Meantime it is to be observed, as showing the possible and actual extent of Persian influence:
_Firstly._--That under the Moorish sway a colony of Persians existed in Spain. This, according to Major R. Murdoch Smith, is attested by a document recently brought to notice by a Spanish traveller in Persia, assigning the town Rioja to the Persians as their place of residence.
_Secondly._--That mosaic work has been found in Persia, composed of star and cross shaped tiles of different colors fitted together, and that similar tiles are made in Spain at the present time.
_Thirdly._--That in Persia are found the prototypes of the Spanish style of ornamenting vaults with hanging-work, like plaster stalactites.
_Fourthly._--That, according to Piot, "numerous Persian faience plaques and pieces of vases, resembling those of our own time, are found encrusted in the white marble of a church in Naples."
_Fifthly._--That Mr. Drury C. Fortnum has found a specimen of Persian ware in the church of St. Cecilia, at Pisa. The piece is clearly Persian in style, black arabesques on a blue ground, similar to others found at Rhages.
_Sixthly._--That the Saracens overran Sicily in the ninth century, and that a Moorish colony landed there some centuries later.
The corollary deducible from these facts is clear, viz., that in Persian art, as brought into Europe by the Moors, Arabs, or Saracens, and by the Persians themselves, we must find the bridge upon which to cross from the ancient arts of Assyria and Babylonia to those of Italy and Spain.
General Character of Greek Ceramics.--Form and Color.--Borrowed from Egypt and Phoenicia.--How Original.--UNBAKED CLAY: Bricks and Statues.--TERRA-COTTA: Where Used.--Tiles.--Models.--Vessels.--Pithos.--Amphora.--Pigments used on Terra-cotta.--Rhyton.--GLAZED WARES: Quality of Glaze.--Paste.--Enumeration and Description of Vessels.--Uses of Vases.--Chronological Arrangement.--Methods of Making Vessels.--Successive Styles of Ornamentation.--Figures.--Earliest Style.--Archaic Style.--Human Figures.--"Old Style."--Approach to Best Art.--"Fine Style."--"Florid Style."--Decline.--Classification according to Subjects Represented on Vases.--Reliefs and Statuettes as Decoration.