History of Ancient Pottery 25

History of Ancient Pottery 25

CHAPTER V

_TECHNICAL PROCESSES_

 

Nature of clay—Places whence obtained—Hand-made vases—Invention

of potter’s wheel—Methods of modelling—Moulded vases and

relief-decoration—Baking—Potteries and furnaces—Painted vases

and their classification—Black varnish—Methods of

painting—Instruments and colours employed—Status of potters in

antiquity.

 

 

In this chapter we propose to deal with the various technical processes

required for the manufacture of painted vases, that being of all the

methods of working in clay employed by the Greeks the most important,

and thus, as already implied, forming the main branch of our subject.

These vases show, in fact, the highest point of perfection to which the

ceramic art attained.

 

In the making of Greek vases we can distinguish four separate stages:

(1) Preparation of the clay; (2) Modelling (_a_) on the wheel, (_b_) by

hand, or (_c_) from a mould; (3) Baking; (4) Painting, glazing, and

other decoration. The last-named is not absolutely essential, _i.e._ a

vase, especially one for ordinary daily use, may be considered complete

without it. Further, the three first stages are practically the same at

all periods of Greek art, whereas the systems of painting and

decoration are subject to local variations and chronological

development. For the purposes of the present chapter it is sufficient

to consider only those vases which have undergone the complete process

of manufacture, or what are known for the purposes of study as “Painted

Greek Vases.”

 

1. PREPARATION OF THE CLAY

 

The paste of these vases is similar to terracotta in its general

characteristics, such as the constitution of the mixture of which it is

composed; it is in general very delicate, but deeper in tone and finer

in texture than that of the terracottas. Brongniart has described it as

“tender, easily scratched or cut with a knife, remarkably fine and

homogeneous, but of loose texture”[739]; but it would be more accurate

to say that it varies in one respect, being sometimes so hard that

cutting or scratching has no effect upon it. When broken it exhibits a

dull opaque colour, varying from red to yellow and yellow to grey. On

being struck it gives forth a dull metallic sound; it is exceedingly

porous, and easily allows water to ooze through.

 

The surface was protected by a fine, thin alkaline glaze, which is

semi-transparent, enhancing the colours with which the vase was

painted, like the varnish of a picture. It is this glaze which forms

the special distinction of the Greek painted vases and renders them, in

contradistinction to common pottery or earthenware, the counterpart of

the medieval faïences or majolicas, or the finer porcelain of the

present day.

 

As to the chemical composition of the paste, it would seem that

hitherto investigations have been confined to vases of Italian origin,

but probably those found on Greek soil would yield similar results. The

principal ingredients are clay, silicic acid, and iron oxide, with

slight admixtures of carbonate of lime and magnesia. The principal

results of previous investigations have been tabulated by Blümner,[740]

and yield the following average result (chiefly from analyses of vases

from Southern Italy):—

 

Silicic acid 52 to 60 parts.

Clay earth 13 to 19 parts.

Chalk 5 to 10 parts.

Magnesia 1 to 3 parts.

Iron oxide 12 to 19 parts.

 

The largest proportion of clay found in any one vase was 27 parts;

there was also one instance given of 24 parts of iron oxide.

 

The variations in tone of the clay of Greek vases are very marked. The

usual colour is an ochre varying from yellowish-white to brownish-red,

the mean being a sort of orange. These variations were apparently

regulated by the amount of iron oxide employed. It has been noted by

Jahn[741] that vases were sometimes moulded “double,” _i.e._ turned on

the wheel in two different thicknesses of clay, the finer and ruddier

forming the exterior surface for decoration.

 

The earliest and most primitive Greek vases (including those of the

Mycenaean period) in most cases exhibit the natural quality of the

clay, ranging from yellow to grey in colour; it is usually coarse and

insufficiently baked, and protected by no lustrous glaze. In the early

archaic vases, such as those of Melos, Athens, and Rhodes, we observe a

pale yellow tone, which is apparently not a glaze, but inherent in the

clay.[742] Thenceforward the clay becomes appreciably redder and warmer

in tone until the lustrous glaze reaches its perfection in the Attic

vases of the fifth century. In the later Italian fabrics again there is

a great degeneration, the clay rapidly reverting to a paler hue,

especially in the vases of Campania; while in the Etruscan imitations

of the third century it is a dull coarse yellow, apparently due to a

preponderance of lime. Generally speaking, it may be said that the

colour depends on the proportion in which the constituent parts are

mixed, a larger proportion of iron oxide producing a redder, a larger

proportion of lime a paler hue.

