Black-figure pottery

Delicate contours were incised into the paint before firing, and details could be reinforced and highlighted with opaque colors, usually white and red.

In the case of black-figure production the subject was painted on the vase with a clay slurry (a slip, in older literature also designated as varnish) which turned black and glossy after firing.

The success of all this effort could only be judged after a complicated, three-phase firing process which generated the red color of the body clay and the black of the applied slip.

The vessel then returned to its reddish-orange colour due to renewed oxidization, while the now-sintered painted layer remained the glossy black color which had been created in the second stage.

The index form of the time was the spherical aryballos, which was produced in large numbers and decorated with animal friezes or scenes of daily life.

Likewise of exceptional reputation were the master of the Gorgoneion Group and the Cavalcade Painter, given this designation because of his preference for depicting horsemen on cup interiors; he was active around 580 BC.

High quality Attic black-figure vases have a uniform, glossy, pitch-black coating and the color-intensive terra cotta clay foundation has been meticulously smoothened.

The most outstanding Attic artists elevated vase painting to a graphic art, but a large number of average quality and mass-market products were also produced.

Influenced by pottery from Corinth, which offered the highest quality at the time, Attic vase painters switched to the new technology between about 635 BC and the end of the century.

Attic vases were sold in the Black Sea area, Libya, Syria, lower Italy and Spain, as well as within the Greek homeland.

The decline of the animal frieze begins with him, and plant and other ornaments are also of lower quality since they are regarded as less important and thus receive scant attention from the painter.

A special feature of the dinos is the painter's application of the opaque white paint designating women directly on the clay foundation, and not as usual on the black gloss.

His images are clever, charming and sophisticated[27] and his personal artistic development comes close to a reflection of the overall evolution of black-figure Attic vase painting at that time.

Exekias probably had a large role in the development of Little-master cups and the Type A belly amphora mentioned above, and he possibly invented the calyx krater, at least the oldest existing piece is from his workshop.

[35] John Boardman emphasizes the exceptional status of Exekias which singles him out from traditional vase painters: "The people depicted by earlier artist are elegant dolls at best.

The Hypobibazon Class worked with a new type of belly amphora with rounded handles and feet, whose decoration is characterized by a key meander above the image fields.

After 566 BC—when the Panathenaic celebrations were introduced or reorganized—they were the prize for the winners of sport competitions and were filled with olive oil, one of the city's main export goods.

Since the Panathenaia were religious festivals, the style and the type of decoration changed neither during the red-figure period nor after figured vases were no longer really traded in Athens.

Since for some dates the number of amphorae awarded to a winner is known, it is possible to deduce that about one percent of the total production of Athenian vases has survived.

Besides Sparta, the main discovery sites are the islands of Rhodes and Samos, as well as Taranto, Etruscan necropolises, and Cyrene, which was at first considered to be the original source of the pottery.

Restrained employment of incising and regular use of opaque white for the floral ornaments were typical features of black-figure pottery from Eretria.

Based on an assessment of the painting the vases were long considered to be Etruscan or Corinthian, but in recent years the view predominates that the producers were two pottery painters who emigrated from eastern Greece to Caere (modern Cerveteri) in Etruria.

The bodies of these vases have high and very prominent necks, broad shoulders, and low ring feet in the form of upside-down chalices.

The index form is the neck amphora, accounting for a quarter of all known vases, but there are also eye cups, oinochoes and hydria; other vessel types being less common.

The younger and less productive Memnon Group, to which 12 vases are currently attributed, had a much smaller geographical distribution, being limited to Etruria and Sicily.

Eduard Gerhard published an article entitled Rapporto Volcente in the Annali dell’Instituto di Corrispondenza Archeologica in which he systematically investigated the vases; he was the first scholar to do so.

Furtwängler was the first to classify the vessels by region of artistic origin, technology, style, shape, and painting stye, which had a lasting effect on subsequent research.

No other archaeologist had such a decisive influence on the research of an archaeological field as did Beazley, whose analyses remain valid to a large extent up to the present time.

After Beazley, scholars like John Boardman, Erika Simon and Dietrich von Bothmer investigated black-figure Attic vases.

