Chapter IV
., and the individual sites will also be noted in the next section of this chapter. It is a rare occurrence to find complete vases under these circumstances, as they generally owe their preservation to the fact that they have been broken in pieces and cast away as rubbish into holes and pits. The most notable instance is the remarkable series of fragments discovered on the Acropolis at Athens.
Greek tombs are not usually very remarkable in character,[49] being for the most part small and designed for single corpses; this may possibly account for the comparatively small size of the vases discovered on most Hellenic sites. In the earlier tombs at Athens and Corinth the pottery was found at a very great depth below the soil. The six shaft-graves in the circle at Mycenae are of great size, and contained large quantities of painted pottery; an exact reproduction of the sixth, found by M. Stamatakis in 1878, with its contents, is in the National Museum at Athens. Here also are reproductions of two typical fifth-century Greek tombs containing sepulchral lekythi,[50] and showing how the vases were arranged round the corpse.[51]
Rock-graves are seldom found in Greece, the normal form of tomb being a hole or trench dug in the earth, either filled in with earth or covered with tiles (as at Tanagra). The rock-grave is almost exclusively Asiatic, but some fine specimens were found at Kertch in the Crimea.[52] Some large ones have also been found in Rhodes,[53] but the most typical form of tomb there is a square chamber cut out of the hard clayey earth, approached by a square vertical shaft and a door. They generally contained single bodies, round which were ranged vases and terracotta figures. Sir A. Biliotti, in his diary of the excavations at Kameiros (1864), also records the finding of tombs cut in the clay in the form of longitudinal trenches, covered with flat stones forming a vaulted roof. Others were merely troughs cut in the surface of the rock and covered with stones and earth. In the shafts of the first type of tomb large jars or πίθοι were often found containing the bones of children (see page 152). Nearly all these tombs have yielded Greek vases of all dates. In the island of Karpathos[54] Mr. J. T. Bent found tombs containing early pottery, consisting of two or three chambers with stone benches round the sides.
[Illustration: FIG. 1. INTERIOR OF COFFIN FOUND AT ATHENS, SHOWING ARRANGEMENT OF VASES.]
The tombs of Cyprus are especially interesting for two reasons: firstly, that they exhibit types not found elsewhere; and, secondly, that they vary in size and character at different periods of the island’s history. In the earliest tombs of the Bronze Age period (down to about 800 B.C.) we find a very simple type, consisting of a mere oven-like hole a few feet below the surface of the ground, with a short sloping δρόμος leading to it (Fig. 2). These tombs have very rarely been found intact, and in most cases are full of fallen earth, so that exact details of their original arrangement can seldom be obtained. Each tomb generally contained a few exported Mycenaean vases and a large number of local fabric, usually hand-made and rude in character. The rich cemetery of Enkomi is, however, an exception, for here we find large _built_ tombs, with roofs and walls of stone. Sometimes the Bronze Age tombs were in the form of a deep well.[55]
[Illustration:
From _Ath. Mitth._
FIG. 2. DIAGRAM OF BRONZE AGE TOMBS, AGIA PARASKEVI, CYPRUS. ]
In the Graeco-Phoenician period (about 700–300 B.C.) the “oven” type of tomb is preserved, but on a larger scale and at a greater depth, and often reached by a long flight of stone steps. These tombs usually contain large quantities of the local geometrical pottery, as many as eighty or a hundred vases being sometimes found in one tomb. At Curium and elsewhere, where the tombs contain Greek painted vases, they are sometimes in the form of narrow ramifying passages.
The tombs of the Hellenistic period are of a very elaborate character, especially those of Roman date, with long narrow δρόμος leading to a chamber some ten by twenty feet or more, round the walls of which are sarcophagi and niches; but these tombs seldom contain any but plain and inferior pottery, the manufacture of painted vases in the island having come to an end, as in the rest of Greece.
