Fig. 53.—Etruscan Vase.
But with his faults Socrates had the great virtues of serenity and patience, always indispensable in the married man, at least.
If the vases had only preserved for us the portraits of Xantippe and Socrates, or even of the room they lived in, how much would we thank them! As to the pictures upon the vases, the best of them seem to be copied or adapted by the vase-painters from pictures of the best artists of Greece, made to illustrate the worship or the doings of the gods, the great deeds of the heroes, the feats at games, the triumphs at the feasts, etc., etc. Many of these are but carelessly, even poorly, put upon the vases; the best are those we must look for to admire, to enjoy, and to emulate.
The tub of Diogenes, there is reason to believe, was a great earthen vase or pot—the Pithos. These were built up of clay by the Greeks by hand around a frame, and were afterward baked. As they sometimes reached the dimensions of over three feet in diameter and six or seven feet in height, it is plain that they could not be turned upon the potter’s wheel. It is easy, too, to understand what an excellent shelter such a pot would make for such a cynical philosopher as Diogenes, who needed a very cheap rent. But if a wicked boy should throw a cruel stone some fine evening, striking the pot in a weak spot, the rent might end in a convulsion and ruin.
Etruscan Vases.—The “Etruscan vase” not being what we have here described and figured as the “Greek vase,” it remains to say briefly that the vases and pots made by the Etruscans before the coming of the Greek potters were quite different; ruder and less fine in form and in decoration. Indeed, it is not likely that the painted vase found in Italy, known as the Greek vase, was ever the work of the Etruscan workmen. The Etruscan pottery was thicker, less ornamental, and it indicates a different race and lower æsthetic development. In the Museum of Art at Boston is now placed a collection of Etruscan work which is said to be unique in this country as well as in England. In this are a number of vases which are ornamented with heads and figures in relief, not sharp and fine; these are wholly covered with a black color. A few which are painted are quite different and inferior to the work of the Greeks. The collection was secured in Italy by Mr. J. J. Dixwell, who has been so good as to present it to the museum. Figs. 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, are examples of some of the vases in the Museum of the Louvre, which present the general style and character of this work; they show clearly how much the real Etruscan vase differs from the true Greek vase.
CHAPTER III.
UNGLAZED POTTERY AT THE GREAT EXHIBITION OF 1876.
Unglazed Water-Colors.—Clay Sketches.—Japanese Clay Figures.—Spanish Pots.—Italian Peasant Pottery.—Egyptian.—Turkish.—Mexican.—Watcombe Terra-cotta.—Copenhagen Pottery.