Chapter XI: Part 11

Among the artists of the period who have left their names on the vases, besides those already mentioned, the most conspicuous is Nicosthenes, a potter of some originality, from whose hand we have over seventy examples, a few being in the red-figure method. He is supposed to have introduced at Athens a revival of the Ionic fashion of painting on a cream-coloured ground instead of on red, of which some very effective examples have been preserved. He was always a potter rather than a painter, and most of his vases are remarkable for their forms--introducing plastic imitations of metal vases--rather than for their painted decoration. Most of the artists of this period, as in the succeeding one, have left their signatures on cups (_kylikes_), but this form did not receive so much attention from the painter as at a later period, and many of these examples bear only inscriptions and no painted decoration.

III. _Red-figured Vases._--The sudden reversal of technical method involved in the change from black figures on a red ground to red figures on black is not at first sight easy of explanation. Some artists, like Nicosthenes and Andocides, used both methods, sometimes on the same vase, and there is no doubt that the two went on for some years concurrently. As, however, no intermediate stage is possible, there is no question of development or transition. The new style was in fact a bold and ingenious innovation. It may possibly have been suggested by a small class of vases in which the figures are painted in the black-figure _method_, but have the converse appearance, that is to say they are painted in a thick red pigment on a ground of shining black. It may therefore have occurred to the artist that he could obtain the same effect merely by leaving the figures unpainted on the red clay and surrounding them with the black. The change, must, however, be closely associated with the career of the artist Andocides, who not only produced vases in each method, but also several in which the two are combined (fig. 27). In two or three cases the subject is actually the same on each side, almost every detail being repeated, except that the colouring is reversed.

The date at which the change took place was formerly placed well on in the 5th century, on account of the great advance in drawing which most of the red-figured vases show, as compared with the black. They were thus regarded as contemporary with the painter Polygnotus, if not with Pheidias. But the excavations on the Acropolis of Athens yielded so many fragments in the advanced red-figured style which must be earlier than 480 B.C., that it has become necessary to find an earlier date for its appearance. This is now usually placed at about 520 B.C., overlapping with the preceding period.

The red-figure period is usually subdivided into four, marking the chief stages of development, and known respectively as the "severe," "strong," "fine," and "late fine" periods. Their principal characteristics and representative painters may be briefly enumerated.

In the _severe_ period there is no marked advance on the black-figured vases as regards style. The figures are still more or less stiff and conventional, and some vases even show signs of an analogous decadence. The real development is partly technical, partly in the introduction of new subjects. Although the change of style probably had its actual origin in the _amphora_, as treated by Andocides, the new developments are best seen in the _kylix_, a form of vase which now sprang into popularity and called forth the chief efforts of the principal artists. Its curved surface gave ample scope for skilful effects of drawing and decorative arrangement, and the earlier painters devoted all their attention to perfecting it as a work of decorative art. For other shapes, such as the _hydria_, and _lekythos_, the old method was for a time preferred.

The most typical artist of the period was Epictetus, and other famous cup-painters were Pamphaeus, Cachrylion and Phintias. The earliest cups are decorated in a quite simple fashion like those of the black-figure period, often with a single figure each side between two large "symbolical" eyes, and a single figure in a circle in the interior. To the latter the artist at first devoted his chief efforts, though even here his scope was at first limited. But although he had not yet attained to skill in composition, he did discover that the circular space was well adapted for exhibiting his newly-acquired abilities as a draughtsman and for disposing figures in ingeniously conceived attitudes. In all cases the object was to fill the space as far as possible, a characteristic of all the best Greek art. By degrees more attention was paid to the designs on the exterior, and the single figures were replaced by groups, but regular compositions in the form of friezes telling some story were not introduced until quite the end of this period. Epictetus was throughout his career a thoroughly "archaic" artist, but a considerable advance was made by Cachrylion, who stands on the verge of the succeeding stage.

The _strong_ period centres round the name of Euphronius, the author of a really great artistic movement. His capacity for inventing new subjects or new poses--or otherwise overcoming technical and artistic difficulties--marks a great advance on all previous achievements, and he seems to represent the stage of development traditionally associated with the painter Cimon of Cleonae, the inventor of foreshortening and other novelties. Thus figures were no longer represented exclusively in profile, as in the black-figured vases which had made no advance beyond the conventions of Egyptian art. Ten vases signed by him are in existence (though it is not certain that all were actually painted by him), most of them having mythological subjects (fig. 28).

Of his contemporaries, Duris, Hieron and Brygus take foremost rank, all three being, like Euphronius, essentially cup-painters, though they use other forms at times. For decorative effect and beauty of composition their vases have never been surpassed. As an example we may quote a _kotyle_ or beaker in the British Museum signed by Hieron, with a group of Eleusinian deities. The larger vases of this period are more rarely signed, but many of them rival the cups in execution, though the subjects are characterized by greater simplicity and largeness of style.

In _the fine_ style (460-440 B.C.) breadth of effect and dignity are aimed at, and although cup-painting had passed its zenith, and signed specimens become rarer, yet, considering the red-figured vases as a whole, this period exhibits the perfection of technique and drawing. In many of the larger vases the scenes are of a pictorial character, landscape being introduced, with figures ranged at different levels, and herein we may see a reflection of the style of the painter Polygnotus. One of the finest cups in this style is in the Berlin Museum, it is signed by the artists Erginus and Aristophanes, and the subject is the battle of the gods and giants. To the end of the period belongs a beautiful _hydria_ in the British Museum by the painter Meidias with subjects from Greek legend in two friezes (fig. 29). Generally speaking, there is a reaction in favour of mythological subjects.

