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ANTIQUE GEMS:
ORIGIN, USES, AND VALUE
AS INTERPRETERS OF ANCIENT HISTORY; AND AS ILLUSTRATIVE
OF ANCIENT ART:
WITH HINTS TO GEM COLLECTORS.
BY REV. C. W. KING, M. A.
FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE.
' Gemmae supersunt et in arctum coacta rerum naturae majestas, multie
nulla sui parte mirabilior." Ptra. Nat. Hiat.. xxxvii i.
LONDON:
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.
1860.
The right of Translation is reserved.
:/>XDO : 1'ltINTKI) UV W. CI.OV I* ANP PONS, STAMFORD 6TKKKT,
AND CHARING CROSS.
Agave; Cameo. Plasma
PREFACE,
PROBABLY at no period in England has art in its various rela-
tions been so intelligently illustrated and so fully investi-
gated as during the last ten years. The numerous exhibitions
of M'orks of art, both in this country and on the Continent,
have doubtless partly contributed to this result ; and with
increased development of taste there has sprung up at the
same time an earnest desire to investigate the principles of
ancient art in its various productions, and to trace the dif-
ferent phases through which it has passed before it attained
its highest degree of excellence. Every department of art,
both ancient and mediaeval, has found its expositor or histo-
rian ; and the amateur or student who desires to make him-
self acquainted with the painting, sculpture, or pottery of
ancient or mediaeval times, can at once be referred to able
treatises which will furnish him with the fullest information
on those and kindred subjects. But there is one department
of art in which the ancients peculiarly excelled, and of which
b
iv PREFACE.
they have bequeathed us the most exquisite specimens of
their genius and skill, which has been comparatively neg-
lected in this country, or at least has not received the atten-
tion due to its importance : I mean their Engraved Gems.
It may with truth be asserted that there are few remains of
ancient art so replete with grace and beauty as the engraved
gems of antiquity ; and when we take into consideration the
important uses they have subserved to the historian, archae-
ologist, and artist, it seems unaccountable that this valuable
branch of art should have been so long neglected; yet
it is a fact that there does not exist in our language any
scientific treatise or popular manual to which the student can
be referred who is desirous of entering upon the study of this
most instructive subject. Of this I can speak from experi-
ence, for on myself commencing the study of antique gems
several years ago, during a long residence at Rome and
Florence, though with ample opportunities of gaining prac-
tical information as far as regards the gems themselves, I
felt greatly the want of some manual to guide me, not
merely in the first principles and the history of the glyptic
art (which has been attempted, though very sketchily, by
Millin), but of one that should, to some extent at least,
serve to guard me against the usual errors into which be-
ginners fall, and one which should supply, as far as possible,
that experience to obtain which practically, we must, as
Goethe says, pay many a heavy apprentice-fee. Hitherto, as
far as my reading has gone, nothing of the kind has been
attempted in our language, except in the excellent series of
essays, entitled ' Old Rings,' which appeared in ' Fraser's
Magazine' during the year 1856 ; and the standard work has
remained the * Pierres Gravees ' of Mariette, published more
than a century before. The books named in the list of
authors given at the end of this volume furnish indeed
PREFACE. v
many valuable hints, but these are dispersed through volu-
minous treatises, and are only to be selected, with profit to
himself, by a reader already to some degree conversant with
the practical details of the science. I have therefore here
put together my own observations, the accumulated memo-
randa of many years, and the results of the careful examina-
tion of many thousands of gems of all ages and of every style.
These I have illustrated by passages from ancient authors,
and by copious extracts from other sources, tending to eluci-
date the matters herein discussed. This book had in fact its
first origin in a series of notes jotted down in my pocketbook
whenever a gem of particular interest came under my inspec-
tion, or whenever any passage of the author I chanced to be
reading contributed at all to the explanation of the difficulties
that beset my entrance upon this study ; so that it may be
described as a series of solutions of the numerous problems
which the incipient gem-collector has hitherto been obliged
to work out for himself, at a vast expenditure of time, temper,
and money. Most of these translated passages will be found
given at length (though occasionally but in part bearing upon
or illustrating the point under consideration) whenever it ap-
peared to me that they would lose their interest by curtailment.
Many repetitions will be found in the course of these pages,
and these I have allowed to remain in revising the sheets, in
order to make each article, as it were, complete in itself, this
treatise being chiefly designed for a book of reference, to be
consulted by means of the copious index annexed. Thus by
the aid of these repetitions the reader will to some degree be
spared the trouble of referring from one article to another,
since many of them may be considered as independent essays,
in each of which the particular subject discussed, together
with everything bearing upon it, has been worked out to the
best of my ability, and according to the extent of the materials
* 2
vi PREFACE.
at my disposal. The various disquisitions upon coins and coin-
dies may at first sight appear foreign to the professed design
of these pages ; but as they were indisputably the productions
of the same class of artists as the engravers of the gems, and
are, besides this, almost the sole means we have of deter-
mining the date of the gems with which they coincide in the
identity of workmanship and of treatment, it seemed unad-
visable to pass them over without some slight consideration.
The long series of extracts relative to the mediaeval supersti-
tions as to the powers of gems and of their " sigils," absurd
as they may seem to the ordinary reader, are yet of great inte-
rest to the student of the history of the Middle Ages ; for in
the writers of that period allusions to such ideas are of fre-
quent occurrence, and are hardly to be understood without
some previous acquaintance with this belief, at that time an
established article of faith. The ' Lapidarium ' of Marbodus,
besides its interest as the earliest didactic poem since the classic
times, was for five centuries the received text-book on mine-
ralogy for all the students of MediaBval Europe ; and, together
with the extracts from Orpheus and Pliny, completes the
chain of the ancient writers on stones from Theophrastus the
founder of the science.
The very extensive and interesting class of Gnostic gems
has never hitherto been treated of in any English work that
has come in my way, except in the brief sketch by Dr. Walsh,
itself little more than an abridgment of the ' Apistopistus ' of
Macarius. I have therefore bestowed a considerable amount
of care upon this portion of the treatise, and have described
in detail all the most interesting types that have passed under
my examination. In the course of my researches for intagli
belonging to the latest period of the art, I have been for-
tunate enough to meet with authentic notices of many of
great interest, and executed some centuries after the date
PREFACE. vii
usually assigned to the complete extinction of gem-engraving
in Europe. Of these, full descriptions will be given in the
appropriate sections.
