ART 198 - HISTORY OF WORLD CERAMICS

Painted during the same period as red figure ware (550-330 BCE), white ground ware represents a very specialized pottery made almost exclusively for funeral use. A white slip was painted first as a background, and this style is believed to have been painted similarly to the now lost free painting of the period. The lekythos was a form used to pour ritual oils as an offering at a funeral ceremony, and there is a handle on the reverse of the form, which cannot be seen in this photograph. Scenes depicted are usually either domestic (such as this example), or actual depictions of burial offerings. Here, a woman sits and carries out the domestic activity of weaving. Here she holds a circlet, and behind her is a basket for wool. Hanging on the wall behind her is an alabastron, a perfume bottle. The name alabastron comes from the translucent alabaster stone from which such bottles were made. The alabastron shape originated in Egypt, and was borrowed by the Greeks. The presence of such domestic articles indicates a lady in the private rooms of her home. White ground ware proved to be a more delicate and fragile a painting medium than red or black figure ware, and was reserved for pots of a precious nature.

Greek White Ground Lekythos, 480-470 BCE by the Villa Guilia Painter