The tracks we now follow are those of Eastern art in its second and more modern progress toward the west. Persia was its real source. When the Mohammedan Arabs overran Iran, they found art the handmaid to beauty and luxury, to which they had been strangers. Essentially nomadic, the wild fanatics from Arabia had given little attention to æsthetic culture. They were captivated by what they found in Persia. If they modified it, it was only to make it conformable to the behests of their religion. We find, for example, a faience tile representing the sacred Temple of Mecca, in two shades of blue, red, black, and pale-green, and with a border of white and red. It is easy to imagine the caliphs of Bagdad calling to their assistance the men whose works they had seen, to complete the embellishment of their capital. The style called arabesque is in all probability of Persian origin. In every collection of note are examples of{214} what is called Saracenic pottery. The Arabs were called Saracens when they came to Europe, or met the arms of the Crusaders in Palestine. Saracen pottery, therefore, is Persian modified by Arabian taste or local style. And here, to save much trouble, and avoid the confusion into which disputants over the wares of Damascus, Rhodes, Cairo, and other localities might lead us, it may be as well, once for all, to understand that at no place of which we have any knowledge were the Saracens the first to introduce a rudimentary knowledge of pottery. What they did was to bring with them certain distinctive styles; and now, when all proofs of an earlier fabric are wanting, we may safely take it for granted that it existed, and that the invaders and colonists only superimposed a superior art. This should be borne in mind, because it would be impossible to account for the abundant remains found on certain sites by attributing them all to the Saracens. One of the first things to which the Arabs turned their attention in each country to which they carried their arms, was to raise mosques for the religions observances attaching to their faith. The tomb of Mohammed, at Medina, is covered with tiles so closely resembling those of Persia as to suggest not only Persian inspiration, but Persian workmen. In Asia Minor tiles belonging to the eleventh and twelfth centuries are abundant, of a precisely similar character. History explains their presence there by telling us that the Arabian or Saracenic conquerors sent for artists from Persia to bring their skill to the embellishment of the new domain. In this we have the key to much of the ceramic art of Asia Minor.

{215}

As to Rhodes and the origin of its faience (Fig. 162), we are tolerably certain that in Persia was the source of the skill there developed. History and tradition point to the same conclusion. Legend says that a vessel bound for Venice, and having some Persian potters on board, was wrecked on the island, and that there a manufactory was founded (Fig. 163). Possibly on this tradition the conjecture was based that a Persian colony had settled there. In any case, Rhodes was occupied by Persians in the seventh century, and then by the Greeks. When the crusading fever was at its height, the knights of St. John held the island until expelled by the Turks. It was probably these knights who captured a vessel laden with Persian pottery and artists, and compelled the latter to found the manufacture at Rhodes. At the Musée de Cluny are specimens of their work, plainly Persian, but adapted to the changed condition and limited appliances of the potters. The Rhodian differs little from the Persian. The colors are less brilliant, and the ornamentation in relief is like that found on vases and tiles in Asia Minor. The predominating colors are white and blue for grounds and red for designs. Similarly as to Damascus, it is beyond reasonable doubt that potteries existed there. Their ruins are said to have been found; and it is probable that, so far from importing the wares, Damascus supplied orders from without. These facts lead to the conclusion that Persian art was carried by the Saracens or their Christian opponents to the same countries that Egyptian and Assyrian art had reached centuries before.{216}