The treasures of ancient art in Great Britain, as seen in its
great national museum and in the residences of private indi-
viduals, will probably bear comparison with those of any other
country in Europe in magnitude and interest, and perhaps in
no class of antiquities is it richer than in antique gems. The
collection in the British Museum, though scarcely on a par,
numerically speaking, with its other monuments of ancient
art its statues, vases, bronzes, and coins is nevertheless of
great value and importance, containing" as it does specimens
of the finest and rarest types of gem-sculptures, as I shall
presently take occasion to show in a chapter specially devoted
to this collection ; but by far the greatest number of these
miniature monuments of art are to be found in the cabinets of
our noble and wealthy amateurs. Besides the large and valu-
able collections of the Dukes of Marlborouglj and Devonshire,
Lord Londesborough, Messrs. Pulsky, Khodes, Uzielli, &c.,
there exist numerous smaller collections, varying in number
from one hundred to two hundred gems, scattered over the
length and breadth of the land, in which are to be found,
buried as it were from the world of connoisseurs, many of the
choicest relics of the glyptic art. Indeed there are few Eng-
lishmen of refined and cultivated taste, versed at the same
time in the literature of Greece and Rome, who have resided
or travelled in classic lands, who have not brought home
with them some of these miniature memorials of the genius
and skill of the ancient artists of those countries. Nor can
we be surprised when we consider that not only is a refined
and cultivated taste required for a just appreciation of these
interesting relics, but a familiar acquaintance with the myths
and legends, historic events, manners and customs of Greece
viii PREFACE.
and Koine ; and when these qualifications are combined in
any one, then will he be able fully to admire the wonderful
force and beauty with which the ancient gem-engraver has
contrived to represent, upon the most limited area, those
scenes and actions with which he is so familiar, and which he
is able to recognise at a glance. Such a one, too, is prepared
to survey with admiration and interest the portraits of those
distinguished men whose words and deeds history has handed
down to us, and whose features have been reproduced and
perpetuated on the imperishable gem. Various other reasons
may be assigned for the great number of fine antique gems
which have found tHeir way into the collections of this
country. The frequent revolutions and political commotions
which have disturbed the continent of Europe have rendered
England the asylum of many deposed princes, and of innu-
merable political refugees. Some of these have brought with
them cabinets of gems, and others a few rings, which from
their portability would naturally be laid hold of at the mo-
ment of their flight in preference to more cumbersome valu-
ables ; and these, in their hour of necessity, the owners being
compelled to part with, have been readily secured by the
amateurs of this country. Hence it has been remarked by
foreigners that there is no capital in Europe in which a collec-
tion of gems can be formed in so short a time as in London.
It is not my design in this work to describe or even to
briefly notice the gems to be found in the principal collections
of Europe, as such an undertaking could not be brought
within the compass of a single volume. I have restricted
myself, as I may here explain, in the selection of the various
types and characteristics of gem-sculpture, principally, though
by no means exclusively, to the Herz and the Mertens-
Schaafhausen Collections the former as being the best
known in this country, and the latter as the one to which I
PREFACE. ix
have had constant access through the kindness of the present
possessor, and which, from its vast extent of nearly two thou-
sand stones, comprises examples of every period of style and
art. I have nevertheless deemed it advisable to insert a brief
sketch of the more remarkable gems in our great national
collection, both because there is no published account of them,
and that they are probably less known to the public than
any other class of its ancient treasures. I shall also devote
a few pages to the consideration of the finest works of the
Devonshire Collection, as there exists no catalogue raisonne
of this celebrated cabinet. The Marlborough Collection has
been more fortunate in this respect, the choicest of its con-
tents having been described and figured in two of the most
magnificent volumes ever published, the pencil of Cipriani
and the graver of Bartolozzi having been engaged for its
production. Mr. Pulsky's fine collection may now also be
claimed as one of our English treasures in this department,
as he has for so many years resided and collected amongst us.
It has afforded me several fine examples of important classes
of both camei and intagli. The very extensive and valuable
cabinet of gems belonging to Mr. Uzielli has been formed
chiefly by the selection of the choicest stones from the Herz
Collection, and further augmented by the addition of many
precious camei, lately acquired in Italy.
These descriptions, observations, and extracts will be found
arranged according to a long-considered system of my own,
under certain general heads, thus divided :
Section I. Materials : gems themselves.
II. Art : the different styles.
III. Subjects.
IV. Mystic properties of gems and of their sigils.
Plato, contemporary portrait, aa
INTRODUCTION.
ON THE STUDY OF ANTIQUE GEMS.
ALL persons who have had any practical acquaintance with
the subject of Antique Gems are agreed as to the important
assistance which this class of relics of ancient art affords to
the artist, the antiquary, and the historian, in their respective
departments. In the first point of view, these small yet
indestructible monuments preserve to us exact representations
of the most celebrated works of the ancient sculptor, long
since either destroyed, or else lost to the world. There is no
doubt that every ancient statue, either of especial sanctity,
or of great celebrity on account of its artistic merit, was
faithfully reproduced in the miniature work of the gem-
engraver, with that honesty of treatment so justly pointed
out by Goethe in the passage hereafter to be quoted. Thus,
in the poetical description, by Christodorus, of the seventy-
two antique masterpieces in bronze that adorned the Gym-
nasium of Zeuxippus in the 6th century, the choicest selections
from the plunder of the Hellenic world, we recognise at the
first glance the originals of many of the representations only
preserved to our times by the means of their copies on gems
of a slightly later period than that of their own production.
The Apoxyomenos of Callicrates, which was pronounced the
" Canon " or model of statuary in bronze, but which, together
Xll INTRODUCTION.
witli almost all the other works in that metal, 1ms perished in
the times of barbarism, is allowed by all archaeologists to
have been the original of the famous intaglio in the Marl-
borough cabinet, an athlete using the strigil, itself also
classed amongst the finest engravings known. The Apollo
Delphicus too, supporting his lyre upon the head of a Muse
by his side, a subject often reproduced without any variation,
and usually in work of the greatest excellence, is incoutest-
ably the copy of some very famous and highly revered statue
of this deity, then in existence. Again, amongst the Mertens-
Schaafhausen gems my attention was attracted by a singular
design, the same god armed with his bow and arrows in his
one hand, and with the other holding the fore-feet of a stag-
standing erect : the whole composition betokening an archaic
epoch. There can be small doubt but that this little Sard
has handed down to us a faithful idea of the bronze group by
the early statuary Canachus, which from its singularity was
accounted the chief ornament of the Didymeon at Athens :
an Apollo thus holding a stag, the hind feet of which were
so ingeniously contrived by means of springs and hinges in
the toes, that a thread could be passed between them and
the base on which they rested, a mechanical tour de force
thought worthy by Pliny of particular mention.
