In a former volume of this work, under the respective headings, the Pottery of the Prehistoric ages, and of the oldest nations, as Egypt, Assyria, and Phoenicia, has been noticed. The pottery of primitive Greece has also been mentioned, and some illustrations have been given. It is here intended to give a brief outline of the history of Ceramics dating from about the end of the thirteenth century; but to connect this sketch with the notice of Cyprian pottery already given it will be necessary to say something of the Greek, Etruscan, and Roman pottery. Greek vases had been found in great quantities in Etruria before they were found in the islands and colonies of Greece, or to any extent in Athens, and from this circumstance they were wrongly supposed to have been of Etruscan workmanship. The Etruscans imported these vases from Greece during the fifth and sixth centuries B.C., many of which had been placed in their tombs, from where they have been exhumed during the last hundred and fifty years.

The Vases Found At Athens And Other Parts Of Greece

The Vases Found At Athens And Other Parts Of Greece were also, as a rule, found in tombs and burial-places; one class in particular - the Athenian lekythi - were made specially to contain the sacred oil or wine and to be afterwards placed in the tomb. These vases are of a long, narrow, and elegant shape, and were decorated with appropriate funeral subjects outlined on a white ground. This white ground is known as matt, and is of a dull surface; it is not >a glaze, but simply an engobe of clay fired at a very low temperature. The draperies of the figures are occasionally coloured red, brown, pale green, or a bluish tint, and some of them are remarkable for their beauty of drawing and expression of sentiment in the design. They date from B.C. 450 to 350. Greek vases are characterized by their beauty of shape as well as by their refined decoration. Some of the richly decorated ones were given as prizes to the victors in the Olympian games, and it has also been conjectured that some of the terra-cotta vases found in the tombs were designed to represent the costlier metal vases that were offered for prizes at the games held in honour of princes at their death, the coarser terra-cotta vases being used at the death of the common people.

The Shapes Of The Greek Vases

The Shapes Of The Greek Vases vary in the different periods, getting more elegant as they approached the middle period - the fifth and the first half of the fourth century B.C. - and larger in size with the handles more elaborate in the later periods. The principal varieties are known under the following names: - the Amphora, a full-bodied vase with two handles, used for carrying wine; the Hydria, a wider bodied vase, used for carrying water: it has generally one large and two smaller handles; the Crater, a large wide-mouthed vessel, used for mixing wine and water; the Lebes, a round basin usually placed on the top of a stand or tripod; the OinochoĊ , a ewer-shaped vase, used for pouring out wine; the Lekythos, a long bottle-shaped vase, used for holding oil; the Aryballos, for perfumes or oil; the Cantharos, a two-handled cup on a foot, used for drinking purposes; the Kylix, a shallow cup on a foot, used for drinking wine; and the Rhyton, or drinking horn, made in the shape of an animal's head or a sphinx.

Greek Ceramic Ware

Greek Ceramic Ware, like the Etruscan and Roman, was coated with a scarcely perceptible thin glaze, supposed to be composed of a vitreous alkaline that merely hardened the clay body and left a very faint polish on the surface.

The colouring on the majority of the Greek vases of the sixth century is a brown or red glaze on which are painted the designs in black; the markings on the figures and drapery are incised, showing the groundwork, or being sometimes filled in with white, and the faces and limbs usually painted a white colour and fired at a low heat. Sometimes a purple tint was painted over the accessories. Vases of this period have also a white biscuit ground with similar coloured decorations as those of the red ground.

In the fifth century B.C. a change took place in the style of decoration: the figures and accessories are left in the red ground colour of the. vase, and the surrounding groundwork is black; the interior markings are in faint yellow or black, and incised slightly with a tool. This is the period of the best designs and of delicate and correct drawing. Some of the kylixes of this period are exceedingly beautiful, and are usually signed with the name of the artist. Some artists' names are Meidias, Polygnotos, Epictelos, Pamphaios, Brygos, Euphronius, etc. It is said that the greatest artists of Greece - Phidias, Polycletus, Apelles, and Myron - furnished designs for the potters.

The Greeks in their vase paintings observed strictly the aesthetic laws of proportion and space division (Figs, 1, 2, 3, 4) as they did in their architecture. The precision of touch which they displayed is remarkable, and the skill in the freehand rendering of their geometric and floral borders, not to speak of their figure-work, is astonishing when we think that if they made a mistake on the absorbent biscuit ware on which they painted, it could not be altered without showing the defect.

Fig. 1. Greek Vase. OinochoĊ .

Fig. 2. Greek Vase. Crater.

Fig. 3. Greek or Etruscan Ewer.

Fig. 4. Greek Vase. Signed by Nicosthenes.

A Gr*˜co-Roman vase in terra-cotta is shown at Fig. 6.