Frequently a tomb was found to contain pottery of widely different periods, especially in cemeteries such as Amathus and Curium, where the finds are of all dates, showing that the tombs were used again and again for burials.[56]
The tombs in the Cyrenaica, which were explored by Mr. Dennis and contained many Greek vases, he describes as follows[57]: “The great majority of the tombs were sunk in the rock, in the form of pits, from 6 to 7 feet long, from 3½ to 4½ feet wide, and from 5 to 6 feet deep.... Vases were sometimes placed in all four corners of the sepulchre, but this was rare; they were generally confined to two corners, often to one. The most usual place was the corner to the right of the head, and this was the place of honour; for here a Panathenaic vase in the tomb of a victor, a ribbed amphora of glazed black ware, or more commonly an ordinary wine-_diota_, would be deposited upright, with a number of smaller vases within it, or at its foot, either figured or of black or plain ware, according to the circumstances of the deceased. Occasionally small vases, or sometimes terracotta figures, were placed along the sides of the tomb, between the head and feet of the corpse; but I do not remember ever to have found vases deposited on the breast, or under the arms of the deceased, as was often the case in the Greek tombs of Sicily.”
Mr. Arthur Evans has given an interesting account of the tombs at Gela (Terranuova) in Sicily, from which he has excavated many fine vases for the Ashmolean Museum.[58] Chronologically the limits of their date can be ascertained, between the foundation of Gela in 589 B.C. and its depopulation by the Carthaginians in 409 B.C., but a few tombs belong to the subsequent period down to 284 B.C., when it was finally destroyed by the Mamertines. In the early graves containing B.F. vases skeletons were found; these tombs were in the form of terracotta cists with gabled covers and tiled floors. The next stage, containing R.F. vases, has vaulted roofs made of two pieces of stone. During this period cremation-pits containing ashes and bones are sometimes found; the burnt bones were placed in kraters and covered with shallow vessels. In these were found white lekythi, in some respects rivalling those of Athens; but the subjects are domestic rather than sepulchral, and they are probably, like many of the B.F. and R.F. vases, local fabrics. Some of the tombs with B.F. vases are in the form of chambers with vaulted cement roofs. In the earlier tombs the disposition was usually as follows: a kylix on the left side of the head, an alabastron under the right arm, and a lekythos under the left (Fig. 3.). The tombs of Selinus, which are all of early date, have been described by a local explorer.[59]
[Illustration:
From _Ashmolean Vases_.
FIG. 3. DISPOSITION OF VASES IN TOMB AT GELA, SICILY. ]
We next review the types of tombs in Italy from which vases have been obtained. Those at Vulci, and in the Etruscan territory generally, from which the finest and largest vases have been extracted, are chambers hewn in the rocks. The early tombs of Civita Vecchia and Cervetri are tunnelled in the earth; in Southern Italy, especially in Campania, they are large chambers, about two feet under the surface. In D'Hancarville’s work (see p. 17) an illustration is given[60] of a tomb in Southern Italy, which is constructed of large blocks of stone, arranged in squared masses, called the Etruscan style of masonry, in contradistinction to the Cyclopean. The walls are painted with subjects, the body is laid upon the stone floor, and the larger vases, such as the kraters, are placed round it. The jugs are hung upon nails round the walls. Fig. 4. gives an example of a tomb of this kind from Veii. A full account, with illustrations, of the tombs excavated in the Certosa at Bologna about thirty years ago, has been given by Signor Zannoni.[61] The tombs of Southern and Central Italy were made upon the same plan, and the same description applies to both sites.[62]
The most ordinary tombs were constructed of rude stones or tiles, of a dimension sufficient to contain the body and five or six vases; a small one near the head and others between the legs, and on each side, more often on the right than on the left side. An oinochoe and phiale were usually found in every tomb; but the number, size, and quality of the vases varied, probably according to the rank or wealth of the person for whom the tomb was made. The better sort of tombs were of larger size, and constructed with large hewn stones, generally without, but sometimes completed with, cement; the walls were stuccoed, and sometimes ornamented with painted patterns.
