This book examines Greek vase-paintings that depict humorous, burlesque, and irreverent images of Greek mythology and the gods. Many of the images present the gods and heroes as ridiculous and ugly. While the narrative content of some images may appear to be trivial, others address issues that are deeply serious. When placed against the background of the religious beliefs and social frameworks from which they spring, these images allow us to explore questions relating to their meaning in particular communities. Throughout, we see indications that Greek vase-painters developed their own comedic narratives and visual jokes. The images enhance our understanding of Greek society in just the same way as their more sober siblings in serious art. David Walsh is a Visiting Research Scholar in the School of Arts, Histories and Cultures at The University of Manchester."

The pottery of Acoma Pueblo stands at the height of ceramics among the Pueblo Indian pottery traditions. This exhaustively researched book traces the history of Acoma pottery over the past seven hundred years, concentrating on the periods from 1300 to 1930. with a summary of the modern period. The authors studied over several thousand examples, presenting more than 800 examples here, along with dozens of photographs of potters. The book identifies more than nine hundred Acoma potters, several of whom are credited for the first time, who worked between about 1880 to the present. Acoma pottery has evolved significantly in form and decoration over the past seven hundred years, each change reflecting the interplay of many factors, including advances in technology, individual innovations, changing markets, and the evolving uses of pottery vessels. The book is a comprehensive illustrated survey of Acoma pottery at a depth and level of detail that has never before been achieved, and will be the standard for all studies in the future.

A full-colour illustrated biography of the life of Susie Cooper and her ceramic company's output. During her sixty-five-year career, Susie Cooper introduced more than 4,500 ceramic patterns and shapes, making her one of the most prolific, versatile and influential designers the industry has ever seen. Between the 1920s and 1980s she moved from the bold hand-painting of the 'Jazz Age' through delicate wash banding and aerograph techniques to sophisticated lithographic transfer printing on both earthenware and bone china. Cooper not only led the charge of gifted female designers in the male-dominated Potteries but also pioneered the role of women in factory management. Alan Marshall here charts her progress from the creation of patterns for Gray's Pottery in the 1920s, to running her own Susie Cooper Productions from the 1930s to the 1950s, and designing for Wedgwood from the 1960s to the 1980s.

Sir William Van Horne (1843-1915), connaisseur bourre de talent dont la renommee est surtout attribuable a sa contribution a la construction du Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique, a assemble l'une des collections les plus completes de ceramiques japonaises en Amerique du Nord. Obsession est un recit lumineux expliquant l'origine et l'evolution de sa passion envers l'etude et l'acquisition de pres de 1 200 objets. Ron Graham dresse le profil du personnage plus grand que nature que fut Van Horne en plus de rassembler des essais sur la place qu'il a occupee au sommet des collectionneurs d'art dans le Mille carre dore, ou Golden Square Mile, de Montreal et la perennite de sa collection apres sa mort. En exergue des textes, le lecteur pourra decouvrir des documents et des photographies historiques, un catalogue detaille de plus de trois cents objets exposes au Musee royal de l'Ontario et au Musee des beaux-arts de Montreal, de meme qu'une selection de splendides reproductions des carnets de notes personnels de Van Horne et des aquarelles raffinees provenant des archives du Musee des beaux-arts de l'Ontario. Publie parallelement a la tenue d'une importante exposition au musee Gardiner de Toronto et au Musee des beaux-arts de Montreal, Obsession presente une remarquable collection replacee dans le contexte de l'existence et de la carriere d'un geant du secteur canadien des affaires au dix-neuvieme siecle.

The range of extraordinary effects that can be achieved in a kiln is infinite. However, the technical requirements of different firing processes and equipment can often seem intimidating, particularly for those new to ceramics, and this can limit artists' confidence to explore and experiment.In" Firing""Kilns," wood-fire potter Benedict Brierley demystifies the firing process, explaining key methods and effects in simple, straightforward language. Beginning with the basic principles, including heatwork, firing schedules and cones, the book goes on to cover the various types of kilns and kiln packing, oxidation and reduction firing, and then special firing methods such as salt, soda, wood, pit, smoke and raku. Finally, it covers common firing faults and how these can be avoided to achieve consistent, successful results."Firing""Kilns" is a comprehensive handbook for anyone new to firing their work or for established ceramicists wishing to experiment with different firing effects.

In 1984 the Getty Museum acquired a collection of Italian Renaissance majolica, or tin-glazed earthenware. This volume catalogues this collection of 45 objects spanning 400 years, including a pair of 18th-century candlesticks representing mythological scenes and a tabletop with hunting scenes.

The great 6th-century BCE Attic potter-painter Exekias is acclaimed as the most accomplished exponent of late 'black-figure' art. His vases, vessels, bowls and amphorae are reproduced on postcards and in other media all over the world. Despite his importance in the history of art and archaeology, little has been written about Exekias in his own right. Elizabeth Moignard, a leading historian of classical art, here corrects that neglect by addressing her subject as more than just a painter. She positions Exekias as a remarkable but nevertheless grounded and receptive man of his age, working in an Athens that was sensitive to Homeric literature and drawing on that great corpus of poetry to explore its own emerging concepts of honour, heroism, leadership and military tradition. Discussing a range of ceramic pieces, Moignard illustrates their impact and meaning, deconstructing iconic images like the suicide of Ajax; the voyage of Dionysus surrounded by dolphins; and the killing by Achilles of the Amazon queen Penthesilea. This book is the most complete introduction to its subject to be published in English.

