HAVING thus glanced at the different wares, and learned the composition of the leading kinds of paste and glaze, the attention is next attracted by the processes of preparing the materials, and the different methods of manufacture. The levigation of kaolin and making of porcelain have already been touched upon incidentally. The subject of the present chapter naturally divides itself into the following heads:

• Preparation of the paste;
• Forming the vessel to be made;
• Baking or firing;
• Preparation of the glaze or enamel;
• Applying the glaze or enamel;
• Laying on the color and painting.

To what has been said about the preparation of English and Chinese kaolin pastes, little need be added. There is, however, a peculiarity about the Japanese custom not unworthy of notice. In that country the raw material, whether kaolin, quartz, or felspar, is reduced to a powder by a horizontal balancing pounder of primitive construction, and worked by water-power. Two long beams are joined together at one end by an iron-cased crossbar, and a trough is attached to the other. This frame is then erected near a stream, so that the water will fall into the trough. The weight of the water carries the trough down, and the other end is raised to a corresponding height. When the trough has fallen so far that, by reason of the{67} slope, the water runs out and thus takes off the weight at that end, the iron-shod beam at the other descends, and falling into a stone mortar in which the raw material has been placed, in a very short time pulverizes it. The above is the only machine employed by the Japanese. After being pulverized, the paste is sifted, mixed with water, and decanted, and the water is finally drained off through matting and sand. The fine clay to be used in making porcelain is deposited on the mat.

For the old Sèvres soft porcelain, the frit was crushed, cleared of salts, and ground in water. The paste was then mixed with the other ingredients, as previously given in the table.

To prepare clay for making earthen-ware or stone-ware, machines are now generally used. That for the coarser kind of wares, such as bricks or common stone-ware jars, is a pug-mill (Figs. 21 and 22). The clay, having been brought by water to a certain workable consistency, is put into the mill. This is simply a cylindrical box, with blades projecting from the inside, and having in the centre a shaft also armed with blades. By the revolving of the shaft the clay is worked into a perfect pulp, and in that condition issues from a hole in the lower end of the mill. Should any hard substance have resisted the knives, it is removed by hand.

For the finer kinds of earthen-ware, into the composition of which pipe-clay, kaolin, quartz, and felspar enter, the ingredients are mixed in a “blunger.” This machine is not unlike a steam butter churn, there being a shaft passing from end to end, in exactly the same way, and{68} armed with similar paddles. Water is added to the ingredients, and, as the blunger turns, these are all thoroughly mixed into a “slip,” which is drawn off at the bottom. It is then strained and finally passed through a pug-mill, and is ready for use.

Piccolpasso, or the Cavaliere Cipriano Piccolpasso Durantino, who wrote in Italy, in 1548, gives very minute information regarding the processes of the potters of his time and country. The clay was either washed down by rivers or taken from pits. In the former case it was taken from the river-bed when the water was low, and was placed in holes in the ground, either after or without being dried in the sun. The object of keeping it was to allow all impurities to pass off. Where there were no rivers, a series of pits was dug in any convenient hollow, and connected by a channel. The earth was washed down by the rain into these pits, and purified by the passage from one to another. In some cases it was found necessary to place the earth on sieves exposed to the rain, through which the finer particles were washed into receivers placed below. Instead of using a pug-mill, the Italian potters put the earth upon a table, where it was beaten with an iron instrument, and thoroughly kneaded and cleaned by hand.

The next process is the formation or shaping of the vessel. This may be done either by moulding or by “throwing” upon the potter’s wheel. Both of these methods are very ancient. The Egyptians used moulds in making bricks before they resorted to the use of fire for baking them. Their lamps, etc., also give evidence of having been moulded. The Greeks used modelling tools for their ornaments, and also for pithoi, or casks. Afterward moulding was resorted to, and by that means the potter made certain parts of the vases—the handles and feet, for example, and also the ornaments. The entire vessel was sometimes produced by moulding, such as the rhyta, or drinking-cups, with terminations in the form of animals’ heads. Amphoræ, cups, saucers, and vases of many shapes were formed by the same process.

