1. The greatest black figure master of all time?
Exekias
The greatest black figure master of all time?
Exekias signed both as potter and painter. His masterpiece is the belly amphora in Vatican, dated to c Its detailed representation, especially the patterns on garments and armours, cannot be found any other painter's works.
Fig. 1
The composition of Achilleus and Aias playing chess at Troy is also outstanding. The painter made viewer's eyes concentrate on the chess board at the centre led by the heroes' eyes, hands and spears. Also the spears lead our eyes to the handles. Although the figures are symmetrically arranged, Exekias differenciate both figures in every details. It is also noticeable that depth is represented by overlapping spear, board, legs and mantles.
The belly amphora in Boulogne shows his grandeur style (boulogne558). The subject on this vase is Aias' suicide. Again the painter introduced simple composition consisting of Aias, his shield and helmet and a tree. He chose not the climax of the hero's suicide, which is chosen by later painters, but its preparation. Although black figure technique can hardly represent emotion, we can feel the tension and the hero's distress. Since Exekias often depicted Aias, some scholars believe that he is from Salamis, the birth place of this hero[7].
Exekias introduced new technique on the cup in Munich (munich2044). The shape is so called A type which has a shallow bowl with plain lip and a splaying foot offset from the bowl. The tondo has Dionysos lying on his ship surrounded by dolphins. Exekias filled around the tondo with coral red, though this technique was rarely followed. Other than these, he also painted on series of funeral plaques (fig.2).
Fig.2
There are more painters specialized in larger pots. The Affecter painted characteristic figures with tiny heads and angular bodies [8]. His colleargue the Elbows Out painted mannered figures with exaggrated posture. The Swing Painter chose outstanding scenes [9]. Group E is closely related to earlier works of Exekais and some vases attributed to this group can be depicted by this master.
Painters of cups
Painters who preferred cups in this period are named Little Masters after the miniatuaristic representation which was already attempted on the Francois Vase [10]. There are two types of cups after the shape and decoration, though the differene of the shape is slight.
The band cup has a decorative band on the handle zone while other areas are filled with black. The tondo rarely has figures. Lip cup has figures at the centre of the lip and the surfece is reserved except for narrow black bands, while the handle zone occasionally has potter's or painter's signature. A figure or two is sometimes decorated within the tondo.
The Tleson Painter often decorated cups made by Tleson, son of Nearchos. On the band cup in Munich (SL 462) he painted cockfighting, in which we can find no trace of Corinthian influence anymore. While the band cup signed by Neandros in Boston ( ) has animal frieze of Corinthianized style.
More detailed representation can be found on another band cup in Munich (2243). Although the cup has the signatures by Archikles and Glaukytes, it is uncertain which is the painter or potter. On one side has Kalydonian boar hund, while Theseus fighting against Minotaur on the other side. It is surprising how the painter drew such small but detailed figures, more than 10 figures on either side, within the frieze of about 3cm height. He even added the name to all the figures.
The lip cup signed by Xenokles and attributed to the Xenokles Painter in London (B 425) has Zeus and his brothers flanked by a winged horse. Another lip cup in London by the Phrynos Painter has the birth of Athena and Herakles led by Athena to Zeus (londonB424). Sakonides preferred to depict female heads on the lips with outline technique [11].
Other than these cups, smaller cups so called Droop cups were also produced [12]. Decoration scheme is similar to that of band cups, though detailed patterns are often depicted on the lower body, which recall decoration on Lakonian cups.
While these painters exploited the potential of black figure technique, they also reached the limitation of this technique. It gave the birth of new technique, red figure, about 530. Black figure technique, however, still used by lesser painters under strong influence from red figure painters.[1]For Lydos, see, Tiberios, M. A., O Lydos kai to ergo tou, (1976), Rumpf, A., Sakonides, (1937), Richter, G. M. A., "Lydos", MMS 4, pp [2]For the reconstruction of the dinos, see, Moore, M. B., "Lydos and the Gigantomachy", AJA 83, pp [3]For the signature as slave by Lydos, see, Canciani, F., "Lydos,der Slave?", AK 21, pp [4]For Amasis and the Amasis Painter, see, Beazley, J. D., "Amasea", JHS 51, pp , Karouzou, S., The Amasis painter, (1956), Bothmer, D. v., The Amasis painter and his world, (1985), True, M. (ed. ), Papers on the Amasis painter and his world, (1987), Boardman, J., "The Amasis Painter", JHS 78, pp.1-3, Bothmer, D. v., "AMASIS,AMASIDOS", JPGMJ 9, pp.1-4, Isler, H. P., "Der Topfer Amasis und der Amasis-maler", JdI 109.[5]For the relationship between Amasis and Egypt, see, Boardman, J., "Amasis: The implications of his name", in: True, M. (ed.), Papers on the Amasis painter and his world, pp , (1982).[6]For Exekias, see, Technau, W., Exekias, (1936), Mommsen, H., Exekais I: Die Grabtafeln, (1997), Boardman, J., "Exekias", AJA 82, pp [7]For the discussion about Exekias and salamis, see, Moore, M. B., "Exekias and Telamonian Ajax", AJA 84, pp , Shapiro, H. A., "Exekias, Ajax and Salamis:a further note", AJA 85, pp [8]For the Affecter, see, Mommsen, H., Der Affekter, (1975).[9]For the Elbows Out, see, Bothmer, D. v., RA 1969, pp For the Swing Painter, see, Bohr, E., Der Schaukelmaler, (1982).[10]For the little masters, see, Beazley, J. D., "Little Master cups", JHS 52, pp [11]For Sakonides, see, Rumpf, A., Sakonides, (1937).[12]For Droop cups, see, Ure, P. N., "Droop cups", JHS 52, pp  

