polished brass, usually in pairs, and when several were
arranged on a mantelpiece they presented a bright array. The one
illustrated in Fig. 54 is of the type much favoured in country
districts. It represents a shepherd with his crook, the companion brass
being a shepherdess. On the sea-coast fishermen were much fancied, and
in mining districts the miner with his pick and other industrial models
were extensively sold. These were varied with birds and animals and
miniature replicas of household furniture. The older ones are not very
common, and therefore have been much copied, for of these goods there
are many modern replicas.

Vases.

Ornamental vases have varied much in form, until a collection seems to
cover every style of art. Thus Egyptian and Roman influence is seen in
some; others of French origin, dating before the Empire period, are a
combination of French art with Egyptian ornament, brought out during the
Directoire, when after the Battle of the Pyramids French artists
introduced the sphinx and other Egyptian ornaments into their art
designs. During the Empire period, the style that is said to consist of
a blending of Roman, Greek, and Egyptian prevailed. Many of the
continental countries have been noted for glass ornaments--especially
vases. The beautiful Venetian glass is rich in colour, and the vases are
varied and graceful in form, especially those of ewer-like shape.
Bohemia has always been a noted centre of the glass industry. Then in
our own country some beautiful vases have been produced.

There are other materials which are met with in curiously shaped vases.
At one time the beautiful Derbyshire spars were much used. There are
biscuit china and Parian vases, and many exquisite vases of silver and
other metals. Much might be written of the Oriental vases and enamels,
especially of the artistic treasures of Old Japan and China, from whence
so much of our early vases and beautiful porcelain came. Of the products
of Chelsea and Bow, of Coalbrookdale and Derby, and of Bristol and
Nantgrw, writers and collectors of rare ceramics have had much to record
of the many-shaped vases with which the homes of the middle classes were
made beautiful in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. These
are preserved with care, but many of the vases produced by the pioneers
of the potting industry in this country serve their original purpose
still, and glass and china and rare Wedgwood jasper ware ornament the
ho