 

The clay is permeable, allowing water to exude when not glazed, and

when moistened emits a strong earthy smell. It is not known how this

paste was prepared, for the Greeks have left few or no details of their

processes, but it has been conjectured that the clay was fined by

pouring it into a series of vats, and constantly decanting the water,

so that the last vat held only the finest particles in suspension. The

clay was worked up to the right consistency with the hands, and is

supposed to have been ground in a mill or trodden out with the feet.

Either red or white clay, or a mixture of the two, was preferred by the

ancients, according to the nature of the pottery required to be made,

as we learn from an interesting passage in the _Geoponica_:—“All kinds

of earth are not suited for pottery, but some prefer the reddish

variety, others the white; others again blend the two ... but the

potter ought personally to assist in the operations and see that the

clay is well levigated and not placed on the wheel until he has

obtained a clear idea of the probable appearance of the jar after the

baking” (vi. 3).

 

Certain sites enjoyed in antiquity great reputation for their clays.

One of the most celebrated was that procured from a mine near the

promontory of Cape Kolias,[743] close to Phaleron, from which was

produced the paste which gave so much renown to the products of the

Athenian Kerameikos. The vases made of it became so fashionable, that

Plutarch[744] relates an anecdote of a person who, having swallowed

poison, refused to drink the antidote except out of a vessel made of

this clay. It seems to have been of a fine quality, but not remarkably

warm in tone when submitted to the furnace; ruddle, or red ochre

(_rubrica_), being employed to impart to it that rich deep orange glow

which distinguishes the finest vases of the best period.[745]

Corinth,[746] Knidos, Samos, and various other places famous for their

potteries, were provided with fine clays. At Koptos, in Egypt, and in

Rhodes, vases were manufactured of an aromatic earth.[747] The extreme

lightness of the paste of these vases was remarked by the ancients, and

its tenuity is mentioned by Plutarch.[748] That it was an object of

ambition to excel in this respect, appears from the two amphorae

mentioned by Pliny as preserved in the temple of Erythrae,[749] of

extreme lightness and thinness, made by a potter and his pupil when

contending which could produce the lightest vase. The thinnest vases

which have come down to us are scarcely thicker than pieces of stout

paper. Great difference is to be observed in the pastes of vases from

widely-separated localities, due either to the composition or to the

baking, as has been noted in the case of the terracottas (p. 113).

 

2. MANUFACTURE OF VASES

 

The earliest glazed vases were made with the hand, but the wheel was an

invention of very remote antiquity, as has been noted in our

Introductory Chapter. It is generally supposed that its origin is to be

attributed to Egypt. Its introduction into Greece may easily be traced

by a study of primitive pottery from any site such as Crete, Cyprus, or

Troy, where the distinction between hand-made and wheel-made vessels is

clear. Thus in the tombs of Cyprus which belong to the Bronze Age, the

earlier finds, dating from about 2500–1500 B.C., are exclusively of

hand-made pottery.[750] The latter part of the Bronze Age may be

regarded as a transitional period, in which the tombs contain hand-made

unglazed painted vases, together with pottery of a much more developed

character, with a lustrous yellow glaze, bearing unmistakable evidence

of having been turned on a wheel. This pottery appears to be largely

imported, as opposed to the local wares, which are still hand-made, and

its widespread distribution over the whole of the “Aegean” area marks

an important epoch in the history of early ceramics (see Chapter VI.).

It covers the period from 1500 to about 900 B.C., and it is to this

time that we may attribute the general use of the potter’s wheel in

Greece, although it was known even earlier, as some isolated specimens

prove.

 

Among the Greeks there were many contending claims for the honour of

having invented the potter’s wheel. Tradition attributed it to various

personages, such as Daedalos,[751] or his nephew and rival Talos[752];

Hyperbios of Corinth[753]; Koroibos of Athens; and Anacharsis the

Scythian.[754] Kritias, the comic poet, claimed the invention for

Athens—“that city which ... invented pottery, the famous offspring of

the wheel, of earth, and of fire.”[755] There is also a familiar

allusion to it in Homer,[756] which is a fair testimony to its

antiquity:—

 

“Full lightly, as when some potter sitteth and maketh assay

Of the wheel to his hands well-fitted, to know if it runneth true.”

