Collecting Ancient Pottery

Ancient Pottery for Sale in the Forum Ancient Coins Shop

Egyptian Pottery

Pottery is quite plentiful in Egyptian excavations. Unfortunately, with the exception of the predynastic and New Kingdom and Roman periods, it is usually quite utilitarian and plain in nature. Roman period pottery from Egypt is rather distinctive and ranges from the simple to the elaborately painted. Often it is decorated with interesting designs in relief, for example, the highly decorated pilgrim flasks which occasionally appear on the market. Some predynastic, new Kingdom and Roman pottery found in Egypt is painted usually in a geometric style. Types of pottery, as usual, include domestic vessels of various wares, oil lamps often with relief decoration, most of which date to the Ptolemaic/Roman periods, some ritual vessels particularly in the New Kingdom, architectural elements such as tiles, and various types of pottery used in the extensive Egyptian funerary rites. Pottery coffins have been found in some excavations.

References

Bietak, M. "Egypt and Canaan during the Middle Bronze Age" in Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, No. 281 (Feb 1991), pp. 27-72. Available Online
Birch, S. History of Ancient Pottery, Vol I: Egyptian, Assyrian, and Greek. (London, 1858). Available Online
Flinders, P. & J. Quibell. Naqada and Ballas. (London, 1896).
Kelley, A. The Pottery of Ancient Egypt Dynasty I to Roman Times. (Toronto, 1976).

Greek Pottery

The earliest Minoan pottery was incised ware and painted ware with parallel lines and cross-hatching in various patterns. Early Minoan pottery has a beautiful flare spout in its pitchers and juglets. Magnificent stone carved vases are found from the Early and Middle Minoan phases. By the Middle Minoan period, many shapes were used, with butterfly, double axepations, swirls, branches, and various marine designs. In the later part of this period, wonderful polychrome vessels with dolphins, crabs, and stylized octopi appear. The Late Minoan is distinguished by finer baking. The designs become more complex with an emphasis on floral and marine patterns, A distinct two-handled goblet with a pedestal uses a single self-contained unit for decoration. All of the Cretan pottery is rarely on the market today, and commands strong prices.

The fine Greek pottery can be divided into four main groups. The Geometric wares are dated from 1000 - 700 B.C. The designs and origins were from many localities and were painted in brown or black monochromes. Trade contact with Egypt, Phoenicia and inland Western Asia resulted in the Orientalizing phase of Greek pottery. The images as seen on imported textiles, ivory, and metal objects from the East inspired the introduction of human, animal and plant forms on the new polychrome painting. Corinth was the center of this widely exported ware. Rhodes, Chios and the Cycladic Islands were also pottery centers. The Athenian potters during the 6th century until 530 B.C. developed the mature black-figuring technique. This was an expanded technique from Corinthian ware with details of the black figures incised. Athens was the center, but Chalkidian ware and East Greek wares were also produced. This stage of Greek pottery grew to such an extent that the artists began signing their works. Alongside the black-figure painting, the red-figure phase was invented around 530-520 B.C. This technique used a predominantly black black glazed background with figures and designs left in red-orange. The individual artists were rapidly developing skill in human anatomy, and the results are magnificent. Professor Beazley of Oxford was able to identify by style over 500 different painters. The height of this period is in the period from 480 - 450 B.C., when the generation of artists created a concept of ideal beauty. During this period, different wares also competed for excellence. White-ground ware ad the plastic vases were made, but not commonly found. Greek pottery declined during and after the Peloponnesian Wars. Many Attic artists moved their craft to Magna Graecia, where red-figure painting lasted to the 3rd century B.C.

The pottery from Magna Graecia was varied and rich in quality. The red-figure pottery falls into two basic groups. One is Apulian and Lucanian, and the other group is Campanian, Sicilian and Paestan. The pottery from this area is the most collected today, A.D. Trendall estimates the total number of extant Apulian pottery is more than 10,000, Campanian at over 4000, and less than 1000 each of the other wares. The function of most south Italian vases was to hold water, wine, and oil. The funerary vases were not constrained by their function, but were designed more for visual appeal. Some were so large as to be unusable for holding water. This pottery was primarily used in the locality in which it was manufactured. The black glaze wares were produced with an unbroken lustrous surface. Its fine sheen resembles metal.