We must refer to Piccolpasso again for the manner in which the Italian potters moulded. Like the Greeks, they appear first to have moulded the parts, such as the handles, which were fixed to the body after it was fashioned. They then, again like the Greeks, began to imitate metal vessels, and thus were brought directly to the process of moulding upon their models, or shaped pieces ornamented in relief.{69} The moulds were made of plaster of Paris, and, when ready, the clay was worked into a cylindrical shape, and sliced by drawing a wire across it. The thickness of the slice was regulated and made uniform by pieces of wood placed at either side of the lump of clay. A slice was then taken and pressed into the mould, and another for the other side into the other half of the mould. Any excess appearing over the edges was cut away. The feet were similarly moulded, and subsequently fixed to the body by means of a composition of clay and fine wool cuttings. In making vases or ewers, moulds were made for both sides, and joined at the front and back. A wire was used to cut off the superfluous clay, and the two pieces were joined together with the composition above mentioned. The handle was fastened on by the same means.

Moulds are at the present day used in every branch of the art, from the lowest to the highest. Drain-pipes are made in a cylindrical mould, with a smaller and solid cylinder inside. The clay is pressed between the two concentric cylinders. In making earthen-ware, the clay is sometimes rolled out and spread upon a block of the desired shape. In making plates, the clay is spread over a round block, and moulded by a form pressed down from above. When plaster of Paris is used, the process is very like that described by Piccolpasso. The mould is in two parts, into each of which the clay is pressed. The two pieces are then brought together, and the seams joined. Or a plaster mould may be used, into which the paste is poured in a liquid state. The absorption of the liquid by the plaster soon gives the clay sufficient consistency to take the necessary shape. Subsequent shrinkage allows its removal from the mould. After a partial drying, the ware is dressed or “shaved.” The process is a very delicate one, especially in the finer kinds of ware, in which a finely polished surface is necessary. The piece is placed on a lathe, and cut to the necessary thickness, and receives its ornamental lines, or has the mouldings applied. The handles are then attached, and, after drying, the piece is ready for the kiln.

The moulding of porcelain requires very great care, on account of the fragility of many of the pieces. In Japan, clay moulds were exclusively used until within the past three years. After being thrown or moulded, and slightly dried, the pieces are shaped by means of{70} sharp metal instruments in the same lathe on which the throwing is done. A coat of pure white clay is then laid on for the purpose of enhancing the beauty and heightening the effect of the color. This having been done, the piece is ready for the preliminary firing. When large pieces are made, the European method is to pour the necessary thickness of slip over the inside of the mould, against the side of which it is kept by means of forcing air into the interior, after covering the surface, or exhausting the air through the mould. When sufficiently dry to support its own weight, the piece is fired.

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Fig. 23.—A Potter in Palestine.
Fig. 23.—A Potter in Palestine.

The other method of forming the wares is technically called “throwing” upon the potter’s wheel, and is suitable for all circular{71} vessels, or those with modifications of the circular shape. The process is very simple. A piece of clay, large or small, as required, is thrown down on the revolving disk, and, as it whirls round, is formed by the potter’s hand into the requisite shape. The potter’s wheel is one of the oldest mechanical appliances in existence. Its invention was due to the desire of remedying the irregularities of handiwork, and as such was a valuable and in every way wonderful achievement. It brought symmetry and all the varieties of circular form within the potter’s reach. Its inventor is unknown. The prehistoric vases of Greece were made upon the wheel. It was used in Egypt at least four thousand years ago. In Assyria, and among the Jews, its use is attested by the frequent reference made to it in Scripture.

It is curious to find a modern traveller, Dr. W. M. Thomson, speaking thus in “The Land and the Book” of the potter of Palestine. “I have been out on the shore again examining a native manufactory of pottery, and was delighted to find the whole Biblical apparatus complete, and in full operation. There was the potter sitting at his ‘frame,’ and turning the ‘wheel’ with his foot (Fig. 23). He had a heap of prepared clay near him, and a pan of water by his side. Taking a lump in his hand, he placed it on the top of the wheel (which revolves horizontally) and smoothed it into a low cone, like the upper end of a sugar-loaf; then, thrusting his thumb into the top of it, he opened a hole down through the centre, and this he constantly widened by pressing the edges of the revolving cone between his hands. As it enlarged and became thinner, he gave it whatever shape he pleased with the utmost ease and expedition.”

