BMCR 2009.02.43, Kenneth Lapatin, Papers on Special Techniques

Kenneth Lapatin (ed.), Papers on Special Techniques in Athenian Vases:
Proceedings of a Symposium Held in Connection with the Exhibition 'The
Colors of Clay: Special Techniques in Athenian Vases', at the Getty
Villa, June 15-17, 2006.  Los Angeles:  J. Paul Getty Museum, 2008.
Pp. xii, 242.  ISBN 9780892369010.  $75.00 (pb).

Reviewed by Sheramy D. Bundrick, University of South Florida St.
Petersburg ([email protected])
Word count:  2366 words
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Papers on Special Techniques in Athenian Vases brings together nineteen
papers associated with a June 2006 conference at the Getty Villa, which
accompanied the important exhibition "The Colors of Clay: Special
Techniques in Athenian Vases."  A glance at the table of contents (see
below for authors and titles) reveals the collection's diverse scope,
with essays devoted to issues of execution, iconography, influence, and
trade.  The authors, too, represent a diverse gathering of scholars,
scientists, and ceramicists.  This conference volume, like others
recently published or in preparation, demonstrates the vitality of
Greek ceramic studies; far from languishing in an ever-shifting
scholarly world, the study of Athenian vases benefits from new
technologies, approaches, and points of view.

The two essays opening the volume, by Beth Cohen ("The Colors of Clay:
Combining Special Techniques on Athenian Vases") and Brian Sparkes
("Why Special Techniques?") acquaint the reader with the special
techniques under scrutiny--outline drawing, coral red, Six's technique,
white ground, added- or extruded-clay relief elements, gilding, plastic
vases and vases with plastic additions--and the larger questions
surrounding them.  Cohen, the curator of the Colors of Clay exhibition,
asserts as she did in the original exhibition catalogue that study of
technique has traditionally been overlooked in favor of figural
decoration, while stressing that one cannot truly be understood without
the other.  She uses key vases from the exhibition to explore the
juxtaposition of special techniques in a single vessel.  Sparkes, like
Cohen, lauds the innovation of Athenian artisans when it came to
special techniques, while speculating about the impetus of some
craftsmen to "go further."  He introduces considerations of consumers
and trade further explored by other authors in the volume.

Herman A. G. Brijder's essay on Six's technique ("Six's Technique and
Etruscan Bucchero") discusses previous scholarship by Jan Six and
Emilie Haspels, then moves to further observations.  Because some of
the vessels using Six's technique copy Etruscan bucchero prototypes in
their shape, Brijder wonders if there is a visual connection as well.
He notes the contrast of light and dark produced with the relief work
on some Etruscan bucchero and speculates whether the earliest versions
of Six's technique were intended to echo it.  He also notes that the
technique seems to have been more highly regarded in Etruria than
Attica, especially with sympotic shapes.

Annie Verbanck-Pie/rard considers the use of special techniques in a
specific archaeological context, the Athenian Akropolis ("The Colors of
the Akropolis: Special Techniques for Athena").  Pie/rard states at the
outset that her study was limited to the German publication of the
Akropolis material (Graef-Langlotz) rather than firsthand examination,
and she explains the methodological problems involved with such a
limitation.  Even so, she found that all the special techniques
considered in the Colors of Clay exhibition are represented in the
Akropolis material, and her essay leads the reader through different
examples.  She suggests that ceramic offerings which exhibit a
particular quality of techne would have been suitable for Athena in her
guise as Ergane.

Two iconographically themed essays examine the depiction of women on
special-technique vases: Jenifer Neils, "'Women Are White: White Ground
and the Attic Funeral," and Claire Lyons, "Objects of Affection: Genre
and Gender on Some Athenian Vases."  Neils argues for a symbiotic
relationship between the development of the Attic lekythos as a shape,
the evolution of white ground as a technique, and the association of
both with women and the funeral.  She further highlights the possible
role of women as patrons of vase-painters with regards to lekythoi and
white-ground vases generally, by virtue of their role as caretakers of
the dead.  Lyons uses a case-study approach: she examines four vases
from the Colors of Clay exhibition that depict "exemplary" women
(mythological figures, nude women, foreigners) and considers issues of
identity.  She notes that special techniques such as white ground or
gilding could emphasize a vessel's didactic message by highlighting
what she calls "telling attributes."

A series of papers on technique and execution succeed these
iconographic studies.  Two essays are concerned with so-called
coral-red gloss, the uncommon but striking technique employed from the
530s for approximately a century by select painters and workshops.
Historically there has been much debate about the production of
coral-red, namely how the color was produced during firing.  Jeffrey
Maish ("Observations and Theories on the Technical Development of
Coral-red Gloss") compares the appearance of coral-red gloss to
misfires and mis-slips in black-gloss vessels.  He argues that an
attraction to the red color produced during such firing mishaps may
have inspired the creation of techniques to replicate and control it.

