White-ground

Refers to a style of ancient Greek vase painting that employed a variation on the technique of the Red-figure style and became popular in the middle of the fifth century BCE. It is characterized by the use of a chalky white slip as a background, over which black glaze was used to outline figures, and diluted glazes of purple, brown, red, and white were used to color the figures. Additional colors that could not withstand firing were added afterwards. Scenes often depict figures situated on a common groundline at the bottom of a panel or in horizontal bands, which is unlike earlier compositions where figures were generally scattered throughout the picture plane.