Greek vases stand out as one of the most recognizable artistic remnants of the ancient world. In
addition to expert ceramic artisanship, they preserve exceptional insights into the visual
dimension of Greco-Roman culture. Homeric legends, myths, and cultural norms came to life
through painted, three-dimensional scenes. The appetite for antiquities generated by the
excavation of Pompeii also led to the opening of many Etruscan tombs, and the European upper
class soon developed a taste for the painted ceramic vessels found in them. Many of the Blanton
vases come from a collection assembled by an English nobleman in the early 1800s. The
distribution of countless Greek vessels in Italian contexts attests to the extensive ancient trade
exports of the major ceramic production centers of Corinth and Athens.
These vases have been in the Blanton’s collection since the 1980s, and until recently, were
displayed in their own exhibit. The Blanton vases are now incorporated into a new gallery titled
The Legacy of the Classical Past, which is aimed at presenting the influence of Greek artworks
on early modern European artists. As a result, some of the vases in the collection are no longer
on view. Through a collaborative partnership between the Blanton Collection Staff and Adam
Rabinowitz, the CALPIS 3D initiative was established to capture and visualize these vases, as
well as those in the UT Austin Classics Department Collection, with 3D imaging technology.
Before an ancient Greek vase could be painted, it had to be formed through a process called
clay-throwing. Using a potter’s wheel, an artisan would spin and mold the clay into the desired
shape, then once it had dried, attach the other parts like the base and handles. Once complete, the
vase could be decorated and fired in a ceramic kiln. Watch the following video to learn more
about this process!
The Blanton vase collection presents a good survey of the development of Greek figural painting
from approximately 600 to 200 BCE. The earliest vases are from Corinth, where the black-figure
style was invented. Ιn this technique the vase's natural color serves as the background. The
figures are painted οn the vessel in black, and details of dress or anatomy are rendered with
incised lines. Added colors such as red or white often enliven the painted figures.
Corinthian artists were fond of exotic animals, mythical monsters of Near Eastern origin, and
floral motifs, which they painted οn the local yellowish clay. Initially Corinthian vases
dominated the Mediterranean market. But vase painters in Athens also became proficient in the
black-figure technique after 600 BCE, and by 550 BCE Athens had replaced Corinth as the most
important center of vase-painting. Athenian vessels can be identi:fied by the reddish color of the
unpainted clay and by the rich black gloss of the painted surfaces. Where rows of beasts had
been popular οn Corinthian pots, Athenian vase painters preferred mythological and everyday
scenes.
Around 530 BCE, painters in Athens reversed the effect of the black-figure style to create the
red-figure technique, bringing about radical change in vase painting. Ιn red-figure, the figures
were left unpainted, while the background was now painted black. Artists applied details in the
unpainted areas with extra paint and a fine brush. Some experts believe that this helped Athenian
artists experiment with more complicated compositions. This method quickly replaced the
black-figure technique. The red-figure tradition was continued by South Italian vase painters
after 400 BCE. After 300 BCE, in Sicily and South Italy, it was gradually replaced by
polychrome painting and molded decorations. By 200 BCE, figural vase painting had largely
disappeared from the Greek world.
Three of the vases from the Blanton’s collection demonstrate the main phases of vase painting
during the Archaic Corinthian Period (610-535 BCE). The round shape of the aryballos (a
modern title formed from the Greek words ἀρύω “to draw” and βαλλω “to throw”) became
popular in Corinth in the Archaic Period. Aryballoi frequently appear on vase paintings or
funerary stelai in the gymnastic contexts. The red figure kylix pictured below shows a sponge,
strigil, and aryballos suspended together as the primary accoutrements for gymnasium activities
(see figure below, Getty 83.AE.217).
This form of vessel was designed to hold oil that would be
used to anoint athletes before
exercising and could be easily suspended with a string looped through the small handle. After the
training was over, a strigil was used to remove the dirt and oil from their bodies, as shown on the
Blanton Red Figure Kylix (1980.42).
This round, footless form was popular in the Early Corinthian Period, during the late seventh
century BCE. It exemplifies the Black-figure Technique, which was invented in Corinth in c. 700
BCE. Black-figure utilizes slip, a mixture of water and clay which binds to the surface when
brushed onto a vase. When heated in a ceramic kiln, the iron oxides in slip turn black, giving this
style its distinctive color. While Proto-Corinthian wares were primarily decorated with simple
Black-figure silhouettes, Early Corinthian painters experimented with secondary colors of red
and pale brown.
The decoration of hoplites and horses on this Aryballos indicates a shift away from the animal
style of earlier Corinthian wares (1). The two warriors in heraldic pose are incised with
meticulous detail. They are shown wearing Corinthian helmets, short tunics with ornate borders,
greaves, armed with spears and shields. This vase can be likely attributed to a group of Early
Corinthian black-figure artists who are known as the Warrior Group. Their work consists of
several dozen aryballoi with similar scenes of Corinthian warriors that date to the last quarter of the
seventh century BCE. They mark a moment of increased production of vases where figural
drawing becomes less archaic and the warriors’ shields become larger. The decorative elements
of rosettes, blobs, and variant patterns are particularly distinctive of the Warrior Group (2).
The Blanton Stemless Kylix is a decorated wine cup that was produced in Corinth starting at the
end of the seventh century. Its unique form with offset rim is exclusive to the Middle Corinthian
period (580-555 BCE) (3). Its painted content, displayed in three friezes, pays homage to the
creatures of Protocorinthian vases which were likely inspired by motifs from the Ancient Near
East. The top and bottom friezes show a parade of goats, rams, and panthers (the term “panther”is used for
maneless, leonine creatures). The middle frieze shows a central bird flanked by pairs
of sphinxes, lions, and boars. The space between these creatures is decorated with the same
rosette and blob technique of the Early Corinthian Period. Corinthian wine cups were widely
popular, with some even being imported to the major ceramic production territory of Attica.
Athenian wine cups utilized Red-figure, the color inverse of Black-figure and often incorporated
decorative scenes on the interior of the cup (as shown in the Blanton Red-figure Kylix above).
Watch the following video to learn more about how wine cups were used in Ancient Greece!
The Blanton quatrefoil aryballos demonstrates a trend of Late Corinthian vase painting that
occurred between 580-550 BCE. The quatrefoil pattern is a simplification of an ornate, Assyrian
lotus-flower motif that is depicted on vases during the early Corinthian period. In this simplified
version, the flower almost completely disappears as the enlarged leaves become the foundation
of the pattern (4). Over 550 aryballoi of this type were discovered across three archaic tombs in
Ritsona that were excavated in the early 20th Century (5). The prevalence of this less complex
pattern probably conforms to increased production that prioritized quantity over quality.
1. Shapiro, H. A, New Orleans Museum of Art., and Tulane University. 1981. Art, Myth, and
Culture : Greek Vases from Southern Collections / Introduction and Catalog by H.A. Shapiro.
New Orleans: New Orleans Museum of Art, in conjunction with Tulane University, 46.
2. Payne, Humfry. 1971. Necrocorinthia; a Study of Corinthian Art in the Archaic Period.
College Park, Md: McGrath Pub. Co. (First published in 1931 by Claredon Press), 288.
3. Ibid., 310.
4. Ibid., 146-149.
5. Ibid., 320-321.