FLOOR.] 
FIRST VASE ROOM. 
121 
class of vases on which are complicated geometric patterns painted in 
black and purple on a drab ground. Vases in the form of animals 
and of peculiar shapes are arranged in Case 37. Nos. 9-iO are of 
shapes which recur at laljsus. 
FIEST YASE ROOM. 
In this and the next room is placed the collection of 
painted Fictile Vases discovered in tombs in Italy, Greece, 
the adjacent islands, and other parts of the Mediterranean. 
For the most part these vases are of Greek fabric, though 
the obsolete name " Etruscan " is still erroneously applied to 
them in England. Although nearly all of them have been 
found in tombs, they are very similar in form and fabric 
to those actually used in the ancient Greek household. The 
subjects with which these vases are decorated are chiefly 
derived from the divine or heroic legends of the Greeks, while 
others seem to be simply scenes from real life. 
The Collection in this room is arranged for the most part 
in chronological order, commencing with the North and 
East sides of the room. The approximate dates under which 
the successive classes may be arranged are given on the large 
labels over the Wall Cases. The finest specimens are placed 
in or upon the detached Cases. 
Class I. Cases 1-12. Table Case B and cruciform Case P. Vases 
of Archaic style (b.c. 700 — b.c. 500). 
Cases 1-5. Vases, with patterns perhaps in imitation of wickerwork, 
chiefly from Athens, Corinth, and Melos. 
Cases 6-10. Vases from Camirus, in Rhodes, with geometrical pat- 
tenis, or with men and animals, most of which belong to the style 
known as Graeco-Phoenician. 
Table Case B. Terracotta coffin and select vases from Camirus. 
Cases 11-16. Vases of the Archaic style chiefly from lalysus in 
Rhodes. Presented hij Professor J. Ruskin. Among the designs on 
these vases may be noticed the cuttle-fish, and certain other orna- 
ments which are found among the antiquities discovered at Mycenae. 
The shapes of some of these vases also recur at Mycenae. 
Class II. Cases 17-30. Detached Cases C-H, K, and 0. Vases, 
chiefly from Italy, of the transition period (b.c. 500 — b.c. 440), in 
which greater mastery in drawing the figure is attained and more com- 
plicated groups are attempted. The figures are drawn in black, white, 
and crimson, on a red ground. 
The finest specimens of this style are the liydria:, or water-jugs 