An essay by four scientists from the Getty Conservation Institute ("A
Preliminary Investigation of Coral-red Glosses Found on Attic Greek
Pottery") presents initial results of testing done on thirteen
fragments/vessels containing coral-red and black gloss, using an
environmental scanning electron microscope (ESEM).  The tests uncovered
two different kinds of coral-red gloss: one whose chemical composition
is similar to the black gloss, and another that exhibits heightened
calcium and magnesium content (abbreviated HCM coral red, as opposed to
LCM coral red).  These findings may be the result of two different
clays and may explain why scholars cannot settle on a single technique
for creating coral red.  The remainder of the essay considers the LCM
coral-red gloss as compared to black; based on tests that reveal
differences in composition between the two, the authors propose that
two separate firings must have been used to create the black gloss/LCM
coral-red vessels. "Ferrous and Ferric: A Review of Scientific Research
on the Iron in Attic Greek Glazes" by Richard Newman follows this paper
and similarly discusses the usage of SEM technologies in analyzing
ancient glazes, as well as TEM, or transmission electron microscopy;
his focus is the black gloss and its iron content.  It is interesting
to note that even with new technologies allowing a different view into
ancient processes, many fundamentals remain unexplained.  One can hope
continued research will provide more answers.

A paper by Eleni Aloupi-Soutis ("Recovery and Revival of Attic
Vase-Decoration Techniques: What Can They Offer Archaeological
Research?") and another by Lisa Kahn and John C. Wissinger
("Re-creating and Firing a Greek Kiln") bring the debate into the
practical sphere, as these authors have attempted to replicate the
decoration and firing of ancient vessels.  Aloupi-Soutis' paper builds
on work done by the THETIS Authentics Ltd. laboratory and workshop, in
collaboration with the Greek Archaeological Service, as they produced
full-scale reproductions of archaeological finds.  She discusses the
production of black gloss, coral-red gloss, and the question of
multiple firings; some of her conclusions mesh well with those found by
the scientists in the previous papers.  The research of Kahn and
Wissinger builds on that of Joseph Veach Noble but departs from it as
they recreated an ancient Greek kiln (Noble and his collaborators used
electric kilns).  Their experiments reveal aspects of the ancient
process that Noble would not have encountered and provide significant
insight.

Papers by Joan Mertens ("The Colors of Psiax") and Adrienne
Lezzi-Hafter ("Clay, Gold, and Craft: Special Techniques in Three Vases
by The Eretria Painter and Their Apotheosis in Xenophantos") mark
forays into more traditional scholarship by emphasizing a single
artistic personality.  In addition to introducing Psiax's work in
special techniques, Mertens reminds the reader that the creation of the
red-figure technique (and other technical experiments) is roughly
contemporary with the emergence of Greek drama.  She suggests that the
innovations of Thespis and "the introduction of the actor" may have
influenced Exekias, Psiax, and other painters of the day.  Lezzi-Hafter
focuses on three key vessels by the Eretria Painter that each employ
multiple special techniques.  Like Psiax a century before, the Eretria
Painter was an innovator, for whom special techniques were a means to
enhance artistry and narrative.  The essay continues with an in-depth
analysis of the squat lekythos potted by Xenophantos in the Hermitage;
Lezzi-Hafter attributes this piece and its painter to the same workshop
of the Eretria Painter and Aison.

Plastic vases as a form of special technique are highlighted in two
papers.  Susanne Ebbinghaus ("Of Rams, Women, and Orientals: A Brief
History of Attic Plastic Vases") reviews the development of this form
with a specific eye toward Near Eastern connections and influences.
Dyfri Williams ("Some Thoughts on the Potters and Painters of Plastic
Vases Before Sotades") examines the early history of plastic vases and
considers the potters, painters, and workshops who specialized in them.

The remaining papers in the volume tackle issues of trade and
distribution of vases with special techniques; issues of trade and
distribution in general have received increasing attention in recent
years.  Athena Tsingarida's essay ("Color for a Market? Special
Techniques and Distribution Patterns in Late Archaic and Early
Classical Greece") considers the distribution of three techniques:
Six's technique, coral red, and white ground, laying particular
emphasis on phiale and cup shapes.  Helpful tables and maps show, for
example, a strong Attic market for phialai in Six's technique with less
common distribution elsewhere.  Coral-red phialai and cups, while
maintaining the strongest market in Attica, have a much wider
distribution across the Greek world, especially in the Late Archaic
period.  In the Early Classical period, white-ground cups and phialai
seem to take their place, although here again the local Attic market is
paramount.  It is worth noting the challenges of discussing
distribution of vases in these terms, either by Tsingarida or anyone
else: so many vases have unrecorded provenances, yielding an incomplete
corpus, and when provenances are known, sometimes the samples are
small.  Does the presence of one or two vases at a given site show
export specifically to that site, or were they brought by a stranger
passing through?  Even so, the questions raised by Tsingarida and the
other authors in this volume are important and should be considered.