2. Proscribed Vases: Exekias Belly Amphora Side A Achilles & Ajax
This amphora came to Etruria from the Athenian workshop of Exekias, the greatest potter working around 530 B.C. Depicted on the principal side of this amphora, are Achilles and Ajax (201K) who, having cast aside their arms, play "morra". On the other side, Exekias carried the black-figure technique to perfection, particularly in the way he created intense contrasts.

3. Proscribed Vases: Exekias Belly Amphora Side B Return of Castor & Pollux

4. Proscribed Vases: Exekias eye kylix dionysus

6. Exekias Belly Amphora Vase: Belly Amphora
Potter & Painter: Exekias signed
Date: B.C.
Height: 61 cm
Subject:
Side A: Achilles & Ajax
Side B: Return of the Dioskouri

7. Exekias Side A
Exekias signed both as potter and painter. His masterpiece is the belly amphora in Vatican, dated to c Its detailed representation, especially the patterns on garments and armours, cannot be found any other painter's works.

8. The myth: Side A
Achilles was the brave Greek hero in Homer's Iliad. When Achilles was a baby his mother Thetis dipped him into the river Styx. The magic water protected his body, except for his heel, which his mother was holding. Achilles was killed in the Trojan War when Paris’ arrow struck him on the heel.

9. The Tragedy of Ajax
Ajax recovered Achilles body when Paris shot Achilles.
Athene gave achilles armour to Odysseus so he boasted he did not need the gods help
Athene drove him mad and he killed cattle in the belief they were the enemy.
Ajax committed suicide due to the shame

10. Subject side A: A game
This vase shows Ajax and Achilles two Greek heroes playing a game similar to backgammon.
Herodotus, the 5th century Greek historian believed board games came from Asia Minor. Counters, dice and game pieces made of stone, bone and clay have been found.
Ajax and Achilles amphora playing a game. Achilles was the brave Greek hero in Homer's Iliad. When Achilles was a baby his mother dipped him into a magic river. The magic water protected his body, except for his heel, which his mother was holding. Achilles was killed in the Trojan War. An arrow struck him on the heel. (The art of ancient Greece Shirley Glob)
This vase shows Ajax and Achilles two Greek heroes playing a game similar to backgammon or chess.
Herodotus, the 5th century Greek historian believed board games came from Asia Minor. Counters, dice and game pieces made of stone, bone and clay have been found.
Incised details in the clay render the detailed embroidery on the cloaks.
The composition complements the form of the vase. Figures are bent toward game and curve of their backs echoes curve of vase. Their spears lead the eye up toward the handles and the shields continue the vertical line of the bottom of the handle. Each man is shown wearing a helmet.

11. Composition Side A
The painter made viewer's eyes concentrate on the board at the centre led by the heroes' eyes, hands and spears.

12. Composition Side A
Also the spears lead our eyes to the handles.

13. Composition Side A
Although the figures are symmetrically arranged, Exekias differenciate both figures in every detail.
list the differences you can see

14. Composition Side A
It is also noticeable that depth is represented by overlapping spear, board, legs and mantles.

15. Composition Side A The composition complements the form of the vase.
Figures are bent toward game and curve of their backs echoes curve of vase.