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Fig. 24.—An Egyptian Pottery. (From a Tomb.) a, e, i, p, the wheels on which the clay was put. (Fig. 1 forms the inside and lip of the cup as it turns on the wheel a. b, c, d are cups already made. (Fig. 2 forms the outside of the cup, indenting it with the hand at the base, preparatory to its being taken off. (Fig. 3 has just taken off the cup from the clay, l. (Fig. 4 puts on a fresh piece of clay. (Fig. 5 forms a round slab of clay with his two hands. (Fig. 6 stirs and prepares the oven, q. At s is the fire, which rises through the long, narrow tube or chimney of the oven, upon the top of which the cups are placed to bake, as in v. (Fig. 7 hands the cup to the baker, 8. Fig. 9 carries away the baked cups from the oven.
Fig. 24.—An Egyptian Pottery. (From a Tomb.) a, e, i, p, the wheels on which the clay was put. (Fig. 1 forms the inside and lip of the cup as it turns on the wheel a. b, c, d are cups already made. (Fig. 2 forms the outside of the cup, indenting it with the hand at the base, preparatory to its being taken off. (Fig. 3 has just taken off the cup from the clay, l. (Fig. 4 puts on a fresh piece of clay. (Fig. 5 forms a round slab of clay with his two hands. (Fig. 6 stirs and prepares the oven, q. At s is the fire, which rises through the long, narrow tube or chimney of the oven, upon the top of which the cups are placed to bake, as in v. (Fig. 7 hands the cup to the baker, 8. Fig. 9 carries away the baked cups from the oven.

The entire process of making clay vessels in Egypt has been preserved in a scene depicted in a tomb (Fig. 24). The clay was first trampled underfoot to give it evenness of consistency and make it more perfectly plastic. It was then prepared for working by being rolled out, and was then put on the wheel. The latter was either round or polygonal and flat. It was placed upon a stand, and was turned with one hand, while with the other the potter shaped the clay, and, as he worked, sat either upon a low stool or upon the ground. Both the hollowing and external shaping were done by hand. The furnaces were hollow cylinders, about six and a half feet high, in which the wares to be baked were placed about half-way up. An{72} aperture at the bottom admitted draught sufficient to drive the flames out of the top of the furnace. Among the Greeks the wheel was also employed at a very early period, so early that its inventor or introducer is forgotten. One of the Grecian legends ascribes the honor to{73} Dædalus, an Athenian of royal descent, and inventor of the wedge, axe, and other mechanical contrivances. Another legend ascribes it to Talos, the nephew of Dædalus, whose murder compelled the latter to seek safety in flight. To whatever individual or city the credit may be due, the wheel was used by Grecian potters from time immemorial. They turned it with the foot—as did the Egyptians also at one period—and it appears that the turning was sometimes left to an assistant. The process was almost identical with that described above. The clay was placed upon the wheel and shaped by the hand, and when the vessel was of so large a size as to make it necessary, one hand supported and shaped the clay from the inside. In this way the body of the vessel was made, and before the clay dried, the feet, handles, and other parts were fixed to it. Before the wheel was known, the vessels were hollowed out and shaped by the hand, and the larger vessels were subsequently made in the same way.

It is said that the potter’s wheel was invented in Japan, in the year 724, by a priest named Giyoki, and the event at once raised the potter’s art into very high estimation. In Arita, the wheel consists of a fly-wheel and revolving disk, the latter placed about a foot above the former, and connected with it by a hollow wooden prismatic axle. In the centre of the working disk, and between the three sides of the prism, a hollow piece of porcelain is inserted. The whole is then placed upon a pointed stick fixed firmly in the ground, in such a way that the entire weight is supported upon the point of the upright wood. As that point comes in contact with the inserted porcelain, friction is reduced to a minimum. Vessels of any size can be thrown in this way—from the huge basin three feet in diameter to the smallest work which the potter’s hand has shaped. A driving cord is employed for turning the wheel when very large pieces are being made.

The Italians of the sixteenth century used the wheel in the same way, fashioning the clay with the hands and certain tools of wood and iron (Fig. 25).

It would thus appear that the potter’s wheel improved in due course of time. At first it was merely a horizontal revolving disk turned by hand; then it consisted of a three-feet shaft with the disk on the top, and a driving-wheel below to be turned by the potter’s foot; later still, it was turned by means of a foot-board, like that of{74} a turning-lathe or printing-press; afterward the driving-wheel was separated from the disk which it turned by means of a connecting rope or band, and was worked by an assistant; more recently, steam has been brought in to the saving of labor, and in many large factories is the chief power used.

It is almost unnecessary to add that when throwing was resorted to in place of moulding, the subsequent operations of shaving, polishing, and attaching the handles and ornaments were performed in the same manner as that described above.

