Compositional Characteristics of Athenian Black Gloss Slips (5th c. B.C.)

Walton, Marc; Trentelman, Karen; Maish, Jeffrey P.; Saunders, D. W.; Foran, Brendan; Pianetta, P.; Mehta, Akshita

doi:10.1017/s1431927613008994

Cited by 3 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…13 Saunders et al (forthcoming) and Maniatis et al (1993) provide a useful summary of past attempts to characterize black gloss. 14 Aloupi-Siotis (2008), Chaviara and Aloupi-Siotis (2016), Cianchetta et al (2015aCianchetta et al ( , 2015b, Gliozzo et al (2004); Kingery (1991); Lühl et al (2014); Maniatis et al (1993); Schreiber (1999); Walton et al (2013aWalton et al ( , 2013bWalton et al ( , 2015. It should be noted that there are some debates among these scholars regarding the chemical characterization and production technologies of ancient Greek ceramics.…”

Section: Chemically Bound Color: the Three-phase Firingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The short film, Mysteries of the Kylix (https://vimeo.com/140393971) also documents this course and the first firing. 17 It is still unclear whether there was one preferred ancient Athenian clay source, though the specific preferred morphological and chemical characteristics of the clay used to make Athenian vases has been extensively studied by Aloupi-Siotis (2008), Chaviara and Aloupi-Siotis (2016), Cianchetta et al (2015b), Lühl et al (2014) and Walton et al (2013b). The lack of a singular "identifiable" clay source suggests that potters may have mixed their clay to suit their personal preferences even if there were particular preferred clay deposits that were typically exploited.…”

Section: Chemically Bound Color: the Three-phase Firingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The objects were slipped (i.e., painted) by the author and Hyleck. Walton et al (2013aWalton et al ( , 2013b. 21 Thus far, there is little evidence of kiln wasters specific to multiple firings, suggesting that more complicated multiple firings may have been a specialized practice.…”

Section: Chemically Bound Color: the Three-phase Firingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…26 Matthew Hyleck, personal communication, 10/26/2018. Noble also notes this awareness on the part of potters(Noble [1965] 1988, p. 154).27 Contemporary potters assume that one third of a kiln-load is likely to be lost or damaged beyond sale, even in a successful firing.28 For recent scientific and technical studies, see Aloupi-Siotis (2008), Chaviara and Aloupi-Siotis (2016), Cianchetta et al (2015a), Cianchetta et al (2015b), Gliozzo et al (2004), Kingery (1991), Lühl et al (2014), Maniatis et al (1993), Schreiber(1999), andWalton et al (2013aWalton et al ( , 2013bWalton et al ( , 2015. It should be noted that none of our experimentally produced ceramics were subjected to scientific analyses to verify the different iron oxidation states mentioned in the published literature; however, this is an area of future research.29 The optimal temperature to be reached depends on the clay being used.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Bringing Back the (Ancient) Bodies: The Potters’ Sensory Experiences and the Firing of Red, Black and Purple Greek Vases

Balachandran

2019

Arts

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The study of Athenian black-figure and red-figure ceramics is haunted by nearly a thousand "hands" of the artisans thought to be responsible for their painted images. But what of the bodies attached to those hands? Who were they? Given the limited archaeological and epigraphic evidence for these ancient makers, this study attempts to recover their physical bodies through the ceramics production process-specifically the firing of vessels-as a communal activity potentially including a large cast of participants including craftsmen and craftswomen, metics, freed people and slaves. Using an experimental archaeology approach, I argue that we can begin to approach the sensory experiences of ancient potters and painters as they produced all the colored surfaces (and not only images) that endure on Greek vases. I propose a four-stage sensory firing in combination with the three-stage chemical firing process known for the production of Athenian ceramics, suggesting that each stage-and the colors produced at each stage-had their own "sensory signatures." Examining extant vases with this awareness of the bodily experience of their ancient makers has the potential to bring back these ancient bodies, moving us beyond the limiting narrative of a single hand wielding a paint brush.which often assumes a single maker with a recognizable "hand." But what of the surfaces of Greek vases as a whole, the shades of red, black and purple that make the images and text legible and the whole bodies of the people who made them?This paper argues that we have not fully considered the surfaces that the ancient Greeks potters and painters made as evidence of these makers' skill and embodied experience. Moving beyond the painted line as the marker of a single craftsman at work, I look to the firing of Greek ceramics as the key moment in the communal production process, one in which all of the work involved in throwing and painting an easily mutable clay object literally crystallized into its durable and indelible final form. The firing was responsible for the production of the range of colors-the reds, oranges, shades of black and brown and also the purples-for which Greek vase painting is renowned. 1 These colors are iron compounds formed under specific temperature and environmental conditions and are chemically reproducible in an experimental archaeology approach. As will be described in this paper, such an approach to the firing of Athenian ceramics offers otherwise unknowable insights into the ancient production process. The firing is an intensely sensory experience, with specific senses heightened at different stages as different colors are being made on the vessels inside the kiln. The colored surfaces of vases therefore have not only a particular chemical, physical and artistic signature but also a "sensory signature." It is by considering these sensory cues that we may approach the bodies of ancient makers at work.As the Hellenistic poem "Kiln" 2 demonstrates, the firing was the stage most fraught with physical danger and the potential f...

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