We next review the types of tombs in Italy from which vases have been obtained. Those at Vulci, and in the Etruscan territory generally, from which the finest and largest vases have been extracted, are chambers hewn in the rocks. The early tombs of Civita Vecchia and Cervetri are tunnelled in the earth; in Southern Italy, especially in Campania, they are large chambers, about two feet under the surface. In D'Hancarville’s work (see p. [17]) an illustration is given[[60]] of a tomb in Southern Italy, which is constructed of large blocks of stone, arranged in squared masses, called the Etruscan style of masonry, in contradistinction to the Cyclopean. The walls are painted with subjects, the body is laid upon the stone floor, and the larger vases, such as the kraters, are placed round it. The jugs are hung upon nails round the walls. Fig. [4]. gives an example of a tomb of this kind from Veii. A full account, with illustrations, of the tombs excavated in the Certosa at Bologna about thirty years ago, has been given by Signor Zannoni.[[61]] The tombs of Southern and Central Italy were made upon the same plan, and the same description applies to both sites.[[62]]
The most ordinary tombs were constructed of rude stones or tiles, of a dimension sufficient to contain the body and five or six vases; a small one near the head and others between the legs, and on each side, more often on the right than on the left side. An oinochoe and phiale were usually found in every tomb; but the number, size, and quality of the vases varied, probably according to the rank or wealth of the person for whom the tomb was made. The better sort of tombs were of larger size, and constructed with large hewn stones, generally without, but sometimes completed with, cement; the walls were stuccoed, and sometimes ornamented with painted patterns.
In these tombs, which were like small chambers, the body lay face upwards on the floor, with the vases placed round it; sometimes vases have been found hanging upon nails of iron or bronze, attached to the side walls. The vases in the larger tombs were always more numerous, of a larger size, and of a superior quality in every respect to those of the ordinary tombs, which had little to recommend them except their form.
Many of the larger and more important Etruscan tombs have also been described and illustrated by Dennis in his work on Etruria, especially those of Vulci and Corneto, which are famous both for their contents and for the paintings which adorn their walls.[[63]] In the basement of the British Museum may be seen large models of Etruscan tombs in which the arrangement is carefully reproduced.
The vases, as we have already mentioned, are often ranged round the dead, being hung upon or placed near the walls, or piled up in the corners. Some hold the ashes of the deceased; others, small objects used during life. They are seldom perfect, having generally either been crushed into fragments by the weight of the superincumbent earth, or else broken into sherds, and thrown into corners. Some exhibit marks of burning, probably from having accompanied the deceased to the funeral pyre. Sometimes they are dug up in a complete state of preservation, and still full of the ashes of the dead.[[64]] These are sometimes found inside a large and coarser vase of unglazed clay, which forms a case to protect them from the earth.
FIG. 4. THE CAMPANA TOMB AT VEII, AS IT APPEARED WHEN OPENED.
Almost all the vases in the museums of Europe have been mended, and the most skilful workmen at Naples and Rome were employed to restore them to their pristine perfection. Their defective parts were scraped, filed, rejoined, and supplied with pieces from other vases, or else completed in plaster of Paris, over which coating the restored portions were painted in appropriate colours, and varnished, so as to deceive the inexperienced eye. But either through carelessness, or else owing to the difference of process, the restorations had one glaring technical defect: the inner lines are not of the glossy hue of the genuine vases, and there is no indication of the thick raised line which follows the original outline in the old paintings. Sometimes the restorer pared away the ancient incrustation, and cut down to the dull-coloured paste of the body of the vase. Sometimes he even went so far as to paint figures in a light red or orange oil paint on the black ground, or in black paint of the same kind on orange ground. But in all these frauds the dull tone of colour, the inferior style of art, and the wide difference between modern and ancient drawing and treatment of subjects, disclose the deception. The calcareous incrustation deposited on the vases by the infiltration into the tombs of water, containing lime in solution, can be removed by soaking the vases in a solution of hydrochloric acid.[[65]]
In other cases vases with subjects have been counterfeited by taking an ancient vase covered entirely with black glaze, tracing upon it the subject and inscription intended to be fabricated, and cutting away all the black portions surrounding these tracings, so as to expose the natural colour of the clay for the fictitious ground. When red figures were intended to be counterfeited, the contrary course was adopted, the part for the figures only being scraped away, and the rest left untouched. Vases, indeed, in which the ground or figures are below the surface should always be regarded with suspicion, and their genuineness can only be determined by the general composition and style of the figures, and by the peculiarities of the inscriptions. The latter also are often fictitious, being painted in with colours imitating the true ones, and often incised; indeed, nearly all inscriptions incised after the vase has been baked are liable to give rise to suspicion. The difference of style in the composition of groups, and especially small points in the drawing, such as the over-careful drawing of details, the indication of nails, and various other minute particulars, are also criteria for detecting false or imitated vases. Water, alcohol, and acids will remove false inscriptions, but leave the true ones intact.