Old Smyrna: Fourth-Century Black Glaze

Extract

The classical Black Glaze pottery is a reddish ware distinguished by a uniform, lustrous black ‘glaze’—to use the term improperly—and fairly closely standardized in its forms. The main centre of production of this ware was Athens; and at the commencement of the excavations at Smyrna we supposed that the pottery of this class in the classical levels was Attic import. But it soon became clear that the bulk of the black glaze ware in the fourth-century levels (as opposed to that of the fifth century) was not Attic. It is very good imitation of Attic, so good as to be at times indistinguishable; but when the material is set side by side with Attic ware of the same period, differences become manifest. The biscuit is less consistent in colour, too frequently pink near the edges of the break and grey in the core; and not infrequently the glaze is a warm sigillata red. The ring feet tend perhaps to be heavier and the bases less delicately painted than the Attic. The favourite type of bowl with a reserved stripe on the outer wall (Figs. 4–5) cannot be matched in Athens, while conversely the ordinary fourth-century kotyle with cyma profile is not present at Smyrna; and the salt-cellars at Smyrna seem to diverge from their Attic counterparts.