Turning now to the south and west, we follow the line of Saracenic conquest along the north coast of Africa until it reached the Atlantic Ocean. Egypt first fell under Mussulman control, and the standard of Islam was carried westward from the Nile. Thirteen hundred years after Battus founded Cyrene, the Mussulman Keironan was built upon its ruins. In Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco the Saracenic works multiply. One traveller in Tunisia describes a mosque with the walls overlaid with tiles of many patterns. Another, crossing Algeria, visits the mosque at Telemeen, and finds azulejos (from the Arabic for “varnished tile”) equal to those of Granada, and tiling in blue, red, and yellow, again compelling a comparison with the works of the Moors in Spain. The brilliant domes and mosaic pavements of mosques and houses mark the Saracenic progress. Besides these, many examples of urns and other vessels of Saracenic fabrication have been found, colored in brown, yellow, blue, and green, in styles not far removed from the Persian. Viewed comprehensively, the pottery of Northern Africa (Fig. 164) would show pieces of local fabrication, and Persian styles and processes modified by removal from their eastern centre. What concerns us chiefly is that the Saracenic predominates. It is reasonable to suppose that the invaders, in order to decorate the edifices which quickly gave indication of their presence, sent for tiles to the seats of the industry in the East. Afterward, when the Mussulman power had been firmly established, factories were built, and a new industry rose among the conquered people. Imitations are mingled with works showing a developing originality. The Mussulman and Persian traditions become modified, and the symbolical meaning of the animals painted on the dishes and basins appears to have become obscure to the artists employing them as decoration.{217}

A great deal of the African pottery can only be taken as a basis for conjecture. Its place of manufacture is unknown. Its style is peculiar and its coloring unique. It is not impossible that European art was paying the debt it had incurred to Southern teachers. Ceramic art travelled with the Saracens wherever they went. How far that was may be estimated from the fact that they conquered within eighty years as much territory as it had taken Rome four hundred years to bring into subjection. They crossed into Spain, Sicily, and Italy, and there planted settlements. A great deal has been said of the reflet à métallique and stanniferous enamel, and notably of the discovery of the latter in Italy. Both came from the East, and reached Europe through the Saracens. The employment of tin in producing a white opaque enamel was, as we have seen, known to the Egyptians, the Babylonians, and Assyrians. It does not appear to have been so highly esteemed as the silicious glaze by means of which the Persians worked their greatest ceramic wonders, but it was not forgotten. Fragmentary evidences of its use by the Saracens are found in the places which they passed, and it is, at least, more reasonable to suppose that through them the process reached Europe, than that it was rediscovered there. One is almost wearied with the endless conjectures on these matters. We find a certain art in the East. We trace the different channels of communication with Europe. We find Greece touching Asia Minor, trade binding Phœnicia with every port in the Mediterranean, Etruria bringing to her own ports the manufactures of Eastern experts, colonies settling in all manner of places and coming from many sources. It has been plainly demonstrated that the lines of intercourse cross and recross in a hundred different ways and directions. When, therefore, we have it proved to a demonstration that analogous knowledge was transmitted by certain routes, it is hardly worth one’s while to discuss the European discovery of a process which we know did not originate there, however much it may have been improved.

The art which we call Hispano-Moresque might, therefore, with equal propriety, be called Persico-Spanish or Hispano-Saracenic. Spain was twice overrun by Mohammedan conquerors. In the eighth century (711) the Arabs subdued the Goths and founded the Caliphate of Cordova. It is both singular and disappointing that no ceramic{218} relic of this period has been found. The Spanish, even under the sway of Rome, had attained to a comparative excellence in the art, and the productions resulting from the union of original traditions with Arabian influences would have formed an interesting link in our history. The Arabians remained for about five hundred years, when, in 1235 the Moors overturned the Arab rule, and founded the kingdom of Granada. The Moors succumbed, in their turn, to Ferdinand and Isabella, in 1492, and between these two dates, 1235 and 1492, was the golden era of the ceramic art of Spain.

Meantime it is to be observed, as showing the possible and actual extent of Persian influence:

Firstly.—That under the Moorish sway a colony of Persians existed in Spain. This, according to Major R. Murdoch Smith, is attested by a document recently brought to notice by a Spanish traveller in Persia, assigning the town Rioja to the Persians as their place of residence.

Secondly.—That mosaic work has been found in Persia, composed of star and cross shaped tiles of different colors fitted together, and that similar tiles are made in Spain at the present time.

Thirdly.—That in Persia are found the prototypes of the Spanish style of ornamenting vaults with hanging-work, like plaster stalactites.

