Greek Pottery at the British Museum - Jan 2006

For some years now it has been traditional for the first event of the KPA year to be a visit to a museum or ceramics collection. This year Jane Gibson organised for us to return to the British Museum to see, handle and hear about Greek pottery. We were met at one of those secret inner chambers that the museum is unexpectedly full of by Alexandra Villing, of the Greek and Roman antiquities staff, who made us welcome and found space for us to sit in their library.

Andrea explained that whilst we gain much knowledge from the study of (mostly broken) pottery, the work we think of as 'Greek pottery' (the red and black figure decorated ware) would have been only the finest ware, used for decorative or special purposes. The other ninety percent of pottery from the time would have been much more plan, and for everyday or culinary use. It is this work that Andrea studies mostly, and she showed us an interesting example of a grinding dish. However, she knew that we were really fascinated by the finer wares, and so she humoured us by taking us through the history of that work, and allowing us to handle some beautiful examples.

Pottery in Greece exists right through from the neolithic ages, and Cretan and Minoan cultures started to have well made, decorated pots from around 2000 BC. Over time making, painting and firing techniques improved and spread the mainland Greece. The Mycenians introduced decoration with human figures. This culture then went into decline, and the region experienced a sort of 'dark age' where life was centred around small villages with much less by way of art.

This period ended around 900 BC and larger cities started to flourish along with establishing trade with other areas of the Mediterranean and the Near East. The Greeks started to colonise the region, and together with the trade routes this established a demand for the new pottery. Very often it is the pots which were exported to other nations which have survived. Perhaps because they were treated as prized, and also because they were buried with the dead in well constructed tombs.

Potters started by decorating with fine brown, black and white slips (terra sigilata) and patterns of animals and plant like flourishes. Gradually the human form starts to dominate, along with the discovery of how to control kiln atmosphere so that the thicker slip would become black whilst the first layer, against the body of the pot, would remain oxidised and red. The figures were painted in the slip and any detail incised into them. Later the process was reversed, so that the background was painted with the slip, leaving the figures red, This meant that detail could be painted on, rather than incised, and consequently could be much finer - just a hair's breadth.

Whilst these pots were used for many purposes from holding perfumes in tiny flasks to huge vessels the size of a man used as tomb markers, most of the fine black and red ware was produced for use by men at social and political discussions. Wine was served at these meetings, first mixed in a large vessel and then poured or ladled into open drinking vessels. As Alexandra pointed out, these were not vessels intended for rapid consumption of alcohol. She thinks that the open dish-like shape would have encouraged slow and careful drinking, in line with the serious discussions taking place.

Toward the end of the period even more complex decoration was developed, with stippled relief and post firing additions such as gilding. From around 400 BC the red figure ware started to fade as plainer black metalic surfaces became fashionable on pottery, so the red figure ware we identify so closely with Greek pottery was in fact made for a relatively short period of a couple of hundred years.

Our thanks to Jane for organising yet another fascinating visit, and to Andrea for her informative talk and allowing us to handle and photograph the precious pots. Further photographs are available on the website (www.kentpotters.co.uk) by following the link from the events page.