Plate LXII - Atrium of the house of Ceres
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The atrium or cavaedium of the house of Ceres,
discovered in the years 1825 and 1827, is shown in
Plate LXII. The walls were either originally higher
than those of other houses at Pompeii, or they have
been better preserved ; and the apartment here
repre-sented must have had the effect of a hall of two
stories. |
The fountain which is here shown in the foreground was one
of the first which was discovered with its ornaments of
vitreous mosaic in good preservation. Under it, is seen a
marble which covered the mouth of a reservoir of water,
collected from the impluvium. The slab on the top was of
African marble and broken. The ornaments consist in a
river-god, masks and griffins.
The walls, when first discovered, were covered with brilliant
colours, and much more might have been traced, with regard to
the details of the ornaments, than is here represented ; but
the fact is, that, by a variety of petty intrigues, strangers
are prevented from drawing these objects till they are either
defaced, or irrevocably destroyed, and it is only by the
despatch supplied by the camera lucida that any memorial of
them can be obtained. These walls of the atrium, being higher
than the rest, are already in a tottering state, and,
possibly, this plate may soon become the only record of their
existence.
There was in this house a painting called Zephyr and Flora,
now removed to the musaeum. It has been much celebrated under
many names, and is given in this work as plate LXXXIII.
The house is one of those which had been examined by its
owners, or others, not long after the destruction of the
city.