Fourthly.—That, according to Piot, “numerous Persian faience plaques and pieces of vases, resembling those of our own time, are found encrusted in the white marble of a church in Naples.”

Fifthly.—That Mr. Drury C. Fortnum has found a specimen of Persian ware in the church of St. Cecilia, at Pisa. The piece is clearly Persian in style, black arabesques on a blue ground, similar to others found at Rhages.

Sixthly.—That the Saracens overran Sicily in the ninth century, and that a Moorish colony landed there some centuries later.

The corollary deducible from these facts is clear, viz., that in Persian art, as brought into Europe by the Moors, Arabs, or Saracens, and by the Persians themselves, we must find the bridge upon which to cross from the ancient arts of Assyria and Babylonia to those of Italy and Spain.{219}

CHAPTER II.

GREECE.

WERE we to be guided solely by continuity in point of time and the succession of ideas, our next subject would be the art of Spain and Italy. We turn, in preference, to that of Greece. It claims the precedence due to priority of date. It holds also a position of what might be called isolation. Its general character has been indicated in the Introduction. The severity and simplicity of the taste of the Greek, and his indifference to effects in color, while permitting him to receive suggestions from Egypt and the East, led him to disregard those adjuncts of art which they held in highest esteem. To him beauty of form was everything, color little or nothing. The former he brought to such perfection that no advance has been made beyond the point he reached. Greek form embodies all that can be said of grace and proportion. We may imitate, but we can hardly hope to excel, what Greece accomplished in her early bloom. We may find prototypes in Egypt for some of her vessels (Fig. 165), but still her art, the culmination{220} of all that was best in preceding forms, is pre-eminently her own. We say this without disparagement to those who were her teachers. To Egypt, in particular, Greece turned, at a remote age, for instruction, and learned from Phœnicia and the other nations with which trade brought her into contact. In this connection the group (Fig. 166) of vases from Athens may be compared with the Phœnician from Cyprus. There are in the decoration the same geometrical designs, the same vertical concentric circles, the same animal figures which the Phœnicians drew from Assyria. But after making every allowance for suggestions from abroad, after conceding that Grecian art is the development of that which preceded it, and that it occupies a well-defined place in progressive history, we fail to find anywhere the equals of the best ceramic works of Greece.

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Fig. 166.—Primitive Vessels, from Athens and Argos.
Fig. 166.—Primitive Vessels, from Athens and Argos.

Taking them as a whole, they are divisible into unbaked; terra-cotta, or burnt clay, without a glaze; and glazed. The Greeks employed unbaked clay for bricks, statues, and several kinds of decoration. The former were used for city walls and buildings. Terra-cotta was devoted to similar purposes. It is not improbable that we may yet return, to a very considerable extent, to the ancient employment of this material in architecture. The Greeks made use of it for pillars, roofs, paving, bricks, friezes, cornices, lamps, statues, flower-pots, and numberless domestic and sepulchral vessels and ornaments. Bricks do not appear to have been held in very high esteem in building, but the custom of roofing with terra-cotta tiles was widely prevalent and of great antiquity. These tiles were occasionally embellished with{221} painted flowers, and designs in blue, red, and yellow. The terra-cotta figures vary in color from red to bright yellow, and are soft in texture and easily marked. Terra-cotta models were used in casting, and in the same material were made copies of statues, like those in plaster of Paris of our own time; and some painters were even accustomed to make terra-cotta models of the figures they afterward painted. Of the specimens which have come down to us a very great number consists of small statuettes of the gods.

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Fig. 167.—Greek Vase, from Apulia. (Louvre.)
Fig. 167.—Greek Vase, from Apulia. (Louvre.)

