Ancient Greek ceramics

Born with the the Middle East, the art of the Céramique reaches in ancient Greece an artistic high level of quality. It is also a major testimony on the life and the culture of the former Greeks.

The Greek vases reached us in great number: even if that represents probably only one negligible share of the production of the time, more 50 000 vases coming from only the Athens remain today. On their side, the other objets d'art were often destroyed either by time (Bois, fabric, Pigment S of painting), or by the hand of the man, with a view to recovery (stone, Bronze, noble metals). If it is easy to break a vase, it is on the other hand much more difficult to destroy it completely: even the fragments can still speak.

Painting

Proto-geometrical style

Vases of the proto-geometrical period (v. 1050 - 900 av. J. - C.) constitute the essence of artistic testimony on the beginning of the obscure Siècles. Indeed, the great sculpture is not yet known, and the mural lacks an essential component for its development: mural supports worthy of this name. Many of other artistic forms (engraving of the Ivory, Jewelry, work of metals) undergo a similar recession.

On the contrary, the ceramic production is not extinct, in particular in Athens. The vases are decorated with black varnish reasons brilliance resulting from the Bronze Age. They take again sometimes reasons mycéniens (undulating lines traced with the hand), but of new reasons (half Cercle S, concentric circles) are drawn with more care, with the compass or the comb. Decoration remains simple and adapts to the shape of the vase by underlining some the forms by broad horizontal features or black bands.

The site of Lefkandi is one of the principal places of source of ceramics of this period. One in particular discovered there an exceptional figurine of Centaure, high of 36 cm. Its forms are very stylized, and its body is decorated with hatchings and geometrical forms.

Geometrical style

Geometrical art flowers with 9th and eighth century BC It is characterized by new reasons, breaking with the Minoan iconography and mycénienne: Meander S, Triangle geometrical S and other reasons (from where the name of the period). They are laid out in separate bands of the black zones by triple lines. With the wire of time, balance between decorated bands and bands dark are broken in favor of the decoration: the meanders and other reasons end up covering all the vase.

Whereas with Geometrical Old (approximately 900 - 850 av. J. - C.) one finds only reasons geometrical, in what is called the style of the “black Dipylon”, which is characterized by an extensive use of black varnish, to the Geometrical Means (env. 850 - 770 av. J. - C.), figurative decoration make its appearance: they are initially identical planks of animals (horses, stag S, Chèvre S, Oie S, etc) which alternating from now on with geometrical bands of reasons. In parallel, the decoration becomes complicated and becomes increasingly plentiful: the painter feels reluctant to leave empty zones and fills them of rivet washers or decorative Svastika S. This step is named “horror of the vacuum” and will not have of cease until the end of the geometrical period.

In the middle of the century appear human figures. The most known representations are those of the vases found with the Dipylon, one of the cemeteries of Athens. The fragments of these large funerary vases show mainly processions of tanks or warriors or of the funerary scenes: πρόθεσις / próthesis (exposure and lamentation of dead) or ἐκφορά / ekphorá (transport of the coffin to the cemetery). The bodies are represented in a geometrical way except for the calves, rather protuberant. In the case of the soldiers, a shield in form of Twin wheel, called “Dipylon shield” because of its characteristic drawing, recovers the central part of the body. The legs and the necks of the horses, the wheels of the tanks are represented the ones beside the others. The hand of a painter of this time, called in the absence of signature “Main of Dipylon”, could be identified on several works, in particular of the monumental Amphore S.

At the end of the period appear mythological representations , probably at the moment when Homère formats the traditions of the Trojan Cycle in Iliade and the Odyssey . There however, the surinterpretation constitutes a risk for the modern observer: a confrontation between two warriors can be as well a Homeric duel as a simple combat; a failed boat can represent the shipwreck of Ulysses or no matter whom.

Lastly, of the local schools appear in Greece. The production of vase forever be the prerogative of Athens - it is well attested as of the proto-geometrical period with Corinthe, in Béotie, with Argos, in Crete or in the Cyclades -, the painters and potters were a long time satisfied to follow the style attic. From now on, they create their own style: Argos specializes in the figurative scenes; Crete remains attached to a more strict geometrism.

Orientalizing style

The orientalizing style spreads mainly in Corinthe of 725 with 625 av. J. - C. approximately. It is characterized by a strong influence of Eastern art: if the East is much less amateur of ceramics that Greece, its painting and its sculpture show a finer and more realistic figuration. This influence results in a new range of reasons: sphinx, griffon S, Lion S, etc, represented in a way more realistic than in the past. In the planks, the painter resorts from now on to lotuses or of palmettes. The human representations remain relatively rare: they are scenes of battles, sometimes hoplitic, or of the scenes of Chasse. Geometrical features remain in the style says proto-Corinthian: one finds geometrical reasons and the “filling” of the background by rivet washers and new decorative reasons.

