DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5674#0019
Cm)
Ink, as was the case on the figures of many other Vases
in the same Colle6lion, the late possessor being very de-
vout having caused all the nudities to be covered \ However
as soon as the Vase was mine, a spunge washed ofs at on-
ce both the modern drapery, and Passeri '$ learned disser-
tation. Few Statues are foun'd with the hands, and feet
entire , and the modern restoration of those parts , often
with false attributes, have been the occasion of great con-
fusion and error,
As the subje£h of these Vases are chiessy taken from
the Mythology , and Fabulous History of the Greeks ,
the ssudy of them may be of great use in future resiora-
ticns of mutilated Monuments of Antiquity, for in thefe
Vases the preservation is so compleat, that the extremities
and attributes are clearly marked and ascertain'd . From
my long observation of these Monuments of a inost remote
Antiquity , I am convinced that no material is so little
subjeQ: to be affedred by the hand of time as pure baked
Clay, and shoud imagine that an Inscription on a tile, of
such a considerable thickness as to prevent it's being ea
sily broken, with the letters painted and burnt in under
the glazings, as the figures and letters are on these Va-
ses, wou'd be less liable to alteration than inscriptions on
either brass or Marble , and therefore more proper to be
placed under the soundations of Bridges or other public
Buildings by way of transmittiug their origin to Posterity.
It is true that the soil in the neigbourhood of Naples
being composed of a Volcanick Tufia or strata of Punice
stones,
Ink, as was the case on the figures of many other Vases
in the same Colle6lion, the late possessor being very de-
vout having caused all the nudities to be covered \ However
as soon as the Vase was mine, a spunge washed ofs at on-
ce both the modern drapery, and Passeri '$ learned disser-
tation. Few Statues are foun'd with the hands, and feet
entire , and the modern restoration of those parts , often
with false attributes, have been the occasion of great con-
fusion and error,
As the subje£h of these Vases are chiessy taken from
the Mythology , and Fabulous History of the Greeks ,
the ssudy of them may be of great use in future resiora-
ticns of mutilated Monuments of Antiquity, for in thefe
Vases the preservation is so compleat, that the extremities
and attributes are clearly marked and ascertain'd . From
my long observation of these Monuments of a inost remote
Antiquity , I am convinced that no material is so little
subjeQ: to be affedred by the hand of time as pure baked
Clay, and shoud imagine that an Inscription on a tile, of
such a considerable thickness as to prevent it's being ea
sily broken, with the letters painted and burnt in under
the glazings, as the figures and letters are on these Va-
ses, wou'd be less liable to alteration than inscriptions on
either brass or Marble , and therefore more proper to be
placed under the soundations of Bridges or other public
Buildings by way of transmittiug their origin to Posterity.
It is true that the soil in the neigbourhood of Naples
being composed of a Volcanick Tufia or strata of Punice
stones,