In the _late fine_ style, which begins about 440 B.C., the pictorial effect is preserved, but with perfected skill in drawing the compositions deteriorate greatly in merit, and become at once over-refined and careless. The figures are crowded together without meaning or interest. The fashion also arose of enhancing the designs by means of accessory colours--almost unknown in the previous stages--such as white laid on in masses, blue and green, and even with gilding. Athletic and mythological subjects yield place to scenes from the life of women and children or meaningless groups of figures (fig. 30).

A good example of this style is an _amphora_ from Rhodes with the subject of Peleus wooing Thetis, in which polychrome colouring and gilding are introduced. There are also many imposing and elaborate specimens found (and perhaps made) in the colonies of the Crimea and the Cyrenaica; in particular one signed by Xenophantus with the Persian king hunting, and another representing the contest of Athena and Poseidon for the soil of Attica, both from the Crimea.

Contemporary with the red-figure method is one in which the figures are painted on a white slip or _engobe_ resembling pipe-clay, with which the whole surface was covered; the figures are drawn in outline in red or black, and partly filled in with washes of colour, chiefly red, purplish red, or brown, but sometimes also with blue or green. This style seems to have been popular about the middle of the 5th century B.C. and was employed for the funeral _lekythoi_ which came into fashion at Athens about that time. These vases, which form a class by themselves, were made specially for funeral ceremonies and were painted with subjects relating to the tomb, such as the laying-out of the corpse on the bier, the ferrying of the dead over the Styx by Charon, or (most frequently) mourners bringing offerings to the tomb (fig. 31). They continued to be made well on into the 4th century, but the later examples are very degenerate and careless.

Of other forms, especially the _kylix_ and the _pyxis_ (toilet-box), some exceedingly beautiful specimens have come down to us, which show a delicacy of drawing and firmness of touch never surpassed, although the lines were probably only drawn with a brush. The technique of these vases may reflect the methods of the painter Polygnotus and his contemporaries, who used a limited number of colours on a white ground. Among them no finer specimen exists than the cup in the British Museum with Aphrodite riding on a goose; the design is entirely in brown outlines, and the drawing, if slightly archaic, full of grace and refinement.

In the subjects on red-figured vases we do not find the same variety of choice as on the black-figured, but on the other hand there is infinitely greater freedom of treatment. The stereotyped form of composition is almost entirely discarded, and each painter forms his own conception of his subject. The class of slim _amphorae_, known as "Nolan" from the place where they were mostly found, are distinguished by having the design limited to one or at most two figures on each side, often on a large scale; these vases are also famous for the marvellous brilliance of their shining black (fig. 32).

Towards the middle of the 5th century the patriotism of the Athenian artist finds expression in the growing importance which he attaches to local legends, especially those of Theseus, the typical Attic hero. He seems to have been regarded as the typical Athenian athlete or _ephebus_, and his contests as analogous to episodes of the gymnasium. Hence the grouping on some vases of scenes from his labours are like so many groups of athletes (fig. 33), and hence, too, a general tendency of the red-figured vases, especially the cups, to become a sort of glorification of the Attic _ephebus_, the representations of whom in all sorts of occupations are out of all proportion to other subjects.

We find evidence of this, too, in another form. Many vases, especially the cups of the "severe" and "strong" periods, bear names of persons inscribed on the designs with the word [Greek: kalos], "fair" or "noble," attached; sometimes merely, "the boy is fair." The exact meaning of this practice has been much discussed, but evidence seems to show that the persons celebrated must have been quite young at the time, and were probably youths famous for their beauty or athletic prowess. Some of the names are those of historical characters, such as Hipparchus, Miltiades or Alcibiades, and, though they cannot always be identified with these celebrated personages, enough evidence has been obtained to be of great value for the chronology of the vases, Further, the practice of the vase-painter of adopting his own particular favourite name or set of names has enabled us to increase our knowledge of the characteristics of individual artists by identifying unsigned vases with the work of particular schools.

IV. _Vases of the Decadence_.--For all practical purposes the red-figure style at Athens came to an end with the fall of the city in 404 B.C. Painted vases did not then altogether cease to be made, as the Panathenaic prize vases and the funeral _lekythoi_ testify, but at the same time a rapid decadence set in. The whole tendency of the 4th century B.C. in Greece was one of decentralization, and the art of vase-painting was no exception, for we find that there must have been a general migration of craftsmen from Athens, not only to the Crimea and to North Africa, but also to southern Italy, which now becomes the chief centre of vase production. Here there were many rich and flourishing Greek colonies or Grecianized towns, such as Tarentum, Paestum and Capua, ready to welcome the new art as an addition to their many luxuries. In the character of the vases of this period we see their tendencies reflected, especially in their splendid or showy aspect; the only aim being size and gaudy colouring.

The general method of painting remains that of the Athenian red-figure vases, but with entire loss of simplicity or refinement, either in the ornamentation, the choice of colours, or the drawing of the figures. Large masses of white are invariably employed, especially for the flesh of women or of Eros, the universally present god of Love, and for architectural details. Yellow is introduced for details of hair or features, and in attempts at shading, nor is a dull iron-purple uncommon. The reverses of the vases, when they have subjects, are devoid of all accessory colouring, and the figures are drawn with the greatest carelessness, as if not intended to be seen. There is throughout a lavish use of ornamental patterns such as palmettes, wreaths of leaves, or ornaments strewn over the field (a reversion to an old practice).

