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    "source_key": "britannica_1911",
    "source_title": "Encyclopaedia Britannica (1911)",
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    "chunk_id": "1911:ceramics:b9b46a6293d9",
    "title": "CERAMICS",
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    "verified_text": "ceramics, or keramics ([greek: keramos], earthenware), a general term for the study of the art of pottery. it is adopted for this purpose both in french (_ceramique_) and in german (_keramik_), and thus has its convenience in english as representing an international form of description for a study which owes much to the art experts of all nations, though \"ceramic\" and \"ceramics\" do not appear in english as technical terms till the middle of the 19th century. the word \"pottery\" (fr. _poterie_) in its widest sense includes all objects fashioned from clay and then hardened by fire, though there is a growing tendency to restrict the word to the commoner articles of this great class and to apply the word \"porcelain\" to all the finer varieties. this tendency is to be deprecated, as it is founded on a misconception; the word \"porcelain\" should only be applied to certain well-marked varieties of pottery. the very existence of pottery is dependent on two important natural properties of that great and widespread group of rocky or earthy substances known as clays, viz. the property of plasticity (the power of being readily kneaded or moulded while moist), and the property of being converted when fired into one of the most indestructible of ordinary things. the clays form such an important group of mineral substances that the reader must refer to the article clay for an account of their occurrence, composition and properties. in this article we shall only deal with the various clays as they have affected the problems of the potter throughout the ages. the clays found on or close to the earth's surface are so varied in composition and properties that we may see in them one of the vital factors that has determined the nature of the pottery of different countries and different peoples. they vary in plasticity, and in the hardness, colour and texture of the fired product, through an astonishingly wide range. to-day the fine, plastic, white-burning clays of the south of england are carried all over europe and america for the fabrication of modern wares, but that is a state of affairs which has only been attained in recent times. even down to the 18th century, the potters of every country could only use on an extensive scale the clays of their own immediate district, and the influence of this controlling factor on the pottery of bygone centuries has never yet received the attention it deserves.[1] _general evolution of pottery._--the primitive races of mankind, whether of remote ages or of to-day, took perforce such clay as they found on the surface of the ground, or by some river-bed, and with the rudimentary preparation of spreading it out on a stone slab if necessary and picking out any rocky fragments of appreciable size, then beating it with the hands, with stones or boards, or treading it with the feet to render it fairly uniform in consistency, proceeded to fashion it into such shapes as need or fancy dictated. fired in an open fire, or in the most rudimentary form of potter's kiln, such pottery may be buff, drab, brown or red--and these from imperfect firing become smoked, grey or black. how many generations of men, of any race, handed on their painfully acquired bits of knowledge before this earliest stage was passed, we can never know; but here and there, where the circumstances were favourable or the race was quick of observation, we can trace in the work of prehistoric man in many countries a gradually advancing skill based on increased technical knowledge. for ages tools and methods remained of the simplest--the fingers for shaping or building up vessels, a piece of mat or basket-work for giving initial support to a more ambitious vase,--until some original genius of the tribe finds that by starting to build up his pot on the flattened side of a boulder he can turn his support so as to bring every part in succession under his hand, and lo! the potter's wheel is invented--not brought down from heaven by one of the gods to a favoured race, as the myths of all the older civilizations or barbarisms, egyptian, chaldean, greek, scythian, and chinese have fabled, but born from the brain and hand of man struggling to fulfil his allotted task. formerly every writer on the history of pottery seemed to imagine that the very rudest pottery must have been the invention of egyptian, chinese or some other distinct race from which the knowledge radiated to all the other races of the prehistoric world. no conception could be more erroneous. since the middle of the 19th century research has established beyond doubt that wherever clay was found men became potters of a sort, just as they became hunters, carpenters, smiths, &c., by sheer force of need and slowly-gathered tradition. the not yet exploded view that egypt or assyria was the special cradle of this art, and that the pottery of the greeks and romans directly descended from such a parent stock, cannot survive in view of the incontestable evidence that pottery was made by the prehistoric peoples of what we now call greece, italy, spain and other countries, long before they were aware that any other peoples lived on the earth than themselves. for centuries this simple hand-made pottery was hardened by drying in the sun, so that it would serve for the storage of dried grain, &c., but the increasing use of fire would soon bring out the amazing fact that a baked clay vessel became as hard as stone. then, too, came the knowledge that even in one district all the clays did not fire to the same colour, and colour decoration arose, in a rude daubing or smearing of some clay or earth (a ruddle or bole perhaps), which was found to give a bright red or buff colour on vessels shaped in a duller-coloured clay--most precious of all were little deposits of white clay which kept their purity unsullied through the fire,--and by these primitive means the races of the dawn made their wares. on this substructure all the pottery of the last four thousand years has been built, for behind all egyptian, greek or chinese pottery we find the same primitive foundations. we now reach the beginnings of recorded history, and as the great nations of the past emerge from the shadows they each develop the potter's art in an individual way. the egyptians evolve schemes of glowing colour--brilliant glazes fired on objects, shaped in sand held together with a little clay, or actually carved from rocks or stones; the greeks produce their marvels of plastic form, and then, excited by their growing skill in metal work, turn the plastic clay into imitations of metal forms. these nations are overthrown, and the romans spread some knowledge--only a tincture, it must be confessed--over all the lands they hold in fee; and from the euphrates to the atlantic, from egypt to the wall of hadrian, they set alight potters' fires that have never since been extinguished. the roman empire falls, and over europe its pottery is forgotten along with its greater achievements; yet still pottery-making goes on in a very simple way, to be slowly revived and modified once more by the communities of monks, who, in later centuries, replace the roman legions as the great civilizing influence in europe. meantime egypt and the nearer east continued, in a debased form, the splendours of their glorious past, and glazed and painted pottery was still made by traditional methods. what part the byzantine civilization and the persians played during this obscure time, we are only just beginning to realize; but we now know that many interesting kinds of decorated pottery were made at old cairo, at alexandria, at damascus, in syria, anatolia and elsewhere (on which the later moslem potters founded their glorious works), at a time when all over europe crocks of simple red or drab clay, covered only with green and yellow lead-glazes, were the sole evidence of the potter's skill. what the arab conquests destroyed, and what their breath quickened into life, we can only guess; but the fact is indisputable that with the mahommedan conquests there came a time when the potter's art of the occident reached its highest expression, and when methods and knowledge hitherto confined to egypt, syria and persia were spread from spain and the south of france to india--even, it may be, into china. meantime, in the farther east, the chinese--the greatest race of potters the world has ever seen--were quietly gathering strength, until from their glazed, hard-fired pottery there emerged the marvellous, white translucent porcelain, one of the wonders of the medieval world. with the dawn of the 15th century of our era, the state of affairs was practically this:--in european countries proper we find rudely fashioned and decorated wares in which we can trace the slow development of a native craft from the superposition of roman methods on the primitive work of the peoples. the vessels were mostly intended for use and not for show; were clumsily fashioned of any local clay, and if glazed at all then only with coarse lead-glazes, coloured yellow or green; in no case above the level of workmanship of the travelling brick- or tile-maker. the finest expression of this native style is to be found in the gothic tile pavements of france, germany and england, where all the colours are due to the clays and there is no approach to painting. in the moslem countries--including the greater part of spain and sicily, egypt and the nearer east, probably even to the very centre of asia--pottery was being made either of whitish clay and sand, or of a light reddish clay coated with a white facing of fine clay or of tin-enamel, on which splendid decorative patterns in vivid pigments or brilliant iridescent lustres were painted. as early as the 12th century of our era this superior artistic pottery of the moslem nations had already attracted the notice of europeans as an article of luxury for the wealthy; and we may well believe the traditional accounts that saracen potters were brought into italy, france and burgundy to introduce the practice of their art, while italian potters certainly penetrated into the workshops of eastern spain and elsewhere, and gathered new ideas. in italy certainly, and in the south of france probably, efforts were continuously in progress to improve the native wares by coating the vessels with a white \"slip\" and drawing on them rude, painted patterns in green, yellow and purplish black. the increasing intercourse with spain, in war and peace, also introduced the use of tin-enamel after the fashion of the famous hispano-moresque wares, and by the end of the 14th century a knowledge of tin-enamel was widespread in italy and paved the way to the glorious painted majolica of the 15th and 16th centuries. from italy and spain, france and holland, germany, and finally, though much later, england learnt this art, and the tin-enamelled pottery of middle and northern europe, so largely made during the 17th and 18th centuries, was the direct offshoot of this movement of the italian renaissance.[2] during the 15th and 16th centuries chinese porcelain also began to find its way into europe, and by the whiteness of its substance and its marvellous translucence excited the attention of the italian majolists and alchemists. the first european imitation of this famous oriental porcelain of which we have indubitable record was made at florence (1575-1585) by alchemists or potters working under the patronage, and, it is said, with the active collaboration of francesco de' medici. this florentine porcelain was the first of those distinctively european wares, made in avowed imitation of the chinese, which form a connecting link between pottery and glass, for they may be considered either as pottery rendered translucent or as glass rendered opaque by shaping and firing a mixture containing a large percentage of glass with a very little clay. after the cessation of the florentine experiments we know of no european porcelain for nearly a century, though the importation of chinese porcelain had largely increased owing to the activity of the various \"india\" companies. the next european porcelain, made like the florentine of glass and clay, was that of rouen (1673) and st cloud (1696); and during the 18th century artificial glassy porcelain was made in france and england largely, and in other countries experimentally. german experimenters worked in another direction, and the first porcelain made in europe from materials similar to the chinese was produced at meissen by bottger (1710-1712). during the 18th century not only was there a very large trade in imported chinese and japanese porcelain, but there was a great development of porcelain manufacture in europe; and in every country factories were established, generally under royal or princely patronage, for the manufacture of artificial porcelain like the french, or genuine porcelain like the german. the english made a departure in the introduction of a porcelain distinct from either, through adding calcined ox-bones to the other ingredients; and this english bone-porcelain--a well-marked species--is now largely made in america, france, germany and sweden as well as in england. by the end of the 18th century the risks and losses attendant on the manufacture of the french glassy porcelain had caused its abandonment, and a porcelain made from natural materials like the chinese has since been generally made on the continent of europe. the older tin-enamelled wares--derived from the hispano-moresque and the italian majolica--so largely made in france, holland, germany and elsewhere during the 17th and 18th centuries, met with a fate analogous to that of the french porcelain. tin-enamelled earthenware is always a brittle substance, soon damaged in regular use; so that, when, in the middle of the 18th century, the english potter first appeared as a serious competitor with a fine white earthenware of superior durability and precision of manufacture, the old painted faience gradually disappeared between the upper millstone of european porcelain and the nether millstone of english earthenware. the 19th century witnessed a great and steady growth in the output of porcelain and pottery of all kinds in europe and the united states. mechanical methods were largely called in to supplement or replace what had hitherto remained almost pure handicraft. the english methods of preparing and mixing the materials of the body and glaze, and the english device of replacing painted decoration by machine printing, to a large extent carried the day, with a great gain to the mechanical aspects of the work and in many cases with an entire extinction of its artistic spirit. even the hand-work that still remained was largely affected by the growing dominance of machinery; and the painting, gilding and decoration of pottery and porcelain, in the first half of the 19th century, became everywhere mechanical and hackneyed. during the latter half of the 19th century another influence was fortunately at work. side by side with the increasing mechanical perfection of the great bulk of modern pottery there grew up a school of innovators and experimentalists, who revived many of the older decorative methods that had fallen into oblivion and produced fresh and original work, in certain directions even beyond, the achievements of the past. the 20th century opened with a wider outlook among the potters of europe and america. in every country men were striving once again to bring back to their world-old craft something of artistic taste and skill. _technical methods._--all primitive pottery, whether of ancient or of modern times, has been made by the simplest methods. the clay, dug from the earth's surface, was or is prepared by beating and kneading with the hands, feet or simple mallets of stone or wood; stones and hard particles were picked out; and the mass, well tempered with water, was used without any addition. from this clay, vessels were shaped by scooping out or cutting a solid lump or ball, by building up piece by piece and smoothing down one layer upon another or by squeezing cakes of clay on to some natural object or prepared mould or form. the potter's wheel, though very ancient, was a comparatively late invention, arrived at independently by many races of men. in its simplest form it was a heavy disk pivoted on a central point to be set going by the hand, as the workman squatted on the ground; and it may be seen to-day in india, ceylon, china or japan, in all its primitive simplicity (see fig. 1). this form of potter's wheel was the only one known until about the christian era, and then, in egypt apparently, the improvement was introduced of lengthening the spindle which carries the throwing-wheel and mounting on it near the base a much larger disk which the potter could rotate with his foot, and so have both hands free for the manipulation of the clay (fig. 2). no further advance seems to have been made before the 17th century, when the wheel was spun by means of a cord working over a pulley; and though a steam-driven wheel was introduced in the middle of the 19th century, this form remains the best for the production of fine pottery. [illustration: fig. 1.--potter moulding a vessel on the wheel (from a painting in a tomb at thebes about 1800 b.c.). compare the wheel on the left in fig. 5.] [illustration: fig. 2.--potter's wheel of the time of the ptolemies, moved by the foot (from a wall-relief at philae). compare fig. 5, the wheel on the right.] a prevalent misconception with regard to the potter's wheel needs correction. for anything beyond very simple shapes it is impossible to carry the work to completion on the wheel at one operation as is generally imagined. all that the potter can do while the clay is soft enough to \"throw\" on the wheel is to get a rough shape of even thickness. this operation completed, the piece is removed from the wheel and set aside to dry. when it is about leather-hard, it may be re-centred carefully on the wheel (the old practice), or placed in a horizontal lathe (since 16th century) and turned down to the exact shape and polished to an even, smooth surface. the greek vase-makers were already adepts in what is often reckoned a modern, detestable practice. many greek vases have obviously been \"thrown\" in separate sections, and when these had contracted and hardened sufficiently they were luted together with slip, and the final vase-shape was smoothed and turned down on the wheel, and even polished to as fine a degree of mechanical finish as the modern potter ever attains. so too with the chinese; many of their forms have been made in two or three portions, subsequently joined together and finished on the outside as one piece. indeed it is remarkable how the greeks and chinese had discovered for themselves many devices of this kind which are generally held up to opprobrium as the debased methods of a mechanical age. always it should be borne in mind that the shaping of pottery by \"pressing\" cakes of clay into moulds is much older than the potter's wheel, and has always been the method of making shapes other than those in the round. the modern method of \"casting\" pottery by pouring slip, a fluid mixture of clay and water, into absorbent moulds seems to have originated in england about the middle of the 18th century; and this too is a genuine potter's method which does not merit the disapproval with which it has been generally regarded by writers on the potter's art. in all ages the work of the \"thrower\" or \"presser\" has been largely supplemented by the modeller, who alters the shape, and applies to it handles, spouts or modelled accessories at will. [illustration: fig. 3.