cy of their
glaze.

According to d'Hancarville the vases were baked in a naked furnace.
Representations of ancient furnaces occur on painted vases. The
furnaces were of simple construction, in shape like tall ovens, fed by
fires from beneath, into which the vases were placed with a long
shovel resembling the baker's peel.

[Illustration: VASE REPRESENTING A MARRIAGE. (_Found at
Pompeii._)]

The colors being laid on in a different manner in the earlier and
later vases has caused them to be distinguished into two general
classes. In the earlier the ground is yellow or red, and the figures
are traced on it in black, so as to form kinds of silhouettes. These
are called the black or archaic vases; they are generally in an
ancient style; their subjects belong to the most ancient mythological
traditions, and their inscriptions to the most ancient forms of the
Greek alphabet, written from right to left, or in boustrophedon. The
draperies, the accessories, the harness of the horses, and the wheels
of the chariots, are touched with white. At a later period, the whole
vase was painted black, with the exception of the figures, which were
then of the color of the clay of the vase; the contours of the
figures, the hair, drapery, etc., being previously traced in black.
There are then two general classes of Greek vases, distinguished by
the figures, which are black or yellow. They are in general remarkable
for the beauty and elegance of their forms. There is a great variety
in their sizes; some being several feet high, and broad in proportion;
others being not higher than an inch. The subject is on one side of
the vase; sometimes it occupies the entire circumference, but more
generally it is on one side alone, and then there is on the reverse
some insignificant subject, generally two or three old men leaning on
a stick, instructing a young man, or presenting him with some
instrument or utensil; a bacchanalian scene is sometimes represented
on the reverse. Some vases have been found with two subjects on the
sides of the vase. On some of the finest vases, the subject goes round
the entire circumference of the vase. On the foot, neck and other
parts are the usual Greek ornaments, the Vitruvian scroll, the
Meander, Palmetto, the honeysuckle. A garland sometimes adorns the
neck, or, in its stead, a woman's head issuing from a flower. These
ornaments are in general treated with the greatest taste and elegance.
Besides the obviou