FIG. 136. LOCK-PLATE
FIG. 137. KEY LATER TYPE
Only the balance seems to have been known to the Greeks, but the Romans made use of the steelyard also. The example shown in Case 1 does not differ from those of modern times. The hooks and chains at the end of the rod were used for suspending the articles to be weighed. Three other hooks, of which two are preserved on movable rings, were for hanging the steelyard. Each is attached to a different side. When the steelyard was hung by the hook nearest to the graduated bar, articles up to twelve pounds could be weighed by sliding the weights along the bar. The second side of the bar weighs articles of from five pounds to twenty-two; the third, articles of from twenty to fifty-eight pounds. The large weight is made of lead covered with bronze, and weighs two pounds, while the small weight is entirely of bronze and weighs one ounce (see [head-band, p. 109].)
FIG. 138. WAR-VESSELS. VASE PAINTING
FIG. 139. TERRACOTTA BOAT
There are a number of objects illustrating various industrial processes in the collection. A fragment of a pottery cup of the red-figured technique shows the stage at which the figure is outlined with a broad band of black paint, in order to make a red silhouette, but the background has not yet been filled in with black ([fig. 141]). Several moulds for making terracotta reliefs are shown with modern impressions made from them; they represent the lower part of a young man’s figure (Case A in the Fifth Room, [fig. 142]), a grotesque of a man, a Medusa head, and a number of symbols, perhaps for stamping sacred cakes. Another mould, unfortunately fragmentary, is a chimaera or a goat, a fine and spirited figure (Case B in the Seventh Room). In Cases C and G2 in the Eighth Room are examples of Arretine ware, the most beautiful pottery of ancient Italy. There are also ancient moulds with modern bowls made from them. Several of the moulds are signed by the makers and by the owner of the workshop. A small stone mould for casting gold ornaments of the Late Minoan period is in Case B in the First Room. It has two dies representing animals, one a bull and the other probably an ibex. The gold-beater’s block in Case 5 was used for making small ornaments when many of the same kind were needed. A thin sheet of metal was laid on the die, covered with wax or lead, and then beaten into the die with a hammer. There are twenty-two dies on this block belonging in style to the Roman period. Some gold ornaments used for borders among the Roman jewelry in the Gold Room were probably made in this way, but such mechanical devices do not seem to have been employed in making Greek jewelry of the best period ([fig. 140]).