--early greek pottery-kiln, about 700-600 b.c. (from a painted votive tablet found at corinth, now in the louvre). the section shows the probable construction of the kiln.] [illustration: fig. 4.--roman kiln found at castor. the low arch is for the insertion of the fuel; the pots rested on the perforated floor, made of clay slabs; the top of the kiln is missing,--it was probably a dome.] _firing._--the firing of pottery has become in modern times such a specialized branch of the manufacture that the student can only be referred here to the technological works mentioned in the bibliography at the end of this article. it is, however, necessary that we should briefly describe the earlier forms of potters' kilns used by the nations whose pottery counts among the treasures of the collector and the antiquary. here again we now know that the primitive types of kiln used by the potters of ancient egypt or greece have not vanished from the earth; it is only in the civilized countries of the modern world that they have been replaced by improved and perfected devices. the potters of the north-west provinces of india use to-day a kiln practically identical with that depicted in severest silhouette on the rock-tombs of thebes; and the skilful japanese remain content with a kiln very similar to the one shown in fig. 3. this greek type of kiln was improved and enlarged by the romans, and its use seems to have been introduced wherever pottery was made under their sway, for remains of roman kilns have been found in many countries (see fig. 4). with the end of roman dominance we have ample evidence that their technical methods fell into disuse, and the northern european potter of the period from the 6th to the 12th century had to build up his methods afresh, and improved kilns were invented. the general type of medieval potter's kiln is illustrated for us in the manuscript of an italian potter of the 16th century, now in the library of the victoria and albert museum[3] (fig. 5). kilns of a different type, horizontal reverberatory kilns, were used for making the hard-fired pottery of europe (rhenish stoneware, &c.), as well as for chinese porcelain and the earliest german porcelains. with the organization of pottery as a factory industry in the 18th century, improved kilns were introduced, and the type of kiln now so largely used in civilized countries is practically a vertical reverberatory furnace of circular section, from 10 to 22 ft. in diameter and of similar height, capable, therefore, of containing at one firing a quantity of pottery that would have formed the output of a medieval potter for a year. every device that can be thought of for the better utilization of heat and its even distribution throughout the kiln or oven has been experimented with; and, though the results have been most successful from the point of view of the potter, even the most recent coal-fired ovens remain very wasteful types of apparatus, the amount of available heat being relatively small to the fuel consumption. gas-fired kilns and ovens are now being used or experimented with in every country, and their perfection, which cannot be far distant, will improve the most vital of the potter's processes both in certainty and economy. [illustration: fig. 5.--two forms of italian potter's wheels, about 1540.] _glazes._--we are never likely to known when glaze (i.e. a coating of fired glass) was first applied to pottery, though the present state of knowledge would incline us to the opinion that the earliest glazed objects we possess are those of ancient egypt,[4] but the practice may have been originated independently wherever a knowledge of the elements of glass-making had spread, as all the early glazes were of the alkaline type, which must first be fused into a glass before they can be applied to pottery. many primitive races seem to have burnished their pottery after it was fired, in order to get a glossy surface; and in other cases the surface was rendered shining and waterproof by coating it with waxy or resinous substances which were often coloured. it is possible that the black varnish of greek vases was obtained by such a method, and though that point is not settled, we have many types of primitive pottery, both modern and ancient, which are coated in this way. such a coating is only a substitute for glaze in the work of peoples who do not know or have not mastered the technical secrets of true glazes. we can only consider as glazes those definite superficial layers of molten material which have been fired on the clay substance. glazes are as varied as the various kinds of pottery, and it must never be forgotten that each kind of pottery is at its best with its appropriate glaze. the earliest known glazes (egyptian and assyrian) were silicates of soda and lime containing very little alumina and no lead. such glazes are very uncertain in use, and can only be applied to pottery unusually rich in silica (i.e. deficient in clay). consequently these alkaline glazes cannot be used on ordinary clay wares, and when they have been used successfully, the clay has always been coated with a surface layer of highly siliceous substance (e.g. the so-called persian, rhodian, syrian and egyptian pottery of the early middle ages). the fact that glazes containing lead-oxide would adhere to ordinary pottery when alkaline glazes would not was discovered at a very early period; for lead glazes were extensively used in egypt and the nearer east in ptolemaic times, and it is significant that, though the romans made singularly little use of glazes of any kind, the pottery that succeeded theirs, either in western europe or in the byzantine empire, was generally covered with glazes rich in lead. throughout europe, and over the greater part of the world, leaded glazes have been continuously used and improved for all ordinary pottery, and it is only with certain special hard-fired types of ware that they have yet been successfully replaced. chinese porcelain and all the european porcelains made by analogous methods are fired at so high a temperature that a glaze by felspar softened by lime and silica is found most suitable for them, and the hard-fired stonewares, rich in silica, are often glazed with a salt glaze, or a melted earth rich in oxide of iron. every kind of potter's clay (the mixture of clay, sand, flint, &c., from which the potter shapes his wares) has its own type of glaze, and from the earliest time down to our own what the potter could produce in form or glaze or colour has been largely decided for him by the clay material at his command. with any good plastic clay which cannot be fired at the highest temperature, lead glazes have always proved the most practicable. a similar clay, to which large quantities of sand are added, may be glazed by the vapours of common salt; and mixtures rich in felspar, like chinese or european porcelain, can be glazed by melting felspathic materials upon them. naturally those species of pottery which are the hardest fired are the most durable--the glazes of hard porcelain are more unchangeable than lead glazes, and these in their turn than alkaline glazes. the most important types of glaze are (1) alkaline glazes (e.g. egyptian, syrian, persian, &c.), the oldest and most uncertain; (2) lead glazes, the most widespread in use and the best for all ordinary purposes; (3) felspathic glazes, the glazes of hard-fired porcelains, generally unsuited to any other material; (4) salt glaze, produced by vapours of common salt, the special glaze of stonewares. many intermediate glazes have been devised to meet special needs, but these remain the only important groups. fuller details on this important subject must be sought in the technical works. _colours._--the primitive potters of ancient and modern times have all striven to decorate their wares with colour. the simplest, and therefore the earliest, colour decoration was carried out in natural earths and clays. the clays are so varied in composition that they fire to every shade of colour from white to grey, cream, buff, red, brown, or even to a bronze which is almost black. one clay daubed or painted upon another formed the primitive palette of the potter, especially before the invention of glaze. when glaze was used these natural clays were changed in tint, and native earths, other than clays, containing iron, manganese and cobalt, were gradually discovered and used. it is also surprising to note that some of the very earliest glazes were coloured glasses containing copper or iron (the green, turquoise and yellow glazes of the ancient egyptians and assyrians). marvellous work was wrought in these few materials, but the era of the finest pottery-colour dawns with the persian, syrian and egyptian work that preceded the crusades. by this time the art of glazing pottery with a clear soda-lime glaze had been thoroughly learnt. vases, tiles, &c., shaped in good plastic clay, were covered with a white, highly siliceous coating fit to receive glazes of this type, and giving the best possible ground for the painted colours then known. with this rudimentary technique the potters of the countries south and east of the mediterranean produced, between the 9th and 16th centuries of our era, a type of pottery that remains ideal from the point of view of colour: for, with nothing more than the greens given by oxide of copper and iron, the turquoise of pure copper, the deep yet vivid blue of cobalt, the beautiful uncertain purple of manganese, and in certain districts the rich red of armenian bole, they achieved colour schemes that have never been surpassed in their brilliant yet harmonious richness. when the coating of white siliceous clay was replaced by an opaque tin-enamel as in spain, italy, france, holland, &c., a necessary change in the colour schemes resulted. at first only the copper-greens and cobalt-blues could be used on such a ground; the fine manganese purple turned to brown or black and the rich iron-reds to filthy shades of yellow. we cannot wonder that the spanish-arab potters paid more attention to their lustre decoration, for that was the natural thing to do. how strong and fine a palette could be evolved for use on a tin-enamel ground was shown by the italian majolists of the 15th and 16th centuries; and when the later developments of tin-enamelled pottery took place in france, holland, germany, &c., their colour schemes are only echoes of italian majolica crossed with chinese porcelain. delft, nevers, moustiers and rouen may each charm us with its individuality; nuremberg and other south german towns may show us that they too had mastered the use of tin-enamel; yet our minds always go back to the colour schemes of italian majolica and of the persian and syrian pottery that lie behind and beyond them. the colours already spoken of were either clay colours or what are known as \"under glaze\" colours, because they were painted on the pottery before the glaze was fired. the earliest glazes of the egyptians appear not to have been white, but were coloured throughout their substance, and this use of coloured glazes as apart from painted colour was developed along with the painted decoration by the later egyptian, syrian and persian potters. green, yellow and brown glazes were almost the only artistic productions of the medieval european potters' kilns, and their use everywhere preceded the introduction of painted pottery. the most extensive application of coloured glazes was, however, that made by the chinese, who developed this type of colour decoration before they used painted patterns in underglaze colour. the earliest chinese porcelains, and the hard-fired stonewares out of which their porcelain arose, were decorated in this way, and the beauty of many of the early sung coloured glazes has never been surpassed. with the exceedingly refractory felspathic glazes of chinese porcelain very few underglaze colours could be used; and the prevalence of blue and white among the early specimens of chinese porcelains is due to the fact that cobalt was almost the only substance known to the potters of the ming dynasty which would endure the high temperature needed to melt their glazes. consequently the chinese were driven to invent the method of painting in coloured fusible glasses on the already fired glaze. they adopted for this purpose the coloured enamels used on metal; hence the common term \"enamel decoration,\" which is so generally applied to painting in those colours which are attached to the already fired glaze by refiring at a lower temperature. with the introduction of this many-coloured chinese porcelain into europe the same practice was eagerly followed by our european potters, and a new palette of colours and fresh styles of decoration soon arose amongst us. painting in on-glaze colours, being executed on the fired glaze, resembles glass painting, and it generally offers a striking contrast both in technique and colour-quality to the painting executed in colours under the glaze. in the former the work can be highly finished and the most mechanical execution is possible, but the colours are neither so rich nor so brilliant as under-glaze colours, nor have they the same softness as is given by the slight spread of the under-glaze colour when the glaze is melted over it. it must be pointed out that the colour possibilities in any method of pottery decoration are largely dependent on the temperature at which the colour needs to be fired. the clay colours are naturally more limited in range than the under-glaze colours, and these in their turn than the on-glaze colours. when, about the middle of the 18th century, european pottery took on its modern form, of earthenware made after the english fashion, and porcelain like the french and german, the lead or felspathic glazes used brought about another revolution in the potter's palette. the growing ideal of mechanical perfection discounted the freedom of the earlier brushwork, and printed patterns, or painting that might almost have been printed, removed the mind still farther from the richness of painted faience or majolica. it is useless to look for the glorious colour of persian faience, italian majolica, or chinese porcelain, in modern wares produced by manufacturing processes where mechanical perfection is demanded to a degree undreamt of before the 19th century. the finest modern pottery colour is only to be sought in the work of those enthusiasts and experimenters who are striving to produce work as rich and free as the best of past times. _metals_.--the noble metals, such as gold, platinum and silver, have, since the early years of the 18th century, been largely used as adjuncts to pottery decoration, especially on the fine white earthen-wares and porcelains of the last two centuries. at first the gold was applied with a kind of japanner's size and was not fired to the glaze, but for the last 150 years or so the metals have generally been fired to the surface of the glaze like enamel colours, by mixing the metal with a small proportion of flux or fusible ground glass. there can scarcely be a doubt that the ancient lustres of persia, syria and spain were believed to be a form of gilding, though their decorative effect was much more beautiful than gilding has ever been. the early chinese and japanese gilding appears, like the european, to have been \"sized\" or water-gilt, not fired; and it seems probable that the use of \"fired\" gold was taught to the oriental by the european in the 18th century. to-day \"liquid\" gold is exported to china and japan from europe for the use of the potter. primitive pottery we can group together that great and widely-spread class of vessels made by the primitive races of mankind, whether before the dawn of civilization or at the present day, for it is interesting to note that many modern races still make pottery by the same rude method as the neolithic races of europe and asia, and with striking similarity of result. in fact, the knowledge of the methods and practices of the primitive potters of our own time furnishes the best possible guide to the methods of fabrication and ornamentation of the ancient specimens that are dug up from barrows, grave mounds, and tumuli. it is only natural that the materials and methods of such pottery are always of the simplest. the clay is used with very little preparation, and it is no unusual thing to find bits of stone, gravel, &c., embedded in the paste of such wares, though at a later stage of development they would have been removed. it must be remarked, however, that no race of potters practised the art for long without discovering that their vessels were not so liable to crack in drying, or lose their shape in firing, if fine sand or pounded \"potsherds\" were mixed with the clay; and when we are dealing with the work of races that have passed beyond the stone age and have learned the use of metals we find this custom universal. there are three methods of shaping which seem to be common to almost every primitive race:-- 1. the scooping out of a vessel from a ball of clay. 2. the building up of a form, often on a piece of basket-work or matting, gradually raising the walls higher by applying and smoothing down successive layers of clay. 3. coiling; in which the clay is rolled out into thin ropes, and these are coiled round and round upon each other and smoothed down with the hands and with simple tools of bone, wood or metal. the use of the potter's wheel is unknown, while it is remarkable how beautifully true and finely-fashioned much primitive pottery is. the primitive red and black vases discovered by flinders petrie in egypt, and the somewhat similar vessels of prehistoric date from spain, are remarkable instances of this. some primitive races leave their pottery without decoration, especially when they have a fine red-burning clay to work in, but, generally speaking, primitive pottery of every race and time is elaborately decorated, but only with the simplest patterns. such decorations consist of lines, dots or lunette-shaped depressions arranged in crosses, chevrons, zigzags or all-over repeated pattern. all this ornament is scratched or impressed into the clay before it is fired. simplest of all is, perhaps, the pattern which has so obviously been produced by pressing a twisted thong round the neck or bowl of a vase; though the thong may have been used in the first instance merely to serve as a support while the vessel was dried. at a later stage the ornament is generally obtained by scratching with a tool, by pressing the end of a hollow stick into the clay to form rows of circles, by using a stick cut at the end into the shape of a half-moon, or other equally simple decorative device. in certain tropical countries this rudimentary pottery becomes hard enough for a certain amount of use when merely dried in the sun, but in all northern and temperate countries it must have been fired, probably in the most imperfect way, in an open fire or in such a kiln as could be formed by sinking a hole into the ground and erecting round it a screen of stones. how imperfect the firing was is shown by the ashen-grey colour due to smoke. in those countries where the ware has been more perfectly fired the pieces naturally become buff, drab, brown or red. the primitive vessels that have been found in the grave-mounds of england and the northern countries generally have received a number of fanciful names for which there is very little warrant except in the case of the cinerary urns. these are generally the largest vessels of this class, and as they were used to contain burnt bones there seems sufficient warrant for the supposition that they were made for this and for no other purpose. our knowledge of primitive pottery has been greatly improved during recent years by the labours of a number of american students connected with the united states geological survey, who have carefully recorded the present-day practices of those native tribes who make and use pottery in various parts of north america and mexico; while, in the same way, peruvian, brazilian and other south american pottery has been as closely investigated by european observers. it should be noted that no primitive pottery reveals any trace of a knowledge of glaze, though much of it has been highly polished after firing, and in some cases a varnish has been applied which may perhaps be regarded as the earliest kind of \"glazing\" ever applied to pottery vessels. literature.