Transcript Ancient Greek Pottery

Ancient Greek Pottery
Kevin J. Benoy
The Importance of Pottery
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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.
Clay
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Clay is inexpensive and readily available.
It is weathered rock that has crumbled to
dust.
Found in its original location, it is called
primary clay.
In the Mediterranean region, most clay has
been deposited by glaciers and is known as
secondary clay.
The impurities in clay give it varying colours.
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For instance, red clay contains iron.
Clay
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It is easily worked
and can be shaped
as desired.
Once fired it is quite
strong and
waterproof.
It makes an ideal
material for
containers of all
sorts.
Working With Clay
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The first step is to remove rocks, shells
and other materials.
This is done by mixing the clay with water
in a process called levigation or
elutriation.
This allows the impurities to sink to the
bottom of the mixing tub. The more often
this is done, the smoother the clay
becomes.
Throwing pots
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The clay is next kneaded and
placed on a wheel.
As the wheel spins, the potter
shapes the clay and forms it into
the desired shapes.
Large pots are made in sections.
Handles, feet and spouts were
also fabricated separately.
Sections are glued together with
a layer of thin, watery, clay,
known as a slip.
Decoration
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Once made, the
entire pot is painted
with a thin black
slip. How this slip is
applied will create
an image.
The entire object is
then fired – in 3
stages.
Pottery Art
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Only men were allowed to make pots in Ancient
Greece, though women were permitted to paint
them.
Pottery was frequently made by slaves.
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.
Pottery Art
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Despite it being a
lesser form than
metal-craft, some
excellent creations
exist.
Greek pottery and
painting evolved into
a significant art
form.
Form and Function
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Pots were shaped
according to their
function.
Form & Function
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Large storage
containers were
called amphora and
are made with two
carrying handles..
Form and Function
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Small storage boxes
were called pyxis.
Form and Function
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Small vases for
perfume or oil were
called Alabastron.
Form and Function
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Athletes kept their
oil supply in small
containers called
Aryballos
Form and Function
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Hydria were used to
carry water from
wells, springs or
rivers.
Form and Function
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Kraters were bowls
to mix water and
wine in.
Form and Function
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Wine was ladled
from kraters into
shallow wine cups
called kylix.
Form and Function
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It was also poured
directly out of wine
jugs called
oinochoe.
Form and Function
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Lekythos were used
to store oil
Periods and Styles
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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
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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
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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
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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 Periods and Styles
Orientalizing
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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
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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
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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
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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
Classical
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Interestingly, the classical period saw change,
but not necessarily any improvement in
technique.
Some observers actually feel that things
worsen as greater freedom brings less
balance.
Some suggest that pottery artists were trying
to outdo the painters of the day. However,
this cannot be confirmed or denied, since no
paintings have survived.
Periods and Styles
Classical – White Ground
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One significant
innovation is the
painting of a large part
of the pot with a white
background.
This creates almost a
canvas upon which the
artist can easily work.
The End
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By the end of the 5th century BC, pottery
painting seems to lose its status as an art
form. Some suggest that metal bowls and
vases were now favoured by the rich.
Outside Greece, local manufacturing
continued, particularly in what is now
Southern Italy.
In the 3rd century BC, the painting of pottery
before firing seems to end. Decoration was
now separate from potting entirely.