71 
43 and 49. Two specimens of modern Mexican ware, made from 
the scented clay of Testilwacan. 
44. Small Peruvian vessel in the form of an animal, from the ruins 
of Truxillo ; this adaptation of an animal to the form of a 
drinking cup is found at all periods. 
45. A curious vessel of Peruvian black ware in the form of a head, 
wanting the lip ; the hair and decorations are finely scored ; it 
forms a characteristic specimen of South American pottery. 
46. A cup supported by a grotesque figure; a snake is entwined 
round the lip. 
47. 48, 50. Three clay masks. 
52. A globular vessel with four legs, ornamented with heads and 
cartouches of seal characters. 
CASE P P. 
Mosaics. 
The art of working in mosaic was practised at an early period. 
It was very popular amongst the Romans both in Italy and in their 
colonies; indeed, wherever Roman villas have been discovered, 
traces of tesselation, more or less elaborate, have turned up also. 
These are usually worked in small cubes, generally of black and 
white, with a considerable variety of pattern; others of a richer 
kind were made of the three materials, porphyry, serpentine, and 
white marble. Very fine specimens have been discovered at 
Cirencester, Wiltshire, and at Thruxton, Hampshire. 
In the middle ages a far more elaborate and gorgeous mode of 
working was employed for the purposes of decorating the walls 
and apses of churches; the materials used were small squares of 
vitrified paste of brilliant colours, and a gold ground. The whole 
art of this glass tesselation seems to have had a Byzantine origin. 
Nothing can exceed the magnificence of this kind of decoration as 
seen in some of the more important churches of Italy and Sicily. 
It is not possible to refer to any remains of this kind in England. 
A very interesting example of the plainer kind of geometric 
mosaic exists in Westminster Abbey. The tomb of Edward the 
Confessor, erected by Henry III., is of this kind; it was doubtless 
made by an Italian artist. A similar example of about the same 
period may be found in Wilton Church, brought from the Basilica 
of Santa Maria Maggiore at Rome; it originally formed a shrine, 
but is now used up in different parts of the church near the altar ; 
the small twisted columns of the pulpit are a part of the same 
work. 
1. Portion of a Roman tesselated pavement from Halicarnassus, 
representing a head. This fine fragment apparently forms 
part of an excavation of a Roman Villa, made at Budrum, in 
1856, by Mr. Newton. The date is probably between the 
time of the Antonines and the reign of Caracalla. Deposited 
by Mr . F . A. Blake . 