--on primitive pottery the following works may be specially mentioned. w. greenwell, _british barrows_ (1877); boyd-dawkins, _early man in britain_ (1880); mortimer, _forty years' researches in british and saxon burial-mounds of east yorkshire_ (1905); abercromby, \"the oldest bronze-age ceramic type in britain,\" _j. anth. inst._ vol. xxxii. (1902), 373; _guide to antiquities of the bronze age_ (british museum, 1904); koenen, _gefasskunde der vorromischen, romischen und frankischen zeit in den rheinlandern_ (1895); wosinsky, _der inkrustierte keramik der stein- und bronze-zeit_ (1904); walters, _history of ancient pottery_ (greek and roman) (1905); holmes, _aboriginal pottery of the eastern united states_ (bureau of ethnology, washington, 1899); also holmes and cushing in _report_ of bureau of ethnology for 1882; wiener, _perou et bolivie_ (1880); von der steinen, _natur-volkerei central brasiliens_ (1894); hartman, _archaeological researches in costa rica_ (1905); strebel, on \"mexican pottery\" in _publications_ of museum fur volkerkunde (berlin, vol. 6, 1899); werner, _british central africa_ (1907); fullborn, _deutsche ost-afrika_, vol. ix. (1907); macluer, \"kabyle pottery,\" _journ. anth. inst._ vol. xxxii. p. 245, and \"upper egypt,\" _ibid_. xxxv. p. 20; myres, \"early pottery fabrics of asia minor,\" _journ. anth. inst._ xxxiii. p. 367; turveren museum, _notes analytiques sur les collections ethnographiques du congo_, tome ii. (1907); cupart, _debuts de l'art de l'ancienne egypte_ (1903). (w. b.*) egypt and western asia _egyptian pottery_.--egypt affords us the most striking instance of the development of the potter's art. as in other countries pottery was made even in neolithic times, for the nile mud forms a fine plastic clay and sand is of course abundant. with these materials various kinds of pottery, often extremely well made and of good form, have been continuously produced for common domestic requirements, but such pottery was never glazed. the wonderful glazes of the egyptians were applied to a special preparation which can hardly be called pottery at all, it contained so little clay. yet as early as the 1st dynasty the egyptians had learnt to shape little objects in this tender material and cover them with their wonderful turquoise glazes. we have therefore to study the development of two independent things: (1) the ordinary pottery of common clay left without glaze; (2) the brilliant glazed faience which appears to be special to egypt, though it may have been the groundwork for the technique of the slip-faced painted and glazed pottery of the nearer east. we probably do not possess any specimens of the most primitive neolithic pottery; the oldest type known to us, the black and red ware of ballas and nagada (1), dates from the later neolithic age, when copper was just beginning to be used. this ware is very hard and compact and the face is highly burnished. the red colour was produced by a wash of fine red clay; the black is an oxide of iron obtained by limiting the access of air in the process of baking, which was done, professor petrie suggests, by placing the pot's mouth down in the kiln, and leaving the ashes over the part which was to be burnt black. both red and black colour go right through in every case. all-red and all-black vases are occasionally found, the red with geometrical decorations in white colour, and the black with incised decoration. the forms are usually very simple, but at the same time graceful, and the grace of form is more remarkable when it is remembered that none of this early pottery was made on the wheel. pottery of almost similar technique was found in crete in 1905 during the american excavations at vasiliki near hierapetra. the general appearance of the cretan pottery is much the same as that of the egyptian, and the duller red and black decoration (which here has a spotted or mottled appearance) was probably obtained in the same way, the black spots being due to the action of separate fragments of the baking material. this discovery is important in view of the probable early connexion of the cretan and egyptian culture-centres. a very similar red and black ware, usually of thinner and harder make, and often with a brighter surface, was introduced into egypt at a later date (xiith dynasty), probably by nubian tribes who were descended from relatives of the neolithic egyptians. from their characteristic graves these people are called the pan-grave people, and their pottery is known by the same name. perhaps rather later in date than the early red and black wares, but by no means certainly so, the second characteristic type of primeval egyptian pottery is a ware of buff colour with surface decorations in red. these decorations are varied in character, including ships, birds and human figures; wavy lines and geometrical designs commonly occur. the whole _facies_ of this ware seems very un-egyptian, and it has been compared with the decorated \"kabyle pottery\" of modern times. to call the people who made this ware \"libyans\" on the strength of this resemblance of their pottery to that of the modern kabyles, six thousand years later, seems, however, rash. the prehistoric egyptians were not kabyles or libyans, but nilotes, and the peculiar decoration of their pottery, which seems so strangely barbaric, is in reality merely the most ancient handiwork of the egyptian painter, and marks the first stage in the development of pictorial art on the banks of the nile (2). other types of pottery (3), in colour chiefly buff or brown, were also in use at this period; the most noticeable form is a cylindrical vase with a wavy or rope band round it just below the lip, which developed out of a necked vase with a wavy handle on either side. this cylindrical type outlived the red and black and the red and buff decorated styles (which are purely neolithic and predynastic) and continued in use in the early dynastic period, well into the copper age. the other unglazed pottery of the first three dynasties is not very remarkable for beauty of form or colour, and is indeed of the roughest description (4), but under the ivth dynasty we find beautiful wheel-made bowls, vases and vase-stands of a fine red polished ware (4). this fine ware continued in use at least as late as the xviiith dynasty, though the forms of course differed from age to age. under the xiith dynasty, and during the middle kingdom generally, either this or a coarser unpolished red ware was in use. the forms of this period are very characteristic (5); the vases are usually footless, and have a peculiar globular or drop-like shape--some small ones seem almost spherical. at this period the foreign \"pan-grave\" black and red pottery was also in use (see above). the art of making a pottery consisting of a siliceous sandy body coated with a vitreous copper glaze seems to have been known unexpectedly early, possibly even as early as the period immediately preceding the ist dynasty (4000 b.c.). under the xiith dynasty pottery made of this characteristic egyptian faience seems to have come into general use, and it continued in use down to the days of the romans, and is the ancestor of the glazed wares of the arabs and their modern successors (6). the oldest egyptian glazed ware is found usually in the shape of beads, plaques, &c.--rarely in the form of pottery vessels. the colour is usually a light blue, which may turn either white or green; but beads of the grey-black manganese colour are found, and on the light blue vases of king aha (who is probably one of the historical originals of the legendary \"mena\" or menes) in the british museum (no. 38,010) we have the king's name traced in the manganese glaze on (or rather in) the blue-white glaze of the vase itself, for the second glaze is inlaid. this style of decoration in manganese black or purple on copper-blue continued till the end of the \"new empire\" shortly before the xxvith (saite) dynasty. it was not usual actually to inlay the decoration before the time of the xviiith dynasty. the light blue glaze was used well into the time of the xiith dynasty (british museum, no. 36,346), but was then displaced by a new tint, a brilliant turquoise blue, on which the black decoration shows up in sharper contrast than before. this blue, and a somewhat duller, greyer or greener tint was used at the time for small figures, beads and vases, as well as for the glaze of scarabs, which, however, were usually of stone-schist or steatite --not faience. the characteristically egyptian technique of glazed stone begins about this period, and not only steatite or schist was employed (on account of its softness), but a remarkably brilliant effect was obtained by glazing hard shining white quartzite with the wonderfully delicate xiith dynasty blue. a fragment of a statuette plinth of this beautiful material was obtained during the excavation of the xith dynasty temple at deir el-bahri in 1904 (british museum, no. 40,948). vessels of diorite and other hard stones are also found coated with the blue glaze. a good specimen of the finest xiith dynasty blue-glazed faience is the small vase of king senwosri i. (2400 b.c.) in the cairo museum (no. 3666) (6). the blue-glazed hippopotami of this period, with the reeds and water-plants in purplish black upon their bodies to indicate their habitat, are well known. fine specimens of these are in the collection of the rev. wm. macgregor at tamworth (8). the blue glaze of the xiith dynasty deepened in colour under the xiiith, to which the fine blue bowls with designs (in the manganese black) of fish and lotus plants belong (8) (british museum, nos. 4790, &c.). the finest specimens of xviiith dynasty blue ware have come from deir el-bahri, in the neighbourhood of which place there may have been a factory for the manufacture of votive bowls, cups, beads, &c., of this fine faience, for dedication by pilgrims in the temple of hathor (good collection in british museum). towards the end of this dynasty polychrome glazes came into fashion; white, light and dark blue, violet, purple, red, bright yellow, apple-green and other tints were used, not only for smaller objects of faience, such as rings, scarabs, kohl-pots, &c., but also for vases, e.g. no. 3965 of the cairo museum (amenophis iii. wine-bottle), the ground colour of which is white with a decoration of flower wreaths in blue, yellow and red, with an inscription in delicate blue (6). this polychrome faience was also now used for the _ushabti_ figures which were placed in the tombs; hitherto they had been made exclusively of stone or wood, never of glazed stone or pottery; henceforward they were made exclusively of faience, but the polychrome glazes (e.g. british museum, nos. 34,180, 34,185) were soon abandoned, and the plain blue and black of the ordinary vases was adopted. the _ushabtis_ of king seti i. (british museum, no. 22,818, &c.) (9) are fine specimens of this type. under the xxth dynasty the blue paled and became weak in quality, but the priest-king family of the xxist used for their _ushabtis_ a most brilliant blue glaze, an extraordinary colour which at once distinguishes the faience of this period from that of all others (9). the same brilliant glaze was used for vases of various kinds as well. the polychrome ware had developed into a style of inlaying with glazed faience, which we see at tel el-amarna under the xviiith dynasty (1400 b.c.) (10), and at tel el-yah[=u]d[=i]ya under the xxth (1200 b.c.), used for wall decoration. after this time polychrome ceramic decoration seems to have died out in egypt, but was retained in asia (see below). the technical skill of the new empire potters is shown by such a remarkable object as the gigantic _uas_-sceptre of blue glazed faience, now in the victoria and albert museum (12, 8). this is the largest known piece of egyptian glazed faience; really large vases of faience are not found. faience vases were very commonly built up or carved out of a ball of the dried material, perhaps held together by some mucilaginous substance --it seems impossible that such a substance could ever have been fashioned on the wheel. sometimes even small vases were made of separately moulded pieces united by a glassy material (6). under the xxiind dynasty small glazed vases with figures of deities or animals in relief became common; these were made in moulds (6). in the matter of form the faience pottery of the new empire follows the lead of the new earthenware types. forms had altered considerably from those of the xiith dynasty. in place of the simple flowing lines of that period, we now find egg-shaped bodies with cylindrical necks, with or without handles, great _amphorae_ with almost pointed bases, sometimes with the handles perched upon the shoulders of the vase; flat-tipped, squat jugs; little handleless vases somewhat resembling the modern _kulla_, \"_mit mehrfach eingezogenem bauch_\" (v.b.), and the common flat flask-like type known as the \"pilgrim bottle\" (6, 13, 14, 15). owing to the extended foreign relations of egypt at this time, imported vases from greece and asia, including mycenaean _bugelkannen_ and cypriote black \"base ring\" jugs, have been found in the tombs and deposits of this age (14). imitations of foreign forms, especially the _bugelkannen_, are found[5] chiefly in faience (british museum, 22,731, is an imitation of a minoan jug from crete). the faience forms of the xviiith and xxiind dynasties include also the _kulla_ shape, the pilgrim bottle, miniature _amphorae_, &c. (see fig. 6), and miscellaneous forms not found in common pottery, imitating metal and stone vases, e.g. the blue-green ribbed pots of the xxiind dynasty, imitating bronze originals, and the _alabastron_ of the xviiith; these last go back to the xiith dynasty. very pretty cups in the shape of lotus flowers (see fig. 7) are to be seen in most museums; they are of the xixth dynasty, and mostly came from tuna (6, 8). [illustration: fig. 6.--egyptian pottery made of fine blue paste.] the continuance of the old red polished ware of the ivth dynasty during the middle kingdom to the time of the xviiith dynasty has already been mentioned. characteristic of the latter period of this ware are long jugs with attenuated body and single handle, which, because they have been found with mycenaean objects in cyprus, have been considered to be of foreign, probably of syrian origin. they may, however, be egyptian. vases of the same ware in the shape of men and animals are not uncommon (17). another ware of this period has a highly polished yellow face, sometimes becoming ruddy, and passing off into a pinkish red; in this ware the pilgrim bottles are common. an unpolished, brittle, and thin yellow ware was also used largely for wine-vases. the rougher, commoner red and brown ware at this period became decorated with designs, chiefly of lily wreaths, &c., in paint of various colours (13). this new development hid the ugly colour of the common pottery and was a cheaply obtained imitation of the expensive, polychrome glazed ware of the period (see fig. 8). this painted pottery continued in use until about the time of the xxiind dynasty. from this time onwards, till the ptolemaic period, the commonest pottery was a red ware, usually covered with a white slip. under the xxvith dynasty a finer homogeneous white ware occurs, usually for vases with a rude representation of the face of the god bes on their bodies. [illustration: fig. 7.--egyptian blue-glazed pottery.] the xxvith dynasty marks a new period of development in the history of egyptian faience. the old deep blue colour had gradually deteriorated into an ugly green (british museum, no. 8962), which was replaced by the saite potters with a new light blue of very delicate tint, imitated, in accordance with the archaistic spirit of the time, from the old light blue of the earliest dynasties. the glaze itself is very thin and \"sugary\" in texture. the old decoration of the blue with designs and inscriptions in manganese-black is abandoned; on the _ushabtis_ the inscriptions are now incised. side by side with this light blue glaze was used an unglazed faience, a sort of composition paste with the colour going right through.[6] it has more variety of colour than the glazed faience, light green and a dark indigo blue being found as well as the saite light blue. sometimes it is of a very soft, almost chalky consistency. it was used for vases, but more generally for small figures and scarabs (6). the commonest vase-form of this period is the pilgrim bottle, now made with the neck in the form of a lily flower, and with inscriptions on the sides wishing good luck in the new year to the possessor. these flasks appear to have been common new year's gifts. [illustration: fig. 8.--egyptian pottery with painted ornament and sham marbling.] under the sebennyte kings of the xxxth dynasty a further new development of glaze began, of a more radical character than ever before. the colour deepened, and the glaze itself became much more glassy, and was thickly laid on. the new glaze was partly translucent, and differed very greatly from the old opaque glaze. it first appeared on _ushabtis_ at the end of the saite period. a curious effect was obtained by glazing the head-dress, the inscription &c., of the _ushabtis_ in dark blue, and then covering the whole with translucent light blue glaze. this method was regularly used during the succeeding ptolemaic and roman periods, when the new style of glaze came into general use. a yellowish green effect was obtained by glazing parts of the body of the vases in yellow and covering this with the translucent blue glaze. this method was used to touch up the salient portions of the designs in relief, imitated from foreign originals, a style which now became usual on vases. the usual decoration is mixed egyptian and classical, the latter generally predominating. a large range of colours was employed; purple, dark blue, blue-green, grass-green, and yellow glazes all being found. the glaze is very thickly laid on, and is often \"crazed\" (6, 8). a remarkable instance of this romano-egyptian faience is the head of the god bes in the british museum (no. 35,028). a hard, light blue, opaque glaze like that of the xxvith dynasty is occasionally, but rarely, met with in the case of vases (british museum, nos. 37,407, 37,408). we know something of the common wares in use during this period from the study of the _ostraka_, fragments of pottery on which dated tax-receipts, notes, and so forth were written. from the _ostraka_ we see that during the ptolemaic period the commonest pottery was made of red ware covered with white slip, which has already been mentioned. at the beginning of the roman period we find at elephantine a peculiar light pink ware with a brownish pink face, and elsewhere a smooth dark brown ware. about the 3rd century a.d. horizontally ribbed or fluted pots, usually of a coarse brown ware, came into general use. these were often large-sized _amphorae_, with very attenuated necks and long handles (see fig. 9). during the byzantine (coptic) period most of the pottery in use was ribbed, and usually pitched inside to hold water, as the ware was loose in texture and porous. during the coptic period, a lighter ware was also in use, decorated with designs of various kinds in white, brown or red paint on the dull red or buff body. in nubia a peculiar development of this ware is characteristic of the later period (brit. mus. no. 30,712). a polished red ware of roman origin (imitation arretine or \"samian\") was commonly used as well. the heavily glazed blue faience continued in use until replaced in the early arab period by the well-known yellow and brown lead-glazed pottery, of which fragments are found in the mounds of fostat (old cairo). [illustration: fig. 9.