This presentations is a brief introduction to the Ancient Greek pottery, and includes all the main styles that flourished while the Greek empire existed. The whole list of pottery styles discussed are: - Minoan Pottery - South Italian Pottery - Geometric Pottery - Corinthian Pottery - Black Figure Pottery - White Ground Pottery - Red Figure Pottery I really hope you find it interesting and useful!

1. Ancient Greek Pottery
A Summary

2. Content List
 Introduction
 Many Types of Greek Pottery
 Minoan Pottery
 South Italian Pottery
 Geometric Pottery
 Corinthian Pottery
 Black Figure Pottery
 White Ground Pottery
 Red Figure Pottery
 Conclusion

3. Introduction
Pottery was one of the main ways of artistic expression for
ancient Greeks.
Known for their philosophers, and always thought as a very
intellectual civilization (which they really were) Greeks were
also very materialistic and liked to represent the ideals of the
society as well as personal wealth through art. Natural motifs
were also a very recurrent motif.

4. Main Types of Greek Pottery
If we talk about Greek Pottery we have to include a wide range
of styles, from the Minoan art, that took place before the
Ancient Greece took place, to the artistic expressions of the
conquered territories.
The main styles of Greek Pottery are:
 Minoan Pottery
 South Italian Pottery
 Geometric Pottery
 Corinthian Pottery
 Black Figure Pottery
 White-Ground Pottery
 Red Figure Pottery

5. Minoan Pottery
The Minoans existed on the Greek island of Crete from around 27th to
15th century BC. As a maritime society, motifs related to the sea are
very common. The “Kamare” style, floral inspired is also very
distinctive.
Minoan Kamare

6. South Italian Pottery
The South of Italy became one of the centres of Greek art, and, with no
doubt, the greatest exporter of Pottery in the whole empire.
South Italians developed a new style of pottery decoration that
portrayed Greek myths and dramas in polychromatic.

7. Geometric Pottery
This style, which was created in Athens, flourished between the 10th
and 8th century BC. As it’s own name says, this type of pottery
illustrates geometric shapes like triangles, and zigzags.
Later on, many of these geometrical figures were replaced by animals
and humans.

8. Corinthian Pottery
The Corinthian style appeared almost at the end of the Greek
civilization, and was the successor of the geometric style. It
flourished in Sicily, and its main motifs, were the flora and
fauna, using curvaceous shapes in their representations.

9. Black Figure Pottery
Developed between the 7th and 5th centuries BC, the Black Figure
pottery had its centre in Attica, although was initiated in Athens and
Corinth.
The main motifs represented in this kind of pottery are mythological
scenes, including Greek gods and heroes.

10. White-Ground Pottery
The White-Ground pottery flourished during the 5th century BC in
Athens. The light slip of “Kaolinite” that covered the pottery intended
to give the impression that it was made from ivory or marble.
The pottery illustrate tender and evocative scenes which is a great
differentiator from the rest.

11. Red Figure Pottery
Born in the 6th century BC in Athens, it replaced the Black Figure
Pottery as the most popular, as it allowed the painter to reach a
higher degree of detail and accuracy.
The illustrations represent Greek mythology and everyday life.

12. Conclusion
As you can see Ancient Greeks left us a great cultural heritage
in the form of hand-painted pottery and vases.
Apart from the fact that the Greek civilization was very
intellectual, the reason why so many different types of styles
flourished across various forms of art like architecture or
literature, was due to the cultural diversity of the inhabitants
of an empire that extended from Afghanistan to the South of
Italy.

13. Thank You!
If you are interested in Ancient
Greek art, you can find high
quality reproductions of
pottery, tiles, statues and
jewellery at It’s All Greek