Smith, Cecil Harcourt; British Museum <London> [Hrsg.]: Catalogue of the Greek and Etruscan Vases in the British Museum (Band 3): Vases of the finest period (London, 1896)

PREFACE.

This volume of the Vase Catalogue has been prepared and partly corrected
for the press by Mr. Cecil H. Smith. I have revised it and written several
of the descriptions. In Mr. Smith's absence in Greece it has been finally seen
through the press by myself, with valuable assistance from Mr. A. H. Smith,
and especially from Mr. H. B. Walters, both of this department. The Index
is by Mr. Walters.

In the Introduction Mr. Cecil' Smith has stated, with all necessary
detail, the various questions of archaeological importance which have arisen
in recent years, with regard to the period of vase painting covered by this
volume. Among these questions are: (i) the possibility of obtaining more
accurate dates than hitherto for the considerable series of vases on which
occur names identical with those of historical persons, for example, Miltiades,
■Leagros, etc. ; (2) the extent to which unsigned vases may be attributed
to known painters or to particular schools ; and (3) the several stages through
which the art passed in the course of the period here dealt with.

In regard to the Illustrations, it should be explained that the best of
the vases described in this volume have been reproduced in two Museum
publications, viz., the Designs from Greek Vases, 1894, and the White Athenian
Vases, 1896. Of the rest, the most interesting will be found in the plates which
accompany this volume.

A. S. Murray.

Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities,
1 March, 1896.