Let us first see what his workshop was like. Again, all the documents we possess are the vases themselves, or terracotta tablets which served as votive offerings. We see upon them workmen in the act of turning or painting pots, lighted ovens, pottery exposed for sale, etc. Upon a black-figured hydria at Munich (Fig. 4) we see such an establishment divided into two parts: to the left is the workshop where the turning, shaping and polishing of vases takes place; to the right, under the supervision of an aged man, who apparently is the master, are other workmen carrying finished pots to dry and bake them. In the extreme corner is the high oven decorated with a Silenus mask. Here, a vase from Ruvo (Fig. 2) takes us to a painter’s studio. Three painters, each grasping a brush, are decorating the body and neck of two krateres and one kantharos, while other vases on the ground are awaiting their turn. To the right, on a platform, a woman is painting the handle of a larger krater; above her some small pots are leaning against the wall. The composition is ingeniously completed by the appearance of two Victories and Athene armed with helmet and lance, who solemnly crown the workmen bending over their work--a poetic symbol to glorify the fame of Athenian industry. The act of painting is illustrated upon some vase fragments, where we see the artist working with a very finely-pointed brush (Fig. 25). Lastly, some Corinthian platters show us workmen turning vases and watching the baking, and the kiln filled with piles of pottery. One even represents a merchant ship with a cargo of pottery, oinochoai or small perfume bottles, destined for some land across the sea. We will mention one other kylix by the painter Phintias, upon which are displayed a potter’s wares. A number of vases are placed on the ground, and a youth with a purse in his hand is stooping in the act of choosing his purchase (Fig. 5). [Illustration: Fig. 7. APHRODITE UPON HER SWAN. White background. British Museum.] All these scenes are small genre pictures like _The Barbers_ or _The Lace Makers_ of Holland and Flanders in the seventeenth century. They teach us the chief characteristics of the ceramic art.