A Remarkable instance of the injury that may be done by the so-called restoration of broken or marred works of art is afforded in the case of two Greek vases in the British Museum which have lately been cleaned. It is obvious that the chances are very much against the probability of a vase arriving in an entire state at its final place of deposit in a museum or collection; and that it is to the advantage of an unscrupulous dealer to hide, as far as possible, all traces of fracture or restoration: unfortunately, therefore, it is too commonly the case that a vase while undergoing repairs is treated with a wash of modern paint which, while it hides the fractures, dulls the glaze and mars the fresh metallic gleam, the peculiar charm of Greek pottery: frequently also the imagination of the modern artist is drawn upon in supplying missing details of the design, with the effect, at any rate, of misleading the student; and sometimes, as in the case of both the vases to which I refer, of completely obliterating important inscriptions. The most mischievous error of all is when a part of one vase is used to supply a missing portion of another: a vase which I have lately seen taken to pieces, was found to be made up from fragments of no less than three different vases. Restoration of this kind necessarily involves a certain amount of hacking the materials into shape, whereby portions of the original design are irretrievably ruined.