Martine Denoyelle ("Athenian Vases in Special Techniques in Magna
Graecia and Sicily, and Their Influence on Local Production") turns to
the Greek colonies of Italy in her analysis of trade patterns.
White-ground lekythoi and plastic vases, she explains, are the only
special-technique vases found in any notable numbers in these areas and
raise questions about relationships between Greek colonials and their
Italic neighbors.  Denoyelle uses a case-study rather a statistical
approach, so maps and tables such as found in Tsingarda's essay are
absent; some readers may wish for more numbers and hard data.

Italy remains the focus in the essay by Bodil Bundgaard Rasmussen
("Special Vases in Etruria: First- or Secondhand?"), in which she
revisits some of the most contentious questions in the study of
Athenian vase painting and applies them to special-technique vessels
found in Etruscan tombs, namely, a) were there special commissions in
the Kerameikos; and b) were vases found in Etruria intended
specifically for foreign viewers, or were they geared toward an
Athenian audience, later traveling to Italy through secondhand trade?
Rasmussen's essay suffers the most in the collection from the required
word-count limit: the issues she confronts are simply too large and
complex to be dealt with effectively in this space.  They are worth
re-raising though; it has been well over thirty years since the
publication of T.B.L. Webster's controversial Potter and Patron in
Classical Athens, and the issue of secondhand trade still has not been
resolved.  Admittedly, it may never be.

Finally, Friederike Fless takes the question of trade--and taste--to
the edges of the Greek world ("Taste at the Periphery of the Greek
World: The Iberian Peninsula and the Black Sea").  She begins her
discussion by turning the term "special techniques" on its head,
pointing out that a certain technique may only be "special" from an
Athenian perspective.  As case studies for discussing the reception and
perception of Attic wares abroad, Fless focuses on red-figure kraters
found in Iberia and the so-called Kerch vases discovered at sites
around the Black Sea, especially pelikai found in burials.  She
convincingly describes the process by which customers abroad selected
and adapted Attic vessels for their use--and by which Athenian painters
and potters responded to the demand--as evolutionary and forged over
time.

Papers on Special Techniques in Athenian Vases is a significant
contribution to our growing understanding of these specific kinds of
vessels, as well as to our understanding of Greek vases generally.
Many of the questions and methodologies introduced here can be equally
developed with the more pervasive techniques of red and black figure.
As one might expect from a Getty Museum publication, the production
value of the volume is high, with a clean layout and clear
illustrations.  Typographical errors are minimal.  A single caveat: the
reader would be wise to have a copy of the Colors of Clay catalogue at
hand, as not all illustrations of exhibition vases are duplicated.

Table of Contents:

Kenneth Lapatin, Introduction

Beth Cohen, The Colors of Clay: Combining Special Techniques on
Athenian Vases

Brian A. Sparkes, Why Special Techniques?

Herman A. G. Brijder, Six's Technique and Etruscan Bucchero

Annie Verbanck-Pie/rard, The Colors of the Akropolis: Special
Techniques for Athena

Jenifer Neils, 'Women are White': White Ground and the Attic Funeral

Claire L. Lyons, Objects of Affection: Genre and Gender on Some
Athenian Vases

Jeffrey P. Maish, Observations and Theories on the Technical
Development of Coral-Red Gloss

M.S. Walton, E. Doehne, K. Trentelman, and G. Chiari, A Preliminary
Investigation of Coral-Red Glosses Found on Attic Greek Pottery

Richard Newman, Ferrous and Ferric: A Review of Scientific Research on
the Iron in Attic Greek Glazes

Eleni Aloupi-Soutis, Recovery and Revival of Attic Vase-Decoration
Techniques; What Can They Offer Archaeological Research?

Lisa C. Kahn and John C. Wissinger, Re-creating and Firing a Greek Kiln

Joan R. Mertens, The Colors of Psiax

Susanne Ebbinghaus, Of Rams, Women, and Orientals: A Brief History of
Attic Plastic Vases

Dyfri Williams, Some Thoughts on the Potters and Painters of Plastic
Vases Before Sotades

Adrienne Lezzi-Hafter, Clay, Gold, and Craft: Special Techniques in
Three Vases by The Eretria Painter and Their Apotheosis in Xenophantos

Athena Tsingarida, Color for a Market? Special Techniques and
Distribution Patterns in Late Archaic and Early Classical Greece

Martine Denoyelle, Athenian Vases in Special Techniques in Magna
Graecia and Sicily, and Their Influence on Local Production

Bodil Bundgaard Rasmussen, Special Vases in Etruria: First- or
Secondhand?

Friederike Fless, Taste at the Periphery of the Greek World: The
Iberian Peninsula and the Black Sea