Black-figure pottery painting, also known as the black-figure style or black-figure ceramic (Ancient Greek: μελανόμορφα, romanized: melanómorpha), is one of the styles of painting on antique Greek vases. It was especially common between the 7th and 5th centuries BCE, although there are specimens dating as late as the 2nd century BCE. Stylistically it can be distinguished from the preceding orientalizing period and the subsequent red-figure pottery style.