Page:A History of Art in Chaldæa & Assyria Vol 2.djvu/343

 Ceramics. 305 is tantalizingly small we catch a glimpse of three lion's paws playing with a chess-board ornament. A row of cuneiform characters runs along the lower part (Fig. 189). These fragments, taken altogether, show that a certain effort was made to produce decorated pottery towards the end of the Assyrian period. Why was the attempt not carried farther ? Why were earthenware vases not covered with ornamental designs that might be compared for richness and variety with those chiselled in or beaten out of stone or wood, ivory or metal ? The reason may, we think, be guessed. Clay appeared such a common material that they never thought of using it for objects of luxury, for anything that required great skill in the making, or in which its proprietor could take any pride. When Jthey wanted fine vases they turned to bronze ; bronze could be gilded, it could be Figs. 188, 189. — Fragments ot vases. Actual sizes. British Museum. damascened with gold and silver, and when so treated was more pleasing to the eye and more provocative of thought and ingenuity on the part of the artist than mere clay. It was reserved for Greece to erect the painted vase into a work of art. Her taste alone was able to make us forget the poverty of the material in the nobility of the form and the beauty of the decora- tion ; we shall see that her artists were the first to give to an earthenware jar or cup a value greater, for the true connoisseur, than if they were of massive gold or silver. During the period on which we are now engaged, the Meso- potamians sometimes attempted to cover their vases with enamel. The British Museum has several specimens of a pottery covered with a blue glaze like that of the Egyptian faience. 1 Here and 1 Birch, History of Ancient Pottery, 2nd edition, 1873, p. 91. VOL. II. R R