(65 



VASES. 



VASES. 



eco 



able size and fabric, principally deep cups, are found in the Saxon j letters found upon them, and their art, these vases appear to be as old 

 graves, ornamented with undercut projections at the sides, a rude j as the 5th century B.C. The great improvement in style consisted in 

 imitation of the more artistic diatreta. \ introducing a warmer tint into the paste of the clay, which became of 



In Greece, from the earliest ages, gold and silver vases were used for a light bright red, while the colour of the figures became of a jet 

 sacrificial and other purposes, and they abounded amongst the Hellenic j black, with the same details as those of the previous classes, ami 

 and other races of Asia Minor, the most renowned in early times being j occasional use of white accessories. The vases of the so-called old 



those dedicated by Croesus at Delphi, some the works of the Samian 

 Theodoras. After the conquest of Alexander immense numbers of 



style are distinguished by their superior art and size, and the interestin 

 mythological subjects with which they are painted, and are often of 



toreutic works, some inlaid with gems, were common all over Greece ; large size, llydrias, water vases with three handles, amphora, two 

 and in two remarkable festivals, one of Ptolemy Philadelphus at handled jars, oinoclioai wine jugs, kcytki, oil cruets, crateret, bowls for 

 Alexandria, the other of Antiochus Epiphanes at Antisch, were ex- | holding wine, cyliccs, flat shallow cups, and cyathl, cups, occur in thU 

 hibited immense numbers of these vases ; and great services of plate style. The eyes of the figures are painted oblique, the hands and feet 

 were possessed by the Gracco- Asiatic monarchs, which subsequently long, the forms muscular, the attitudes rigid. The subjects are prin- 

 bucame the booty of the Romans, and were exhibited in their triumphs, cipally derived from the myth of Bacchus, the Gigautomachia, the 

 or plundered by their officers. The most celebrated metal vases were Amazonomachia, and the war of Troy. The figures are sometimes 

 those of Boethus, Mys, and Mentor. A few gold vases exist in the explained by accompanying inscriptions. Besides the names of figures, 



the names of beautiful youths and females, and of the artists who 

 painted and the potters who made the vases, are painted on them, 

 while memoranda relative to the proprietors of the vases are often 

 found incised on the foot 



The style with black figures seems to have flourished till the 

 4th century B.C. The prize vases given in the Panathensoa having 

 On one side a Pallas Athene aud on the other the different games, and 

 inscribed " Prizes from Athens," were of the hard black style, which 

 was conventionally retained till the time of Alexander the Great, the 

 vases being then inscribed with the names of the Athenian archons. 

 But this style of painting was by no means keeping pace with the 

 development of art, and the vase painters towards the close of tha 4th 

 century B.C., or even earlier, changed the colour of the figures to a 

 bright orange red, and painted the background entirely black. The 

 inner muscles of the figures were indicated by fine lines of a light brown, 

 the coarser ones by black colour, and the principal accessories were 

 in blue and white. The style considerably improved, but still remained 

 " severe," by which it is known ; the principal shapes were amphora, 

 oinochoai, cylicu, especially the last ; inscriptions continued to be used ; 

 the names of artiste are frequently seen. Henceforth the transitions 

 are no longer those of colour, but of art and drawing. The eyes of 

 figures hall a century later are not represented oblique but full eye- 

 lashes appear, the limbs are broader, the faces grander, and the 

 influence of the school of Zeuxis in painting begins to show itself ; the 



museums of Europe, the most remarkable being the ancient Greek 

 fihiale from Agrigentum, in the British Museum; and that of the age 

 of Severus, discovered at Rennes, in Bretague, now in the Bibliothe'que 

 Impe'riale of Paris, and the gold vases at Vienna. Silver vases are less 

 rare, and were more often chased by ancient artists, and many specimens 

 of ancient plate, some found in Britain, are preserved in the different 

 museums of Europe. Silver vases were often used for sacred purposes. 

 Bronze vases are still more common and of larger dimensions, and are 

 generally thin and hammered out in repouul work, or else ornamented 

 with elegant east reliefs, emMemata; or detached ornaments, crurfte. 

 Etruria and Magna Greecia were celebrated for bronze vases, and highly 

 ornamented specimens from the sepulchres of Greece and Italy are hi 

 the principal museums of Europe. They are principally craters, pails 

 for holding wine ; uinochoai, jugs for pouring it out ; cyathi, for strain- 

 ing it; and p/tialai, saucers ; arytainai, ladles ; and kylica, cups ; ary- 

 lalli, oil cruets; Itbetet, pots for boiling; pwlaniplra, foot-baths. 

 Bronze vases, called trhca, were also used for sounding-boards in the 

 theatres. Etruria was celebrated for its bronze lamps and candelabra ; 

 and Pompeii was full of bronze vessels. Considerable taste was shown 

 by the aucienU in their bronze vessels, the lips being often decorated 

 with the uvolo ornament, the handles sometime! in shape of the human 

 form, artistically adapted for the purpose, and generally terminating 

 in animal heads, pnkottoi, at the mouth, while the place of insertion 



on the body of the vase was ornamented with mythological subjects, or . - - D , 



heads in bas-relief. Subjects in outline were sometimes incised on , vases are principally kalpida, amp/tora, lecythi, aryballoi, and large 

 vases, aud a magnificent leUs from Capua, in the British Museum, has, j cralen, often with columnar handles. The subjects represented 