The drawing, having now become entirely free, errs in the opposite extreme; the forms are soft and the male figures often effeminate. The fanciful and richly-embroidered draperies of the figures and the frequent architectural settings seem to indicate that theatrical representations exercised much influence on the vase-painters. The great painters of the 4th century may also have contributed their share of inspiration, but rather perhaps in the subjects chosen than in regard to style; though the effect of many scenes on the larger vases is decidedly pictorial, they are chiefly remarkable for their emotional and dramatic themes.

The influence of the stage is twofold, for tragedy as well as comedy plays its part. Many subjects are taken directly, others indirectly, from the plays of Euripides, such as the _Medea_, _Hecuba_ (Plate II. fig. 60), or _Hercules Furens_, and the arrangement of the scenes is essentially theatrical. The influence of comedy is seen in subjects derived from the _phlyakes_, a kind of farce or burlesque popular in southern Italy, and here again the setting is adapted from the stage, some vases having parodies of myths, others comic scenes of daily life.

Many vases of this period, especially those of large size, were expressly designed for funeral purposes. Some of these bear representations of the underworld, with groups of figures undergoing punishment. On others shrines or tombs are depicted--sometimes containing effigies of the deceased, at which the relatives make offerings--as on the Athenian _lekythoi_. But by far the greater portion of the subjects are taken from daily life, many of these being of a purely fanciful and meaningless character like the designs on Sèvres or Meissen china; the commonest type is that of a young man and a woman exchanging presents, the presence of Eros implying that they are scenes of courtship.

The vases of this period are usually grouped in three or four different types, corresponding to the ancient districts of Lucania, Campania and Apulia, each with its special features of technique, drawing and subjects. In Lucanian vases the drawing is bold and restrained, more akin to that of the Attic vases; in Campania a fondness for polychromy is combined with careless execution. In Apulia a tendency to magnificence exemplified in the great funeral and theatrical vases is followed by a period of decadence characterized by small vases of fantastic form with purely decorative subjects. Besides these we have the school of Paestum, represented by two artists who have left their names on their vases, Assteas and Python. A well-known example of the work of the former is a _krater_ in Madrid with Heracles destroying his children, a theatrical and quasi-grotesque composition, and there is a fine example of Python's work in a _krater_ in the British Museum, with Alkmena, the mother of Heracles, placed on the funeral pyre by her husband Amphitryon, and rain-nymphs quenching the flames (Plate I. fig. 55).

About the end of the 3rd century B.C. the manufacture of painted vases would seem to have been rapidly dying out in Italy, as had long been the case elsewhere, and their place is taken by unpainted vases modelled in the form of animals and human figures, or ornamented with stamped and moulded reliefs. These in their turn gave way to the Arretine and so-called "Samian" red wares of the Roman period. In all these wares we see a tendency to the imitation of metal vases, which, with the growth of luxury in the Hellenistic age, had entirely replaced painted pottery both for use and ornament; the pottery of the period is reduced to a subordinate and utilitarian position, merely supplying the demands of those in the humbler spheres of life.

_Collections_.--The majority of the painted vases now in existence are
to be found in the various public museums and collections of Europe,
of which the largest and most important are the British Museum, the
Louvre and the Berlin Museum. Next to these come the collections at
Athens, Naples, Munich, Vienna, Rome and St Petersburg; isolated
specimens of importance are to be found in other museums, as at
Florence, Madrid or the Bibliothèque Nationale at Paris. Most of the
great private collections of the two preceding centuries have now been
dispersed. In recent years the Boston Museum has raised America to a
level with Europe in this respect; and the Metropolitan Museum at New
York contains a vast collection of Cypriote pottery.

LITERATURE.--Important original articles are to be found in various
archaeological journals such as _American Journal of Archaeology_
(1885, &c); _Annual of the British School at Athens_ (1894, &c.);
_Athenische Mitteilungen_ (1876, &c.); _Bulletin de correspondance
hellénique_ (1877, &c.); _Comptes rendus de la commission impériale
archéologique_ (St Petersburg, 1859-1888); _Gazette archéologique_
(Paris, 1875-1889); _Jahrbuch des kaiserlichen deutschen
archäologischen Instituts, Berlin_ (1886, &c.); _Journal of Hellenic
Studies_ (1880, &c.); _Monumenti antichi_ (Milan, 1890, &c.);
_Monuments grecs_ (Paris, 1872-1898); _Monuments Piot_ (Paris, 1894,
&c.); _Revue archéologique_ (Paris, 1844, &c.). The older works have
been recently superseded by important publications embodying the
latest views such as Hartwig, _Die griechischen Meisterschalen des
strengen rotfigurigen Stils_ (1893); Louvre, _Catalogue des vases
antiques de terre cuite_, by E. Pottier (1896, &c.); S. Reinach,
_Répertoire des vases peints_ (Paris, 1899-1900); H. B. Walters,
_History of Ancient Pottery_ (Greek, Etruscan and Roman), 1905, with
an excellent bibliographical list; also art. "Hischylos" in _J.H.S._
xxix. (1909) p. 103.

ETRUSCAN POTTERY--Parallel with the development of the art of pottery in Greece runs the course of the art in Etruria, though with far inferior results; in its later stages it is actually no more than a feeble imitation of the Greek. The period of time which we must consider extends from the Bronze age (1000 B.C. or earlier) down to the 3rd century B.C., when Etruscan civilization was merged into Roman.

