Painting your clay

In Mycenaean times, polychrome objects such as miniatures and figurines were often decorated with linear designs in black and dark reddish paint, as was the case with this miniature.Some terracottas are covered in white slip underneath the red paint beforehand. Some are completely monochrome. The painter of the object was not necessarily the manufacturer. This means that the painter could have added his or her own interpretation to the object.

Color could give a certain meaning to an object. Paint was made by either the manipulation of iron or stone mineral, or by using natural ochres (Fig. 2 and fig. 3). The pigments were subsequently mixed with water (or sometimes deliberately dried) in order to establish a specific color. Not all colors were available in paint in Mycenaean times due to high costs or difficulties in obtaining the right minerals.See Brecoulaki (2014). “Precious colours” in Ancient Greek polychromy and painting: material aspects and symbolic values. Revue archéologique, 57(1), pp 9-13..