bucchero sottile

Bucchero sottile was a type of Etruscan earthenware pottery produced primarily between the 7th and early 5th centuries BC in pre-Roman Italy. This distinctive pottery is characterized by its black or gray color and a shiny, polished finish. The unique color is achieved through a reducing firing process, where the clay is fired in an atmosphere rich in carbon monoxide instead of oxygen. This process converts the iron oxide in the clay, which would normally turn red, into the characteristic bucchero colors.12

The finest examples of bucchero, known as bucchero sottile, are thin-walled and were made in the 7th and early 6th centuries BC. These pieces exhibit excellent craftsmanship, refined forms, and often feature incised or relief decoration that is secondary to the overall shape. Early designs were influenced by metalwork from Phoenicia and Cyprus, while later, 6th-century pieces show Greek influence in their shapes and decorative motifs, including incised or modeled figures of animals and geometric patterns.1