The earliest civilization traced in Italy is not, strictly speaking, Etruscan, but may perhaps be more accurately styled "Umbrian." It is usually referred to as the "Terramare" period from the remains discovered in that district in the basin of the Po. These people were lake-dwellers, barely removed from the Neolithic stage of culture, and their pottery was of the rudest kind, hand-made and roughly baked. Cups and pots have been found sometimes with simple decoration in the form of knobs or bosses, and many have a crescent-shaped handle serving as a support for the thumb.

The next period, the earliest which can be spoken of as "Etruscan," is known as the "Villanova" period, from a site of that name near Bologna, or as the period of pit-tombs (_a pozzo_), from the form of the graves in which the pottery has been found (see VILLANOVA). It begins with the 9th century B.C. and lasts for about two hundred years. The pit-tombs usually contain large cinerary urns or _ossuaria_ (containing the ashes of the dead), fashioned by hand from a badly-levigated volcanic clay known as _impasto Italico_. These vessels were irregularly baked in an open fire, and the colour of the surface varies from red-brown to greyish black. They appear to have been covered with a polished slip, intended to give the vases a metallic appearance. The shape of the urns is peculiar, but uniform; they have a small handle at the widest part and a cover in the form of an inverted bowl with handle (Plate III. fig. 63). Their ornamentation consists of incised or stamped geometrical ornaments formed in the moist clay in bands round the neck and body; more rarely patterns painted in white are found. Common pottery is also found showing little advance on that of the Terramare period except in variety of decoration. The technique and ornament are the same as in the case of the urns. They correspond in development, though not in date, to the early pottery of Troy and Cyprus, as well as to the primitive pottery of other races, but one marked difference is the general fondness of the Italian potter for vases with handles.

Sometimes the cinerary urns take the form of huts (_tuguria_), though these are more often found in the neighbourhood of Rome. One of the best examples is in the British Museum; it still contains ashes which were inserted through a little door secured by a cord passing through rings. The ornamentation suggests the rude carpentry of a primitive hut, the cover or roof being vaulted with raised ridges to represent the beams. The surface is polished, and other specimens are occasionally painted with patterns in white.

In the next stage a change is seen in the form of the tombs, the pit being replaced by a trench; this is accordingly known as the "trench-tomb" or _a fossa_ period, and extends from the 8th century B.C. to the beginning of the 6th. Importations of Greek pottery now first make their appearance. The character of the local pottery actually remains for some time the same as that of the preceding period, but it improves in technique. By degrees an improvement in the forms is also noted, and new varieties of ornamentation are introduced; there is, however, no evidence that the wheel was used.

Two entirely new classes of pottery are found at Cervetri (Caere) belonging to the 7th century. One consists of large jars ([Greek: pithoi]) of red ware, the lower part being moulded in ribs, while the upper has bands of design stamped round it in groups or friezes. These designs were either produced from single stamps or rolled out from cylinders like those used in Babylonia. The subjects are usually quasi-oriental in character, and it is not certain that this ware was made in Etruria, especially as similar vases have been found in Rhodes and Sicily; either it was imported, or it was a local imitation of Greek models.

The other class is similar as regards the shapes and the nature of the clay, but is distinguished by having painted subjects in white outlines on a red glossy ground. The clay, a kind of _impasto Italico_, was first hardened by baking, and then a mixture of wax, resin and iron oxide was applied and polished; on this the pigments, a mixture of chalk and earth, were laid. The subjects are from Greek mythology or are at least Greek in character, but the technique is purely Etruscan, and the drawing is crude and un-Greek in the extreme.

The fourth period shows a close continuity with the third; but the difference is defined firstly by the appearance of a new type of tomb in the form of a chamber (_a camera_), secondly, by the all-pervading influence of oriental art, and to a less extent of that of the Greeks. The period extends from about 650 to 550 B.C., and is further marked by the general introduction of the wheel into Etruria and by the appearance of inscriptions in an alphabet derived from western Greece. In the earlier tombs the typical local pottery is of hand-made _impasto Italico_ resembling that of the previous periods; in the later we find what is known as _bucchero_ ware--the national pottery of Etruria--which is made on the wheel and baked in a furnace, and shows a marked tendency to imitate metal.

To this period also belongs the famous Polledrara tomb or Grotto d'lside at Vulci, the contents of which are now in the British Museum and include some remarkable specimens of pottery. It dates from about 620-610 B.C. The most remarkable of the vases is a _hydria_, of reddish-brown clay covered with a lustrous black slip on which have been painted designs in red, blue and a yellowish white. The colours have unfortunately now almost disappeared, and it is doubtful if they had been fired. The principal subject is from the story of Theseus and Ariadne. This tomb also contained a large wheel-made _pithos_ of red _impasto_ ware with designs painted in polychrome. In the Regulini-Galassi tomb at Cervetri (about 650 B.C.) large cauldrons of red glossy ware were found, with gryphons' heads projecting all round, to which chains were attached. A similar cauldron from Falerii on a high open-work stand is now in the British Museum.

