FLOOR.] 
SECOND EGYPTIAN EOOM. 
93 
painted fictile vases, which is continued through the next eight Cases 
(44-51). The whole have been arranged under a chronological classi- 
fication, exhibiting the progress of the ceramic art through five 
periods, which are approximately defined by the dates inscribed on 
the labels within the Cases. The first period, on the middle shelf 
in Cases 42, 43, is that of the style commonly termed Phoenician, or 
Nolano-Egyptian, in which animals and human figures are rudely 
painted in dark brown or maroon colours, on a pale yellow clay. On 
the two lower shelves of the same Cases are the vases of the Second, 
or archaic Greek period, formed of pale or reddish clay, and decorated 
with black glazed figures of severe and, in some cases, rather grotesque 
design, with incised outlines. Cases 44, 45, contain the vases of the 
Third, or finest period, with the figures left to the natural red of the 
clay, and the backgrounds painted black. The most beautiful speci- 
mens, which were discovered at Nola, are remarkable for the brilliant 
preservation of their glaze. Cases 46, 47. The vases of the Fourth 
period, in the upper part of these Cases, though rich and generally 
elegant in design, are inferior in execution to those of the preceding 
class. In the lower part of these Cases, and in the whole of Cases 
48-51, are vases chiefly of the Fifth period, which exhibits the gradual 
decline of the art, both in the coarseness of its designs, and inferiority 
of its mechanical fabric, till about the time of the Koman conquest of 
Greece, when it appears altogether to have ceased. The earlier vases 
are generally placed on the upper shelves, the later on those below. 
Cases 52, 53, contain specimens of glass, many of which were 
manufactured in Egypt or Phoenicia, and imported into Magna 
Grsecia, both in the Greek and Koman periods. Other specimens are 
purely of Koman fabric, amongst which may be remarked six small 
figures of birds, and a cinerary urn, in the form of a child's cradle. 
Cases 54, 55. On the middle shelf is a sm.all collection of gold and 
silver articles, including a fine gold necklace from an Etruscan tomb, 
and some elegant silver vases. With these are placed several Koman 
gems, chiefly set in rings. 
The upper part of these cases contains bronze bells and vases, and 
six helmets from Magna Greecia and Etruria ; the lower part has a 
collection of armour and of culinary implements. 
Cases 56, 57. In the upper part are small bronze figures, many of 
them ancient copies from celebrated statues ; in the lower are personal 
ornaments, small altars, and sacrificial instruments. Case 58 contains 
bronze vessels, articles of furniture, &c. Case 59, candelabra, lanterns, 
and lamps, with a shelf occupied by vase-handles, another by weights, 
and the lower part by jets for fountains, and other objects. On the 
middle shelf of Cases 60, 61^ are some bronze mirrors, such as were 
used by Etruscan ladies, the exterior, or convex side, being hi-ghly 
polished, and the interior, or concave, engraved with figures in outline. 
With these are Koman stamps, and a few minor objects. At the 
bottom of the same cases are locks, keys, &c. 
On two shelves in Cases 60, 61, are collections of miscellaneous 
objects in iron and lead. 
