The vase shown in the accompanying engravings must not be classed with
ordinary ceramic ware, as it is a veritable work of art. It is the
celebrated cup of Arcesilaus, which is preserved in the collection of
the library of Richelieu street after having figured in the Durand
Museum. It was found at Vulsei, in Etruria. It was made by a potter of
Cyrene, the capital of Cyrenaica, founded by Greeks from the island of
Thera. It is remarkable that Cyrene, removed from the center of
Grecian manufacture, should possess a manufactory of painted vases
from which have come so many works of art. The traveler, Paul Lucas,
discovered in the necropolis of Cyrene, in 1714, many antique vases,
both in the tombs and in the soil. One of them is still preserved in
the Museum at Leyden. The Arcesilaus, who is represented on this vase,
is not the celebrated skeptical philosopher of that name; it is
Arcesilaus, King of Cyrenaica, who was sung by Pindar, and who was
vanquished in the Pythian games under the 80th Olympiad (458 years
B.C.).
The height of this vase is 25 centimeters, its diameter 28
centimeters. The paste is very fine, of a pale red. It is entirely
coated with a black groundwork, which has been generally re-covered
with a yellowish white clay, baked on.
According to M. Brongniart, this piece has been subjected to the
baking process at least two or three times, thus indicating that the
ceramic art had made considerable progress in Cyrene even at that
remote epoch.
The following description of this vase is given in the catalogue of
the Durand Museum: The King Arcesilaus is seated under a pavilion upon
the deck of a ship. His head is covered with a kind of hat with a
large brim, and his hair hangs down upon his shoulders. He is clothed
in a white tunic and embroidered cloak or mantle, and he carries a
scepter in his left hand; under his seat is a leopard, and his right
hand he holds toward a young man, who makes the same gesture, and he
is weighing in a large scale assafoetida, which is being let down
into the hold of the ship. We know that he deals with assafoetida
because one of the personages (the one who lifts up his arm toward the
beam of the scale) holds in his right hand something resembling that
which is in the scale, and the Greek word traced near it signifies
"that which prepares _silphium_." Assafoetida, the resinous
matter of the silphium, is used largely by the Greeks in the
preparation of their food. The Orientals to-day make frequent use of
it and call it the delight of the gods; while in Europe, because of
its repulsive odor, it has long been designated as _stircus diaboli_.
[Illustration: Fig. 1.--ANCIENT GREEK VASE.]
[Illustration: Fig. 2.--TOP OF GREEK VASE.]
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