History Of Cretan Pottery

10th-12th CENTURY

Second Byzantine Period, 961-1205

Very few excavations concerning this period have taken place in the Cretan countryside, and those that have are generally very limited. It is supposed that between 800 and 961 AD the major economic decline in the Great Island, as Crete is known, and the Arab Occupation caused a reduction in the production of all kinds of goods including pottery. During this period we find unglazed and undecorated earthenware vessels with thick sides, which have been burnished with a pebble while the clay is still wet. From the fragments of pottery found, we conclude that simplified forms of the First Byzantine Period, with their roots in antiquity, continued to be made.

In the 10th to 12th centuries, the rural pottery found is locally produced and similar to that of previous centuries, with the increasingly common appearance of glazed ware imported from Byzantium with the characteristic decoration of the time. During the 12th century, Cretan biscuit ware (pottery that has been fired once but not glazed) was refined and certain forms emulated Aegean prototypes widely circulating in the Byzantine Empire. At the same time, locally-produced open glazed vessels with a short wide foot appeared, in monochrome dark brown or dark green. These probably had a ritual function, as their sherds are found in the environs of old churches.

There have also been chance finds of vessels from Egypt and Libya.

Venetian Occupation, 1205-1645

During the first period of intense hostilities (1205-1300), pottery production fell or remained stationary.

During the second period (1300-1460), ending with the fall of Constantinople to the Turks, local production diversified into a wide variety of forms and decoration. Small biscuit ware vessels began to be decorated with applied clay colouring (slip), shading from red to dark brown depending on the firing. The decoration was particularly simple, consisting of parallel lines, crosshatching etc. Large biscuit ware vessels such as storage jars, basins, beehives, troughs etc. began to come in various shapes and sizes decorated with incised or stamped designs.

During this period, Cretan glazed ware appeared and flourished. This included plates, bowls, jugs etc., in soft, delicate shades of green and yellow, or with brown spots on a white background. Domestic ware was decorated with geometric patterns, spirals, flower petals etc. This decoration was applied by delicate incision of the vessel, over the slip and colour, which darkened after firing. The decoration of Cretan glazed ware differs from that found in the Peloponnese, Cyprus and Asia Minor.

The third period (1460-1645) was distinguished by a major resurgence in pottery production during the first phase to 1550.

The large forms, mainly storage jars, were often decorated using cylinder seals, which were rolled around the vessel to produce decorative bands. The variety of glazed ware increased and the vessels were distributed widely through the countryside, with a corresponding steady improvement of quality. During the second phase (1550-1645) pottery, and especially glazed ware, began to decline. Incised decoration was simplified or even vanished entirely, while coloured decoration became softer and spread across the whole surface. This decline is probably due to the widespread insecurity of the Venetian Dominions following the fall of Cyprus to the Turks (1570) and the Ottoman advance.

Turkish Occupation, 1645-1898

During the first phase (1645-1770), biscuit ware with clay slip continued to be used, but glazed ware became rarer and coloured exclusively a light green. At the same time, characteristic two-coloured plates were imported from Rhodes. The larger vessels, particularly storage jars, continued to flourish due to the high production of olive oil during the 18th century. However, their decoration too was reduced.

During the second phase of the Turkish Occupation (1770-1898), the constant armed Cretan risings against the Turks created deep social and financial insecurity. All types of production were drastically reduced and limited to essentials necessary to survival. Glazed ware was no longer produced and all other types of pottery were only present in their simplest forms.

The 20th Century, Liberation And Reunification With Greece, (1898-2006)

The first period (1898-1960) saw the renaissance of traditional pottery. Demand rose in step with the economic revival and the free movement of goods and money. The production of storage jars, beehives, basins, jugs etc. flourished. Small vessels, on the other hand, were gradually reduced and replaced by new mass-produced materials such as glass, aluminium and iron. Certain traditional decorative elements were preserved: stamping with a serrated wheel, incision with a small fine comb, and a simplified form of clay decoration used only on jugs.

The beginning of the second period (1960-2006) coincided with the post-war radical change in living standards in Greece, a country whose current borders were only determined in 1910. Crete, like other border regions, entered modern material culture. In 1960 the travelling potters stopped their annual peregrinations across the whole island and small pottery centres ceased production. The large centres, such as the villages of Thrapsano and Margarites, continued to make use ware such as water jars, basins, flowerpots and storage jars (pithoi) until 1980. From 1980 to the present day they have turned to mass production of traditional and other vessels for tourists or for use as decoration, most of which are exported to Western Europe where they are very popular, particularly pithoi. Production methods remain more or less the same, but not the clays and firing in the kiln.