan & Mycenaean

pottery is the oldest
that we know of.

• It was exuberantly
decorated.

• It tends have as a trait

“horror vacui” or fear
of leaving open space.
 Periods and Styles
Geometric

• The next style to pervade

exhibits a different
sensibility.

• From the end of the 2nd

millennium the geometric
style dominates.

• Regular geometric patterns

and shapes, not animal
forms, are pervasive.
Periods and Styles
Orientalizing

• Contact with Asia brought

new innovation in design.

• The next stage is therefore

known as the orientalizing
period.

• Plants and animals reappear

in the bands of design.
 Periods and Styles
Orientalizing
• During the orientalizing
period (roughly 725-650
BC) the black figure
technique is employed in
Corinth.

• In the 7th century BC, this

spreads to Athens.
Periods and Styles
Archaic

• The Archaic style existed

from around 700 to 480 BC.

• Mythology and life became

important subjects.

• Some artists signed their

work.
 Periods and Styles
Black-Figure
• The Black-figure style really did not
dominate until the 6th century BC.

• Artists painted black images

silhouetted against the natural red
clay background.

• Details were inserted by etching the

black figures.

• White or purple paint could then be

added.
Periods and Styles
Red-Figure
• The red-figure style appeared
between 530-525 BC.

• It was achieved by simply reversing

the manner of black figure painting.

• The red figures are reserved and the

background is painted.

• This is more difficult but it allowed the

design to be seen better at a distance
and it leaves the contour of the pot
more visible.
 Periods and Styles
Red-Figure (continued)
• Fewer figures, on a larger scale than black
figure allow for less clutter.

• Use of a brush allowed for greater

flexibility than incision.

• Lines more flowing and vary in intensity.

• Figures have a more rounded quality.

• Greater sense of mass and three

dimensionality.
PAINTING STYLES
 Periods and Styles
Black Figure – Miniature Style

•Several friezes
with small figures

•Inspired by
Corinthian,
Orientalizing period
 Periods and Styles
Black Figure – Grand Style
•One large narrative scene instead of
several friezes with small figures

•Varied poses

•Depth

•Added color

•Attention to drapery

•Created by potters in Athens

 Periods and Styles
Bi-lingual
•Included the older black-figure style of decoration on one side of the pot and the newer
red-figure style on the other side.

•Often, both sides would show the same scene, just each one done in a different style.

•Transitional period when black-figure was being gradually replaced in dominance by red-
figure

•Almost entirely restricted to Belly Amphora

•Almost exclusively from Athens

Why? It may have come about as a reflection of potters’ uncertainty as to
whether or not the public would be willing to accept this new style of
decoration – after all, if the public didn’t buy it, they’d have to come up
with some new decorative style to market. They need not have worried,
however – red-figure decoration soon took off, and pieces of bilingual
pottery became rarer and rarer. In fact, the period in which they were
produced was quite short, which may be why so few examples have
survived into the present day.
 Periods and Styles
Red Figure – Pioneers
•Interested in depiction of human form and
human movement

•Wanted to show the body in motion

•Twisting, torsion, foreshortening, overlapping

•Used brushes of varying width to enable lines

with different thicknesses

•Smooth, flowing lines and lighter and darker lines

for different muscle groups and folds in drapery

•Competitive Group of painters:

On this vase Euthymides wrote:
“os oudepote Euphronios”
= ‘As never Euphronios (could do)’
 Periods and Styles
Red Figure – Early Classical
•Mastery of perspective foreshortening, allowing a
much more naturalistic depiction of figures and
actions

•Drastic reduction of figures per vessel, of anatomic

details, and of ornamental decorations.

•Figures are often somewhat stockier and less

dynamic than their predecessors. As a result, the
depictions gained seriousness, even pathos
(emotion).

•Folds of garments were depicted less linear.

•The paintings ceased to focus on the moment of a

particular event, but rather, with dramatic tension,
showed the situation immediately before the action.
 Periods and Styles
Red Figure – Mannerists
•Continued to paint in Archaic red-
figure rather than explore new
development of Classical period

•Emphasis and Exaggeration of

individual features

•Theatrical

•Drapery, decoration, poses and

gestures deliberately exaggerated
and designed to make figure look
more elegant
ESSAY QUESTION TOPICS
 What was gained or loss in the
movement from black to red?
Gains
•Easier to paint figures on pot than incise them
•Brushes allow for freer style
•Greater sense of three dimension
•Emotions more easily depicted
•Red-figure closer to flesh tones
•Quicker to produce, therefore cheaper and more cost-effective
•Depiction of muscle and drapery

Losses
•Dramatic effects could be produced with darker figures highlighted
against simple pale background
•Master could achieve minute detail in black-figure
 • Freer style
• Natural movement
• Muscles and drapery
• Facial expression
• But…the minute detail is lost
 What are some difficulties in
portraying the myth on a vase?
•Problem: Story should be recognizable, easily understood,
characters recognizable

•Solutions: inscriptions, iconography, particular scenes unique to

myth
 What are some difficulties from the
vase shapes when painting on vases?
•Problems:
•Placement of frieze
•Curved surface
•Handles; some incorporated, some did not; they could
be painted in background color and left blank, or be
incorporated into overall decoration

•Solutions:
•Geometric patterns
•Repetitive shapes of animals or monsters
•Multiple friezes
 Solutions on some specific shapes
•Kraters: sides flared outwards from base to tip;
large surface to decorate which got bigger at the
top; needed to select appropriate story; Berlin
painter left most of pot shiny black and
highlighted figured friezes on neck of krater

•Amphora: use of decorative borders or spirals to

separate a figured panel from rest of pot; ground-
line and frame for scene

•Hydria: two different, unconnected narratives

separated by band of geometric pattern to
account for shape of pot
 How were women depicted different
from men?
•Types of scenes in which goddesses and women are shown;
relationship of women to men in such scenes
•Clothed
•Clothes were more elaborate and shown with more detail with
added color, patterns and decoration
•White skin (Black-figure)
 How were women depicted different
from men?
•Different types of scenes – domestic scenes, weddings, weaving
•Color on drapery to show status
•Female figure underneath drapery
•Elaborate hairstyles and added detail such as jewelry
 How was drapery depicted
(improved)?
Black Figure:
•Stiff, almost foldless
•Incised and/or painted in purple-red to show pattern and folds

Red Figure:
•Zig-zag lines at the ends of garments
•Diluted slip and fine brushes to paint lines of folds
•Responded to movement of body and hung in natural folds
•Overlappings loops
•Drew lines close together for fine fabrics
•Lines further apart for heavier materials
•‘Wet-look’ drapery to depict the body underneath the garment and
movement
Depiction of drapery
 What do I need to know?

•Recognize shape and function of vase

•Technique and Style

•10 vases (plus 13 you must be familiar with)

•Artist
•Subject
•Describe composition
 Credits
• Disclaimer: I am but a poor public school
teacher who threw together this PowerPoint
from various sources over the years without
keeping track of my sources. I do not get paid
for this PowerPoint, nor do I charge for my
website. I do not take credit for the fabulous
pictures or the research that this PowerPoint
is comprised of.