We now reach the third process, that of baking or firing. Sun-dried bricks have been found in nearly every part of the world. They were introduced into Spain by the Arabs, and in the New World have been found from Mexico to Peru. In Egypt they represent the earliest works of the potter; and from that country, Assyria, and Babylonia, relics of the rudest stage of the art of working in clay have reached our own time. The climate of Egypt was such that unbaked bricks were sufficiently lasting for architectural purposes, and walls, tombs, and entire pyramids were constructed of them. The use of sun-dried clay was restricted in Assyria to bricks and small figures of an apparently religious character. In Babylon, as in Assyria, similar bricks were used as foundations for buildings. Among the Greeks sun-dried clay was widely employed. Many of their temples and the walls of some of their fortified cities were constructed of bricks dried in the sun. Even statues and models were made of unbaked clay.

The kind of furnace in use among the Egyptians at a very early period has already been described. No remnant of those used by the Greeks has been discovered, and all the information regarding them has been derived from representations on pottery or gems. A tolerably correct idea of the more ancient ones may be conveyed by describing them as tall baker’s ovens, into which the wares were pushed{75} and baked like loaves. There are several vases now in existence upon which furnaces of this kind are depicted. A kylix from Vulci, and now at Munich, is remarkable for the scene depicted on it. One of the epigrammata of Homer, entitled [Greek: ‘O Kaminos ‘Ο Καμινς]—“The Furnace,” has been translated by Cowper. The explanatory preface is attributed to Herodotus.

“Certain potters, while they were busied in baking their ware, seeing Homer at a small distance, and having heard much said of his wisdom, called to him, and promised him a present of their commodity—and of such other things as they could afford—if he would sing to them, when he sang as follows:

The scene on the kylix at Munich is supposed to represent Homer among the potters. The furnace is on the extreme right, and has a{76} tall chimney. The fire is seen below. In front of it is a man who has apparently been placing a vase in the oven, and behind him comes another carrying what may be a large jar on his shoulder. The next figure is that of Homer, holding a staff; behind him is a vase, and a youth carrying another vessel toward the furnace. The next group shows the operation of “throwing,” a boy turning the wheel while an old man shapes the vessel. On the left is a young man sitting and holding on his knees a vase to which he seems to be attaching the handle. The entire composition is interesting, since—assuming the old man with the crook to be Homer, and not the proprietor of the pottery—it illustrates a poem which shows how widely, even at the early age in which the poet lived, the various operations in making vases were understood. For our present purpose, however, attention is chiefly directed to the furnace.

The furnaces described by Piccolpasso as in use among the Italians were of three kinds, one for oxidizing the tin and lead, a second for baking glazed ware, and a third for majolica proper, or lustred ware. In the first the furnace was rectangular, and was divided into two parts, one of which was occupied by the fire, the other by the tray for the metals. The latter was raised to such a height that the flames could play upon the metals as they passed over them to the opening at the other side. The baking furnace was also rectangular, and was built of brick. It was divided by a perforated arch into an upper and lower compartment. In the upper division the wares were placed. It had four openings on either side and nine in the roof. Under the lower chamber was the ash-pit, and each chamber had a door at one end. At Castel-Durante the usual dimensions of a furnace were six feet in height and length, and five in width. At Venice their dimensions were sometimes double those above stated. The wares were arranged according to their quality. Seggars—circular or oval cases of infusible fire-clay, bottomed, but without covers, and perforated—were used for those of fine quality. The seggars, which may be seen piled one above another in Fig. 28 and on the lower right hand of Fig. 29, were placed as in the first of these engravings, the bottom of the one above acting as a lid to that next below; and the coarser wares were arranged in rows between the piles of seggars. The openings having been partially closed, the fire was applied{77} below, and kept up for about twelve hours, when the first firing was finished. The majolica furnace will be described hereafter.