The vessels of terra-cotta are either domestic or sepulchral. The{222} largest was the pithos, which, as we have seen, was large enough to hold a man satisfied with such limited domestic conveniences as Diogenes. There were also amphoræ, large vases, somewhat smaller than the pithoi; phialai, or saucers, plates, pots, and jugs. Of these the amphora occurs most frequently. Its name is derived from amphis—on both sides, and pherein—to carry, and it is so called because it had two handles, one on each side, to be grasped by the person carrying it. It is easily recognized (see Fig. 2) by its sharp base—so made to be stuck in the ground—its oval body, its long neck, and its generally heavy lip. The cover was conical, and sometimes the base is surrounded by a ring of clay to keep it more easily in an upright position. The height of the amphora ranged from three feet to over six feet, and it was used for holding wine, water, oil, and for storing figs and other edibles.

Various pigments were applied to terra-cotta, including white, red, green, and blue, the use of which, in painting statues and architectural decorations, formed a distinct branch of art. Colors are also found on sepulchral vases, some of which are further ornamented with applied bas-reliefs; that is, made separately, and fixed to the vase before drying. This practice was carried to such an extent as to represent a combination of the arts of potter, painter, and sculptor (Fig. 167). Closely allied to the cinerary urns were the vases intended solely for ornamental purposes. In one of extraordinary beauty, a large and finely moulded head of Pallas Athene is seen surmounted by a full figure of Victory. There are many of a similar character, representing female and animal heads. The latter are found in the rhyta, or drinking cups. The ornamental vases were often painted after being covered with a white slip: evidently the case with the piece (Fig. 168) in Dr. Prime’s collection.

Before treating of glazed vases we shall give the leading denominations{223} of all vases glazed and unglazed, and then the styles of decoration of the former as nearly as may be in their chronological order. They are said to be glazed, although the glaze is so slight that, as Mr. Fortnum says, “it leaves a barely appreciable effect upon the eye, beyond that which might be produced by a mechanical polish.” It is altogether a very inferior kind of glaze, and is supposed to have been made from an alkali without any admixture of lead. The paste resembles terra-cotta, and varies in density, being in some cases scratched with ease, in others with difficulty. It can always be marked with iron. These facts are worth noting, were it only that that art may be thoroughly appreciated which, out of the poorest and commonest materials, has wrought forms of the most wonderful beauty.

The chief names with which we shall have to deal are the pithos, pithakne, stamnos, cheroulion, bikos, hyrche, lagynos, askos, amphorens, kados, hydria, kalpis, krossos, skyphos, or kothon, rhyton, lekythos, alabastros, krater, holmos, kelebe, oxybaphon, psykter, dinos, chytrai, tripous, oinochoe, prochoos, aryballos, epichysis, kotylos, kyathos, skaphe, kantharos, karchesion, kylix, phiale, kanoun, pinax, and diskos.

The pithos, already described in part, was a large, open-mouthed cask or jar of unglazed earthen-ware, which was used mainly for the preservation of victuals and wines.

The pithakne was a pithos of smaller size used for holding wine.

The stamnos (Fig. 169) was an open-mouthed jar with two handles, and a body inclined to be oval, but of great rotundity, curving inward to a comparatively narrow base. It held liquids. The cheroulia and bikoi were modifications of the stamnos, the latter being used for holding wine and solids.

The hyrche is not very well known, either in regard to its shape or purpose, but appears to have had a narrow neck, and to have been used in conveying goods a long distance. Its narrow neck is a tolerably sure indication that it was not intended to be stationary.{224}

The lagynos also appears to have had a very narrow neck, and to have been of considerable size, varying according to circumstances.

The askos (Fig. 170), literally a wineskin, which it resembled in shape, had an aperture and neck on one side, from which a handle passed over a hollow on the body to the other side. Both the askos and stamnos are frequently painted with red figures.

The amphora, already described in the form it commonly took, may be called a general receptacle, although usually employed for holding provisions and liquors. There were many different shapes, which varied according to the district where made, and the special purpose for which they were destined. The chief kinds are the Egyptian, Apulian, Tyrrhenian, Panathenaic, Bacchic (Fig. 186), and Nolan, the last mentioned being the most perfectly finished, and unexcelled in gracefulness of shape. They were decorated with either red or black paintings.

