258 REVIEWS — HISTORY OF ANCIENT POTTERY. 



are actual pictorial works contemporaneous with the rise and full 

 development of the Attic I5rama, or produced under the later fos- 

 tering largess of the Macedonian Conqueror. They occasionally 

 depict scenes from vEschylus or Euripides, drawn by contemporary 

 pencils ; or exhibit the actual products of art of those who have 

 listened to the Philippics of Demosthenes, or wrought for the gold 

 of Alexander. Mr. Birch accordingly remarks : 



" By the application of painting to vases, the Greeks made them something 

 more than mere articles of commercial value or daily use. They have become a 

 reflection of the paintings of the Greek schools, and an inexhaustible source for 

 illustrating the mythology, manners, customs, and literature of Greece. Unfor- 

 tunately, very few are ornamented with historical subjects ; yet history receives 

 occasional illustration from them ; and the representations of the burning of 

 Croesus, the orgies of Anacreon, the wealth of Arcesilaus, and the meeting of 

 AlcaBus and SapphO; lead us to hope that future discoveries may offer additional 

 examples. The Rhapsodists, the Cyclic poets, the great Ti'agedians, and the 

 writers of Comedy, can be amply illustrated from these remains, which represent 

 many scenes derived from their immortal productions ; and the obscurer tradi- 

 tions, preserved by the scholiasts and other compilers, receive unexpected eluci- 

 dations from them. Even the Roman lamps and red ware, stamped with subjects 

 in relief, present many remarkable representations of works of art, and many 

 illustrations of customs and manners, and historical events ; such as the golden 

 candlestick of the Jews borne in the triumph of Titus, the celebration of the 

 secular games, and the amusements of the circus and amphitheatre," 



Such then is the dignity and value which justly attaches to the 

 potter's art, as a means of elucidating and illustrating ancient his- 

 tory ; nor is the fictile ware of our Western Continent without its 

 value in a like direction. The singular, though doubtless accidental, 

 correspondence between the rude pottery of the most northern 

 regions of America, aud that of the ancient British Barrows, alike 

 in material, form, and decoration, has already been noticed in this 

 journal. De Soto and other early European travellers, note the 

 great mastery acquired by the Natchez and other tribes in the manu- 

 facture of fine earthenware. The examples of the fictile art of the 

 Mound Builders, in like manner disclose interesting evidence of ingen- 

 uity and artistic skill ; while among the great variety of Peruvian 

 antiquities, none are more curious than those which illustrate the 

 inventive ingenuity of their ancient potters. 



" All the moulded works of the ancient Peruvians," says Von Tsehudi, " have a 

 peculiar character which distinguishes them from those of the other American 

 nations; a character which, by those versed in antiquities, will be recognized at 

 first sight. Some of them bear a certain resemblance to the forms presented by 

 the old continent ; especially the most simple : such is a seated figure which has 



