Etruscan bucchero kyathos
Medium:Wheel-thrown earthenware, burnished with incised and relief decoration
Geography: Made in southern Etruria, Italy; findspot unknown
Date: about 600-550 BC
Period: Etruscan Orientalizing period
Dimensions:13.3 x 9.2 x 9.2 cm
Object number: 918.3.38
Credit Line: Gift of Mrs. H.D. Warren
Gallery Location:Eaton Gallery of Rome - Bratty Exhibit of Etruria
Description
Bucchero-ware pottery was produced from the 7th to the 5th centuries BC in Etruria. It was made from local clay fired in a kiln in a strongly reducing atmosphere (without oxygen), which caused a chemical reaction with the iron oxides in the clay, turning the vase black. The surface of the vase was burnished (polished with a wooden tool) before firing, giving it a lustrous sheen. This was just one way in which this type of pottery imitated metal vessels. The earliest Etruscan bucchero was thin-walled, but over time it became heavier.