The kados is the first of the vessels for drawing liquids, of which class the hydria (Fig. 188) is the best known. Its name implies its purpose as a{225} water-pitcher. It had two small side handles, and one larger one, somewhat similar to that of the modern ewer. The kalpis (Fig. 187) and krossos were modifications of the hydria.

The kothon (Fig. 171) is supposed to have been a drinking-cup.

The rhyton (Fig. 172) belongs to the later style of drinking-cups, and its peculiarity is that it could not be set down except when empty. The base is modelled after the head of a dog, goat, deer, or other animal, and the neck or cup proper is either cylindrical or elongated and sloped.

The lekythos (Fig. 305) was an oil-jar of an elongated shape, neck in proportion, cup-like orifice, and one handle. It is decorated in all the styles of Grecian art, and is generally about one foot in height. It was sometimes made of metal or marble.

The alabastros was a diminutive lekythos, used for toilet unguents, with two small ears by which to suspend it.

The krater (Figs. 173 and 174) was the vessel in which the Greeks cooled and mixed their wine, of which it would hold about three gallons. It is the later form of a class of vessels of which the holmos (Fig. 175), kelebe (Fig. 176), and oxybaphon (Fig. 177) are the earlier representatives.

The psykter, or wine-cooler, was a double-walled vessel of the amphora type, rotund in shape.

The dinos was another form of the wine vessel, open-mouthed, round in body and base, and allied to the krater.

The chytrai were warming-pots with two handles. The tripous, or three-footed pot, was employed in a similar manner.

The oinochoe, in the shape most frequently{226} occurring, resembled a jug with a lip either round or pinched in at the sides, and with a handle rising above the orifice. The oinochoe was used in serving the guests from the krater.

The prochoos (Figs. 178 and 179) was also a jug, either with or without a handle, for either water or wine. The olpe (Fig. 180) belongs to the same class.

The aryballos (Fig. 165) was round or bladder-shaped and short-necked, and bore a close resemblance to one of the toilet vases of the Egyptians.

The arystichos was also used for serving from the krater, a usage which gave rise to several other shapes. Of the cups designed for the same purpose, the kotylos may be mentioned, although its shape is doubtful. The kyathos (Fig. 181), or ladle, belongs to the same class.

The drinking-cups were of many shapes and assumed great elegance of form. The several varieties cannot now be specified by description. The skyphos was the generic name applied also to a few special shapes now unknown. The kantharos (Fig. 182) was wide, somewhat shallow, with two handles rising well above the lip, and either with or without a stem.

The kylix (Fig. 183) was the cup most generally used, and varied in shape. In the earliest specimens it has a long stem, two handles, and is shallow and wide. The later forms are wider, and shorter in the stem, which ultimately disappears entirely. The phiale was the religious counterpart of the kylix.

The kanoun, diskos, and pinax were for table use, the two latter corresponding with our plates, with the exception that the diskos stood upon a stem or foot.

Of the vessels named those deserving closest attention, as most frequently presenting themselves, are the kylix, oinochoe, krater, aryballos, kyathos, lekythos, rhyton, hydria, amphora, and pithos. The kylix is to be specially commended for its beauty of shape, and its decoration with red figures exemplifies some of the best art of Greece.

From the descriptions given of the various vessels, it will be seen{227} that many of them were devoted to household use. Vases were also made as toys for children, as prizes to victorious athletes, for holding the viands and liquids placed beside the dead, and more recently for the ashes of the dead. Among the exceptional uses of pottery by the Greeks may be mentioned the giving of receipts on potsherds, the recording on fragments of pottery of votes for ostracizing (from ostrakon, a potsherd) a citizen, and for deciding the side to be taken by the entrants for the game called ostrakinon. This last was decided by “tossing up” a piece of pottery, and assigning a side to the player according to its falling with the red or black side uppermost. Vases were also made in honor of great men and authors, whose names are inscribed on them. All the vases now in museums, numbering, according to different estimates, from twenty to fifty thousand, were taken from the tombs of Greece, Southern Italy, and Etruria. It was the custom to place beside the dead the vessels necessary for the religious rites, the favorite vases and prizes of the deceased; and in this way they have been preserved to illustrate in our age the branch of Greek art to which they belong. No precise age can be ascribed to any one specimen.

