Greek painted pottery is crucial for understanding ancient art and society because:
Survival: Pottery survives where paintings don't - we have thousands of painted vases but almost no Greek panel or wall paintings
Evidence: Vases show us myths, daily life, religious practices, athletics, and warfare
Artists: Many vases are signed, letting us study individual painters and their development
Dating: Vase styles changed predictably, helping date archaeological sites
Athens: Centre of Production
Most fine painted pottery came from Athens - specifically the Kerameikos district (from which we get 'ceramic'). Athenian potters and painters dominated the Mediterranean market from c. 600-400 BCE.
Vases were luxury export goods - found from Spain to the Black Sea. They were also prestigious gifts, prizes (Panathenaic amphorae), and grave goods.
Greek vases had specific practical functions. You need to recognise the main shapes and understand their uses:
Amphora (pl. amphorae)
Two-handled storage jar for wine, oil, or grain. Several sub-types: belly amphora (widest at middle), neck amphora (distinct neck), Panathenaic amphora (prize vases).
Krater
Wide bowl for mixing wine with water (Greeks didn't drink wine neat). Types include volute krater (scroll handles), calyx krater (like a flower calyx), column krater.
Hydria
Water jar with three handles - two horizontal for lifting when full, one vertical for pouring. Often shows women at fountains.
Kylix (pl. kylikes)
Shallow drinking cup with two handles and a foot. Interior (tondo) often decorated - the image revealed as you drank.
Oinochoe
Wine jug with one handle and trefoil (three-lobed) mouth for pouring. Used to serve wine at symposia.
Lekythos
Oil flask with narrow neck. White-ground lekythoi were grave offerings - the narrow neck meant oils evaporated slowly.
Dinos
Large round-bottomed mixing bowl on a stand. The continuous curved surface allowed extended narrative scenes.
Shape = Context
Shape tells you function, and function influences decoration. Symposium vessels (kraters, kylikes) often show drinking scenes. Wedding vases show marriage rituals. Funerary vases show mourning.
Black-Figure Technique
Dominant c. 620-500 BCE
Black-figure technique - figures painted in black slip with incised details. Image: British Museum / Wikimedia Commons
Process
Figures painted in black slip (liquid clay) on the natural red clay. Details incised (scratched) through to the red. Added colours: white for women's skin, purple for details.
Characteristics
Silhouette figures with linear interior detail. Profile heads, frontal eyes (Archaic convention). Limited ability to show anatomy - details rely on incision.
Reversed: background painted black, figures "reserved" (left red). Details painted with fine brushes rather than incised. Allows more subtle, flexible line.
Advantages
Brush allows curved, varying lines impossible with incision. Can show anatomy, drapery folds, facial expressions. Figures appear more three-dimensional.
Key Artists
Pioneer painters (Euphronios, Euthymides), Berlin Painter, Kleophrades Painter, Pan Painter.
Bilingual Vases
During the transition (c. 530-500 BCE), some vases were painted with both techniques - black-figure on one side, red-figure on the other. These "bilingual" vases show the same scene in both techniques, allowing direct comparison.
Prescribed Example
Bilingual belly amphora by the Lysippides Painter (black-figure) and Andokides Painter (red-figure) - showing Dionysus/Herakles feasting in the presence of Athena.
Prescribed Painters and Works
The following lessons will cover these prescribed painters and vases in detail:
Black-Figure Painters
Gorgon Painter: Gorgons pursuing Perseus (dinos)
Sophilos: Wedding of Peleus and Thetis (dinos)
Kleitias: Francois Vase (volute krater)
Amasis Painter: Dionysus and the Maenads (neck amphora)
Exekias: Achilles and Ajax playing dice; Dionysus sailing (kylix)
Transitional / Bilingual
Lysippides/Andokides Painters: Bilingual amphora
Red-Figure Painters
Euphronios: Herakles and Antaios; Herakles and the Amazons (calyx/volute kraters)
Euthymides: Hector arming / Three men carousing (belly amphora)
Kleophrades Painter: Trojan War (hydria); Dionysus and Maenads (pointed amphora)
Berlin Painter: Achilles and Hector/Memnon (volute krater)
Pan Painter: Perseus and Medusa (hydria); Boreas pursuing Oreithyia (oinochoe)