Located above the Euphrates in modern Syria, Dura-Europus was founded as a Hellenistic military settlement. It was conquered repeatedly by Parthians, Romans, and Persians; but evidence from inscriptions, graffiti, and papyri suggests that, throughout all this upheaval, the Greco-Macedonian aristocracy maintained its sway over the city's society. Susan B. Downey demonstrates how the terracotta figurines and plaques from Dura-Europus, relatively humble products, can shed light on religious beliefs and social practices in cities of mixed Greek and Semitic population. These artifacts reveal the stories of the city's people. Dura is exceptionally well preserved, due to the dry climate and to the fact that it was not re-inhabited after it fell to the Sasanian Persians in approximately C.E. 256. Approximately 300 figurines and plaques were discovered in the excavations of Dura, yet few have been published. Properly determining the uses of artifacts like these is difficult. The terracottas might have functioned in a religious context, as talismans, or as toys--to name only a few possibilities. This exhaustive collection meticulously catalogues the Dura finds, offering the first complete listing of the terracottas and plaques. Combined with Downey's insightful analyses, the catalogue represents a monumental contribution to our knowledge of the lives and activities of the inhabitants of this important antique center of multiculturalism. This book will prove an invaluable resource for anyone interested in the social history and religious life of Dura-Europus. Archaeologists, art historians, and general classicists alike will find it valuable. Susan B. Downey is Professor of Art History, University of California, Los Angeles.

This study determines the possible connections between the various ceramic traditions of Senegal and Gambia, with special references to identities and histories of the current populations. A meticulous analysis of the current contexts of manufacture permits a fresh look at the evolution of ceramic traditions and builds an interpretative model of technical variations applicable to former populations. In French.

This historic 1933 publication documents the important collection of Egyptian, Greek and Italian pottery assembled in the early years of what is now the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology. This collection, brought together in part for teaching purposes, contains a wide range of classic pottery types and is illustrative of the development of pottery over time in these Mediterranean cultures.

In the wealth of literature concerning Bell Beakers, the present volume is the first broad treatment of issues relating to their northeast frontier. The book has grown from papers read at the symposium Northeast Frontier of Bell Beakers held in the Institute of Prehistory, Adam Mickiewicz University, in Poznan on 26-29 May 2002. The 22 papers include: Economic continuity and political discontinuity in central Europe during the third millennium BC; Competing cosmos. On the relationships between corded ware and bell beaker mortuary practices; Bell beakers in the sequence of the cultural changes in south-western Baltic area; Bell beaker pottery in Denmark: its typology and internal chronology; Einfluesse der Glockenbecherkultur in Norddeutschland; Ein Siedlungsplatz der Glockenbecherkultur in Hamburg-Boberg?; Glockenbechereinfluesse und Regionale Gliederung Nordostdeutschlands im Spatneolithikum; Die Glockenbecherkultur in Mitteldeutschland ein Zwischenbericht; The north-eastern border of the influence of bell beakers; Reception of some bell beakers cultural patterns by corded ware societies in southeastern Baltic area; The Lubans, North Belarusian and Sagara cultures as an eastern phenomenon of an Eneolithic cultural unit; Northern and southern bell beakers in Poland; Bell beaker culture in south-eastern Poland; Archaeology of beaker settlements in Bohemia and Moravia: an outline of the current state of knowledge; Bell beaker and Unetice burial rites: continuity and change in funerary practices at the beginning of the Bronze Age; Contribution to the question of chipped stone industry of the Moravian bell beaker culture; A cemetery of the bell beaker culture in Marefy and its contribution: to the studies on the chipped stone industry of the Moravian late Eneolithic period; Glockenbecher in Ostosterreich - andere Fragen andere Antworten?; Die Glockenbecherkultur im Kontext der Kulturhistorischen Entwicklung in der Sudwestslowakei; The late phase of the bell beaker Csepel group in Hungary; Archaeobotanical remains and environment of bell-beaker Csepel-group; The northeast frontier of bell beakers - first step to outline.

This book provides a detailed analysis of the Mayan pottery from Xkipche in the Puuc area of the Yucatan peninsula, Mexico. During the 7th century, in Puuc area a regional type of Mayan culture emerged, recongazible by characteristic architectural style. So far it was impossible to date the beginnings and ends of the settlements in this area. The site of Xkipche offers clues to the dating, with almost half a million of studied pottery fragments. This is by far the largest prehispanic pottery assemblage from the whole of the northen Yucatan.

An analysis of the many types of flagons decorated with human faces that were made throughout the Roman Northwest Province from the 1st century onwards. Following comparisons with examples from prehistory, especially from the Near East, Dovener examines types region by region, including northern France, the Rhein and Mosel, Britain, the Danube as well as brief assessments of similar material from Roman North Africa and the Near East. The discussion is followed by a catalogue of vessels, many of which are illustrated.

Excavations at the punic site of Colonia de Sant Jordi in Mallorca (1978-1989) has produced a large quantity of ceramic material from across the Mediterranean. This volume provides a catalogue and some interpretation of vessel types, forms, decoration and provenance, as well as a number of conclusions about ceramic production in the Mediterranean between the 6th and 1st centuries BC.

The other ceramics found in Beaker burial contexts have the potential for telling us much about the true nature of the Beaker phenomenon. Particularly exciting is the prospect that an understanding of their context will indicate whether Beaker pottery is indicative of an invasion, or something more subtle. This exhaustive gazetteer describes over 100 French sites and establishes the distribution of different types of Beaker over France, and the different ceramic assemblages they are associated with. As a bibliographical survey, this work comes up against publications of a very uneven standard, but as a building block for future research this will be very useful.