Hound-dogs & a Roman rarity

Here are a couple of great dogs - the little chap is Lomonosov porcelain from Russia, 1930's, while the larger one is a life sized Chinese guardian, from a Han dynasty tomb 2,000 years old! So much time between them, and yet one looks just like the pup of the other. Which it is, if you think about it.....

To one side, you'll see a large amphora vessel: this was purchased in London a few years ago as 'Roman', and deep inside had English news papers from the 1950's....
Amphora like this survive complete only in exceptional circumstances, such as from shipwrecks ( like the neck of one at the base of the photo), but this shows none of the usual signs; a closer examination reveals a grey ash-like substance in the grooves. Ash = volcano.... Romans + volcano = Pompeii! A quick look through a guide book on Pompeii revealed row after row of the exact form deep in the archives of the museum there.... So our amphora is in fact from Pompeii! Very rarely can we date something so closely, but this was made no later than 79AD!

These items can be seen in our ceramics reference library in Geelong.