Apollo of Canachus : Roman Sard
In the same manner we obtain representations of note-
worthy edifices long since reduced by time into heaps of
INTRODUCTION. Xlil
undistinguishable ruins. Again, if we consider the merits of
the engravings as works of art, we have in them perfectly
preserved examples of the taste and skill of those ages when
the love of the beautiful* flourished in its fullest extent,
unfettered by prejudice, tradition, or conventional rules;
whilst, from the unlimited demand during those ages for
engraved gems, both for the use of signets and for personal
decorations, artists of the highest ability did not disdain to
exert their skill upon the narrow field of the precious stone.
The unparalleled perfection and vigour of many of these
performances are a sufficient proof that they proceeded
directly from the master-hand, and were not mere slavish
copies by a mechanic after the design supplied to him by the
genius of another. Besides this moral proof, we have the
direct testimony of Pliny (xxxv. 45) that such a distinguished
modeller and statuary as Pasiteles also employed himself in
the chasing of metals and in engraving upon gems. This
artist, one of the latest lights of the Hellenic art, was a
native of Magna G-raBcia and a contemporary of Yarro, who
highly praises his skill. On the revival of learning, antique
gems were amongst the first relics of better times to claim
the attention of men of taste to their intrinsic beauty, and to
the perfection of the work displayed upon them, and no
longer as objects merely to be prized, as in the preceding
centuries, for their fancied magical or medicinal virtues.
Hence, amongst the other measures taken by Lorenzo dei
Medici towards fostering the dawning arts of design, we are
informed by Vasari that he established a school in his gardens
exclusively appropriated for the instruction of students in
gem engraving, and for the execution of similar works in
emulation of those ancient treasures which he so zealously
accumulated. The large number of magnificent Camei
marked with his name, LAVR. MED., still preserved in the
xiv INTRODUCTION.
Florentine Cabinet, notwithstanding the yet larger propor-
tion scattered over the other collections of Europe in con-
sequence of the subsequent revolutions of that commonwealth,
attest to our times the eagerness with which he sought after
these relics of ancient skill, and the high importance which
he attached to their acquisition. They were in truth, at that
period, before many antique statues or bas-reliefs had been
brought to light, the sole means of obtaining perfect and
satisfactory examples of the artistic excellence of the Greek
and Roman ages. And in no other department was this
prince more successful in raising up a school of skilful artists
than in this particular one, for the early Italian Camei
approach so closely to the Eoman, both in spirit and in
treatment, that to distinguish between them often baffles
the most extensive experience and leaves the real date of the
work a matter of dispute and of uncertainty. But fifteen
centuries before the days of Lorenzo, his illustrious proto-
type Maecenas had regarded this same branch of art with
especial favour, and has left striking evidences of his pre-
dilection for its productions in the scanty fragments of his
writings ; and, as a general observation, it will be found that,
the more extensive the knowledge of the man of taste in the
other lines of creative art, the more readily will he appreciate
the distinctive excellences of this one in particular; as is
clearly shown by the remarks of Goethe when this to him
entirely new field first opened on his view. For none but
smatterers in art ever estimate the value of a work by the
rule of its dimensions ; the man of true taste only looks at
the mind displayed in the production, not at the extent of
surface over which its result may be diffused. The feeling
which induces the pretender to taste to slight the genius
embodied within the small compass of the gem, merely on
account of its minuteness, is the same in its nature as that
INTRODUCTION. XV
which has prompted all races, as well at the dawn as at the
decline of the fine arts, to erect monuments which aim at
producing effect by their magnitude alone. Pausanias ob-
serves satirically that, "only Eomans and Ehodians pride
themselves upon the possession of colossi," whilst the master-
pieces of Greek skill rarely exceeded the size of life. And
thus, Cellini, piqued by a remark of M. Angelo (made on
seeing a small medallion of Atlas, chased by the former)
" that an artist might very well be able to excel in such
small designs and yet be incompetent to produce any work
of merit on a grander scale," in order to demonstrate the
falsity of this unjust assertion, immediately set about the
model of his famous Perseus, which most judges will pro-
bably agree in considering as superior to any statue left us
by his overweening critic.
It has been very justly observed by the author of ' Thoughts
on Antique Cameos and Intaglios ' that, although the work
on gems, whether in relief or sunk, be confined to a very
narrow space, and though, by reason of its necessary minute-
ness, it make not the direct, immediate, and powerful im-
pression upon the imagination and aifections which is felt
when we behold figures of life or above life-size, in high or
low relief, or when given to the eye on pedestals as statues,
still it remains an unquestionable fact, that in all that relates
to anatomical truth, expressiveness of attitude and aspect,
gracefulness of drapery, and every other detail and accom-
paniment of fine workmanship, the Greek, Sicilian, and
Roman artists were eminently distinguished, and especially
in that simplicity of contour and composition and masterly
ordonnance that have ever made the study of antique gems
so serviceable for the settlement of the principles and the
improvement of the practice of painting and sculpture.
Hence the lovers of the fine arts, and especially artists
xvi INTRODUCTION.
themselves, may discover the importance of the study of the
antique in this particular branch of workmanship. For
herein, says Mariette, knowledge is brought under the
dominion of a noble and lovely simplicity, which suffers
nothing to be brought before the eye but what is required
for the elevation of our ideas. And to the same effect is
the remark of Gori : " What is there more pleasant than
the contemplation of the works of the artists of antiquity, and
to behold, shut up as it were within the narrow compass of a
small, it may be of a very small gem, all the majesty of a
vast design, and a most elaborate performance ? The art of
engraving figures upon these minute stones was as much
admired by the ancients as that other sort of laborious skill
which produced full-sized statues out of bronze or marble. It
may even be said that gems in their eyes were of greater
value by reason of the extreme smallness of the stones, and
a hardness that defied the steel tool, and submitted to nothing
but the power of the diamond."