16. Composition Side A
Their spears lead the eye up toward the handles.

17. Composition Side A
The shields continue the vertical line of the bottom of the handle.

18. Composition Side A
Each man is shown with a helmet.

20. Treatment of the figure
Archaic frontal eye in profile head
Note the large eyeball and elongated whites of eyes.

21. Leather corset
Leather corset with plates at waist for protection and ease of movement
Worn with chiton underneath

22. Greaves and thigh guards
Greaves are like cricketers knee pads.
Fastened behind knee using thongs
Usually metal; bronze or iron
Note circled areas on the vase

23. Crest
Made from horse hair to distinguish fighters and make leaders more visible to their men
Achilles is wearing his to make him the larger figure.
Note the flopply crest and the tail trailing down the side of helmet

24. Treatment of the figure
Achilles Clothing
Label these items on your pictures in your books.
NB there is no 6

25. Side B: Return of the dioskouroi
Kyllaros, the horse tamed by Castor, dominates the scene. Behind is Castor. On the left side welcoming her sons is Leda and Polydeuces patting the hound. On the right is Tyndaros king of Sparta and servant boy carrying blankets/ cloacks and arabollos filled with oil or perfume for the travellers.

26. Da Vinci’s Leda

27. Leda and the swan; dali

28. The Myth in brief
Leda was the Spartan queen, wife of Tyndareus and mother of the double sets of twins, Castor and Polydeuces and Clytemnestra and Helen.
The best known story is that Zeus disguised himself as a swan and seduced Leda. Thus Leda's children hatched from two eggs that she produced.
It appeared that on a single night Zeus, in the guise of a swan, lay with Leda, who conceived Polydeuces (Pollux) and Helen "of Troy“. Later the same night her mortal husband, Tyndareus, king of Sparta, lay with his wife too, and she conceived Castor and Clytemnestra.
Thus one set of twins were wholly mortal Castor and Clytemnestra, the other set half-immortal Polydeuces and Helen "of Troy" .

29. Castor and Polydeuces
In Greek mythology, Castor (or Kastor) and Polydeuces (sometimes called Pollux) were the twin sons of Leda
They are called the Dioscuri (dios kouroi), meaning the "Sons of Zeus",
They are known as the Gemini, Latin for twins.
Polydeuces was a powerful boxer, and Castor a great horseman.
Castor and Polydeuces abducted and married Phoebe and Hilaeira, the daughters of Leucippus. In return, Idas and Lynceus, nephews of Leucippus (or rival suitors), killed Castor.
Polydeuces was granted immortality by Zeus, and persuaded Zeus to share his gift with Castor. Accordingly, the two spend alternate days as gods on Olympus and as deceased mortals in Hades.

30. Exekias Kylix Vase: Kylix Potter & Painter: Exekias signed
Date: 535 B.C.
Diameter: 30.5 cm
Subjects
Interior: Dionysus
Exterior: pair of apotropaic eyes
Exterior under handles:
Hoplites fight over bodies of fallen.
Foot signed by Exekias
Decoration:
Interior: Dionysos in a ship, sailing amongst dolphins. Dionysos reclines like a symposiast in his ship, holding a rhyton in his right hand and leaning back on his left arm. The white sail of the ship spreads above him, and climbing the mast of the ship, a grapevine with clusters of grapes fills the field of the cup. The prow of the ship is decorated with eyes; the body of the ship with two leaping dolphins and the stern post bends up into a swan's head. Around the ship, seven dolphins jump and sport, surrounding Dionysos like maenads and satyrs. The field is painted in coral red, forming a seamless background encompassing both sea and sky which fills the whole interior of the cup rather than being confined to a central tondo. The composition is unusually well suited to the circular field of the vase.
Exterior: on both sides A and B, large apotropaic eyes like those on East Greek cups, with eyebrows and diminutive noses. Beneath and on either sides of the handles, battles over fallen heroes (fight for the body of Patroklos?). On one side the warrior has already been stripped of his armor; on the other, he is still armed.
Inscriptions:

31. Exekias Kylix
It was found in the Etruscan city of Vulci in Italy and is thus part of the abundant evidence of lively trade in the ancient Mediterranean.
It is now in the Staatliche Antikensammlungen of the Bayerisches Staatsministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kunst in Munich. It is known as munich 2044