 

As regards the traditions, even Strabo[757] realised their absurdity,

when he asked, “How could the wheel be the invention of Anacharsis,

when his predecessor Homer knew of it?” On the other hand, Poseidonios

adheres to the tradition, maintaining that the passage in Homer is an

interpolation.[758] Other allusions to the wheel are in the writings of

Plato[759] and the comic poet Antiphanes.[760]

 

[Illustration: FIG. 65. POTTER’S WHEEL (FROM A PAINTING OF ABOUT 600

B.C.).]

 

Among the Egyptians and Greeks the wheel took the form of a low

circular table, turned with the hand, not as nowadays with the

foot.[761] The assumption that the wheel was turned with the foot is

only supported by one passage in the Book of Ecclesiasticus[762]; the

evidence of Plutarch[763] and Hippokrates[764] tells decidedly against

it. In 1840 some discs of terracotta, strengthened with spokes and a

leaden tire, came to light on the site of the ancient potteries at

Arezzo, and these had evidently been used as potter’s wheels.[765] The

process is also represented on two or three vases, as on a Corinthian

painted tablet of about 600 B.C. (Fig. 65),[766] on a kylix in the

British Museum (B 433), on a B.F. hydria in Munich (Fig. 67 _b_,

below), and on a R.F. fragment from the Acropolis of Athens (Fig.

66),[767] which shows a man modelling the foot of a large krater, while

a boy or slave turns the wheel, as on the Munich vase. On the British

Museum cup the potter is seated on a low stool, apparently modelling a

vase which he has just turned into shape on the wheel.

 

[Illustration: FIG. 66. POTTER’S WHEEL (FROM A VASE OF ABOUT 500 B.C.).]

 

In making the vases the wheel was used in the following manner:—A piece

of paste of the required size was placed upon it vertically in the

centre, and while it revolved was formed with the finger and thumb, the

potter paying regard not only to the production of the right shape, but

to the necessary thickness of the walls. This process sufficed for the

smaller pieces, such as cups or jugs; the larger amphorae and hydriae

required the introduction of the arm. The feet, necks, mouths, and

handles were separately turned on moulds, and fixed on while the clay

was moist. They are often modelled with great beauty and precision,

especially the feet, which are admirably finished off, to effect which

the vase must have been inverted. The modelling and separate attachment

of the handle is represented in more than one ancient work of art (see

Fig. 66). In many cases the joining of the handles is so excellent that

it is easier to break than to detach them. Great technical skill was

displayed in turning certain peculiar forms of vases, and generally

speaking the Greeks with their simple wheel effected wonders, producing

shapes still unrivalled for beauty.

 

In the case of the earlier vases, which are made by hand, after the

clay was properly kneaded the potter took up a mass of the paste, and

hollowing it into the shape of walls with one hand, placed the other

inside it and pressed it out into the required form. In this way also

the thickness of the walls could be regulated. When raised or incised

ornaments were required, he used modeller’s tools, such as wooden or

bronze chisels. The largest and coarsest vases of the Greeks were made

with the hand, and the large πίθοι, or casks, such as have been

recently found in such numbers in Crete and Thera (p. 152), were

modelled by the aid of a kind of hooped mould (κάνναβος): see _ibid._).

The smaller and finer vases, however, were invariably turned on the

wheel. On a Graeco-Roman lamp from Pozzuoli, in the British

Museum,[768] a potter is seen standing and modelling a vase before his

furnace, in the manner no doubt employed at all periods.

 

Certain parts of the ancient painted vases were modelled by the potter

from the earliest times—_e.g._ on those of the Geometrical period

horses are occasionally found on the covers of the flat dishes moulded

in full relief, and in other examples the handle is enriched with the

moulded figure of a serpent twining round it. This kind of ornament is

more suitable to works in metal than in clay, and suggests the idea

that such vases were, in fact, imitations of metallic ones. On vases of

all periods moulded bosses and heads, like the reliefs on metal vases,

are sometimes found; even in black-figured vases the insertions of the

handles of hydriae and oinochoae are occasionally thus enriched. In the

later styles modelling was more profusely employed; small projecting

heads were affixed to the handles of jugs[769] at their tops and bases,

and on the large kraters found in Apulia the discs in which the handles

terminated (see above, p. 171) were ornamented with heads of the Gorgon

Medusa, or with such subjects as Satyrs and Maenads. These portions

were sometimes covered with the black varnish used for the body of the

vase, but frequently they were painted with white and red colours of

the opaque kind.

 

A peculiar kind of modelling was used for the gilded portions of

reliefs, introduced over the black varnish. When the vase was baked a

fine clay was applied to the parts intended for gilding and delicately

modelled, either with a small tool or a brush, a process similar to

that adopted in the Roman red ware (_en barbotine_, see Chapter XXI.).