[80] In addition to research on Attic, Corinthian and Laconian vase painting, archaeologists are frequently especially interested in minor Italian styles.

Heracles and Geryon on an Attic black-figured amphora with a thick layer of transparent gloss, c. 540 BC , now in the Munich State Collection of Antiquities .
Athena wearing the aegis, Attic black-figured hydria by the potter Pamphaios (signed) and the Euphiletos Painter , c. 540 BC . Found in Tuscania , now in the Cabinet des Médailles , BNF, Paris
Scene from a black-figure amphora from Athens, 6th century BC, now in the Louvre , Paris
Hercules drives Cerberus ahead of him. The beast turns one of its heads back in a threatening manner and raises its snake tail. Faultily fired Attic neck amphora by the Bucci Painter , c. 540 BC , found in Vulci, now in the Munich State Collection of Antiquities
Depiction of a pottery kiln on a Corinthian pinax , c. 575 /550 BC, found in Penteskouphia; now in the Louvre, Paris
Three Corinthian aryballoi in the Louvre, Paris
Oenochoe with animal frieze, ca. 625/600 BC, now in the Musée d’Archéologie Méditerranéenne de la Vieille Charité in Marseille, France
Herakles with Pholos and other centaurs on a skyphos by the Pholoe Painter, c. 580 BC , found in Corinth, now in the Louvre, Paris
Horseman on a late Corinthean olpe by an associate of the Hippolyte Painter , ca. 575/550 BC, now in the Louvre, Paris
Tydeus and Ismene on an amphora by the Tydeus Painter , ca. 560 BC; now in the Louvre, Paris
Black-figure, white-background lekythos by the Diosphos Painter showing Achilles in a chariot dragging the corpse of Hector behind him, ca. 490 BC, found in Eretria , now in the Louvre, Paris
Name vase by the Nessos Painter. The scene on the neck shows Heracles stabbing Nessos . The scene on the belly shows events associated with Perseus . C. 620/610 BC, now in the Athens National Archaeological Museum
Name vase (a dinos ) by the Gorgon Painter . Perseus pursued by gorgons , c. 580 BC , Louvre, Paris
Komos scene on a komast cup by the KY Painter , ca. 570 BC, Louvre, Paris
Signature of Sophilos : Sophilos megraphsen ("Sophilos painted me")
François vase , c. 570 BC , Archaeological Museum of Florence
Panathenaic prize amphora of the Burgon Group (the Burgon amphora ), Athena in arms with an inscription, 566/565 BC, British Museum, London
The abduction of Thetis. Peleus forces access to the burning altar where Nereids dance, overlap frieze on a Siana cup by the C Painter, c. 560 BC , Munich State Collection of Antiquities
Boxers on a double-decker Siana cup , in the style of the Heidelberg Painter , c. 575 –550 BC, Louvre, Paris
Heracles and Ares fight over the corpse of Cycnus, in the lower register an animal frieze, signed by the potter Kolchos, attributed to the painter Lydos , Attic wine jug, c. 560 BC , found in Vulci, now in the Berlin Collection of Classical Antiquities, Altes Museum
The Calydonia boar hunt is possibly shown in the upper frieze of this Tyrrhenian amphora, which is attributed to the Timiades Painter or the Tyrrhenian Group, 560 BC, from southern Etruria, now in the Berlin Collection of Classical Antiquities, Altes Museum
Dionysus and two maenads , one holding a hare, neck amphora, ca. 550/530 BC, from Vulci, now Cabinet des Médailles de la Bibliothèque Nationale de France. The female maenads are shown here only in outline, without opaque white to characterize them as women.
Foot race with weapons Hoplitodromos , victory tripods are placed below the handles, front side of a neck amphora by Group E , ca. 550 BC, from Vulci, now in the Louvre, Paris
Amphora by Exekias , Achilles and Ajax engaged in a board game, c.540-530 BC, Vatican Museums , Vatican City .
Cup with a coral red background by Exekias. Dionysus reclines on a ship which sprouts grapevines and is surrounded by dolphins, c. 530 BC . Dionysus cup : Staatliche Antikensammlungen , Munich