Among the Japanese the kilns are arranged in a peculiar manner. That in which the first firing is done is a small furnace, used only previous to the painting. The oxide of cobalt, which is more extensively employed than any other, is laid upon the white clay coating, and the piece is then glazed, usually in a compound of felspath and wood-ashes. The second firing then takes place. The kilns are built in terraced rows of from four to twenty, and rise about three feet above each other, growing larger in size as they extend up the hill. The ground-plan is trapezoidal, and the walls rise vertically for a few feet, and are then rounded off into an arch. The front wall, looking toward the lower end of the row, is pierced with holes near the ground, and others are made in the back wall at about three feet above the ground, so as to open directly upon the floor of the next kiln above. The draught in this way rushes through the entire row toward the chimneys behind the largest and uppermost kiln. The fuel is thrown directly into the kiln, and not into a fireplace. It is arranged along the lower side in a narrow space divided from the rest of the kiln by fire-clay slabs set upright. The fire begins in a furnace attached to the lowest kiln. The hot air rushes through the air-holes into the next kiln, which is thus heated before its own firing begins, and so on throughout the entire range, the kilns furthest up the line having thus to stand the highest temperature. Each one has the benefit of the heat of all the lower ones. The Japanese do not make any extensive use of seggars. To keep the pieces free from dust or falling particles of the vault, the inside of each kiln is glazed before the firing begins. The pieces are placed one above another upon fire-clay stands. The small kilns for the preliminary firing are in the potter’s yard, but the kilns above described belong to the community, and are rented to the manufacturers.{78}

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Fig. 28.—Porcelain Kiln.
Fig. 28.—Porcelain Kiln.

The kilns in use in America and Europe vary very much in shape. M. Brongniart gives representations of three—that for common pottery (Fig. 26), that for hard pottery (Fig. 27), and that for porcelain (Fig. 28). Those used in England often take the shape of a low, vaulted chamber, with the fire at one end, the chimney at the other, and the firing chamber between. In the United States, the usual shape for both earthen-ware and stone-ware is conical, not unlike a ball-cartridge. The common pottery kiln is divided, by means of baked plates, into cells, in which the wares are placed. The length of time during which they are kept in the furnace varies according to the nature of the ware. It may be twenty-four hours or, as in the case of fine stone-ware, several days. For some wares, seggars are used in place of the open cells; and the arrangement of{79} the seggars may be seen in the porcelain kiln. When, in the case of non-vitrifying earthen-ware, a combination of firing and glazing in one operation is not practicable, the ware is kept at a white-heat for about thirty-six hours; and on the kiln cooling, the pieces then known as “biscuit” are removed for glazing. This operation consists of dipping it into the glaze, composed as previously mentioned, ground to a powder, and mixed with water until of the right consistency. The second firing melts the glaze, and covers the surface with a thin, transparent coating. The Italian potters gradually increased the heat for four hours, and allowed the ware to remain at a white-heat for twelve hours, and then to cool. Porcelain is fired according to its composition. For English porcelain, the first firing lasts about fifty hours; the second firing, after the glaze is applied, lasts about twenty hours or less, at a lower temperature. Soft-paste or artificial French porcelain takes from eighty to a hundred hours for the first, and thirty for the second, firing. The greatest caution is demanded in placing the pieces in the seggars and in regulating the heat. The chief peculiarity about the making of porcelain is that the glaze fluxes with the paste, and forms, with it, a translucent whole.

Mr. Isaac Broome, of Trenton, has invented a new kiln, of which an engraving is here given (Fig. 29). An equal distribution and perfect regulation of the heat are the features which commend it to attention.

Very little more need be said here about the preparation and application{80} of the glaze, and that little can be included in what requires to be added about the laying on of the colors. The Italians worked in the following manner: The biscuit having been dipped in the enamel bath, was allowed to dry, and was then painted and again dried. The piece was then dipped in the transparent glaze, and, having been for a third time dried, was ready for the final firing. Piccolpasso gives much minute instruction regarding the preparation of the colors and manner of painting, which must here be omitted. What he says about painting majolica, or lustred ware, is, however, interesting. The parts to receive the metallic-lustre pigment were sketched in outline, and left white when the other colors were applied. After the piece was fired the lustre pigments were laid on, and the piece was again placed in the kiln. For this purpose a special kiln was necessary. It was built with a square fire chamber intersected by two arches, on which was placed a circular chamber large enough to touch the four sides of the square kiln, but necessarily leaving the four corners uncovered. This chamber was perforated in all directions, in order to admit the flames to direct contact with the wares. Dry willow branches were used for the first three hours, and then dry broom was thrown on the fire, which was kept up for another hour. The kiln having cooled, the pieces were removed, soaked in soap-and-water, washed, rubbed dry with flannel, and then polished with wood-ash and flannel. The object of the process is obvious. The flames being allowed to play directly upon the wares, the carbon in the smoke decomposed the salts contained in the metallic oxide, and the metal was left glittering and iridescent upon the surface.

