Earthen Vases known hy the name of Etruscan. 49 
ftr a little ; the excavated or rounded lines in the same part 
have not always the same dimensions. In the later pottery- 
work of Roman origin, on the contrary, the use of moulds may 
commonly be observed *, 
Impressed ornaments also sometimes occur, especially in the 
black Etruscan vases. They consist either of impressed lines or 
dots. Ornaments of this description may easily be formed by 
instruments similar to those which are used in making seals. 
The differences, however, often conspicuous in those ornaments 
in the same vase, appear to me to prove that they have not 
been made in this way, but by means of a hard stilus. In one 
part of the ornaments, for example, the number of dots is great- 
er than in another, or the dots in one row are a little nearer than 
in another. I have remarked the same of the letters which are 
sometimes seen on Grecian vases. Upon examining them, it 
clearly appears that they have not been inscribed by instru- 
ments similar to those used in cutting our seals, but also by 
means of the style. Among the Romans, in later times, stamps, 
or seals with elevated letters, as on coins, were very frequently 
impressed upon earthen-ware, such as bricks, vases, and lamps. 
4. Baking of Vases .-*- The whole of the vases of which we 
speak are baked, but in different degrees, never more, and 
generally less, than our best pottery-ware. According to the 
opinion of the celebrated Chaptal, which agrees with the above, 
the heat applied for baking may be estimated at seven or eight 
degrees of Wedgwood’s pyrometer -|\ We never find the argil- 
laceous mass converted into glass, nor the smallest indication of 
fusion ; there is never, therefore, any resemblance to the stone- 
ware of the present day. 
The finer painted vases are universally more baked than the 
coarser, and of the latter, those which are entirely black are the 
least baked ; the different degrees of baking being estimated by 
the difference in hardness, sound, and porosity ; the latter of 
* Grivaudy Antiquites Gaul, et Rom. p. 137. 
+ Chaptal , Notice sur quelques Couleurs trouvees a Pompeia, Mem. de la Classe 
des Sciences Mathem. et Phys . de V Institute de France , 1808, p. 335. 
VOL. XIII. NO. $5. JULY 18S5. 
X) 