--egyptian pottery under the ptolemies, showing greek influence in the shapes.] _western asia.--palestine_. the most ancient palestinian pottery is the rough \"amorite\" ware from lachish (tel el-hesi) which sometimes has wavy handles like the prehistoric egyptian (18). later we find actual mycenaean pottery in philistia (19), an interesting testimony to the truth of the legend which brings the philistines from crete; the fourth and fifth cities of lachish (1200-1000 b.c.) show us the first ordinary phoenician or israelite pottery--buff or red lamps and bowls, the latter with the handles sometimes painted in bistre, and vases showing strong egyptian influence; while pottery from cyprus and elsewhere is found as in egypt. the only remarkable later development of palestinian pottery is the phoenician imitation of egyptian faience of the saite period, of which the characteristics are well known. some of this may actually have been made in egypt. the course of the potter's art in mesopotamia and persia appears to have run on lines of development parallel with the art in egypt, for the country between the tigris and the euphrates is rich in good clays, and, wherever the invention of glass arose, its application to pottery decoration was certainly developed at an early period in egypt and in mesopotamia. two characteristic uses of clay wares must, however, be pointed out, though they have nothing to do with vase-making. 1. the babylonian and assyrian use of clay shaped into tablets, cylinders and prisms, to produce an imperishable record of the literature of the time. the cylinders and prisms were thrown on the potter's wheel and are consequently hollow; the circular form was then sliced down, and the surface was impressed with cuneiform inscriptions, the prism, tablet or cylinder being subsequently dried and fired. 2. the architectural use of glazed bricks and slabs. while the egyptians remained content for the most part with the application of their brilliant alkaline glazes to small and delicately-finished objects, the babylonians and assyrians developed an architecture decorated with glazed and coloured brickwork. the bricks were of very open texture, and the ornamental pattern or figure subjects were obtained by a strong outline in dark-coloured clay which formed a kind of _cloison_ or boundary, the shallow cells between being filled in with coloured clays--yellow, red or white--or with coloured glazes of turquoise, green or blue, yellow and purplish brown. these glazes are obviously like the egyptian, but they are more coarsely prepared and are always full of bubbles and consequently more or less opaque. yet the severe simplicity of the method, the splendid colour effect, strong yet sumptuous, entitles these productions to a very high rank among all the world's work in clay and glaze. the \"frieze of the archers\" now in the louvre may be mentioned as one of the finest productions of its kind, and the louvre and british museum possess the finest collections of this early architectural use of glazed and coloured clay. (see also mural decoration ) coming to ordinary pottery we find that in early times well-formed vases made of good clay, unglazed and unpainted, were made. small figures of deities made of the same clay are often found. it is practically the same terra-cotta as that of the inscribed tablets. none of the forms are particularly distinctive (see fig. 10). the excavations of the french in persia have brought to light at moussian in susiana an extremely interesting painted ware, which belongs to a very early period. the decoration is usually geometrical. the technique seems to be analogous to the mycenaean-greek (_firnismalerei_), and the whole effect is very like that of the greek, late mycenaean or dipylon pottery. the ware is buff in colour and fine in texture, with a polished surface. the decoration is sometimes in polychrome, but usually in the grey-brown iron-glaze (?) alone. this pottery degenerates later and finally disappears (20). [illustration: fig. 10.--assyrian biscuit pottery.] during the sargonide period in assyria (7th century b.c.) we find a polychrome faience (colours usually white and brown) obviously of egyptian origin. it was used, not for vases, but architectonically for friezes, ornamental bosses, &c. its origin may be found in egypt under the xviiith dynasty, when egyptian influence extended to the tigris, and babylonia had regular diplomatic relations with egypt in asia this polychrome decoration in glazes continued to be used long after it had ceased to be made in the country of its origin; the enamelled brick decoration of persepolis is the descendant of the glazed inlay decorations of tel el-amarna, tel el-yahudiya and kuyunjik. in the sargonide period blue glazed vases occur (see fig. 11) which are probably of egyptian origin or are phoenician imitations of egyptian faience. [illustration: fig. 11.--assyrian glazed and enamelled pottery.] characteristic of the parthian period is a coarse green glazed pottery of which the slipper-shaped coffins, of the time were made (british museum, nos. 1645-1647) (21). this glaze possibly contains a small amount of lead; in appearance it is not unlike the contemporary translucent blue glaze of egypt. the egyptian glaze certainly spread into western asia, and we find the last specimens of it in the tiles from the destroyed city of rhagae in persia, which may be as late as the 13th century a.d. the lead glazes, unknown in egypt till the late roman period, may be of asiatic origin, though this important point is by no means clear. references.--(1) petrie-quibell, _ballas and nagada_ (date erroneous); (2) jacques de morgan, _l' age de la pierre et des metaux_; (3) petrie, _diospolis parva_, frontispiece (also for \"sequence-dates\" of pottery); (4) garstang, _mahasna and bet khallaf_, pls. xxix.--xxxii.; (5) petrie, _illahun_, pl. xii. (corr. by v. bissing in (14)); (6) v. bissing, _catalogue generale du musee de caire, _\"die fayencegefasse\"; (7) petrie, _abydos_, ii., frontispiece; (8) henry wallis, _egyptian ceramic art_ (macgregor collection); (9) _guide to third and fourth egyptian rooms, british museum_, p. 252 ff.; (10) petrie, _tel-el-amarna_; (11) _guide to third and fourth egyptian rooms_, p. 261; (12) petrie, _nagada_, pl. xxviii.; (13) petrie, _illahun_, pls. xx., xxi.; (14) v. bissing, _strena helbigiana_, p. 20 ff.; (15) garstang, _el arabah_, pls. xviii.-xxi., xxviii., xxix.; (16) hall, _oldest civilization of greece_, p. 143 ff. ibid. figs. 29, 30, 69; (17) _guide to third and fourth egyptian rooms_, pl. viii.; (18) petrie, _tell-el-hesy_, pl. v.; (19) welch, _ann. brit. sch. ath_. vi.; (20) de morgan, _delegation en perse_, viii. (1905); (21) _brit. mus.: guide to babylonian and assyrian room_. (h. r. h.) greek, etruscan and roman greek. _study of greek vases_.--it is not so many years since an account of greek pottery would naturally have followed chronologically the history of egyptian pottery with little overlapping; but recent discoveries have reversed all such ideas, and, while up to the end of the 19th century the earliest remains to be traced on greek soil could be assigned at the furthest to the period 2500-2000 b.c., it is now possible not only to show that at that period technical processes were highly developed, but even to trace a continuous development of greek pottery from the neolithic age. this result has been mainly brought about by dr arthur evans's researches at cnossus in crete, but traces of similar phenomena are not wanting in other parts of greece. whether the race which produced this pottery can strictly be called greek may be open to question, but at all events the ware is the independent product of a people inhabiting in prehistoric times the region afterwards known as greece; its connexion with the pottery of the historic period can now be clearly traced, and in its advanced technical character and the genuinely artistic appearance of its decoration even this early ware proclaims itself as inspired by a similar genius. the study of greek vases has thus received an additional impetus from the light that it throws on the early civilization of the country, and its value for the student of ethnology. but it has always appealed strongly to the archaeologist and in some degree also to the artist or connoisseur, to the former from its importance as a contribution to the history of greek art, mythology and antiquities, to the latter from its beauty of form and decoration. attention was first redirected to the painted vases at the end of the 17th century, though for a long time they served as little more than an adjunct to the cabinet of the amateur or a pleasing souvenir for the traveller; but even during the 18th century it dawned on the minds of students that they were of more than merely artistic importance, and attention was devoted to the elucidation of their subjects, and attempts made to arrive at a chronological classification. two facts must, however, be borne in mind: firstly, that down to the middle of the 19th century the great majority of painted vases had been found only in italy; secondly, that these vases were mostly of the later and more florid styles, which, if artistically advanced, are now known to represent a decadent phase of greek art. from the former cause arose the notion that these vases were the product not of greek but of etruscan artists, and so the term \"etruscan vase\" arose and passed into the languages of europe, surviving even at this day in popular speech in spite of a century of refutation. meanwhile, the study of the subjects depicted on the vases passed through the successive stages of allegorical, historical and mystical interpretation, until a century and more of painstaking study led to the more rational principles of modern archaeologists. [illustration: fig. 12.--jug from cyprus of oriental style, 10 in. high.] _sites and discoveries_.--the sites on which greek vases have been found cover the whole area of the mediterranean and beyond, from the crimea to spain, and from marseilles to egypt. by far the great majority, at all events of the finer specimens, have been extracted from the tombs of vulci and other sites in etruria; those of the later period or decadence have been found in large numbers on various sites in southern italy, such as capua, curnae and nola in campania, anzi in lucania, and ruvo in apulia. in the western mediterranean, sicily has also been a fruitful field for this pottery, early varieties being found at syracuse, later ones at gela, girgenti and elsewhere. painted vases have also come to light in sardinia and in north africa, especially in the cyrenaica, where the finds mostly belong to the 4th century b.c. in greece proper the most prolific site has been athens, where the finds extend from the dipylon vases of the 8th century b.c. down to the decadent productions of the 4th century; one group, that of the white funeral _lekythoi_, is almost peculiar to athens. next to this city, corinth has been most productive, especially in pottery of the archaic period and of local manufacture. large quantities of pottery of all periods have been yielded by thebes, tanagra and other sites in boeotia, and remains of the \"mycenaean\" period at mycenae, argos and elsewhere. but on the whole painted pottery is rare in other parts of the mainland. among the western islands of the archipelago, aegina and euboea have proved fruitful in vases of all periods; thera, melos and others of the cyclades are remarkable for pottery of the prehistoric period with rudely painted designs; and above all crete is now famous for the wondrous series of painted and ornamented pottery of pre-mycenacan date, which can be traced back even to the neolithic period, and the discovery of which has entirely revolutionized the preconceived theories on the appearance of painted pottery in greece. this has been found in the recent excavations at cnossus, palaeokastro and elsewhere. in asia minor there have been some important finds on the mainland, but only along the coast; some of the islands, more especially samos and rhodes, have been more fruitful in this respect. at kertch and elsewhere in the crimea, large numbers of fine but somewhat florid vases of the 5th and 4th centuries b.c. have come to light. cyprus has long been known as a rich field for pottery of all periods, from the mycenaean onwards, the later varieties being marked by strong local quasi-oriental characteristics, with little development from the more primitive types (figs. 12 and 13). the principal sites are salamis, amathus, marion (poli) and curium. lastly, in the egyptian delta two sites, naucratis and daphnae, have yielded results of considerable importance for the history of early greek vase-painting. [illustration: fig. 13.--pottery from cyprus with geometrical ornament.] the great majority of these vases have been found in tombs; but some important discoveries have been made on the sites of temples and sanctuaries, as on the acropolis of athens, or at naucratis. in such cases the vases are seldom complete, having been broken up and cast away into rubbish-heaps, where the fragments have remained undisturbed. the tombs vary greatly in form, those of greece being usually small rock-graves or shafts, those of italy often fine and elaborate chambers with architectural details, and the manner in which the vases are found in these tombs varies greatly. plain unornamented pottery is almost universal, and may be considered to have formed the \"tomb-furniture\" proper--the painted vases being as in daily life merely ornamental adjuncts. _shapes and uses of greek vases_.--the enormous number of painted vases now collected in museums is in itself sufficient evidence of the important part they must have played in the daily life, of the greeks, and the care which was bestowed on their decoration shows the high estimation in which they were held. it is, however, remarkable that, with the exception of general allusions to pottery and its use in daily life, there are singularly few passages in classical literature which throw light on the purposes for which these vases were used. where any are described at full length there is always evidence that metal vases are intended. athenaeus and the lexicographers have indeed put on record a long list of names of shapes, but it is only in a few cases that we can be certain what forms they describe, or whether any of the typical forms of existing vases can be identified with the literary descriptions. we have then two questions to consider in this section: firstly, the uses to which painted vases were put by the greeks; secondly, the classical names of the various forms of plain and painted pottery which have come down to us. as we have seen, the majority of painted vases have been discovered in tombs, which at first sight seems to suggest that they were made principally for sepulchral purposes; but that they also had their uses in daily life as much as plain pottery or earthenware cannot be doubted. they stand, in fact, in the same relation to the commoner wares of their day as china or porcelain does with us, being largely ornamental only, but used by wealthy people or on special occasions for the purposes of daily life, as for instance at banquets or in religious ceremonies. vases were used as measures, as in the case of a small one-handled cup in the british museum (see fig. 15), found at cerigo (_cythera_) and inscribed with the word [greek: hemikotylion] or \"half-kotyle,\" equivalent to about one-fourth of a pint. another vase found at athens is supposed to represent the official [greek: choinix] or quart, having a capacity of 0.96 litre; it is inscribed [greek: demosion] or \"official measure,\" and bears the official stamp of the state. conversely many names of vases, such as the _amphora_ or the _kotyle_, were adopted to indicate measures of capacity for liquid or dry commodities. earthenware vessels were used for storing both liquids and food, for the preparation of foods and liquids, and for the various uses of the table and the toilet. that the painted ware was used at banquets or on great occasions we learn from scenes depicted on the vases themselves, in which vases painted with subjects appear in use. in connexion with athletics, they were given as prizes, as in the case of the panathenaic _amphorae_, a class of vases given for victories in the games held at athens at the panathenaic festivals, where, however, they do not represent prizes so much as marks of honour corresponding to modern racing cups. vases were also used as toys for children, as is proved by the discovery of many diminutive specimens, chiefly jugs, in the tombs of children at athens, on which are depicted children playing at various games. they also served a purely decorative use as domestic ornaments, being placed on columns or shelves; or, in the case of flat cups and plaques, suspended on the wall. many of the later greek and italian painted vases are very carelessly decorated on the one side, which was obviously not intended to be seen. we come now to the use of vases for religious purposes, dedicatory, sacrificial or funerary. of all these uses, especially the last, there is ample evidence. that vases were often placed in temples or shrines as votive offerings is clear from the frequent mention in literature of the dedication of metal vases, and it can hardly be doubted that painted pottery served the same purpose for those who could only afford the humbler material. of late years much light has been thrown upon this subject by excavations, notably on the acropolis of athens, at corinth, and at naucratis in the egyptian delta, where numerous fragments have been found bearing inscriptions which attest their use for such purposes. it was a well-known greek custom to clear out the temples from time to time and form rubbish-heaps (_favissae_) of the disused vases and statuettes, which were broken in pieces as useless, but it is to this very fact that we owe their preservation. at naucratis many of the fragments bear incised inscriptions, such as [greek: apollonos eimi], \"i am apollo's\" (possibly a memorandum of the priest's, to mark consecrated property), or [greek: ho deina anetheke te aphrodite], \"so-and-so dedicated me to aphrodite.