Glossary Pottery and vessels
Reduction firing
Also called: reducing atmosphere, reducing conditions
Firing pottery where oxygen is scarce, which turns iron-bearing clay grey or black; with plenty of air (oxidising) the same clay fires red or buff.
The colour of a fired pot depends as much on the air around it as on the clay. Where oxygen reaches the surface the iron in the clay fires red, orange or buff; where fuel, ash or another pot cuts off the air it fires grey to black. Potters could exploit this deliberately or have it happen by accident.
In the open fires used before the Late Bronze Age, partial reduction explains the black rims and interiors of many Red Polished bowls, the patchy mottling on others and the all-over black of Black Polished ware. The entry on kilns and firing describes the experiments that reproduced these effects.
Full entry: Pottery Kilns and Firing in Ancient Cyprus
Related terms
- Black Polished ware
An Early and Middle Bronze Age Cypriot ware like Red Polished in shape and finish but fired black all over, made in much smaller numbers.
- Burnishing
Rubbing the surface of an unfired pot with a smooth pebble, bone or tool to compact the clay and give it a sheen after firing.
- Fabric
The fired clay body of a pot as seen in a fresh break: its colour, hardness, texture and the grains and particles it contains.