DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.847#0235
216 TARQUINIA.
and soil from ruining it. The painted chambers
were found dry and clean, with their colours
brilliant, and in some the sarcophagi remained
untouched, as in the one at Monterone, and in
the Grotto Marzi; and in many there are quan-
tities of vases, as in the one we opened at Veii; the
imperial or gothic thieves having only taken away
such articles as were prized in their day; gold and
jewels of course, scarabei, which the Romans wore
for ornament, and very fine vases or tazze. At Veii
we found, as I have said, about twenty vases, every
one of which, though coarse, was worth something;
and in the opened and reclosed tombs of Tarquinia,
Vulci, and all around, are found such bronzes, arms,
and terra cotta, as former barbarians or antiquarians
thought it not worth their while to remove, though
very well worth the trouble now. Broken vases,
in particular, of the rarest beauty, are found; and
these are put together in Rome and Naples with so
much art that the joinings and restorations can only
be detected upon careful examination by very prac-
tised hands, and to foreigners in the mass are quite
invisible. I could never perceive them, though they
were shown me; but I had great satisfaction in
finding that every dealer saw them, and could point
them out at once. Such vases sell in both capitals
for nearly, if not quite as high a price, as if they had
been found unbroken. They reason that the pieces
of a broken vase are as genuine and ancient as those
of an unbroken one; the clay as fine, the enamel
as bright, the subject and the inscription, if any, as
and soil from ruining it. The painted chambers
were found dry and clean, with their colours
brilliant, and in some the sarcophagi remained
untouched, as in the one at Monterone, and in
the Grotto Marzi; and in many there are quan-
tities of vases, as in the one we opened at Veii; the
imperial or gothic thieves having only taken away
such articles as were prized in their day; gold and
jewels of course, scarabei, which the Romans wore
for ornament, and very fine vases or tazze. At Veii
we found, as I have said, about twenty vases, every
one of which, though coarse, was worth something;
and in the opened and reclosed tombs of Tarquinia,
Vulci, and all around, are found such bronzes, arms,
and terra cotta, as former barbarians or antiquarians
thought it not worth their while to remove, though
very well worth the trouble now. Broken vases,
in particular, of the rarest beauty, are found; and
these are put together in Rome and Naples with so
much art that the joinings and restorations can only
be detected upon careful examination by very prac-
tised hands, and to foreigners in the mass are quite
invisible. I could never perceive them, though they
were shown me; but I had great satisfaction in
finding that every dealer saw them, and could point
them out at once. Such vases sell in both capitals
for nearly, if not quite as high a price, as if they had
been found unbroken. They reason that the pieces
of a broken vase are as genuine and ancient as those
of an unbroken one; the clay as fine, the enamel
as bright, the subject and the inscription, if any, as