IV. THE FIRING OF THE VASE
The most important revisions of current theories on the technique of Athenian vases which our treatment of the subject has suggested are:
(1) The use of turning as a regular process applied to the vases after they were thrown. To this operation they owe much of their finish and refinement.
(2) The application of a red ochre pigment on the surface of the vases in their raw state, before they were decorated or fired. It is to this red ochre application that the present orangey color of the Athenian vases is due, as against the pinkish hue shown in the fractures of the clay. Originally, however, this color was even deeper, approaching that of bright red copper.
(3) Both the glaze and the accessory colors were applied when the vases were in leather-hard condition, before any firing. Instead of the two, three, or four firings often assumed by archaeologists, the evidence points to only one fire, after total completion of the vase.
(4) The great majority of Athenian vases were made for actual use, not for votive, decorative, or funeral purposes, as is still often assumed.