In short, it may be safely affirmed that the gem engravers
of the Alexandrian and Augustan ages were, in all that
concerns excellence of design and composition (that is, in all
those parts and principles of their art that admit of com-
parison), rivals of the most famous workers in marble and in
bronze, however large the dimensions of their works, or
perfect the finish of their workmanship. These wonderful
artists contrived to enclose witliin the narrowness of a little
agate-stone all the complicated details of an event in history,
or of a fable in mythology, and to make them stand forth in
beautiful relief as a Cameo, or to sink down as beautifully
into depth as an Intaglio, with all that truth of design and
power of expression which characterise the excellence of the
largest works of the most consummate masters. Great indeed
must have been his taste and talent, his power and patience,
INTRODUCTION. xvii
who could make a small-sized Onyx or Carnelian bear on its
surface or within its substance all those realities of place,
person, or thing, which belong to historical events or fabulous
traditions. It is Seneca's observation (suggested probably by
the sight of some production of the gem-engraver's skill), that
to enclose a whole within a small space is the work of a great
artist. The remark of Sir Joshua .Reynolds may also be cited
on this point, as to the importance of making this whole con-
gruous and consistent. " Excellence," says he, " in every part
and in every province of our art, from the highest style of his-
tory down to the resemblances of still-life, will depend upon
this power of extending the attention at once to the whole,
without which the greatest diligence is vain." The gem-artists
of antiquity, besides their other claims to our admiration, had
regard to uniformity of design, to congruity and consistency
throughout the entire work ; they took care that all its parts
were well fitted, and compactly distributed and disposed, and
that also in all their fulness and effect. \
To the archaeologist, or the inquirer into the usages of
domestic life amongst the ancients, engraved gems are in-
valuable authorities, supplying as they do the most authentic
details of the forms and construction of innumerable articles
connected with the uses of war, of navigation, of religious rites,
of the games of the circus and the arena, and of the festivals
and representations of the stage, with the costume, masks, and
all the other accessaries of the scenic performance. Let any
one, though totally unversed in this department of antique
knowledge, cast his eye over a good collection of impressions
from gems, and he will be both surprised and delighted, if a
classical scholar, to perceive how much light is thrown upon
ancient customs by the pictures which will there faithfully
offer themselves to his view. There he will see the various
pieces of the armour of the ancient Greek or Etruscan war-
xviii INTRODUCTION.
rior, carefully made out in their minutest details ; the obscure
subiect of the construction of the ancient trireme has been
li
principally elucidated by the representations thus handed
down to our times, whilst the various exercises, scenes, and
games of the paleestra, the theatre, and the circus, will be
found abundantly illustrated by the most instructive examples.
To take but a single instance out of the innumerable list
that might be quoted, the hydraulis and the mode of per-
forming upon it, of which no accurate notion can be extracted
from the long and obscure description of its construction
given by Vitruvius, are both plainly shown upon a plasma of
Roman date, lately in the Herz Collection, but since fortu-
natelv secured for the British Museum.
&>
Vizored Helmet : Etruscan. Sard. Macedonian Helmet. Agate.
Again, if we consider these gem-pictures in their relation
to classic mythology and fable, we shall discover many ob-
scure accounts left us by ancient writers on these heads, to be
eked out and rendered intelligible by the means of these
authentic remains of the creeds and ideas to which they
refer ; instances of which will be met with plentifully diffused
throughout the course of these pages. Thus, the new re-
ligions of mixed origin that flourished under the Roman
Empire, the Mithraic, the later Egyptian, and the various
forms of Gnosticism, cannot be properly studied without a
constant reference to these genuine illustrations of their
doctrines ; since the only written- documents concerning them
have been transmitted to us by either ignorant or prejudiced
INTRODUCTION. xix
adversaries, whose sole object was, to heap as many foul
charges as they could collect or devise upon the members of
rival sects. This is sufficiently apparent if we compare the
strange discrepancy of the notices of the Gnostic belief gene-
rally, as given by the Catholic Fathers from whom I have
quoted in the section upon its monuments, and the illustration
of the actual doctrines so plainly set forth in the talismanic
intagli engraved at the time for the use of these religionists.
As for the mysterious Mithraic worship, scarcely any other
source exists from which trustworthy information as to its true
nature can be gathered, except from the gems, cylinders, and
bas-reliefs still existing in such abundance, in spite of the
careful destruction by its opponents of all the larger objects
of the adoration of its votaries.
The disputed chronology of the annals of Egyptian history has
been already to some extent, and will doubtless, at some future
period, be yet more fully elucidated by the aid of the numerous
scarabei and tablets bearing the names and titles of the kings,
whenever a more satisfactory mode of interpreting their hiero-
glyphical legends, than the present conjectural method, shall
have been discovered and applied to their investigation.
These memorials will then do for the dynasties of Egypt
that service already done by the light of their medals for the
histories of the Greek, Roman, and Sassanian monarchs. As
it is, the present almost universal mode of reading every
hieroglyphic legend as though relating to Thothmes III. re-
minds one of the common mistake of persons not conversant
with ancient coins, who attribute every Roman medal to
Augustus because they see the letters AVG impressed
upon it.
Again, when we arrive at the period of the full develop-
ment of the glyptic art, we find a series of the most interesting
representations opening upon us; and one which includes,
xx INTRODUCTION.
besides gods, heroes, and emperors, other world-famed per
sonages, poets, philosophers, and warriors ; portraits of whom,
as not occurring necessarily upon medals, we should otherwise
be entirely deprived of, or else have the want but inade-
quately supplied by a defaced or dubious bust or statue.
And the intaglio possesses a most important advantage over
the medal in the perfect indestructibility of its impress, which
no time, no wear can efface, and nothing destroy, except the
utter comminution of the stone itself. Medals, on the contrary,
from the high relief of their surface, and the unavoidable
friction of commerce, as well as from the action of the earth
upon them, frequently disappoint our expectation as to the
effectiveness of the portrait they bear impressed ; and besides
this, they were seldom executed with the same degree of care
as the costly intaglio cut on the valuable gem for the signet of
the sovereign himself, or of that person of undying name whose
" counterfeit presentment " it has preserved to remotest ages.
But all the pleasures and advantages to be reaped from
this study have been admirably set forth by the "many-sided"
Goethe, in his observations on the collection of Hernsterhuis,
of which I subjoin a translation, as a most complete sum-
mary of all that can be said on the subject, and a most
suitable conclusion to these prefatory remarks.
