POTTERY:
BRONZE AGE: Early (3000-2000BC); Middle (2000-1500BC); Late (15501100BC)
Minoan:
EARLY I
Aghios Onouphrios ware
- Dark paint on light
ground
- Decoration of
crosshatching
- Made from stone
EARLY II
Vasilike ware
- Long spouted
- Mottled effect (done in
the firing)
MIDDLE
Kamares ware
- Egg shell vs. coarse
ware
- Spirals, coils, petals,
leaves
- White/color on black
LATE
Pattern Style, Floral
Style, Marine Style,
Palace Style (just
Knossos)
- Dark on light
- Concentration on
naturalistic motifs
Cycladic:
EARLY
MIDDLE
LATE
- Zoomorphic (in shape)
- Physical depiction of
animals
Helladic:
EARLY
Urfirnis ware
- Sauceboat!
MIDDLE
Minyan Ware
- Glossy and greasy feel
- Sharp contours
LATE
Granary Style, Close
Style
- Sparse decoration
- Fine fabric
GEOMETRIC AGE: (after 900BC)
- More common use of amphora and kraters (also as grave markers)
- Limited decoration, but covered the whole surface
- Geometric design
- Dark on light
- Registers
PROTOCORINTHIAN: (700-600BC)
- Floral and vegetal designs, animals of all shapes and descriptions, few depictions of humans
- Fillers – dotted rosette
- Incision to create design
- Registers
- Dark on light
CORINTHIAN: (625-550BC)
- Also known as “Ripe Corinthian”
- Figures are enlarged and less carefully drawn
- Splinter rosettes instead of dotted rosettes
- Very popular, widely manufactured, very influential
- Later Corinthians get jealous of Attic red-clay and begin to die theirs to match the color
PROTOATTIC:
- From Athens (red colored clay!)
- Elements from Geometric age
- Increasing interest in narrative/mythology
- Dark on light (but not yet “black figure”)
- Fillers, cover the whole thing!
BLACK FIGURE: (560BC- )
- In Athens
- In early black figure, lots of design taken from the Corinthian style
- Multiple colors (white, purple)
- Incision for detail
- More interest in larger scenes (takes up “belly”) – narrative story, mythology; decoration is less
prominent, but still important
- Dark on light
- So many that different artists can be distinguished (some write it on the vase itself!)
RED FIGURE: (525BC- )
- Reverse of Black Figure (background is painted black instead of being left empty)
- Inner details drawn (more than incision, but incision still used for fine design)
- More interest in realistic representation, and three-dimensional space
- Again, individual artists are identifiable
- When sculpture became more popular, vase painting tried to emulate the volume/weight of statues
- As time continues, less concern with filling up the whole vase with design
WHITE GROUND: (450BC- )
- Use of outline drawing instead of black figure technique
- Not very durable, used for burials
- Domestic scenes
- Many colors
- Experimentation with depicting volume (broken contour lines)