(_a_) Badly levigated clay; floral motives in matt-white or red-brown on black ground.[915] A fine example of this class was recently excavated at Maroni in Cyprus, a large krater with a figure of a bird outlined in white on either side (Plate XII.). (_b_) Similar clay, but coated with a white or yellow slip on which geometrical or floral patterns are painted in lustrous black.[916] (_c_) Fine clay with polished yellow surface; designs in black turning to red or yellow, with occasional details in white; chiefly marine plants and animals, but occasionally (especially in Cyprus) human figures.[917] This class is by far the most numerous of all, but is not found in Thera. It corresponds with the period 1400–1000 B.C. (_d_) Clay grey or reddish, less brilliant, as is also the black; large figures of quadrupeds and human figures.[918] The vases are sometimes painted _inside_, which is a sign of late date. The structure of these vases is very varied, and no less than 122 different forms may be distinguished in the illustrations to the _Mykenische Vasen_. Most characteristic and popular is the “false amphora,” as it is generally termed (German, _Bügelkanne_), a vase with spheroidal body, of varying size, with the peculiarity that the ordinary neck and mouth on the top are closed by a flat handle arching over the vase, and the only aperture is a spout on one side (see Plate XV. and Fig. 82). These are very widely distributed, but their decoration is as a rule very simple; they appear depicted on the paintings of Egyptian tombs of the eighteenth dynasty, and this has often been used as an argument for the dating of Mycenaean vases. But they must have remained in favour for a considerable period. Other favourite shapes are: a funnel-shaped vase with handle at the top, doubtless a reminiscence of a Hissarlik type (p. 258); a tall graceful two-handled goblet or kylix, almost invariably decorated with cuttle-fish (see Plate XV.), as the funnel-vases are with murex (purple dye) shells; a beaked jug (German _Schnabelkanne_), derived from Thera; a squat jar or pyxis, with three small handles (cf. Fig. 82); and a tall pear-shaped vase with three handles on a high stem, which is perhaps the prototype of the hydria. The large kraters are, as we have seen, peculiar to Cyprus. Rarer forms are a sort of mug, and a combination of the false amphora and pyxis. Mention should also be made of the painted λάρνακες or _ossuaria_ found in Crete by Mr. J. H. Marshall (p. 268 above) and by Dr. Orsi.[919]