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ANTIQUARIAN RESEARCHES.

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Antiquarian Reserches-Etruscan Vases.

known to the ancients. The mist and paintings, indeed, which occur these pulchral vases of the Greens, do not seem to have been appised by the Romans to earthenware manufactures; for no traces of them occur among the numerous remains of Roman pottery *. A covering, however, in some respects similar to it, but consisting of vegetable pitch, was used by the Romans in their wine vessels, the preparation of which is accurately described by Columelia. I do not doubt, that a varnish made from asphaltum in the manner above described, and the mode of painting founded upon it, to which the name of enamelling is applied, might be used with advantage in modern pottery, as for ornamenting vessels, covering tiles, &c.

Besides the black varnish, some other colours are seen in Grecian and Etruscan sepulchral vases; for example, white, yellowish white, red, brown, rarely bluish green or livid. In the vases, whose paintings are made of the varnish itself, particular parts only of the paintings consist of these colours; for example, leaves, flowers, architectural ornaments, the drapery of figures, the wings of winged furies, horses, chariots, &c. In other vases, which are evidently covered with black varnish, certain ornaments are sometimes laid in upon it with other colours, especially white. The nature of these pigments is as follows:-1. They are, without exception, opaque, and belong to the paints, called in German Deckfarben. 2. They seem prepared either from earth or metallic oxides; for example, the white pigments from argil; the red from oxide of iron; the brown from oxide of iron, mixed with oxide of manganese. 3. They are not vitreous, but have an earthy aspect. 4. They are not intimately united with the baked clay; they fall off, and may easily be abraded; they are partly dissolved in acids §. 5. They are usually laid upon the black varnish, which appears evident enough when particles of the paint have fallen off, or are abraded, by which the black varnish is discovered. From these properties, it may be inferred, that the antique painted vases have not been baked in the same manner as our earthen-ware is, along with the pigments, but have had the pigments applied to them after being baked . We shall now, in the second place, speak of the mechanical method, in which the varnish and paintings have been applied.

*Consult Brocchi, sulle Vernici usate dagli Antichi. Bibl. Ital. t. vi. p. 453, 463.

De Re Rustica. lib. xII. cap. 18.
Hirt, in Boetticher's Vasengemälden.
Bd. 1. Heft. 3. p. 27. Millingen, Peint.
Ant. p. 5.

§ Hirt, in Boetticher's Vasengem. Bd. 1. Heft. 3. p. 27.

Grivaud. Ant. Gaul. et Rom. p. 125.

[xcv.

All that I have observed with regard to this matter, during a diligent examination of Grecian and Etruscan vases, as well as all that has already been observed by others, agrees well with the opinion expressed above, regarding the composition of the varnish.

Some antiquaries have thought, that the paintings of Grecian vases have been perfected by the assistance of the moulds, to which our workmen gave the name of patrones. Others have supposed, not that the whole paintings, but the ornaments, have been made in this way t. I cannot, however, give my assent to these opinions. If the figures or ornaments had been perfected by the aid of moulds, vases would undoubtedly be sometimes found in the same place, with the same paintings. But although similar representations are not unfrequently seen in different vases, there have never, in so far at least as I know, been found two vases, whose paintings correspond in every respect, which has already been remarked by Grivaud. If the ornaments which might have been made by means of moulds more easily than the more diversified and complex figures, be attentively examined, certain irregularities and slight blemishes will often be found, which would undoubtedly have been avoided, if moulds had been applied in the painting of vases.

From certain marks to be observed in the paintings and varnish of vases, it may be inferred that the black paint has not always been applied once only, but sometimes re-. peatedly. The first coating is not always accurately covered by the succeeding one; nor is it rare to find different shades of colour in the same vase. The parts of vases, not covered by the black varnish, very frequently are of a red colour, which is darker than the peculiar colour of baked clay, and has also a certain degree of lustre; properties which have probably been produced by a single application of a thin varnish.

In vases, whose figures are of a black colour, the outlines have first been drawn with a pencil, and the minor parts of the figures then filled up with paint; a mode of painting, which is plainly discernible, for example, in some Locrian vases §. In vases, which have red figures upon a black ground, a similar mode of painting is often observable. In them, the outlines of the figures are covered with diluted paint, and the filling-up of the black ground is then

Hamilton was of this opinion; but he afterwards thought otherwise. Boettiger's Vasengem. Bo. 1. Heft. 3. p. 46, 58. + Rossi, First Letter to M. Millingen. Peint. Ant. p. 6.