Before this, however, a few words may be permitted upon
the causes of the decline of the taste for antique gems in our
own age ; for it is a singular fact, considering how completely
this taste had become extinct in England during the last forty
years, that at no previous period had it prevailed to such an
extent, both here and in the other parts of Europe, as during
the last half of the preceding century and the commence-
ment of the present. Never before had camei of impor-
tance fetched such extraordinary prices (witness the fragment
ascribed to Apollonides, and purchased by the Duke of
INTRODUCTION. xxi
Marlborough from Stosch for 1000 guineas) ; and the principal
gems of the cabinets formed during the same years are known
to have been acquired at sums falling not far short of the
above in magnitude. I have lately seen a cameo of Roman,
work, and that by no means of the highest order, a Roma
crowned by Victory, for which the Empress Josephine, herself
a collector, paid 10,000 francs ; and at her command Denon,
then Director of the Musee Imperiale, selected from the gems
there preserved a sufficient number to form a complete parure
for the wear of this unfortunate lady, the very impersonation
of refined and elegant extravagance. These gems, although
mounted in a suite of ornaments intended, from their origin,
to form a part of the crown jewels of France, never reverted
to the Paris Cabinet of Antiques after the fall of the Empress,
but were subsequently to her decease dispersed amongst the
various collections of European amateurs. It is to be hoped
that Denon had reconciled his duty with his loyalty by
selecting those camei which were more recommendable by
the beauty of the material than by the perfection of the
work. At this same date also the art itself had reached the
highest point to which it has ever attained since its revival ;
for it is within this same space of some fifty years that we
meet with the names of Costanzi, Rega, Pikler, and Marchant ;
and never before was skill in this profession so profusely
rewarded, instances of which will be found adduced in the
notices hereafter given of these engravers.
Many causes, however, may be assigned for the sudden
decline of the passion for collecting gems among the wealthy
classes of this country : one of considerable influence was,
without dispute, the uncertainty introduced into the study by
the unlimited fabrication of professed antique works, and by
the forging of the artists' names, a species of fraud now first
introduced, or at least extensively practised, and of which the
c 2
XXH INTRODUCTION.
Poniatowsky collection may be cited as the most glaring
example. And this was a deception extremely difficult of
detection ; and one by means of which amateurs of little
experience were frequently defrauded out of immense sums.
After Payne Knight, the acknowledged chief of English
archaeologists, had been so notoriously taken in by the famous
" Flora " of Pistrucci, all the others began to lose confidence
in their own judgment, and refused to expend thousands in
the purchase of " antique " works, the living authors of which
might possibly come forward, as Pistrucci did, to assert their
own claims to the honour of having produced them. And
no other branch of archaeology demands the union of so many
qualifications in the collector to enable him to advance on
tolerably safe ground in making his acquisitions, seeing that
a knowledge of mineralogy, of the mechanical processes of
engraving used at different periods, as well as an accurate
discrimination of the respective styles of art, and, above all,
the constant examination of large numbers of all descriptions
of engraved stones, are absolutely indispensable before pro-
ceeding to the commencement of a collection which is in-
tended to possess any real value. All these causes, together
with the other drawbacks to the pleasure of this pursuit,
enumerated in Duke Ernst's letter to Goethe, respecting the
proposed purchase of the cabinet of Hemsterhuis, powerfully
operated towards the discouragement of this study, both on
the Continent, and, more especially, in this country.
Last, but most powerful of all, came the revival of the
taste for mediaeval art ; beginning with the study of its archi-
tecture, and thence naturally diverging into an exclusive
admiration of the smaller productions of the same school in
metal-work, and wood and ivory carvings; objects of a
character so much more adapted by their quaint grotesque-
ness and barbarous vigour to captivate the unrefined taste of
INTKODUCTION.
XXlll
the amateurs of northern climes; and where a sufficient
amount of knowledge to avoid any very damaging mistakes
may be obtained with but little trouble, or natural sagacity,
or acquired experience. It is satisfactory to observe how
much more at present the attention of collectors is again
being directed towards these little monuments of perfect
taste, treasures only to be truly appreciated by the educated
and practised eye ; and how rapidly the mania is ebbing for
the acquisition of the Gothic monstrosities so much sought
after a few years ago. Now, when collections are brought to
the hammer, the most ardent competition is displayed for the
possession of the elegant art of the Eenaissance as manifested
in its majolica and bronzes ; and thus the public taste is
insensibly led back to the fountain-head of that very school
the study of the actual productions of classic times. This
is shown by the great rise in the value of antique statuettes
whenever they are oifered for sale objects in which is often
displayed the utmost perfection of antique skill ; and from the
love of these a fresh appreciation of the importance of
antique gems is rapidly springing up, as the vigorous com-
petition amongst amateurs for the best gems of the cabinets
lately disposed of abundantly testifies.
Prometheus making Man : Cameo. Onyx.
Amymone: Early Greek. Sard
"This estimable man (Hemsterhuis) had been led to
strive indefatigably after both the Moral as regards the soul,
and the Tasteful as regards the senses ; and tin's with a
sagacious acuteness peculiar to liimself. If a person is to be
thoroughly imbued with the former, then ought lie always to
be surrounded by the latter ; hence for a private person who
cannot go to the expense of large collections, but who yet is
unable to dispense with his accustomed enjoyment of art, even
when on a journey, for such a person a cabinet of engraved
gems is in the highest degree desirable; he is everywhere
accompanied by the most delightful of all things, one that
is precious and instructive without being burdensome, whilst
he enjoys without interruption the most noble of all his pos-
sessions.
" But to attain this end it is not enough merely to will it ;
for the carrying it out, besides the money, opportunity above
all things is required. This last was not wanting to our
friend : living as he did upon the passage between England
and Holland, by keeping watch upon the perpetual coin-
INTRODUCTION. xxv
mercial intercourse between the two countries, and upon the
treasures of art constantly passing to and fro in that com-
merce, he gradually, by means of purchase and of exchange,
had succeeded in forming a fine collection of about seventy
gems, in doing which he had derived the most trustworthy
assistance from the advice and interposition of that excellent
gem-engraver Natter.
"Of this collection the Princess Galitzin had in great
measure watched the formation, and thus gained knowledge,
taste, and a liking for the pursuit ; and at that time she was
its possessor, as the bequest of a departed friend, who always
appeared to her as present in these treasures.
" The philosophy of Hemsterhuis I could only make my
own, together with its grounds and its ideas, by translating
them into my own language. The Beautiful and the pleasure
derived from it consists, as he expresses himself, when we
behold and conceive comfortably the greatest possible number
of images in one and the same moment. I, on the contrary,
must assert that the Beautiful consists when we contemplate
the normally Living in its greatest activity and perfection, by
which we feel ourselves excited in a lively manner to the
reproduction of the same, and also placed simultaneously in a
state of the highest activity.
