Red- and black-figure pottery

The black-pottery figure technique is the oldest of the two styles of painting. It was invented in Corinth around 700 BC, though Corinthian vase-painting of this early period is usually not referred to as “black figure”. By the later seventh century BC, Athenian vase-painters adopted the technique, applying it to larger types of vessels that were soon to become more popular than the generally smaller Corinthian pots. Athenian black-figure eventually became dominant, displacing Corinthian pottery by the early sixth century BC.

Before painting, the surface of the pot was burnished and polished before it completely hardened out. The painter sketched the outlines of the scenes he (or, indeed, she) wanted to paint. These were then coloured in using a fine clay slip with a different consistency and makeup from the clay used for the pot itself. The painted slip was then allowed to dry.

After the slip had dried, the artist added details, such as folds in clothing and eyes, through incision using a tool with a sharp point, which revealed the colour of the pot underneath. Other colours could then be painted over the darker slip, such as red, yellow, or white. White was made from fine white clay. The white clay could be mised with yellow ochre to create a yellow colour. Red was made of red iron oxide.

Two sides of a bilingual amphora depicting Ajax and Achilles engrossed in a game. On the left is the black-figure side of the vase, while the red-figure version of the same scene is shown on the right. Height: 55.5 cm. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

The red-figure vase-painting technique was first developed in Athens (or somewhere in the region controlled by Athens, i.e. Attica) in ca. 530 BC. Red-figure is essentially the reverse of black figure: the background is filled in with a fine slip and has a black colour after firing, while the figures are reserved. Details are added using fine brushes instead of through incision, allowing the artists to add a greater level of detail to their art.

Red-figure existed side by side with black-figure for a while, with some artists even making so-called “bilingual” vases, in which one side was executed in red-figure and the other in black-figure. The two contrasting scenes on individual bilingual vases are often similar. Red-figure would remain in use until well into the third century BC.