Page:History of Art in Phœnicia and Its Dependencies Vol 2.djvu/299

 PHOENICIAN CERAMICS. 275 of fortune that Africa conquered a part of Phoenicia and vanquished the Phoenician fleets. It is true that the head is not thoroughly Greek, but that may easily be accounted for by the difficulty of entirely assimilating a foreign type." * Was this vase copied from ancient Greek aryballoi, or was it the model after which the vases of similar form found in Greece and Etruria were made ? This is hardly the place to discuss that question, but we must observe, that although certain Corinthian ary- balloi on which a helmeted head is painted seem older than our vase, on the other hand the latter is more ancient than those Greek aryballoi on which the same head is modelled in relief ; we are therefore tempted to look upon it as the first of the series. 2 However this might be, it was important to describe this little example at length and with great care, in order that any more which may be lurking in our museums might be recognized and brought to light. Unhappily it is only in Egypt that the original surface of such things remains intact, and sometimes we have to look very closely to distinguish any traces of enamel. After a minute examination M. Heuzey found signs of a green-glaze upon an aryballos from Cos which is modelled, not into the shape of an armed head, but of a Hercules. 3 Here too the original theme is Greek and the type of face Egyptian, while the technical qualities are Egypto- Phoenician. Must we believe, as some have suggested, that the Greeks themselves made use of this process, that they had fabriques of glazed earthenware ? 4 Apparently the only solid piece of evidence in favour of such an hypothesis is the existence, in the British Museum, of a small dolphin-shaped vase from Cameiros on the neck of which appears the following inscription engraved under a most delicate blue glaze: FT Y E Q E M I. " I belong to Pythes." This little object, which is thoroughly Greek and very elegant in style and shape, is at present unique, and perhaps it is hardly 1 M. HEUZEY examines the various conjectures which have been started </ profos of this vase, and adopts the one here set forth. 2 HEUZEY, Sur un petit rase, pp. 159-160. 3 Ibid. pp. 161-163, and plate xxviii. fig. i. This vase is also reproduced in Figurines de terre cuite du Musee du Lourre, plate vii. fig. 3. 4 HEUZEY, Sur un petit rase, 6-r., p. 150.