196 Field Museum of Natural History — Anth., Vol. VII. 



The lower attachment looks like an inverted pear supported by 

 a diamond-shaped body with two arms which have the form of birds' 

 heads. 1 The lower end of the pear-shaped plaque is engraved 2 so as 

 to represent a conventional lotus, which has a cross-band beneath 

 the flower, inlaid in silver. The plaque is ornamented with oblique 

 striations about the edge, while in the center there is a silver wreath 

 of leaves and flowers tied with a ribbon, treated in the impressionistic 

 manner. The birds' heads have the eyes and ears of silver. On the 

 body from which these heads spring there is an engraved palmette- 

 like ornament similar in appearance to that which springs from the 

 center of the lotus flower above. At the side-angles, however, there 

 is something like an eye indicated in the engraving. Now, if we view 

 the attachment from the other direction, this body and the birds' 

 heads become the head and legs of a lizard or salamander, particularly 

 the variety of the latter called newt. It seems not unlikely that there 

 is here an intentional mixture of motives. 3 



The use of the birds' heads to support the attachment-plaque is 

 regular in this type of vases. 4 The ornament appears in a reduced 

 form in a specimen from Boscoreale, now in Berlin. 5 A leaf is used 

 for the attachment in another example from Boscoreale. 6 



On the back of the handle there is an ornament in relief consisting 

 of a vertical stalk with ribs at either side projecting upward obliquely. 

 This design appears to be regular here in this type of vase. 7 At the 

 lower end, next to the lower attachment, there is a band with vertical 

 flutes and a ruffle at either edge. The effect is like that of a strip 

 of cloth or paper tied to the stem. There is a somewhat similar transi- 

 tion motive on the above mentioned fantastic bronze handle in the 

 Naples Museum. 8 



The purpose which these vessels served is not quite certain. From 

 the finding place of this example, and from the fact that another one 9 

 was found in a bedroom it might be inferred that they were intended 

 to hold wine or, more likely, the water that was to be mixed with it. 

 The use of the long projecting thumb might afford* a clue, if it were 



1 An old motive in a new form. Cf. an Italic bronze handle in the British Museum, Hoernes, 

 Urgeschichte der Kunst in Europa, p. 416, plate ix, No. 2, and a gold ornament in the Treasure from 

 Aegina, Evans, Journal of Hellenic Studies, xiii, pp. 197 ff., fig. 2a (p. 197). 



2 In the model before casting. 



5 For an example of fanciful mixture of motives, cf. the bronze handle, Roux.op. cit. Vol. vii, plate 

 98 ( = Museo Borbonico, Vol. ix, plate 30). 



• Cf. Schreiber, Alexand. Toreutik, p. 369, and the example in Field Museum, No. 158 of Tarbell's 

 Catalogue of Bronzes. 



5 Pernice, Jahrbuch xv, Anz. p. 189, fig. 16. 



• Pasqui, op. cit. col. 432, fig. 24. 



7 Cf. Schreiber, Alexand. Toreutik, p. 369. 



8 Roux, op. cit. Vol. vii, plate 98 ( = Mus. Bor. ix. 30). 



• Pasqui, op. cit. col. 432, fig. 24. 



