Added red refers to an additional red-colored pigment, typically made of red ochre, that is painted onto a Greek vase before
firing. Various tints can result, including brown and purple. Added red is used for details such as blood, clothing, hair
fillets, and decorative borders. It is also used for lettering on red-figure vases.
Semi-outline is a decorative style that combines both outline and silhouette techniques (see Outline; see Silhouette). It
can be applied to a single figure, or in varying degrees to different figures and details in the same scene. Semi-outline
appears on Athenian black-figure vases (see Black-figure), such as on eye cups and Little Master cups, and on the Athenian
white-ground (see White-ground) lekythos.
Silhouette is used to describe figures or objects painted in solid black against a lighter colored background. In the black-figure
technique (see Black-figure), figures and objects are painted in silhouette before employing incision for details (see Incised).
Examples are also found in Geometric (see Geometric), Orientalizing (see Orientalizing), and red-figure vase-painting (see
Red-figure), as well as on Boeotian “geometricizing” vases.
Polychrome refers to vases that feature multiple colors in addition to the usual red and black derived from firing Athenian
clay and slip (see Added Color). Examples of polychrome are relatively rare in Athenian vase-painting, but are found more
regularly on Corinthian and South Italian wares. Several polychrome vessels in the form of the oinochoe are from the Athenian
Agora.
Added white refers to an additional white-colored pigment that is painted onto a Greek vase, usually before firing. Most notably,
added white is used for the skin coloring of women in the black-figure technique, or as “second white” on white-ground vases.
The white pigment comes from natural materials, such as calcareous clay, lead, or perhaps bone.
Black glaze, also called “black gloss,” “black-painted,” or “black,” denotes the black slip that is applied to the entire
surface of a Greek vase. Black glaze consists of a diluted form of the natural clay that is transformed through a chemical
reaction during the firing process (see Black-figure). Surface decoration could include added color, gilding, relief, incision
or stamped motifs. It has been suggested that the technique was meant to evoke metal vessels. Athens was the main producer
of black glaze vases until c. 400 BCE. Other regions included South Italy and the Eastern Mediterranean, where they were made
until the 1st c. BCE.
Black polychrome is a light-on-dark technique where vessels are painted with a black glaze (see Black Glaze) and details are
added in other colors, such as red and white. Ornaments or patterns can also be incised. In Athens the technique appears on
the phiale in the late 6th c. BCE, and can include floral motifs, animals, or human figures. Those with floral ornamentation
probably imitated metal vessels. The technique is related to Six’s Technique (see Six’s Technique), which was also made in
Athens. It also resembles East Greek Vroulian ware in some examples. Findspots include the Athenian Acropolis and Eleusis.
Stamped describes the technique of using a mold-made terracotta stamp for decoration. Designs are stamped or impressed (see
Impressed) into the soft clay surface of the vessel before it is painted. In Athens, stamped or impressed decoration first
appears around the middle of the 5th c. BCE, perhaps in the work of the Sotades Painter (see Sotades Painter). The ornament
generally consists of small and simple motifs, such as rosettes, concentric circles, palmettes, ovules, and tongues. Stamped
decoration usually appears on the interiors of drinking vessels, some of which have red-figure on their exteriors.
Plastic vases (from the German Plastik, meaning sculpture) are mold-made figural vessels taking human, animal, or hybrid forms.
While the sculptural elements of a plastic vase are often made in two-part molds, parts can also be modeled by hand or wheel-thrown.
This type of vase reached its peak popularity in Athens during the 5th c. BCE. Plastic vases were also produced in Corinth
and Boeotia.
Six’s technique describes figures painted in white, red, or pink silhouette on a black surface with their details incised
(see Incised). Although giving the appearance of red-figure (see Red-figure), it is considered an example of polychrome painting
(see Polychrome; see Black Polychrome; see Added Color). The technique is first used for full figures ca. 530 BCE and continues
through the early 5th c. BCE. Mainly appearing on small vessels, such as the lekythos, its invention is attributed to the
potter Nikosthenes (see Nikosthenes). Versions have been identified on vases from Corinth, Boeotia, and East Greece. The name
derives from the Dutch scholar Jan Six who first described it in the late 19th century.
Reserving is the practice of deliberately leaving a figure or detail unpainted. The reserved surface is the color of the fired
clay, such as the orange-red of Athenian black-figure (see Black-figure) and red-figure (see Red-figure) vases. The technique
is used on some Orientalizing vessels (see Orientalizing) as well as in East Greek and Boeotian black-figure.
Impressed describes decoration that is added by impressing or stamping (see Stamped) designs onto the surface of the vessel
before it is painted. In Athens, it first appears around the middle of the 5th c. BCE perhaps in the work of the Sotades Painter
(see Painter). The ornament generally consists of small and simple motifs, such as rosettes, concentric circles, palmettes,
ovules, and tongues. Impressed and stamped decoration usually appears on drinking vessels.
Black pattern is a term sometimes used to describe Athenian vases without human or animal figures. The decoration includes
floral, linear, or patterned bands. On some vases, large areas of the surface are painted black with a reserved band for decoration.
