118 
SECOND EGYPTIAN ROOM. 
[UPPER 
it is probable that they are the products of the only other great centre 
of glass making, the celebrated works at Sidon. The forms are more 
Greek than Egyptian, frequently alabastra, amphorce, and prcej 'ericula. 
The colouring is striking, generally in zigzag patterns of yellow, 
turquoise, or white, relieved by blue, brown, or green grounds. There 
are many fine vases of this kind in the collection, as well as one of the 
gold stands made to support them (No. 10). 
To a later period of the Sidonian workshops may probably be re- 
ferred a number of small bottles of various forms, blown in moulds, and 
which have been chiefly found in Syria, and the neighbouring islands. 
The specimens are in the shapes of dates, grapes, heads, &c. A handle, 
once forming part of a small cup, is stamped with the name of its 
maker, Artas the Sidonian, in Greek and Latin letters. 
The making of glass at Rome is said to have been introduced by 
Egyptian workmen, and must have been much practised there, as 
specimens of Roman glass are very numerous. The material was 
applied to a great number of uses, and the processes seem to have been 
quite as varied and well understood as in later times. The com- 
mon clear glass has generally a greenish or bluish hue, though some- 
times it is as white and brilliant as rock crystal; this latter kind was 
much valued by the Romans ; the other transparent colours are, gene- 
rally, various shades of blue, purple, yellow, and green. A delicate 
pink is supposed to derive its colour from gold. The opaque colours 
are less commonly employed singly, but they occur in shades of yellow, 
"blue, green, and black. The beautiful iridescence with which many 
vases are covered is not intentionally produced, but is the effect of 
time, which has partially decomposed the surface of the glass. 
The simpler vases are only blown, with handles, feet, or ornamental 
fillets subsequently added ; others are blown into moulds, and exhibit 
various designs in relief ; some of the bowls have projecting ribs, and 
have been termed pillar-moulded. (No. 203). On some vessels, chiefly 
belonging to a late period, shallow engraving, executed on the wheel, 
has been added; others are cut in regular patterns (see 171 and 
321). Sometimes a coloured ground was coated with white opaque 
glass, which was afterwards cut away, so as to produce a cameo, 
as in the celebrated Portland Vase, exhibited in the Ornament Room, 
and in the Auldjo Vase (Case 58). In other instances, a number of dif- 
ferent colours were employed, sometimes, as in the Egyptian specimens 
above noticed, forming regular mosaic designs, sometimes blended into 
a mass of scrolls, rosettes, &c, and at others imitating onyx, agate, ma- 
drepore marble, or porphyries and other hard stones, though generally 
in more brilliant colours. Of these designs the variety is inconceivable, 
as may be seen by two bowls (Nos. 86, 387,) and numerous polished 
fragments. Occasionally gold-leaf was introduced, and at a late time 
the insides of cups and shallow bowls were decorated with patterns in 
gold-leaf, sometimes on the surface, sometimes enclosed between two 
layers of glass. To this class belong the fragments with Christian 
designs found in the catacombs of Rome (Case H), as well as the remains 
of a large disc from Cologne (No. 317), on which, though much broken, 
