Topic

Craft Production

How objects were made and by whom: workshops, specialist craftspeople, raw materials and the organisation of production in Cypriot communities.

66 entries in 7 sections

Pottery

37 entriesSection overview

Neolithic and Chalcolithic WaresThe monochrome and painted wares of Ceramic Neolithic and Chalcolithic Cyprus, c. 5200 to 2400 BCE, before Red Polished pottery of the Bronze Age.NeolithicChalcolithic
Combed WareThe red-slipped pottery of the Cypriot Ceramic Neolithic whose slip was scraped with a comb-like tool while wet to expose pale bands, c. 4500–3900 BCE.Neolithic
Red-on-White WareRed-on-White is the hand-built painted pottery of Chalcolithic Cyprus, with red geometric patterns on a pale marl or slipped ground.NeolithicChalcolithic
Red Polished Philia WareThe hand-made, red-slipped and polished pottery of the Philia facies, strikingly uniform across Cyprus at the opening of the Bronze Age.Early Bronze Age
Red Polished WareRed Polished is the hand-made, red-slipped and burnished pottery that dominated Cyprus in the Early and Middle Bronze Age.Early Bronze AgeMiddle Bronze Age
Black Polished WareBlack Polished is a handmade Early and Middle Bronze Age ware with a black burnished slip, used for small incised vessels in north-coast and Mesaoria tombs.Early Bronze AgeMiddle Bronze Age
Drab Polished WareDrab Polished is a hard-fired Bronze Age ware of western and south-western Cyprus, often with a blue-grey core, and a technological forerunner of Base Ring.Early Bronze AgeMiddle Bronze Age
Red Slip WareRed Slip is the name of three separate Cypriot wares with an all-over red slip, one Middle Cypriot, one Late Cypriot wheelmade and one Iron Age.Middle Bronze AgeLate Bronze AgeCypro-GeometricCypro-ArchaicCypro-Classical
White Painted WareThe hand-made, pale-slipped Bronze Age pottery of Cyprus painted with dark matt geometric motifs, flourishing in the Middle Bronze Age as WP I to VI.Early Bronze AgeMiddle Bronze Age
Red-on-Black WareRed-on-Black is a handmade Middle Cypriot ware with matt red lines on a dark slip, a regional speciality of the Karpas and north-east Cyprus.Middle Bronze AgeLate Bronze Age
Base Ring WareThe thin-walled, hand-made Late Bronze Age pottery of Cyprus with dark lustrous surfaces imitating metal, widely exported as jugs and juglets.Late Bronze Age
Monochrome WareAn undecorated, handmade Late Cypriot ware with a red to brown slip, best known from small carinated bowls with wishbone handles found at Enkomi and across the Levant.Late Bronze Age
Red Lustrous Wheelmade WareA fine, wheel-thrown, red-burnished Late Bronze Age ware of spindle bottles, flasks and arm-shaped vessels, found in Cyprus, the Levant, Egypt and Anatolia.Late Bronze Age
White Slip WareThe hand-made Late Bronze Age tableware with a thick white slip and dark painted decoration, mostly hemispherical bowls, widely exported from Cyprus.Late Bronze Age
White Shaved WareA Late Bronze Age Cypriot ware of pale handmade dipper juglets, shaved vertically with a knife to a pointed base and widely exported to the Levant.Late Bronze Age
Plain White WareThe undecorated, pale-surfaced pottery of Middle and Late Bronze Age Cyprus, made by hand and later wheel-shaped, the first Cypriot ware formed with the wheel.Middle Bronze AgeLate Bronze AgeCypro-GeometricCypro-ArchaicCypro-Classical
Bucchero WareA Late Cypriot ware of jugs and juglets with vertically ribbed bodies, close to Base Ring II, handmade at first and wheelmade by Late Cypriot III.Late Bronze AgeCypro-Geometric
White Painted Wheelmade WareThe locally made, wheel-thrown, matt-painted pottery of Aegean inspiration that became the standard Cypriot tableware in Late Cypriot IIC and IIIA.Late Bronze Age
Proto-White Painted WareThe wheel-thrown, matt-painted pottery of Late Cypriot IIIB, c. 1125–1050 BCE, which merged earlier Aegean-style wares and led into Iron Age White Painted I.Late Bronze AgeCypro-Geometric
Iron Age White Painted WareIron Age White Painted is the wheel-made Cypriot pottery painted in matt black or brown on a pale ground, numbered White Painted I to VII from c. 1050 to 310 BCE.Cypro-GeometricCypro-ArchaicCypro-Classical
