264 



The Roman Villa at Box. 



There was apparently nothing in the way of veining or " marbling," 

 but the effect was produced solely by larger or smaller splashings 

 or spirtlings of different colours from a brush. Specimens of the 

 following were found and have been set in plaster frames and 

 preserved in the Museum : — 



A dark greyish green ground covered thickly with minute 

 spirtles of dark red and white. This gives exactly the effect 

 of a fine-grained granite or serpentine. This seemed the 

 commonest of the " marble " colourings. 

 A dark red finely spirtled with white, the effect being that of 

 fine-grained red granite. This and the preceding seem to 

 have been used as panels next to each other and divided only 

 by a narrow white line. 

 A lighter pinkish red ground with rather large splashes of white, 

 and more sparingly of dark red. The effect is that of a large- 

 grained pink granite. Very little of this was found. 

 A white ground, splashed sparingly with rather large blood-red 



spots. Only a few pieces of this were found. 

 A white ground, with very small spirtles of dark red, very 



sparingly applied. This, also, was scarce. 

 Several fragments of apparently figures or pictures were found, 

 nearly all having the subject painted in a dark purplish maroon, on 

 a light green ground. This maroon colour was in worse condition 

 and scaled off more easily than any other. 



Some large pieces of white plaster were found, but whether they 

 were originally white, or whether the colours painted on the white 

 ground had washed off, was not evident. 



A good many fragments of a solid plain quarter-circle moulding 

 in plaster all coloured a purplish maroon occurred, and in one 

 case a piece was found still in situ, showing that this moulding 

 ran round the edge of the tessellated floors at the junction with 

 the walls. Similar plaster " skirtings " have been found in other 

 Eoman villas. 1 One or two other bits of moulded plaster, possibly 

 portions of door jambs, were found. 



1 See an example in the villa at Wheatley (Oxon), illustrated in Archceo- 

 logieal Journal, II., 353. 



