Greek Vases: Black-Figure and Red-Figure

Greek potters, above all in Athens, made vases for wine, water and oil and painted them with scenes from myth and daily life. Painted pottery survives far better than Greek wall painting, so vases are our best view of Greek painting. There are two main techniques.

• Black-figure (in Athens, about 620 to 500 BC): figures are painted in a slip (liquid clay) that turns black in the firing, on the orange clay. Details are scratched through the black with a sharp tool, so the orange shows in thin lines.
• Red-figure (invented in Athens about 530 BC): the reverse. The background is painted black and the figures are left the orange color of the clay. Details are painted on with a brush, so lines can be fine, flowing and varied.

Looking closely: Exekias's amphora. Two heroes of the Trojan War, Achilles and Ajax, lean over a low block, playing a board game between battles; painted words even give their throws. Their spears and backs form a triangle that points down to the game, the still center of the picture. Cloaks are covered in tiny incised patterns, a show of skill. Exekias signed this vase as both potter and painter.

Looking closely: The Berlin Painter. A young man in a long robe sings, his head tipped back, playing a large lyre called a kithara. He is alone on the glossy black, with no ground line or frame, so he seems to float. The painter is unknown by name; a scholar named him in 1911 after a vase now in Berlin, and recognizes his hand by his style.