It may indeed have been squeezed in a fluid state through a tube upon

the vase, and then modelled. As the gilded-portions are generally

small, this process was not difficult or important. A vase discovered

at Cumae[770] has two friezes executed in this style, the upper round

the neck, representing the Eleusinian deities, delicately modelled,

coloured, and with the flesh completely gilded; the lower one consists

of a band of animals and arabesque ornaments. Several vases from the

same locality, from Capua and from the Cyrenaica, have wreaths of corn,

ivy, or myrtle, and necklaces round the neck, modelled in the same

style, while the rest is plain.

 

But the art of modelling was soon extensively superseded by that of

_moulding_, or producing several impressions from a mould, generally

itself of terracotta. The subject was in the first place modelled in

relief with considerable care; and from this model a cast in clay was

taken and then baked. The potter availed himself of moulds for various

purposes. From them he produced entire parts of his vase in full

relief, such as the handles, and possibly in some instances the feet.

He also stamped out certain ornaments in relief, much in the same

manner as the ornaments of cakes are prepared, and fixed them while

moist to the still damp body of the vase. Such ornaments were

principally placed upon the lips or at the base of the handles, and in

the interior of the _kylikes_ or cups of a late style. A late bowl of

black glazed ware in the British Museum (see Plate XLVIII.) contains an

impression from one of the later Syracusan decadrachms having for its

subject the head of Persephone surrounded by dolphins: it was struck

about 370 B.C. by Euainetos.[771]

 

The last method to be described is that of producing the entire vase

from a mould by stamping it out, a process extensively adopted in Roman

pottery. During the best period of the fictile art, while painting

flourished, such vases were very rare; but on the introduction of a

taste for magnificent vases of chased metal, the potters endeavoured to

meet the public taste by imitating the reliefs of metal ware.

 

The most remarkable of these moulded vases are the _rhyta_ or

drinking-horns, the bodies of which terminate in the heads of animals,

produced from a mould (see above, p. 192). By the same process were

also made vases in the form of jugs or lekythi, the bodies of which are

moulded in the shape of human heads, and sometimes glazed, while the

necks were fashioned on the lathe, and the handles added. These were

coloured and ornamented on the same principle as the rhyta, the

vase-portion being generally covered with a black glaze, but sometimes

with a white slip, after the manner of the terracottas. Besides the

rhyta, _phialae_, or saucers, were also moulded; fine examples of which

process may be seen on the flat bossed saucers, or _phialae

mesomphaloi_, discussed in Chapter XI., p. 502.

 

Amphorae and other vases of late black ware, the bodies of which are

reeded, were also evidently produced from moulds, and could not be made

by the expensive process of modelling. Of smaller dimensions, but also

made by moulding, were the vases known as _gutti_, or “lamp-feeders”

(see above, p. 200). They have reeded bodies, long-necked mouths, and

circular handles; and on their upper surface a small circular medallion

in bas-relief, with a mythological subject. Such vases are principally

found in Southern Italy and in Sicily, and belong to the second century

B.C. (Chapter XI., p. 502). After being moulded they were entirely

covered with a black glaze. Other vases again are entirely moulded in

human or animal forms, with a small mouth or spout. These are found at

all periods, but chiefly in the archaic Rhodian and Corinthian fabrics,

and again reviving in the later stages of vase-fabrics in Southern

Italy. Examples may be seen in the First Vase Room (Cases 33–34 and F)

and Fourth Vase Room (Case B) of the British Museum: see also Plate

XLVI. Others again retain the form of the jug or _lekythos_, with a

figure or relief attached to the front of the body and coloured or

covered with a white slip, while the back is varnished black. The whole

subject is treated in fuller detail in Chapter XI.

 

Many vases of the fourth century and later are entirely covered with a

coating of black glaze, while rows of small stamped ornaments,

apparently made with a metal punch, have been impressed on the wet clay

before the glaze was applied. These decorations are unimportant in

their subjects, which are generally small Gorgons’ heads, tendrils, or

palmettes, and hatched bands, arranged round the axis of the vase. This

latter ornament was probably produced by rolling the edge of a disc

notched for the purpose round the vase, in the same manner as a

bookbinder uses his brass punch. When these vases came into use the

potter’s trade had ceased to be artistic, and was essentially

mechanical. They are found on almost all sites from Cyprus to Italy.