It is said that pottery vases were first invented in the island of Samos, being made of clay and hardened by fire, whence comes the term Samian vases. A later invention was to add red ochre and to make pottery of red clay.
Fictilia vasa in Samo insula prius inventa traduntur, facta ex creta et indurata igni; unde et Samia vasa: postea inventum et rubricam addere et ex rubra creta fingere.
The significance of these passages has already been discussed on [pp. 53-59].
POROSITY OF GREEK POTTERY
Pollux, Onomasticon, VII, 161 ff.
162. Aristophanes says that a clay vinegar jar has leprosy, instead of saying that it is moist (sweats?).
Λεπρᾶν δὲ κεράμειον ὀξηρόν, ἀντὶ τοῦ μυδᾶν, Ἀριστοφάνης λέγει.
This appears to refer to the fact that unglazed ware (and even painted Athenian pottery is unglazed in parts) becomes moist when filled with liquid, on account of its porosity.
THE STATUS OF POTTERS
Isokrates, De Permutatione, 2.