We now come to the _bucchero_ ware, which is characteristic of the later portion of this period, though the earliest examples go back to the end of the 7th century. Its main feature is the black paste of which it is composed, covered with a more or less shining black slip. Modern experiments seem to indicate that the clay was smoked or fumigated in a closed chamber after baking, becoming thereby blackened throughout, and the surface was then polished with wax and resin. Analyses of the ware have proved that it contains carbon and that it had been lightly fired. The oldest _bucchero_ vases are small and hand-made, sometimes with incised geometrical patterns engraved with a sharp tool like metal-work. Oriental influence then appears in a series of chalice-shaped cups found at Cervetri with friezes of animals. From about 560 B.C. onwards the vases are all wheel-made, with ornaments in relief either stamped from a cylinder or composed of separate medallions attached to the vase. The subjects range from animals or monsters to winged deities or suppliants making offerings (fig. 34); in other cases we find meaningless groups of figures or plant forms. These types are found chiefly in southern Etruria, but at Chiusi (_Clusium_) a more elaborate variety found favour from about 500 to 300 B.C. The shapes are very varied and the ornament covers the vase from top to bottom, the covers of the vases being also frequently modelled in various forms. The figures are stamped from moulds, incised designs being added to fill up the spaces. The range of subjects is much widened, including scenes from Greek mythology and oriental types combining Egyptian and Assyrian motives, which must have been introduced by the Phoenicians.

Thus the technique of the _bucchero_ wares is purely native, but the decoration is entirely dependent on foreign types whether Greek or oriental, and throughout the whole series the tendency to imitate metal-work is to be observed in every detail, both in the forms and in the methods of decoration. Some are mere counterparts of existing work in bronze.

The last variety of peculiarly Etruscan pottery which calls for notice is the Canopic jar, so called from its resemblance to the [Greek: kanôpoi] in which the Egyptians placed the bowels of their mummies. They are rude representations of the human figure, the head forming the cover, and in the tombs were placed on round chairs of wood, bronze or terra-cotta. An example of such a jar on a bronze-plated chair may be seen in the Etruscan Room of the British Museum (Plate III. fig. 65). Their origin has been traced to the funeral masks found in the earliest Etruscan tombs. From these a gradual transition may be observed from the mask (1) placed on the corpse, (2) on the cinerary urn, (3) the head modelled in the round and combined with the vase, and (4) at last the complete human figure. The earliest of these jars are found in the "pit-tombs" of the 8th century B.C., and the latest and most developed types belong to the 5th century B.C.

The skill shown by the Etruscans in metal-work and gem-engraving never extended to their pottery, which is always purely imitative, especially when they attempted painted vases after the Greek fashion. The kinds already described are all more or less plastic in character and imitative of metal, except in the case of the Cervetri and Polledrara finds, which have little in common with anything Greek, and exhibit a quite undeveloped art. But towards the end of the 6th century B.C., when Greek vases were coming into the country in large numbers, attempts were made to imitate the black-figure style, especially of a particular class of Ionian vases. Imitations of these are to be found in most museums and may be readily recognized as Etruscan from peculiarities of style, drawing and subject, as well as their inferior technique (fig. 35).

At a later date (4th-3rd century B.C.) they began to copy red-figured vases with similarly unsuccessful results. With the exception of a small class of a somewhat ambitious character made at Falerii (Civita Castellana), of which there is a good example in the British Museum with the subject of the infant Heracles strangling the serpents, they are all marked by their inferior material and finish and their bizarre decoration. The style is often repulsive and disagreeable, as well as ineffective, and the grim Etruscan deities, such as Charun, are generally introduced. Some of these vases have painted inscriptions in the Etruscan alphabet. The latest specimens positively degenerate into barbarism.

Painted vases of native manufacture are also found in the extreme south of Italy and have been attributed to the indigenous races of the Peucetians and Messapians; their decoration is partly geometrical, partly in conventional plant forms, and is the result of natural development rather than of imitation of Greek types. Some of the shapes are characteristic, especially a large four-handled _krater_. They cover the period 600-450 B.C., after which they were ousted by the Graeco-Italian productions we have already described.

ROMAN POTTERY.--Roman vases are far inferior to Greek; the shapes are less artistic, and the decoration, though sometimes not without merits of its own, owes most of its success to the imitation or adaptation of motives learnt from earlier Grecian, Egyptian or Syrian potters. They required only the skill of the potter for their completion, and, being made by processes largely mechanical, they are altogether on a lower scale of artistic production.

It has been noted that during a certain period--namely, the 3rd and 2nd centuries B.C.--ceramic art had reached the same stage of evolution all round the Mediterranean, painted pottery had been ousted by metal-work, and such vases as continued to be made were practically imitations of metal both in Greece and Italy. These latter we must regard as representing ordinary household pottery, or as supplying to those who could not afford to adorn their houses and temples with costly works in metal, a humble but fairly efficient substitute. There is a terra-cotta bowl of the 2nd century B.C. in the British Museum which is an exact replica of a chased silver bowl with reliefs in the same collection, and may serve as an illustration of this condition of things (Plate II. fig. 56).

These imitations of metal were largely made in southern Italy, a district which enjoyed close artistic relations with Etruria, and we have already seen that the same principle had long been in vogue among the Etruscans. Hence it is not surprising that an important centre of pottery manufacture should have sprung up in Etruria, in the and century B.C., which for many years set the fashion to the whole Roman world. But before discussing such products it may be as well to say something on the technical character, shapes and uses of Roman pottery in general.

_Technical Processes_.--Roman pottery regarded in its purely technical
aspect is in some ways better known to us than the Greek, chiefly
owing to extensive discoveries of kilns and potters' apparatus in
western Europe. It may be classified under two heads, of which only
the second will concern us for the most part as yielding by far the
greater amount of material and interest: (1) the plain, dull
earthenware used for domestic purposes, and (2) the fine, red shining
wares, usually known to archaeologists as _terra sigillata_, clay
suited to receive stamps (_sigilla_) or impressions.

