Concerning Greek Vases by Denton Rossell, Ph.D.

During those centuries immediately preceding the birth of Christ the Greeks contributed so much to our civilization that it is difficult to properly appraise the contribution. Their development of the arts was undeniably one of the greatest of their gifts to the world. In all aspects of art it was apparent that they not only had an appreciation of beautiful form but the ability to create it. No phase of their art better illustrates this than the great number of their vases which have been put back together from remaining fragments or have miraculously been found intact. Their preservation is in part attributable to the material from which they were made; it was lasting but it had no great intrinsic value.

Shapes The vases were made for household and religious functions and were designed to serve for a particular use. That use was the first determinant in their shape. However, the artistic sensitivity of the potters resulted in an inevitable marriage between function and beauty. The relation of their height to their width was as carefully considered as the proportions of the temples which were erected to their gods. Each part of the whole was designed to give the most harmonious effect, while these same items, the neck, the foot, the handles served effectively for practical use. When they were decorated they became highly interesting and beautiful. Over the years they acquired some standard shapes which allow them to be categorized. Here is a list of some of those shapes with a description and indication of their original usage.

The Krater is a large open bowl in which wine and water were mixed at the banquet table. It was from the Krater that wine was ladled into the cups. Our Geometric Krater with a lid to cover the open bowl is not entirely typical of krater shapes. They usually had two handles and the widest mouth of any of the vessels.

The Oinochoe is also a vessel for wine but it served as a wine jug from which wine was poured directly into the cups. It is shaped more as a modern pitcher with one handle shaped for grasping the vessel securely and tipping it so that wine would flow from the shaped mouth. The customary oinochoe was without lid and bulging in its graceful but fat shape. The body was usually longer than the neck.

The Hydria was used as a water jar. Typically it has three handles. The handle at the back was used for pouring or carrying the vessel. The handles at the sides were there for lifting and were sometimes absent in smaller hydrias since little effort was required in lifting them. The lip was usually flattened.

The Amphora has two handles and is generally a swollen vessel with a rather large mouth. It was designed for the storing of provisions. Those found abundantly under the sea in ancient shipwrecks have a narrow neck and were not designed to stand without support. They were used for transporting oils or wines.

The Lekythos served as an oil jug. It has but one handle and that is attached from the top of the body to the neck. Its narrow neck and deep mouth allowed the liquid to flow out slowly. A lekythos aryballos was originally intended for athletes and the carrying of their rubbing oil.

Drinking Vessels The Kylix with two handles and a high foot was the favorite cup shape of the Athenians. It is very shallow and gracefully designed. The Kantharos is characterized by high curving handles. It too is one of the most beautiful shapes designed by the Athenian potters.

The Skyphos is a generally deeper drinking cup with a flat foot. The handles are often horizontal but with some there is only one and that is quite high to allow the vessel to be used as a ladle for dipping wine.

Toilet Jars Those used for holding oils or perfumes such as the Alabastron or the Aryballos which was carried on the wrists of athletes have very narrow opening so that they could easily be corked. There were also Pyxis, squat toilet jars, used for holding toilet articles.

How They Were Made They were shaped on a turn table or potter's wheel. A large amount of moist clay was set on the wheel and shaped by the potter's hands as the table was turned. He probably relied on his own instinct for beauty to determine the proper curvature of the lines and proportions of the vessels. The potter obviously gave consideration to both the utility and the beauty of the shape. On some vases the potter's signature is present as well as the signature of the painter, indicating that each was esteemed for his artistry. When the proper shape had been attained the vessel was placed in an oven and baked hard. It usually turned out to be reddish orange in its basic color.

Their Decoration For ordinary use some of the vessels remained undecorated but it was more customary to paint them on the outside. Some shallow vessels were also decorated on the inside and those that were to contain a liquid were often painted on the inside to render the porous clay impermeable. The painting was done with a liquid material called slip. After the vase had been painted it was again placed in the kiln and refired so that the decoration was permanently adhered to the material. A note of explanation should be given concerning the tiny spots which have occurred through the firing. The vases were only fired once after the decoration was applied but the firing was in three stages. First, air was admitted to the kiln which had a temperature of about 900 degrees Fahrenheit. The air permitted oxidizing of the clay which had a certain content. Smoke was then admitted to the kiln and that caused a reduction of the oxygen. The third state consisted of eliminating the smoke and reoxidizing. This method of firing caused frequent spots on those areas intended to be black. Those spots occurred in the second state of firing when the vase either had accidental protection through crowding in the kiln, or the admission of a jet of air, eliminating the effect created by the reduction of oxygen. They may also have been caused by the application of a glaze that was too thin, resulting in the reabsorption of oxygen during the third stage of firing. At any rate, do not be disturbed by the little spots that are present in the painting -- they are a part of the authentic reproductions.

A Brief Survey of Greek Vase Painting The history of Greek vase painting went through an evolution of styles. Beautiful examples of vase painting date back as far as 2000 B.C. where they were to be found on Crete and other Cycladic islands of the Mediterranean as part of the great Minoan civilization. Those examples drew their decorative inspiration from plants and flowers and sea-creatures. Vessels of similar motif were also a part of the Mycenaean civilization of approximately the same period although that civilization went on to a later date.

