White Vases
Researchers confirm that select Attic kraters from 450 to 440 BC achieved their rare white grounds with gypsum rather than chalk or clay. A University of Palermo team mapped calcium and sulfur with X ray fluorescence and SmART_scan, ruled out kaolinite and calcium carbonate using TR FTIR, and used ultraviolet imaging to trace pigments with iron, titanium, and manganese. Firing estimates cluster around 700 to 900 °C, consistent with Attic workshops. The white ground served as a luminous base for color in ritual and mythic scenes tied to elite funerary use, a finding that advances archaeometrics and extends our earlier posts on scientific sleuthing in classical art.
Photo by ArchaiOptix. Apulian Red-Figure Volute Krater (Baltimore Painter), ca. 340–320 BC. Roma SABAP-RVEm. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. A later South Italian tradition inspired by Attic vase painting.