" Accurately considered, all that has been said is one and
the same thing, only expressed by different persons; and I
refrain from saying more, for the Beautiful is not so much a
giver as a promiser. On the other hand, Ugliness, which has
its origin in the stopping short of its end, of itself causes
us to stop still, and to hope for, aim at, and expect nothing
at all.
" Accordingly, I fancied that I could interpret his ' Letter
on Sculpture ' according to the above rule, consistently with
my own sentiments ; and further, his little work < On Desire'
xxvi INTRODUCTION.
appeared to me in this way intelligible ; for when the eagerly-
longed-for Beautiful comes into our possession, it does not
always make good in particulars what it promised in the
whole; and thus is it plain that the same thing which
excited our desire as a whole will sometimes not thoroughly
satisfy us in particulars.
" These considerations were so much the more important
as the Princess had observed her friend to long eagerly for
works of art, but to grow cold and weary in their possession ;
a fact which he has himself expressed so charmingly and so
cleverly in the above-mentioned little treatise. In such cases
a person has really to consider the difference as to whether
the subject is worthy of the enthusiasm felt for it ; if it be,
then must pleasure and admiration always grow upon it, and
perpetually renew themselves ; if it be not entirely so, then
the thermometer sinks some degrees, and one gains in know-
ledge what one loses in prejudice. Hence is it certainly
quite true that a person must buy works of art in order to
understand them, so that the desire may be removed and the
true value of the object established. Meanwhile, desire and
its satisfaction must here also alternate with one another in a
thrilling life ; they must mutually attack and release each
other, in order that the man once deceived may not cease to
pursue.
" However, it was often extremely agreeable to our party
to return again after these esthetic disquisitions to the con-
sideration of the gems, and we were in truth forced to re-
gard this as a most singular incident that precisely the very
flowers of Heathenism should thus be treasured up and so
highly valued in a Christian family. 1 I lost no time in
1 The Princess is depicted by Goethe as the very pattern of the perfect
Christian lady.
INTRODUCTION. xxvii
discovering the most charming subjects of the compositions
which sprung to meet the eye from out of these precious
miniature representations. Here also no one could deny that
copies of great, important, antique works, for ever lost to
us, have been preserved like jewels in these narrow limits.
Hardly any branch of art wanted a representative among
them ; in scarcely any class of subjects was a deficiency to
be observed. The vigorous, ivy-crowned Hercules could not
belie his colossal origin ; the stern Medusa's head, the Bacchus
formerly preserved in the Medicean cabinet, the graceful
sacrifices, the Bacchic festivals, and besides all these the most
valuable portraits of known and unknown persons, all ob-
tained our admiration during oft-repeated examinations.
" From out of such conversations, which, in spite of their
height and depth, ran no danger of losing themselves in the
abstruse, a point of connection appeared to manifest itself
between art and religion, inasmuch as all veneration for a
worthy object is always attended by a devotional feeling.
No one however could conceal from himself that the purest
Ghristian religion must ever find itself at variance with the
true creative art, inasmuch as the former ever strives to
extricate itself from the objects of sense, whilst the latter
recognises the sensuous element as its proper sphere of
action, and is obliged to abide within its limits.
" Notwithstanding this, the subject of engraved gems could
always be introduced as an excellent intermediary whenever
the conversation threatened to flag. I for my part could
indeed only appreciate the poetical part of the engraving,
the subject itself, the composition, the execution, and pass
judgment upon and praise these points alone ; my friends,
on the other hand, were accustomed to bring forward quite
different considerations upon the same topic. For, in fact,
the amateur who, having procured such treasures, shall
xxvm INTRODUCTION.
desire to raise his acquisitions to the rank of a respectable
cabinet, must for his own security in his enterprise, not re-
main satisfied with the mere ability to understand the spirit
and the sense of these precious works of art, and to delight
himself therewith, but he must also call external proofs to
his assistance ; a thing which must be excessively difficult for
one who is not himself a practical artist in the same depart-
ment. Hemsterhuis had corresponded for several years with
his friend Natter on this point, letters about which of great
value were still preserved. In these, the first thing that
came under consideration was the species of gem on which
the work was executed, inasmuch as some stones were
employed only in ancient, others again only in modern
times; thus, too, a superior degree of finish was above all
things to be kept in view, as a reason whence one might refer
the work to a good period of art ; whilst, on the other hand,
carelessness of execution being sometimes ascribed to the
taste of the period, as arising partly from incapacity, partly
from negligence, furnished the means of ascertaining the
earlier or later date of the work. Especial stress was laid
upon the polish of the sunken parts, and the connoisseurs
believed that they saw in this an irrefragable proof of work
of the best period. But as to whether an engraved gem was
decidedly antique or not, on this point no one ventured to
lay down any fixed rules of judgment; even our friend
Hemsterhuis having only been able to satisfy himself on
this particular difficulty by the decision of that unrivalled
artist Natter.
" I could not conceal from myself that I was here entering
upon quite a new field of observation, to which I felt myself
very strongly attracted, and could but lament the shortness
of the time of my stay, by which I saw myself cut off from
the opportunity of directing my eyes as well as mind more
INTRODUCTION. xxix
steadily upon the above-mentioned particulars. On one such
occasion the Princess expressed herself with the utmost
amiability and frankness, that she felt disposed to intrust
me with the collection in order that I might study it at
home in the company of my friends and of connoisseurs, and
so be able to educate and ground myself in this important
branch of art, by taking sulphur casts and glass pastes from
the intagli."
This liberal offer Goethe at first declined, not wishing to
take upon himself the responsibility of the charge in those
times of trouble ; however, at last the Princess obliges him to
accept her proposal, and he carries the collection home with
him to Weimar, where he re-arranges the gems in two cases
in regular order, accompanied with casts taken from them to
assist in their examination.
The following is the result of his long and careful study of
this invaluable collection, which I give at length, without any
fear of its being considered tedious, as it points out in a most
clear and forcible manner the great artistic merit displayed
in choice works of this description :
" We found ourselves justified on internal grounds of art
in pronouncing, if not all, yet by far the largest number of
these intagli, to be genuine antique monuments of art, and
indeed several were found among them which might be
reckoned in the number of the most distinguished works of
this kind. Some were conspicuous from the circumstance of
their being absolutely identical with older casts of celebrated
gems. Several others we remarked whose design corre-
sponded with that of other antique intagli, but which for this
very reason might still be accounted genuine. In very
extensive collections repetitions of the same subject often
occur, and we should be very much mistaken in pronouncing
one of them to be the original, the others but modern copies.
xxx INTRODUCTION.