The first glazed vases date probably from the ninth century before Christ, and from the beginning of the third century{228} the art declined. It had probably reached its highest point four hundred years before our era.

The earliest vases were made by hand, and even after glazing was introduced that method was continued. It was also resorted to in making the gigantic pithoi, which were too large to be turned on the wheel. The finer vases were made on the wheel or moulded. After being moulded they were dried and painted. There were two methods of painting. By the first the figures were outlined and then filled in, leaving them black on a red or pale ground. The vase was then glazed and fired. By the second the figures were left untouched and of the color of the paste, by painting the ground black. A color slightly different from that of the body was employed for the finer lines of the figures. The vase was then glazed and fired as before.

We now come to the successive styles of ornamentation. The natural order would give the first place to the uncolored vases, the second to those painted all over in black, the next to the different styles of figures. In addition to what has been said in the Introduction, and to go more deeply into details, the following points may be noted in regard to the last of the above stages—the ornamentation by means of figures. These first took{229} the form of simple belts of color drawn round the body of the piece. A vase of a later but still very early period has the space between the two zones passing round the widest part of the body filled in with vertical designs, alternating with small rings, each containing a cross (see Fig. 166). When animal and floral decoration was first attempted, the artist’s work was rude and the forms were unnatural. White upon black grounds indicate the earliest style. Another very ancient style has the figures, which are all those of animals, painted in dark lines upon the pale red paste (Fig. 184).

The vases of the next, or Archaic, group vary in color from a pale yellow to a deep red, on which the figures are painted in a darker color. One of its leading features is the profusion of flowers. The presence of human forms, more or less skilfully drawn, may be taken as the criterion by which to determine the later members of this group.

In the next style (Fig. 186) human figures become more prominent in the designs, and are perfectly black, with the exception of the flesh of females, which is painted white or red. Many of the subjects are taken from mythology and the heroic legends. This developed into the “old style,” where the black appears greatly improved; and while the hands, face, and exposed parts of the females are pure white, their eyes are red. The drawing is still stiff and constrained, and where attempts at perspective are made, they are eminently unskilful. White is also more plentifully distributed, and is seen in the hair and beard of old men, in horses, and in many accessories, for which red is also occasionally employed. As{230} the art developed, red figures were more frequently introduced among those in black; and we also find the artist entirely obscuring the natural color of the paste by means of a white slip, or coat, upon which he painted the black figures.

As we approach the best art of Greece the colors are inverted. The figures are drawn upon the paste of the red or yellow color of which they appear, and the rest of the vase is painted black (Fig. 187).

The “fine style,” the culmination of Greek art, was a development of that last described. The black ground, red figures, and white ornaments show the highest point to which previous styles gradually led upward. Drawing and composition are here at their best. The early stiffness has given place to a fuller grace, and there is a nobility in the figures and faces to which the earlier artists never attained. The limbs lose their unnatural distortion, the muscles are less rigid—there is, in one word, more life in the drawing. The accessories also gain by the greater freedom of treatment. The drapery hangs more gracefully, its straight-lined stiffness giving place to a more natural arrangement.

In the later specimens of this style—so markedly different from the earlier ones that they have been classed together as the florid style—there is a more minute attention to finish, a greater elaboration of dresses and other accessories, and a decided tendency toward finding the ideal human form in that which is most graceful. Gold appears in the ornamentation (Fig. 188), and arabesques encircle the necks. Polychrome vases were made at the same time, some of them showing the utmost excellence of figure-drawing, and draperies of blue, green, or purple.

When the art began to decline, taste and execution both deteriorated.{231} The figures lose their graceful proportions, and acquire a heavier appearance. They are also more crowded, and the dresses become more garish, until at last all refinement, both of conception and treatment, was lost in coarseness and grotesque puerility. The amphora (Fig. 189) illustrates the decadence.