32. Signing vases
We know the names of some potters and painters of Greek vases because they signed their work. Generally a painter signed his name followed by some form of the verb 'painted',
While a potter (or perhaps the painter writing for him) signed his name with 'made'.
Sometimes the same person might both pot and paint: Exekias for example, sign as both potter and painter.
At other times potter and painter were different people and one or both of them signed. Like the francois vase
However, not all painters or potters signed all their work . Some seem never to have signed their vases, unless by chance signed pieces by these craftsmen have not survived.
Greek vase painters and potters
We know the names of some potters and painters of Greek vases because they signed their work. Generally a painter signed his name followed by some form of the verb 'painted', while a potter (or perhaps the painter writing for him) signed his name with 'made'. Sometimes the same person might both pot and paint: Exekias and Epiktetos, for example, sign as both potter and painter. At other times potter and painter were different people and one or both of them signed.
However, not all painters or potters signed all their work . Some seem never to have signed their vases, unless by chance signed pieces by these craftsmen have not survived.
Even in the case of unsigned vases, it is sometimes possible, through close examination of minute details of style, to recognize pieces by the same artist. The attribution of unsigned Athenian black- and red-figured vases to both named and anonymous painters was pioneered in the twentieth century by Sir John Davidson Beazley. Other scholars have developed similar systems for other groups of vases, most notably Professor A.D. Trendall for South Italian red-figured wares. For ease of reference Beazley and the others gave various nick-names to the anonymous painters whom they identified. Some are called after the known potters with whom they seem to have collaborated - the Brygos and Sotades Painters, for example, are named from the potters of those names. Other painters are named from the find-spot or current location of a key vase, such as the Lipari or Berlin Painters. A few, such as the Burgon Painter, take their names from former or current owners of key vases. Others are named from the subjects of key vases, such as the Niobid, Siren or Cyclops Painters, or else from peculiarities of style, such as The Affecter or Elbows Out Painters.

33. Inscriptions
It is signed by Exekias, a potter and painter working in Athens in about 530 BC,
.On foot of opposite side: see C&H pg 30
ECHSEKIAS EPOESE ("Exekias made it")
In Athens, in the Archaic period, potters continued to make the clay pots with mythological scenes on them. Gradually the scenes grew and took over more of the pot, and the geometric decoration took up less and less. At the same time, a new painting technique developed.  Instead of painting figures of people in outline, the Athenian potters began to paint people in silhouette: this is called black-figure, because the people are all black.
Actually black figure is done all with one type of clay. The clay found near Athens has a lot of iron in it, so it looks black when it is wet. But if you fire it in an oven where there is plenty of air getting in, the clay rusts, and turns red. This is because the iron mixes with the oxygen in the air. If you fire it in an oven with no air getting in, the iron can't mix with oxygen, and the pot stays black. So you can have either red or black pots. So how do you get a picture? You make a pot the regular way, and let it dry a little ("leather-dry"). Then you mix a little of the wet clay with a lot of water, to make a kind of paint (called the slip), which you use to make the black part of the picture. (You can't see it now, because it is all the same color). And you let the whole thing dry. When it is dry, you fire it in a kiln. First you give it a lot of air, so the whole pot turns red, slip and all. Then you shut off the air supply, but just for a little while right at the end of the firing. When the air runs out, the fire sucks oxygen right out of the clay of the pot. But the places where there is slip, the slip is thinner and easier to suck air out of. So the slip turns black (the color of iron with no oxygen in it) faster than the rest of the pot (which is red, the color of iron with oxygen in it).
At first the Athenian potters didn't know much about drawing people, and their people look a little funny. Later they got better at it. They began to care more about drawing the muscles and the eyes right. They were expecially careful about arranging the people in the picture in a pleasing way.
One famous Athenian potter of this time is Exekias.
Black figure vase painting lasted until about 525 BC.

34. Shape Cup for wine drinking
Exekias introduced new shape is so called ‘A type’ which has a shallow bowl with plain lip and a splaying foot offset from the bowl.