In these tombs, which were like small chambers, the body lay face upwards on the floor, with the vases placed round it; sometimes vases have been found hanging upon nails of iron or bronze, attached to the side walls. The vases in the larger tombs were always more numerous, of a larger size, and of a superior quality in every respect to those of the ordinary tombs, which had little to recommend them except their form.
Many of the larger and more important Etruscan tombs have also been described and illustrated by Dennis in his work on Etruria, especially those of Vulci and Corneto, which are famous both for their contents and for the paintings which adorn their walls.[63] In the basement of the British Museum may be seen large models of Etruscan tombs in which the arrangement is carefully reproduced.
The vases, as we have already mentioned, are often ranged round the dead, being hung upon or placed near the walls, or piled up in the corners. Some hold the ashes of the deceased; others, small objects used during life. They are seldom perfect, having generally either been crushed into fragments by the weight of the superincumbent earth, or else broken into sherds, and thrown into corners. Some exhibit marks of burning, probably from having accompanied the deceased to the funeral pyre. Sometimes they are dug up in a complete state of preservation, and still full of the ashes of the dead.[64] These are sometimes found inside a large and coarser vase of unglazed clay, which forms a case to protect them from the earth.
[Illustration: FIG. 4. THE CAMPANA TOMB AT VEII, AS IT APPEARED WHEN OPENED.]
* * * * *
Almost all the vases in the museums of Europe have been mended, and the most skilful workmen at Naples and Rome were employed to restore them to their pristine perfection. Their defective parts were scraped, filed, rejoined, and supplied with pieces from other vases, or else completed in plaster of Paris, over which coating the restored portions were painted in appropriate colours, and varnished, so as to deceive the inexperienced eye. But either through carelessness, or else owing to the difference of process, the restorations had one glaring technical defect: the inner lines are not of the glossy hue of the genuine vases, and there is no indication of the thick raised line which follows the original outline in the old paintings. Sometimes the restorer pared away the ancient incrustation, and cut down to the dull-coloured paste of the body of the vase. Sometimes he even went so far as to paint figures in a light red or orange oil paint on the black ground, or in black paint of the same kind on orange ground. But in all these frauds the dull tone of colour, the inferior style of art, and the wide difference between modern and ancient drawing and treatment of subjects, disclose the deception. The calcareous incrustation deposited on the vases by the infiltration into the tombs of water, containing lime in solution, can be removed by soaking the vases in a solution of hydrochloric acid.[65]
In other cases vases with subjects have been counterfeited by taking an ancient vase covered entirely with black glaze, tracing upon it the subject and inscription intended to be fabricated, and cutting away all the black portions surrounding these tracings, so as to expose the natural colour of the clay for the fictitious ground. When red figures were intended to be counterfeited, the contrary course was adopted, the part for the figures only being scraped away, and the rest left untouched. Vases, indeed, in which the ground or figures are below the surface should always be regarded with suspicion, and their genuineness can only be determined by the general composition and style of the figures, and by the peculiarities of the inscriptions. The latter also are often fictitious, being painted in with colours imitating the true ones, and often incised; indeed, nearly all inscriptions incised after the vase has been baked are liable to give rise to suspicion. The difference of style in the composition of groups, and especially small points in the drawing, such as the over-careful drawing of details, the indication of nails, and various other minute particulars, are also criteria for detecting false or imitated vases. Water, alcohol, and acids will remove false inscriptions, but leave the true ones intact.
Greek vases are not so easy to imitate as terracotta figures, the main difficulty being the black varnish, which can never be successfully reproduced. Acids or alcohol will always remove modern counterfeits, but cannot touch the original substance. Since the discovery in Greece of white-ground vases forgers have had a better chance, and they have often ingeniously availed themselves of genuine ancient vases on which to place modern paintings. But the antique drawing is exceedingly difficult to imitate. In former times Pietro Fondi established manufactories at Venice and Corfu, and the Vasari family at Venice, for fictitious vases,[66] and many such imitations have been made at Naples for the purpose of modern decoration.
