What You Need to Know about Greek and Roman Ceramic

Ceramic has come from a long history of time.develop its own ceramic art.
With human being has more knowledge andThe first pure Italian pottery was created from
advanced equipment, people start making thebright red clay still found in the south of the
development in ceramic making. In this article youpeninsula. When ornamented, the works were
will learn the history of ceramic from the Greekmolded with relief. Their almost dazzling luster was
time until Roman time.produced with a thin alkaline glaze which gave an
First to make extensive use of molds were theextraordinary depth and richness to the clay
Greeks, who also developed the use of naturalisticcolors. The earliest decoration predominantly floral
painted decoration. In the Golden Age of Greece,patterns, masks, dances, feasts, battles and other
the art of the ceramic painter was so farepisodes of life was copied heavily from the
separated from that of the potter that each wasembossed silverware looted and brought back
able to put his signature on his portion of thefrom Alexandria by Roman soldiers.
work. The best examples of early Greek potteryAlmost from the start, Roman potters cast their
often bear the marks of two master craftsmen.works in clay molds, which were prepared
At about 1000 B.C., there was a tremendousmechanically by means of separate stamps. The
upheaval in Greek art. The geometric style offinal artistic effect was therefore dependent upon
linear decoration crowded ornamentation withthe potter's imagination and skill.
repeated rows of figures, triangles, lozenges,At about 100 A.D., the Italian art was suddenly
circles and zigzags characterize Grecian ceramicseclipsed by the delicate ceramic pieces made in
of this period. Many of the designs were entirelyFrance. Rome still produced its own coarse
local. The most elaborate were those of Athens,pottery for ordinary domestic use, unglazed and
called Diplynware after the cemetery at the cityundecorated, which formed the bulk of ancient
gate, where the largest vases have been found.ceramics of all periods. But the wealthy class, for
There are huge sepulchral jars which bear amongwhom all fine pottery was manufactured, was
the geometric patterns, panels filled with pictureswon over by the superior craftsmanship and
of funerals, corpses surrounded by mourners, andquality offered by the Gallic potters. The colors
processions of chariots. The stylized human andwere more vivid and the clay-paste itself was
animal figures were drawn in stark, dramatic,harder and more durable. Examples of this
black silhouette.pottery, called Sigillata, are still excavated all over
The next significant developments took place inthe Roman world, but most abundantly in central
Italy, after Greece fell to the invading legions ofFrance.
Rome. In the centuries that followed, GreekDuring a period of time, ceramic has made so
influence was extremely potent in all Roman artmuch progress. As each nation has different
because so many workmen were imported eitherculture, ceramic also has gone through different
as colonists or slaves. Much early Italian potteryshapes, depend on the culture or the place where
can be distinguished from the Greek only by athe potter lived.
slight difference in the clay. But Rome was to