The Corinthian painters resort to the black figure, mainly on red bottom: they use a colloidal suspension of brown color which, with cooking, takes a brilliant black color, almost metal. This technique remained mysterious a long time, in spite of the efforts made by the English ceramists of the 19th century like Wedgwood to bore the secrecy of it. The Corinthians also invent the technique of the incision in hollow making it possible to emphasize pale clay. This style is expressed especially in miniature vases (aryballes, alabastres) whose forms appear then.

Ceramics of Corinth is exported in all Greece, and their technique arrives at Athens, which develops nevertheless a clean style, at the less marked Eastern influence. During this time described as protoattic, the orientalizing reasons appear but the feature remains relatively not very realistic. The painters show themselves attached to typical scenes of the Geometrical Period, like the processions of tanks. However, they adopt the principle of the linear drawing to replace the silhouette. In the middle of the 7e century appears the white and black style: black feature on white zone, accompanied by polychromy to restore the color of the flesh or clothing. Clay used in Athens, much more orange than that of Corinth, lends itself indeed less easily to the representation of the flesh.

On its side, Crete and especially the islands of the Cyclades are characterized by their attraction for the vases known as “plastic”, i.e. whose paunch or collar is moulded in the shape of head of animal or man. With Égine, the plastic vase most popular has a head of griffon. The amphoras méliennes, manufactured with Paros, must little of things in Corinthe or the East. They present, like the vases with reliefs, a taste marked for the epic compositions and a horror of the vacuum which is characterized by the use of rivet washers and swatiska.

One can finally identify a last style, that of “the wild goat's milk cheese”, allotted traditionally to Rhodos because of important discovered realized with the Nécropole of Camiros. In fact, it is widespread in all the minor Asia, with production centres with Milet and Chios. Two forms prevail: the œnochoé S, which copy bronze models, and dishes, with or without feet. The decoration is organized in superimposed registers in which stylized animals, in particular of the Chèvre S savages (what gave his name to the style) follow themselves in planks. Many decorative reasons (floral triangles, swatiska, rivet washers, reasons) fill empty left spaces.

Black figures

The style of the black figure is invented in Corinthe as of the 7e century, but it is taken again by Athens which carries it to its apogee at the time of the antiquated period (sixth century BC) It is characterized not only by the drawing of figures in black on clay bottom (rather red in the case of Athens), but also by the use of incisions. There exists thus a series of black pseudo-figures, in which the clear bands are reserved and not incised. The Coupe with the bird-catcher of Louvre in is an example.

The first ceramics with black figures Athenian is very influenced by that of Corinth, as show it its covering decoration, without reasons for filling. Figures (mainly animal: lions, goats, sphinges, etc) are laid out in superimposed registers and emphasize a principal scene. Nevertheless, Athenian ceramics is detached little by little from this influence. The taste for the mythological reasons and the composition in only one great register which prevail between 550 and 530 av. J. - C. show how a style specific to the city is created. In parallel, the decorated vases evolve/move. The large funerary vase leaves the place to the vases of the daily life, mainly the amphoras, Hydrie S, Coupe S and crater S.

One recognizes several styles of Athenian painters, to which one can sometimes allot a name thanks to a signed part. Such is the case of Clitias, the painter of the Vase François of the archaeological Musée of Florence: this crater, discovered in an Etruscan tomb , date approximately of 570 av. J. - C.; it thus comprises six figurative planks five narrations and also carries the signature of the potter, Ergotimos. Others are indicated only by conventional names, often due to John Beazley (1885 - 1970), historian of art pioneer in the study of Greek ceramics. Thus, the painter of the Gorgone, holds his nickname of a Dinos on which Méduse appears.

Red figures

The style of the red figure appears in Athens towards 530 - 520 av. J. - C. It constitutes the spearhead of the attic production quickly, enabling him to impose itself like only university the traditional Period. It consists of an inversion of the black figure: the bottom is painted in black, the figures having the color of clay; the details are painted and incised either. He was probably invented by a precise painter, possibly influenced by a customer or more probably by his potter. The names of the potters Nikosthénès, Amasis or Andokidès were thus quoted. At all events, the first painter to apply this style is the Peintre of Andokidès, of which we have a quizaine vases. At the beginning of this period, the painters can make coexist black scenes in figure and scenes in red figures: they is what is called “bilingual” vases.

