In the Regulini-Galassi tomb the pottery takes the form of large caldrons of red glazed ware, which mark a transitional stage between the impasto and bucchero. They are characterised by the large Gryphons’ heads projecting in relief round the sides, to which are attached chains. Sometimes they are supported on high open-work stands. In 1892 the British Museum acquired a series of these and similar vases (Plate [LVI].), including some plain specimens of bucchero ware from early tombs at Civita Castellana (Falerii: see Vol. I. p. [75]).
Bucchero ware.—This may be called the national pottery of Etruria. Its technique is not at present perfectly known, and analysis does not show certainly whether the black paste is natural or artificial. Modern experiments have been made which seem to indicate that this result may be obtained by fumigating or smoking the clay in a closed chamber after the baking, which process blackens the clay throughout.[[2297]] But M. Pottier[[2298]] thinks that the black surface was obtained not by fumigation of the vase, but by applying a slip of pounded charcoal already smoked, which at a moderate temperature would permeate the clay. The surface was then covered with wax and resin, and polished, like the Polledrara hydria. A combination of analyses of the paste made by Brongniart[[2299]] gives the following result:
| Silica | 60-70 | parts. |
| Clay earth | 12-16 | ” |
| Carbonate of lime | 2-4 | ” |
| Magnesia | 1-2 | ” |
| Water | 8-10 | ” |
| Carbon | 1 -3 | ” |
The oldest bucchero vases go back to the tombs a fossa of the end of the seventh century. They are small and hand-made, ornamented, if at all, with geometric patterns, incised. The engraving was done by a sort of toothed wheel or a sharp tool; more rarely, hollowed out in grooves. Obviously the process is an imitation of metal engraving. Oriental influence soon appears, first of all in the chalice-shaped cups found at Cervetri, the surface of which is covered with figures of lions, deer, etc., in Oriental style. Both form and decoration are derived from metallic prototypes. The projecting Gryphons’ heads mentioned above are also typical of this class.
In tombs of 560-500 B.C., along with Corinthian vases, a different type occurs, the vases being wheel-made, of light and elegant forms—cups, chalices, pyxides, amphorae, and jugs.[[2300]] The ornament is in the form of reliefs, either stamped from a cylinder on a narrow band, as in the red ware from Caere (see p. [292]), or composed of a series of medallions separately modelled or made from moulds and stuck on. This, again, is an imitation of metal. Examples of these types are given in Plate LVII. figs. 1-3, 5.
The subjects are not very varied. They range from animals such as stags and lions, or monsters such as Sphinxes and Centaurs, to winged deities, suppliants with offerings before deities, and other mythological figures—Chimaera, the Asiatic Artemis, or the Minotaur. Egyptian masks are also common. Episodes of hunts or banquets occur,[[2301]] and also groups of figures in meaningless juxtaposition. Some vases have only curvilinear patterns, such as palmettes, all of a vegetable rather than a geometrical type. In this group the general tendency is rather Hellenic than Oriental, especially towards Ionian art.[[2302]] This is only a temporary phase, and is practically confined to Cervetri, Veii, and Corneto—i.e. the maritime region in which the Corinthian vases are found.
PLATE LVII