Jorio, Sul Met. d. Ant. uel dipingere i Vasi, p. 9.

§ Rossi, First Letter to M. Millingen. Peint. Ant. p. 10. Jorio. loc. cit.

per

PART II.]

Antiquarian Researches.-Etruscan Vases.

pe fected *. In some vases, the groundcolour does not completely touch these outlines; in some others the ground-colour passes over the outlines here and there; sometimes connections of the outlines are observed+; defects which clearly shew the mode of painting. It may also be recognised by the circumstance, that the black colour is less intense in the places where the outlines have afterwards been covered by it than in the other parts. According to the observation of Meyer, a first shading of the paintings with a red pigment, is rarely seen §. In some vases, it is obvious, that the outlines of the figures have been cut out with some sharp instrument. Instead of cut lines, dotted ones sometimes occur . Jorio has observed, that, in some vases, it is evident that the figures have been first painted naked, and afterwards covered with the drapery;-a mode of painting which was much in use even in the time of Raphael.

In vases with red figures upon a black ground, the internal delineation of some parts of the figures being of a deep colour, have undoubtedly been made last. After the laying on of the black paint has been executed, other colours have sometimes been added to the paintings, as has already been noticed above. All the paintings of the ancient Grecian vases have been done with a very fine pencil. If the black varnish has in reality been made in the manner above described, the greatest quickness has been requisite in applying it, according to the experiments described by me; and, therefore, the nicest address in the workman. A blunder committed, if it could not be covered over, was irreparable. Although a wonderful steadiness and sureness of hand is manifest in the paintings of vases, yet blemishes produced by haste are not unfrequently seen.

We are, in the third place, to treat more especially of the operations required, after the application of the paints, for finishing the paintings.

We have shown above, that it is probable vases have not, after being first covered with a coating of varnish and other pigments, been again baked, like our modern glazed earthen-ware. Consequently, no further operations were necessary for finishing them. In some vases, however, engraved delineations occur, which penetrate through the black varnish, and present the claycolour of the base; in others, similar lines are seen, which pass through the pigments laid upon the black varnish, and lay the latter bare.

These ornaments, which are of rare oc

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currence, could only have been produced, after the pigments had been applied, by means of a sharp stile.

In some vases, there occur letters either painted or cut out with a sharp instrument, which either exhibit the name of the painter, or notify the object of the painting.

The painted letters have been done in various ways*. 1. In the most ancient vases they are black, upon a red ground. 2. In more recent ones, the ground on which they are laid is cometimes white or red; or, 3. In the same manner as the figures, they are circumscribed by a black ground, and have the colour of burned clay. The engraved letters upon some of the more an cient vases are found either in the red ground, or in the black varnish.

6. Of the composition of those Vases which are entirely Black.-Among the antique vases dug up in Lower Italy, as well as in the districts of ancient Etruria, there occur some which have a black colour not only on the surface, but even internally, concerning the nature of which I have already spoken. In these vases, the fracture of the mass is earthy, and of a pure black colour. On minute inspection, not only black particles, with a pitchy lustre, but also sometimes argillaceous ones, of a yellowish colour, are seen from which it may be inferred that the vases have not been manufactured of black clay, but that some black heterogeneous matter has been added to the mass. The smooth surface of these vases has a certain lustre, similar to the black varnish of painted vases.

At first sight it might be thought that the black colour of the mass had been produced by oxide of manganese, in the same manner as in some of our earthen-ware manufacture, first made by Wedgwood; but this opinion is confuted by experiments made with a view to determine its nature.

The mass of these vessels has a distant resemblance to the famous Ipswich crucibles, which are formed of a mixture of clay and graphite, and but slightly baked. The graphite, however, gives the clay an iron-colour, and the surface of the vessel a metallic lustre; whereas, on the contrary, the external colour of those antique vases passes into pitchy, and the lustre is like that of varnish.

It is well known, that a black colour may be given to clay by means of charcoal vapour. Some sorts of earthen-ware receive a black colour from the vapours of mineral coal and charcoal-makers blacken their smoking pipes, by putting them into the

But that their black colour has not

Peen given to these vases in a similar way, may be inferred from this, that they have been baked in a very small fire, and that the black colour is not equally diffused through the whole mass.

Jorio, loc. cit. p. 19.

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Antiquarian Researches.-Etruscan Vases.