\" fig. 14 gives another example with a dedication to apollo. at penteskouphia, near corinth, a large series of painted tablets ([greek: pinakes]), dating from 600 to 550 b.c., with representations of poseidon and dedicatory inscriptions to that deity, were found in 1879. votive offerings in this latter form were common at all periods, and tablets painted with figures and hung on trees or walls are often depicted on the vases, usually in connexion with scenes representing sacrifices or offerings. there is no doubt that vases (though not necessarily painted ones) must have played a considerable part in the religious ceremonies of the greeks. we read of them in connexion with the athenian festival of the anthesteria, and that of the gardens of adonis. they were also used in sacrifices, as shown on an early black-figured cup in the british museum and on a vase at naples with a sacrifice to dionysus. in scenes of libation the use of the jug and bowl (_phiale_) is invariable. but their most important use, and that to which their preservation is mainly due, was in connexion with funeral ceremonies. they were not only employed at the burial, but were placed both outside the tombs to receive offerings, and inside them either to hold the ashes of the dead or as \"tomb-furniture,\" in accordance with greek religious beliefs in regard to the future life. several classes of vases are marked out by their subjects as exclusively devoted to this purpose, such as the large jars found in the dipylon cemetery at athens, which were placed outside the tombs, the white athenian _lekythoi_ of the 5th and 4th centuries b.c., and the large _krateres_ and other vases of the 4th century b.c. found in the tombs of apulia and other parts of southern italy. their use as cinerary urns was perhaps more restricted, at all events as regards the painted vases, though the custom is well known and is referred to in literature from homer downwards. in \"mycenaean\" times coffers ([greek: larnakes]) of clay were used for this purpose, especially in crete, where fine painted examples have been found; but of greek pottery of the best periods there are but isolated instances. [illustration: fig. 14.--part of vase from naucratis with dedication to apollo.] the diagrams in fig. 15 show the principal shapes characteristic of greek pottery in all but the earliest periods, when the variety of form was as yet too great to permit of more than the vaguest nomenclature; each form has its conventional name appended. these shapes may be classified under the following heads: (1) vases in which food or liquids were preserved; (2) vases in which liquids were mixed or food cooked; (3) those by means of which liquids were poured out or food distributed; (4) drinking-cups; (5) other vases for the use of the table or toilet. thus we have the _pithos_ and _amphora_ for storing wine, the _krater_ for mixing it, the _psykter_ for cooling it, the _kyathos_ for ladling it out, and the _oinochoe_ or _prochoos_ for pouring it out; the _hydria_ was used for fetching water from the well. the names and forms of drinking-cups are innumerable, the principal being the _kylix_, _kotyle_, _kantharos_, _rhyton_ (drinking-horn) and _phiale_ (libation bowl). the _pyxis_ was used by women at their toilet, and the _lekythos_, _alabastron_ and _askos_ for oil and unguents. _technical processes_.--though the greeks succeeded in making pottery of a very high order from the point of view of form and decoration, the technical processes remained throughout of the most elementary--for glaze was not used at all, the colour was of the simplest, and the temperature at which the ware was fired was not high enough to introduce any serious difficulties. as we should expect, it is possible to trace a gradual improvement in the technical processes in the direction of greater precision and refinement, for no vase-painter of the best period could have achieved his decorative triumphs on wares so coarse in substance and so rough in finish as those that satisfied his predecessors. as in every other case technical and artistic refinement went hand in hand. in the earliest times the clay was used with very little preparation; at all events before the introduction of the potter's wheel the finish is not to be compared with that of the early races in egypt. as the practice developed no doubt, specially good clays were found in certain districts, and these became centres of manufacture or the clays were carried to other established centres. the primitive wares usually exhibit the natural buff, yellow, grey or brownish colours of other elementary pottery, and the surface is somewhat rough and possesses no gloss. thenceforward it becomes appreciably warmer in tone as it becomes finer in texture, until it reaches its perfection in the glowing orange, inclining to red, of the best attic vases of the 5th century b.c. in the vases of the later italian centres the colour again reverts to a paler hue. the clay for the potter was doubtless prepared by a system of sedimentation, so as to get rid of all coarse particles. it was mixed with water and decanted into a series of vats so that ultimately fine clay of two or three grades was obtained. both red and whitish clays were used, and the best potters gradually discovered that mixtures of different clays gave the best results. the clay for the athenian vases was obtained from cape kolias in attica; and as it did not burn to a very warm tone, ruddle or red ochre (_rubrica_) was added to it to produce the lovely deep orange glow that distinguishes the best vases. corinth, cnidus, samos and other places were also famous for their clays, and at the first named tablets have been found bearing representations of the digging of clay for pottery. [fig. 15.--shapes of greek vases.] the improved manipulation of the clays, and the increasing knowledge that the colour of a clay could be modified by admixture of other substances such as ruddle and ochre, really paved the way for what is known as the glaze of the greek painted vases. this delicate gloss, so thin as to defy analysis, has been commonly called glaze, but it cannot be a glaze in the sense of a separate coating of finely-ground glass superimposed upon the clay. in all probability, as the greek potter used finer and finer clays and so was enabled to perfect his shapes, he found that after a vase had been \"thrown\" he could get a closer texture on it by dipping it in a slip of still finer clay material and then smoothing it down and polishing it on the wheel when sufficiently dry. but the mixtures he would use for such a purpose--of very siliceous clay and ochre--would, when they were burnt in the greek kiln, not only fire to a beautifully bright colour, but also to a glossy surface, especially where the flames had freely played about them; and it is more in accordance with our knowledge to believe that the exquisitely thin gloss of the finest greek red vases was produced in this way, for it seems impossible that it can have been a coating of any special glaze. in any case we may state broadly that the body of greek vases is always fine in grain, fired hard enough to give forth a dull metallic sound when it is struck, but seldom fired above a temperature of about 900° c., which a modern potter would consider very low. when broken the inside is generally found to be duller in colour, and is often yellow or grey, even where the external surface is red. the material is exceedingly porous, and allows water to ooze through it (another proof that it was not glazed). numerous analyses of the material of greek vases have been published, but they tell us nothing of the secrets of the greek potter. the results of a great number of these analyses may be summed up as follows: silica, 52-60 parts; alumina, 13-19 parts; lime, 5-10 parts; magnesia, 1-3 parts; oxide of iron, 12-19 parts. analyses of a thousand ordinary simple red burning clays would give a similar result. it is to the glory of the greek potter that with such ordinary materials, by the exercise of selection, patience and skill, he achieved the fine artistic results we see. he did as much as can be done with natural clay materials, but the glory of painted colour and glaze, like the later persian or chinese, was not for him. _manufacture of vases_.--the earliest greek pottery is, like all primitive pottery, hand-made. the introduction of the potter's wheel into greece was the subject of various ancient traditions, but we now know that it can be easily traced by a study of the primitive pottery of crete, cyprus or troy. in cyprus, for instance, the bronze age tombs of 2500-1500 b.c. contain only hand-made pottery, but in the next period (1500-1000 b.c.) we find hand-made and coarse vases side by side with a more developed kind of painted pottery--the \"mycenaean\"--obviously made on the wheel. it seems probable, therefore, that the wheel was introduced into greece about 1500 b.c.; it was certainly known to homer, as a familiar allusion shows (_il._ xviii. 600). it was still a low circular table turned with the hand, not the foot; representations of its use are seen on several vases of the archaic period (fig. 16), and they further prove that the vase was replaced on the wheel for the subsequent processes of painting, polishing and adding separately modelled parts, as well as for the original shaping or \"throwing.\" [illustration: fig. 16.--votive tablet from corinth; a potter applying painted bands while the vessel revolves on the wheel.] the method of shaping the vase on the wheel, which is the same as that still in use, need not be described in detail; the feet, necks, mouths and handles were modelled separately or shaped in moulds, and attached while the clay was moist, as is also indicated on a vase. large and coarse vases, such as wine casks ([greek: pithoi]), were always modelled by hand on a kind of hooped mould ([greek: kannabos]). parts of vases were modelled by hand at all periods by way of decoration. even in the geometrical period we find horses modelled in the round on the covers of vases and later on handles enriched with moulded figures of serpents twining round them. such embellishments are frequently, if not always, deliberate imitations of metal forms, but the plastic principle is one which obtained in greek pottery from the very first, as for instance in the primitive pottery of troy, in which the vases are often modelled in human or animal forms; and the same principle is involved in the common practice of speaking of the \"neck,\" \"shoulder\" or \"foot\" of a vessel. in the best period the practice of adding moulded ornaments or of modelling vases in natural forms took a subsidiary place, but examples occur from time to time, as in the beautiful _rhyta_ or drinking-horns of the red-figure period (plate ii., fig. 58), or in smaller details such as are seen in handles enriched with heads in relief, a favourite practice of the potter nicosthenes. in the 4th-century vases of southern italy the handles are often much ornamented in this fashion, as in the large _krateres_, where they are adorned with masks in relief. the system of moulding whole vases or ornamenting them with designs in relief taken from moulds really belongs to the decadence of the art, when imitations of metal were superseding the painted pottery. even then it is rare to find whole vases produced from a mould, except in the case of those in the form of human figures or animals (plate ii., figs. 57 and 58), which almost come under the heading of terra-cotta figures, except for the fact that they are usually painted in the manner of the vases. but in southern italy the tendency to imitate metal led to the popularity of ornaments made separately from moulds and attached or let in to vases otherwise plain. vases of this period, with reeded bodies, must also have been made from moulds, as were a series of _phialae_ or libation-bowls associated with cales in campania (plate ii., fig. 56), which are known to be direct imitations of metal. all or nearly all of these vases are covered with a plain black glaze or varnish, and painted decoration is rare except in the case of those moulded in special forms or of a certain class made in apulia with opaque colouring laid on the varnish. some of these plain black vases of the 4th century are ornamented with _stamped_ patterns made with a metal punch impressed in the moist clay. this decoration is confined to simple patterns. after the vases had been made on the wheel they were dried in the sun and lightly baked, after which they were ready for varnishing and painting; it is also probable that the gloss was brought out by a process of polishing, the surface of the clay being smoothed with a piece of wood or hard leather. on a vase in berlin a boy is seen applying a tool of some kind to an unfinished cup, probably for this purpose; the cup, being shown in red on the vase, has evidently not been varnished. many vases are varnished black all over the exterior (whether decorated with designs or not) with the exception of the foot and lip. the process of baking was regarded as one of the most critical in the potter's art. it was not indeed universal, as we read of sun-dried vessels for utilitarian purposes, but all the vases that have come down to us have been baked. the amount of heat required was regulated by the character of the ware, but was not very high. many examples exist of discoloured vases which have been subjected to too much or too little heat, the varnish having acquired a greenish or reddish hue. or again the red gloss is sometimes turned to an ashen-grey colour, the black remaining unimpaired. other accidents were liable to occur in the baking, such as cracking under too great heat, or the damaging of the shape by vases knocking against one another and so being dented in or crushed. the form of the oven was of the simplest (fig. 17). no furnaces have been found in greece, and only one or two in italy, but we have a variety of evidence from vase-paintings. they were fed by fires from beneath, and the vases were inserted with a long shovel. they were heated with charcoal or wood fuel, and there are representations of men poking or raking the fires with long-handled implements. one vase-painting gives a bird's-eye view, in horizontal section, of the interior of an oven full of jugs of various forms. others have more complete presentations of potteries, with men engaged in the different processes of vase manufacture, modelling, painting or supplying the kilns with newly-made wares. [illustration: fig. 17.--model of kiln found in essex.] _the painting of vases_.--we may distinguish three principal classes of painted pottery, of which two admit of subdivision. 1. primitive greek vases with simple painted ornaments, chiefly linear and geometrical, laid directly on the clay with the brush. the colour employed is usually a yellowish or brownish red passing into black. the execution varies, but is often extremely coarse. 2. greek vases painted with figures. these may be subdivided as follows:-- (a) vases with figures in shining black on a red glossy ground. (b) vases with figures left in the glossy red on a ground of shining black. 3. vases with polychrome decoration. (a) vases of various dates with designs in outline or washes in various colours on white ground (these range from the 6th to the 4th century b.c.). (b) vases of various dates with designs in opaque colour laid over a ground of shining black (ranging from the primitive period to the 3rd century b.c.). of these the second group is by far the largest and most important, including the majority of the finest specimens of greek vase-painting, and the following account will deal mainly with the technical processes by which the most successful results were obtained. in both the classes (a) and (b) the colouring is almost confined to a contrasting of the glossy red ground and shining black. this black varnish (?) is particularly deep and lustrous, but varies under different circumstances according to differences of locality, of manufacture or accidents of production. it is seen in its greatest perfection in the \"nolan\" _amphorae_ of the earlier red-figure period, at its worst in the etruscan and italian imitations of greek vases. the gradations of quality may be partly due to the action of heat, i.e. stoving at a higher or lower temperature. it also varies in thickness. at present no certainty has been attained as to its composition--brongniart's oft-quoted analysis cannot be accepted --nor has any acid been found to have an effect upon it, though the chemical action of the earth sometimes causes it to disappear. the method of its use forms the chief distinction between the black-figured and red-figured vases, but there is a class of the former which approaches near in treatment to the latter, the whole vase being covered with black except a framed panel which is left red to receive the figures. it is obvious that the transition to merely leaving the figures red is but a slight one. but in all black-figured vases the main principle is that the figures are painted in black silhouette on the red ground, the outlines being first roughly indicated by a pointed instrument making a faint line. the surface within these outlines being filled in with black, details of anatomy, dress, &c., were brought out by incising inner lines with a pointed tool. after a second baking or perhaps stoving had taken place, the designs were further enriched by the application of opaque purple and white pigments, which follow certain conventional principles in their respective use. after a third baking at a lower heat still to fix these colours the vase was complete. in the red-figured vases the shining black is used as a background. but before it is applied the outlines of the figures are indicated not by incised lines, but by drawing a thick line of black round their contours. recent researches have attempted to show that the instrument with which this was achieved may have been a feather brush or pen, by which the lines were drawn separately, not concurrently. the other tools used for painting would be an ordinary metal or reed pen and a camel's-hair brush, or at any rate something analogous. thus the outlines of the figures were clearly marked, and the process is one of drawing rather than painting, but it was in draughtsmanship that the best vase-painters excelled. the next stage was to mark the inner details by very fine black lines or by masses of black for surfaces such as the hair; white and purple were also employed, but more sparingly than on the earlier vases. the main processes always remain the same down to the termination of vase-painting, though the tendency to polychromy, which came in about the end of the 5th century b.c., effected some modifications. the blacking of the whole exterior surface--a purely mechanical process--took place after the figures had been completed and protected from accidents by the thick black border of which we have spoken. a fragment of an unfinished vase preserved in the sevres museum gives a very clear idea of the process just described, the figures being completed, but the back ground not yet applied (fig. 18). there is also another vase in existence which gives the interior of a vase-painter's studio, in which three artists are at work with their brushes, their paint-pots by their side. [illustration: (from a photo supplied by the director of the sevres museum) fig. 18.