DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.898#0023
8 VASES.
from the figure of a serpent, a branch of a tree, a swan's
neck, the head of a faun, a satyr, or a ram, &c. as the fancy
of the artist suggests, or according to the purposes to which
the vase is intended to be applied.
■ The paintings or sculptured designs upon the exterior sm>
face of vases are deserving of the most particular regard.
Where the subjects are mythological they convey much im-
portant information relating to the history of the gods, and
to the rites and ceremonies used in their worship, particu-
larly those observed in the sacred and solemn mysteries of
the Greeks, and in the frantic orgies of Bacchus. They
commemorate also the fabled achievements of the heroic
ages, the labours of Hercules, the adventures of Theseus,
the valorous acts of the Amazons, and the renowned events
of the Trojan history. In the multiplicity of designs
which these and numberless other subjects have suggested
to the fancy of the artist, there is detailed a vast variety of
particulars relative to the history, the dresses, and the cus-
toms of the Greeks, which, but for these precious monu-
ments, would have been entirely without a record. These
designs as they exist upon vases are not always original.
They were often copied from pictures of the most celebrated
antiquity. Subjects taken from religious or civil history do
not universally ornament the antique vases. They are not
unfrequently, more particularly the vases of marble, adorned
with single heads, masks, wreaths, borders of flowers,, ara-
besque patterns, and various fanciful designs. Whatever
from the figure of a serpent, a branch of a tree, a swan's
neck, the head of a faun, a satyr, or a ram, &c. as the fancy
of the artist suggests, or according to the purposes to which
the vase is intended to be applied.
■ The paintings or sculptured designs upon the exterior sm>
face of vases are deserving of the most particular regard.
Where the subjects are mythological they convey much im-
portant information relating to the history of the gods, and
to the rites and ceremonies used in their worship, particu-
larly those observed in the sacred and solemn mysteries of
the Greeks, and in the frantic orgies of Bacchus. They
commemorate also the fabled achievements of the heroic
ages, the labours of Hercules, the adventures of Theseus,
the valorous acts of the Amazons, and the renowned events
of the Trojan history. In the multiplicity of designs
which these and numberless other subjects have suggested
to the fancy of the artist, there is detailed a vast variety of
particulars relative to the history, the dresses, and the cus-
toms of the Greeks, which, but for these precious monu-
ments, would have been entirely without a record. These
designs as they exist upon vases are not always original.
They were often copied from pictures of the most celebrated
antiquity. Subjects taken from religious or civil history do
not universally ornament the antique vases. They are not
unfrequently, more particularly the vases of marble, adorned
with single heads, masks, wreaths, borders of flowers,, ara-
besque patterns, and various fanciful designs. Whatever