subject: Ceramics In Europe [print this page] Ceramics In Europe Ceramics In Europe
The earliest known ceramic objects are the Gravettian figurines from the Upper Paleolithic period, such as those discovered at Doln Ve(stonice in the modern-day Czech Republic. The Venus of Doln Ve(stonice (Ve(stonick Venue in Czech) is a statuette of a nude female figure dating from some time between 29,000 and 25000 BCE. It was made by moulding and then firing a mixture of clay and powdered bone. Similar objects in various media found throughout throughout Europe and Asia and dating from the Upper Paleolithic period have also been called Venus figurines. Scholars are not agreed as to their purpose or cultural significance.
Glazed Egyptian faience goes back to the third millennium BC, with painted but unglazed pottery developed even earlier in the Naqada culture. Faience became sophisticated and produced on a large scale, using moulds as well modelling, and later also throwing on the wheel. Several methods of glazing were developed, but colours remained largely limited to a range in the blue-green spectrum.
On the Greek island of Santorini are some of the earliest finds created by the Minoans dating to the third millennium BC, with the original settlement at Akrotiri dating to the fourth millennium BC;[15] excavation work continues at the principal archaeological site of Akrotiri. Some of the excavated homes contain huge ceramic storage jars known as pithoi.
Ancient Grecian and Etruscan ceramics are renowned for their figurative painting, especially in the black-figure and red-figure styles. Moulded Greek terracotta figurines, especially those from Tanagra, were small figures, often religious but later including many of everyday genre figures, apparently used purely for decoration.
Ancient Roman pottery, such as Samian ware, was rarely as fine, and largely copied shapes from metalwork, but was produced in enormous quantities, and is found all over Europe and the Middle East, and beyond. Monte Testaccio is a waste mound in Rome made almost entirely of broken amphorae used for transporting and storing liquids and other products. Few vessels of great artistic interest have survived, but there are very many small figures, often incorporated into oil lamps or similar objects, and often with religious or erotic themes (or both together - a Roman speciality). The Romans generally did not leave grave goods, the best source of ancient pottery, but even so they do not seem to have had much in the way of luxury pottery, unlike Roman glass, which the elite used with gold or silver tableware. The more expensive pottery tended to use relief decoration, often moulded, rather than paint. Especially in the Eastern Empire, local traditions continued, hybridizing with Roman styles to varying extents.
