BUCCHERO POTTERY

It is said of the Etruscans that they ate twice a day, well and profusely. The lustrous black pottery called bucchero typifies their material culture in the seventh and sixth centuries B.C. It was used for pouring and drinking wine. The word 'bucchero' is not Etruscan but comes from the Spanish name for South American pottery which was much imitated in the nineteenth century. Early wheel-turned bucchero dating from the second half of the seventh century is thin-walled and has a shiny, deep black surface. The solid black colour results from the low temperature and smoky atmosphere in which the pottery was fired. Most probably, bucchero developed as an improved form of the earlier rough impasto. It often appears to imitate metalware. A few decades later, bucchero became less refined as the thickness of the wall increased and the colour grew greyer. Bucchero's fan-shaped ornaments are particularly striking: they were pressed with a comb into the leather hard clay. Other motifs were made with a cylinder stamp which was rolled over the moist surface.