POMPEIANA de William Gell (éd. de 1832)

Plate LIII - Fountain of shells

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In Plate LIII is exhibited the garden, pseudo-garden or painted wall, and part of the inner portico of a dwelling, which, on account of the fountain here also represented, caused a greater sensation at Naples than any previous discovery had created. The house was found in the month of June, 1820, and the excavation terminated in October.

The arch or alcove of the fountain is, on the spot, termed the grotto, and that is the name by which, at present, it may be found. The high wall was, at the time of its excavation, perfect ; and this drawing is, probably, now the only record of its existence, the author having been fortunate enough to copy it before the painting fell. Had it gone no higher than the first row of panels of alternate yellow and blue, the effect would have been very pleasing ; but the upper line of pictures, one of which seemed to have represented a boar-hunt, destroyed the illusion. In the panels were several birds painted with great spirit, some of which were killing reptiles, and a curious collection of garden rails of several forms, which are here represented.

The fountain itself is a great curiosity, though not quite an object of taste, being nothing more in its form than what is common in the courtyard of every house in Rome. It is, however, incrusted with mosaic of a blue colour and vitreous substance, and the borders are formed of real shells from the sea-shore, which seem, almost miraculously, to have been preserved in their original freshness. It was found impossible to represent these, or to give all the details of the ornaments, which are not unsightly, on so small a scale.

Two large masks are seen, one on each side of the fountain, and from their being hollow, some have thought that they contained lights at night to produce a striking effect. The water ran down a little cascade of five marble steps, and formed a sort of piscina. Upon the pillar, with a hole for the passage of a tube, must have been a tazza, the water from which fell into the piscina.