With the view of finding out their true nature, I made some experiments, in which I observed the following circumstances:1. In the flame of a blowpipe, the black colour of the mass is soon destroyed. The mass of vases assumes a reddish yellow colour, which, in a stronger heat, passes into greyish-black, which is probably affected by the reduction of the particles of oxide of iron: fusion then follows, by which a greenish or blackish gloss is produced. 2. With borax, the black particles of the mass afford a yellowish-green colour, which, however, on cooling, nearly disappears,a phenomenon which may be observed, if any substance contain the smallest quantity of oxide of iron. No vestige of a violet colour, indicating the presence of oxide of manganese,could be observed. 3. If a little of the black mass, reduced to powder, be added to nitre in a platina cup, detonation takes place. Sparks are seen, which are always renewed;-a phenomenon which is long observed, when the combustible particles are much enveloped in those of the clay ;a circumstance which causes the combustion to go on slowly. If any acid he mixed with the salt left by this detonation, carbonic acid gas is produced by effervescence. 4. In muriatic and nitric acid, the black particles of the mass do not undergo any change.

From these experiments it may be inferred, that the black pigment in the mass of these vases, is a combustible substance, and, in fact, either carbonaceous or bituminous.

From these experiments I proceeded to others, the object of which was, to produce a substance similar to the black mass of the antique vases; and in this I succeeded. I made use of the same substance which I had applied to the making of varnish, namely, asphaltum; and of that remarkable variety coming from the Dead Sea, which was already known to the ancients. Of this, reduced to powder, I added some to the clay used in the manufacture of tobaccopipes and stone-ware, intimately mixing with them a sufficient quantity, to convert the white colour of the clay into grey. Of this mass I formed cylinders, which I dried in the air, and smoothed at the surface. 1 gradually heated these cylinders in a crucible placed among burning embers, to the degree at which asphaltus is melted. In this manner the clay was thoroughly penetrated by the liquid asphaltus becoming perfectly black, and, at the same time, the surface of the cylinders became of a shining smoothness, as if varnish had been applied to it. The mass of these cylinders agree perfectly in every respect with the black substance of the Grecian and Etruscan vases.

This, then, being the case, and since the black varnish of the painted Grecian vases is intimately connected with the substance

which gives the colour in the vases which are entirely black; and as the black have, without doubt, been manufactured in the same places with the painted ones; it be comes probable, that the problematical black varnish of the painted vases, also, has been produced in the manner above" described, or in one very similar to it.

The examination of the black vases of Grecian and Etruscan origin, led me to explore the nature of the ancient sepulchral vases of the Germans; and I have observed, that, in many of them, there exists similarity to the former, not only with respect to figure and external circumstances, but also in the whole composition and fabric of the mass. The result of my investigations on this subject, I propose to publish at another time.

From these inquiries into the nature and composition of the vases, commonly called Etruscan, it follows:

1. That the manufacture of earthen vases appropriated to funeral occasions, had been widely propagated at a remote period of antiquity, with little deviation from a general plan, in so far as regards their principal cir

cumstances.

2. That these vases have been formed with much particular diversity, in regard to less important circumstances, such as, the quality of the clay employed, and differences in the forms, ornaments and paintings, not only in the different countries and at different times, but also in the same countries, and at the same periods.

3. That the finer sort of these vases are superior, in regard to the preparation of the clay, and the elegance and variety of the forms, as well as the case of the paintings, to all others of the kind, whether of Roman or of modern manufacture; insomuch, that the pottery of the most remote ages forms the model of that of the present times.

4. That the art of manufacturing those vases, as practised in very remote times, is much more worthy of estimation than our best performances in that way, since the ancients were not in possession of many assistances which are applied to the art by us; and because some things which are now done without difficulty, by means of certain instruments or machinery, were, in those times, perfected by means of the hand alone, by the greater dexterity of the artist.

5. That certain circumstances were peculiar to the very ancient art of making and ornamenting those earthen vessels, which have evidently been lost in later times; of which may be mentioned in particular, the composition of a very thin varnish, which gave a heightening to the colour of the clay in a greater or less degree, and afford a very thin, firm black coating, retaining its lustre to the most remote ages, and capable of resisting the action of acids and other

PART 11.] Roman Antiquities. fluids; so that the modern art of manufac-, turing pottery-ware may be materially improved, not only with regard to the forms and ornaments, but also the preparation and application of the materials, by a diligent and continued examination of those very ancient vases.