Jan., 191 2. Antiquities from Boscoreale. 195 



shape, but without the ornamentation, are found in Egyptian green- 

 glazed ware of the Ptolemaic period. 



It is uncertain for what use these large pitchers were intended. 

 Pasqui 1 calls them "vasi da mescere"; Pernice 2 thinks they may have 

 served to hold water. It is evident from their shape and size that 

 they were designed to hold a considerable quantity of a liquid, which 

 did not need to be poured in a small stream. That this liquid was 

 water to drink or, more likely, to mix with the wine, or even a reserve 

 supply of wine, is not improbable. 



Total height, m. 0.316 ( = 12.44 m -)- Height of vase without handle, m. 0.289 

 ( = n.37in.). Height of base, m. 0.007. Diameter, m. 0.192 ( = 7.55 in.). Diameter 

 of bottom, m. 0.098 (=3.85 in.). Diameter of top, outside, m. 0.13 ( = 5.11 in.); 

 inside, m. 0.093 (=3-66 in.). Thickness of sides, less than m. 0.001. Height of 

 handle, m. 0.201 ( = 7.91 in.). Width of lower attachment, m. 0.06 (=2.36 in.). 



Bottom cracked nearly all the way around. The handle seems to have become 

 detached and to have been replaced. 



BRONZE PITCHER OR EWER. 24403. 

 [Plates CXLVIII, CXLIX.] 



Large bronze vessel with one handle found in Villa I, in the room 

 of the wine-press (P), where it lay in a heap of other vases of various 

 kinds. 3 It is in poor condition, being much broken, patched and 

 cracked. The vase is corroded through as well as heavily oxidized 

 in green and dark blue. The handle was cast separately. 



The lower part of the vase is rounded. It has a long conical shoulder 

 and a short round mouth-piece, which has the form of a section of an 

 inverted cone. The bottom is flat, the lip, narrow. The body of 

 the vase is unornamented except for a series of grooves and raised 

 lines on the inside of the mouth. 4 



The upper attachment of the handle is formed of large birds' heads, 

 which are joined to the outer edge of the lip, and, with the beaks, 

 extend about half way around the lip. The mouth is indicated by 

 a groove, the plumage by wavy lines. Eyes and ears were inlaid 

 with silver which has now mostly disappeared. There are no volutes 

 preceding the birds' heads. Instead of the thumb-rest, which, on 

 vases like the preceding (24409), is sometimes the figure of an actual 

 thumb, there is here a conventionalized long straight thumb, which 

 rises between the birds' heads, and projects horizontally part way 

 across the mouth of the vase. The thumb-nail is of silver. 



'L. c. 



1 L. c. p. 195. 



* Pasqui, op. cit. col. 482. 



* /. e. just inside lip. depression, in which, fine raised line, followed by convex surface, after which 

 raised line with groove at either side, all of which encircle the mouth. 



