<P> Black - figure is the most commonly imagined when one thinks about Greek pottery . It was a popular style in ancient Greece for many years . The black - figure period coincides approximately with the era designated by Winckelmann as the middle to late Archaic, from c. 620 to 480 BC . The technique of incising silhouetted figures with enlivening detail which we now call the black - figure method was a Corinthian invention of the 7th century and spread from there to other city states and regions including Sparta, Boeotia, Euboea, the east Greek islands and Athens . </P> <P> The Corinthian fabric, extensively studied by Humfry Payne and Darrell Amyx, can be traced though the parallel treatment of animal and human figures . The animal motifs have greater prominence on the vase and show the greatest experimentation in the early phase of Corinthian black - figure . As Corinthian artists gained in confidence in their rendering of the human figure the animal frieze declined in size relative to the human scene during the middle to late phase . By the mid-6th century BC, the quality of Corinthian ware had fallen away significantly to the extent that some Corinthian potters would disguise their pots with a red slip in imitation of superior Athenian ware . </P> <P> At Athens researchers have found the earliest known examples of vase painters signing their work, the first being a dinos by Sophilos (illus . below, BM c. 580), this perhaps indicative of their increasing ambition as artists in producing the monumental work demanded as grave markers, as for example with Kleitias's François Vase . Many scholars consider the finest work in the style to belong Exekias and the Amasis Painter, who are noted for their feeling for composition and narrative . </P> <P> Circa 520 BC the red - figure technique was developed and was gradually introduced in the form of the bilingual vase by the Andokides Painter, Oltos and Psiax . Red - figure quickly eclipsed black - figure, yet in the unique form of the Panathanaic Amphora, black - figure continued to be utilised well into the 4th century BC . </P>

What was the primary technique of archaic vase painting and what style did it derive from