Geometric Style A new and distinctive style commenced to develop on the mainland of Greece when the fusion between the Aegean people and the barbarian tribes from the North began to take place. During those veiled years of history beginning with the eleventh century B.C. and continuing to the seventh, the design soon covered the entire surface of the vases. It is referred to as the geometric style since the decoration was formed from geometric patterns and the figures were reduced to stylized geometric elements. Bodies and limbs were represented by triangles. Thousands of brush strokes were applied to cover the entire surface of the vase with figures, rosettes, meanders, cross hatching and spirals. The design was arranged in horizontal bands. The decoration, as had been the case with the Minoan vases, was created by painting on the natural ceramic color with a lustrous brown glaze. Statuettes or birds or horses or miniature vases were often used for handles to the lids, as is the case with Cycladic Geometric Krater and Geometric Oinochoe, examples of this style of vase painting.

Corinthian Style Corinth, located favorably for trade at the end of the Gulf of Corinth, developed into the most powerful political and commercial Greek state. During the seventh and sixth centuries before Christ its trade went beyond the islands to the shores of Asia Minor and Egypt. This brought it in association with the art of The Orient and that became a strong influence in Corinthian vase painting. The stylized geometric lines gave way to animal and human figures with rounded contours and considerable animation. Figures such as those that might have been found on Eastern rugs and textiles were dominant in a rhythmic design of floral patterns and dots and rosettes filling the entire background. This Corinthian Oinochoe is an example of this period of vase painting. The painting was done with black glazes on light background with the addition of red and sometimes white. Incision (cutting the lines into the dark glaze) was also used to create the complicated designs. Since the Corinthian's trade was wide spread, specimens of their vases have been found all around the Mediterranean.

Black Figured Style By the middle of the sixth century B.C. Athens had gained supremacy in the overseas market and once again was the principal exporter of pottery to the Mediterranean world. Part of the city-state's success in the competition with Corinth was due to an improvement in technique made by the Athenian potters. They had learned how to obtain the familiar reddish orange hue by mixing red ocher with their clay. Vases of this period and style are referred to as black figured since the figures were painted in black on the reddish orange surface. Details within the silhouetted figures were incised before firing. Occasionally white or purple was added to the figure with the female flesh usually painted white. The style has been likened to a photographic negative where the blacks and lighter colors are reversed. The black figured vases of the sixth and fifth century B.C. are much more pictorial than the earlier vases. Human figures drawn with greater skill appeared as elements of the principal design. Palmettes, checkerboard squares, rays, lotus flowers were still used to emphasize the elements of the vase such as the neck and the footing but the painter no longer felt compelled to fill the entire vase with design. The lips, handles and footings were usually painted black and the figures served both for design and story telling. The stories were drawn from myths, the Trojan wars, the adventures of Odysseus, the other great heroes of mythology, the capering satyrs and maenads in the retinue of Dionysus. Since many of the vases were used for wine it seemed appropriate to depict Dionyysos, the god of wine. Two individuals are identified with the best painting of this period. One was called Amasis painter. His paintings were amusing rather than heroic, sometimes even comical in their depiction of revelry. The other painter, Exekias (died ca. 525 B.C.), signed his name to eleven vases which have come down to us. He was one of the greatest artists of history and we are fortunate in being able to offer a reproduction of his work, Neck Amphora L588. The Caeratan Hydria, L511 displays the use of red and white as well as black in the painting. With some humor the painter has illustrated Hercules' return from Hades with the three-headed dog Cerberus. King Eurystheus who had assigned the labor to Hercules is seen cowering in a large pot before the monster that Hercules had brought back. The heads of Cerberus are painted in different colors and nine snakes are seen to grow from him, indicating his infernal origin. This vase was made at Caere in Etruria (an Etruscan city near the present location of Rome), probably by an Ionian emigrant. It was found unbroken in a tomb.

Red Figured Style Black figuring provided the design for some of the most beautiful of Greek vases. However, when realism became an objective the style was limited. The silhouetted and incised drawings were basically two-dimensional, giving the human form that kind of quality that was present in the sculptures of the same archaic period. As sculpting aimed toward greater realism and more skill was acquired in depiction of three-dimensional illusion, we see the style called red-figured, a reversal of black figured design. In this new style the painting could be likened to the photographic print as compared to black figured style which was likened to a negative. The decoration was first outlined in black. The surface of the vase outside the design was then painted black, leaving the design in the lighter reddish color of the undecorated vase. Details were then added with a fine brush applying black or diluted black which appeared as brown after refiring. This technique, through its greater freedom, allowed the painter to apply more detail in his figure drawing. Much of the red figured painting became more pictorially complicated because of the greater flexibility of this technique; for example the Lekythos Aryballos, L598. L507 Lekythos is less complicated but the detail in the drawing which depicts a subtle shift in movement could not have been accomplished in the black figured style.

White Ground Style White Ground technique led to still another category of Greek vases. It was particularly associated with the fifth century B.C., But it had been around since the seventh and was carried on past the first century. Since its application proved less durable in everyday usage it was not commonly used until the fifth century B.C. when it came to be employed in a more specialized way. With this technique a slip made from white clay was applied to the vessel to provide a white background for the painting. The designs were then applied in dark silhouette with incised details or were outlined with a darker color. Tempera colors were often applied to draperies and other areas. The tempera was added after the firing and for that reason it was less permanent and in most instances has been lost through the centuries. Since the slip was easily chipped or abraded, the style came to be used principally for lekythoi that were buried with the dead. These slender vases containing ceremonial oil could be brought by friends or relatives of the deceased and left in the tomb. The subjects then tended to depict the deceased in some aspect of his or her life. They were by no means morbid and the painting is often magnificent. There is an elegiac, inspirational quality to the figures who are isolated and statuesque. They are reminiscent of the Parthenon sculptures in their serenity and restraint. Large scale Greek painting of this period has been almost completely lost but these figures give us some indication of the grandeur that must have been present in those paintings. Attic Hydria L557 and Lekythos L576 are of this type.