sequin of Francesco Molino, Doge of Venice in 1647, marking the period at which it was made. The opaque white decoration is sometimes applied in parallel lines, sometimes in a wavy pattern, and exhibits endless variety.

The Venetians were great makers of beads, with which, for many centuries, they supplied the world. These were very often formed from sections of rods, with mosaic designs. Such sections were also sometimes worked up into vases (as by the ancient Romans), thence termed millefiori. Of these there are good examples in the collection. In France, glass making was long practised, but it is difficult to distinguish the productions of that country. A remarkable goblet (No. 824) has on it the names of Jean and Antoinette Boucault, as well as their figures and device in enamel. It was probably made about 1530.

The earliest dated specimen from Germany in the collection has the year 1571; it is a large cylindrical cup (wiederkom) with the Imperial eagle, bearing on its wings the arms of the states, towns, &c., comprising the German Empire. The German specimens are heavy in form, and often richly enamelled with heraldic devices and figures. Some specimens are painted in grisaille or colours, like window glass; such is a goblet (No. 859) dated 1662, on which is represented a procession in honour of the birth of Maximilian Emanuel, afterwards Elector of Bavaria. The engraved specimens are well executed; one of them is signed by Herman Schwinger of Nurnberg. The Ruby glass for which Germany was renowned is said to have been invented by Kunckel; one of the specimens bears the cypher of Frederick the Great, King of Prussia.

In Flanders, glass seems to have been made in early times. In the sixteenth century many glass vessels (whether of native make or not is uncertain) were etched with various designs. Some of the specimens in the collection have portraits of historical personages, such as Philip IV. King of Spain, William II. of Orange, his wife Mary of England, Olden Barnevelt, and others. At a later time a delicate etching in dots was introduced; of this there are specimens signed by F. Greenwood, and several attributed to Wolf. Some of the Dutch engraved goblets are well designed, and show much richness of pattern.

The earlier Spanish examples resemble closely the Venetian, the later ones have numerous handles, and frilled excrescenses, copied apparently from the cooling vases in terracotta, which were probably introduced into Spain by the Arabs. (Case K.)

Drinking-glasses seem to have been made in England in the sixteenth century, having been apparently then introduced by foreigners into Sussex and Surrey. Later, there were works in and near London, and the glass works of Bristol attained some reputation. To these last are attributed some specimens in the collection, which is not, however, rich in examples of English glass.

The collection of glass bequeathed by Mr. Slade consisted of about 960 specimens; but additions have been made since his death out of a fund bequeathed for the purpose, making a total of 1750 specimen. AUGUSTUS W. FRANKS.

WITT COLLECTION.

Cases 62, 63. This is a series of antiquities, illustrating the Bath of the ancients, presented by George Witt, Esq., F.R.S., to which have been added the strigils from the general collection.

It includes specimens of the tiles and flues of which the hot chambers were constructed, a fine series of strigils used for scraping the skin, ointment vases of various materials, and other appliances of the bath. Among them may be noticed a set of bath utensils, found in a Roman sarcophagus near Crefeld, Rhenish Prussia, consisting of a pair of strigils, an oil vase, a glass patera, præfericulum, &c.

ROMAN POTTERY WITH VITREOUS GLAZE.

Case 64. It was long considered that the Romans were unacquainted with the art of applying a vitreous glaze to pottery. Specimens, however, have from time to time been discovered which remove all doubt on the subject. It will be seen that they are not numerous, and that the glaze was more often applied to fine and ornamental wares than to coarse pottery.

ROMAN RED WARE.

This collection, which is placed in Cases 38, 39 and beneath Table Case F, consists of specimens of a peculiar bright red ware, made at various places, but which was termed by the ancients Samian, having been probably first made at Samos. It was the earthenware most in use at the tables of the ancients, and exhibits great variety of ornamentation.

The principal sites of the manufactory were Capua and Aretium in Italy, Auvergne in France, where kilns have been found, the borders of the Rhine, and Spain. The various designs were impressed with small separate stamps on a concave mould, so that the patterns were in relief on the vase; the potters' names were very commonly added.

EARLY ITALIAN AND ETRUSCAN POTTERY.

Cases 33-37. Very ancient black and red ware. The earliest specimens, of coarse black or brown earth, ornamented with hatched lines or raised ridges and bosses, and imitating probably wooden vessels, Occupy Cases 33, 34. No. 79, found in Monte Albano, 1817, and No. 79A (Blacas Coll.), found at Marino, represent the tugurium, or hut of the early inhabitants of Italy.

Cases 35, 36, contain specimens of the later period when a finer

material was employed, and the shapes and ornaments were imitated chiefly from contemporary works in bronze, as in Nos. 80 and 82. The ornament consists frequently of a frieze representing men, animals, and monsters. In the same cases are three specimens of red Etruscan ware, on one of which (No. 83) is a frieze with two draped figures reclining on a couch, beneath which are two birds. At the head of the couch stands a naked male figure playing on the double flute; at the foot are two vases and a branch. Towards them advances another similar figure, holding an instrument, perhaps meant for a strainer. Behind this group is a female stretched at full length on a couch, with a low table at the side: a naked male figure advances towards the foot of the couch. This subject is repeated seven times, and was probably impressed from a cylinder.

FIRST VASE ROOM.

In this room and part of the next is placed the collection of painted Fictile Vases discovered in tombs in Italy, Greece, the adjacent islands, and other parts of the Mediterranean. For the most part these vases are of Greek fabric, though the obsolete name Etruscan is still erroneously applied to them in England. Although nearly all of them have been found in tombs, they are very similar in form and fabrie to those actually used in the ancient Greek household. The subjects with which these vases are decorated are chiefly derived from the divine or heroic legends of the Greeks, while others seem to be simply scenes from real life.

