DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.898#0019
4 VASES.
the manufacturer, in the imitation of their forms, has ma-
terially improved the shapes of many of those vessels and
utensils which administer to the comforts or the elegancies
of life.
The earliest vases were made of clay hardened by fire.
These, probably, were rude in form, and void of ornaments;
but as luxury and refinement increased, they were executed
with greater elegance, and were made of more costly mate-
rials; viz. of marble*, ivory, glass or a vitrified paste f,
precious^tones, bronze, silver, and gold. Those vases made
of the precious metals were not always esteemed the most
expensive. Vases made of clay, if they were remarkable for
exquisite workmanship, of Corinthian brass, or of some un-
common mineral, as were probably those called Myrrhine
vases J, were most sought after, and brought the largest prices.
Upon the earthen vases the figures are generally of a
reddish colour, sometimes relieved by white, upon a dark
or black ground §; but in some of the oldest Greek vases
the figures themselves are black, and the ground yellowish
red||. There have been many theories and opinions with re-
spect to the mode in which the vases were coloured, and the
figures drawn. The following, by Mons. D'Hancarville^f,
* Vide Plate 28 to 49. f Vide Plate SO.
% Plin. Hist. Nat. lib. xxxr. § Vide Plate 8 to 27.
|| Vide Plate 1 to 8.
1 Eecueild'Antiq. Etrusques, Grecques et Eomaines, torn. ii. ch.ii.
§i.
the manufacturer, in the imitation of their forms, has ma-
terially improved the shapes of many of those vessels and
utensils which administer to the comforts or the elegancies
of life.
The earliest vases were made of clay hardened by fire.
These, probably, were rude in form, and void of ornaments;
but as luxury and refinement increased, they were executed
with greater elegance, and were made of more costly mate-
rials; viz. of marble*, ivory, glass or a vitrified paste f,
precious^tones, bronze, silver, and gold. Those vases made
of the precious metals were not always esteemed the most
expensive. Vases made of clay, if they were remarkable for
exquisite workmanship, of Corinthian brass, or of some un-
common mineral, as were probably those called Myrrhine
vases J, were most sought after, and brought the largest prices.
Upon the earthen vases the figures are generally of a
reddish colour, sometimes relieved by white, upon a dark
or black ground §; but in some of the oldest Greek vases
the figures themselves are black, and the ground yellowish
red||. There have been many theories and opinions with re-
spect to the mode in which the vases were coloured, and the
figures drawn. The following, by Mons. D'Hancarville^f,
* Vide Plate 28 to 49. f Vide Plate SO.
% Plin. Hist. Nat. lib. xxxr. § Vide Plate 8 to 27.
|| Vide Plate 1 to 8.
1 Eecueild'Antiq. Etrusques, Grecques et Eomaines, torn. ii. ch.ii.
§i.