Ancient Glass and Pottery. 5 



exhibited in the palace gardens and invited multitudes of 

 people to view them. It is said that Xero afterwards paid 

 three thousand talents for a piece of gem glass smaller than 

 the piece destroyed by Petronius. The smallest value of a 

 talent is a little over one thousand dollars of American 

 money, which would make the price paid for these vases over 

 three million dollars. This is condemned by Pliny, the his- 

 ton'an, as a piece of reckless extravagance on the part of the 

 ruler of the world. This tine glass of the Romans was 

 evidently made of pulverized gems the same as the glas 

 the ancients, but no pieces quite so hard as those of Baby- 

 lonia have been found, although deeper and finer colors and 

 more variegated and gem-like pieces were evidently made 

 and some of them have been preserved in the tombs or ruins 

 down to the present time. 



The Venetians took up glassmaking in early times and 

 produced great varieties of magnificently colored forms and 

 beautiful shapes that when the finer pieces are brought into 

 a collection, make about as fine a display of artistic form and 

 color as can be found in the world. All of the nations since 

 have to a gr eater or less extent preserved the art of glass- 

 making, and have carried it out in such beautiful colors and 

 forms for domestic use that it has led to the general feeling 

 that the glass-maker's art is designed more to supply the 

 household with useful articles, in the same manner that the 

 potter's art has come to be so customarily seen in everyday 

 use that the beauties and appreciation oi both glass and pot- 

 tery are underestimated. 



The interest and attractiveness of the art galleries of 

 painting and sculpture appeal more generally to the taste and 

 satisfaction of the person than the collections of pottery and 

 glass. But of the latter, a greater quantity with the highest 

 and finest and most beautiful forms and colors found in the 

 productions of the A potter's and glass maker's art made for 

 the finest decoration, appeals more and more to the interest 

 ami art taste in proportion, generally, as the individual be- 

 comes acquainted with and studies out their beauties and 

 perfections in form, color and finish. The earthenware be- 

 ing SO commonly in use. comes to be looked upon more as a 

 common household utility than a tine decorative art. I hit 

 experience shows that to the extent that the person will 

 become acquainted with the refined and beautiful potter's 

 and glass maker's art does the interest increase and may 



