Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIII.djvu/804

 780 POTTERY AND PORCELAIN styled Egypto-Phcenician. The human form was seldom painted on the earlier pottery, but about 600 B. 0: the second style came into use, in which the articles were painted black, leaving open spaces showing the original sur- face color of the clay, generally red or yellow, on which figures in black were painted. This was the commencement of fine art, and im- proved for two centuries. Vast numbers of vases and other articles were now made, on which there were paint- ings representing scenes from his- tory, from the cyclic poets, from mythology, and from the imagi- nation of the ar- tists. The next advance consisted in adopting the red or yellow sur- face of the clay for the picture, painting the rest of the article black. The red figures, touched with lines in black, had expres- sion and action, and the art had reached its culmi- nation. The best period was from 400 to 300 B. 0. After the latter date the art de- clined, and before the days of the Romon em- pire was practically abandoned. The Greeks imported into Italy both the splendid works of their potteries and the potters themselves, who produced similar fabrics in that country. For Fia. 3. Greek Prize Vase. FIG. 4. Eoman Bowl of Samian "Ware. a long time these works were attributed to the Etruscans, but it is now known that the Etrus- cans never excelled in ceramic art. They made rude pottery in their earlier periods, then learned some ideas from the Greeks, and pro- duced poor imitations of Greek work. The Ro- mans made immense quantities of pottery for useful purposes. Bricks and tiles for draining, for walls, for roofs, and for other uses, were a great source of revenue to land owners and to potters. These had inscriptions giving the name of the owner from whose land the clay was obtained and the name of the maker, and they often bear names of consuls, dates, and other important historical inscriptions. A com- mon mode of Roman burial was in a grave lined with tiles, the body being preserved from contact with the earth by arched tiles over it, on which are often found inscriptions. Large pottery statues, as well as statuettes, abounded in Rome in early times. The most interesting ar- ticles of Roman pot- tery which are pre- served to us are lamps in great vari- ety of form and decoration, general- ly made in moulds. The Romans also made a variety of pottery known as Samian ware, from its resemblance to the Greek pottery of Samos. This was of a brilliant red, oft- en pressed in moulds so as to give decora- tion in raised work. This ware was made wherever the Roman power extended. In the later period of the Roman empire the cera- mic art fell into disuse, and all knowledge of its artistic capabilities was lost. But the art, which had probably passed from the Euphra- tes valley into the eastern parts of Asia, and had been practised in China and India from a very early period, seems to have found its way back across Asia at the time when Europe was losing it. The Saracens possessed it as early as the 8th century, although we cannot iden- tify specimens of their work until a later time. Europe is indebted to them for its revival, as it is for that of other fine arts. They found it useful for their peculiar and beautiful architecture, and made tiles for internal and external use in public and private buildings. As early as the 12th century they excelled in the use of stanniferous enamel with brilliant colors. They carried the art into Spain, where it produced tiles called azu- lejos, and dishes and vases in what has been called the Hispano-Moresque style. Their dec- orations were exceedingly fine, abounding in arabesques on brilliant blue, green, red, yel- FIG. 5. Snrncen Arabesque Tiles.