The Japanese porcelain painted under the glaze with the oxide of cobalt has been already described. Other qualities are painted over the glaze with colored enamels made from glass (or silica, litharge, and nitre) and white-lead. The coloring oxides are gold for carmine, copper, antimony, manganese, red oxide of iron, and oxide of cobalt. These are mixed and applied directly by the painter without any previous preparation, so that the colors do not show themselves until brought out by the fire. The method of decoration is peculiar. The design is first sketched in black lines, with strokes for the shades. When the enamel colors are opaque, they are laid on thinly; when translucent or resembling colored glass, so that the design appears{81} under, they are laid on more thickly. Occasionally a white opaque enamel—but containing no admixture of tin—is first applied, and the colors are laid upon it.

Stone-ware is very seldom glazed by a “dip.” The usual method is to combine the firing and glazing. When the ware has been exposed to the maximum heat for the necessary time, salt is thrown into the kiln. The heat vaporizes the salt, and of its constituent parts one, the chlorine, escapes; while the other, the soda, is, on coming in contact with the silex in the red-hot ware, formed into a silicate of soda, a perfectly transparent and intensely hard glaze.

In regard to the colors, the only ones now known which will bear the first firing—couleurs de grand feu—and are therefore put on before glazing, are blue from cobalt, browns from iron, manganese, and chromate of iron, green from chrome, and yellows from titanium and uranium. Between these and the more delicate couleurs de moufle, or enamel colors, are violets, reds, and browns from manganese, copper, and iron, which are designated as couleurs au demi grand feu. Beyond these, the colors used in decorating hard or natural porcelain are laid on the glaze, to which they adhere without incorporating themselves.

The great difficulties attending the manufacture of porcelain may now be estimated. The piece must pass through the kiln as many times as there are colors requiring different temperatures. Too much heat will blot out the delicate colors, too little will leave them dull. Those on artificial or soft porcelain sink into the glaze, and thus present a softness and creamy delicacy never seen on any other kind of ware.

The results are generally a sufficient reward for the difficulty of the process. This is altogether exceptional in the case of pate tendre. As its alkaline ingredients volatilize at a certain heat, the fire must be stopped before that temperature is reached. The glaze, also alkaline, is then applied in the form of dust, and not, as with hard porcelain, in the form of a dip. The second firing melts the glaze. If the heat be too strong, the alkalies will fly off; if too weak, the surface will be uneven. For a third time the same danger is incurred, when the firing for fixing the colors takes place.{82}

BOOK II.—THE ORIENT.

CHAPTER I.

EGYPT.

In beginning with Egypt, the most ancient relics of primitive art pass first in review. To that wonderful country, long hidden under a thick cloud of mystery, we must, in fact, first turn, no matter what may be the subject demanding investigation. It had reached antiquity before the oldest countries of the West were born. In the ceramic art, it appears as the centre from which radiated the two great branches, many centuries afterward converging in Southern Europe. On the one hand is the silicious-glazed pottery, which, after moving eastward, reached Europe in a slightly altered form; on the other{83} is the glazed and unglazed terra-cotta, which the Greeks took up and carried forward to a new and higher perfection. Egypt thus appears as the fountain-head of ancient art. The progress it made toward comparative perfection will be hereafter referred to. Meantime it may be pointed out, that, while fortunate in one respect, Egypt was unfortunate in another. The banks of the Nile gave a never-failing supply of pure and plastic clay, admirably suited to all the purposes of the potter. When the periodical inundations took place, they left a deposit of exceptionally pure silt extending from the banks of the river to the furthest margin of the flood. The material was thus ready to the potter’s hand. The counter disadvantage was the absence of the materials required for the finest ware, or their presence in such form as scarcely to suggest their combination. The Egyptians appear to have carried their ceramic art to a full development at a very remote stage of their history, or, in other words, they soon arrived at the point beyond which they never passed. The limitation laid upon them was that of material. The result of this is shown by the other directions in which their art branched off. It seemed impossible to accomplish anything in clay to vie with the precious metals and stones. For purposes of ornament, therefore, clay was discarded. It was worked by slaves (Fig. 30), and fashioned into domestic vessels and bricks; and when the nearest approach to porcelain was made, then only do we meet with ornamental works, or those of a more strictly artistic character.