--fragment of unfinished red-figured vase] in the class of vases (3 (a)), with polychrome figures on a white ground, the essential feature is the white slip or _engobe_ with which the naturally pale clay is covered. in the archaic vases of the 7th and 6th centuries b.c., especially in the ionian centres, as at rhodes, naucratis and cyrene, this slip is frequently employed, but with this, difference, that the figures are painted in the ordinary black-figure method, the only additional colour being purple laid on the black. we first find polychrome decoration, whether in wash or outline, in a small class of fragments from naucratis, of the 6th century b.c., which technically are of a very advanced character. the colours used either for outline or wash include purple, brown, yellow, crimson and rose-colour, but some, if not all, of these colours were not fired. in the 5th century this practice was revived at athens, chiefly in the class of _lekythoi_ or oil-flasks devoted exclusively to sepulchral uses. here the vases, after leaving the wheel and being fitted with handles, &c., were covered with a coating of white clay. a second coating of black was applied to the parts not required for decoration, and the white was then finely polished, acquiring a dull gloss, and finally fired at a low temperature. the decoration was achieved as follows: a preliminary sketch was made with fine grey lines, ignoring draperies, &c., and not always followed when the colours were laid on. this was done when the first lines were dry, the colour being applied with a fine brush in monochrome--black, yellow or red--following the lines of the sketch. for the drapery and other details polychrome washes were employed, laid on with a large brush. all varieties of red from rose to brown are found, also violet, yellow, blue, black and green. hair is treated either in outline or by means of washes. finally, we have to deal with the class of vases (3 (b)) in which opaque pigments are laid over the surface of the shining black with which the whole vase is coated. this method is met with at three distinct periods in the history of vase-painting, separated by long distances of time. we first find it in the earlier cretan or kamares ware, where it seems to have been introduced not long after the close of the neolithic period, about 2500 b.c., and where it holds its own for about a thousand years against the contrasted method of \"dark on light\" painting, till it was finally ousted by the latter at the height of \"mycenaean\" civilization in crete. the colouring is very varied, orange, brown, pink and white being the principal tints employed. the process appears again at the end of the 5th century in a small class of attic vases, which have been regarded as a sort of transition between the black-figured and red-figured. white and orange-red are here employed, sometimes with accessory details in purple and black and incised lines, so that the technique is virtually black-figured, though the appearance of the vases is often red-figured. lastly, it appears in southern italy as a final effort of vase-painting to flicker into life again about the end of the 3rd century. some of these vases were made in campania, where the method resembles that of the attic class just described, others in apulia, probably at gnathia. the latter have feeble conventional decoration in purple and white with details in yellow, confined to one side of the vases, and are also distinguished by the use of ornaments in relief. they were also occasionally made in greece proper. remarkably few colours were used by the greek vase painters, especially in the best periods. the deep purple used for accessory details was produced from iron oxide, but the red used for lines on the white _lekythoi_ is an ochre ([greek: miltos], _rubrica_). the white also used for accessories is an earth or clay; in the slip coating of the white ground vases it assumes the consistency of pipe-clay. yellow, where used for details on the later vases, is an ochre, and blue and green are produced from artificial compounds containing copper. a number of the colours, such as blue, rose and green, used by the polychrome painters, are obviously artificial pigments which have not been fired. when gilding was employed it was laid on over a raised ground of clay finely modelled with a small tool or brush, and was attached by varnish, not by fire. _potters and inscriptions_.--the potters who made these vases were mostly--at least at athens in the 6th and 5th centuries, b.c.--[greek: metoikoi], or resident aliens, as their names in many cases imply. we have an amasis (an egyptian name), a brygus (a scythian), a lydus and a scythes. the dialect of many of the inscriptions on attic vases seems to show foreign influence, though in other cases peculiarities may be merely due to the use of a vernacular. they formed a gild or fraternity, and in each pottery there was probably more or less division of labour, the more simple processes being the work of slaves. this seems to be implied in the vase-paintings representing the interior of potteries. others again \"specialized\" in different shapes, and were known as [greek: chutroplathoi], [greek: lekuthopoioi], and so on. over a hundred names of artists are known, found on some five hundred vases. they go back to about 700 b.c., the earliest names being found on corinthian and boeotian vases; but the majority of the signatures are found on attic black- and red-figured wares. some, such as andocides, made vases in which the two methods are combined. the best known is nicosthenes, whose signature occurs eighty times. the ordinary forms of signature are four--(1) [greek: ho deina epoiesen]; (2) [greek: ho deina hegrapsen ]; (3) [greek: ho deina hegrapse kahi epoiesen]; (4) a [greek: hegrapse]. b [greek: epoiesen]. where [greek: epoiese] alone occurs (as in a signature of euxitheus), it probably refers to the master of the pottery who designed the vase and superintended its production; in other cases the share of the actual artist is clearly indicated. some artists, such as duris and makron, sign [greek: hegrapse] alone; in all cases, the form of signature affords us a useful guide to their style. space forbids the discussion of other inscriptions found on vases, which include those descriptive of subjects or persons, ejaculations uttered by the figures, convivial exclamations, or the [greek: kalos] names discussed below; all these are painted on the designs themselves. there is also another class of _graffiti_ inscriptions, which includes those incised by the owners with their names and memoranda scratched under the foot, probably made by the potter or his workmen relating to the number of vases in a batch or \"set\" and their price. _vitreous and lead-glazed wares_.--in greek tombs a class of pottery is often found which approximates, more in appearance to porcelain, but, though often spoken of by that name, it is not porcelain at all, but is analogous to the egyptian glazed faience, of which it is in point of fact an imitation. it is distinguished by the white gritty material of which it is made, largely composed of sand, and forming what is sometimes known as \"frit\" from its semi-vitreous consistency. the surface is covered with a glaze, usually of a pale blue or cream colour, but other colours such as a manganese-purple or brown are sometimes found. some of the earliest examples of this ware have been found in mycenaean tombs at enkomi in cyprus, in the form of vases moulded in the shape of human or animal heads. these exhibit a remarkably advanced skill in modelling, and are more like greek work of the 6th century b.c. apart from the technique they have nothing in common with the egyptian importations so often found in mycenaean tombs. in a subsequent period (8th-7th century b.c.) egyptian objects in faience became a common import into greek cities, such as those of rhodes, and to a less degree in sardinia and southern italy, through the commercial medium of the phoenicians. flasks of faience occur in the polledrara tomb at vulci (610-600 b.c.) and similar vases with a pale green glaze at tharros in sardinia in tombs of the same date. in rhodes, small flasks and jars are found ornamented with friezes of men and animals in relief, or imitating in colour and design the glass vessels of the phoenicians. it also seems probable that the greeks of rhodes and other centres attempted the imitation of this ware (see fig. 19), for we find faience _aryballi_ or globular oil-flasks modelled in the form of helmeted heads or animals, which are purely greek in style. [illustration: fig. 19.--enamelled pottery from tombs in rhodes, made under egyptian influence.] in the hellenistic period the fashion was revived at alexandria, and under the ptolemies large jugs of blue-enamelled faience with figures in relief and bearing the names of reigning sovereigns were made and exported to the cyrenaica and to southern italy. two of these are in the british museum (egyptian department). the same collection includes a very beautiful glazed vase in the form of eros riding on a duck, found in a tomb at tanagra, but undoubtedly of alexandrine make, and a head of a ptolemaic queen, with a surface of bright blue glaze. subsequently in the 1st century b.c., this so-called porcelain ware was replaced by a variety of ware characterized by a brilliantly coloured glaze coating, in which the presence of lead is often indicated. this ware was principally made at three centres; at tarsus in asia minor, at alexandria and at lezoux in central gaul. but it was probably also made in western asia minor and in italy. it is not confined to vases, being also employed for lamps and small figures; the vases are usually of small size, in shapes imitated from metal (plate ii., fig. 59). the colour of the glaze varies from a deep green to bright yellow, and the inside of a vessel is often of a different tint from the exterior. many of these vases are decorated with figures or designs in relief, others are quite plain. the colours of these glazes are of course due to the addition of oxide of copper and oxide of iron to a lead glaze, and they are strictly analogous to the green and yellow glazes of medieval europe.[7] historical account of greek vase-painting.--it has been indicated in the section dealing with technical processes that greek vases may be classified under four headings according to the character of the decoration, and this classification may with a slight modification be adopted as a chronological one, the history of the art falling under four main heads, under which it will be convenient to describe its development from the earliest specimens of painted pottery down to the period when it was finally replaced by other methods of decoration. these four classes and their main characteristics may be summarized as follows:-- i. _vases of the primitive period_ from about 2500 or 2000 to 600 b.c., including both the cretan-mycenaean epoch and the early ages of historical greece. in the former the pottery is either decorated in polychrome on a shining black ground or conversely in shining black on a buff ground; in the latter, the decoration is in brown or black (usually dull, not shiny) on an unglazed ground varying from white to pale red. in the former again the decoration is marked by its naturalistic treatment of plant and animal forms; in the latter the ornaments are chiefly linear, floral or figures of animals; human figures and mythological scenes being very rare. ii. _black-figured vases_ from about 600-500 b.c.; figures painted in shining black on a glossy ground varying from cream colour to bright orange red, with engraved lines and white and purple for details; subjects mainly from mythology and legend. iii. _red-figured vases_, from 520 to 400 b.c.; figures drawn in outline on red clay and the background wholly filled in with shining black, inner details indicated by painted lines or dashes of purple and white, scenes from daily life or mythology. with these are included the vases with polychrome figures on white ground. in these, which are exclusively made at athens, the perfection of vase-painting is reached between 480 and 450 b.c. iv. _vases of the decadence_, from 400 to 200 b.c.; mostly from southern italy, technique as in class iii., but the drawing is free and often careless, and the general effect gaudy; subjects funereal, theatrical and fanciful. at the end of this period vases are largely replaced by plain shining black pottery modelled in various forms, or with decorations in relief, all these being imitations of the metal vases which began to take the place of painted wares in the estimation of the hellenistic world. i. _vases of the primitive period_.--it has been noted in the introductory section that it is possible to trace the development of pottery in greece as far back as the neolithic period, owing chiefly to the light recently thrown on the subject by the excavations in crete. these have yielded large quantities of painted pottery of high technical merit, usually with decoration in polychrome or white on a dark ground, in what is known as the kamares ware, covering the period 2500-1500 b.c. (fig. 20). this was gradually superseded by painting in dark shining pigments on a light glossy ground during the later minoan period (1500-1000 b.c.), forming what is known as the \"mycenaean\" style. the subjects, though chiefly confined to floral ornaments or aquatic plants and creatures, are marvellously naturalistic yet decorative in their treatment, often rivalling in this respect the pottery of the far east. in the latter part of this period this class of pottery was spread all over the mediterranean, and large quantities have been found in greece, especially at mycenae, in rhodes and other greek islands, and in cyprus, where a series of vases with animals, monsters, and even human figures shows what is probably the latest development of the pure minoan or mycenaean style. [illustration: from _annual of the british school at athens_. fig. 20.--minoan or \"kamares\" ware, from crete.] [illustration: fig. 21.--primitive black pottery from the troad.] outside crete the earliest greek pottery has been found in cyprus and at troy, with simple incised or painted patterns on a black polished ground, the vases being all hand-made, and often treated in a plastic fashion with rude modelling of human or animal forms (figs. 21, 22); these cover the period 2500-2000 b.c. early painted pottery, parallel with the kamares ware, has been found in thera and in the important cemeteries of phylakopi in melos. but until the general spread of mycenaean civilization and art in the latter half of the second millennium there is no site except crete where a continuous and successful development can be studied. [illustration: fig. 22.--primitive red pottery from the troad.] about the time which is represented in greek tradition by the dorian invasion (1100 b.c.) the then decadent mycenaean civilization was replaced by a new one much more backward in development, making pottery of a far simpler and more conventional type, the decoration being largely confined to geometrical patterns to the exclusion of motives derived from plant forms. this is usually known as the geometrical style, and the pottery covers the period from about 1000 to 700 b.c. it is found all over the mainland and islands of greece, and exhibits a certain development towards a more advanced stage. the patterns include the chevron, the triangle, the key or maeander, and the circle, in various combinations, painted in dull black on a brown ground. in most places the art advanced no further, but in boeotia, and still more at athens, we can trace the gradual growth of decorative skill, first in the introduction of animals, and then in the appearance of the human figure. in the athenian cemetery outside the dipylon gate a series of colossal vases has come to light, on which are painted such subjects as sea-fights and funeral processions. the human figures are exceedingly rude and conventional, painted almost entirely in silhouette, but there is a distinct striving after artistic effect in the composition and arrangement. in boeotia the vases do not advance beyond the animal stage, and many exhibit a tendency to decadence in their carelessness, as contrasted with the painstaking helplessness of the athenian artists. [illustration: fig. 23.--vase with bands of animals, oriental in style, (british museum.)] [illustration: fig. 24.--ionic amphora, with contest between heracles and hera, and bands of birds and animals; black, with incised lines.] in ionia and the islands of the aegean such as rhodes, the art of vase-painting from the first carried on the mycenaean tradition, and was distinguished by its naturalism and originality, and by the bold and diverse effects produced by variety of colour or novelty of subject. the ornamentation is at first elementary, consisting of friezes of animals, especially lions, deer and goats (figs. 23 and 24). these figures stand out sharply in black against the creamy buff ground which is characteristic of nearly all ionic pottery, and details are brought out by means of engraved lines, patches of purplish iron pigment, or by drawing parts of the figures, especially the heads, in outline on the clay ground. another feature is the general use of small ornaments such as rosettes and crosses in great variety of form to cover the background and avoid the vacant spaces which the greek artist abhorred. the system of decoration has been thought to owe much to assyrian textile fabrics. one of the best though most advanced examples of early ionic pottery is a _pinax_ or plate from rhodes in the british museum, on which is represented the combat of menelaus and hector over the body of euphorbus (fig. 25); their names are inscribed over the figures, and this is almost the earliest known instance of a mythological subject, the date of the painting being not later than 600 b.c. to a slightly later date belongs another remarkable group of cups with figures on a white ground, probably made at cyrene in north africa. of these the most famous has a painting in the interior, of arcesilaus ii., king of cyrene from 580 to 550 b.c., weighing goods for export in a ship. others have mythological subjects, such as zeus, atlas and prometheus, cadmus and pelops. but these vases, though still retaining the older technique, really belong to the second class, that of black-figured vases, and they belong to a time when in all ionian centres this method was being superseded by the new technique which corinth had introduced and athens perfected, to the consideration of which we must return. [illustration: fig. 25.--early inscribed pinax from rhodes, with contest of menelaus and hector over the body of euphorbus.] for some 150 years corinth almost monopolized the industry of pottery on the west of the aegean. large numbers of examples have been found in or near the city itself, many bearing inscriptions in the peculiar local alphabet. they show a continuous progress from the simplest ornamentation to fully-developed black-figured wares. in the earliest (plate i. fig. 52) oriental influence is very marked, the surface being so covered with the figures and patterns that the background disappears and the designs are at times almost unintelligible. the general effect is thus that of a rich oriental tapestry, and the subjects are largely chosen from the fantastic and monstrous creations of assyrian art, such as the sphinx and gryphon. the vases are mostly small, the ground varies from cream to yellow, and the figures are painted in black and purple. both in ionia and at corinth during the early part of the 6th century the same tendencies are seen to be at work, tending to a unification of styles under the growing influence of athens. in ionia (see above) figure subjects become more common, and the technique approaches gradually nearer to the black-figure method. similarly at corinth the ground ornaments diminish and disappear, the friezes of animals are restricted to the borders of the designs, and human figures are introduced, first singly, then in friezes or groups, and finally engaged in some definite action such as combats or hunting scenes. in the last stages greek myths and legends are freely employed. a new development, traditionally associated with the painter eumarus of athens, was the distinguishing of female figures by the use of white for flesh tints. a somewhat similar development was in progress at athens, though represented by comparatively few vases. here the adoption of corinthian and ionian technical improvements evolved by the middle of the 6th century the fully developed black-figure style which by degrees supplanted or assimilated all other schools. ii. _black-figured vases_.--at the head of this new development stands the famous francois vase at florence, found at chiusi in 1844 (plate i. fig. 53). its shape is that of a _krater_ or mixing-bowl, and it bears the signatures of its maker and decorator in the form \"ergotimos made me, klitias painted me.\" it might be described as a greek mythology in miniature, with its numerous subjects and groups of figures all from legendary sources such as the stories of peleus, theseus and meleager, or the return of hephaestus to heaven. all the figures have their names inscribed. the general technique of the black-figured vases has already been described. it may be noted as a chronological guide that the use of purple for details is much commoner in the earlier vases, white in the later, but towards the end of the century when the new fashion of red figures was gaining ground, both colours were almost entirely dropped. the drawing of the figures is, as might be expected, somewhat stiff and conventional, though it advanced considerably in freedom before the style went out of fashion. many vases, otherwise carefully and delicately executed, are marred by an excess of mannerism and affectation, as in the works of the artists amasis and exekias (plate i. fig. 54). the treatment of drapery is a good indication of date, ranging from flat masses of colour to oblique flowing lines of angular falling folds. the shapes most commonly employed by the athenian potters of this period are the _amphora, hydria, kylix, oinochoe_ and _lekythos,_ the first-named being the most popular. a special class of _amphorae_ is formed by the panathenaic vases, which were given as prizes in the athenian games, and were adorned with a figure of the patron goddess athena on one side and a representation of the contest in which they were won on the other (fig. 26). they usually bear the inscription [greek: ton athenethen athlon eimiruv] \"i am (a prize) from the games at athens.\" some of these can be dated by the names of athenian archons which they bear, as late as the 4th century, the old method of painting in black figures with a stiff conventional pose for the goddess being retained for religious reasons. fig. 26.--panathenaic amphora. the chief interest of the black-figured vases is really derived from their subjects, which range over every conceivable field, the proportion of myth and legend to scenes from daily life being much greater than in the succeeding period. they include groups of olympian and other deities, and the various scenes in which they take part, such as the battle of the gods and giants, or the birth of athena (treated in a very conventional manner, as on a fine _amphora_ in the british museum); dionysus and his attendant satyrs and maenads, the labours and exploits of heracles and other heroes, subjects taken from the tale of troy and other less familiar legends; and scenes from daily life, battle scenes, athletics, the chase and so on. the same classification of course holds good for the later periods of vase-painting, with some exceptions. the proportion of genre-scenes subsequently becomes greater, and some myths disappear, others rise into prominence, new deities such as eros (love), and nik[=e] (victory) appear for the first time, and, generally speaking, the later subjects are characterized by a sentimentality or tendency to emotion which is entirely foreign to the conventional stereotyped compositions of the 6th century artist. a remarkable feature of the subjects on black-figured vases is that a stereotyped form of composition is invariably adopted at least for the principal figures, but minor variations are generally to be found, as, for instance, in the number of bystanders; and it is almost an impossibility to find any two vase-paintings which are exact duplicates. the form of the composition, was partly determined by the field available for the design; when this took the form of a long frieze the space was filled up with a series of spectators or the repetition of typical groups, but when the design is on a framed panel or confined by ornamental borders the method of treatment is adapted from that of a sculptured metope, and the figures limited to two or three. in many cases it is difficult to decide, in the absence of inscriptions, whether or no a scene has mythological signification; the mythological types are over and over again adopted for scenes of ordinary life, even to the divine attributes or poses of certain figures. [illustration: vase by andocides. black figures on obverse. vase by andocides. red figures on reverse. fig. 27.] among the artists of the period who have left their names on the vases, besides those already mentioned, the most conspicuous is nicosthenes, a potter of some originality, from whose hand we have over seventy examples, a few being in the red-figure method. he is supposed to have introduced at athens a revival of the ionic fashion of painting on a cream-coloured ground instead of on red, of which some very effective examples have been preserved. he was always a potter rather than a painter, and most of his vases are remarkable for their forms--introducing plastic imitations of metal vases--rather than for their painted decoration. most of the artists of this period, as in the succeeding one, have left their signatures on cups (_kylikes_), but this form did not receive so much attention from the painter as at a later period, and many of these examples bear only inscriptions and no painted decoration. iii. _red-figured vases._--the sudden reversal of technical method involved in the change from black figures on a red ground to red figures on black is not at first sight easy of explanation. some artists, like nicosthenes and andocides, used both methods, sometimes on the same vase, and there is no doubt that the two went on for some years concurrently. as, however, no intermediate stage is possible, there is no question of development or transition. the new style was in fact a bold and ingenious innovation. it may possibly have been suggested by a small class of vases in which the figures are painted in the black-figure _method_, but have the converse appearance, that is to say they are painted in a thick red pigment on a ground of shining black. it may therefore have occurred to the artist that he could obtain the same effect merely by leaving the figures unpainted on the red clay and surrounding them with the black. the change, must, however, be closely associated with the career of the artist andocides, who not only produced vases in each method, but also several in which the two are combined (fig. 27). in two or three cases the subject is actually the same on each side, almost every detail being repeated, except that the colouring is reversed. the date at which the change took place was formerly placed well on in the 5th century, on account of the great advance in drawing which most of the red-figured vases show, as compared with the black. they were thus regarded as contemporary with the painter polygnotus, if not with pheidias. but the excavations on the acropolis of athens yielded so many fragments in the advanced red-figured style which must be earlier than 480 b.c., that it has become necessary to find an earlier date for its appearance. this is now usually placed at about 520 b.c., overlapping with the preceding period. the red-figure period is usually subdivided into four, marking the chief stages of development, and known respectively as the \"severe,\" \"strong,\" \"fine,\" and \"late fine\" periods. their principal characteristics and representative painters may be briefly enumerated. in the _severe_ period there is no marked advance on the black-figured vases as regards style. the figures are still more or less stiff and conventional, and some vases even show signs of an analogous decadence. the real development is partly technical, partly in the introduction of new subjects. although the change of style probably had its actual origin in the _amphora_, as treated by andocides, the new developments are best seen in the _kylix_, a form of vase which now sprang into popularity and called forth the chief efforts of the principal artists. its curved surface gave ample scope for skilful effects of drawing and decorative arrangement, and the earlier painters devoted all their attention to perfecting it as a work of decorative art. for other shapes, such as the _hydria_, and _lekythos_, the old method was for a time preferred. the most typical artist of the period was epictetus, and other famous cup-painters were pamphaeus, cachrylion and phintias. the earliest cups are decorated in a quite simple fashion like those of the black-figure period, often with a single figure each side between two large \"symbolical\" eyes, and a single figure in a circle in the interior. to the latter the artist at first devoted his chief efforts, though even here his scope was at first limited. but although he had not yet attained to skill in composition, he did discover that the circular space was well adapted for exhibiting his newly-acquired abilities as a draughtsman and for disposing figures in ingeniously conceived attitudes. in all cases the object was to fill the space as far as possible, a characteristic of all the best greek art. by degrees more attention was paid to the designs on the exterior, and the single figures were replaced by groups, but regular compositions in the form of friezes telling some story were not introduced until quite the end of this period. epictetus was throughout his career a thoroughly \"archaic\" artist, but a considerable advance was made by cachrylion, who stands on the verge of the succeeding stage. the _strong_ period centres round the name of euphronius, the author of a really great artistic movement. his capacity for inventing new subjects or new poses--or otherwise overcoming technical and artistic difficulties--marks a great advance on all previous achievements, and he seems to represent the stage of development traditionally associated with the painter cimon of cleonae, the inventor of foreshortening and other novelties. thus figures were no longer represented exclusively in profile, as in the black-figured vases which had made no advance beyond the conventions of egyptian art. ten vases signed by him are in existence (though it is not certain that all were actually painted by him), most of them having mythological subjects (fig. 28). [illustration: fig. 28.--cup by euphronius.] of his contemporaries, duris, hieron and brygus take foremost rank, all three being, like euphronius, essentially cup-painters, though they use other forms at times. for decorative effect and beauty of composition their vases have never been surpassed. as an example we may quote a _kotyle_ or beaker in the british museum signed by hieron, with a group of eleusinian deities. the larger vases of this period are more rarely signed, but many of them rival the cups in execution, though the subjects are characterized by greater simplicity and largeness of style. [illustration: fig. 29.--hydria by meidias in the style of polygnotus.] in _the fine_ style (460-440 b.c.) breadth of effect and dignity are aimed at, and although cup-painting had passed its zenith, and signed specimens become rarer, yet, considering the red-figured vases as a whole, this period exhibits the perfection of technique and drawing. in many of the larger vases the scenes are of a pictorial character, landscape being introduced, with figures ranged at different levels, and herein we may see a reflection of the style of the painter polygnotus. one of the finest cups in this style is in the berlin museum, it is signed by the artists erginus and aristophanes, and the subject is the battle of the gods and giants. to the end of the period belongs a beautiful _hydria_ in the british museum by the painter meidias with subjects from greek legend in two friezes (fig. 29). generally speaking, there is a reaction in favour of mythological subjects. in the _late fine_ style, which begins about 440 b.c., the pictorial effect is preserved, but with perfected skill in drawing the compositions deteriorate greatly in merit, and become at once over-refined and careless. the figures are crowded together without meaning or interest. the fashion also arose of enhancing the designs by means of accessory colours--almost unknown in the previous stages--such as white laid on in masses, blue and green, and even with gilding. athletic and mythological subjects yield place to scenes from the life of women and children or meaningless groups of figures (fig. 30). a good example of this style is an _amphora_ from rhodes with the subject of peleus wooing thetis, in which polychrome colouring and gilding are introduced. there are also many imposing and elaborate specimens found (and perhaps made) in the colonies of the crimea and the cyrenaica; in particular one signed by xenophantus with the persian king hunting, and another representing the contest of athena and poseidon for the soil of attica, both from the crimea. contemporary with the red-figure method is one in which the figures are painted on a white slip or _engobe_ resembling pipe-clay, with which the whole surface was covered; the figures are drawn in outline in red or black, and partly filled in with washes of colour, chiefly red, purplish red, or brown, but sometimes also with blue or green. this style seems to have been popular about the middle of the 5th century b.c. and was employed for the funeral _lekythoi_ which came into fashion at athens about that time. these vases, which form a class by themselves, were made specially for funeral ceremonies and were painted with subjects relating to the tomb, such as the laying-out of the corpse on the bier, the ferrying of the dead over the styx by charon, or (most frequently) mourners bringing offerings to the tomb (fig. 31). they continued to be made well on into the 4th century, but the later examples are very degenerate and careless. of other forms, especially the _kylix_ and the _pyxis_ (toilet-box), some exceedingly beautiful specimens have come down to us, which show a delicacy of drawing and firmness of touch never surpassed, although the lines were probably only drawn with a brush. the technique of these vases may reflect the methods of the painter polygnotus and his contemporaries, who used a limited number of colours on a white ground. among them no finer specimen exists than the cup in the british museum with aphrodite riding on a goose; the design is entirely in brown outlines, and the drawing, if slightly archaic, full of grace and refinement. [illustration: fig. 30.--painting from a small toilet-box or pyxis, showing painted vases used to decorate a lady's room. on the left is a gilt pyxis with a tall lid, and an oenochoe on a low table; on the right two tall vases (lebes) on a plinth. all except the pyxis are decorated with painted figures, and contain flowers.] in the subjects on red-figured vases we do not find the same variety of choice as on the black-figured, but on the other hand there is infinitely greater freedom of treatment. the stereotyped form of composition is almost entirely discarded, and each painter forms his own conception of his subject. the class of slim _amphorae_, known as \"nolan\" from the place where they were mostly found, are distinguished by having the design limited to one or at most two figures on each side, often on a large scale; these vases are also famous for the marvellous brilliance of their shining black (fig. 32). towards the middle of the 5th century the patriotism of the athenian artist finds expression in the growing importance which he attaches to local legends, especially those of theseus, the typical attic hero. he seems to have been regarded as the typical athenian athlete or _ephebus_, and his contests as analogous to episodes of the gymnasium. hence the grouping on some vases of scenes from his labours are like so many groups of athletes (fig. 33), and hence, too, a general tendency of the red-figured vases, especially the cups, to become a sort of glorification of the attic _ephebus_, the representations of whom in all sorts of occupations are out of all proportion to other subjects. [illustration: fig. 31.--funeral lekythos showing vases placed inside tomb.] we find evidence of this, too, in another form. many vases, especially the cups of the \"severe\" and \"strong\" periods, bear names of persons inscribed on the designs with the word [greek: kalos], \"fair\" or \"noble,\" attached; sometimes merely, \"the boy is fair.\" the exact meaning of this practice has been much discussed, but evidence seems to show that the persons celebrated must have been quite young at the time, and were probably youths famous for their beauty or athletic prowess. some of the names are those of historical characters, such as hipparchus, miltiades or alcibiades, and, though they cannot always be identified with these celebrated personages, enough evidence has been obtained to be of great value for the chronology of the vases, further, the practice of the vase-painter of adopting his own particular favourite name or set of names has enabled us to increase our knowledge of the characteristics of individual artists by identifying unsigned vases with the work of particular schools. iv. _vases of the decadence_.--for all practical purposes the red-figure style at athens came to an end with the fall of the city in 404 b.c. painted vases did not then altogether cease to be made, as the panathenaic prize vases and the funeral _lekythoi_ testify, but at the same time a rapid decadence set in. the whole tendency of the 4th century b.c. in greece was one of decentralization, and the art of vase-painting was no exception, for we find that there must have been a general migration of craftsmen from athens, not only to the crimea and to north africa, but also to southern italy, which now becomes the chief centre of vase production. here there were many rich and flourishing greek colonies or grecianized towns, such as tarentum, paestum and capua, ready to welcome the new art as an addition to their many luxuries. in the character of the vases of this period we see their tendencies reflected, especially in their splendid or showy aspect; the only aim being size and gaudy colouring. the general method of painting remains that of the athenian red-figure vases, but with entire loss of simplicity or refinement, either in the ornamentation, the choice of colours, or the drawing of the figures. large masses of white are invariably employed, especially for the flesh of women or of eros, the universally present god of love, and for architectural details. yellow is introduced for details of hair or features, and in attempts at shading, nor is a dull iron-purple uncommon. the reverses of the vases, when they have subjects, are devoid of all accessory colouring, and the figures are drawn with the greatest carelessness, as if not intended to be seen. there is throughout a lavish use of ornamental patterns such as palmettes, wreaths of leaves, or ornaments strewn over the field (a reversion to an old practice). [illustration: fig. 32.