Beyond the simple inversion of the colors, the technique of the red figure allows an improvement of the drawing, in particular in the representation of draped, the bodies and the details, whose precision compensates for the almost complete disappearance of polychromy. Realism gains there: the female and male bodies are from now on more easily distinguishable, the musculature is returned better, style in which excels Euphronios, as well as the representation of the members in three dimensions (shortened, transition from the profile to the front view, representation of three quarter). With

In 480 - 479 av. J. - C., during the medic Wars, Athens is occupied by the Perses. Its workshops are destroyed - one finds wells filled with shards in the district of the Céramique - and when the Athenians find their city, the ceramic production must set out again almost of nothing. The relics of the antiquated style are then abandoned - except for the mannerist group of the Painter of Side - and the definitively adopted red figure. Certain painters, like that of Niobides, are influenced by the sculpture or the mural. The drawing becomes more sophisticated, while the choice of scenes is directed more towards the private life, with in particular of the scenes of Gynécée: it is the “flowered style”, the last great style Athenian. Elements of decoration (Fleur S, Plant S) appear as of the end of fifth century BC while the painter joins again with the horror of the vacuum which assigned it to the geometrical period: the compositions are charged. One notes a taste pronounced for the details and the transparency of clothing, like for the movement given by the boiling of those. Polychromy also returns, with the recourse to white painting and gilding. Archaisms persist in the Athenian center, like the recourse to the black figure for the panathénaïques amphoras, while small terra cotta figurines are invented there which will be diffused in everyone Greek and will be known later under the name of TANAGRA.

Out of Athens, the production of painted vases with characters disappears almost, except for the Grande Greece. The Apulie and the Campanie (Paestum in particular) have a production of quality comparable with that of Athens. The beginnings of ceramics known as apulienne go back to the last decade of fifth century BC: Apulie whose production is with the departure rather close to the style attic little by little will develop an iconographic language which is clean for him. The Peintre of Darius thus named because of the crater with volutes illustrating Darius (Naples H3253) thus illustrated many contemporary topics at the time of Alexandre Large the. If ceramics italiote is mainly consumed on the spot, it was also exported in clean Greece (Corcyre, Démétrias) and a little everywhere in the Mediterranean basin (Croatia, Corsica, Spain). Certain workshops specialize in the scenes of kind, in particular on the Phlyax, parody of the parts attics to heroic topic.

Hellenistic period

With the hellenistic time, the vases are not painted any more but simply decorated. Either the workshop in cost with a black decoration shining decorated floral or animal decorations, or it changes bias radically: if it is not possible to obtain colors varied with cooking, it is enough to paint the vase after cooking. In this case, the colors are obviously less durable, also this technique it is generally reserved for the funerary vases.

However, in certain places, there remains hearths of production where one continues to make vases with illustrated decorations. It is the case of the Crete which produces until the beginning of second century BC of the mythological scenes. The principal production centres in Crete are Cnossos, Lyttos and Gortyne.

Manufacture

Materials

If Greek ceramics has as a basic material the Argile, all clays are not identical. Thus, that of Athens is rich in Oxide iron (Fe₂O₃): with cooking, it takes a beautiful red color orange. That of Corinth, deprived of iron oxide, has a color more blanchâtre. These differences allow, by a analyzes chemical, to determine the origin of such or such vases: thus, one could assemble that the group of Hydrie S of Hadra used to Alexandria, with the hellenistic time, as funeral urns had been not manufactured in Egypt, as it was thought, but in Crete.

Clay is extracted from career S or puit S of clay, then purified by Lavage during several weeks: it is put to soak in large basins where the fine particles go back to surface and are recovered. This stage makes it possible to eliminate the impurities which would be likely to cause the bursting with cooking. Clay is then dried with the sun then cut out in blocks. Those are then stored during some time, so that they acquire their plastic qualities.

Shaping

At the time to manufacture a vase, the potter mixes the paste to expel the bubbles of air of them before working it on a turn (close relation-Eastern invention arrival in Greece to III), actuated by the potter itself or an assistant. The small vases can be gone up in only once, but the parts of bigger size consist of several parts which are then assembled with the Barbotine (clay watered with water). The same applies to the handles or the feet; the plastic vases are moulded. Once the worked vase, it is put to dry. It is then ready to be painted, according to a technique which varies according to the style employed. In a general way, the painter exploits the contrast of color between the red color of clay and a coating of black color.

Cooking

Once dry painting, the painter leaves the hand with the potter for cooking, delicate operation, made up of three stages:

Cooking in oxidizing atmosphere (open vents to let pass the Dioxygène) in the neighborhoods of 800 °C: the vase is entirely red.
Cooking in reducing atmosphere (closed vents) in the neighborhoods of 950 °C, with addition of plants in fire to cause smoke, then the temperature is lowered to 900 °C. The Carbon monoxide thus released by the incomplete combustion of the plants, composed reducing, makes it possible to reduce the ferric Oxyde (Fe₂O₃) in ferrous Oxyde (FeO) or in Magnétite (Fe₃O₄) of black color: the vase is entirely black and the part whitewashed with the black coating “is vitrified”, becoming impermeable.
Cooking in atmosphere réoxydante (open vents) always towards 900 °C: the dioxygene of the air makes it possible to oxidize ferrous ferric oxide oxide for the not coated parts, which become red; the coated parts, beforehand become impermeable, remain black.

Cooking is relatively simple in its principle but requires attention and experiment: we know a certain number of badly cooked vases, either frankly missed, or presenting small imperfections due to an inopportune contact with a nearby vase. Generally, these defects do not prevent the marketing of the vase.

Typology of the vases

See too

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