35. Interior decoration
The tondo has Dionysos lying on his ship surrounded by dolphins. Exekias filled around the tondo with coral red, though this technique was rarely followed.
Dionysos reclines like a symposiast in his ship, holding a rhyton in his right hand and leaning back on his left arm. The white sail of the ship spreads above him, and climbing the mast of the ship, a grapevine with clusters of grapes fills the field of the cup. The prow of the ship is decorated with eyes; the body of the ship with two leaping dolphins and the stern post bends up into a swan's head. Around the ship, seven dolphins jump and sport, surrounding Dionysos like maenads and satyrs.
The field is painted in coral red, forming a seamless background encompassing both sea and sky which fills the whole interior of the cup rather than being confined to a central tondo. The composition is unusually well suited to the circular field of the vase.
Exterior: on both sides A and B, large apotropaic eyes like those on East Greek cups, with eyebrows and diminutive noses. Beneath and on either sides of the handles, battles over fallen heroes (fight for the body of Patroklos?). On one side the warrior has already been stripped of his armor; on the other, he is still armed.

36. Decoration Interior Dionysos in a ship, sailing amongst dolphins.
Dionysos in a ship, sailing amongst dolphins. Dionysos reclines like a symposiast in his ship, holding a rhyton in his right hand and leaning back on his left arm. The white sail of the ship spreads above him, and climbing the mast of the ship, a grapevine with clusters of grapes fills the field of the cup. The prow of the ship is decorated with eyes; the body of the ship with two leaping dolphins and the stern post bends up into a swan's head. Around the ship, seven dolphins jump and sport, surrounding Dionysos like maenads and satyrs.
The field is painted in coral red, forming a seamless background encompassing both sea and sky which fills the whole interior of the cup rather than being confined to a central tondo. The composition is unusually well suited to the circular field of the vase.
Exterior: on both sides A and B, large apotropaic eyes like those on East Greek cups, with eyebrows and diminutive noses. Beneath and on either sides of the handles, battles over fallen heroes (fight for the body of Patroklos?). On one side the warrior has already been stripped of his armor; on the other, he is still armed.

37. Decoration Interior
Dionysos reclines like a symposiast in his ship, holding a keras or rhyton (drinking horn) in his right hand and leaning back on his left arm.

38. Decoration Interior
The white sail of the ship spreads above him, and climbing the mast of the ship, a grapevine with clusters of grapes fills the field of the cup.
Exekias's Vases Exekias was the greatest of the black-figure master painters
Ajax and Achilles amphora playing a game. Achilles was the brave Greek hero in Homer's Iliad. When Achilles was a baby his mother dipped him into a magic river. The magic water protected his body, except for his heel, which his mother was holding. Achilles was killed in the Trojan War. An arrow struck him on the heel. (The art of ancient Greece Shirley Glob)
This vase shows Ajax and Achilles two Greek heroes playing a game similar to backgammon or chess.
Herodotus, the 5th century Greek historian believed board games came from Asia Minor. Counters, dice and game pieces made of stone, bone and clay have been found.
Incised details in the clay render the detailed embroidery on the cloaks.
The composition complements the form of the vase. Figures are bent toward game and curve of their backs echoes curve of vase. Their spears lead the eye up toward the handles and the shields continue the vertical line of the bottom of the handle. Each man is shown wearing a helmet.
Compare this vase with Black-figured Neck-Amphora, Ajax and Achilles, ca. 510B.c. Attic Greek, terra-cotta, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (vase on the poster from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts)
Ask Students
How are the vases similar?
Who is the person in the middle?
Why did one vase painter add her to the picture?
Why would painters repeat the same image on vases?
Compare the composition on the vases, which one do they think is the most successful? Why?
Who's winning the game? How can you tell?
Studio Day 1

39. Decoration Interior
The prow of the ship is decorated with eyes; the body of the ship with two leaping dolphins and the stern post bends up into a swan's head.

