VANES, derived from the Latin vas, analogous to the German fan, a word in ita widest sense comprising all vessels intended to contain fluids or other substances, and made of various materials. In ancient art the term is applied to All ancient vessels, but in modern it is limited to those used for ornament. The shapes of vases are various, from a cup or saucer to that called vase or urn in the narrower sense of the word. Thom of ancient nations are distinguished by their shape, form, and material, and may be classed into vases destined to hold and preserve fluids or other substances, comprising craters, jars, and bowls; jugs and cruet. for pouring out liquids, and cups for drinking.
- In Egypt, from the scenes represented iu the tombs and temples, elegant large vases of the precious metals inlaid with lapis-lazuli or enamel, and chased with figures of animals or flowers, seem to have been manufactured; and also by the neighbouring nations of Asia, subdued by the arms of Egypt. Of similar forms were vessels of bronze, used for culinary and other purposes. Serpentine basalt and aragonite, or oriental alabaster, especially the latter, were favourite materials, and enamelled fayence, or porcelain, principally of blue colour, end opaque glass, were used for smaller vases for the toilet. Pottery was employed for all purposes. Peculiar vases, popularly called canopi, were used for holding the viscera of the dead. The forms of Egyptian vases are simple, the prevalent being the oval and expanding lotus shape ; the decorations are plain and the ornaments few. The Assyrian vases resemble in their form the Egyptian, but are sometimes ornamented with relief subjects. There are no vases of the other oriental recce of antiquity, and although Sidon, in the days of Homer, was famous for its silver vases, no specimens have survived time or destruction. Alabaster vases are, however, known to have been used by the Assyrians and Persians, and have also been found in the early sepulchres of Greece and Etruria. Several remarkable vase. of alabaster exist, inscribed with the names of Persian monarchs 113 hieroglyphic and cuneiform writing. In Asia, vases were often made of precious stones, as agate and onyx, and one of the kings of Pontus, klithridates VI., had a collection of 2000. The anthrax, or carbuncle, and chrysoprase, and especially crystal, were often used for vases of email dimensions. Besides the larger vases of marble, prin cipally urns, amphora, cups, lavers, and labra of large size, and enriched with reliefs, were in use during the latter days of Greece and the Roman empire. In the best days of the Athenian commonwealth, large lecythi of Pentelie marble, frequently embellished with sepulchral reliefs, were placed on the graves of the dead.
One of the most remarkable classes of ancient vases was the myrrhine, myrrhea, myrrldina, the material of which has been a source of con troversy since the revival of letters. It is supposed to have been Chinese porcelain by Scallger, jade by Hager, sardouyx by Le Blond, alabaster, onyx, soapstone, jade, opal, mother of pearl, a kind of amber, meerschaum, or an indurated resin ; but the opinion of Rozitre and Thiersch, that it was fiuorapar, is most favourably received. Tho difficulty, however, of reconciling the description of Pliny with the appearance of the substances supposed to be the true myrrhino, does not appear to have been entirely overcome. According to Pliny, it was first brought to Rome from Asia, by Pompey, and exhibited in his triumph, n.e. 62. The countries where it was found wero Parthia and Carmania, and it was dug out of the earth like rock crystal, or, according to popular report, baked in Pastille!' furnaces, and is often mentioned in connection with glass, as if some variety of that material [Schol. ad Lucan ; and Oudendorp, t. i. p. 292; vol. ii. v. 390), as semi-transparent, with an opalescent gloss. The most valuable kind had spots changing iuto purple and white, or into both these colours, one others which were iridescent, while any translucency diminished its value. The material was exceedingly fragile, and per fumed with myrrh, but this was probably owing to the former contents of the vases. The material did not admit of the making of vessels of large size, it rarely being found larger than small plinths, abed, or thicker than goblets. Pompey indeed dedicated to the Capitoline Jupiter small jugs, cap(des, and cups of this substance, which soon after became fashionable and the most precious of all materials, costly cups of it being used by the wealthy, out of which they drank the warmed Falernian wine (Martial, :iv. 113). The value of cups of largo size was immense ; one of the capacity of 3 sextaril, or 41 pints, being sold for 70 sostertia, or 5651. 6.. hl., and a fragment, in the days of Nero deemed a rarity, although according to the jurists they were not considered gems, lapilli ; and this emperor gave 10 seetertia, or about SOL US, for a small jug, capis, of this materiaL Still more precious was the myrrhine bowl, of the value of 300 ee.stertia, or 24,225/., which T. Petronius destroyed, when on the point of death, in order that it should not fall into the hands of Nero. A kind of false myrrhino, of opaque glass, with blue, yellow, white, and purple bands, was manu factured in later times at Alexandria (‘ Thiersch ueber die Vasa Myria bins,' Bayer, Aired. Wissensch., t. i. 4to. 1856, 35, p. 443).