Understanding Greek Vases

This is an indispensable guide to anyone wishing to obtain greater understanding of Greek ceramics and heightened enjoyment of them."--BOOK JACKET.

This handsomely illustrated volume is aimed at giving a broad audience deeper insight into the extensive collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The museum is famed for its Greek vases, of which 35 notable examples are detailed in this book. They reveal the variety and vitality of the refined forms and masterfully rendered scenes that characterize these works. And they demonstrate the interrelation of function, shape, technique, and subject matter that is key to understanding the rich language of Greek vases. The introduction provides valuable background information, and the entries delve into the features of each vase, incorporating brilliant color illustrations and many arresting details. Greek vases served specific utilitarian functions, and they also afforded outstanding artists, some of whom signed their work, a medium for depicting both the details of daily existence and aspects of their gods, goddesses, and heroes. We see the garments, implements, athletic competitions, and marriages and funerary rituals of Greeks who lived from the seventh through the fourth century B.C.. We also see their mythological figures and stories. The exceptional group of works assembled in this volume conveys the extent to which the culture of ancient Greece is still apparent today. This book is sure to inspire closer scrutiny of these remarkable works of art, which have survived for over two millennia to offer viewers an enlightening look into the ancient heritage of the Western world. -- from inside Front Cover.

An ancient Greek vase is a difficult object for the non-expert to come to terms with. Faced with rows of apparently undifferentiated black, red and buff pots, he or she is at a loss as to where to begin. Greek vases are treated as objets d'art in the modern world, but how much were they worth in the ancient? They are often used to demonstrate 'the Greek genius' and aspects of ancient Greek society, but why do many of them carry Eastern motifs, and why do so many turn up in Italy? Why were the Greeks not content with simple patterns on their pottery? What did the pictures on the pots mean to them? Why should a vase depict a scene from a play? These are the sorts of questions that this book, first published in 1991, attempts to answer. As the title implies, it is a series of 'looks' at Greek vases, offering suggestions on how to read the often complex images they present.

This richly illustrated volume offers a fascinating introduction to ancient Greek vases for the general reader. It presents vases not merely as beautiful vessels to hold water and wine, but also as instruments of storytelling and bearers of meaning. The first two chapters analyze the development of different shapes of pottery and relate those shapes to function, the evolution in vase production techniques and decoration, and the roles of potters, painters, and their workshops. Subsequent chapters focus on vases as the primary source of imagery from ancient Greece, offering unique information about mythology, religion, theater, and daily life. The author discusses how to identify the figures and scenes depicted in vase paintings, what these narratives would have meant to the people who lived with them and used them, and how they therefore reflect the cultural values of their time. Also examined is the impact Greek vases had on the art, architecture, and literature of subsequent generations. Based on the rich collections of the British Museum and the J. Paul Getty Museum, the exquisite details of the works offer the reader the opportunity for an intimate interaction with the graphic beauty and narrative power of ancient vases often not available in a gallery setting.

Lissargue (author and director of studies, l'Ecole des hautes etudes en sciences socials in Paris) has divided the vases by subject--dining, love, athletes, warriors, heroes, men and gods, Hercules, the Athenians' mythic identity, and Dionysus--and writes at length about each scene chosen. The plates are in color and of high quality, with many details, but the text is substantial as well, providing detailed discussion of what we see in the images and the aspects of Greek life and myth they display. c. Book News Inc.

"Boardman gets down to the nitty-gritty of how and why potters created and decorated the vases, how their artistic quality developed and their influence spread."—Publishers Weekly Greek pottery has long fascinated scholars and historians of art. It provides a continuous commentary on all other Greek arts, even sculpture, and the scenes figured on the vases can prove to be as subtle and informative as the great works of Greek literature. In no other art of antiquity do we come closer to the visual experience of the ancient Greeks, or are we able to observe so clearly their views on life, myth, and even politics. John Boardman has demonstrated the stylistic history of Greek vases in other Thames & Hudson titles; as he writes, the subject "is a central one to classical archaeology and art, and dare not be ignored by students of any other ancient medium, or indeed of any other classical discipline." Here Boardman sketches that history but goes on to explore many other matters that make the study so fruitful. He describes the processes of identifying artists, the methods of making and decorating the vases, the life of the potters' quarter in Greek towns, and the way in which the wares were traded far beyond the borders of the Greek world. Boardman shows how Greek artists exercised a style of narrative in art that was long influential in the West, and how their pictures reflected not simply on storytelling but also on the politics and social order of the day.

The So-called Nonsense Inscriptions on Ancient Greek Vases by Sara Chiarini is the first systematic study of the phenomenon of nonsense writing on Greek pottery of the late archaic and early classical age.

This volume completes a series of four titles which comprehensively cover the development of Greek vases.