Midterm Study Image 2009/13 Ayanaar Horse

Tamil Nadu, India. Ayanaar horse, terra cotta, life size, 20th c.

These magnificent life-sized sculptures of horses are made in the southern part of India in Tamil Nadu. They are fired in situ and can be as tall as 4 metres high. Making, firing and initiating these figures are all connected with spiritual rituals governed by tradition handed down for generations.Massive terracotta Horse. Environs of Puthur, Tamilnadu, South India. This fifty year old massive clay image was fired on site. Because the fired surfaces are porous a solution of oxides used as colorants are easily absorbed and thus made durable. Fifty years have altered them only slightly. Although the annual rains soak the porous clay, no harm results because Tamilnadu never freezes. In other climates water penetrating the clay could freeze and expand causing disintegration within a season.For more information, please see: http://www.ceramicstoday.com/articles/clay_horses.htm

Midterm Study Image 2009/12 Whistling Vessel

Peru, south coast. Double-chambered whistling vessel depicting an owl, , Early Middle Horizon (CE 650-750).

Most whistling vessels have been found in pristine shape in graves; forms often imitate particularly “vocal” animals such as parrots, owls, monkeys—whistle suggests their sounds.Stirrup spout or handle distinct feature throughout region and time. Pots take many forms, mold-made—animals, fruits, vegetables, sea shells, humans. Often greywares, smudged (not true reduction), coarse temper. Textiles in region highly developed—also work in gold, copper, silver. First whistling pots appear.

Midterm Study Image 2009/11 Moche Stirrup pot

Peru. Moche: Huari. Stirrup spout bottle in form of jaguar with captive warrior; Early Intermediate period, 300-600 CE.

Mochica (CE l00-1200)--most important, near Chicama river (north coast), related to other groups living in south by Nazca valley, Paracas. Outstanding plastic wares—eventually, most are mold-made, many nearly identical with some variety in finish—delicate stirrup spout, some with flat bridges, often in shape of human or animal head, dippers and corn poppers.

Midterm Study Image 2009/10 Lucy Lewis

New Mexico, Lucy Lewis, Rounded pot, earthenware/painted decoration c. 1970.

Lucy Martin Lewis (b Acoma Pueblo, NM, c. 1895; d 12 March 1992). Native American potter. As a child she made and sold Acoma polychrome pottery, which by 1900 had deteriorated into tourist wares such as vases and ashtrays, but in the 1930s she began working in the Acoma pottery tradition of the 19th century, making jars with a red-slip base and white-slip body that were decorated with the bird and flower motifs that had been common from c. 1880. In the 1940s she adapted designs from prehistoric ceramics: non-figurative motifs from Hohokam and Anasazi wares (5th–13th centuries) and figurative designs from Mimbres wares (10th–13th centuries). From the former she adopted repetitive fine-line patterning that covered the entire body of the vessel as well as ‘negative’ patterns in white slip against a black painted background with occasional orange accents. Working in the coil-and-scrape method with the dense grey clay of the Acoma area tempered with ground potsherds, Lewis produced miniature pots, seed jars, bowls, animal effigies and water jars, all rarely more than 250 mm in height. Several coats of white slip were applied, and each coat was polished with a wet stone until the slip was opaque. Paints made from ground minerals with a binder of boiled vegetal matter were applied with a chewed yucca-leaf brush. The vessels were then fired outdoors using dried cow dung. Until her death she continued to work at her home in McCartys, NM, assisted by her daughters. (From Groves Art Online)Lucy Lewis is regarded as the matriarch of Acoma pottery and alongside Maria Martinez, is one of the best known Southwestern potters. She started making pottery around the turn of the century, continuing a tradition dating back hundreds, if not thousands of years. Pottery of the Southwest was generally coil built, molded or modelled and low-fired. Lucy derived her designs - painted on with colored slips - from shards found in the Kivas of the pueblo and Anasazi and Mimbres pottery she studied in the Museum of New Mexico. Her work has been shown nationally and internationally, including at the Smithsonian State and City Museums, Princeton University and the Department of the Interior in Washington, D.C. For more information on Lucy Lewis and other Native American Women Potters, have a look at Pottery by American Indian Women by Susan Peterson. (Ceramics Today, http://www.ceramicstoday.com/articles/lewis.htm)

Midterm Study Image 2009/9 Mimbres Culture

New Mexico. Mimbres, Mogollon Culture. Bowl depicting a mythological scene of a crane swallowing a decapitated human head. 12.7 x 22.9 cm. CE 950-1150.

Mimbres Black-on-White is perhaps the most recognizable of the southwestern types of pottery, most likely because it is the only type which consistently bears figural subject matter. Animals, insects, fish, humans and mythological subjects are common. These beasts are usually highly conventionalized, and often resemble those found in pictographs, or rock art. Though many have studied these figures, no one has provided a convincing explanation of their meaning.Geometric motifs are just as common. These usually consist of a band of decoration extending partway into the bowl. Some bowls have allover decoration. Fine lines and relative intricacy distinguish this type from the earlier Mangas Black-on-White.

Midterm Study Image 2009/8 Roman Lead Glazed

Rome, Three vessels, lead glaze, mold-made with relief, 1 c. BCE-1 c CE

Three Roman vessels, all with vitreous glaze. Double-handled cup with applied scales CE 20-70, said to be from Arles, France; Double-handled vase c. CE 70-100, said to be from Tharros; singled-handled cup decorated with imbricated leaves, from Asia Minor, 1st. C CE. Height (tallest) 17.5 cm.