Their religion also appears to have deadened their ambition to reach a higher excellence. There were two periods in their art history. In studying the works belonging to the first, the observer will frequently be impressed by the desire evinced to follow the forms offered by nature for imitation. Such is the most striking characteristic of what may be called the first school. It aimed at the reproduction of natural forms in the most literal manner. Afterward, when the emblematic school took its rise, the forms were still those of nature, with a religious or spiritual significance superadded. The idea is evidently fatal to art, that it can climb to nothing higher than the figure symbolical of a god. In their efforts toward the production of what was graceful and beautiful, the Egyptians are not, however, to be despised. Before foreign influences made themselves felt, the{84} Egyptian forms were simple, and frequently displayed ideas of beauty which, if ruder than those of the Greeks, are independent. The Egyptians were necessarily original. They had no predecessors whose works they could copy; and in appealing to nature for models, they took the only course open to them. From their originality the Greeks borrowed and improved upon their models, and it is in this view of{85} its being a starting-point for subsequent art that Egyptian pottery demands careful study.

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Fig. 30.—Foreign Captives making Bricks in Egypt. 1, Man returning from carrying load; 2, 7, and 10 carry the clay, after it has been dug by 9, 11, 12, and 13, and throw it down at 7 and j, for the brickmakers, 8 and 16; 4 and 5 carry them away to the drying-place or furnace; 3 and 6 are taskmasters; 14 and 15 are carrying water from the tank, h. At c and a are inscriptions to the effect that the bricks were so made for the Temple of Amun-Ra, at Thebes.
Fig. 30.—Foreign Captives making Bricks in Egypt. 1, Man returning from carrying load; 2, 7, and 10 carry the clay, after it has been dug by 9, 11, 12, and 13, and throw it down at 7 and j, for the brickmakers, 8 and 16; 4 and 5 carry them away to the drying-place or furnace; 3 and 6 are taskmasters; 14 and 15 are carrying water from the tank, h. At c and a are inscriptions to the effect that the bricks were so made for the Temple of Amun-Ra, at Thebes.

It is indispensable, in order to understand the highest forms of the art in Egypt, that something should be known of its religion. In that strange land we find an answer—possibly the first—to the question,

According to Bunsen, “the mythological system proceeded from ‘the concealed god,’ Ammon, to the creating god. The latter appears first of all as the generative power of nature in the Phallic god Khem, who is afterward merged into Ammon-ra. Then sprung up the idea of a creative power in Kneph. He forms the limbs of Osiris (the primitive soul) in contradistinction to Ptah, who, as the strictly demiurgic principle, forms the visible world. Neith is the creative principle as nature represented under a female form. Finally her son, Ra Helios, appears as the last of the series in the character of father and nourisher of terrestrial things. It is he whom an ancient monument represents as the demiurgic principle creating the mundane egg.” At the head of this Pantheon stands Ammon, the concealed and invisible. The other figures are personifications of his attributes, and appear as separate and individual gods. In order to make the theogony intelligible to the people, these gods are represented by symbols. There is thus a regular gradation from the symbol to the divine attribute, and thence to the Unknown Greatest. It is the sublimity of paganism, presenting us with one god carrying on the infinite works of the universe by means of his various attributes. The symbols were chosen from nature, and are generally expressive, if not always dignified. Firstly, as to the symbols proper, the lotus and scarabæus may be mentioned as of most frequent occurrence. The former, the sacred flower, is often met with in connection with the figures of the divinities, and symbolizes the beneficence of nature’s revivifying powers, water and heat. The scarabæus (Fig. 31) is the symbol of creation, and when represented with out-spread wings, of immortality. It may appear singular that a loathsome insect should thus have been honored, but the explanation is simple. It is to be found in the habits of the insect itself. Placing its egg in a ball, it{86} buried the latter in the sand, where it was hatched by the rays of the sun, and the ball opening with the breaking of the egg, the young insect appeared. It was to the Egyptian a perfect symbol of creation, and hence of the creative god Phtha. When found with outstretched wings, it is an ornament of the dead, and symbolizes the apparent circuit of the sun setting at night to rise in the morning. Thus the sun of life sets in death to reappear in immortality, as the scarabæus, under the influence of its divine warmth, breaks from its egg into insect life. The sun was the symbol of Ra, the sun-god, “the father and nourisher of terrestrial things.” In representing the gods, the figures selected were to a great extent arbitrary. The Egyptians honored themselves by discovering that in the humblest form of nature there was something worthy of honor. They accordingly took the plants and animals of their land and wove them into their religion, by adopting a system of natural symbols too intricate to be here given in detail. The following may, however, be found useful: