Fig. 90.
a lady fully dressed, perhaps a bride, attended by two lady’s-maids, one of whom holds an open jewel casket before her, in order that she may choose something more out of it, in spite of the fact that she is so carefully veiled that all ornament seems superfluous. Besides these toilet scenes, Fig. [91] represents a vase picture giving other scenes from the life of women, which, however, have not yet been clearly interpreted. The woman represented here is seated on a chair, her right leg is uncovered, and the foot is placed on a curious rest; in her hand she holds a bandage, as though she intended to fasten it round her foot. Another woman stands and looks on; a spinning-basket and a stool are also included in the picture. It is impossible to say whether this should also be regarded as a toilet scene.
Fig. 91.
Greek women made use of many cosmetics for their toilet. They not only anointed their bodies with fragrant essences and their hair with sweet-scented oils and pomades, but the practice of rougeing was also a very common one. The Spartan women, whose healthy complexions were celebrated, probably made little use of it; but the ancient writers supply sufficient testimony to its commonness at Athens. This practice probably originated in the East, and its great popularity among the women of the Ionic-Attic race is probably due to the fact that want of fresh air and exercise gave them a pale, sickly complexion, and they therefore considered it necessary to improve it artificially, though it were only to please their own husbands. They supplied the tender colouring of forehead and chin with white lead, the redness of their cheeks with cinnabar, fucus, and bugloss, or other (usually vegetable) dyes; there was a special flesh tint used for painting below the eyes. The eyebrows were dyed with black paint, which was made of pine blacking or pulverised antimony, and dyeing the hair was quite common as early as the fifth century B.C., and by no means unusual even among men. The rouge was put on either with the finger or a little brush. In vain the poets, especially the comic writers, aimed the sharpest arrows of their wit at this evil practice; in vain they described in drastic colours how, in the heat of summer, two little black streams poured down from the eyes over the face, while the red colour from the cheeks ran down to the neck; and the hair falling over the forehead was dyed green by the white lead. The best cure would doubtless have been found, if every man had been as sensible as the young husband described in Xenophon’s story alluded to above (p. 130), who cured his wife of rougeing by representing to her the absurdity of this practice, showing her how impossible it was for a woman to deceive her own husband in this way, since the truth might come to light at any moment. He also advised his wife not to spend the whole day in her room, but to move about the house, superintend the servants’ work, help the housekeeper, and herself lend a hand in kneading the dough, and other such occupations, while supplying exercise for herself by shaking out and folding up the clothes. Then she would have a better appetite for her meals, be in better health, and naturally have a better complexion. But such sensible husbands were rare, and probably all the women were not so obedient as the wife of Ischomachus.
We do not intend to penetrate any further into the toilet mysteries of Greek ladies, but, instead, will give our readers a representation of a vase picture equally remarkable for fineness of drawing and variety in the scenes represented. (Fig. 92.) It is the decoration of a lid of some terra-cotta jar or box, and was probably used for cosmetic purposes. Here we see a large number of girls, most of whom are occupied with their toilet. In spite of the modesty of their dress and behaviour, it does not seem probable that we are here obtaining an insight into a family dwelling; the numerous little Cupids represented, and also the presence of a young man, lead us to suppose that we see hetaerae before us. The young man is leaning against the seat of a richly-clad lady, who appears somewhat more matronly than the others; she holds an open jewel casket in her hand, from which she is about to take some object. The young man is leaning on a stick, at the end of which a Cupid is climbing up in play. If we follow the view of L. Stephani, in regarding this woman as the superintendent of the girls, he is probably right in his further interpretation, that the youth has given the casket to this lady in order to win her favour and access to the girls. To the left of this group we find a girl holding a hand mirror before her, apparently about to arrange her hair, as she is holding one hand up, but this might also be interpreted as a gesture of pleased surprise at her
Fig. 92.