Shari Mendelson, Artist

NOT Clay! 

However! 

We can see an influence from Greek and Roman vessels 

and 

how ideas about form, texture, line and space create a meaningful object.  

Shari Mendelson, “Ennion-like Vessel with Ten Handles,” (2015), 15 x 6 x 6 inches

Two-handled jar (amphora) with snakes on handles

Greek
Late Geometric IIA Period
735–720 B.C.

source mfa.org

Shari Mendelson, “Large Purple Vessel with Yellow,” (2016), 28 x 16 x 16 inches

ShariMendelson.com

Shari Mendelson, “Blue Syrian Vessel with Long Neck,” (2016), 15 x 5.5 x 6 inches

Terracotta pyxis (box with lid)

Period: Geometric

Date: mid-8th century B.C.

Culture: Greek, Attic

Medium: Terracotta

Dimensions: Overall: 4 1/8 x 11 1/4 in. (10.5 x 28.5 cm)
H. with cover 9 15/16 in. (25.2 cm)

Description: While pyxides are frequently found in burials, they also may have served as a container for small objects during the owner's lifetime. In the grave they may have contained perishable offerings, such as food. The knob of the lid assumes many different forms. Here the articulation of the shaft contrasts particularly with the smooth surface of the box.

source metmuseum.org

Barrel oinochoe, 8th–early 7th century b.c.; Italo-Geometric

Italian peninsula, possibly Campania or Etruria
Terracotta
H. 13 ¼ in.

Metropolitan Museum:

In the Geometric period of about 900 to 700 B.C., Greeks continued to be active seafarers, seeking opportunities for trade and founding new, independent cities in Asia Minor, Italy, and Sicily. In the Late Geometric period, around 760–750 B.C., Greeks from the island of Euboea (near northern Attica) established a colony at Pithekousai, near the Bay of Naples. The settlement received Levantine goods in quantity, as well as Corinthian, Cycladic, and Rhodian pottery, most of which were exported to the Italian mainland. This influx of goods and designs from the East played a major role in initiating the Italic and Etruscan Orientalizing period (ca. 750–575 B.C.). Likewise, Euboean vases were exported from Pithekousai to Campania and Etruria, as were local (Italic) vessels decorated with typical Euboean Late Geometric designs, as on this oinochoe, a small jug that was used to dip out and serve wine. Its main figurative scene, two goats standing upright and, perhaps, nibbling at a tree, is a familiar motif in Near Eastern art, and appears on vases made in Euboea at this time. The distinctive barrel shape of this vessel, however, is more Italic than Greek; similar oinochoi have been found in Etruria, near Bisenzio, and at Marsiliana.

Source: metmuseum.org

Between the beginning of the sixth and the end of the fourth centuries B.C., black- and red-figure techniques were used in Athens to decorate fine pottery while simpler, undecorated wares fulfilled everyday household purposes. With both techniques, the potter first shaped the vessel on a wheel. Most sizeable pots were made in sections; sometimes the neck and body were thrown separately, and the foot was often attached later. Once these sections had dried to a leather hardness, the potter assembled them and luted the joints with a slip (clay in a more liquid form). Lastly, he added the handles. In black-figure vase painting, figural and ornamental motifs were applied with a slip that turned black during firing, while the background was left the color of the clay. Vase painters articulated individual forms by incising the slip or by adding white and purple enhancements (mixtures of pigment and clay). In contrast, the decorative motifs on red-figure vases remained the color of the clay; the background, filled in with a slip, turned black. Figures could be articulated with glaze lines or dilute washes of glaze applied with a brush. The red-figure technique was invented around 530 B.C., quite possibly by the potter Andokides and his workshop. It gradually replaced the black-figure technique as innovators recognized the possibilities that came with drawing forms, rather than laboriously delineating them with incisions. The use of a brush in red-figure technique was better suited to the naturalistic representation of anatomy, garments, and emotions.

The firing process of both red- and black-figure vessels consisted of three stages. During the first, oxidizing stage, air was allowed into the kiln, turning the whole vase the color of the clay. In the subsequent stage, green wood was introduced into the chamber and the oxygen supply was reduced, causing the object to turn black in the smoky environment. In the third stage, air was reintroduced into the kiln; the reserved portions turned back to orange while the glossed areas remained black.

Painted vases were often made in specific shapes for specific daily uses—storing and transporting wine and foodstuffs (amphora), drawing water (hydria), drinking wine or water (kantharos or kylix), and so on—and for special, often ritual occasions, such as pouring libations (lekythos) or carrying water for the bridal bath (loutrophoros). Their pictorial decorations provide insights into many aspects of Athenian life, and complement the literary texts and 

inscriptions

 from the Archaic and, especially, Classical periods.

Department of Greek and Roman Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

October 2002

metmuseum.org