Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 4.djvu/209

Rh testimony of Vasari. The phrase &quot; put into print &quot; is ara- biguous, and by it Vasari may mean us to understand either that Botticelli engraved the designs himself or else that ho merely furnished them to be engraved by another hand. To him the chief part in the invention, to Baldini the chief part in the execution, is usually and with a fail- measure of probability assigned. Vasari s information on the whole subject was evidently loose ; a Triumph of Faith of Savonarola, which he extols as Botticelli s best engraving, does not at present exist at all. None of the designs bear the evidence of Botticelli s manner in a sufficiently definite form to be undeniable. On the other hand, many of them, by their poetry, their refinement, their singularity, are quite worthy of his hand, nor do they resemble any other contemporary style more than his. If he designed and executed, or in part executed, them, they are no slight addition to his fame, and a noble vindication of his industry during that old nge of idleness, decay, and &quot; dis order,&quot; which followed, if we are to believe Vasari, upon the splendid and inspired activity of his youth and man hood. But the question is one which criticism, it is to be feared, will never have the means of fully settling. (Vasari, ed. Lemonnier, vol. v. pp. 110-127; Crowe and Caval- caselle, Hist, of Painting in Italy, vol. ii. pp. 414-430; W. H. Pater, Studies in the History of the Renaissance; and see also Ariadne Florentin, No. vi., by John Euskin ; art. &quot; Baccio Baidini,&quot; by E. Kolhoff in 2d ed. of Nagler s Kunstler-Le xikon ; and the Academy for February 1871.)  BÖTTIGER,, a distinguished German archaeologist, was born at Reichenbach in 17GO. He was educated at the famous school of Pforta, and at the University of Leipsic. In. 1784, after having passed a few years as private tutor in Dresden, he was made rector of the school at Guben, where he remained for six years. He was then transferred to a similar post at Bautzen, and in 1791, through the influence of Herder, obtained the appointment of rector of the gymnasium at Weimar. In that town he entered into a circle of literary men of the highest powers, including Wieland, Schiller, and Goethe, and distinguished himself by the great versatility of his talents. He published in 1803 a lively and learned work, Sabina, oder Morgenscenen einer reichen Romsrin, giving a description of a wealthy Roman lady s toilette, and a work on ancient art, Griechische Vasengemdlde. At the same time he Jissisted in editing the Journal des Luxusund der Mode, the Deutsche Mercur, and the London and Paris. In 1804 he was called to Dresden as superintendent of the studies of the court pages, and received the rank of privy councillor. In 1814 he was made director of studies at the court academy, and inspector of the Museum of Antiquities. He died at Dresden in 1835.

1em  BOTTLE. The first bottles were probably made of the skins of animals. In the Iliad (iii. 247) the attendants are represented as bearing wine for use in a bottle made of goat s skin, O-KW V aiya w. The ancient Egyptians used skins for this purpose, and from the language employed by Herodotus (ii. 121), it appears that a bottle was formed by sewing up the skin and leaving the projection of the leg and foot to serve as a vent, which was hence termed TToSewi/. The aperture was closed with a plug or a string. Skin bottles of various forms occur on Egyptian monu ments. The Greeks and Romans also were accustomed to use bottles made of skins ; and in the southern parts of Europe they are still used for the transport of wine. The accompanying illustration is from specimens at Pompeii and Herculaneum. The first explicit reference to bottles of skin in Scripture occurs in Joshua (ix. 4), where it is said that the Gibeonites took &quot; old sacks upon their asses, and wine-bottles old and rent and bound up.&quot; Skins are still most extensively used throughout Western Asia for the conveyance and storage of water. It is an error to repre sent the bottles of these ancient Hebrews as being made exclusively of skins. In Jer. xix. 1, the prophet speaks of &quot; a potter s earthen vessel.&quot; The Egyptians possessed vases, bottles, etc., of hard stone, alabaster, glass, ivory, bone, porcelain, bronze, silver, and gold, and also, for the use of the people generally, of glazed pottery or common earthenware. As early as Thothmes III., assumed to be the Pharaoh of the Exodus (1490, B.C.), vases existed of a shape so elegant, and of workmanship so superior, as to show that the art was not, even then, in its infancy. In the annexed cut various specimens of these are represented. The British Museum contains a fine collection of these articles. The process of making glass bottles is described under the heading.

FIG. 1. Roman Skin Bottles. FIG. 2. Egyptian Bottles and Vases. 1, 2. Gold. 3. Cut glass. 4. Earthenware. 5, 7. Porcelain. 6. Hard Stone. 8. Gold, with plates and bands. 9. Stone. 10. Alabaster, with lid.  BOTTOMRY, a maritime contract by which a ship (or bottom) is hypothecated in security for money borrowed for expenses incurred in the course of her voyage, under the condition that if she arrive at her destination the ship shall be liable for repayment of the loan, together with such premium thereon as may have been agreed for ; but that if the ship be lost, the lender shall have no claim against the borrower either for the sum advanced or for the 