40. A random modern version of myth without Dionysus but a bear instead?

41. The Myth Based on Homer’s ‘Hymn to Dionysos’
Dionysus was kidnapped on the way to Greece by pirates.
He revealed his divine persona by turning the mast into a vine which grow vines which produced grapes, as Dionysus is the god of wine.
The terrified pirates jumped overboard and turned into dolphins.
Making and decorating Athenian black- and red-figure vases
The first stage in making a pot is to dig the clay out of the ground. Pieces of grit or plant matter must be removed before the clay can be used. This was done in ancient times, as it is today, by mixing the clay with water and letting the heavier impurities sink to the bottom. This process could be carried out as many times as necessary. When judged to be sufficiently fine, the clay was left to dry out to the required consistency.
To make a vase the potter kneaded a lump of clay of suitable size and placed it centrally on the flat surface of the wheel. As the wheel revolved, the potter drew the clay up into the required shape with his hands. Scenes on the vases themselves show that potters' wheels were discs, presumably made of wood, clay or stone, about two feet in diameter, with socketed bases fitting over low, fixed pivots. It seems to have been usual to have a boy, presumably an apprentice potter, to turn the wheel by hand. Particularly large vases were thrown in sections, and in the case of shapes such as cups, the foot would be thrown separately from the body. The handles of most shapes were hand-made. When all the components had been allowed to dry for about twelve hours, they were glued together with clay slip.
A preliminary sketch was generally made on a figured vase, probably with a stick of charcoal. Occasionally traces of this process can be seen in the form of faint indentations in the surface of the vase. The painting was done with specially prepared clay slips. Black slip, used for the silhouette-like figures on black-figure vases and for the background on red-figure pots, was a finely purified form of the same clay used for the body of the vase. On a black-figured vase many of the inner details of the figures were incised through the slip with a sharp tool. On a red-figured vase, the inner details were painted with thinner or thicker solutions of the normal black slip. In both techniques, other details could be added in purplish-red or white: the red was the normal black slip with the addition of red iron oxide pigment, while the white was a pure, kaolin-rich clay. All these slips were applied with brushes of varying thicknesses.
D. Williams, Greek vases (London, The British Museum Press, 1999)

42. Exterior decoration
On both sides A and B, large apotropaic eyes like those on East Greek cups, with eyebrows and diminutive noses.
Exterior: on both sides A and B, large apotropaic eyes like those on East Greek cups, with eyebrows and diminutive noses. Beneath and on either sides of the handles, battles over fallen heroes (fight for the body of Patroklos?). On one side the warrior has already been stripped of his armor; on the other, he is still armed.
Inscriptions:

43. Exterior decoration
Beneath and on either sides of the handles, battles over fallen heroes (fight for the body of Patroklos?).

44. Exterior decoration
The warrior has already been stripped of his armor. Armour is the prize of the victors

45. Exterior decoration
On this side, he is armed.

46. Development of Black figure
In Athens, in the Archaic period, potters made clay pots with mythological scenes on them.
Gradually the scenes grew and took over more of the pot, and the geometric decoration took up less and less space.
At the same time, a new painting technique developed.  Instead of painting figures of people in outline, the Athenian potters began to paint people in silhouette: this is called black-figure, because the people are all black.
In Athens, in the Archaic period, potters continued to make the clay pots with mythological scenes on them. Gradually the scenes grew and took over more of the pot, and the geometric decoration took up less and less. At the same time, a new painting technique developed.  Instead of painting figures of people in outline, the Athenian potters began to paint people in silhouette: this is called black-figure, because the people are all black.
Actually black figure is done all with one type of clay. The clay found near Athens has a lot of iron in it, so it looks black when it is wet. But if you fire it in an oven where there is plenty of air getting in, the clay rusts, and turns red. This is because the iron mixes with the oxygen in the air. If you fire it in an oven with no air getting in, the iron can't mix with oxygen, and the pot stays black. So you can have either red or black pots. So how do you get a picture? You make a pot the regular way, and let it dry a little ("leather-dry"). Then you mix a little of the wet clay with a lot of water, to make a kind of paint (called the slip), which you use to make the black part of the picture. (You can't see it now, because it is all the same color). And you let the whole thing dry. When it is dry, you fire it in a kiln. First you give it a lot of air, so the whole pot turns red, slip and all. Then you shut off the air supply, but just for a little while right at the end of the firing. When the air runs out, the fire sucks oxygen right out of the clay of the pot. But the places where there is slip, the slip is thinner and easier to suck air out of. So the slip turns black (the color of iron with no oxygen in it) faster than the rest of the pot (which is red, the color of iron with oxygen in it).
At first the Athenian potters didn't know much about drawing people, and their people look a little funny. Later they got better at it. They began to care more about drawing the muscles and the eyes right. They were expecially careful about arranging the people in the picture in a pleasing way.
One famous Athenian potter of this time is Exekias.
Black figure vase painting lasted until about 525 BC.

