Origins of Greek Pottery

Greek Burial Pottery

The Greeks made pottery for as great a variety of purposes as any ancient or modern people. Bricks and tiles were used as we use them, for architectural and other purposes. When the custom prevailed of burning the dead, vases were used to receive the ashes. Sepulchral vases were of many forms, and sometimes costly vases, which had been treasures of art to the living, were devoted to the final use of holding their dust. The ashes of the victor at the games sometimes reposed in the vase which had been the prize of his triumph.

The larger number of vases and objects in Greek pottery which have been recovered in modern times were deposited with the dead as furniture of the tomb. In frequent cases numbers of vases, large and small, are found in one tomb, standing on the floor or hanging on the walls. These sometimes appear to have been articles prized by the deceased while living, and placed by his body with some sort of feeling, not without occasional illustration in our own time, which finds comfort in leaving the dead accompanied by some of the associations of life. Many of the vases decorated in colors on white grounds seem to have been made for sepulchral uses, and were placed in the tombs immediately after finishing. The decorations of these are in water-colors, not fixed, but easily rubbed off by handling. Some of these are among the most delicate and beautiful works of Greek art. The colors are frequently missing, having fallen off or disappeared, leaving only the outlines, traced with delicious taste and skill. Other vases have fixed white grounds.

There is not space for description of the exceptional forms and colors in which pottery was made and decorated by the Greeks. A small bottle in the Cesnola collection is in the form of a dove with human head (III.57). Another, only three inches long, is a perfect representation, in form, color, and surface roughness, of an almond.

The ornamental statuettes of the Greeks in pottery ranked in comparison with all other ancient and modern art as highly as Greek sculpture in marble. Exquisite little images are found in great numbers in various localities--at Athens, Tanagra, in Cyprus, and elsewhere. These were sometimes brilliantly colored, occasionally only washed with white. In the Metropolitan Museum of Art are many examples of this delicious work. A small image of a child waking out of sleep is an exquisite specimen. The bottle which is illustrated (58) in the form of a sleeping slave of giant muscle is beyond praise.