Black-figure pottery

Black-figure pottery, type of Greek pottery figure that originated in Corinth c. 700 BCE and continued to be popular until the advent of red-figure pottery c. 530 BCE. In black-figure painting, figures and ornamentation were drawn on the natural clay surface of a vase in glossy black pigment; the finishing details were incised into the black. The first significant use of the black-figure technique was on the Proto-Corinthian style pottery developed in Corinth in the first half of the 7th century BCE. The Corinthian painter’s primary ornamental device was the animal frieze. The Athenians, who began to use the technique at the end of the 7th century BCE, retained the Corinthian use of animal friezes for decoration until c. 550 BCE, when the great Attic painters, among them Exekias and the Amasis Painter, developed narrative scene decoration and perfected the black-figure style. Outside Corinth and Athens, the most important studios producing black-figure ware were in Sparta and eastern Greece.

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• Black-figure pottery painting, also known as the black-figure style or black-figure ceramic (Greek, μελανόμορφα, melanomorpha) is one of the styles of painting on antique Greek vases. It was especially common between the 7th and 5th centuries BC, although there are specimens dating as late as the 2nd century BC. Stylistically it can be distinguished from the preceding orientalizing period and the subsequent red-figure pottery style.

  
  

  
  

  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

  
  

  A scene from a black-figure amphora from Athens, 6th century BC, now in the Louvre, Paris

  Figures and ornaments were painted on the body of the vessel using shapes and colors reminiscent of silhouettes. Delicate contours were incised into the paint before firing, and details could be reinforced and highlighted with opaque colors, usually white and red. The principal centers for this style were initially the commercial hub Corinth, and later Athens. Other important production sites are known to have been in Laconia, Boeotia, eastern Greece, and Italy. Particularly in Italy individual styles developed which were at least in part intended for the Etruscan market. Greek black-figure vases were very popular with the Etruscans, as is evident from frequent imports. Greek artists created customized goods for the Etruscan market which differed in form and decor from their normal products. The Etruscans also developed their own black-figure ceramic industry oriented on Greek models.