Museum of Antiquity: A Description of Ancient LifeYaggy, L. W. (Levi W.)
History
Museum of Antiquity: A Description of Ancient Life
Yaggy, L. W. (Levi W.)
Civilization, Ancient; Classical antiquities
necklace and bracelets, denote a person of higher rank than one of the
mere workpeople of the establishment; it probably is either the
mistress herself, or a customer inquiring into the quality of the work
which has been done for her.
These pictures, with others illustrative of the various processes of
the art, were found upon a pier in the peristyle of the Fullonica.
Among them we may mention one that represents a press, similar in
construction to those now in use, except that there is an unusual
distance between the threads of the screw. The ancients, therefore,
were acquainted with the practical application of this mechanical
power. In another is to be seen a youth delivering some pieces of
cloth to a female, to whom, perhaps, the task of ticketing, and
preserving distinct the different property of different persons, was
allotted. It is rather a curious proof of the importance attached to
this trade, that the due regulation of it was a subject thought not
unworthy of legislative enactments. B.C. 354, the censors laid down
rules for regulating the manner of washing dresses, and we learn from
the digests of the Roman law that scourers were compelled to use the
greatest care not to lose or to confound property. Another female,
seated on a stool, seems occupied in cleaning one of the cards. Both
of the figures last described wear green tunics; the first of them has
a yellow under-tunic, the latter a white one. The resemblance in
colors between these dresses and those of the male fullers above
described may perhaps warrant a conjecture that there was some kind of
livery or described dress belonging to the establishment, or else the
contents of the painter's color-box must have been very limited.
The whole pier on which these paintings were found has been removed to
the museum at Naples. In the peristyle was a large earthenware jar,
which had been broken across the middle and the pieces then sewed
carefully and laboriously together with wire. The value of these
vessels, therefore, can not have been very small, though they were
made of the most common clay. At the eastern end of the peristyle
there was a pretty fountain, with a jet d'eau. The western end is
occupied by four large vats in masonry, lined with stucco, about seven
feet deep, which seem to have received the water in succession, one
from another.
Dyeing and painting in ancient times was rather more perfect than at
present, at least the colors were stronger and more durable. The
Egyptians had the most durable colors. The Henna is a plant which is
abundant in Egypt, Arabia, and Palestine, and was used by the
ancients, as it is by the moderns, for dyeing. The leaves were dried
and pulverized, and then made into a paste. It is a powerful
astringent dye, and is applied to desiccate and dye the palms of the
hands and soles of the feet and nails of both, and gives a sort of dun
or rust color to animal tissues, which is very permanent.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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