References

Ashmead, A. & K. Phillips. Classical Vases, Excluding Attic Black-Figure, Attic Red-Figure and Attic White Ground. (Providence, RI, 1976).
Birch, S. History of Ancient Pottery, Vol II: Greek, Etruscan and Roman. (London, 1858). Available Online
Cook, R. Greek Painted Pottery. (London, 1961).
Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum - CVA Online - https://www.cvaonline.org/cva/
Hayes, J. Greek and Greek-Style Painted and Plain Pottery in the Royal Ontario Museum. (Toronto, 1992).
Hayes, J. Greek and Italian Black-Gloss Wares in the Royal Ontario Museum. (Toronto, 1984).
Johnson, F. The Farwell Collection: Monographs on Archaeology and Fine Arts. (Cambridge, MA, 1953).
Marquent-Krause, J. Les fouilles de 'Ay (et-Tell): La Resurrection d'une Grande Cite Biblique. (Paris, 1949).
Meredith, K. & A. Harnwell. Classical Vases, Excluding Attic Black-Figure, Attic Red-Figure and Attic White Ground. (Providence, RI, 1976).
Nicholson, F. Greek, Etruscan and Roman Pottery. (1965).
Rotroff, S. Hellenistic Pottery: The Plain Wares. The Athenian Agora Vol. 33. (Athens, 2006).
Talcott, L. "Attic Black-Glazed Stamped Ware and Other Pottery from a Fifth Century Well" in Hesperia, vol. 4, No. 3, (1935), pp. 476 - 523.

Cyprus
Giorgos, G., M. Webb & D. Frankel. Psematismenos--Trelloukkas: An Early Bronze Age Cemetery in Cyprus. (Nicosia, 2011).
Morris, D. The Art of Ancient Cyprus. (Oxford, 1985).
Stewart J. Corpus of Cypriote artefacts of the Early Bronze Age, Parts 1-4. SIMA 3:1–4. (Göteborg, Jonsered, Uppsala, 1988 - 2012).

Roman and Etruscan Pottery

Pottery is perhaps the most readily available of all Roman antiquities to the modern collector. Roman pottery ranges from the simple to the elaborate. Often it is mold decorated with interesting design in relief - for example, the Samian luxury ware - or etched with various patterns such as those found on North African redware. Some Roman pottery, particularly in peripheral parts of the empire such as Egypt, is painted. Types of pottery include domestic vessels of various wares, oil lamps often with relief decoration, some ritual vessels, architectural elements such as tiles, and various types of pottery used in funerary rites, such as cinerary urns. Many fine examples of the various types of Roman pottery can often be purchased by the astute collector for modest sums.

References

Birch, S. History of Ancient Pottery, Vol II: Greek, Etruscan and Roman. (London, 1858). Available Online
Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum - CVA Online - https://www.cvaonline.org/cva/
Hayes, J. Handbook of Mediterranean Roman Pottery. (Bath, 1979).
Hayes, J. Roman Pottery in the Royal Ontario Museum. (Toronto, 1976).
Kelley, A. The Pottery of Ancient Egypt Dynasty I to Roman Times. (Toronto, 1976).
Marquent-Krause, J. Les fouilles de 'Ay (et-Tell): La Resurrection d'une Grande Cite Biblique. (Paris, 1949).
Nicholson, F. Greek, Etruscan and Roman Pottery. (1965).
Slane, K. Corinth, Volume XVIII, Part II: The Sanctuary of Demeter and Kore, The Roman Pottery and Lamps.  (Princeton, NJ, 1990).

Western Asiatic Pottery

The wealth of ancient pottery found in Western Asia is vast, to say at least. The very early pottery from Hacilar, in Turkey, during the Chalcolithic period, is highly sought after. The collector should be warned that many fakes of this pottery have been found on the market in the past. Pottery from Mesopotamia is not widely offered for sale. The fine painted examples from the Halaf period are widely sought, but not found. Pottery found in Iran and Syria have been more available to the collector, but this has changed with the uncertainty in the political climate today.

Central Asiatic Pottery

Pottery and terracotta sculptures from central Asia range from the many interesting examples of terracotta sculpture from the Indus Valley cultures, particularly figurines and chariot models, to the characteristic pottery and stucco sculpture of Gandhara.

The "Root" Forms of Ancient Pottery - Bowl, Jar, and Jug

Describing The Parts Of Ancient Pottery

Hendrix, Figure 7: Base profiles (cross-sections).