Etruscan Bucchero in the British Museum

Abstract

• Bucchero is the most distinctive class of ceramic produced in Etruria, Italy, between the 7th and the 5th centuries BC. This publication aims to provide a complete up-to-date listing and description of the collection of bucchero in the British Museum; a collection that consists of over three hundred items including examples of all the important regional productions of bucchero. A previous partial publication of the collection in 1932 is now out-dated and in need of replacement. In addition to being a new, complete, fully referenced and illustrated catalogue, technical aspects of the production of the vessels have been meticulously studied in order to reconstruct a working sequence – detailing the steps in the manufacture of each vase. A final important contribution of the study is the investigation of the formation of the collection, which dates back to 1756, and the history of the study of bucchero.