as Jcnown to the Egyptians, 121 



Titrified composition into the hollow space, the metal being 

 properly heated, at the same time ; and when fixed, the surface 

 was smoothed down and polished. 



Both the encaustic painting in wax, and that which consisted 

 in burning in the colours, were evidently known to the ancients, 

 being mentioned by Pliny,* Ovid,t Martial,^ and others; and 

 the latter is supposed to have been on the same principle as our 

 enamelling on gold. Pliny § says it was uncertain to whom the 

 invention was due ; some ascribe it to Aristides, as that of per- 

 fecting the art to Praxiteles ; but he supposes *' it was known, 

 long before that time, to Polygnotus, Nicanor, and Arcesilaus 

 of Paros;^ 



Bottles of various kinds, glass, porcelain, alabaster, and other 

 materials were frequently exported from Egypt to other coun- 

 tries. The Greeks, the Etruscans, and the Romans received 

 them as articles of luxury, which, being remarkable for their 

 beauty, were prized as ornaments of the table ; and when Egypt 

 became a Roman province, part of the tribute annually paid to 

 the conquerors consisted of glass vases from the manufactories 

 of Memphis and Alexandria. 



The intercourse between Egypt and Greece had been con- 

 stantly kept up after the accession of Psamaticus and Amasis ; 

 and the former, the parent of the arts at that period, supplied 

 the Greeks and some of the Syrian tribes with the manufactures 

 they required. 



The Etruscans, a commercial people, appear to have traded 

 with Egypt, about, or a little after, the same period, and we 

 repeatedly find small alabaster and porcelain bottles in their 

 tombs, which have all the character of the Egyptian ; and not 

 only does the stone of the former proclaim by its quality the 

 quarries from which it was taken, but the form and style of the 



• Plin. XXXV. 11. t Ovid, Fast lib. viiL 275. 



" et picta coloribus ustis 



Coelestum matrem concava puppis habet.'* 

 $ Mart. Epig. lib. iv. ep. 39. 



" Encaustus Phaethon tabula depictus in hac est ; 

 Quid tibi vis Dipyron qui Phaethonta I'acis ?'* 

 § Plin. XXXV. 11. " Ceris pingere, ac picturam inurere quis primus ex- 

 cogitaverit, non constat." 



