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