Amphora

Object Type
The amphora in Greek and Roman times served a practical purpose, probably for mixing or serving wine rather than for drinking. In view of the often elaborate decoration, it probably also had an aesthetic function.

Collectors & Owners
Knowledge of Greek vases entered the British consciousness only after the excavation of graveyards in Italy in the second half of the 18th century. This offered scope for collectors such as Sir William Hamilton (1730-1803) to amass these objects, which were then thought to be Etruscan rather than imports from Greece - hence the name 'Etruria' given by Wedgwood to his new factory in Staffordshire.Later studies of Greek vase painting maintained the subject at an academic level by identifying or naming many individual painters and dating the pots. Thus George Salting (1835-1909), an Australian with a huge fortune from wool production, naturally included a few Greek vases among his large collection of Chinese porcelain, Italian maiolica and other ceramic rarities such as Medici porcelain. His collection was bequeathed to the Museum in 1910.

Materials & Making
Not having the technology to produce glazes, Greek potters gave their products a smooth and almost impervious surface by using a highly refined clay slip containing the mineral illite. By clever exploitation of the firing conditions in the kiln, alternating between an oxidizing and reducing atmosphere, it was possible to produce both red and black with the same clay slip on the same pot. Wedgwood successfully replicated the appearance, though not the technique, in the 1770s.