For both classes all kinds of clay were used, varying somewhat in
different regions, and ranging in colour when fired from black to
grey, drab, yellow, brown and red. The clays varied greatly in
quality; most of the pottery made in southern Gaul was fashioned from
the ferruginous red clay of the Allier district, but at
St-Remy-en-Rollat and in that neighbourhood a white clay was used. In
Italy we find a carefully levigated red clay in use, great care being
devoted to its preparation and admixture. But apart from decoration
and style there is a great similarity in the general appearance of the
Italian and provincial pottery made under Roman influence, and it is
often very difficult to decide whether the vases were manufactured
where they had been found or were imported from some famous centre of
manufacture. The secret of the glossy red surface seems to have been
common property and found its way from Italy to Gaul, Spain and
Germany, and perhaps even to Britain.

The manner in which this glossy red surface was produced has been a
much-disputed question, some, as for instance Artis, the excavator of
the Castor potteries in Northamptonshire, claiming that it was a
natural result obtained in the baking, after polishing of the surface,
by means of specially contrived kilns. But it is now generally agreed
that it was artificial. It is true that the Roman lamps and many of
the commoner wares have a gloss produced by polishing only, varying in
colour and brightness with the proportion of iron oxide in the clay
and the degree of heat at which the pieces were fired. But the surface
finish of the finer or _terra sigillata_ wares is something quite
distinct, and reaches a high and wonderfully uniform perfection.

It is possible that the technical secret of the potters of the Roman
world was only a development from the practice of the Greeks, but it
does seem as if the finer Roman wares were coated with a brilliant
glossy coating so thin as to defy analysis, yet so persistent as to
leave no doubt of its existence as a definite glossy coat. Repeated
attempts have been made to determine its nature by analysis, but
chemists ought to have known better, for the coating is so thin that
it is impossible to remove it without detaching much more body than
glaze. Examination shows it to be much more than a surface polish or
than the gloss of the finest Greek vases, and we shall have to wait
for a final determination of its nature until some one who is at once
a chemist and a potter can reconstruct it synthetically. Whatever its
nature and method of production, it is certain that the glaze itself
was a transparent film which heightened the natural red colour of the
clay, until in the finest specimens it has something of the quality of
red coral.

In the manufacture of vases the Romans used the same processes as the
Greeks. They were all made on the wheel, except those of abnormal
size, such as the large casks (_dolia_), which were built up on a
frame. Specimens of potters' wheels have been found at Arezzo and
Nancy, made of terra-cotta, with a pierced centre for the pivot, and
bearing small cylinders of lead round the circumference to give a
purchase for the hand and to aid the momentum of the wheel. For the
ornamental vases with reliefs an additional process was necessary, and
the decoration was in nearly all cases produced from moulds. The
process in this case was a threefold one: first the stamps had to be
made bearing the designs; these were then pressed upon the inside of a
clay mould which had been previously made on the wheel to the size and
shape required; finally, the clay was impressed in the mould and the
vase was thus produced, decoration and all. Handles being of rare
occurrence in Roman pottery, the vases were thus practically complete,
requiring only the addition of rim and foot. The stamps were made in
various materials, and had a handle at the back (Plate III. fig. 64).
The moulds were of lighter clay than the vases, and were lightly fired
when completed, so as to absorb the moisture from the pressed-in clay.
Large numbers of these moulds are in existence (Plate III. fig. 61),
and the British Museum possesses a fine series from Arezzo. Those
discovered in various parts of Gaul have afforded valuable evidence as
to the sites of the various pottery centres, as their presence
obviously denoted a place of manufacture, and the value of this
evidence is increased when they bear potters' names.

Remains of kilns for baking Roman pottery[8] are very numerous in
western Europe, especially in Gaul, where the best examples are at
Lezoux near Clermont, at Châtelet in Haute-Marne, and near Agen in
Lot-el-Gäronne. In Germany good remains have come to light at
Heiligenberg in Baden, al Heddernheim near Frankfort, Rheinzabern near
Carlsruhe, and Westerndorf in Bavaria. In England the best kilns are
those discovered by Artis in 1821-1827 at Castor in Northamptonshire
(see fig. 4).

_Shapes_.--As is the case with Greek vases, a long list of names of
shapes may be collected from Latin literature, and the same
difficulties as to identification arise in the majority of cases. They
may, however, be classified in the same manner; as vases for storing
liquids, for mixing or pouring wine, for use at the table, and so on.
In addition Varro and other writers have preserved a number of archaic
and obscure names chiefly applied to the vases used in sacrifices.

The principal vases for storing liquid or solid food were:--The
_dolium_, a large cask or barrel of earthenware; the _amphora_, a jar
holding about six gallons; and the _cadus_, a jar about half as large
as the _amphora_. The _dolium_ had no foot, and was usually buried in
the earth; it was also used for purposes of burial. The _amphora_
corresponds to the Greek wine-jar of that name, and had, like its
prototype, a pointed base. Many examples were found at Pompeii stamped
with the names of consuls (cf. Hor. _Od._ in. 21. I), or with painted
inscriptions relating to their contents. The _cadus_ is mentioned by
Horace and Martial.

Of smaller vases for holding liquids, such as jugs, bottles and
flasks, the principal were the _urceus_, answering to the Greek
[Greek: oinochoê], the _ampulla_, a kind of flask with globular body,
and the _lagena_, a narrow-necked flask or bottle. Of drinking-cups
the Romans had almost as large a variety as the Greeks, and the great
majority of the ornamented vases preserved to the present day were
devoted to this purpose. The generic name for a cup was _poculum_, but
the Romans borrowed many of the Greek names, such as _cantharus_ and
_scyphus_. The _calix_ appears to have answered in popularity, though
not in form, to the Greek _kylix_, and is probably the name by which
the ornamented bowls were usually known. The names for a dish are
_lanx_, _patina_ and _catinum_. Another common form is the _olla_
(Greek [Greek: chutra]), which served many purposes, being used for a
cooking-pot, for a jar in which money was kept, or for a cinerary urn.
The form of vase identified with this name has a spherical or
elliptical body with short neck and wide mouth. Of sacrificial vases
the principal was the _patera_ or libation-bowl, corresponding to the
Greek [Greek: phialê].