Signature of Exekias ( ΕΧΣΕΚΙΑΣ ΕΠΟΕΣΕ – "Exekias made it") on the foot of the Dionysus cup
Ajax prepares for his suicide; Exekias Suicide of Ajax Vase , c. 530 /525 BC
Remnant of a votive tablet with the leader of the funeral procession facing the viewer. Ca. 540/530 BC
Theseus kills the Minotaur , tondo inside a lip cup by an unknown painter. Ca. 550/540 BC, now in the Louvre, Paris
Fighting amazons on a Nikosthenes amphora by the potter Nikosthenes and Painter N, c. 520 /510 BC, now in the Louvre, Paris
Departing warriors shown on a belly amphora by the Affecter , c. 540 /530 BC, now in the Louvre, Paris
Olive harvest shown on a neck amphora by the Antimenes Painter, c. 520 BC , from Vulci, now in the British Museum London
Ship on the inside of a cup of the Leagros Group. c. 520 BC , from Cerveteri , now in the Cabinet des Médailles de la Bibliothèque Nationale de France
Heracles and Athena, black-figure side of a belly amphora by the Andokides Painter, c. 520 /510 BC, from Vulci, now in the Munich State Collection of Antiquities
Herakles and Athena, red-figure side of the above amphora, by the Lysippides Painter , c. 520 /510 BC, from Vulci, now in the Munich State Collection of Antiquities
Athena on a lekythos by the Beldam Painter, c. 480 BC, found in Vari, now in the National Archaeological Museum, Athens
Competition painted on a Panathenaic prize amphora, attributed to the Berlin Painter, c. 480/470 BC, found in Nola, now in the Berlin Collection of Classical Antiquities, Altes Museum
Athena on a prize amphora with the inscription " Archippos, archon " (321/320 BC) found in Benghazi , now in the Louvre, Paris
Horseman with a scrolling tendril growing from his head, under the feet of the horse the separated second segment, cup tondo of a name vase by the Rider Painter , c. 550 /530 BC, now in the British Museum
Arcesilaus II, king of Cyrene , observes his subjects working, on a cup by the Arcesilaos Painter c. 565 /560 BC, found in Vulci, now in the Cabinet des médailles de la Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris
Zeus with an eagle, cup tondo by the Naucratis Painter , c. 560 BC , now in the Louvre, Paris
Komos scene on a lekythos, c. 550 BC , found in Boeotia, now in the Louvre, Paris
Judgment of Paris on a skyphos of the Kabeiric Group (Vine Tendril Group), mid 4th century BC, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Cadmus and the dragon on a belly amphora, c. 560 /550 BC, now in the Louvre, Paris
"Bird-catcher bowl", Ionic cup, ca. 550 BC
Head end of a sarcophagus from Klazomenai depicting a homoerotic scene with young noblemen, c. 515 /510 BC, now in the Berlin Collection of Classical Antiquities, Altes Museum.
Heracles, Cerberus and Eurystheus on a hydria by the Eagle Painter, c. 525 BC , now in the Louvre, Paris
Heracles fighting the Hydra of Lerna on a hydria by the Eagle Painter, c. 525 BC , now in the Getty Villa, Malibu, California
Diomedes and Polyxena , Pontic amphora by the Silenus Painter, c. 540 /530 BC, found in Vulci, now in the Louvre, Paris
Etruscan black-figure hydria
Wrestling match between Peleus and Atalanta during the funeral games for King Pelias , hydria by the Inscription Painter, c. 550 BC , now in the Munich State Collections of Antiquities
Animals on the back side of a neck amphora by the Leipzig Amphora Group, c. 560 /540 BC, found in Reggio di Calabria , now in the Louvre, Paris
Heracles kills the Nemean Lion , front side of a pseudo-Chalcidian neck amphora by the Polyphemus Group, c. 560 /540 BC, found in Reggio di Calabria, now in the Louvre, Paris.
Belly amphora of the Northampton Group, the liberation of Io (in the form of a cow) by Hermes , who rushes to the scene, c. 540 /530 BC, found in Italy, now in the Munich State Collection of Antiquities
The helm; Attic black-figure pottery