322 PAPERS RELATING TO ANTHROPOLOGY. 



the chocolate sets, and the multitude of homely but useful forms will 

 amply show. 



But the remarkable fact is that the vessels of which I speak are gen- 

 erally not copies of antique forms. It is possible that the manufacture 

 began by the copying of actual specimens, but few originals can now be 

 identified. The resemblances to the antique are slight and vanish 

 under closer scrutiny. A careful study of the array of examples at hand 

 shows that the makers are fancy free and that little attention is paid 

 to antiquity save in the semblance of age so skillfully given. In con- 

 sequence there is a lack of any fixed style of ware or range of forms • 

 each generation and each maker produces distinct classes of results 

 based in a measure upon what has gone before. 



It is stated by persons who have had occasion to try the experiment 

 that all kinds of ware are imitated with equal ease, that one has but to 

 go to these obliging artisans and say what he wants and how much, 

 and it is done. I observe, however, that there are decided limitations 

 that brilliantly polished and colored work is rarely attempted and that 

 decoration in the refined colors and enamel like slii)s of the ancients is 

 quite beyond the reach of the moderns. The great body of the spurious 

 ware is unpainted and is either finished in black or dark brownish hues 

 or is of the natural tints of the baked clay. The walls of vases are 

 heavy and the whole effect is rather clumsy. The entire surface is usu- 

 ally covered with ornamentation consisting of figures and devices in re- 

 lief, or in the round, or of intaglio patterns. The latter are made by in- 

 cising the soft clay, or by the application of stamps. The attached fig- 

 ures are usually formed separately in molds and afterwards set into their 

 places and neatly joined to the body of the vase. The molds, an assort- 

 ment of which forms an essential part of the potter's outfit, are in many 

 cases made from antique specimens. After finishing, the vases are pre- 

 pared for market by burial for a short time in the moist earth, or more 

 frequently perhaps, by simply washing them with a thin solution of clay. 

 The clay is afterwards partially wiped off, leaving the incised lines and 

 depressions filled with the light-colored deposit. 



I am speaking mainly of vases, but it should bo observed that all 

 classes of objects are produced and reproduced, vases, statuettes, pipes, 

 whistles, spindle-whorls, calendar-disks, stamps, etc. Large statuettes 

 are treated as are the vases, and examples are given farther on. Works 

 of the latter class rarely appear in ancient art independently of vases. 

 They are usually executed in stone. Less important objects, small and 

 simple pieces, are very generally formed by pressing the clay into shal- 

 low molds, because apparently this is the easier method of fabrication. 

 Tiie molds are made from original pieces recovered from ancient sites and 

 the copies are often excellent and very difficult to distinguish from orig- 

 inals. It is those classes of objects produced chiefly by free-hand mod- 

 eling that call for attention here as they alone display the tendencies 

 of modern genius as applied to this novel branch of art. 



