Why was Greek pottery black?
During the first, oxidizing stage, air was allowed into the kiln, turning the whole vase the color of the clay. In the subsequent stage, green wood was introduced into the chamber and the oxygen supply was reduced, causing the object to turn black in the smoky environment.
Black figure pottery was a pottery painting technique started in the early 7th century BCE. As opposed to the outline technique of pottery where the painter would denote a figure by leaving the flesh unpainted with a black outline, black figure painting resulted in the entirety of the flesh portrayed in black.
The vessel was fired in a kiln at a temperature of about 800 °C, with the resultant oxidization turning the vase a reddish-orange color. The temperature was then raised to about 950 °C with the kiln's vents closed and green wood added to remove the oxygen. The vessel then turned an overall black.
Color. Between the Archaic and Classical times, Greek vase designs existed primarily in three colors: black, red, and white. The red was derived from the iron-rich reddish-orange color of the clay that was used, the white was painted on using a light-colored clay, and black was made from an adhesive alkaline paint.
The colours result from the skilful exploitation of the high iron content of Athenian clay by an ingenious process of differential firing. The black areas of a black or red-figured pot were coated in a fine solution of the same clay that was used for the body of the vase.
Black figure pottery refers to the type of pottery that was most popular in ancient Greece from around 700-530 BCE. This pottery was characterized by its glossy black figures painted using slip, a mixture of clay and water that turned black during the process of firing.
black-figure pottery, type of Greek pottery that originated in Corinth c. 700 bce and continued to be popular until the advent of red-figure pottery c. 530 bce.
Greek pottery is known for its distinctive shapes like the two-handled amphora, single-stem cup (kylix), and various types of jugs (oinochoai). Greek pottery is often decorated with geometric shapes or figures from Greek mythology.
Although it was invented by the Corinthians, the Athenians quickly adopted the black-figure technique and made it their own. Easily one of the most remarkable examples of the black-figure technique of vase painting is an amphora by Exekias showing the Greek heroes Achilles and Ajax playing a game of dice.
or black·fig·ured
pertaining to or designating a style of vase painting developed in Greece in the 7th and 6th centuries b.c., chiefly characterized by silhouetted figures painted in black slip on a red clay body, details incised into the design, and a two-dimensional structure of form and space.
What is a fact about Greek pottery?
Ancient Greek Pottery
The Ancient Greeks made pots from clay. Large pots were used for cooking or storing food and small bowls and cups were made for people to eat and drink from. Pots were also used for decoration, and when people died, they were cremated (burned) and their ashes were buried in pots.
Red figure is, put simply, the reverse of the black figure technique. Both were achieved by using the three-phase firing technique. The paintings were applied to the shaped but unfired vessels after they had dried to a leathery, near-brittle texture. In Attica, the normal unfired clay was an orange color at this stage.
Made of terracotta (fired clay), ancient Greek pots and cups, or “vases” as they are normally called, were fashioned into a variety of shapes and sizes (see above), and very often a vessel's form correlates with its intended function.
The Greeks used pottery vessels primarily to store, transport, and drink such liquids as wine and water. Smaller pots were used as containers for perfumes and unguents. Greek pottery developed from a Mycenaean tradition, borrowing both pot forms and decoration.
The unique black color is achieved by the Martinez family by using a fire reduction method for pottery firing. This method reduces the amount of oxygen available in the kiln, and by smothering the fire often with cow or horse dung, the pottery is carbonized.
Color symbolism in ancient Greece
Black:Worn for mourning, but also to draw attention to the mourner's social status. Purple:Indicated royalty or high rank, due to the rarity of purple dye. White: As much a state of being as a color; the ancients used the word to designate youthful or feminine, pale skin.
Black figure pottery helped establish ancient Greece as an artistic center. Around 530 BCE, red figure pottery was developed, in which slip was used to blacken the background while the figures were left light. The red figure style would go on to replace black figure pottery as the most popular style.
