General Information

Gray wares have a long history throughout Anatolia in general, and particularly at sites down the Ionian coast. The name can refer to any pottery intentionally fired in a reducing atmosphere and consequently having gray fabric. In the Bronze and Iron Ages, gray ceramics usually have a burnished surface that was produced by polishing; sometimes these were also slipped beforehand. In the mid-later 1st millennium BCE, potters in Ionia and the inland regions of Lydia and Phrygia often made gray ware vessels for table use with black or gray slip.  Gray wares continued to be made into the early Roman period, in various shapes and techniques including on the wheel and in molds (especially moldmade bowls and lamps). 

In late Hellenistic and early Roman times, a distinctive production of black-slipped gray vessels for table use were made in Ephesus, Lesbos, and probably also inland, e.g., Sardis. The fabric is extremely micaceous and friable, usually brownish gray in color, and occasionally has a redder core. The slip is thin, with differing color and texture over time. In the later first century BCE it is more fugitive and ranges from gray to tan; in the first half of the first century CE it is a hard, semi-glossy black. 

The most well-attested shapes are trays, large platters, plates, and incurved rim bowls. In the late Hellenistic period the most characteristic shape is a very large platter with a thick, upturned rim, triangular in section. Invariably the floor is stamped with large palmettes, usually bounded by rouletting. From the first century BCE and CE  also come elegant and beautifully crafted rectangular trays with raised edges

Heavy metal and petrographic analysis carried out on platters and trays found at Ephesos indicates that they were locally produced. In addition, preliminary results of a neutron activation study of similar vessels found at Sardis reveals a close match with vessels produced there. In both form and fabric, the vessels from Sardis and Ephesus appear practically identical yet their different chemical makeup may suggest that there were multiple production locales.

* This description comes from Rotroff and Oliver 2003, pp. 31-32.

The fabric contains few fine black, rare medium white and frequent fine sparkling (silver mica) inclusions. There are medium to frequent rounded and thin voids visible in the core. The color is grey (10YR 5/1). The fabric is soft to fairly hard. The surface is smooth and the texture of the fresh break is rather smooth or irregular, depending on the quality. The surface is covered with thin, matt or semi-lustrous, dark grey (7.5YR 3/1) to black (7.5YR 2.5/1) slip.

Ephesian Gray Ware, Ephesian Grey Ware, Ionian Grey Ware, Ionian Gray Ware