Page:History of Art in Sardinia, Judæa, Syria and Asia Minor Vol 1.djvu/385

 Industrial Arts. 355 The Recove dug up in a cave near Olivet (Fig. 249). It is quite plain, remarkable for having its feet perforated like handles, as if for the purpose of suspension when the utensil was not in use. Such a disposition is likewise met with in a Cypriote crater. 1 The medi- ocre style of the older Hebrew pottery should cause no sur- prise, for we incline to the belief that it did not come into use until the Israelites had renounced their wandering mode of life. Clay vessels, it should be re- collected, are more ponderous, easily broken, and more difficult to procure than skins, wooden utensils, or gourds. The nomad is obliged to move to great dis- tances in search of pasturage as the seasons come round, along with all his belongings ; hence the necessity to reduce these to their utmost minimum. Even in a more settled state of life, generations must have passed before these deep-rooted habits were changed, though the necessity for them had ceased to exist. When the Hebrews became tillers of the soil, the advantages of earthen utensils must ere long have been acknow- ledged. They cost little, are easily kept clean, and may be procured of the shape required ; whilst they are invaluable in a hot country as coolers. The author of the charming narrative to be read in Gen. xxv. 14 has not told us whether the pitcher which Rebecca let down from her shoulder upon her hand that Eleazar might drink, was of clay, copper, or wood, but the Hebrew word used in this passage is kad, equivalent to the Greek kcîSoç, Latin cadus, always applied by Greeks and Romans to an earthen vessel. 2 The term was borrowed from the Phoenicians -Fragment of Vase, p. 478. Flu. 245. — Fragment of Vase. The Recovery, p. 478. Hist, of Art, torn. iii. Fig. 508. Modern Italian cattino. — Editor.