Bichrome WareBichrome is Cypriot pottery painted in black and red on a light surface, first a Late Bronze Age export ware and later a long-lived Iron Age class.Late Bronze AgeCypro-GeometricCypro-ArchaicCypro-Classical
Grey and Black Polished, Stroke Polished and Polychrome WaresGrey and Black Polished, Stroke Polished and Polychrome are minor wheel-made Cypriot wares of the Geometric, Archaic and Classical periods, defined by Gjerstad in 1948.Cypro-GeometricCypro-ArchaicCypro-Classical
Bichrome Red WareBichrome Red is the Cypriot Iron Age wheel-made ware with black and added white paint on a red slip, the sister ware of Black-on-Red.Cypro-ArchaicCypro-Classical
Medieval Glazed Sgraffito WareWheel-made red-clay tableware coated in white slip, incised through the slip and lead-glazed, made in Cypriot workshops from the 13th to the 16th century AD.
Baskets and Basket-Handled VesselsNot a standard Cypriot vessel class, "basket" names the arched basket handle, vessels that carry it, the kalathos and a few openwork bowls.Late Bronze AgeCypro-GeometricCypro-Archaic
Black Slip WareBlack Slip is the name of two unrelated Cypriot wares, a handmade Middle and early Late Cypriot class and Gjerstad's wheelmade Iron Age class.Early Bronze AgeMiddle Bronze AgeLate Bronze AgeCypro-GeometricCypro-ArchaicCypro-Classical
CirclesConcentric circles, disks, spirals and pendent semicircles, the leading geometric motif of Cypriot Iron Age painted pottery and of Gjerstad's Western style.Cypro-GeometricCypro-Archaic
Coarse Wares, Pithoi and Cooking PotsThe heavily tempered storage, cooking and utility pottery of Cyprus from the Chalcolithic to the Cypro-Classical period, classified mainly by fabric and function.ChalcolithicLate Bronze AgeCypro-GeometricCypro-ArchaicCypro-Classical
From Bronze to Iron: Cypriot Pottery c. 1300–950 BCEThe change in Cypriot fine pottery between c. 1300 and 950 BCE, from handmade Base Ring and White Slip to wheelmade White Painted and Bichrome.Late Bronze AgeCypro-Geometric
Iron Age Painting StylesThe figured repertoire and the two regional pictorial styles, Salamis and Amathus, into which scholars sort Cypriot vase painting of c. 1050-480 BCE.Cypro-GeometricCypro-Archaic
Jugs and JugletsA one-handled vessel with a neck, the commonest closed shape in Cypriot pottery, made from the start of the Bronze Age to the Cypro-Classical period.Early Bronze AgeMiddle Bronze AgeLate Bronze AgeCypro-GeometricCypro-ArchaicCypro-Classical
Pottery ShapesSectionThe classification of Cypriot pottery by vessel form rather than ware, grouped into ten shape families from bowls and jugs to composite vessels.Early Bronze AgeMiddle Bronze AgeLate Bronze AgeCypro-GeometricCypro-Archaic
The Pictorial StyleFigured painting on Late Bronze Age kraters found in Cyprus, first on Mycenaean imports and then on the locally made Rude or Pastoral Style kraters.Late Bronze Age
The Pottery of Ancient CyprusSectionThe pottery made and used in Cyprus from the Ceramic Neolithic onward, the island's most abundant artifact class and the basis of its chronology.NeolithicChalcolithicEarly Bronze AgeMiddle Bronze AgeLate Bronze AgeCypro-GeometricCypro-ArchaicCypro-ClassicalHellenisticRoman
Triangles and LozengesHatched, latticed and solid triangles and lozenges, with incised herringbone, used on Cypriot pottery from the Chalcolithic to the Cypro-Archaic period.ChalcolithicEarly Bronze AgeMiddle Bronze AgeLate Bronze AgeCypro-GeometricCypro-Archaic
Types of WareSectionThe families of Cypriot pottery, grouped by clay, surface finish and decoration, from Neolithic Combed ware to Iron Age Black-on-Red.NeolithicChalcolithicEarly Bronze AgeMiddle Bronze AgeLate Bronze AgeCypro-GeometricCypro-ArchaicCypro-Classical
Zig-ZagsA continuous line changing direction at sharp angles, incised or painted on Cypriot pottery from Early Bronze Age Red Polished to Cypro-Archaic handles.Early Bronze AgeMiddle Bronze AgeLate Bronze AgeCypro-GeometricCypro-Archaic

Statues

10 entriesSection overview

Jewelry

2 entriesSection overview

Tools and Technologies

8 entriesSection overview

Daily Life

5 entriesSection overview

Chronology

1 entrySection overview

Byzantine and Medieval CyprusCyprus from the seventh century to the Ottoman conquest of 1570-71, under Byzantine, Lusignan and Venetian rule, and its glazed sgraffito pottery.

Materials

3 entriesSection overview