The colouring on the majority of the Greek vases of the sixth century is a brown or red glaze on which are painted the designs in black; the markings on the figures and drapery are incised, showing the groundwork, or being sometimes filled in with white, and the faces and limbs usually painted a white colour and fired at a low heat. Sometimes a purple tint was painted over the accessories. Vases of this period have also a white biscuit ground with similar coloured decorations as those of the red ground. In the fifth century B.C. a change took place in the style of decoration: the figures and accessories are left in the red ground colour of the vase, and the surrounding groundwork is black; the interior markings are in faint yellow or black, and incised slightly with a tool. This is the period of the best designs and of delicate and correct drawing. Some of the kylixes of this period are exceedingly beautiful, and are usually signed with the name of the artist. Some artists’ names are Meidias, Polygnotos, Epictelos, Pamphaios, Brygos, Euphronius, &c. It is said that the greatest artists of Greece—Phidias, Polycletus, Apelles, and Myron—furnished designs for the potters. The Greeks in their vase paintings observed strictly the æsthetic laws of proportion and space division (Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4) as they did in their architecture. The precision of touch which they displayed is remarkable, and the skill in the freehand rendering of their geometric and floral borders, not to speak of their figure-work, is astonishing when we think that if they made a mistake on the absorbent biscuit ware on which they painted, it could not be altered without showing the defect. [Illustration: Fig. 1.—Greek Vase. Oinochoè.] [Illustration] Fig. 3.—Greek or Etruscan Ewer. [Illustration: Fig. 2.—Greek Vase. Crater.] [Illustration: Fig. 4.—Greek Vase. Signed by Nicosthenes.] The Levantine island of Samos has been celebrated from the earliest times for its pottery. It has been mentioned by Homer and Herodotus as unparalleled, for its size, in the wealth and artistic qualities of its people. It was renowned for its temples and metal work as well as for pottery. The Temple of Juno—the Heræum—was built in marble, and was of great magnitude—a treasure house of art in itself. The Samians were great traders, and their beautiful red pottery was carried by their ships to all parts of the known world. The clay of which the Samian ware was made was of a fine red compact earth; the pottery was usually thicker than that of the other Greek ceramics, and the decoration was partly modelled and partly incised (Fig. 5). This ware has been found in nearly all parts of Europe, the design of which inclines to the Græco-Roman style, and is doubtless of the variety made during the Roman occupation of the island. [Illustration: Fig. 5.—Samian Bowl.] [Illustration: Fig. 6.—Græco-Roman Vase.] A Græco-Roman vase in terra-cotta is shown at Fig. 6.