 in addition to the figures in full relief on the mouth, an incised frieze contain, in addition to those of the preceding classes, many of the 

 round the body, representing some of the labours of Hercules. These exploits of Perseus and Theseus, and others derived from the T rage- 

 ornaments were often either modelled by artists of merit, or copied ' dians, especially the Oresteid. But this style, about the time of 

 from celebrated works of art. In the 4th and 5th centuries, damas- Alexander, or B.C. 330, began to decline, aud in the days of Pyrrhus 

 cened lioman vases were made ; enamelled about the same time. The had passed into the florid style, distinguished by considerable artistic 

 temples of Greece abounded with presents of these vases, along with j differences. The figures are taller and more elegant in their propor- 



tripoda, statues, and other objects of bronze. Leaden vases were used 

 by the ancients to hold unguents, perfumes, and collyriums. 



The most numerous and remarkable ancient vases are those of baked 

 clay, found in recent 'years all over Greece, Italy and its isles, the 

 north coast of Africa, and the Crimea, hi fact throughout the settle- 

 ments of Greece. Borne of them appear to have held the ashes of the 

 dead, and all were made for use or ornament. These vases are painted 

 with a brown or black silicated glaze, and touched up in parts with 

 flat unglazed colours. They were either made on the wheel or 

 moulded, then dried, the subject or ornamentation traced out with a 

 pointed instrument, the black or brown colour, which is a silicated 

 glaze, filled in with a reed pencil, and the muscles and other details 

 incised through the black colour to the ground of the clay with a 

 sharp knife. Their paste varies from a pale straw to a dork red, and is 



tions, their hair curiously fine, and the details minute and numerous, 

 the backgrounds being charged with arabesque and floral ornament. 

 The shapes of the vases too ore distinguished by narrow necks, thicker 

 bodies, and taller handles : large craters, amphora, and catpides ore 

 common. Perspective appears in the drawing; gilding is common 

 amongst the accessories. The inscriptions are sometimes incised, but 

 the vases ore often without them. Contemporaneous with these vases 

 were the polychromatic, chiefly kcytld, made for sepulchral purposes, 

 although oinochoai and cylica occur. They all have a leucoma, or 

 coating of fine stucco, on which the artist drew the subject in red 

 outline, and subsequently filled in the draperies with opaque colour, or 

 else finely traced the subject in a siennio or bistre-coloured outline. 

 The subjects are chiefly from the Oresteid or other sepulchral sources. 

 There are few inscriptions on any of these vases. Towards 200 years 



very soft, light, and porous. The vases appear to have been carefully j B.o. the art was rapidly declining, aud the florid gave way for one far 

 dried, painted, and baked in close furnaces ; the colours used in the ! inferior in merit, the figures being often coarsely drawn, androgynous 



The style, shape, and ornaments of these vases vary in the different degenerates into a scrawl, and these were succeeded by ornaments in 

 localities where they are found. The, earliest of large shape, chiefly opaque white upon a red ground, and these by others with moulded 

 jugs, amphorae, and lekanc, found on the most ancient sites of Asia ornaments. The inscriptions on vases are in different dialects, often 

 Minor, as at Mount Sipylus and the so-called treasury of Atreus at incorrect, while the number of inscribed vases is much less than those 

 Mycena), are ornamented with friezes, imcanders, zigzags, and such without. From some memoranda inscribed by the potters upon the 

 simple ornaments, with animal forms of small proportions introduced j vases the prices paid for vases of inferior kinds are known. A cylix, 

 as friezes, or metopes. These vases of the heroic period of Greece, | or flat painted cup, cost a drachma, which at the different value of 



iUy of the 8th or 9th century B.C., were succeeded by another money in ancient times amounted to about 3. ; a crater 4 oboli,or 2s. ; 



class, which has been extensively found at Athens, Corinth, Italy, and ' a Icci/t/iai 1 obolos, or 6d. ; a small pot J an obolos, or 3d. ; and a saucer 



th- Isles, distinguished by friezes of animals of larger size, of black or [ J obolos, or 2d. It is curious to contrast this with the sums paid for 



brown colour, with incised lines upon a pale straw-coloured ground, still valuable ancient vases in modern times. The Durand collection alone, 



accompanied by ornamenta, and the area of the friezes are of animals, principally vases, realised 12,5242. ; in 1836 a vase, with the subject of 



rith flowers. A few vases of this style have human figures, j the death of Orestes, sold for 2642. ; and other important vases for as 



combats, and myths, derived from Homeric poems, with inscriptions ; much as 2802., 2402., and 1702. each. Yet, these sums are far inferior 



Id or older than the 5th century B.C., their art resembling the to those paid for remarkable vases by the Naples Museum, a vase with 



t sculpture of Selinus nnd /Egina. By degrees the vase art the last uight of Troy having been acquired for 10002., and the name 

 improved, the potters introducing a slightly warm tone into their clay, sum was paid by the late Mr. Edwards for a large vase, now in England, 

 iban.loning the excessive use of ornament and the flowers in the field, The characteristics of Ktruscan and Komau vases have been already 

 and giving more bnportMM to the human figures, although still mentioned. [PoTTnnv.] 



retaining friezes of animal). The principal shapes of these vases are One of the most difficult portions of the history of vases has been 

 the ptliki; oinochoai, and alabatlrot. From the shape of the inscribed their nomenclature, obscured by the difficulty amongst the ancients 



