Based on her study of Greek pottery sherds and vases and on her profound hands-on knowledge of pottery construction techniques, including experiments with the potting of Attic shapes, Toby Schreiber describes how ancient Greek potters constructed their vases. Drawn in large part from vases and fragments in the collection of the Getty Museum, the many photographs that accompany the text show how much even seemingly insignificant sherds may reveal about technique when studied by someone knowledgeable about potting. The drawings - all done by the author - demonstrate step by step with admirable clarity how the potter executed his craft. Written by a master potter, this is a book both for those who know little or nothing about potting techniques and for those who already have an understanding of these matters.

Inferior clays and glazes, unsuited to the red-figure style, means that the indigenous production of red-figure vases in Corinth was very limited. However for about 75 years, in the middle of the 5th century B.C., Corinthian potters tried to imitate the Athenian fashion and this book catalogues 186 pieces of their work. The author discusses the reasons for the production of Corinthian red figure even in limited quantities. Six painters are identified as responsible for at least half the known pieces. Thirteen deposits provide chronological evidence to supplement that of the painting style. The volume serves to bring forward a small but significant segment of the non-Attic pottery industries, and should stimulate interest in other unpublished, unreported examples. All items in the catalogue are illustrated in photographs; line drawings are used to demonstrate details of technique.

The papers in this volume derive from the proceedings of an international symposium held at the J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Villa in June 2006 in connection with the exhibition The Colors of Clay: Special Techniques in Athenian Vases. The themes of the exhibition--vases executed in bilingual, coral-red gloss, outline, Kerch-style, white ground, and Six's techniques, as well as examples with added clay and gilding, and sculpted vases and additions--are the touchstones for the essays. More than twenty papers by renowned scholars are grouped under such general rubrics as Social Contexts for Athenian Vases in Special Techniques; Conservation, Analysis, and Experimentation; Artists, Workshops, and Production; and Markets and Exchange.

Freestanding bronze statuary was the primary mode of artistic expression in classical Greece, yet it was not until the nineteenth century that any original large statues of that period were unearthed. Although ancient literature has preserved information about the most famous Greek sculptors who worked in bronze, our perception of the art has been limited by the small number of extant originals from the sixth and fifth centuries B.C. there remain fewer than ten large cast bronze statues, a like number of bronze heads, an assortment of fragments, and some clay molds for casting. Carol Mattusch enriches our knowledge of this beloved but elusive art form in a comprehensive study of the style and techniques of bronze statuary during the Archaic (6th century B.C.) and Classical (5th century B.C.) periods.

In his new book, Professor Martin Robertson - author of A History of Greek Art (CUP 1975) and A Shorter History of Greek Art (CUP 1981) - draws together the results of a lifetime's study of Greek vase-painting, tracing the history of figure-drawing on Athenian pottery from the invention of the 'red-figure' technique in the later archaic period to the abandonment of figured vase-decoration two hundred years later. The book covers red-figure and also work produced over the same period in the same workshops in black-figure and other techniques, especially that of drawing in outline on a white ground. The book is intended as a companion volume to Sir John Beazley's The Development of Attic Black-figure (originally published in 1951 by California University Press), and as an examination and defence of Beazley's methods and achievements. This book is a major contribution to the history of Greek vase-painting and anyone seriously interested in the subject - whether scholar, student, curator, collector or amateur - will find it essential reading.

Provides a brief introduction to this pottery process, discusses ways in which the clay and fire interact, and the color effects that can be achieved, and examines various types of sawdust firing through the work of different potters, who describe their methods. Illustrated with color and bandw photos. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

An ancient Greek vase is a difficult object for the non-expert to come to terms with. Faced with rows of apparently undifferentiated black, red and buff pots, he or she is at a loss as to where to begin. Greek vases are treated as objets d'art in the modern world, but how much were they worth in the ancient? They are often used to demonstrate 'the Greek genius' and aspects of ancient Greek society, but why do many of them carry Eastern motifs, and why do so many turn up in Italy? Why were the Greeks not content with simple patterns on their pottery? What did the pictures on the pots mean to them? Why should a vase depict a scene from a play? These are the sorts of questions that this book, first published in 1991, attempts to answer. As the title implies, it is a series of 'looks' at Greek vases, offering suggestions on how to read the often complex images they present.