§45. 



VASES OF BAD FORM. 



257 



elaborate finish, compensate for an absence of the true prin- 

 ciples of design : nor because one is faulty in one way must 

 another be perfect because it avoids the same defects; and a vase 

 may from its form be deficient in grace, and at the same time 

 depart still farther from it in its tasteless adjuncts. Nor will 

 antique details reclaim what is faulty, still less when they are 

 badly copied ; and if masks for handles are an unpardonable 



(30.) 



misapplication, they become doubly offensive when they cari- 

 cature what they pretend to imitate. Arbitrary deformities too 

 often shift their places with suitable caprice ; and thus some 



(31.) 



Fig. 1. 



Fig. 2. 



vases appear to borrow from a companion the cup they stand 

 upon {fig. 1); while others take a neck from one, a body 



s 



