Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 20.djvu/40

 VASE. 22 VASE. is in black on the natural color of the clay. The details are indicated by incised lines, and a somewhat scanty use of red and white, though this last is always employed for the flesh of women. Near the end of the sixth centurj- this technique was largely supplanted by the 'red- figured,' in which the body of the vase is cov- ered with black glaze, while the figures appear in the natural color of the clay.' The details are indicated by fine lines of black. While the earlier vases in this technique show the characteristics of archaic art, soon after the Persian wars there is greater correctness of drawing and more re- straint and dignity of treatment. ( See Colored Plate, Figs. 5 and 8.) Later there appears a tendency to substitute prettiness and delicacy for dignity, and while there is astonishing fineness of line, there is a distinct loss of power. In the fourth century the use of gilding and bright colors marks the decline. At this time also the practice, known in the early fifth century, of combining a vase and a figurine (Colored Plate, Fig. 7 ) grew more common. Here we may per- haps trace the influence of works in metal, and it is certain that this was a large factor in the disappearance of wheel-made pottery and the substitution of vases formed in a mold and decorated with figures in relief, the so-called 'Megarian' ware. Another series of Attic vases is distinguished by decorations in various colors on a white slip (Colored Plate, Fig. 2). The chief examples are the lecythi, or jars used to contain oil and perfumes in the service of the dead. These vases are among the most beautiful prod- ucts of Greek ceramic art ; they were not made for export and are rarely found outside of Attica and Eretria. See Colored Plate. Fig. 3, and Pottier, Etudes sur les lecytlies' hlancs altiqucs (Paris. 183). In Lower Italy the Greek colonies seem to have developed local styles as early as the fourth century. All show a departure from the purer Attic taste in a love of florid and excessive orna- mentation, and the use of bright colors. This leads to scenes introducing many figures, often arranged in rows, with ornamental borders of flowers and tendrils. Some of the vases of the earlier period are, however, fine examples of the potter's art. (Colored Plate. Fig. (?, ) In Northern and Central Italy the history of ceiamics is chiefly concerned with the earlier and ruder types, valuable for ethnology, but with little artistic interest. The cemeteries on the Alban Mount, the Esquiline, and elsewhere, yield rude vases of coarse clay, usually of a sooty black or dull gray. In Etruria there de- veloped a distinct type, the l»wchero nero of Italian writer" These vases are of coarse black clay. They ait not painted, but polished and decorated with reliefs impressed in the soft clay l)y a stamp. The forms and reliefs show plainly the influence of metal vases, as well as of the Oriental and Greek importations. Though this ware seems to have been manufactured as late as the fourth century, the Etruscans were also great admirers of the Greek painted vases, which they imported in large numbers, and imi- tated, though with but small success. About the end of the first century B.C. there appeals in Italy, and later in Gaul, Germany, and Hritain, the Arretine ware, of red clay, highly glazed, and decorated in relief. it commonly bears a potter's stamp, and is hence often called 'terra sigillata' ware. The term Samian is almost certainly a misnomer. The best vases are of fine light clay with decorations evi- dently derived from the rich gold and silver plate in use among the wealthy. In the preparation of the clay and the vase on the wheel Greek processes do not differ essen- tially from those described under Potteky. Es- sential in the spirit of Greek ceramics is the absence of the merely mechanical and the pres- ence of the free personality of the potter. Ban<ls around the vase were drawn by the aid of the wheel, but all the other decoration was free-hand. In the black-figured ware the figures were first drawn in outline and then filled with solid color. After firing the details were engraved and the other colors added. A final firing made the vase ready for the market. In the red-figured ware the potter first drew his design on the soft clay with a dry point, thus allowing ample oppor- tunity for alteration in details. The outlines were then marked by a border of lustrous black, and the body of the vase covered with the same color. The details were then added under con- ditions that made correction impossible, while the full effect could not be seen till the firing brought the color to the surface. That the potter was proud of his art is shown by the frequency of signed vases during the sixth and earlier fifth centuries. Common also during this period was the practice of placing on the vase the name of some youth noted for his beauty or popularity, accompanied by the word /caXAs, ?i'alos. beautiful. Consult the three monographs of Klein (Vienna,, 1896, 1897, and 1808). I'lU. 2. AMPUOliA. Earl.v type showing imitation of metal forms. The forms of the Greek vases are manifold, and a comparison of an.y collection with the tables given in catalogues will show the wonder- ful subtlety of the Greek artist in devising varia- tions on well-established types. @JakePaul