Battles and processions, festivals and sporting competitions, heroes and mythical beings, all rationalized their reason for existence on the surfaces of Greek pottery. As Greek civilization grew, so did its contacts with other great societies, namely Egypt, Persia and Syria, whose influence on Greek imagery included the introduction of new exotic creatures, but also a more elaborate treatment of human figures.

Greek ceramics history is a series of ever evolving decorative innovations. Emphasizing and complementing the shape of vessels in the beginning were concentric circles and semicircles, straight and zig-zagged lines, angular patterns and meandering ones. This earliest of styles is referred to as geometric and proto-geometric, and characterized by the absence of figural representations. Human and animal forms were later added, drawn abstractly at the first, but becoming gradually more realistic as aesthetic tastes changed.

As important as artistic imagery in Greek pottery is the treatment of background - and specifically, the relationship between background and foreground. The oldest style to feature this relationship is known as the Black Figure technique. Figures were painted in black silhouette on a background of pale clay. At some point, however, the color scheme was reversed.

In Red Figure style, a black background held figures painted in red or left the natural color of the clay. The White Ground technique, however, marked a return to the light background, achieved with a coating of glaze over which figures were painted in black or brown. By contrast to earlier styles in which details were either incised or painted in black, White Ground pottery featured detailing in a variety of colors.