GREEK POTTERY

Its painted decoration has become the primary source of information about the development of Greek pictorial art. It was made in a variety of sizes and shapes, according to its intended use; large vessels were used for storage and transportation of liquids (wine, olive oil, water), smaller pots for perfumes and unguents. The earliest style, known as the {{link=Geometric style">Geometric style (с 1000–700 BC), features geometric patterns and, eventually, narrative scenes with stylized figures. From the late 8th to the early 7th century BC, a growing Eastern influence resulted in the "Orientalizing" of motifs (e.g., sphinx, griffin), notably in pieces made in Corinth (с 700 BC), where the painters developed black-figure pottery . Athenians adopted the black-figure style and from 600 BC on became the dominant manufacturers of Greek pottery. They invented red-figure pottery с 530 BC. By the 4th century BC the figured decoration of pottery had declined, and by the end of the century it had died out in Athens.