Greek vases

lack-figured and red-fi|jured vases are récent importations from Europe, a
notable exception being the large Attic crater, n° 82 878, which also cornes
from the Memphite necropolis.
The later pottery ealalogued hère, later that is to say ihan the fourth century
B.C., bas for the most part been made in Egypt. The cinerarv urns, pis. XIV- XX,
which though acfjuired by purchase were found at Hadra during the excavations
of Pugiolini, belong to a well-known Alexandrian fabric of purely Greek style.
More novel and in some ways more interesling are certain groups of small vases
\vith ornamentation in relief. As thèse bave been but little studied hitherto, a
brief review of them mav be useful'^'.
One group, of which a number of spécimens are reproduced on pis. XXI.
XXII, is particularly attractive. Some of thèse vases are made of fine, light-
coloured clay, e. g. n" 96282 ; olhers are of coarser ware, e. g. n" 26288 , which
nevertheless is ornamented with the same row of figures as n" 26282. But on
almost ail of them we find the remains of a coat of yellow; and a few of them
bear slight traces of gilding, for which the yellow ground was probably a pré-
paration. They are in fact realistic imitations of chased gold*"-* and may be re-
garded as genuine samples of Graeco-Egyptian toreutic, though perhaps not
of a very high class. Apart from the signsof gilding n° 82882 is evidently copied
from a métal model, for there exist some silver vases of the same type "from
Mendes and Toukh el Qarmous, and the oval protubérances round the body
are a more natural feature in beaten métal than in earthenware'"''. N° 268/1^,
which bas also been gilded or at least painted yellow, is another example of a
common metal-type copied in clay''*'. But as regards most of the vases under
discussion, the métal originals from which they are derived bave perished; the
cheap imitations in earthenware alone survive.
A few vases of the same class bave been already published by Mr. Wallis'^^,
who bas correctly noted their dérivation from métal types, describing them
(more definitely than I venture to do) as «moulded from silver originals r.
Two of those which he publishes were found at Memphis, and of the Cairo
''' Cf. my catalogue of Greek Bronzes, p. XI and Musée égypiien , vol. II, p. 60. See also the
remarks of Sclireiber in the Comptes rendus du Congrl's d'Archéologie au Caire, p. i36.
('-' For the practice of gilding and silvering earthenware vases in antiquity see the références
collected by S. Reinach in the Mon. et Mém. Piot, vol. X, p. i2.
'^' They also occur in fayence, see Wallis, Mac Gregor Collection, p. 5a, fig. 110.
'*' E. g. Gargiulio, Musée national, pi. 83.
'*' Mac Gregor Collection, pp. 71 , 72.