White-ground technique is a style of white ancient Greek pottery and the painting in which figures appear on a white background. It developed in the region of Attica, dated to about 500 BC. It was especially associated with vases made for ritual and funerary use, if only because the painted surface was more fragile than in the other main techniques of black-figure and red-figure vase painting. Nevertheless, a wide range of subjects are depicted.
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👉 White ground technique in the context of Lekythos
A lekythos (Ancient Greek: λήκυθος; pl.: lekythoi) is a type of ancient Greek vessel used for storing oil, especially olive oil. It has a narrow body and one handle attached to the neck of the vessel, and is thus a narrow type of jug, with no pouring lip; the oinochoe is more like a modern jug. In the "shoulder" and "cylindrical" types which became the most common, especially the latter, the sides of the body are usually vertical by the shoulder, and there is then a sharp change of direction as the neck curves in; the base and lip are normally prominent and flared. However, there are a number of varieties, and the word seems to have been used even more widely in ancient times than by modern archeologists. They are normally in pottery, but there are also carved stone examples.
Lekythoi were especially associated with funerary rites, and with the white ground technique of vase painting, which was too fragile for most items in regular use. Because of their handle they were normally only decorated with one image, on the other side from the handle; they are often photographed with the handle hidden, to show the painted image.
In this Dossier
White ground technique in the context of Pandora
In Greek mythology, Pandora was the first human woman created by Hephaestus on the instructions of Zeus. As Hesiod related it, each god cooperated by giving her unique gifts. Her other name—inscribed against her figure on a white-ground kylix in the British Museum—is Anesidora (Ancient Greek: Ἀνησιδώρα), "she who sends up gifts" (up implying "from below" within the earth).
The Pandora myth is a kind of theodicy, addressing the question of why there is evil in the world, according to which, Pandora opened a jar (pithos; commonly referred to as "Pandora's box") releasing all the evils of humanity. It has been argued that Hesiod's interpretation of Pandora's story went on to influence both Jewish and Christian theology and so perpetuated her bad reputation into the Renaissance. Later poets, dramatists, painters and sculptors made her their subject.
White ground technique in the context of Sappho Painter
The Sappho Painter was an Attic black-figure vase painter, active c. 510–490 BCE.
The artist's name vase is a kalpis depicting the poet Sappho, currently held by the National Museum, Warsaw (Inv. 142333). The hand of the Sappho Painter has been identified on 95 vessels, 70% of which are lekythoi. Their work has also been identified on tomb wall slabs and epinetra.
White ground technique in the context of Cylix of Apollo
The few pottery exhibits of the Delphi Archaeological Museum include a famous shallow bowl (kylix) with an unusual depiction of the god Apollo. In the white-ground red-figure technique, it was found in a grave underneath the museum.
It is the work of an Attic workshop, around 480–470 BC. Scholars have suggested Euphronios or Onesimos as the painter, or described it as in the manner of the Pistoxenos Painter. The scene depicted evokes the verse from the second hymn to Apollo found inscribed on the southern wall of the Treasury of the Athenians: "Sing for the gold-haired Pythios who aims far with his bow and arrow and plays nicely the lyre".