47. Making and decorating Athenian black figure vases
The first stage in making a pot is to dig the clay out of the ground. Pieces of grit or plant matter must be removed before the clay can be used. This was done in ancient times, as it is today, by mixing the clay with water and letting the heavier impurities sink to the bottom. This process could be carried out as many times as necessary. When judged to be sufficiently fine, the clay was left to dry out to the required consistency.
A preliminary sketch was generally made on a figured vase, probably with a stick of charcoal. Occasionally traces of this process can be seen in the form of faint indentations in the surface of the vase. The painting was done with specially prepared clay slips. Black slip, used for the silhouette-like figures on black-figure vases and for the background on red-figure pots, was a finely purified form of the same clay used for the body of the vase. On a black-figured vase many of the inner details of the figures were incised through the slip with a sharp tool. On a red-figured vase, the inner details were painted with thinner or thicker solutions of the normal black slip. In both techniques, other details could be added in purplish-red or white: the red was the normal black slip with the addition of red iron oxide pigment, while the white was a pure, kaolin-rich clay. All these slips were applied with brushes of varying thicknesses.
D. Williams, Greek vases (London, The British Museum Press, 1999)

48. Making a pot
To make a vase the potter kneaded a lump of clay of suitable size and placed it centrally on the flat surface of the wheel. As the wheel revolved, the potter drew the clay up into the required shape with his hands.
Greek vase painters and potters
We know the names of some potters and painters of Greek vases because they signed their work. Generally a painter signed his name followed by some form of the verb 'painted', while a potter (or perhaps the painter writing for him) signed his name with 'made'. Sometimes the same person might both pot and paint: Exekias and Epiktetos, for example, sign as both potter and painter. At other times potter and painter were different people and one or both of them signed.
However, not all painters or potters signed all their work . Some seem never to have signed their vases, unless by chance signed pieces by these craftsmen have not survived.
Even in the case of unsigned vases, it is sometimes possible, through close examination of minute details of style, to recognize pieces by the same artist. The attribution of unsigned Athenian black- and red-figured vases to both named and anonymous painters was pioneered in the twentieth century by Sir John Davidson Beazley. Other scholars have developed similar systems for other groups of vases, most notably Professor A.D. Trendall for South Italian red-figured wares. For ease of reference Beazley and the others gave various nick-names to the anonymous painters whom they identified. Some are called after the known potters with whom they seem to have collaborated - the Brygos and Sotades Painters, for example, are named from the potters of those names. Other painters are named from the find-spot or current location of a key vase, such as the Lipari or Berlin Painters. A few, such as the Burgon Painter, take their names from former or current owners of key vases. Others are named from the subjects of key vases, such as the Niobid, Siren or Cyclops Painters, or else from peculiarities of style, such as The Affecter or Elbows Out Painters.

49. Making a pot
Scenes on the vases themselves show that potters' wheels were discs, presumably made of wood, clay or stone, about two feet in diameter, with socketed bases fitting over low, fixed pivots. It seems to have been usual to have a boy, presumably an apprentice potter, to turn the wheel by hand.
Firing Athenian black- and red figure vases
A distinctive red and black colour scheme characterises most of the painted pottery of sixth- and fifth-century Athens. The colours result from the skilful exploitation of the high iron content of Athenian clay by an ingenious process of differential firing. The black areas of a black or red-figured pot were coated in a fine solution of the same clay that was used for the body of the vase. Before the vase was placed in the kiln, it would have been orange-red in colour, with the coated areas slightly deeper in tone.
Once the kiln had been loaded, the a three-stage firing took place. In the first, oxidising, phase plenty of air was allowed into the kiln, and the temperature was gradually made to rise to around 800º C. At this point, the vase turned a bright orange-red, as the oxygen in the atmosphere combined with the iron in the clay to produce (red) ferric oxide.
When the potter judged that the required temperature had been reached, he stopped up the air vents and perhaps introduced damp material in the form of green wood or even bowls of water. This produced a reducing (oxygen-poor) atmosphere in the kiln and the red ferric oxide was converted to (black) ferrous oxide, so that the entire pot turned black. The temperature in the kiln continued to rise to around 945º C. The intense heat caused the fine particles of the clay of the coated areas of the pot to 'sinter', that is, to fuse together to form a hard, smooth, almost glassy surface.
In the third and final stage, the temperature was allowed to drop, and at about 900º C the ventilation holes were opened up, oxygen returned to the atmosphere of the kiln, and the ferrous oxide of the uncoated areas converted back to ferric oxide, so that as the kiln cooled down these parts turned orange-red again. The sealed surface of the sintered areas was impervious to the presence of the oxygen and so remained black.
D. Williams, Greek vases (London, The British Museum Press, 1999)

50. Making a pot
Particularly large vases were thrown in sections, and in the case of shapes such as cups, the foot would be thrown separately from the body. The handles of most shapes were hand-made. When all the components had been allowed to dry for about twelve hours, they were glued together with clay slip.

