FI´CTILE
FI´CTILE anything made of earth or clay, earthen,
fictile. In Greek the special word for moulding in soft materials,
πλάσσω, with its derivatives
πλάσμα, πλάστης, πλαστική, was gradually
applied only to clay, in which sense the words
plastes and
plastice passed into
Latin. Then, as clay played an important part in the preparation of works in
bronze, the use of these words was extended to metal, and still further to
statuary in stone and marble. The Latin equivalent of
πλάσσω is
fingo, which
originally was applied only to the moulding of soft stuffs, but later was
used for statuary of all kinds as opposed to
pingo: in this extended sense we
[p. 1.842]have
also
fictor and
figmentum, but the usual application of
fictor is confined to modelling in clay, just as
fictor, figlinus, figulus refer only to work in
clay. The original term for clay is
κέραμος, whence the forms
κεραμεύς,
κεραμεύω, &c., applied not merely to the potter, but
broadly to a worker in clay. From
πηλός
(applied to the clay of the bricklayer, but also to that of the potter) we
have
πηλουργός, πηλοπλάθος, corresponding
to the poetical use of
lutum: whereas, however,
argilla = modelling clay,
ἄργιλος = clay without reference to its plastic
uses,
γῆ κεραμίς =
terra or
creta figularis; hence
also
ars cretaria. (Cf. Blümner,
Technologie, ii. p. 1.)
We may take it that the history of working in clay has been in all times
subject to the same broad laws of development. The primitive barbarian
employs as utensils of food or drink the objects of nature that are to his
hand, such as shells or horns. He then finds that certain clays take forms
readily and harden in the sun: the next step is to a selection of the clay,
and then gradually to a purification of it. Then comes baking in artificial
heat, and the preparation and polishing of the surface: finally (in the case
of pottery), the introduction of the potter's wheel.
It will be convenient to divide the subject into three parts, corresponding
with the principal manufactures to which the Fictile Art was devoted: viz.
A.
Vases and lamps; B.
Bricks and tiles; C.
Statuary and terracottas.
A. VASE-MAKING.--The general words for pottery in
Greek are
κέραμος and
ὄστρακον: in Latin,
testa and
opus
figulinum; this last expression is also applied
to bricks, but is usually of finer pottery-ware as opposed to
opus doliare, rough ware (not necessarily the
special making of
dolia). A potter is
χυτρεὺς or
χυτροπλάθος,
figulus. In Greek, special names further
indicate the speciality of the potter: thus
καδοποιός, ληκυθοποιός.
i.
The preparation of the Clay.--As to the processes adopted
by the ancients in the prepation of the clay, we have little information.
The earliest vases from Hissarlik and the Cyclades are of very coarse clay,
in which, either by ignorance or from design, large pebbles and pieces of
foreign substances are allowed to
 |
|
1. Clay quarry. (From a tablet at Berlin.)
|
remain, the result being a very uneven surface and frequent
fissures in the vase. A great deal might be done by levigating the clay
(
ὀργάζειν) while moist, so as to rid
it of all grosser substances before moulding it into shape: a still further
purification of the clay gave the thin slip, into which the vase when
complete was dipped, so as to coat it with a fine surface suitable for
polishing. There is no doubt that the extensive commerce in pottery
possessed by certain localities was largely due to their propinquity to
specially suitable beds of clay. Thus the clay quarries may still be seen
near Corinth to which the Corinthian pottery in antiquity owed its
reputation: this clay is of a creamy yellow colour, and rather soft to the
touch. Much of the Italian ware, the so-called Bucchero Nero, is of an oily
surface, and when baked is black all through. The fine clay of Attica, and
especially that of Cape Kolias, was celebrated in antiquity not only for its
hardness and toughness, but also because it mixed well with ruddle or red
ochre (
μίλτος,
rubrica): this would be a quality specially
desirable for the manufacture of painted vases [see
PICTURA]. Colouring matter was frequently applied to
the clay; and some makers in Rhodes and Egypt are even said to have mixed
sweet-smelling substances in it (see
Athen.
11.464 b).
The extensive use of pottery throughout the Greek and Roman world rendered
the potter's industry a necessity of every community: hence the frequent
references in literature to the “Potters' quarter,” the
Κεραμεικός. At Athens this quarter was
without the city and adjoining the necropolis; a site which was no doubt
convenient for the makers of painted vases, so largely in use for dedication
at the tomb. The potter's ware was also in use for dedication in the
temples, as is shown by the large number of vases with dedicatory
inscriptions found at Naukratis in Egypt [see
VAS]; and in some cases for prizes in the sacred
games [see
AMPHORA]. This
painted ware was largely exported from the chief centres of the different
manufactures: in the fourth and fifth centuries B.C. most of it came from
Athens; later on, a great deal was made in Southern Italy. At Oria, in
Apulia, was found in 1828 a potter's workshop, filled with vases of all
kinds, especially of the ware which is frequently found at Bari and the
tombs of that district, viz. with the black surface sparsely decorated with
wreaths, heads, &c. in white, yellow, or purple colours (see
Bull. dell' Inst. 1834, p. 55). By the middle of the
third century the art of painting vases had practically disappeared
altogether [see
PICTURA].
In Italy in the olden time, crockery for ordinary purposes was made by every
man who could do so on his own estate: almost every village would have had
its own pottery, but the ware would be for the most part rough, unglazed,
and with little or no decoration. Of Roman glazed ware there were two main
classes--the so-called Aretine and Samian wares. The term Aretine is given
because large quantities of this ware have been found at Arezzo, the ancient
Arretium, a place which is often mentioned in ancient literature for its
fabric of red pottery; but it is certain that other places also produced
this pottery, and the term must therefore be taken as indicating merely a
special style and technique, which was in vogue in the last century B.C. and
the first three centuries A.D. Aretine ware is of a fine clay, brilliant
[p. 1.843]red colour, good glaze, and highly decorated with
reliefs. The term “Samian,” originally applied only to those of
its class which were made in Samos, came also to indicate a special style
wherever made; it consists usually of bowls decorated with reliefs, which
are of harder clay and not the same brilliancy of colour as the Aretine. The
great similarity between all Samian ware, wherever it is found, has led many
to suppose that either the ware itself or the clay was exported; but
considering the widely distant localities in which it is abundantly found,
it is probable that the potters knew how to adapt local clays to its
fabrication: in some cases we have provincial imitations of Samian ware,
which have an orange colour on the surface, besides a great variety of local
productions of different kinds. (Birch, pp. 346-362.)
ii.
The modelling of the Clay.--The use of the potter's wheel
(
τροχὸς κεραμικός, τροχός, τόρνος:
rota figularis, rota, orbis) was known in
Egypt in very remote times, and in Greece went so far back as to be credited
with a legendary origin: the invention is variously ascribed to the Scythian
Anarcharsis, and to Talos nephew of Daedalos; others said Hyperbios of
Corinth, others again the Athenian Coraebus, or the Athenian people in
general. It is familiar at any rate to Homer, who in a well-known passage
likens a dance of maidens to the wheel which “a potter deftly turns
with his hands, trying if it will run” (
Il. 18.600); and the vases of the period which is usually
referred to the time of Homer are certainly wheel-made. The vases, however,
of the primitive tombs at Hissarlik and elsewhere, already mentioned, are
handmade, and show no trace of the wheel: they are, moreover, of the rudest
form, and as a rule are without a foot, pierced for suspension, and
incapable of standing upright, or are constructed with three
roughly-modelled legs. The clay of these vases is coarse and the walls
thick, and there is little intention of practical utility in the forms
adopted: the anthropomorphic tendency, possibly derived from religion, shows
itself in the imitation of living forms, the vases assuming frequently the
grotesque shapes of men and animals. (See Schliemann,
Ilios, p. 521, and Baumeister,:
Denkmäler, s. v.
Troja.）
In the earliest vases from Italy we have the same stage of primitive
hand-made ware, which precedes all other fabrics, and is of the roughest
description. Near the Alban Lakes a series of these vases was found beneath
a stratum of peperino, and they are now in the British Museum: others were
found at Rome beneath the foundations of the wall of Servius Tullius, under
circumstances which point to their manufacture at a period long antecedent
to that date. From the brownish colour which they show, this class of vases
has received the name of Brown Ware, as distinguishing them from the
Bucchero Nero before mentioned, the vases of which have the clay black all
through, and are made on the wheel. (Birch, p. 449.) The most remarkable of
the Brown Ware are the so-called “hut-urns,” which are in the
form of the primitive Italian
tugurium; one of
these in the British Museum is filled with the ashes of the dead, which were
introduced by a little door secured by a cord which passed round the vase:
the cover or roof is vaulted, and apparently intended to represent the beams
of the hut. The decoration of this class of ware is very rude, consisting of
punctured or incised lines, spirals, raised zigzags, bosses, and projecting
ornaments applied after they were made: they resemble in character the
Teutonic vases found on the banks of the Rhine and certain Celtic ones that
occur in France and Britain. They have no glaze upon their surface, but a
polish produced by friction.
Besides these primitive vases made in potteries where the wheel was not yet
known, we should mention here another class of vases which were probably at
all periods made by hand. The large pithi (
dolia) which were used by the ancients for the fermentation of
new wine, and which in this case were usually sunk partially into the
ground, were often of enormous size: the largest and most perfect of these
pithi in modern times was found near the site of the ancient Dardanus in the
Troad. Of this vase Mr. Calvert says (
Archaeolog. Journal,
1859, p. 3): “An idea may be formed of the size from the fact that,
when emptied, six persons entered it together, and it contained them all
in a sitting posture.” The British Museum has two such pithi,
from Kamiros and Ialysos in Rhodes, each more than 4 ft. 6 in. high, in
which a space of about 18 in from the base is unornamented, showing how much
of the vase was intended to be buried in the ground; and the subject occurs
frequently on vase-pictures of Eurystheus hiding in, or the Centaur Pholos
drawing wine from, such a half-buried pithos.
It is evident that no wheel would be large enough for the manipulation of
these monsters of pottery, which had to be constructed by hand. What the
process exactly was, we do not yet know. They seem to have been built up
from the bottom with the help of a wooden frame or kernel,
κάνναβος, ξυλήφιον: but as to what this
κάνναβος was, the passage of Pollux
(7.164) does not clearly state. The same word is applied to the
“skeleton” employed by the clay modeller, and is also
mentioned (Strattis,
Κιν. 3) as the
nickname of a very thin man, so that in all probability it was a skeleton of
wood around which the clay was modelled. Some fragments of pithi have been
found which are bound together with leaden or bronze cramps; whether these
were employed in the construction, or subsequently let in, to strengthen the
vase, we cannot say. The construction of pithi was evidently looked upon as
a difficult feat of the potter's art, as we see from the proverb applied to
those who, neglecting the rudiments of teaching, attempt at once difficult
problems: they are likened to one learning the potter's art, who, before he
has learnt how to make pinakes (tablets) or other small objects, tries his
prentice hand upon a pithos (Zenob.
Cent. 3.65),
ἐν πίθῳ τὴν κεραμείαν μανθάνειν.
As to the form or method of handling of the potter's wheel, ancient
literature tells us very little: we do not even know whether it was turned
always by hand, or whether, as in the modern usage, it was turned by the
foot. Homer, in the passage already quoted, speaks only of the hand,
τροχὸν ἄρμενον ἐν παλάμῃσιν: and
in all the representations of a potter's wheel which occur on Greek
monuments the hand alone is employed. Blümner
(
Techn. ii. p. 38,
[p. 1.844]n. 3) quotes a
writer of the third century B.C., the son of
Sirach (Ecclus. 38.29 ff.), who mentions definitely the use of the feet,
συστρέφων ἐν ποσὶν αὐτοῦ τρολόν:
but more commonly we find mention of the use of the hand (e. g. Plut.
de gen. Sour. 20, p. 588 F). In the case of a large vase,
before which the modeller would have to stand upright, the wheel was only
raised a short distance from the ground, and was turned by a boy seated
beside it, as we see in the Munich vase-painting representing a potter's
workshop (Jahn,
Verzeichniss, No. 731).
The wheel consisted of a circular disk placed horizontally upon an upright
post, upon which it rotated. Specimens have been found in the neighbourhood
of Arezzo (Fabroni,
Storia degli ant. Vasi fitt. Aretini, p.
63) and near Nancy (De Caumont,
Cours d'anc. Mon. 2.210):
these are described as wheels of terracotta, pierced at the centre to
receive the axis of a pivot, and furnished at the circumference with small
cylinders of lead: these would serve as a purchase for the hand, while the
additional weight would impart steadiness to the rotatory movement.
The accompanying illustration shows a potter at work making a vase upon the
wheel. It is taken from the painting on a pinax or small clay tablet in the
Berlin Museum, and is one of a large series which were found at Penteskuphia
near Corinth in 1879, and date from the sixth century B.C. Many of these
pinakes represent different stages of the potter's art, and from the
inscriptions it is probable that all were originally dedicated by potters to
Poseidon as specimens of their work, which in course of time were removed
from the temple or shrine, and
 |
|
2. Potter at work. (From a tablet at Berlin.)
|
buried in a favissa adjoining. From the above we see that the
process of pottery at this early date differed but little from that of the
present day. The ancient potter placed a lump of clay upon the centre of the
wheel, and while he revolved the wheel (
τροχὸν
ἐλαύνειν) he moulded (
ἕλκειν,
ducere) the clay with his hand. While one hand
was placed inside the lump of clay, giving it the required form, the palm of
the other would be pressed against the outer surface, thus keeping the wall
of the vase smooth and thin. That thinness in the walls was a special
desideratum, at any rate in the best period, we see from the vases which
have come down to us: this is further exemplified by the statement recorded
in Pliny (
Plin. Nat. 35.161), that in his
day were still to be seen in a temple at Erythrae two amphorae preserved
there in remembrance of a contest between a master potter and his pupil, as
to which could throw the thinnest ware. Lucian even speaks of pottery so
light as to be blown away by the wind,
ἀνεμοφόρητα
καὶ ὑμενόστρακα (
Lexiph. 7). In the
preceding cut, the potter is seated beside his wheel, which he turns with
one hand, while with the other he applies ornament either with a brush or
stick: if the ornament was engraved alone, this would have to be done while
the clay was still moist; if painted, the vase would be first dried in the
air.
The body of the vase once completed, the surface was smoothed, perhaps as
now, with a piece of hard leather or a small strip of wood: Jahn thought
that this process is represented upon a vase-painting (
Berichte des
G. 1854, Taf. 1, 2). It was then placed in the air to dry, and
the handles, as well as in the case of larger vases the neck and foot, which
had been independently constructed, were attached. Great technical skill was
shown by the Greek potter in the attachment of the handles, which, in the
vases which have come down to us, are rarely broken away at the point of
juncture.
The completed vase was now ready for decoration. The various processes of
painting and glazing vases are considered under the article PICTURA; other methods of decoration by means of
stamping and moulding are mentioned below. In any case, most vases, with the
exception of the rudest and most primitive, would be covered with a
finely-ground slip, and in certain instances a very fine siliceous glaze,
probably formed of soda and well-levigated sand. It was now ready for
iii.
The Baking.--Some vases, we are told by Pliny (
Plin. Nat. 31.130;
34.170), needed no baking, being used for
certain technical or medicinal purposes: these were called
ὠμά,
cruda. Plato (
Legg. 3.679 A)
mentions the vases of the olden time, distinguishing between those which
were baked,
ἔμπυρα, and those which were
unbaked,
ἄπυρα.. Almost all the vases
which have come down to us, however, are undoubtedly baked. A vase of great
size, such as the pithos above mentioned, would possibly have a special oven
for its reception: it is possible that such an oven is shown on one of the
Berlin pinakes, where the neck and handles of a large pithos project from
the roof of an oven, with flames coming through it: Furtwängler,
however (
Berlin Vase Catal., No. 802), says that the custom
still obtains in Greece of the use of a pithos for the same purpose in the
houses of the present day.
The process of baking (
ὀπτᾶν,
coquere) was one of the most critical in the
potter's art. The necessary amount of heat required to be accurately
adjusted, according to the character of the ware. Most of the Greek pottery
is submitted to a great deal of heat; the Etruscan Bucchero Nero, on the
other hand, required only a moderate amount: frequent examples have come
down to us of discoloured or distorted vases, which have been subjected to
too much or too little heat. Often the vases flew in the baking,
φοξά: or the vases touched one another and lost
their shape; or the smoke reached them and spoilt the colour. These mishaps
were put down to the malicious influence of evil sprites, and various
methods were resorted to counteract this influence: the pseudo-Homeric hymn
to the potters (Hom.
Ep. xiv.) invokes Athene's protection
for the vases that are being baked, and mentions the various evil spirits
that
[p. 1.845]may injure them if the potters deceive the
poet: “the Smasher,
Σύντριψ; the
Crasher,
Σμάραγος; the Unquenchable
(i. e. overheat),
Ἄσβεστος; the
Destroyer,
Σαβάκτης; and the Fierce
Conqueror,
Ὠμόδαμος; and may he work
many evils to your art!” On the Munich vase the front of the oven
is furnished with the head of a Seilenos, as an amulet,
ἀποτρόπαιον, intended to avert the evil eye.
The quality of baking was judged by tapping (
κρούειν,
discutere) on the surface of the vase,
according to the sound it gave out.
The ovens (
κάμινοι,
fornaces) for baking vases seem to have differed
very little from those of the present [
FORNAX]. The remains of such ovens, dating from a late Roman
period, have been found in S. and W. Germany, France, England, and Italy.
The most perfect perhaps was that found in 1881 at the little Roman colonia
situated between the villages of Heddernheim and Praunheim near Frankfort:
it has now been destroyed by the owner of the property on which it was
found, but an excellent set of plans were drawn up before its destruction,
by Donner, and published in the
Annali dell' Inst. 1882, Tav.
U 3-6, from which they are here reproduced.
 |
|
3. Plans of furnace at Heddernheim.
|
The over as a rule consisted of three different parts: the fire-space, or
furnace, which was usually prolonged at the entrance by a channel through
which the fuel was passed,
praefurnium; and the
vase-room, or oven proper, which consisted of a domed chamber built over the
furnace. The whole was built of burnt, or sometimes of unburnt, bricks, and
the interior, floor, and upper surface of the roof were coated with strong
cement. The furnace was usually circular, sometimes rectangular; and was
usually bisected by a wall, which started from the
praefurnium and was intended to support the floor of the
oven. This floor was pierced with a number of holes to allow the heat to
pass through: upon it the vases intended for baking were placed, or else
they were hung on the walls: in the oven found at Lezoux a number of iron
pegs were driven into the walls for this purpose. In some cases a series of
pipes ran from the holes in the floor through the roof of the over: by this
means any smoke or cold air which might otherwise penetrate from the furnace
into the oven, and so injure the vases, was carried off. The roof is wanting
in nearly all the remains which have come down to us; but all the painted
representations point to a vaulted roof, with a hole or chimney at the top
through which the flames issue. Into the side of the over two doors, or one
door within another, led from the outside, capable of being hermetically
sealed: the smaller of these doors enabled the potter to examine the vases
from time to time and watch their progress in baking; the larger door was
used for introducing the vases into the oven.
In fig. 3 we have the ground-plan of the furnace, of which
a represents the mouth;
b the
neck, from which the flames spread throughout the building. The fire-space
is divided into two parts by a wall which serves as a support for the floor
of the vase-space seen in fig. 5: this floor is perforated with square holes
at regular intervals, through which the heat passes to the vases. No. 1
represents the front elevation, and No. 2 the vertical section, of a
complete building, made up from the actual remains of Heddernheim restored
after the Berlin paintings: the portion restored is marked in dotted lines.
In No. 2,
d represents the door nearly on a level
with the floor of the oven, through which the vases are inserted: the
smaller aperture within
d serves as an eyehole
through which the vases in process of baking might be periodically
inspected: such an arrangement seems to be indicated on some of the Berlin
paintings.
 |
|
4. Exterior of furnace. (Berlin tablet.)
|
 |
|
5. Interior of furnace. (Berlin tablet.)
|
[p. 1.846]
For the processes of painting vases, which would naturally have required
special arrangements of baking, see
PICTURA
iv.
Plastic decoration of Vases.--Under this head we may
include all the forms of decorating vases which are not comprised in the
process of painting; that is to say, the processes of modelling, moulding,
or stamping. In Greek art these processes were never much in favour among
the makers of vases: we meet with them in the earliest pottery, and to a
considerable extent also in the decline of taste; but at the best Greek
period the form of the vase is as a rule as simple as possible, and the
decoration is confined to that of colour.
a. In the earliest Greek pottery, plastic forms
occur, but these are usually owing principally to the tendency to imitate
vases of metal; a tendency which is always making itself felt among the
makers of vases in clay. Among the vases of the Mycenae period in the
British Museum, is one from Kalymnos in the form of a bull's head, which is
the exact parallel of a silver vase found by Schliemann at Mycenae, and
which is of the same period: it is obvious that the Kalymnos potter must
have had some such metal vase in his mind, for the projecting horns of the
bull, which would be strong enough in the metal to resist fracture, are
extremely inappropriate when executed in clay. Similarly, in the succeeding
period of Dipylon ware, we have the feet and handles of vases frequently
modelled in a form which is obviously imitated from the strips of beaten
metal used for this purpose in the metal vases of the same period. Even
among vases of the sixth century B.C. we find imitations of rivets and nails
which in the metal originals would serve to fasten on the handles and feet.
In Cyprus, where art was never completely subject to Hellenic influence,
fantastic forms prevail throughout.
Another tendency to plastic forms was that which Greek pottery underwent in
the importation of objects from Egypt and elsewhere. To the Egyptians was
due the idea of the so-called Canopic vase; that is, a vase made more or
less in the likeness of the being whose remains it was intended to contain:
it was natural that this conception of a vase on the analogy of a living
being should be reflected, as it is in the earliest vases, both in the form
and often in the decoration, as when the neck of a vase is decorated with a
necklace and the handles with ear-rings: the more so, as our own terms for
the different portions of a. vase--lip, neck, shoulder, body, and
foot--imply the same analogy. Thus, from the Egyptian alabaster vases,
alabastra, in form of a female figure, we have the Greek alabastra imitating
the same form; from the porcelain vases in form of a head, or of various
animals, we have a whole series of aryballi imitating, or even creating,
similar new shapes. These mostly date from early in the sixth century B.C., and after this date we do not find many such
imitations of form except in a few instances of the so-called rhyta, and
even these are in the best period of Greek art. In the period of decline (i.
e. the fourth and beginning of the third centuries B.C.) among the vases of
Greek manufacture from Southern Italy we find the same tendency springing up
again, but here it is merged with other processes, which combine with it in
destroying the simplicity of outline indispensable to the best aims of the
potter's art.
b. The same principles are found in the Greek
use of
appliqué decoration. Among the
earliest vases it is rarely found, the only instances of its occurrence
being a series of cups with black glaze, found at Naucratis and Rhodes,
which have an exterior band left uncoloured, on which are small objects,
such as knuckle-bones, which have been cast separately in a mould: and a
series of the so-called Polledrara ware, the clay of which is black
throughout, and which have ornaments in the same clay applied in this
method: examples of this ware have come from the Greek settlements in Egypt,
and from Mytilene and Italy; both classes date from early in the sixth
century B.C. This method reappears in the fourth century, when among the
vases now too often crowded with painted figures the desire is felt of
emphasising the principal actors in the scene: at first this is effected by
the use of gilding for the principal group; then gradually these figures are
separately moulded and applied to the vase; and finally we have the entire
scene thus rendered in relief, or else a vase is formed by fitting a spout
and handle on to a terracotta statuette which has been cast hollow. There is
also one class of black aski at this period, which have the upper surface
decorated with a subject in relief, which has been cast in a mould: in the
British Museum there is exhibited one such relief from an ancient askos,
together with the ancient mould from which it was cast. In many of the large
vases of Italian fabric, this tendency is for a long time confined to the
handles: thus the large kraters of these fabrics have the upper extremity of
the handle, which is in the form of a volute, decorated with an
appliqué Gorgon's mask, while the lower
extremity issues again from the vase in the form of swans' necks.
c. The introduction of Oriental cylinders and seals
into Greece no doubt suggested the adaptation of the stamped ornament to
Greek pottery: an engraved cylinder, revolving on a swivel, needed only to
be pressed against the soft clay as it turned upon the potter's wheel, and
it would give a continuous band of pattern, formed of as many repetitions of
the same design as the circumference of the vase could contain. The earliest
examples of this class of ware are certain large pithi of uncoloured
terracotta, of which the British Museum has three complete examples found in
Rhodes, and numerous fragments, with one complete example, from Crete; they
may be compared with the fragments of sarcophagi found at Assarlik in Caria:
in all these instances the decoration is effected either by means of the
cylinder, as above; or by a succession of stamps with figures or patterns in
relief. The process was probably also in use among the Greek potters of the
Polledrara ware, though at present the examples of it have been mainly found
in Italy. After the sixth century B.C., it seems
to have dropped entirely out of use among the Greeks: the British Museum has
one single exception, a small black-glazed cup of the fourth century B.C., which has a representation of Perseus and
Medusa: each of
[p. 1.847]the figures in this scene has been
singly stamped upon the soft clay from a separate stamp.
d. The practice of producing complete vases from
moulds is only found in the later periods of Greek pottery: many of the
rhyta already mentioned were probably so made, in the form of objects such
as the heads of Seileni or nymphs, or the heads of animals, or even
occasionally in groups, such as that of a negro devoured by a crocodile:
these rhyta are usually coloured, with more or less resemblance to nature,
or are covered with a black glaze. Another class of vases produced in this
way are certain black aski with reeded or plain bodies and a relief on the
upper surface; and a class of phiale omphalobi of the same ware, which have
a frieze of figures running around the central boss in the interior: it is
uncertain, however, whether these vases were made by Greek or by Roman
potters; one such phiale has around the central boss an inscription in
archaic characters of the Roman potter Canuleius (
Annali dell'
Inst. 1883, Tav. d'agg. I). On the other hand, a cup of this ware
has on the interior the mould of a coin of Syracuse of the third century
B.C.
In Etruria, previously to the free importation of Greek pottery, we find the
potter's art following much the same line of development. We have, first of
all, the primitive hand-made ware, which is modelled into all sorts of
grotesque and fanciful shapes, principal among these being the so-called
“hut-urn,” already alluded to: these are succeeded by the
Bucchero or black ware, in which the forms are moulded frequently in
imitation of metal, and the decoration follows one or all of the three
processes; either it consists of reliefs pressed separately in a mould and
attached, or reliefs modelled on the vase free-hand, or bands and patterns
stamped on the vase. Contemporary with these is also a class of red ware,
for which the stamping process alone seems to have been used.
The Roman pottery of early times seems to have been mainly similar to the
Etruscan, or to have relied largely upon imported fabrics. From an early
site upon the Esquiline we have evidence of a fabric which is evidently
derived
 |
|
6. Specimen of Samian.
|
from an Egyptian origin, and which has a greenish yellow glaze
with floral patterns, &c. in relief. In the third century B.C. Roman
potters were working in the Greek method, as we see from the vase of
Canuleios mentioned above. In the second century B.C. we find the so-called
Samian ware coming in, and this seems to have held its own to the exclusion
of most other ware throughout Roman times. It is of a remarkably fine and
smooth character, varying in colour from a deep red to a pale orange, or
iron grey with a bright metallic lustre, and in most cases has plastic
decoration in relief. The custom, however, of calling this ware
“Samian” appears to rest on no sufficient basis: it has
been attempted to show that this ware is traceable to certain
“Proto-Samian” pottery found in Greece and the islands; but
it is never mentioned by the earlier Greek writers, and seems to have been
peculiarly characteristic of Roman pottery. One of the principal seats of
its manufacture was Arezzo, the ancient Arretium, and this Aretine ware is
frequently mentioned in terms of praise by Roman writers (see Birch, vol.
ii. p. 339).
The vases of this ware which are decorated with reliefs are most usually made
entirely in a mould; or else the relief was executed
en
barbotine,--that is, by laying on the surface a thin slip, which
was then worked up with a tool into the required form. The mould vases, or
matrices, were in one piece, as a rule of the same clay as the vase itself,
but uncoloured. In the production of vases on this plan, three distinct
processes were necessary: first, the making of the stamps intended for the
decoration, then the fabrication of the matrix, and, lastly, the formation
of the vase within the matrix. The stamps were usually of clay, but were
also made in gypsum, wood, and metal: they had a short handle, terminating
in a surface slightly convex (so as better to fit the concave side of the
matrix), on which was modelled the ornament, either a pattern of figure, or
the name of the potter. As the making of these stamps required a certain
amount of artistic skill, it is probable that they were in circulation among
the numerous potteries, and this accounts for the
 |
|
7. Potters' stamps.
|
[p. 1.848]fact that vases with similar ornaments have been
found in widely distant localities.
For the preparation of the matrix a clay which should possess highly
absorbent qualities was necessary, so that it should absorb the moisture of
the clay which was pressed into it, and facilitate its drying: for this
purpose we find some of these matrices provided with a hole in the base
through which the moisture might drain out. They were made on the wheel,
and, while the clay was still damp, the designs were pressed in by means of
the stamps: the whole was then smoothed and baked hard.
Into the matrix thus prepared, the clay was pressed, and the inner surface of
the vase was then formed upon the wheel. When dry, the vase was easily
removed from the matrix ; a foot, if necessary, was added, and it was now
ready for baking. For finishing purposes, modelling tools were employed, of
bone or bronze: several of these were found at Arezzo (see Blümner,
Techn. ii. p. 110).
Most of the lamps which have come down to us are also made in this process:
some of the Greek lamps of earlier times are simply open vases made either
freehand or on the wheel, and covered with black glaze. The most ordinary
form, however, both of late Greek times and throughout the Roman period,
have the chamber for the oil covered in, with, as a rule, a decoration in
relief upon the upper surface. These were invariably made in a mould by the
following process:--First a solid clay mould was made in the form of a lamp,
decorated on the upper surface either with a moulded or stamped decoration:
around this core a clay matrix was pressed, which was then divided
horizontally, so as to form an upper and lower matrix: to ensure the exact
fitting of these two parts, either corresponding marks were made, or else a
series of knobs were raised in the surface of one part which exactly fitted
into corresponding sockets in the other part. Both parts would then have a
thin coating of clay pressed in, the two parts of the matrix were joined,
and the complete lamp within the matrix was finally allowed to dry, and then
baked.
 |
|
8. Lamp mould.
|
B. ARCHITECTURAL OBJECTS.--i.
Bricks.--The general term in Greek for brick-making is
πλινθεύειν, and for a brick,
πλίνθος; as the usual form of a brick was
rectangular, both these words became applied gradually to all objects of
this form, without distinction of material: the corresponding term in Latin
is
later, but this word had not the same
extended usage.
The art of brick-making, one of the simplest and oldest of the fictile arts,
was never developed to any considerable extent in Greece; it was in use from
very early times, and, like most arts, had its legendary inventors. To the
Athenians Euryalos and Hyperbios were attributed the arts of brick--making
and house--building; another account mentions Toxius, son of Caelius, as the
inventor of building with mortar, the idea having been suggested from the
nests of swallows. Of the Greek uses or methods of making bricks very little
is known; it is certain at any rate that the Greeks used air-dried bricks
and tiles (
πλίνθοι ὠμαί,
lateres crudi) down to Roman times, even for
the walls of towns. As a rule, for all important buildings, stone and marble
would be used; and in all probability the use of bricks was never extensive
in Greece until it had spread thither from Rome.
In the early period of Roman history under the Republic, the usual material
for all buildings was air-dried bricks. Vitruvius says that in his time at
Rome it was usual to employ stone for the foundations (
pilae lapideae), bricks for the walls (
structurae testaceae), and cement for the party walls (
parietes caementicii). In Imperial times brick was
the usual material for both private and public buildings; the walls of more
costly buildings would often be of a core of rubble between bricks, or of
brick alone, faced with marble slabs.
All that we know of the Greek method is that the earthy clay (
πῆλος) was carved out with trowels (
ἀμαί) and laid in mould (
λεκάναι, see
Aristoph. Birds
1145): it was wetted with water and kneaded with the feet, but it
is uncertain whether the bricks were modelled by hand or pressed into a
mould. The Romans were careful in the selection of clay: they rejected sandy
or stony clay, both on account of the weight and liability to damp; a
whitish clay was preferred (
terra albida,
cretosa), or else a reddish clay (
rubrica), or the softer kind of sandy loam (
sabulo masculus). The special times for brick-making were
spring or autumn: after baking it was usual to leave the bricks for some
time to dry. Vitruvius recommends the use of those which are two years old
and thoroughly dry; and quotes a law of Utica, ordaining that bricks for
walls must be five years old. The clay was carefully purified, damped, and
mixed with chopped straw; it was then either formed by the hand or pressed
in a mould, and set to dry in the sun. In some parts of Spain and Asia Minor
bricks are said to have been made so light that they would not sink in
water.
The usual size of bricks in Greece was 5 palms square (
πεντάδωρα) for public, and 4 palms square (
τετράδωρα) for private buildings: in Rome the
size usually adopted was the
γένος
Λύδιον, 1 1/2 Roman foot long by 1 ft. broad (
sesquipedales). Palladius recommends bricks of 2 Roman feet
long (
bipedales) by 1 ft. broad and 4 in. high:
in later times there seems to have been no definite rule as to size.
The form varied according to the purpose for which the brick was intended.
 |
|
9. Brick forms.
|
The accompanying woodcut, taken from Rich, shows a set of brick
[p. 1.849]forms which he collected from various Roman
buildings: some are triangular, others hemispherical (
tegulae mammatae): others, intended for circular buildings,
such as columns or ovens, have a curved edge: those intended for a floor are
either square
tesserae or long pieces which
when put together in a pattern give the so-called
spicata
testacea: and the finer mosaic floor (
opus
vermiculatum) is often made of fragments of different-coloured
pottery.
ii.
Tiles.--The usual system of roofing, both in Greece and
Italy, was by means of two sorts of tiles, viz. the flat tile with raised
edges (
κέραμος, στεγαστήρ,
tegula), and the curved ridge tiles, laid
alternately with the others (
καλυπτήρ,
imbrex). Mention is also made of gutter tiles
(
colliciae, tegulae colliciares or
deliciares), intended for drawing the rain-water off
the roofs as it passed through the gargoyles. The making of tiles was a
separate trade from that of brick-making, and tile-makers were called
tegularii, teglarii, or
figuli a
tegulis, figuli ab imbricibus. (Orellius, 4190; Henzen, 7280.)
The habit of tiling for roofs must have commenced at a very early date, but
there is no evidence as to when it was introduced. It seems quite clear from
the excavations at Tiryns that the palaces and houses of the pre-Homeric and
Homeric periods were not roofed with clay tiles, as in all the excavations
on that site no single tile of baked clay has been discovered which can be
attributed to those periods. The hut of Achilles, as described in
Il. 24.450-
1,
was covered with rushes, and rush thatching was in use in Sardis when that
town was taken by the Ionians (
Hdt. 5.101); but
probably for an extensive system of buildings like Tiryns and Mycenae the
whole roof was covered with a thick layer of clay, perhaps resting upon a
layer of rushes, as is the practice in the East at the present day. In all
probability flat roofs continued in use for private houses in Greece down to
a late period, for we read of certain ceremonies which took place (the
κῆποι Ἀδώνιδος: see
Rev.
Arch. 1851, p. 97) upon the house-tops at Athens. But for the
roofs of public buildings terracotta tiles must have been employed at an
early period, for it was said that Byzes of Naxos first introduced tiles of
marble about B.C. 620 (
Paus. 5.10.2). [
TEGULA]
In Rome, and probably also in Etruria, houses were originally roofed with
shingles, and continued to be so down to the time of the war with Pyrrhus,
when tiles began to supersede the old roofing material (
Plin. Nat. 16.10); and in Pompeii the
majority of the houses had terracotta tiling.
Tiles were also used in graves to cover the body in the case of inhumation
and to line the grave: also for closing the recesses in the chambers within
which the little sarcophagi were placed which held the ashes of the dead,
and these would have inscriptions stamped or incised, recording the name and
titles of the deceased.
The paste of which tiles were made is compact and dense, but generally not so
fine as that of bricks. Like bricks, they appear to have been made by means
of a mould, but two boards, called
plaision, were
probably sufficient for the purpose. A hole was driven through them when
they were intended for roofing, especially for the
opus
pavonaceum or peacock-work, in which they were arranged like
scales, being hung by one corner. The flange tiles were probably made in the
same way, the flanges being subsequently turned up by the hand of the
workman. They were then dried in the sun, and subsequently baked in a kiln:
the Romans in early times, as has been stated, used sun-dried bricks and
tiles, but these did not last more than five years. For baking bricks and
tiles the same form of oven would be used as in the case of vases already
described. (See Birch,
Hist. of Pottery, p. 470.)
iii.
Antefixes, &c.--The
imbrex close to the edge of the roof terminated in an upright
semielliptical surface called the
antefix, on which
was usually a decoration in relief, consisting generally of a palmette
(
καλυπτὴρ ἀνθέμωτος), or some other
floral device. The main part of the imbrex was moulded by hand, and the
decoration on the antefix stamped or impressed from a mould upon the soft
clay. In the British Museum is a large series of archaic terracotta
antefixes from Caere, representing heads or busts, and mythological figures
such as Gorgoneia, Typhon, Sphinxes, within a floral border; and a series of
masks for a similar purpose, but of later date, from Tarentum: all these are
highly coloured. [See
ANTEFIXA]
The fictile art was considerably used throughout antiquity for various other
architectural purposes, such as for capitals and columns, sills and frames
of windows, the crowning portions of cornices and gutter-spouts, and
akroteria. The gutter-spouts under the ridge tiles were a very decorative
part of terracotta decoration: the most ordinary form of these spouts was a
lion's head, such as the Greeks also used frequently for the spout of a
fountain, moulded in high relief, the water issuing from the open mouth:
other forms were the whole forepart of a lion, cast from a mould in high
relief, with the spout issuing from between the forelegs. The moulds for
these
antefixa were probably in extensive
circulation, as the same impressions are found in widely distant localities:
their use extended back to early Greek times, for the excavations at Olympia
and in Sicily and Magna Graecia show that during all the archaic period the
Greek artists employed painted terracotta extensively for covering the
higher parts of temples. In the inscription referring to the arsenal of the
Piraeus (B.C. 346-328) mention is made of
κεραμίδες
ἡγεμόνες λεοντοκέφαλοι: and Rayet in his
Céramique, pl. 15, gives two good coloured
illustrations of such architectural decoration, the one from the cornice and
fillet of the treasury of Gela at Olympia, the other from those of the
archaic temple (C) at Selinus.
The original intention of this fictile decoration was no doubt the
preservation against weather of the early wooden structures: and during the
period when public buildings were principally constructed in calcareous
tufa, the practice still continued: it was only given up when these
buildings came to be constructed in marble, but still continued in
localities where marble was difficult to obtain, such as Sicily. At Pompeii
in all periods of architecture fictile decoration is extensively employed,
but undergoes a curious process of development: in early times the clay is
coarse and ill-refined, while
[p. 1.850]the modelling and
casting are good; in later times, the material is good, but there is a
corresponding want of care in the modelling: the reason being, that in later
times the terracotta was seldom exposed, but only served as a basis for
stucco decoration. The terracotta mould was generally covered with a thin
layer of stucco and then painted (see Von Rohden,
Terracotten von
Pompeii, i. p. 9; and Overbeck,
Pompeii, p. 469). This use of stucco covering gave rise to the
employment of baked clay for many purposes which it had not served before :
thus, the shafts of columns in Pompeii are frequently made of bricks coated
with stucco; and some very elaborate cylinders of terracotta have been found
there, richly decorated, and intended to serve as the protection of the
mouths of wells, puteal, with ornaments such as Caryatid or Atlantid
figures, garlands or lion masks, in relief, and other ornaments pressed in
from a stamp.
In Mesopotamia, where the main principle of architectural construction was
clay or mud, it was necessary to protect the walls of buildings from damp
and weather: in Assyria and Persia this was effected either by means of
slabs of marble, or by a facing of glazed and coloured tiles. This practice
transferred itself to the early civilisations of Italy, where, especially in
the tomb grottoes, the tufaceous soil was liable to percolation of damp. The
habit there grew up of facing the walls of these grottoes, and possibly of
the houses also, with slabs of terracotta. There is in the British Museum a
series of five such slabs of terracotta which were found in 1874 in a tomb
at Caere (Cervetri), to the walls of which they had been attached by means
of plaster. They average about 3/4 in. thick, and are painted with designs
which seem from their style to indicate an Asiatic influence, and to date
from about the seventh century B.C. Just as in the exterior decoration of
tiles and cornices the labour of the painter was lightened by the assistance
of modelling, so no doubt, in the interior wall-decorations, modelling or
casting in relief was early resorted to. In the British Museum are several
slabs in coloured relief from Capua, representing a procession of chariots,
which have probably been used for this purpose, and which date from the
fifth century B.C.; and numerous terracotta sarcophagi with reliefs have
been found in Etruscan tombs, which show how extensively this art flourished
in Etruria. Slabs in low relief were called
protypa;
those in high relief,
ectypa.
Among the Romans, terracotta decoration was extensively employed in the
interior of houses: the most usual form consisted of flat slabs,
antefixa, about 18 inches in length and 9 inches
high; these were cast in a mould, with circular holes left for the plugs or
leaden nails by which they were attached to the woodwork or masonry, and
after the necessary retouching were fired in a kiln and coloured. The
subjects of those which have come down to us are very varied, being
principally borrowed from Greek mythological representations, executed under
marked Roman influence: sometimes the relief consists of mere ornament, and
the treatment is always architectural. Some late examples of such
antefixa are in the Museum at Sèvres; two
of them are inscribed with the names of the makers, Fecinus and Verecundus,
probably freedmen or slaves (Brongniart,
Mus. de
Sèvres, p. 16). Birch (p. 492) gives several instances
proving the use of such slabs in the decoration of Roman houses and tombs.
Another important use of terracotta was in the making of all sorts of drain
pipes (
tubuli fictiles): these were usually
circular for all purposes connected with water, and were probably turned
upon the lathe around a core: they were made to almost any size, some being
as much as 8 inches in diameter; they are made narrow at one end, with a
collar for insertion, and were joined together with mortar. For warming the
tepidaria and the rooms of baths and other
chambers, a rectangular flue tile was used, which had a hole at one side for
the ejection of the air; the clay is scored while still moist with patterns
of lines, in order to afford a better hold for the cement. They are as a
rule of the same paste as the roof-tiles, and average about 16 inches in
length.
iv.
Other uses.--It would be impossible here to enumerate all
the various uses to which so handy and adaptable a material was put in
antiquity. Besides those already stated, we may mention brick cisterns for
holding water, of which examples have been found in Sicily: in Greece public
cattle-troughs seem to have been made of this material. In an inscription
from Eleusis (
Ἐφημ. Ἀρχ. 3rd ser., 1883,
p. 1) mention is made of “four cattle troughs (
τριπτῆρες) for watering beasts of burthen on the road,
obtained from Tibeas the potter,
κεραμοπώλης.” Imitation jewellery for the tomb was
made in terracotta and gilt; masks of deities intended for religious
purposes (
prosopa); other masks intended to be hung
on trees [
OSCILLA]; and numbers
of cones and disks with inscribed names and perforated for suspension have
been found, but whether these were intended as weights for garments, for
cattle, or for steel-yards, cannot be ascertained.
v.
Stamped Inscriptions and Emblems.--The practice of stamping
a name or an emblem upon a vase as a mark of the locality or workshop where
either the vase or its contents were made, though it was common in Roman
times, was rare in Greek pottery, and may indeed be said to have been
confined almost exclusively to one class of vases. These were the unpainted
amphorae, or diotae [see
AMPHORA], which were in extensive commerce from the third century
downwards throughout the ancient world; they were chiefly used for the
export of wine, but also for that of figs, honey, salt fish, and other
substances: the amphora which is represented on the coins of Athens after
the time of Alexander probably alludes to the large Attic trade in oil which
was exported in these vases. The place usually selected for stamping is upon
the upper surface of one of the handles, and the form of stamp differs
according to the locality from which the amphora had been exported. The
British Museum has a collection of several hundreds of stamped amphora
handles which have been found in the most remotely distant sites all over
the ancient world. There seems, however, to have been three principal
centres of the export of these amphorae--Rhodes, Cuidos, and Thasos, and
each is marked by a slightly different clay, a different form of vase,
[p. 1.851]and a different system of stamping. Though the
series extends over a period of at least three centuries, the character of
each class is more or less stereotyped, both as regards form, dimensions,
and mode of fabrication. The stamps of Rhodes are of two kinds: a circular
medallion, which has an emblem like a coin type, such as a rose or a head of
Helios, usually surrounded with a legend which gives the name of the
eponymous magistrate of the year, a phrourarchos or a priest of the Sun, and
a month ; or an oblong label, which gives either an emblem with a
magistrate's name, or a magistrate's name and that of a month. Those of
Cnidos are usually diamond-shaped or oblong, and have an emblem with the
name of an eponymous magistrate, who seems to have been a demiourgos, a
phrourarchos or an astynomos, and occasionally a second name, perhaps that
of the exporter, followed by letters of the word
ΚΝΙΔΙΩΝ. The stamps which have been preserved of
Thasos are much rarer: they have usually the inscription
ΘΑΣΙΩΝ, followed by a name, and an emblem
such as a cornucopia or a dolphin. Besides these three classes, specimens
are preserved with inscriptions which refer their origin to such sites as
Sinope, Bosporos, and Olbia; and there are several kinds which bear
monograms, abbreviations, single letters, or merely emblems.
 |
|
10. Stamped Amphora handles. (British Museum.)
|
Judging from the character of the writing, it would appear that stamps of two
materials were used: in some cases the inscriptions are clearly cut and
sharply defined, and would have been impressed from metal stamps, such as
have been found in great numbers (though none as yet which can be connected
with this special class of diotae): in other cases the lettering is faint
and almost illegible, and was probably the result of using a worn wooden
stamp. One interesting fact in the study of these inscriptions is that they
show the ancients to have come very near the invention of printing: many of
these amphora handles have inscriptions made by combinations of
single-letter stamps; and in some cases a letter in a word has been wrongly
inserted and is corrected with another letter stamped over it.
The intention of these stamps on amphora handles is still a matter of
uncertainty, notwithstanding a large amount of study which has been devoted
to its elucidation. It is evident that the majority of these inscriptions
indicate primarily a date; and many suppose that the date on the handle
indicates the time when the wine or other contents were inserted. This is
obviously improbable: the stamp is impressed while the clay is wet, and not
necessarily at the time of bottling: moreover, the buyers of Rhodian wine
all over the world would have had to know by heart the entire list of
Rhodian priests of the Sun: and lastly, Cnidos, whose amphora handles are
found everywhere throughout the Mediterranean, was not famous for wine, and
certainly never in the way of exporting produce. Besides, we know that in
instances where vases were employed for preserving, it was usual to seal the
mouth with stucco or mud, and on this material to stamp the contents, and
possibly the date. The Greeks in this matter probably followed the Egyptian
practice. Mr. Petrie found at Daphnae a series of “jar
stoppings” of mud and straw, each of which was stamped with the
king's name in whose reign the jar which they covered was laid down. What
then is the intention of these amphora-stamps? It seems probable that they
were the official stamp of the magistrate whose duty it was, as we know from
other sources, to certify to the legal capacity. Thus M. Dumont
(
Inscr. Cér. p. 42) quotes the analogy of a
marble
σήκωμα with a similar inscription:
the
σήκωμα was a table of official weights
placed in the agora; and the inscription certifies these weights as examined
and found correct by the public official. We must recollect in this
connexion that the amphora was a distinct measure of capacity, and is
frequently so mentioned in Greek inscriptions. We may therefore conclude
that all amphorae intended for this purpose were examined and stamped
officially before they underwent the final baking. Of course the amphora of
Thasos, Rhodes, and Cnidos need not have been all of the same size: our
“Winchester pint” is an analogous case; but this accounts
for the small variation in shape and size among all the amphorae from any
one of these fabrics during the centuries in which they were being produced.
There is another class of terracotta vessels of which the handles decorated
and stamped have been extensively found, and of which the annexed cut gives
an illustration. These handles are raised from the rim of large circular
vessels, about 2 ft. in diameter, and
 |
|
11. Brasier handle. (British Museum.)
|
[p. 1.852]have a portion projecting considerably towards the
interior of the vessel. It has been shown that they belong to circular
brasiers or firepans, and most of them bear the mark of having been used for
this purpose. Three such handles stood around the rim, and the interior
projections may have served to support the plates or other utensils which
were placed over the burning charcoal. The most usual type is that here
given; it consists of a bearded head, usually Bacchic in character, of which
the long beard forms the interior projection to the vase: others have floral
devices, thunderbolts, &c.: a few are inscribed, the inscription
forming part of the mould from which the decoration is cast. With two
exceptions, all the inscribed specimens bear the name
ΕΚΑΤΑΙΟΨ: one in the British Museum has the name
ΝΙΚΟΛΑΟΨ: and one from Naucratis
has
ΦΙΛΑΤΠΟΨ. These brasier handles
have been found extensively in Athens, Italy, Egypt, and along the coast of
Asia Minor; but it looks as if the casts for the decorations at any rate had
been all issued from one fabric. Benndorf (
Reisen durch
Lykien, vol. i. p. 17) mentions a complete circular altar of
terracotta in the Musée Fol at Geneva (
Catal. No.
743) which has handles with similar decorations. (See Dumont,
Inscr.
Cér. p. 410.) From a quantity of these handles which
he found at Naucratis, Mr. Petrie concludes that the earliest type had
merely a knob in the interior, low down: this was gradually enlarged upwards
until the form gradually suggested a bull's head; and as this projected
inwards and upwards, more and more it developed into the bearded head, which
type became fixed. (Petrie,
Naukratis, i. p. 42.)
The better class of Roman ware, particularly the Samian and Arretine, is
frequently stamped with the maker's name. As a rule the names are those of
freedmen or slaves, and they are often ill-spelt and confused. They seem to
have been pressed in from a stamp which is either square, round, or oval.
The name of the potter is sometimes accompanied by the letters O, or OF, for
officina, manufactory; or by M for
manu, or F for
fecit,
the name of course being in the genitive or nominative, according as the
case required.
Like the amphorae, so also the Greek lamps seem to have circulated largely in
the ancient world, some having been found by Layard at Nimrud. In Roman
lamps, and in Greek lamps of the Roman period, it is usual to find
inscriptions stamped on the base: these consist either of the name of the
potter in the genitive case, or of the names of emperors. A list of such
inscriptions is given in Birch,
Hist. of Pottery, appendix
ii., but the intention of them seems to be by no means clear. The
inscriptions stamped beneath Roman lamps are extremely numerous, and seem to
point to various intentions, though this point is somewhat obscure. The most
usual is the formula which gives the name or the mark, or both, of the
potter; the potter's name is usually in the genitive, the word
officina or
manu being
understood or expressed: one such lamp bears the inscription “from the
manufactory of Publius and Titus at the Porta Trigemina.” Another
class refers to the purpose for which the lamp was made, such as a
dedication to a deity, or a sepulchral inscription, or bears a reference to
the Secular games, during the celebration of which the city of Rome was
illumined for three successive nights: it is possible that this last class
of lamps may have been specially made for the Secular illuminations: the
form of inscription in this last case is SAECVL or SAECVLARIA.
The inscriptions stamped on Greek tiles are as yet very little understood,
probably on account of the rarity of such inscribed tiles which have come
down to us. Some of these inscriptions, at any rate, seem to refer to a
date, in a similar formula to that of the amphora handles, i. e.
ἐπὶ followed by the name of a magistrate: thus,
Birch quotes one from Olbia inscribed:
ΕΠΑΠΙΣΤΩΝ（
ος）
ΑΣΤΨΝΟΜΟ（
υ）
ΠΟΣΕΙΔΩΝΙΟ（
υ or
ς）
“(This tile was made) in the aedileship of Ariston.” The name
following may be the name of the month or of the potter. At Corcyra and
elsewhere the stamp is merely
ἐπὶ τοῦ
δεῖνος, the magistracy, whether Prytanis or otherwise, being
implied. One in the British Museum has simply
ΕΨΦΑΜΟΨ on the edge, with nothing to show whether this
refers to maker or magistrate. Some Athenian tiles have the label
ΑΘΕ: and some found at Calymna have
ΔΙΟ in intaglio or circular labels with
monograms in relief on the body of the tile. Some from Sicily have merely a
letter, such as
Φ, or an emblem, such as
the triskelos. All these inscriptions are pressed in from a complete stamp,
probably in metal. Nco Greek inscribed imbrices have as yet been found.
Many of the Roman tiles are inscribed with the names of the consuls of the
year in which they were made; this class ranges in date over a period which
embraces the second and part of the third centuries A.D.: they occur on the tiles of Italy alone, and it is supposed
that a law passed about the time of Trajan obliged the brick and tile makers
to affix their distinctive mark upon their wares, possibly as a guarantee of
the quality of the clay. These stamps are generally circular, with an emblem
in the
 |
|
12. Tile stamp. (Birch.)
|
[p. 1.853]centre around which the inscription is arranged.
The illustration on the preceding page is taken from Birch, fig. 185.
In the centre is a figure of Victory, the potters' emblem: around it,
commencing on the outer band, is inscribed OPVS DOL(iare) DE FIGVL(inis)
PVBLINIANIS E(X) PR(A)EDIS AEMILIAE [S]SEVERAE: “Potwork from the
Publinian potteries, from the estate of Aemilia Severa.”
According to Birch, “The most complete stamps have the date of the
emperor or of the consulship, the name of the estate which supplied the
clay, of the pottery which baked it, and of the potter who prepared it;
sometimes even of the slave who moulded the tile, and the very
dimensions of the tile itself.” From the
praedia or estates which produced the clay, the Roman landed
proprietors, usually people of high rank, must have derived a considerable
income: a large number of these proprietors are names of females: it is
supposed that the extensive proscriptions resulted in a deficiency of male
heirs, and the large estates in this way devolved upon females. These
praedia were doubtless placed under the
superintendence of freedmen or slaves. The especial manufactory would be
distinguished by a name such as the gentile name Publinian given above, or
after an emperor, such as Domitian; and instances occur where a second
manufactory of the same proprietor is mentioned. The bricks of Praeneste
generally show different stamps from those which are found in Rome and the
other cities of Latium. Thus on a brick recently found there is the
inscription M ˙ LATER ˙ Q ˙ evidently the name of M.
Juventius Laterensis, Quaestor, who is known to have given the games at
Praeneste, and who was the personal and political friend of Cicero
(
Römische Mittheil. 1887, p. 292).
An important section of these inscriptions are those on the so-called
Legionary tiles, i. e. those which bear the name of a certain legion, and
which are found wherever Roman armies carried their standards in the ancient
world. They were probably made by the soldiers themselves, and consequently
the name of the maker is seldom added. The stamp is apparently of metal, and
usually in the form of a foot or oblong, giving the number and title of the
legion. By means of these tiles, it has been possible to trace a great deal
of the distribution of the Roman military forces, and the successive changes
of their quarters.
The small terracotta cones and pyramids which have been mentioned above are
frequently inscribed or stamped with emblems, but these inscriptions give
little help in deciding what is the intention of either cone or inscription:
sometimes these inscriptions consist of the names of deities; and if the
cones were intended to be hung on the necks of cattle, these names might be
referred to the deities to whose temple the cattle belonged. Dumont
(
Inscr. Cér. p. 51) supposed that some which
are found in tombs may have been placed there in imitation of offerings of
food; being led to this conclusion by the inscription
ΓΛΨΚΨ (=
γλύκυσμα̣) and
ΜΕΛΙ, which occur on two specimens.
A similar case is that of the disks of terracotta pierced for suspension:
the British Museum has a series of these from Tarentum, on which the word
ΕΗΜΙΟΒΕΛΙΟΝ, or part of it,
is stamped: whether this disk represents a half obol weight of some
commodity, as has been suggested, cannot now be ascertained. (See
Hell. Journal, 4.156; 7.41.)
At Naucratis in Egypt, and also elsewhere, a series of circular stamps have
been found, made of terracotta, about 3 in. in diameter, with a handle at
back: the under-surface has a device in intaglio, usually representing some
subject related to grapes or grape gathering. Mr. Petrie, who found a number
of these (
Naukratis, i. p. 45, pl. xxix.), calls them
“cake stamps :” it seems probable, however, that they were
intended for stamping the stucco or mud cap with which the mouth of an
amphora containing wine or other preserves was sealed.
C. STATUARY AND TERRACOTTAS.--This part of the
subject is naturally so much connected with the art of statuary proper, that
it will be best to refer the reader for all general purposes to STATUARY and TERRACOTTA:
under this head we shall only refer to the actual methods of working statues
and statuettes in clay.
When first the spirit of imitation arises in man in a primitive or savage
state, the material most ready and most easily applied is clay: among people
of anthropomorphic ideas, it is natural that clay should be very early
employed for the imitation of men and animals. The legend of Prometheus, and
the use of the word
πλάσσω, first for
modelling in clay and afterwards for statuary in metal and stone, both point
to the parentage of these in the fictile art proper.
In Greece, statuary in terracotta seems never to have attained respectable
rank as an independent art: it lived as the necessary adjunct of the
sculptor, who especially, if he worked in bronze, had to mould his design in
clay; and sometimes even of the painter, for we are told that Zeuxis used to
model in terracotta the subjects which he afterwards painted: otherwise, as
an independent art, it was relegated to such humble handicraftsmen as the
statuette makers (
κοροπλάθοι,
κοροπλάσται), who made the little figurines (
ζῶα) of which so many examples have come down to
us from Greek tombs, especially from Tanagra. In early times, however, large
terracotta statues seem to have been occasionally set up. Pausanias (
1.2,
5; and 1.3, 1)
mentions two such
πήλινοι θεοί, which he
saw at Athens, and which dated from very early times; also the unbaked
statues of the potter Chalkosthenes, after whose factory the Ceramicus at
Athens was named, are mentioned by Pliny (
35.155). These are but isolated examples of an art which in Greece
probably went no farther.
In Italy, on the other hand, terracotta statuary attained much greater
importance. The conditions which were mentioned above as bringing this
material into use for architecture, held good doubtless for statuary: the
limited facilities for obtaining marble caused the early artists of Italy to
turn their energies to work in terracotta, which attained there a
development which, judging from literary accounts and from actual monuments,
must have been considerable. Previously to the period when Italy was flooded
with works of Greek art, the Etruscans were as famous for terracotta as for
[p. 1.854]bronze statuary. We read of the earthen group
of a quadriga which stood on the Capitoline temple, and which had come from
Veii; of the statue of Jupiter on the Capitol, by a Volscian artist,
Turrianus of Fregellae; and the
fictiles dei of
these early times are frequently alluded to in the later Roman writers.
Specimens of this art have come down to us in the portrait heads of clay
which surmount the cinerary vases of early Etruscan art; and also in the
nearly life-sized groups of figures which recline on the lids of the
sarcophagi from Chiusi and Perugia, and of which one excellent example is in
the British Museum. The difficulty of baking so large a group must have been
considerable, and the amount of success which these primitive artists have
achieved speaks highly for the skill which they had attained. For religious
purposes, the art seems to have given place entirely to work in bronze and
marble, but it remained still in use in private life, as we see from the
terracotta sarcophagi which continued to be modelled down to late times: and
Pliny (
35.156) mentions a certain
Arcesilaus, a friend of Lucullus, who was even in that time a noted modeller
in terracotta.
The number of Roman terracottas which have come down to us is very large; but
the Roman artists seem to have followed mainly in the lines of the Greeks:
their figurines are for the most part direct descendants of the Greek
statuettes and in some cases even from the same moulds. They are called
sigilla, and the makers of them
sigillarii or
figuli
sigillares. For decorative purposes, they seem to have reverted to the
practice of modelling larger statues in terracotta: the British Museum has
two such statues from Pompeii, which are of imperial times: but probably
these were usually covered with stucco and painted.
For the two great classes of statuary in terracotta, two distinct processes
would be necessary: that is to say, the larger statues and groups would be
modelled by hand, while the smaller statuettes were for the most part cast
from a mould.
The accompanying woodcut represents Athene
 |
|
13. Athene modelling.
|
modelling in clay the Trojan horse. Although the horse of the
legend was made of wood, and the instruments which hung in the picture are
tools for wood-carving, there can be no doubt that the goddess is here
represented working in clay, of which a large lump lies at her feet, and a
piece is being laid on in her hand: probably the artist wished to represent
the preliminary model in clay (
πρόπλασμα,
argilla), which was as necessary a preliminary
to sculpture in wood as it was for sculpture in bronze. The process seems to
have been much the same as it is at the present day: either the artist
modelled his figure entirely freehand, adding piece upon piece of the wet
clay, or he had a skeleton or stand of wood (
κάναβος,
stipes, crux), more or less complicated
according to the nature of his work, and around this he modelled his clay.
The modelling was done with modelling tools. and the finger and nail: the
rougher work and the preliminary building up, with the hand (
pollice ducere), the finer work and finishing with
the tools: these tools were made of wood, bone, ivory, bronze, &c.,
and the most usual form is like a stylus, with one end pointed and the other
flat. The final touches would be given with the finger-nail, and this,
according to the sculptor Polykleitos, was the most crucial part of the
operation: from it the expressions were borrowed of
ἐξονυχίζειν,
ad unguem facere, of a work very highly
finished.
These larger statues would as a rule be burnt in an oven: and therein would
lie the great difficulty: as the moisture evaporated, the clay would
naturally shrink, and if every part did not shrink to the same extent, or
evenly throughout, the figure would lose its proportions and possibly crack.
We have no evidence as to how the ancients avoided these difficulties: in
any case, they probably had special contrivances in the oven for regulating
the heat, and assuring an even and gradual drying of every part alike.
Otherwise, the ovens for these, and likewise for the smaller statuettes,
must have been constructed on the same principle as those described above,
for the baking of vases.
The idea of casting from a mould was, as described above, applied to various
branches of the fictile art: it seems that the ancients made terracotta
casts even from statues in marble and bronze, as we do in plaster.
Lystratus, brother of the celebrated sculptor Lysippos, is said to have been
the first who adopted this process. Some few of the small statuettes are
moulded solid, especially the rougher kinds, such as dolls, neurospasta,
&c.: but by far the greater number are cast from moulds. For this
purpose the finest clay was used, differing of course according to locality:
the usual kind is softer and more porous than that of vases, and varies from
a deep red to a pale straw colour. The process is as follows: first a model
figure,
protypos, is made with modelling tools, and
from this a mould is taken (usually in one, sometimes in two pieces), which
is then baked. The figures,
ektypa, are made by
pressing a thin crust of clay into this mould, and bringing a thin crust
across the top: the figure would thus be hollow inside, and open at the
base; in the back, which as a rule is left unworked, a hole is cut, in order
to allow of the clay contracting evenly without cracks or fissures. When
dry, the figure was taken out of the mould and the final touches added;
fingers, huts, attributes, where
[p. 1.855]necessary, being
separately moulded and attached. It was then ready for the oven, after which
the colours were added. It would seem that nearly all ancient works of art
in terracotta underwent more or less polychrome decoration, for which see
the article
PICTURA
[
C.S]