The Collection in this room is arranged for the most part in chronological order, commencing with the North and East sides of the room. The approximate dates under which the successive classes may be arranged are given on the large labels over the Wall Cases. The finest specimens are placed in or upon the detached Cases.

Class I. Cases 1-12. Table Case B and cruciform Case P. Vases of Archaic style (B.c. 700-B.c. 500).

Cases 1-2. Vases from Cyprus, ornamented with geometrical patterns, and of the earliest style.

Cases 3-5. Vases of the same style, with patterns perhaps in imitation of wickerwork, chiefly from Athens, Corinth, and Melos.

Cases 6-10. Vases from Camirus, in Rhodes, with geometrical patterns, or with men and animals, many of which belong to the style called by some Nolan-Egyptian, by others Phoenician, and which may perhaps be most correctly described as Græco-Phoenician.

Table Case B. Terracotta coffin and select vases from Camirus.

Cases 11, 12. Vases of the Archaic style from Ialysos in Rhodes. Presented by Professor J. Ruskin.

Class II. Cases 13-30. Detached Cases C-H, K, and O.. Vases, chiefly from Italy, of the transition period (B.c. 500-B.c. 440), in which greater mastery in drawing the figure is attained and more complicated groups are attempted. The figures are drawn in black, white, and crimson, on a red ground.

The finest specimens of this style are the hydria, or water-jugs (Cases 17-24, Shelves 3, 4), and the amphora in the detached Cases on the East side of the room. The subjects relate chiefly to heroic myths and personages, and especially those of the Homeric poems and Epic Cycle generally.

Case O, on the West side of the room, contains Panathenaic amphora of this class, with inscriptions which show that they were given as prizes in the games at Athens.

Class III. Cases 31-54, and Cases I, L, M, N, Q. Vases of the finest period (B.c. 440-B.C. 330), with red figures on a black ground. They are unrivalled for beauty of shape and drawing, and the lustre of the black varnish. The vases on Table Case I., of the same period, are especially worthy of observation.

Cases 31-36. Vases from Camirus, Rhodes.

Cases 37-45. Vases, chiefly from Nola, in Campania.

Cases 55-56 contain a number of vases of various styles from Sicily, of which the most remarkable are the lekythi, painted in several colours on a white or cream-coloured ground (Case 55). Cases 57-60 contain Athenian vases, the finest of which are the vases belonging to Class III. (Cases 57-8, Shelf 4), and the lekythi, with polychrome figures on a white ground (Cases 59-60).

In the Guide to the First Vase Room, now on sale in this Room, will be found a description of the vases most remarkable either for interest of subject or beauty of style. These select specimens are distinguished in the Collection by blue labels corresponding with the numbers in the Guide.

Over Cases 41-60 are painted fac-similes, by Signor Campanari, of the walls of an Etruscan tomb at Tarquinii, decorated with a double frieze; in the lower are represented dances and entertainments, and in the upper, athletic games, as leaping, running, chariot-racing, hurling the discus, boxing, and the armed course; above is a large vase and two persons at an entertainment. The sides of the entrance of this tomb, decorated with two panthers, are represented above the Cases 31-40, and the roof, which is chequered, over Cases 11-30.,

SECOND VASE ROOM.

This room contains the later Greek Fictile Vases, the Greek and Roman Terracottas, the Greek and Roman Mural Paintings, and a number of miscellaneous antiquities. In this

Collection a large number of Fictile Vases and other antiquities from the Blacas, Temple, and Castellani Collections have been incorporated.

The Greek Fictile Vases are arranged in Wall Cases on the North and Eastern sides of the room (Cases 68-72, 1-31), and in the detached Cases in the centré, A large proportion of the subjects represented relates to Dionysiac festivals, to Venus and Cupid, or to funeral offerings.

The figures are painted in red or white on a black ground, the details being sometimes picked out in crimson or yellow. The black varnish is less brilliant than in the earlier styles, and the shapes of the vases less elegant; the ornaments are more florid, the composition more pretentious and elaborate, and the drawing mannered and often careless. These characteristics mark the decline of the art of vase-painting.

Cases 71-2 contain the black modelled ware, among which will be found many shapes imitated from vases in metal. Cases 6-9 contain another set of the same class of vases found at Capua, and remarkable for elegance of shape and richness of gilt ornament.

On the Table Cases in this room are the following select

vases:

:

Table Case A. 1. Krater: Death of Priam and meeting of Menelaus and Helen reverse, Olympic Deities, meeting of two heroes, and battle of Greeks and Amazons. (Minervini, Bullettino Archeologico Napolitano, 1858, p. 145.)

Table Case C. 1. Krater: The hunt of the Calydonian boar.-Pourtalès, 2. Krater: Lykurgos slaying his family; reverse, Pelops, Hippodamia, Myrtilos. 3. Krater: Scene in Hades: Orpheus holding Cerberus.-Blacas.

Table Case D. 1. Amphora: The surprise of Thetis by Peleus; a polychrome painting with some of the details picked out with gold. This picture, remarkable for masterly drawing, is one of the few extant examples where gold has been combined with several colours in fictile art; reverse, Bacchus, Ariadne, a Satyr; a monochrome design. This exquisite specimen of ceramography was found at Camirus, in Rhodes.

2. Krater: Mourners bringing offerings to a tomb; reverse, Satyrs and Maenads. Temple.

3. Krater: The initiation of the Dioscuri at the lesser mysteries at Agra; reverse, Dionysos, Plutos, and other figures.-Pourtalès.

Table Cases E, G. Six Panathenaic amphora, from the Cyrenaica. One of these bears the name of the Athenian archon Euthykritos, B.C. 328; on another is the name of the archon Nikokrates, B.c. $33; and on a third, that of the archon Polyzelos, в c. 367. On the obverse