FLO OK.] 
SECOND EGYPTIAN ROOM. 
103 
at the Neapolitan Court. The collection is exhibited as a 
separate series, both as a more fitting acknowledgment of so 
munificent a bequest, and as giving in this form a more com- 
plete idea of the general character of the monuments obtained 
from a district of much importance in ancient times. A few of 
the objects were discovered in the Southern portion of ancient 
Etruria ; but the majority belong to that large region of 
Lower Italy which, prior to the Roman dominion, was exten- 
sively colonized and highly cultivated by the Greeks, and 
thence received the name of Magna Grseeia. They compre- 
hend, therefore, specimens of the arts of three different races, 
the Etruscans, Greeks and Romans. The most interesting 
articles are placed on tables, constructed for the purpose, in 
the middle of the room ; the remainder are distributed in 
Wall Cases under the heads of sculpture, terracottas, painted 
vases, glass, metal-work, frescoes, &c. The present description 
commences from the South end of the room. 
The first table is supported at each end by a marble trapezoplwron : 
one of which represents a Cupid holding a bird. At the South 
side of the table is a group, in alto-relievo, of two Satyrs, which, 
like the trapezoplwra, is of Grceco-Roman style. On the North side 
is a Roman mosaic, representing a Sacrifice : in common with most 
of the mosaics in this collection, it has been considerably restored. 
In the centre of the table, upon another mosaic, stands a Greek 
terracotta crater, or vase for mixing wine, of unusual magnitude, and 
decorated on the neck with a bas-relief of a chariot-race ; at each end 
of the table is a Roman alabaster vase or urn, one of which has a very 
beautifully sculptured handle ; and at the angles are four Greek rhytons, 
or drinking horns, one of which, in the form of a mules head, is re- 
markable for its good workmanship and perfect preservation. 
The central, or principal table, is also supported at the ends 
by trapezophora, and adorned, on the top and on each side, with 
mosaics. The mosaic in front is divided into eight compartments, 
each representing a fish. In the middle of the table is a magnificent 
crater, which is the largest Greek painted vase in the British Museum ; 
at the sides of the table are four smaller vases, or vessels, of painted 
or glazed earthenware, remarkable either for beauty of design, or 
rarity of fabric ; and at each end stands a painted vase, of unusual 
but graceful form. 
The third, or most Northern, table is constructed similarly to the 
first, but is supported at one end by a small Caryatid figure, at the 
other by an ornamental pilaster. The South side is decorated with 
another mosaic representing a Sacrifice, and the North with a bas 
