Greek Pottery Research Paper

Ancient Greek Pottery

Perhaps of all the arts that flourished in antiquity, ceramic art has the longest continuous history. And this may well be accounted for by the fact that it was utilitarian, for even in those periods when other arts had declined, people still needed pottery to collect and store their oil, grain, water, and wine. Thus, whereas certain forms of art disappear for periods at a time to reappear in an other form or style, the ceramic art appears in all periods from the time it made its first appearance in Greek lands in the 6th Millennium B.C. Moreover, clay, the material which was used in the manufacture of pottery, from the moment it was kilned became almost indestructible, even when the pot was shattered, something
In the 11th Century there begins to appear a new type of decoration which initially retained many features of late Mycenaean art, the main characteristic being geometric designs. It is on this account that the pottery which is decorated in this manner is known as Geometric. Since most finds of this period consisted of pottery, the comparatively long range of time up to about 700 BC has been named the Geometric
First of all the potter centred a lump of clay, which had been properly kneaded, on the potter's wheel where it was spun and moulded into the desired shape. When the pot was too large to be formed in one operation, it was made in sections and joined later by a wet clay slip. Handles and sometimes the mouth or lip were made separately. When the pot was shaped it was left to dry, and then polished, after which the painter was ready for its decoration. He painted the design by incision, drawing the outlines and details in the period when incision was commonly used. Thereafter, the entire area to which they wished to give the black shiny [p. 221] tone, was covered with a mixture of clay containing some kind of alkali, or perhaps potash. Then began the most difficult process involving firing of the pot in three stages.
The temperature was never greater than 950 degrees C. The appropriate oxidation during the firing gave the red colour to the areas of the pot not covered by the varnish due to the large concentration of iron in Attic clay, and resulted in the black shiny colour in the 'painted' areas from the mixture of clay with the alkaline earth.
It was by such a simple process of experimentation in firing that the Greek vases were moulded, those vases and works of art which Pindar so aptly described to be 'of great variety and beautiful'. [p. 222] Kyriazis, Constantine D. Eternal Greece. Translated by Harry T. Hionides.