_Arretine Ware_.--The Latin writers, and in particular Pliny, mention numerous places in Italy, Asia Minor and elsewhere, which were famous for the production of pottery in Roman times. Pliny mentions with special commendation the "Samian Ware," the reputation of which, he says, was maintained by Arretium (Arezzo). Samian pottery is also alluded to by other writers, and hence the term was adopted in modern times as descriptive of the typical Roman red wares with reliefs, whether found in Italy, Germany, Gaul or Britain. But it was only accepted with diffidence as a convenient name, and as early as 1840 discoveries at Arezzo made it possible to distinguish the vases found there as a local product, now known as "Arretine" ware. The name "Samian" has, however, adhered to the provincial wares and at the present day is often used even by archaeologists. But recent researches have shown that nearly all the provincial wares can be traced to Gaulish or German potteries, and, since it is implied by Pliny that "Samian" pottery is older than "Arretine," the name may now be fairly rejected altogether, as we have rejected the name "Etruscan" for Greek pottery. The Romans probably used it as a generic term, just as we speak of "china," and the real Samian ware is to be seen in the later Greek pottery, with reliefs, of the 3rd century B.C.

There were, as Pliny and other writers imply, many pottery centres in Italy, at Rhegium, Cumae, Mutina and elsewhere, as well as at Saguntum in Spain, but all were surpassed in excellence by Arretium. In more modern times its pottery came under notice even in the middle ages, and discoveries were made in the time of Leo X (about 1500) and again in the 18th century. The Arretine ware may be regarded as _the_ Roman pottery _par excellence_, and its popularity extended from about 150 B.C. down to the end of the 1st century of the Empire, reaching its height in the 1st century B.C., after which it rapidly degenerated, and its place was taken by the wares of the provinces. Its general characteristics may be summed up as follows:--(1) The fine local red clay, carefully levigated and baked very hard to a rich coral red or a colour like sealing-wax; (2) the fine red glaze, which has already been discussed; (3) the great variety of forms employed, showing the marked influence of metal-work; (4) the almost invariable presence of stamps with potters' names. The majority of the specimens have been found at Arezzo itself, but there was a branch of the industry at Puteoli, producing pottery almost equal in merit, and it was also exported to central and eastern Europe and Spain.

The earliest examples are of black glossy ware, but the red appears to have been introduced by 100 B.C., when the first potters' stamps appear. These are usually quadrangular in form, though other shapes are found, and are impressed in the midst of the design on the ornamented vases, or on plain wares on the bottom of the interior. The number of potters' names is very large, though some appear to have been more prolific than others, and to have employed a large number of slaves, whose names appear with their masters' on the stamps. The best known is Marcus Perennius, whose wares take highest rank for their artistic merit, the designs being copied from good Greek models. He employed seventeen slaves, of whom the best known is Tigranes, the stamps usually appearing as M·PEREN and TIGRAN. The slave-name of Bargates is found on one of his finest vases, in the Boston Museum, the subject being the fall of Phaethon. We may suppose that the stamps for the figures were designed by the masters, but that the vases were actually moulded by the slaves. Other important artists are Calidius Strigo, who had twenty slaves; P. Cornelius, who had no less than forty; Aulus Titius, who signs himself A·TITI·FIGVL·ARRET; the Annii and the Tetii; and L. Rasinius Pisanus, a degenerate potter of the Flavian period, who imitated Gaulish wares.

The forms of the vases are all, without exception, borrowed from metal shapes and are of marked simplicity (see fig. 37, Nos. 1, 8, 9, 11). They are mostly of small size and devoid of handles, but a notable exception is a bell-shaped _krater_ or mixing-bowl, of which there is a very fine example in the British Museum, found at Capua and decorated with the four seasons (Plate III. fig. 62). For the decoration and subjects the potters undoubtedly drew their inspiration from the "new-Attic" reliefs of the Hellenistic period, of which the _krater_ just cited is an example. So, too, are such subjects as the dancing maenads or priestesses with wicker head-dresses, or the Dionysiac scenes which are found, for instance, on the vases of Perennius. Others again are distinguished by a free use of conventional ornament, figures when they occur being merely decorative. There is throughout a remarkable variety both in the ornamentation and in the methods of composition.

_Provincial Wares_.--The Arretine ware, as has been noted, steadily degenerated during the 1st century of the Empire, and the manufacture of ornamental pottery appears to have entirely died out in Italy by the time of Trajan. Its place was taken by the pottery of the provinces, especially by that of Gaul, where the transference of artistic traditions led to the rise of new industrial centres in the country bordering on the Rhone and the Rhine.

As to the general characteristics of the provincial wares, that is, of the ornamented wares or _terra sigillata_, the clay is fine and close-grained, harder than the Arretine, and when broken shows a light red fracture; the surface is smooth and lustrous, of a brighter yet darker red colour (i.e. less like coral) than that of Arretine ware, but the tone varies with the degree of heat used. The most important feature is the fine glaze with which it is coated, similar in composition to that of the Arretine; it is exceedingly thin and transparent, and laid equally over the whole surface, only slightly brightening the color of the clay. The ornament is invariably coarser than that of Arretine ware, by which, however, it is indirectly inspired.