In such a case we ought always to keep in mind the noble
artistic honesty of the ancients, which thought that it could
never repeat too often the treatment of a subject once suc-
cessfully carried out. The artists of those times considered
themselves as original enough when they felt sufficient
capability and dexterity to grasp an original thought, and to
reproduce it again after their own fashion.
"Several of these gems presented themselves with the
artist's name engraved upon them ; a circumstance upon
which great value has been set for many years past. Such
an addition is in truth remarkable enough, nevertheless the
inscription generally remains a subject of dispute, for it is
very possible that the stone may be antique, and the name
engraved in modern times, in order to add new value even to
the perfect."
This collection was afterwards purchased by the King of
Holland. Duke Ernst of Gotha had been strongly tempted to
make the acquisition, but had been deterred by the following
reasons, which are well worth transcribing, as vividly pointing
out all the drawbacks to the pleasure of this pursuit.
Triton: Komac. Bed Jasper
Duke Ernst writes thus to Goethe : " Much as he desired
the possession of the collection now before him, and well
aware as he was of its great value, yet was he held back not
so much by inward doubts as (and in a much greater degree)
by an external circumstance. He had no pleasure in pos-
sessing anything for himself alone, but gladly shared the
INTRODUCTION. xxxi
possession of it with others ; a pleasure too which was often
greatly embittered. There are. people who endeavour to
display their penetrating sagacity by appearing to doubt the
genuineness of every work of art laid before them, and by
casting suspicion upon the same. In order not to expose
himself repeatedly to such mortifications, he preferred fore-
going the eagerly-desired acquisition of the cabinet."
On this letter Goethe makes the following truly appro-
priate observations :
"It is highly vexatious to see a thing, though the most
perfect, received with doubt ; for the doubter sets himself up
above the trouble of proof, although he demands it from the
assertor of the authenticity of the work. But in such cases
on what does the proof rest, except upon a certain inward
feeling, supported by a practised eye, which may be able to
detect particular signs, as well as upon the proved probability
of certain historical requisitions, and in fact upon many other
circumstances which we, taking collectively, by their means
convince only ourselves at the last, but do not bring con-
viction into the mind of another ? But as things are, the love
of doubting finds nowhere a more ample field to display
itself in than precisely in the case of engraved gems ; now,
one is termed an ancient, now a modern copy, a repetition, an
imitation ; sometimes the stone itself excites suspicion, some-
times the inscription, which ought to have been of especial
value ; and hence it is more dangerous to indulge in collect-
ing gems than ancient coins, though even in the latter great
circumspection will be required, when, for instance, the point
is to distinguish certain Paduan imitations from the genuine
originals. The keepers of the French Cabinet of Medals
have long ago observed that private collections brought up
to Paris from the provinces contain a large proportion of
forgeries, because the owner, in his confined sphere of
XXX11
INTRODUCTION.
observation, has not been enabled to practise his eye suffi-
ciently, and has proceeded in his operations chiefly according
to his inclinations and his prejudices. In fine, on considering
the matter with exactness, this holds good of all kinds of
collections, and every possessor of one will be ready to own
that he has paid many a heavy apprentice fee for experience
before his eyes have been opened."
Alexander. Reverse. Venus and Apollo. .Lapis-lazuli.
Priest adoring the Winged Bull: Early Assyrian. Limestoue,
A SKETCH
THE HISTORY OF GEM - ENGRAVING.
IT is a curious fact that whilst the ancient mythologists have
ascribed to some particular divinity or hero the invention
of every useful or ornamental art, and of the instruments em-
ployed therein (as the loom to Minerva, the saw and auger to
Daedalus, the working in metal with the hammer and the anvil
to Cinyras the Cyprian, the lathe to Theodoras of Samos),
they should have left unrecorded the inventor of the various
processes of gem-engraving, a thing too so supremely im-
portant in their estimation, from its subservience to the uses
of public and private life, as much as to those of taste and
ornament. This silence on the part of the Greek mytho-
graphers, always ready as they were to claim for their own
countrymen the credit of every discovery or invention in
science or manufactures, even when evidently due to foreigners
xxxiv A SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF
and merely naturalized and perfected on the Hellenic soil,
sufficiently proves both the Oriental origin of this art and its
comparatively recent introduction into Greece and Italy.
The negative testimony also of Homer upon this point is
justly adduced by Pliny (xxxiii. 4), who observes that no
mention whatever of signet-rings occurs in his minute de-
scriptions of works in the precious metals and of jewellery,
though he particularly specifies necklaces, earrings, and head-
ornaments ; and as a still more convincing proof that they
were not known in his age, whenever he speaks of the securing
of treasures it is always as being effected by means of an
artfully tied knot only understood by the fastener, not by the
impression of a seal, the usual Greek and Eoman substitute for
a lock. Again, when he speaks of the letter carried by Belle-
rophon he makes no mention of a seal upon it, simply calling
it a "folded tablet ;" and when the warriors cast lots, it is done
with marked sticks and not with their signet-rings, the univer-
sal method after the latter had come into general use. But
on the other side, as far back as historical records go, signets
appear as holding a most important place among the Egyp-
tians and Assyrians : the signet of Pharaoh, given to Joseph
as the mark of investiture with ministerial office ; the trea-
sure-cell of Ehampsinitus secured by his seal (Herod, ii. 121) ;
the signet of Judah given as a pledge ; the temple of Belus
sealed with the royal signet, &c. &c. circumstances all
showing that the use of these means of security had been
known in the East from time immemorial, and to have been
almost coeval with the institution of the rights of property.
For in both these centres of primeval civilization it must be
remembered that the soft clay of the two parent rivers, the
Nile and the Tigris, supplied the first inhabitants with a
material for almost every requirement, their houses, store
vessels, coffins, &c. ; and it must have suggested itself to the
GEM-ENGRAVING. xxxv
first individual who deposited his property in a closed vessel
that it might be secured against pilferers by a plaster of clay
laid on the junction of the lid and rolled flat by a joint of a
cane, and hence the first origin of the perforated cylinder.
