Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 19.djvu/640

Rh G16 POTTERY [ETRUSCAN. Imita tion vases. cf the wheels, which, when rolled over the clay, printed (like seals) rows of figures, and they were of course repeated every 7 or 8 inches, ac cording to the size of the wheels. These stamped reliefs, mostly about an inch high, represent processions of animals, lions, leopards, boars, ibexes, deer, horses, or griffins. Some have human figures, horse men fighting with chimaine. One in the Louvre has a curious hunt ing-scene, a man, with two dogs, throwing short knobbed sticks to drive hares into a net. The bands are arranged, singly or double, round the rims of the pinaces and the shoulders of the pithi ; the latter FJG 36 .&quot;I!^~ scan pith are also ornamented with rude or jar, with wheel-stamped fluting or &quot;reeding&quot; below the band, and fluted body, bands, or have occasionally reliefs, (Louvre.) 2 to 3 inches square, stamped at intervals all round them instead of the continuous lines of figures. 5. Later Vases with Imitations of Greek Paintings. These are mostly copies of Greek forms, but very inferior, both in drawing and technical execution, to the real Greek vases, the black enamel especially being thin, and hard in texture. In appearance they resemble Greek vases of various periods, but are distinguishable by having paintings that are not Hellenic in subject or treatment, or by their Etruscan inscriptions. An amphora, now in the British Museum (see fig. 37), of early style, with black figures . FIG. 37. Etruscan amphora, Greek style, with contest between Hercules and Juno, and bauds of birds and animals ; black, with incised lines. and incised lines, has a painting of a scene which belongs specially to Latin mythology, viz., the contest at Pylus between Hercules and Juno Sospita ; Minerva stands behind Hercules and Poseidon behind Juno. On each side of Juno is a caldron full of snakes, probably an allusion to the sacred serpent which was kept in the grove of Juno at Lanuvium. Another amphora in the Paris Bibliotheque has a painting of the scene where Admetus takes leave of Alcestis before her descent to Hades (see fig. 38). Two hideous demons are depicted, waiting to seize their prey : one, Charun, with winged feet, brandishes a massive hammer ; the other, Mantus, FIG. 38. Etruscan painting, au amphora of later Greek style ; parting scene of Alcestis and Admetus, with Etruscan inscriptions. with great white wings, holds a serpent in each hand ; both have a fiendish aspect, with grinning teeth, like the devils in mediaeval pictures of hell, and thoroughly un- Greek in spirit. This vase is in the style of the decadence of vase-painting, probably about 200 B.C. 6. Painted Wall-slabs were used to decorate the walls Paintt of tombs ; they are from 4 to 5 feet high, about 2 feet wau- wide, and about 1 inch thick. The upper part some- 8 times has a moulded cornice and a painted frieze with geometrical ornament. The lower part is covered with chequered squares or some other simple pattern. On the intermediate space are painted pictures with figures, about 2 feet high, representing sacrificial scenes, religious pro cessions, and other subjects. The drawing shows Greek influence, but the costumes are Etruscan. The pigments are mostly simple earth-colours, red, brown, and yellow ochres, with black, white, and bluish grey ; but bright greens and blues also occur, the latter made from oxides of copper, like the smalto on the Attic lecythi. The colours are all applied quite flatly ; the female flesh is white, the male red ; and the whole painting is emphasized by strong black outlines. The costumes are interesting ; many of the garments fit tightly to the body, and the men mostly w r ear a peculiar sort of high boot turned up at the tip. It is doubtful whether they are executed in true ceramic colours fired in the kiln. They may possibly be only tempera paintings, like those on the tuff- walls of some of the excavated tombs. The great size of the wen- baked clay slabs on which they are painted shows that the Etruscans must have constructed pottery -kilns of considerable dimensions. 1 Inscriptions on Etruscan Vases. Painted words or phrases are Inscr not uncommon on the vases which are imitated from the Greek ; tions. they are usually illustrative of the subject, as, for example, the vase mentioned above with the parting scene of Alcestis and Ad metus, which has, in addition to the names of the two principal figures, a sentence in the Etruscan language, spoken by Charun &quot;Ecaerscenac aqrum wlerorce &quot; (I bear thee to Acheron). The names of Admetus and Alcestis are written retrograde,- thus Several Etruscan vases of black ware have been found with the complete Etruscan alphabet rudely scratched upon them. They give early forms of the twenty -two Phoenician letters, and are arranged in the Semitic order. 3 A cup in the museum at Grosseto lias two Greek letters added after the twenty-two which composed the Etruscan alphabet. Some late vases, not earlier than about 200 B.C., are interesting from having inscriptions painted in white, which give early forms of the Latin language. They are mostlv dedicatory, with names of Latin deities, e.g., VOLCANI POCVLOM, &quot;the cup of Vulcan&quot;; BELOLAI POCVLOM, &quot;the cup of Bellona,&quot; and others. Dates of Etruscan Pottery. These can only be roughly estimated. Date 1 See Dennis, Cities of Etruria, ed. 1878. 2 See Birch, Ancient Pottery, 1873, p. 460. 3 See Taylor, Alphabet, 1883, vol. ii. p. 73.