The earliest painted Greek pottery was produced during the Bronze Age, from 3000 to 2000 BCE. Artists painted spiral and maritime motif designs, using dark paint on a light clay background or white painted designs over a dark-painted background. Middle Bronze Age pottery (2000 to1600 BCE) featured pottery created on a potters wheel, decorated with more artistic designs and colored paint. Although there were few developments in painting during the Late Bronze Age (1600 to 1100 BCE), Dark Age Greek pottery (1100 to 900 BCE) was marked by a protogeometric style, which used concentric circles to create intricate designs.
The most influential painting styles occurred after 900 BCE, beginning with the geometric style of Greek pottery, which used a system of proportion for the measurements of the item as well as placement of the decoration. The geometric style featured figural motifs and a more complex subject matter such as animals, human figures, even procession and battle scenes. Late in the geometric period, artists began to use historical and mythological subjects in their paintings. The black-figure style of Greek pottery from 600 to 480 BCE showcased figures drawn in black silhouettes, then engraved to give detail. Finishing touches were added in purple or white painting. Red-figure style Greek pottery flourished between 530 and 480 BCE. Artists painted the background of the pottery with dark paint, allowing the main figures to turn red as the clay pottery was fired. Paintings during this style became more detailed as artists used perspective and used three-quarter profiles. The white ground technique was developed during the Classical Period (480 to 330 BCE), as potters used white clay for pots, allowing them to use a variety of colors for pottery painting. The white ground pottery technique was the last development in Greek pottery painting before its decline by 330 BCE.
Athens provided potters with a wealth of clay deposits. These clay deposits are distinguished by a high content of iron oxide and calcium oxide. These additives give the clay pottery a red color after firing. After the Minoan era, Greeks used potters' wheels to create their vessels, adding handmade handles and decorative elements to the thrown pots. Potters used their skill to design and create a variety of jugs, vases and bowls in different shapes and sizes.
Greek pottery painting declined during the Classical Period (480 to 330 BCE) for reasons that historians still debate today. During the Hellenistic Period (330 to 30 BCE), pottery painting was simplified with white paint on a black glaze background to portray non-figural motifs such as ivy, laurel, vine and marine imagery.