FIRST VASE ROOM. 
225 
painting, exhibiting black figures on a bright red ground, and subjects 
chiefly relating to heroic personages, such as Jason, Achilles, and 
Hercules. 
Cases 12—19. Shelves 1 and 4. Black Etruscan ware. 
Shelves 2 and 3. Hydrice. The upper ones are ornamented with 
subjects principally relating to the Hydrophoria , or water-drawing. 
The lower ones exhibit scenes from the life and labours of Hercules. 
Cases 20—25. Shelves 1—3. Small vases, similar in style to the 
last, consisting of shallow and deep cups ; lekythi , or oil-bottles; masti, 
in the shape of human breasts, and vessels in the form of heads, legs, 
&c. In Case 24 is a remarkable vase. No. 641 *, bearing the name of 
the maker, Amasis. 
Cases 26—29 contain smaller vases, with black figures on a red 
ground. Among them may be noticed three with a lighter ground 
than usual. 
Case 30. Italian imitations of the Graeco-Etruscan vases, chiefly 
from Vulci. 
Cases 31—41. We find in these Cases a more advanced style of 
art, with red figures on a black and highly-glazed ground. The 
paintings are carefully executed, and may be considered to belong to 
the finest period of Greek art. They have been chiefly found in the 
cemeteries of Nola. 
Cases 42—49. These vases contain the larger vases of the kind 
just mentioned. On Shelf l are lekythi , or oil-jars. 
Shelf 2. Crateres and Ampliorce : among these should be noticed 
No. 727, Hercules Musagetes. No. 740 and 740*, the entertain¬ 
ment of Nicomachus. 
Shelf 3. Hydrice or water-jars. Of these the most remarkable 
are—No. 717, Medea boiling the ram before Jason; No. 741, the 
birth of, Minerva; 749, the birth of Erichthonius; 755, a vase 
painted by Polygnotus. 
II. VASES FOUND IN GREECE. 
In Cases 50—60 are placed a collection of vases presenting similar 
varieties to those which have been already described, but all found in 
Greece or the Greek islands. They are arranged in an inverse order, 
so as to bring the earliest of them in juxtaposition to those of similar 
workmanship found in Italy, and the more finished specimens next to 
those which have just been described. 
Cases 50, 51. Shelf]. Plain black vases. 
Shelf 2. Vases with red figures on a black ground ; among which 
should be noticed a pyxis , No. 2923, decorated with cupids and other 
figures in white and blue; and a small cenochoe , No. 2933, on which is 
a crawling boy. Both these are from Mr. Burg on's collection. 
Cases 52, 53. Shelf 1. Vases, with black ornaments on a white 
ground. 
Shelves 2 and 3. Polychrome vases of the finest period of Greek 
art; some, perhaps, contemporaneous with the age of Pericles, b.c. 
430, with figures traced in various colours on a white ground. Some 
of them have the draperies in blue, crimson, purple, and green. The 
subjects of these vases are principally taken from the Oresteia of the 
Athenian tragic writers, representing Orestes and Electra at the tomb 
of Agamemnon. 
