Page:History of Art in Sardinia, Judæa, Syria and Asia Minor Vol 1.djvu/110

 9 2 A History of Art in Sardinia and Jud.f.a. shapeless and crude in fabrication, that we thought them unworthy of being reproduced. 1 Nor do the vases recovered in the giants' tombs and around niiraghs evince a much higher degree of artistic feeling. 2 They are hand made, nothing in them betraying ac- quaintance with the wheel, whilst it is evident that a polisher was used in touching them up. The paste is fine but not cleansed, Figs. 98 and 99. — Clay Vessels. From Baux. small quantities of silex being found in it ; the baking, on the other hand, is better than that of the corresponding age in the Swiss lakes. The colour varies from black to light brown. The walls of these vases are very thick and red on the outside, with here and there traces of black shining glaze. What distinguishes this pottery is the almost entire absence of ornamentation. Our Figs. 100 and 101. — Earthenware. From Ba woodcut shows two vessels from a tomb near Tanca-Regia (Figs. 98 and 99). The first is exceedingly archaic, the other, however, betrays a certain effort on the part of the artist to endow the piece with diversified and elegant outline. A kind of tray with or with- out handles is more generally met with, from 20 to 25 c. broad (Figs. 100 and 10 1). Vessels have suffered most, and as a rule, are recovered in fragments. Of these only two examples show 1 See p. 84 of this volume. 2 A. Baux, La Poterie des Nùraghes, etc. {Revue Archéologique, 3 série, torn. v. pp. 64-68).