The vases are usually of small dimensions, consisting of various types of bowls, cups and dishes, of which two or three forms are preferred almost to the exclusion of the rest, and they frequently bear the stamp of the potter impressed on the inside or outside. Although this ware is found all over the Roman world, by far the greater portion comes from Gaul, Germany or Britain, and evidence points to two--and only two--districts as the principal centres of manufacture: the valleys of the Loire and the Rhine and their immediate neighbourhood. In the 1st century A.D. Gaulish pottery was largely exported into Italy, and isolated finds of it occur in Spain and other parts.

The recent researches of Dr Dragendorff and M. Déchelette have shown that a chronological sequence of the pottery may be clearly traced, both in the shapes employed and in the method of decoration; and, further, that it is possible--at least as regards Gaul--to associate certain potters' names and certain types of figures, though found in many places, with two centres in particular, Graufesenque near Rodez (department of Aveyron) in the district occupied by the Ruteni, and Lezoux near Clermont (department of Puy-de-Dôme) in the country of the Arverni. The periods during which these potteries flourished are consecutive, or rather overlapping, but not contemporaneous, the former being practically coincident with the 1st century A.D., the latter with the 2nd and 3rd down to about A.D. 260, when the manufacture of _terra sigillata_ practically came to an end in Gaul.

There were also certain smaller potteries, some of which mark a transition between the Italian and provincial wares, in the north of Italy and on the Rhine and upper Loire, e.g. St Remy-en-Rollat, and others of later date, as at Banassac and Montans in the latter district, but none of these produced pottery of special merit or importance. The early Rhenish wares are, strictly speaking, of a semi-Celtic or Teutonic character, while the later German _terra sigillata_, for which the principal centres were Rheinzabern near Carlsruhe and Westerndorf in Bavaria, are of similar character but inferior to the 2nd-century pottery of Lezoux. A mould from Rheinzabern is illustrated, Plate IV. fig. 66.

The ornamented vases produced in these potteries are, as we have said, almost confined to two or three varieties, which follow one another chronologically. A shape favoured at first is the _krater_, which has been mentioned as one of the characteristic Arretine forms; but this enjoyed but a short term of popularity. Early in the 1st century we find a typical form of bowl in use, which, following the numeration of Dr Dragendorff's treatise, is usually spoken of as No. 29. This is characterized by its moulded rim engraved with finely incised hatchings, and by the division of the body by a moulding into two separate friezes for the designs (fig. 36). Its ornament is at first purely decorative, consisting of scrolls and wreaths, then small animals and birds are introduced, and finally figure subjects arranged in rectangular panels or circular medallions. About the middle of the century a second variety of bowl (known as No. 30; see fig. 37) was introduced; this is cylindrical in form, and, being found both at Graufesenque and Lezoux, may be regarded as transitional in character. In the latter half of this century a new form arises (No. 37; fig. 37), a more or less hemispherical bowl which holds the field exclusively on all sites down to the termination of the potteries. In this form and in No. 30 a new system of decoration is introduced, the upper edge being left quite plain. The panels and medallions at first prevail, but are then succeeded by arcading or inverted semicircles enclosing figures, and finally after the end of the 1st century (and on form 37 only) we find the whole surface covered with a single composition of figures unconfined by borders or frames of any kind, but in a continuous frieze; this is known as the "free" style (Plate IV. fig. 69).

As regards the figure subjects, it may be generally laid down that the conceptions are good, but the execution poor. Many are obvious imitations of well-known types or works of art, and the absence of Gaulish subjects is remarkable. They include representations of gods and heroes, warriors and gladiators, hunters and animals, the two latter classes being pre-eminently popular.

The potters' names at Graufesenque are nearly all of a common Roman type, such as Bassus, Primus, Vitalis; those at Lezoux are Gaulish in form, such as Advocisus, Butrio, Illixo or Laxtrucisa. This seems to imply that Roman influence was still strong in the earlier centre which drew its inspiration more directly from Arretium. But even the purely Roman names are sometimes converted into Gaulish forms, as _Masclus_ for Masculus, or _Tornos_ for Turnus. The stamps are quadrangular in form, depressed in the surface of the vase with the letters in relief; on the plain wares they are usually in the centre of the interior, but on the ornamented vases are impressed on the exterior among the figures. The usual formula is OF (for _officina_) or M (for _manu_) with the name in the genitive, or F, FE or FEC for _fecit_ with the nominative.

Besides the ordinary _terra sigillata_ with figures produced in moulds we find other methods of decoration employed. In the south of France, about Arles and Orange, vases were made with medallions separately moulded and attached round the body; these have a great variety of subjects, both mythological and gladiatorial or theatrical, or even portraits of emperors. There is a remarkable specimen in the British Museum with a scene from the tragedy of the _Cycnus_, on which Heracles and Ares are represented, with seated deities in the background (Plate IV. fig. 67). The date of these reliefs is the 3rd century after Christ.

Of the same date is a somewhat similar ware made at Lezoux. Here each figure is attached separately to the vase, and the background is filled in with foliage produced by the method known as _en barbotine_ (slip-painting), of which we shall speak presently. The effect of these vases, which are mostly large jars or _ollae_ (Plate IV. fig. 70), is often very decorative, and there is a fine specimen in the British Museum from Felixstowe, on which the modelling is really admirable. Other good examples have been found in various parts of Britain.