Greek Vase

After going through the collection of the Greek vases the black figure neck amphora by Affecter made in about 530 B.C. caught my eye. The terracotta vase had depiction of two great heroes combating one on the front and the other on the back, which made me interested to choose this particular vase. Most of the Greek vases I saw had solid glossy color on the foot and also on the handles but this particular vase had abrasion on both the handles that I found interesting. It also has incrustation on the foot and the neck, which I could relate to the battle of the heroes on the vase.

The black figure neck amphora was heavily restored in the last half of the nineteenth century “by a close examination which indicated an over paint of 50 percent of the surface. The amphora had received retouching, or localized painting after its reassembly and restoration” (Snow 3). Both in color and texture, it has been restored using typical late nineteenth century techniques. “For the reconstruction of the Affecter amphora, an adhesive was chosen that is strong, relatively easy to use and easily reversible” (Snow 6).

Greek vases are usually made of terracotta or baked clay. The vital preparation to make the clay ready for making vases is to get rid of pebbles and other dirt in the clay for a smoother and more fined clay. First step in making the clay is to mix the roll clay with water preferably in a large outdoor pool to create a solid silty liquid. This liquid clay needs to be kept like that until the heavy sediments settle to the bottom. Then, the refined liquid on the top are sapped off to another pool and it needs to be done few times before the potter leaves the water to be evaporated by the sun. Then, finally they get the clay they need for wedging, the next step in preparing the clay for making vases. Wedging includes taking the thick clay and the potter thoroughly applies pressure to make it suppler to get more refined clay. That way all the sediments in layers get settled....