234 



Roman Samian Ware. 



was that of the vine and the ivy, and also that of the straw- 

 berry; the former of which especially shows that this pottery 

 was, as Pliny says of the Samian ware, intended especially 

 for the service of the table. The ivy-leaf, indeed, is almost the 

 only ornament of the plainer description of this red ware. 

 Sometimes the leaves of the vine are gracefully intermingled 

 with the clusters of the fruit, and with little birds, which are 

 preying upon the latter, as in the fragment represented in our 

 cut, Fig. 6. 



Fig. 6. Ornament of Vine-leaves and Grapes. 



Animals of all kinds are found in abundance among the 

 ornaments of our Samian ware. Among these the boar was a 

 great favourite. The cup, Fig. 1 of our plate, is divided into 

 compartments, in which figure alternately two boars, and a 

 man confronting them with a spear. In a similar compartment 

 under arches, in Fig. 2 of our plate, we have two heads of 

 lions above, and, below, a rabbit and a dog. The bowl, 

 Fig. o, on the same plate, is ornamented with fishes, separated 

 by squares filled with a singular ornament, which is, perhaps, 

 intended to represent water.. Sometimes the whole outside of 

 a bowl is covered with birds, beasts, and fishes, mixed together 

 in the utmost confusion. 



The subjects in which figures are introduced present still 

 greater variety, and it need hardly be added that they are 

 much more interesting. Subjects from the classical mythology 

 are very common, and among the figures of the deities we 

 recognize some, such as the Venus de Medici, which were 

 copied from well-known models of art. Combats of pygmies 

 and cranes appear as favourite subjects, as in the paintings, 

 etc., in Pompeii. Sacrifices and religious ceremonies are not 

 uncommon ; and especially bacchanalian processions, and 



