FICTĬLE

( κεράμος , κεράμιον , ὄστρακον , ὀστράκινον ), earthenware, a ve el or other article made of baked clay. The instruments used in pottery ( ars figulina ) were the following:—1. The wheel ( τροχός , orb is , rota , rota figularis ). 2. Pieces of wood or bone, which the potter ( κεραμεύς , figulus ) held in his right hand, and applied occasionally to the surface of the clay during its revolution. 3. Moulds ( formae , τύποι ), used either to decorate with figures in relief ve els which had been thrown on the wheel, or to produce foliage, animals, or any other appearances, on Antefixa, on cornices of terra cotta, and imitative or ornamental pottery of all other kinds, in which the wheel was not adapted to give the first shape. 4. Gravers or scalpels, used by skilful modellers in giving to figures of all kinds a more perfect finish and use of moulds. The earth used for making pottery ( κεράμικη γῆ ), was commonly red, and often of so lively a colour as to resemble coral. Other pottery is brown or cream-coloured, and sometimes white. Some of the ancient earthenware is throughout its substance earth with comminuted asphaltum ( gagates ), or with some other bituminous or oleaginous substance. It appears also that asphaltum, with pitch and tar, both mineral and vegetable, was used to cover the surface like a varnish. The best pottery was manufactured at Athens, in the island of Samos, and in Etruria. A quarter of Athens was called Cerameicus, because it was inhabited by potters. Ve els, before being sent for the last time to the furnace, were sometimes immersed in that finely prepared mud, now technically called “slip,” by which the surface is both smoothed and glazed, and at the same time receives a fresh colour. Ruddle, or red ochre ( μίλτος , rubric a ), was principally employed for this purpose. To produce a further variety in the paintings upon vases the artists employed a few brightly coloured earths and metallic ores. [ Pictura . ]