Examples are dated from the mid-6th through the 4th c. BCE. Other regions producing their own versions of black pattern decoration
included Corinth, Boeotia, Laconia, and South Italy.
Outline denotes using black lines of clay slip to express the edges of a figure or form, leaving interior areas unpainted
or untreated. It is commonly used for details of anatomy on figures, such as eyes, faces, and exposed parts of the body. In
Athens, it first appears in the Geometric period (see Geometric) combined with silhouette, then in the Orientalizing period
(see Orientalizing), and eventually later as part of the black-figure, red-figure, and white-ground techniques.
The use of white-ground (see White-ground) with the black-figure technique (see Black-figure) was pioneered by the Edinburgh
Painter (see Edinburgh Painter) during the late 6th c. BCE. A white slip (see Added White) is applied to the surface of the
vase onto which human or animal figures are painted using black-figure. Shapes include the lekythos, oinochoe, and small neck-amphora.
Coral red (or “intentional red”) is the term used to describe a color applied to some vases in the 6th and 5th c. BCE. The
color was painted onto entire vases (called “red-bodied” vessels) but did not adhere well to the surface. It is debated whether
coral red derives from a mixture of red ochre or comes from a refined form of natural clay and yellow ochre that transforms
to coral red when fired. The earliest known example of coral red is a kylix signed as potter (“epoiesen”) by Exekias (Munich,
Antikensammlungen 2044; BAPD 310403) showing Dionysos reclining inside a ship on the cup’s interior (see Exekias). The technique
appears mostly on small shapes and on a volute krater attributed to the Kleophrades Painter (see Kleophrades Painter).
Added color refers to additional pigments that are painted onto a vase’s surface either before or after firing. It is a frequent
component of black-figure, red-figure, and white-ground vases. The most commonly added colors are matte white (primary clay
with minimal iron oxide) and matte red/purple (mainly red ochre), and occasionally added yellow. Other added colors are vegetable-based
greens, blues, and pinks, as well as gold (gilding), and were likely applied after the firing process.
Red-figure is a light-on-dark technique used for figure decoration on a wide variety of shapes. It was invented in Athens
ca. 530-520 BCE. Red-figure decoration is created by leaving figures and shapes in reserve (see Reserving) on the untreated
or lightly treated surface of the vessel, often outlining them. Linear details are then created using gloss, dilute gloss,
and relief lines. The areas outside the outlined figures are painted with clay slip. Vases are fired in three stages, resulting
in reserved red figures (human and animal) against a black background. The red-figure technique was first used by the Andokides
Painter (see Andokides Painter [Red-figure]; see Andokides Painter [Black-figure]), who is best known for bilingual vases
(vessels decorated with the same scene on both sides, one in red-figure and the other in black-figure).
The white-ground technique refers to the application of a white clay slip on the surface of a vessel before adding figure
decoration. It is first found on some Geometric (see Geometric) and Orientalizing (see Orientalizing) vessels made in Athens
and Attica. Around 530 BCE, the technique appears on Athenian black-figure vases (see Black-figure), like those from the workshops
of Nikosthenes (see Nikosthenes), the Andokides Painter (see Andokides Painter [black-figure]), and Psiax (see Psiax), but
the inventor is uncertain. By the late 6th c. BCE, painters use the technique to decorate the black-figure lekythos and other
shapes. After ca. 480 BCE, the white-ground technique is used primarily for funerary subjects on the lekythos, and the figures
are painted in outline, semi-outline, and later polychrome. White-ground may have been inspired by stone vessels and has been
connected to wall and panel painting.
Black-figure is a dark-on-light technique used for figure decoration on a wide variety of shapes. It was invented in Corinth
ca. 700 BCE and was used in Athens by ca. 630 BCE. The decoration is created by applying silhouetted figures (see Silhouette)
in clay slip to the surface of the vessel, incising linear details, and sometimes adding color before firing (see Added Color;
see Added Red; see Added White). Vases are fired in three stages, resulting in black figures (human and animal) against an
untreated (or lightly treated) lighter colored background. The creation of the black-figure technique has been attributed
to the influence of minor arts from the Near East, most likely ivories and metalwork. Regional versions of the black-figure
technique were also used in Laconia, Boeotia, East Greece, northern Greece, West Greece, and Etruria.
Incised (or incision) refers to lines cut into the surface of a vessel using a sharp tool. It is primarily employed to create
details on human and animal figures in the black-figure technique (see Black-figure), but can also be used to make inscriptions.
Incisions are applied when the vase has reached its leather-hard stage prior to being fired, although sometimes lines were
re-incised afterward.
Relief is a decorative technique applied in both Athenian black-figure (see Black-figure) and red-figure (see Red-figure)
vase-painting in which clay is added to the surface of the vase. Relief can be used to show details of hair in the form of
black glaze dots, or for jewelry, objects, and animal or human figures. For larger figures, the relief decoration is produced
by pressing soft clay into a mold, similar to plastic vases (see Plastic), and then affixed to the still-moist surface using
a slip. Examples of relief decoration also include applique heads on handle junctions and full figural scenes. Sometimes the
relief may be accentuated with added colors such as white and gold (see Added Color).
