56 Prof. Hausmann on the Composition of the Ancient 
milar to it, but consisting of vegetable pitch, was used by the 
Romans in their wine vessels, the preparation of which is accu- 
rately described by Columella * * * § . I do not doubt, that a var- 
nish made from asphaltum in the manner above described, and 
the mode of painting founded upon it, to which the name of 
Enamelling is applied, might be used with advantage in modern 
pottery, as for ornamenting vessels, covering tiles, &c. 
Besides the black varnish, some other colours are seen in Gre- 
cian and Etruscan sepulchral vases ; for example, white, yellow- 
ish white, red, brown, rarely bluish-green or livid f. In the 
vases whose paintings are made of the varnish itself, particular 
parts only of the paintings consist of these colours ; for example, 
leaves, flowers, architectural ornaments, the drapery of figures, 
the wings of winged figures, horses, chariots, &c. In other 
vases, which are evidently covered with black varnish, certain 
ornaments are sometimes laid in upon it with other colours, es- 
pecially white. The nature of these pigments is as follows : 
1. They are, without exception, opaque, and belong to the paints 
called in German Deckfarben. % They seem prepared either 
from earth or metallic oxides ; for example, the white pigments 
from argil ; the red from oxide of iron ; the brown from oxide 
of iron, mixed with oxide of manganese. 3. They are not vitre- 
ous, but have an earthy aspect. 4. They are not intimately 
united with the baked-clay ; they fall off, and may easily be 
abraded; they are partly dissolved in acids t. 5. They are usu- 
ally laid upon the black varnish, which appears evident enough 
when particles of' the paint have fallen off, or are abraded, by 
which the black varnish is discovered. From these properties, it 
may be inferred, that antique painted vases have not been baked 
in the same manner as our earthemware is, along with the pig- 
ments, but have had the pigments applied to them after being 
baked §. 
* De Re Rustica. Lib. xii. cap. 18. 
-f* Hirt , in Boetticher’s Griech Vasengemalden. Bd. 1, Heft. 3. p. 27. Mil- 
lingerie Feint. Ant. p. 5. 
$ Hirt, in Boetticher’s Vasengem., Bd. i. Heft. 3. p. 27, 
§ Crivaud. Ant. Gaul, et Rom., p. 1 25. 