51. Firing a pot
Black figure is done all with one type of clay. The clay found near Athens has a lot of iron in it, so it looks black when it is wet. But if you fire it in an oven where there is plenty of air getting in, the clay rusts, and turns red. This is because the iron mixes with the oxygen in the air. If you fire it in an oven with no air getting in, the iron can't mix with oxygen, and the pot stays black. So you can have either red or black pots.

52. Firing a pot
So how do you get a picture? You make a pot the regular way, and let it dry a little ("leather-dry"). Then you mix a little of the wet clay with a lot of water, to make a kind of paint (called the slip), which you use to make the black part of the picture. (You can't see it now, because it is all the same color). And you let the whole thing dry.

53. Firing a pot
When it is dry, you fire it in a kiln. First you give it a lot of air, so the whole pot turns red, slip and all. Then you shut off the air supply, but just for a little while right at the end of the firing. When the air runs out, the fire sucks oxygen right out of the clay of the pot. But the places where there is slip, the slip is thinner and easier to suck air out of. So the slip turns black (the color of iron with no oxygen in it) faster than the rest of the pot (which is red, the color of iron with oxygen in it).
Exekias's Vases Exekias was the greatest of the black-figure master painters
Ajax and Achilles amphora playing a game. Achilles was the brave Greek hero in Homer's Iliad. When Achilles was a baby his mother dipped him into a magic river. The magic water protected his body, except for his heel, which his mother was holding. Achilles was killed in the Trojan War. An arrow struck him on the heel. (The art of ancient Greece Shirley Glob)
This vase shows Ajax and Achilles two Greek heroes playing a game similar to backgammon or chess.
Herodotus, the 5th century Greek historian believed board games came from Asia Minor. Counters, dice and game pieces made of stone, bone and clay have been found.
Incised details in the clay render the detailed embroidery on the cloaks.
The composition complements the form of the vase. Figures are bent toward game and curve of their backs echoes curve of vase. Their spears lead the eye up toward the handles and the shields continue the vertical line of the bottom of the handle. Each man is shown wearing a helmet.
Compare this vase with Black-figured Neck-Amphora, Ajax and Achilles, ca. 510B.c. Attic Greek, terra-cotta, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (vase on the poster from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts)
Ask Students
How are the vases similar?
Who is the person in the middle?
Why did one vase painter add her to the picture?
Why would painters repeat the same image on vases?
Compare the composition on the vases, which one do they think is the most successful? Why?
Who's winning the game? How can you tell?
Studio Day 1

54. Firing Athenian black- and red figure vases
A distinctive red and black colour scheme characterises most of the painted pottery of sixth- and fifth-century Athens. The colours result from the skilful exploitation of the high iron content of Athenian clay by an ingenious process of differential firing. The black areas of a black or red-figured pot were coated in a fine solution of the same clay that was used for the body of the vase. Before the vase was placed in the kiln, it would have been orange-red in colour, with the coated areas slightly deeper in tone. D. Williams, Greek vases (London, The British Museum Press, 1999)

55. Firing step 1
Once the kiln had been loaded, the a three-stage firing took place. In the first, oxidising, phase plenty of air was allowed into the kiln, and the temperature was gradually made to rise to around 800º C. At this point, the vase turned a bright orange-red, as the oxygen in the atmosphere combined with the iron in the clay to produce (red) ferric oxide. D. Williams, Greek vases (London, The British Museum Press, 1999)

56. Firing step 2
When the potter judged that the required temperature had been reached, he stopped up the air vents and perhaps introduced damp material in the form of green wood or even bowls of water. This produced a reducing (oxygen-poor) atmosphere in the kiln and the red ferric oxide was converted to (black) ferrous oxide, so that the entire pot turned black. The temperature in the kiln continued to rise to around 945º C. The intense heat caused the fine particles of the clay of the coated areas of the pot to 'sinter', that is, to fuse together to form a hard, smooth, almost glassy surface. D. Williams, Greek vases (London, The British Museum Press, 1999)

57. Firing step 3
In the third and final stage, the temperature was allowed to drop, and at about 900º C the ventilation holes were opened up, oxygen returned to the atmosphere of the kiln, and the ferrous oxide of the uncoated areas converted back to ferric oxide, so that as the kiln cooled down these parts turned orange-red again. The sealed surface of the sintered areas was impervious to the presence of the oxygen and so remained black.
D. Williams, Greek vases (London, The British Museum Press, 1999)