Such wares were regarded as luxury items. (note differences in place of origin, date)This form of drinking cup, with deep body and ring handles with thumb-rests, is known as a skyphos. It was a popular shape, made in metal, pottery and glass during the later Hellenistic and early Roman periods (about 150 BC- AD 100). The cup is covered by a thick glaze of lead silicate glass, which firing conditions turned a deep rich green on the exterior, and honey brown on the interior. The process of producing and firing such vessels was complicated by the adhesive nature of the glaze, which would bond itself to anything it touched in the kiln. The solution lay in firing the vessels upside-down, supported from the inside by three small prongs on a tall stand. The marks left on the interior are small, but drops of congealed glaze which formed when the vessel was inverted appear on the rim. Lead-glazed pottery was one of the few genuinely glazed ceramics of antiquity. At first they were almost certainly made in imitation of metal tableware. The earliest mass-produced and mould-made lead-glazed wares were made in Tarsus, Smyrna and other cities in Asia Minor from the late second century BC. From the late first century BC production centres were established in Italy, in the northern Adriatic and around Rome and Naples. From there the technique was exported to the Empire, from the Danube provinces to Gaul, Germany and Britain. Height: 7 cm ; Restoration can be highly deceptive. At first sight and even under careful scrutiny, this drinking vessel appears entirely preserved. However, under low magnification using a microscope, brush marks are visible on the handles. Under ultraviolet (UV) light, the two handles fluoresce a bright, light blue, showing that they had been painted, whereas the rest of the vessel was glazed. The paint indicates that the handles had been restored. It is not possible to tell from visual examination whether the handles are completely restored or if they are partly restored with heavy over-painting. This seems to be an example of intentional faking. However, the appearance of the handles is thought to be representative of how they may have originally looked. Since the restoration was not causing any damage to the pottery it was not removed. S. Buys and V. Oakley, The conservation and restoration of ceramics (Oxford, Butterworth Heinemann, 1993).

Midterm Study Image 2009/7 Roman Arretine ware

Roman Arretine ware, red slip earthenware, mold-made footed bowl, 1c BCE-1 c CE

Stemmed bowl, krater, Roman, from Arezzo. Earthenware, red gloss ware, decorated in relief with rows of beads, wreaths, rosettes and figures which represent the seasons. Signed by potter Cb. Ateius. Height 18.7 cm.

Red Gloss Wares: begin with Augustan/Imperial age, influenced by Hellenistic designs (figures in relief, scrolls, garlands, floral designs—black-slipped Megarian ware), often produced by Greek workers (have signature seals, industry records). Red gloss slip easier to fire than black—called terra sigillata—from sigillum (seal)--stamped designs. As with Greeks, made elaborate embossed and incised molds from plaster and fired clay—threw clay inside molds, feet, rims etc. added separately.Roman factories were able to impose standardization through the use of fine, calcareous clays that fired to a consistent quality over a range of temperatures ranging from 850-1050 degrees C common to wood fired updraft kiln. The decoration was achieved through impressing the designs onto the interior of a mould, and the vessel was then thrown in the mould which was mounted on a potter's wheel. This production technique allowed vessels to be produced uniformly in large numbers, usually by workshops in which ten to fifteen potters worked simultaneously.Glossy surface is achieved by use of a very fine slip oxidized to sealing-wax red. Micrograph of sherd of Eastern Gaulish sigillata shows open, partially-vitrified body and vitreous slip. The two adhere well with the resulting tough “non-stick” surface that made this ware popular for the table. (PMCT p.191)

Midterm Study Image 2009/3 Predynastic Egypt

Pre-Dynastic Egypt. Burnished black-topped redware jar. Late Predynastic period, Naqada II, around 3200 BC 31.5 x 17.7 cm.

A container for food for the Afterlife? From a tomb at Abydos, Egypt. These black-topped redware jars are characteristic of the finewares of the later Predynastic period. Burials of the late Predynastic period contain vessels of both fine and coarse wares. Even burials in the cemeteries of the poor often contained a black-topped vessel. They were perhaps filled with food for the Afterlife. The pots were made by coiling ropes of clay to build jars, bowls and bottles. The inside and outside of the vessel were smoothed and red ochre slip was applied. This produced a red colour if enough oxygen was available in the kiln. The black top was achieved by placing the vessel upside down in the kiln, so that the ashes of the fuel stopped oxygen reaching the slip. This resulted in a black colour. The vessel was burnished (polished using a hard object, like a pebble) to produce a shiny finish. Archaeological evidence from Hierakonpolis shows that fineware vessels were fired in special kilns, located in the desert valleys close to the source of the clay used to make them. Potters seem to have specialized in either coarse or fine pottery. The 'crescent-thumb' potter, so-called after his maker's mark, produced only coarse ware vessels. He lived and worked close to his clay source, setting out his wares in front of his house.

Midterm Study Images 2009/1 Hacilar, Turkey

Haçilar, Turkey. Earthenware pots, hand-built, decorated c. 5000 BCE.

Possibly from Hacilar, modern TurkeyThis painted jar, shaped like a female figure, is similar to a type of pottery found at Hacilar, excavated by James Mellaart between 1957 and 1960. The potters at this site were able to produce high-quality wares with beautifully executed, bright geometric designs. The ceramics were well shaped and were evenly fired. Along with jars and bowls, clay female figurines were common. However, the only vessels of this type excavated at Hacilar were much larger and fragmentary.Pottery workshops were found in a earlier level at Hacilar, in the village centre. Grindstones were used to break up the natural pigments of red and yellow ochre for colouring the pottery. Alongside them were cups of paint, storage areas for the clay and modeling tools, and unpainted but burnished pottery. No kilns were discovered and the firing may have taken place outside the settlement. This type of pottery has also been found at other sites in western Anatolia, and at Mersin, on the south-east coast of Turkey.By the beginning of the fifth millennium BC, Hacilar had been abandoned, and with the end of the settlement came an end to the fine pottery tradition. Height: 11.5 cm Width: 6.7 cm.