Page:History of Art in Phœnicia and Its Dependencies Vol 2.djvu/346

 318 HISTORY OF ART IN PHOENICIA AND ITS DEPENDENCIES. Our museums contain thousands of Cypriot vases. The Metropolitan Museum of New York is the richest of all ; then come London and Paris. We have examined the originals in the last two museums, while for New York we have had excellent photographs at our disposal. We have also made great use of private collections, in which the first-fruits of the excavations are mainly to be found. The cabinet of M. Piot contains many specimens bought in the island itself, when the digging first began. Our only difficulty has been an embarras de richesse. We have been compelled to refrain from figuring many specimens of no slight interest, but each variety of the manufacture has been FIG. 255. Neck of a large amphora. Height 9^ inches ; diameter nj inches. Louvre. illustrated by a characteristic example. We have engraved unpublished monuments in preference to those previously figured, and we may therefore assume that a sufficient number have passed before our reader's eyes to justify us in addressing to him a definition of the- habits and characteristic features of Cypriot ceramics. The first distinguishing feature of the island pottery is its monotonous, sad-coloured general aspect. There is no glaze, and both figures and ground are carried out in what look like faded tints. Even in the more elaborately decorated pieces there are