Black-figure pottery in the context of "Ceramic"

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⭐ Core Definition: Black-figure pottery

Black-figure pottery painting (also known as black-figure style or black-figure ceramic; Ancient Greek: μελανόμορφα, romanizedmelanómorpha) 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 in the 2nd century BC. Stylistically it can be distinguished from the preceding orientalizing period and the subsequent red-figure pottery style.

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.

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Black-figure pottery in the context of Red-figure

Red-figure pottery (Ancient Greek: ἐρυθρόμορφα, romanizederythrómorpha) is a style of ancient Greek pottery in which the background of the pottery is painted black while the figures and details are left in the natural red or orange color of the clay.

It developed in Athens around 520 BC and remained in use until the late 3rd century AD. It replaced the previously dominant style of black-figure pottery within a few decades. Its modern name is based on the figural depictions in red color on a black background, in contrast to the preceding black-figure style with black figures on a red background. The most important areas of production, apart from Attica, were in Southern Italy. The style was also adopted in other parts of Greece. Etruria became an important center of production outside the Greek World.

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Black-figure pottery in the context of Art in Ancient Greece

Ancient Greek art is the visual and applied arts, as well as the architecture, produced by the Hellenes or Greek peoples from the start of the Iron Age to the Hellenistic period, ending with Roman conquest of Greece at the Battle of Corinth in 146 BCE. It stands out among that of other ancient cultures for its development of naturalistic but idealized depictions of the human body, in which largely nude male figures were generally the focus of innovation. The rate of stylistic development between about 750 and 300 BC was remarkable by ancient standards, and in surviving works is best seen in sculpture. There were important innovations in painting, which have to be essentially reconstructed due to the lack of original survivals of quality, other than the distinct field of painted pottery.

Greek architecture, technically very simple, established a harmonious style with numerous detailed conventions that were largely adopted by Roman architecture and are still followed in some modern buildings. It used a vocabulary of ornament that was shared with pottery, metalwork and other media, and had an enormous influence on Eurasian art, especially after Buddhism carried it beyond the expanded Greek world created by Alexander the Great. The social context of Greek art included radical political developments and a great increase in prosperity; the equally impressive Greek achievements in philosophy, literature and other fields are well known.

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Black-figure pottery in the context of Ancient Greek music

Music was almost universally present in ancient Greek society, from marriages, funerals, and religious ceremonies to theatre, folk music, and the ballad-like reciting of epic poetry. This played an integral role in the lives of ancient Greeks. There are some fragments of actual Greek musical notation, many literary references, depictions on ceramics and relevant archaeological remains, such that some things can be known—or reasonably surmised—about what the music sounded like, the general role of music in society, the economics of music, the importance of a professional caste of musicians, etc.

The word music comes from the Muses, the daughters of Zeus and patron goddesses of creative and intellectual endeavours.

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Black-figure pottery in the context of Tartarus

In Greek mythology, Tartarus (/ˈtɑːrtərəs/; Ancient Greek: Τάρταρος, romanizedTártaros) is the deep abyss that is used as a dungeon of torment and suffering for the wicked and as the prison for the Titans. Tartarus is the place where, according to Plato's Gorgias (c. 400 BC), souls are judged after death and where the wicked received divine punishment. Tartarus appears in early Greek cosmology, such as in Hesiod's Theogony, where the personified Tartarus is described as one of the earliest beings to exist, alongside Chaos and Gaia (Earth).

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Black-figure pottery in the context of Belly Amphora by the Andokides Painter (Munich 2301)

The Belly Amphora in the Staatliche Antikensammlungen at Munich (inventory number 2301) is one of the most famous works by the Andokides Painter. The vase measures 53.5 cm high and 22.5 cm in diameter. It dates to between 520 and 510 BC and was discovered at Vulci. It was acquired by Martin von Wagner, an agent of Ludwig I of Bavaria.

As a bilingual vase, it is an important archaeological source for the transition from Attic black-figure pottery to the red-figure style. Bilingual vases are uncommon, and ones that repeat the same subject in the two styles are vanishingly rare; the vase is therefore very often used to illustrate the differences between the two techniques. It is signed by the potter Andokides, who probably made it. Some scholars assume that the black-figure side was painted by the Lysippides Painter, while others suggest that he is identical with the Andokides Painter.

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