Fig. 83.—Cinerary urn, Carballybeg, Co. Waterford.
These bowls have a very pleasing effect; and, as Dr. Abercromby says: “The small native women, sometimes under five feet high, who made these little vessels, had certainly a fine sense of form and a delicate perception of the beauty of curved forms. The care and precision with which the ornament was effected, and the richness of the effect produced by simple means, may excite our admiration.”[51]
Plate XI.
Food-vessels in the order of their development.
p. [96].
Fig. 84.—Model of cinerary urn, showing its position in cist over burnt bones and small vessel, Greenhills, Co. Dublin.
In the next stage a slight indentation about the centre of the vessel can be noticed, the ornament being arranged on either side above and below this; next two small ridges develop out of this, which are at first close together, but are afterwards placed further apart, and in the later stages the vessel becomes considerably higher, the base assuming the form of a cone, and the upper portion having an everted lip. Some of these latter vessels have a number of small ribs encircling them. [Plate XI] shows a series of food-vessels placed in the order of their evolution. The decoration can be well seen. It consists for the most part of chevron, herring-bone, and other linear ornament, but wavy lines can be seen in some examples. In some rare cases the food-vessels were provided with lids (fig. [82]). All of these vessels were made by hand; and though the baking of the pottery varies, it was evidently done over a fire.