Vases of glass of small dimensions were in very early use : amongst the Egyptians small amphora and jugs, and toilet phial* of opaque glass, dated, as early as B.O. 1450,in the reign of Thothmea III.; while the earliest known dated specimen of transparent glass Is it small dicta found at Niniroud, bearing the name of Sargina, B.C. 711. Various vases, cups, phiahic, and jugs, were in extensive use amongst the Greeks and ltoinami; and in the middle period of the Empire, Alexandria and Sidon supplied Items with glass vases, especially the makers tremens and Artas of Sidon. To this age are to be referred the celebrated l'orthuid and Auldjo vases in the British Museum, made of transparent deep blue glass, with friezes and arabesques of opaque white, exquisitely polished, produced by cutting down the upper strata of white glass in the manner of a cameo. About the 3rd century, &D., and later, re markable glass cups with undercut letters in relief, or paterie cngraven with subjects, appear, the so-called dialrcta. To this and an earlier period belong the remarkable vases of madreporo glass, chiefly paterm. At a later ego glass vessels were ornamented with gilded subjects at the bottom, enclosed by two layers of glass. Glees rues of a remark able size and fabric, principally deep cups, are found in the Saxon graves, ornamented with undercut projections at the sides, a rude imitation of the more artistic diatreta.
In Greece, from the earliest ages, gold and silver vases were used for sacrificial and other purposes, and they abounded amongst the Hellenic aud other races of Asia Minor, the most renowned in early times being those dedicated by CITC8118 st Delphi, some the works of the Saurian Theodorua. After the conquest of Alexander immense numbers of toreutic works, some inlaid with gems, were common all over Greece ; and in two remarkable festivals, one of Ptolemy Philadelphus at Alexandria, the other of Autiochus Epiphanes at Antioch, were ex hibited immense numbers of these vases ; and great services of plate were possessed by the Grxco-Asiatic monarchs, which subsequently became the booty of the Ronmua and were exhibited in their triumphs, or plundered by their officers. The most celebrated metal vases were those of Boethus, 3Iys, and Mentor. A few gold vases exist in the museums of Europe, the most remarkable being the ancient Greek phiale from Agrigentum, in the British Museum; and that of the age of Severus, discovered at Rennes, in Bretagne, now in the Biblioth6que Imp6riale of Paris, and the gold vases at Vienna. Silver vases are less rare, and were more often chased by ancient artists, and many specimens of ancient plate, some found in Britain, are preserved in the different museums of Europe. Silver vases were often used for sacred purposes. Bronze vases are still more common and of larger dimensions, and are generally thin and hammered out in repousse work, or else ornamented with elegant cast reliefs, cmtkmata ; or detached ornaments, crust cc. Etruria and Magna Grrecia were celebrated for bronze vases, and highly ornamented specimens from the sepulchres of Greece and Italy are in the principal museums of Europe. They are principally craters, pails for holding wine ; oinochoai, jugs for pouring it out ; cyatAi, for strain ing it ; and phialoi, saucers ; arytainui, ladles ; and kylices, cups ; ary ball i„ oil cruets ; kIntes, pots for boiling; podaniptra, foot-baths. Bronze vases, called echea, were also used for sounding-boards in the theatres. Etruria was celebrated for its bronze lamps and candelabra ; and Pompeii was full of bronze vessels. Considerable taste was shown by the ancients in their bronze vessels, the lips being often decorated with the ovolo ornament, the handles sometimes in shape of the human form, artistically adapted for the purpose, and generally terminating in animal heads, prokossoi, at the mouth, while the place of insertion on the body of the Vase was ornamented with mythological subjects, or heads in bas-relief. Subjects in outline were sometimes incised on vases, and a magnificent Wes from Capua, in the British Museum, has, in addition to the figures in full relief on tho mouth, an incised frieze round the body, representing some of the labours of Hercules. These ornaments were often either modelled by artists of merit, or copied from celebrated works of art. In the 4th and 5th centuries, [lamas.
caned Roman vases were made ; enamelled about tho same time. The temples of Greece abounded with preseuts of these vases, along with tripods, statues, and other objects of bronze. Leaden vases were used by the ancients to hold unguents, perfumes, and collyriums.
The most numerous and remarkable ancient vases are those of baked clay, found in recent 'years all over Greece, Italy and its isles, the north coast of Africa, and the Crimea, in fact throughout the settle ments of Greece. Some of them appear to have held the ashes of the dead, and all were made for use or ornament. These vases are painted with a brown or black /aerated glaze, and touched up in parts with flat unglazed colours. They were either made on the wheel or moulded, then dried, the subject or ornamentation traced out with a pointed instrument, the black or brown colour, which is a silicated glaze, filled in with a reed pencil, and the muscles and other details incised through the black colour to the ground of the clay with a sharp knife. Their pasta varies from a pale straw to a dark red, and is very soft, light, and porous. The vases appear to have been carefully dried, painted, and baked in close furnaces ; the colours used in the decoration being all minerals,—blaek oxide of manganese and Iron being used for the black; oxides of iron, copper, and pipeclay for the other colours. The glaze is a fine silicate of soda, perhaps produced by salt. The style, shape, and ornaments of these vases vary in the different localities where they are found. The, earliest of large shape, chiefly jugs, amphora, and lekarre, found on the most ancient sites of Asia Minor, as at Mount Sipylus and the so-called treasury of Atreus at blycente, are ornamented with friezes, !meanders, zigzags, and such simple ornaments, with animal forma of small proportions introduced as friezes, or metopes. These vases of the heroic period of Greece, probably of the 8th or 0th century B.C., were succeeded by another class, which has been extensively found at Athens, Corinth, Italy, and the Isles, distinguished by friezes of animals of larger size, of black or brown colour, with incised lines upon a pale straw-coloured ground, still accompanied by ornaments, and the area of the friezes are of animals, some with flowers. A few vases of this style have human figures, combats, and myths, derived from Homeric poem, with inscriptions as old or older than the 5th century B.C., their art resembling the oldest sculpture of Sellnira and sEgina. By degrees the vase art improved, the potters introducing a slightly warm tone into their clay, abandoning the excessive use of ornament and the flowers in the field, and giving more importance to the human figures, although still retaining friezes, of animals. The principal shapes of these vases are the paike, oinochoai, and alabastros. From the shape of tho inscribed letters found upon them, and their art, these vases appear to be as old as the 5th century B.O. The great improvement in style consisted in introducing a warmer tint into the paste of the clay, which became of a light bright red, while the colour of the figures became of a jet black, with the same details as those of the previous classes, and occasional use of white accessories. The vases of the so-called old style are distinguished by their superior art and size, and the interesting mythological subjects with which they are painted, and are often of large size. Ilydrice, water vases with three handles, amphorae, two handled jars, oinochoai wine jugs, lecythi, oil cruets, values, bowls for holding wine, cylices, fiat shallow cups, and cyathi, cups, occur in this style. The eyes of the figures are painted oblique, the hands and feet long, the forms muscular, the attitudes rigid. The subjects are prin cipally derived from the myth of Bacchus, the Gigantomachia, the Amazonomachia, and the war of Troy. The figures are sometimes explained by accompanying inscriptions. Besides the names of figures, the names of beautiful youths and females, and of the artists who painted and the potters who made the vases, are painted on them, while memoranda relative to the proprietors of the vases are often found incised on the foot.