--\"nolan\" amphora by euxitheus (c. 450 b.c.), figure of briseis; the other side has achilles.] the drawing, having now become entirely free, errs in the opposite extreme; the forms are soft and the male figures often effeminate. the fanciful and richly-embroidered draperies of the figures and the frequent architectural settings seem to indicate that theatrical representations exercised much influence on the vase-painters. the great painters of the 4th century may also have contributed their share of inspiration, but rather perhaps in the subjects chosen than in regard to style; though the effect of many scenes on the larger vases is decidedly pictorial, they are chiefly remarkable for their emotional and dramatic themes. the influence of the stage is twofold, for tragedy as well as comedy plays its part. many subjects are taken directly, others indirectly, from the plays of euripides, such as the _medea_, _hecuba_ (plate ii. fig. 60), or _hercules furens_, and the arrangement of the scenes is essentially theatrical. the influence of comedy is seen in subjects derived from the _phlyakes_, a kind of farce or burlesque popular in southern italy, and here again the setting is adapted from the stage, some vases having parodies of myths, others comic scenes of daily life. many vases of this period, especially those of large size, were expressly designed for funeral purposes. some of these bear representations of the underworld, with groups of figures undergoing punishment. on others shrines or tombs are depicted--sometimes containing effigies of the deceased, at which the relatives make offerings--as on the athenian _lekythoi_. but by far the greater portion of the subjects are taken from daily life, many of these being of a purely fanciful and meaningless character like the designs on sevres or meissen china; the commonest type is that of a young man and a woman exchanging presents, the presence of eros implying that they are scenes of courtship. the vases of this period are usually grouped in three or four different types, corresponding to the ancient districts of lucania, campania and apulia, each with its special features of technique, drawing and subjects. in lucanian vases the drawing is bold and restrained, more akin to that of the attic vases; in campania a fondness for polychromy is combined with careless execution. in apulia a tendency to magnificence exemplified in the great funeral and theatrical vases is followed by a period of decadence characterized by small vases of fantastic form with purely decorative subjects. besides these we have the school of paestum, represented by two artists who have left their names on their vases, assteas and python. a well-known example of the work of the former is a _krater_ in madrid with heracles destroying his children, a theatrical and quasi-grotesque composition, and there is a fine example of python's work in a _krater_ in the british museum, with alkmena, the mother of heracles, placed on the funeral pyre by her husband amphitryon, and rain-nymphs quenching the flames (plate i. fig. 55). [illustration: fig. 33.--cup with exploits of theseus.] about the end of the 3rd century b.c. the manufacture of painted vases would seem to have been rapidly dying out in italy, as had long been the case elsewhere, and their place is taken by unpainted vases modelled in the form of animals and human figures, or ornamented with stamped and moulded reliefs. these in their turn gave way to the arretine and so-called \"samian\" red wares of the roman period. in all these wares we see a tendency to the imitation of metal vases, which, with the growth of luxury in the hellenistic age, had entirely replaced painted pottery both for use and ornament; the pottery of the period is reduced to a subordinate and utilitarian position, merely supplying the demands of those in the humbler spheres of life. _collections_.--the majority of the painted vases now in existence are to be found in the various public museums and collections of europe, of which the largest and most important are the british museum, the louvre and the berlin museum. next to these come the collections at athens, naples, munich, vienna, rome and st petersburg; isolated specimens of importance are to be found in other museums, as at florence, madrid or the bibliotheque nationale at paris. most of the great private collections of the two preceding centuries have now been dispersed. in recent years the boston museum has raised america to a level with europe in this respect; and the metropolitan museum at new york contains a vast collection of cypriote pottery. literature.--important original articles are to be found in various archaeological journals such as _american journal of archaeology_ (1885, &c); _annual of the british school at athens_ (1894, &c.); _athenische mitteilungen_ (1876, &c.); _bulletin de correspondance hellenique_ (1877, &c.); _comptes rendus de la commission imperiale archeologique_ (st petersburg, 1859-1888); _gazette archeologique_ (paris, 1875-1889); _jahrbuch des kaiserlichen deutschen archaologischen instituts, berlin_ (1886, &c.); _journal of hellenic studies_ (1880, &c.); _monumenti antichi_ (milan, 1890, &c.); _monuments grecs_ (paris, 1872-1898); _monuments piot_ (paris, 1894, &c.); _revue archeologique_ (paris, 1844, &c.). the older works have been recently superseded by important publications embodying the latest views such as hartwig, _die griechischen meisterschalen des strengen rotfigurigen stils_ (1893); louvre, _catalogue des vases antiques de terre cuite_, by e. pottier (1896, &c.); s. reinach, _repertoire des vases peints_ (paris, 1899-1900); h. b. walters, _history of ancient pottery_ (greek, etruscan and roman), 1905, with an excellent bibliographical list; also art. \"hischylos\" in _j.h.s._ xxix. (1909) p. 103. etruscan pottery--parallel with the development of the art of pottery in greece runs the course of the art in etruria, though with far inferior results; in its later stages it is actually no more than a feeble imitation of the greek. the period of time which we must consider extends from the bronze age (1000 b.c. or earlier) down to the 3rd century b.c., when etruscan civilization was merged into roman. the earliest civilization traced in italy is not, strictly speaking, etruscan, but may perhaps be more accurately styled \"umbrian.\" it is usually referred to as the \"terramare\" period from the remains discovered in that district in the basin of the po. these people were lake-dwellers, barely removed from the neolithic stage of culture, and their pottery was of the rudest kind, hand-made and roughly baked. cups and pots have been found sometimes with simple decoration in the form of knobs or bosses, and many have a crescent-shaped handle serving as a support for the thumb. the next period, the earliest which can be spoken of as \"etruscan,\" is known as the \"villanova\" period, from a site of that name near bologna, or as the period of pit-tombs (_a pozzo_), from the form of the graves in which the pottery has been found (see villanova). it begins with the 9th century b.c. and lasts for about two hundred years. the pit-tombs usually contain large cinerary urns or _ossuaria_ (containing the ashes of the dead), fashioned by hand from a badly-levigated volcanic clay known as _impasto italico_. these vessels were irregularly baked in an open fire, and the colour of the surface varies from red-brown to greyish black. they appear to have been covered with a polished slip, intended to give the vases a metallic appearance. the shape of the urns is peculiar, but uniform; they have a small handle at the widest part and a cover in the form of an inverted bowl with handle (plate iii. fig. 63). their ornamentation consists of incised or stamped geometrical ornaments formed in the moist clay in bands round the neck and body; more rarely patterns painted in white are found. common pottery is also found showing little advance on that of the terramare period except in variety of decoration. the technique and ornament are the same as in the case of the urns. they correspond in development, though not in date, to the early pottery of troy and cyprus, as well as to the primitive pottery of other races, but one marked difference is the general fondness of the italian potter for vases with handles. sometimes the cinerary urns take the form of huts (_tuguria_), though these are more often found in the neighbourhood of rome. one of the best examples is in the british museum; it still contains ashes which were inserted through a little door secured by a cord passing through rings. the ornamentation suggests the rude carpentry of a primitive hut, the cover or roof being vaulted with raised ridges to represent the beams. the surface is polished, and other specimens are occasionally painted with patterns in white. in the next stage a change is seen in the form of the tombs, the pit being replaced by a trench; this is accordingly known as the \"trench-tomb\" or _a fossa_ period, and extends from the 8th century b.c. to the beginning of the 6th. importations of greek pottery now first make their appearance. the character of the local pottery actually remains for some time the same as that of the preceding period, but it improves in technique. by degrees an improvement in the forms is also noted, and new varieties of ornamentation are introduced; there is, however, no evidence that the wheel was used. two entirely new classes of pottery are found at cervetri (caere) belonging to the 7th century. one consists of large jars ([greek: pithoi]) of red ware, the lower part being moulded in ribs, while the upper has bands of design stamped round it in groups or friezes. these designs were either produced from single stamps or rolled out from cylinders like those used in babylonia. the subjects are usually quasi-oriental in character, and it is not certain that this ware was made in etruria, especially as similar vases have been found in rhodes and sicily; either it was imported, or it was a local imitation of greek models. the other class is similar as regards the shapes and the nature of the clay, but is distinguished by having painted subjects in white outlines on a red glossy ground. the clay, a kind of _impasto italico_, was first hardened by baking, and then a mixture of wax, resin and iron oxide was applied and polished; on this the pigments, a mixture of chalk and earth, were laid. the subjects are from greek mythology or are at least greek in character, but the technique is purely etruscan, and the drawing is crude and un-greek in the extreme. the fourth period shows a close continuity with the third; but the difference is defined firstly by the appearance of a new type of tomb in the form of a chamber (_a camera_), secondly, by the all-pervading influence of oriental art, and to a less extent of that of the greeks. the period extends from about 650 to 550 b.c., and is further marked by the general introduction of the wheel into etruria and by the appearance of inscriptions in an alphabet derived from western greece. in the earlier tombs the typical local pottery is of hand-made _impasto italico_ resembling that of the previous periods; in the later we find what is known as _bucchero_ ware--the national pottery of etruria--which is made on the wheel and baked in a furnace, and shows a marked tendency to imitate metal. to this period also belongs the famous polledrara tomb or grotto d'lside at vulci, the contents of which are now in the british museum and include some remarkable specimens of pottery. it dates from about 620-610 b.c. the most remarkable of the vases is a _hydria_, of reddish-brown clay covered with a lustrous black slip on which have been painted designs in red, blue and a yellowish white. the colours have unfortunately now almost disappeared, and it is doubtful if they had been fired. the principal subject is from the story of theseus and ariadne. this tomb also contained a large wheel-made _pithos_ of red _impasto_ ware with designs painted in polychrome. in the regulini-galassi tomb at cervetri (about 650 b.c.) large cauldrons of red glossy ware were found, with gryphons' heads projecting all round, to which chains were attached. a similar cauldron from falerii on a high open-work stand is now in the british museum. we now come to the _bucchero_ ware, which is characteristic of the later portion of this period, though the earliest examples go back to the end of the 7th century. its main feature is the black paste of which it is composed, covered with a more or less shining black slip. modern experiments seem to indicate that the clay was smoked or fumigated in a closed chamber after baking, becoming thereby blackened throughout, and the surface was then polished with wax and resin. analyses of the ware have proved that it contains carbon and that it had been lightly fired. the oldest _bucchero_ vases are small and hand-made, sometimes with incised geometrical patterns engraved with a sharp tool like metal-work. oriental influence then appears in a series of chalice-shaped cups found at cervetri with friezes of animals. from about 560 b.c. onwards the vases are all wheel-made, with ornaments in relief either stamped from a cylinder or composed of separate medallions attached to the vase. the subjects range from animals or monsters to winged deities or suppliants making offerings (fig. 34); in other cases we find meaningless groups of figures or plant forms. these types are found chiefly in southern etruria, but at chiusi (_clusium_) a more elaborate variety found favour from about 500 to 300 b.c. the shapes are very varied and the ornament covers the vase from top to bottom, the covers of the vases being also frequently modelled in various forms. the figures are stamped from moulds, incised designs being added to fill up the spaces. the range of subjects is much widened, including scenes from greek mythology and oriental types combining egyptian and assyrian motives, which must have been introduced by the phoenicians. [illustration: fig. 34.--etruscan oinochoe, of black bucchero ware, with figures in relief. (british museum.)] thus the technique of the _bucchero_ wares is purely native, but the decoration is entirely dependent on foreign types whether greek or oriental, and throughout the whole series the tendency to imitate metal-work is to be observed in every detail, both in the forms and in the methods of decoration. some are mere counterparts of existing work in bronze. the last variety of peculiarly etruscan pottery which calls for notice is the canopic jar, so called from its resemblance to the [greek: kanopoi] in which the egyptians placed the bowels of their mummies. they are rude representations of the human figure, the head forming the cover, and in the tombs were placed on round chairs of wood, bronze or terra-cotta. an example of such a jar on a bronze-plated chair may be seen in the etruscan room of the british museum (plate iii. fig. 65). their origin has been traced to the funeral masks found in the earliest etruscan tombs. from these a gradual transition may be observed from the mask (1) placed on the corpse, (2) on the cinerary urn, (3) the head modelled in the round and combined with the vase, and (4) at last the complete human figure. the earliest of these jars are found in the \"pit-tombs\" of the 8th century b.c., and the latest and most developed types belong to the 5th century b.c. the skill shown by the etruscans in metal-work and gem-engraving never extended to their pottery, which is always purely imitative, especially when they attempted painted vases after the greek fashion. the kinds already described are all more or less plastic in character and imitative of metal, except in the case of the cervetri and polledrara finds, which have little in common with anything greek, and exhibit a quite undeveloped art. but towards the end of the 6th century b.c., when greek vases were coming into the country in large numbers, attempts were made to imitate the black-figure style, especially of a particular class of ionian vases. imitations of these are to be found in most museums and may be readily recognized as etruscan from peculiarities of style, drawing and subject, as well as their inferior technique (fig. 35). [illustration: fig. 35.--etruscan amphora imitating greek style; parting scene of alcestis and admetus, with etruscan inscriptions.] at a later date (4th-3rd century b.c.) they began to copy red-figured vases with similarly unsuccessful results. with the exception of a small class of a somewhat ambitious character made at falerii (civita castellana), of which there is a good example in the british museum with the subject of the infant heracles strangling the serpents, they are all marked by their inferior material and finish and their bizarre decoration. the style is often repulsive and disagreeable, as well as ineffective, and the grim etruscan deities, such as charun, are generally introduced. some of these vases have painted inscriptions in the etruscan alphabet. the latest specimens positively degenerate into barbarism. painted vases of native manufacture are also found in the extreme south of italy and have been attributed to the indigenous races of the peucetians and messapians; their decoration is partly geometrical, partly in conventional plant forms, and is the result of natural development rather than of imitation of greek types. some of the shapes are characteristic, especially a large four-handled _krater_. they cover the period 600-450 b.c., after which they were ousted by the graeco-italian productions we have already described. roman pottery.--roman vases are far inferior to greek; the shapes are less artistic, and the decoration, though sometimes not without merits of its own, owes most of its success to the imitation or adaptation of motives learnt from earlier grecian, egyptian or syrian potters. they required only the skill of the potter for their completion, and, being made by processes largely mechanical, they are altogether on a lower scale of artistic production. it has been noted that during a certain period--namely, the 3rd and 2nd centuries b.c.--ceramic art had reached the same stage of evolution all round the mediterranean, painted pottery had been ousted by metal-work, and such vases as continued to be made were practically imitations of metal both in greece and italy. these latter we must regard as representing ordinary household pottery, or as supplying to those who could not afford to adorn their houses and temples with costly works in metal, a humble but fairly efficient substitute. there is a terra-cotta bowl of the 2nd century b.c. in the british museum which is an exact replica of a chased silver bowl with reliefs in the same collection, and may serve as an illustration of this condition of things (plate ii. fig. 56). these imitations of metal were largely made in southern italy, a district which enjoyed close artistic relations with etruria, and we have already seen that the same principle had long been in vogue among the etruscans. hence it is not surprising that an important centre of pottery manufacture should have sprung up in etruria, in the and century",
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