324 MANNER OF PAINTING THEM. 



examination, it was executed in this manner: After the vase 

 had been baked once, the figures were lightly shaded out 

 with a brush, dipped in a thin diluted mixture of the black 

 varnish. The artists appear, like Raphael and the Italian 

 painters, to have sketched the simple figure, and afterwards 

 to have added the draperies. The figures were next filled up 

 with black, the contours corrected, and finished off with fine 

 sharp lines of the dark black varnish; and the drapery, fea- 

 tures, and different details which occur inside the black figure, 

 were picked out, either by means of a sharp point which re- 

 moved the black, or by applying white or red colors over it. 

 The vase was then again sent to the oven, which completed 

 the process. 



ESTHER. 



And how were the others executed 1 ? 



MRS. F. 



Those of the second class, which had the figures left red, 

 and the vase grounded in black, appear to have been executed 

 by different persons; the inferior parts being left to inferior 

 artists to perform. The first class, on the contrary, seem to 

 have been entirely finished by the master; whereas in the 

 second, a variety of hands may be traced in the drawing; and 

 the reverse of the vase appears generally to have been done 

 by a less expert artist. We may fairly suppose, that in this 

 manufacture, which must have been pursued upon an exten- 

 sive scale, the labor of the vases was divided among several 

 persons, as would be the case with us. But to return to the 

 vase: the figures were shaded out, as before, with a light tint 

 of the black, or sometimes with a hard point, probably of 

 metal. That the latter plan was sometimes used, is evident, 

 from the lines which we see indented on some of the vases; 

 but, probably, it was less generally adopted, from it being 

 necessary to trace, in this manner, while the clay remained 

 in its unburnt state, and the more fit to receive an impres- 

 sion; and, consequently, the vase, from being handled when 

 in this tender state, was more exposed to injury and accident. 



