HANDBOOK ΤΟ THE ANTIQUITIES IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM: BEING A DESCRIPTION OF THE REMAINS OF GREEK, ASSYRIAN, EGYPTIAN, AND ETRUSCAN ART PRESERVED THERE. By W. S. W. VAUX, M.A., F.S.A., ASSISTANT IN THE DEPARTMENT OF ANTIQUITIES, BRITISH MUSEUM. WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS. LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. PREFACE. It has been the writer's object, in the following pages, to lay before the Public the contents of one Department of the British Museum-that of Antiquities—in a compendious and popular form. He has conceived that a better idea of this Department, as a whole, may be conveyed by a careful selection of the objects most worthy of notice than by a mere enumeration of every article contained in the several rooms. It has therefore been his aim to dwell only on the more important features of the collection; feeling, that to do full justice to all the treasures of Ancient Art, and to the many Historical Monuments preserved in the British Museum, would far exceed the plan and limits of the present work. Considerable difficulty has been experienced in determining the order of arrangement, as, on account of the numerous changes at present taking place, arising from the recent alterations and rebuilding of the rooms, it has been found impossible to present in strict chronological order each successive period of Ancient Art. On the whole, it has been thought best to begin with the Greek Collection, as that directly tending to form and elevate the Public, Taste: the work, therefore, commences with a brief outline of the progress of Greek art, passing in re |