The Story of Porcelain | Page 5

Romans, Gauls, Teutons all used it."
"I have seen some of the old Mexican or Aztec pottery," declared Dr.
Swift, "and it was very interesting. It was of reddish clay, and I was
told it was much like the variety made in Peru. Not only were there
roughly modeled dishes and jars in the collection, but also all sorts of
strange clay idols. You see, instead of worshipping the gods of
goodness, Theo, these early peoples thought they could propitiate the
gods of evil if they worshipped them instead; accordingly they made all
sorts of grotesque images, some of them very hideous. None of this
clay work was glazed, of course, for at that time men had not yet
discovered that they could put a glaze over the surface of objects and
thus protect them and render them water-tight. It was a great pity that
Cortez and his followers destroyed this early Mexican civilization,
which was surprisingly advanced.

"I suppose the Peruvians had also gone quite as far if not further than
the Aztecs when in 1531 Pizarro invaded South America," rejoined Mr.
Croyden. "They were making some very good pottery decorated in red,
black, and brown; and they must have known how to bake it, or the
colors in the design would not have lasted until now."
Mr. Croyden rose to stamp out a spark that had snapped from the
fireplace onto the fur rug at his feet.
"Strange, isn't it, how much of our knowledge of the ancient races has
come down to us through their clay work?" he reflected. "What should
we have known of these western civilizations save through their
handiwork? And when we travel across seas it is the same. Much of our
acquaintance with Egyptian, Greek, and Roman life has been handed
down to posterity through tiles and pottery which have served to record
nations' customs and advancement. The march of the invading Roman
armies, for example, can be traced by the fragments of pottery left
behind them. These relics have been found in England, France,
Germany, Italy, and Spain, and prove that very early the Romans made
use of clay utensils for cooking their food. Even beneath the city of
London old Roman furnaces for firing dishes have been discovered;
and moreover, some of the very dishes themselves."
Theo seemed astonished.
"Later the Romans made much beautiful pottery; but it was never as
beautiful as that of the Greeks. Sometime, however, Theo, you should
go to one of our museums and see some Samian ware, the finest of
Roman clay work. The red in it is almost as vivid as sealing-wax, and it
has a wonderful polish not unlike that on modern Egyptian ware. No
one has ever been able to discover from what clay this marvelous
pottery was made. Some historians think the ware was first made by
wandering Greek artisans. The Romans also made a very beautiful
black ware now known as Upchurch pottery because of the location in
England in which it was found. This black color, scientists have
decided, was not produced by mixing a pigment with the clay as did the
Greeks, but resulted from an ingenious use of oxide of iron which,
when burned by a reducing fire, turned black; the Romans also gave us

Castor ware, a pottery moulded from a dark clay and having on it
figures traced in a lighter color."
"Did anybody else in Europe make as beautiful pottery as the Greeks
and Romans?" inquired Theo.
"Perhaps not so beautiful," answered Mr. Croyden. "Yet before we hear
either of Greek or Roman we find the Egyptians and Assyrians, nations
famous for their skill in the arts as well as their prowess in war, making
pottery and tiles. These have been preserved to us in tombs and
pyramids, for these races, you know, were accustomed to pay great
honor to their dead. It was a fortunate custom, too, since by means of it
much history has come down to us which would otherwise have been
destroyed. Unquestionably the Saxons, Scandinavians, Gauls, and
Teutons also made pottery, but their attempts were of a cruder sort.
Dishes, vases, toys have been exhumed in their countries, all displaying
characteristic clay designs. But no country in the world has ever
equaled the pottery of the Greeks."
"Did the Greeks----" began Theo; but his father cut him short.
"See here, young man," he declared, drawing out his watch, "this is no
time of night for you to be setting forth on a history of Greek pottery.
You are going to bed."
[Illustration: "I HAD FORGOTTEN ALL ABOUT BED"]
Theo rose with a laugh.
"I had forgotten all about bed," he said.
"That speaks pretty well for your charm as an historian, Croyden,"
observed Dr. Swift. "The boy could scarcely keep his