The first to make such an attempt in England was the famous potter Wedgwood, whose copy of the Portland Vase is well known. His paste is, however, too heavy, and his drawings far inferior to the antique in freedom and spirit. At Naples, chiefly through the researches and under the direction of Gargiulo, vases were produced, which in their paste and glaze resembled the antique, although the drawings were vastly inferior, and the imitation could be at once detected by a practised eye. They were, indeed, far inferior in all essential respects to the ancient vases. Even soon after the acquisition of the Hamilton collection by the public, the taste created for these novelties caused various imitations to be produced. Some of the simplest kind were made of wood, covered with painted paper, the subjects being traced from the vases themselves, and this was the most obvious mode of making them. Battam also made very excellent facsimiles of these vases, but they were produced in a manner very different from that of the ancient potters, the black colour for the grounds or figures not being laid on with a glaze, but merely with a cold pigment which had not been fired, and their lustre was produced by a polish. In technical details they did not equal the imitations made at Naples, some of the best of which deceived both archaeologists and collectors.
Sometimes illustrations of vases which never had any real existence have appeared in publications. One of the most remarkable of these fabricated engravings was issued by Bröndsted and Stackelberg in a fit of archaeological jealousy. A modern archaeologist is seen running after a draped woman called [PHÊMÊ], or “Fame,” who flies from him exclaiming, [ΕΚΑΣ ΠΑΙ ΚΑΛΕ], “A long way off, my fine fellow!” This vase, which never existed except upon paper, deceived the credulous Inghirami, who too late endeavoured to cancel it from his work. Other vases, evidently false, have also been published.[67]
M. Tyszkiewicz, the great collector, in his entertaining _Souvenirs_,[68] gives some interesting illustrations of the methods of Italian forgers of vases, of which he had frequent experience. “The Neapolitans,” he says, “excel above all others in this industry; and it is in ancient Capua, now Sta. Maria di Capua Vetere, that the best _ateliers_ for the manufacture of painted vases are situated.” But “even the famous connoisseur Raimondi, who was considered the master of his art at Sta. Maria—even he could never invent altogether the decoration of a vase so as to make it pass for an antique. Only if this talented artist could get just a few fragments of a fine vase, he was clever enough to be able, by the aid of illustrations of vases in museums or in private collections, to reconstruct the whole subject. He replaced the missing parts, and threw such an air of uniformity over the vase that it was almost impossible to tell what was modern. But if you tried to wash a vase faked up in this manner, in pure alcohol chemically rectified, you would find that the modern portions would vanish, while the ancient paintings would remain. Neither Raimondi nor any one else could ever manage to discover the secret of the ancient potters—how to obtain the background of a brilliant black colour, improperly known as the _varnish of Nola_. To disguise their failure in this respect, the forgers are obliged, when the vase is entirely reconstructed and repainted, to cover it all over with a varnish of their own invention; but the surface of this varnish, although brilliant, lacks the freshness and brightness of that used by the ancients. Relatively this surface appears dull, and vanishes the moment it is washed with alcohol.”
At Athens also, says M. Tyszkiewicz, laboratories have been established for making vases, of which he was acquainted with three. These forgers excel in turning out the white-ground vases, which, even when antique, cannot resist the action of alcohol. For the same reason they apply gilding to their black-and-red vases, because this also yields to its
## action. The large prices fetched by the white vases (see below) have
stimulated their activity in this direction, and their efforts have not been without artistic merit, though failing in technique.[69]
On the subject of forgeries in relation to Greek vases the literature is very scanty; but reference may be made to Prof. Furtwaengler’s _Neuere Fälschungen von Antiken_, which raises some very interesting questions in regard to forgeries, though his conclusions may sometimes be thought rather arbitrary.
Of the prices paid for painted vases in ancient times, no positive mention occurs in classical authorities, yet it is most probable that vases of the best class, the products of eminent painters, obtained considerable prices. For works of inferior merit only small sums were paid, as will be seen by referring to the account of the inscriptions which were incised underneath their feet, and gave their contemporary value (