Something analogous meets us even so late as the days of
Aristophanes, when we find similar nature-seals (wormeaten
bits of wood) recommended as signets proof against all forgery,
to which the more elaborate productions of the engraver were
then so liable. From the natural impressions on the cane-
joint, or wood employed to stamp the clay, the transition was
easy, to some definite design scratched around its circumfe-
rence by the owner, and appropriated by himself as his pecu-
liar device. This instinct of possession, extending itself to
the assertion of exclusive property in certain figures or com-
binations of lines, is a natural impulse, and found to exist
amongst all tribes, when first discovered, wherever the first
traces of social life have begun to develop themselves. Thus
the Ked Indian has the mark of his nation, and that of the
individual (his totem}, to identify his property or his game;
the South Sea islander the tattooed pattern (amoco) that
distinguishes his family impressed upon his skin. These
simple signets preceded by a long space the invention of
hieroglyphics or any arbitrary signs for denoting ideas, for
the earliest Assyrian cylinders have nothing but rude figures
cut upon them, and bear none of those cuneiform inscriptions
so frequently added to the design upon those of later date.
And this later date is yet prior by some centuries to the first
appearance of anything like an engraved stone amongst the
first-civilized nations of Europe. Again, if we look to Egypt,
the incredible numbers of scarabs in clay and soft stone (of
the same date as these cylinders) still remaining, manifest
sufficiently the long-established use and the great importance
of the purposes for which they were employed amongst all
XXXVI
A SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF
classes of the inhabitants of that land, the fountain-head of
European civilization.
Egyptian Scarab* in Steafcbist.
2 Prenomenof 3. " Truth, the i>ood 4. Title of Thothmos 1 1 1 " Tin
Thotlimes III. goddess." Sun-plnier of Creation, the
type of Amon."
Hitherto, however, we have come upon no traces, in
these earliest signets, of the true process of gem-engraving,
for all the designs they bear have been carved by means
of some cutting instrument upon a comparatively soft
material the earliest Assyrian cylinders being of Serpentine,
the Egyptian scarabs of clay or Steaschist. The invention
of this most beautiful art is undoubtedly due to the seal-
engravers of Nineveh, shortly before the reign of Sargon,
the date at which cylinders first appear made out of
the "Hard Stones" Crystal, Onyx, Agate, charged with
engravings executed precisely in the style of the archaic
Greek intagli, and marked by the same minuteness of detail
and elaborateness of finish. Amongst these, the signet of
Sennacherib may be quoted as an example most fully illus-
trative of this assertion ; for it is made of one of the hardest
substances known to the lapidary, the Amazon-stone, and
bears an intaglio which by its extreme minuteness and the
precision of the drawing displays the excellence to which the
art had already attained, indicative of the long practice of
the artist capable of such a work. Cylinders of nearly equal
merit to this, and a large number of fair execution, done in
the same style and by the same perfected process, continued
GEM-ENGRAVING. xxxvii
to be produced during the whole succeeding period, down to
the very close of the Persian empire. The Egyptians, how-
ever, did not generally adopt this new but more laborious
process, but continued to carve or chisel their rude hiero-
glyphics on soft materials until the age of the Ptolemies, the
signets of the kings and nobles being engraved on gold, those
of the lower classes on the softer substances, and by the
means already mentioned. The circumstance that even in
the age of Theophrastus the best stone for engraving gems
with was still imported from Armenia, points of itself to that
locality as the place where its use was first discovered and
generally adopted by the workers in this line. Although
neglected by the Egyptians, the new mode of engraving upon
Hard Stones was speedily taken up by the Phenicians, the
allies or tributaries of the Assyrian and Persian kings ; for
many seals of a purely Phenician character, yet of the earliest
date, are found, bearing also legends in Semitic letters (of
which they were the first inventors), and even some cylinders
are preserved clearly attributable to the same people. They
diffused the knowledge of this, together with the other arts,
among the Asiatic and Insular Greeks. Homer frequently men-
tions the Tyrian merchant-ships voyaging amongst the islands
of the Egean, and trafficking in ornaments and jewellery with
the inhabitants (Odys. xv. 460) ; and the first intagli produced
amongst the cities of the sea-board still bear the impress of
an Assyrian origin in the stiff drawing yet careful execution
of the animals (bulls or lions for the most part), the favourite
devices upon the signets of the newly-planted Ionian or
.ZEolian colonist. And this was to be expected, for it will be
observed that the designs upon the scarabs of the Phenicians
themselves deviate but little from the strict rules of the
Assyrian code of art for instance, in the numerous gems
from their cemeteries at Tharros. Thence to Greece Proper
d2
xxxvill A SKETCH OF THE HISTOKY OF
the transition was rapid, and the signet, now for the first time
universally worn in a finger-ring, came into general favour
throughout all the population ; a new manner this of securing
the seal, for its oriental inventors had invariably worn their
cylinder or stamp as the ornament of a bracelet or necklace.
That the invention of the finger-ring is ascribed to Pro-
metheus, a Greek hero, and its name, Sax-rt/Xiov (a word of
native origin unlike those of other personal ornaments evi-
dently of foreign root, as /xavjaxou and \I/XXiov), prove this
to have been a purely Grecian fashion. In addition to this
is the express statement of Pliny that the use of finger-rings
was introduced among the Romans from Greece, and though
gems of the most archaic style come to light on the mainland,
yet scarabs are only disinterred in the cemeteries of the
islands, and thus may have belonged to Phenician or
Etruscan visitors. Be this as it may, signet-rings must have
attained universal popularity in Greece before 600 B.C., soon
after which date Solon, amongst his other laws, passed one
prohibiting the gem-engravers (already constituting a distinct
trade) from keeping by them the impression of any signet
once sold, in order to prevent the forgery of a counterpart or
replica of the first for fraudulent purposes. And about this
time also Herodotus mentions the famous emerald of Poly-
crates and the reputation of its engraver, the jeweller and
metal-worker Theodoras of Samos.
Proceeding now to consider the contemporary class of
Etruscan scarabs, we discover in them also the most evident
traces of an Asiatic origin. Like the Phenician, they retain
to the last the form of the beetle. The subjects cut upon the
earliest sort are exclusively animals, domestic and wild ; it
was only after their intercourse with the Greeks had been
long established that they represent the figures and scenes
derived from the mythology of that people. This may be
GEM-ENGRAVING. xxxix
explained on the ancient theory, that the ruling Etruscan
caste were a civilizing band of colonists from Asia, who intro-
duced among the Celtic (Pelasgian) aborigines of Central
Italy an art already flourishing in their native country. At
a later period the Hellenic settlers in Magna Graecia seem,
from their constant intercourse with the Etruscans, to have
borrowed from them the form of the scarab (doubtless still
venerated as a religious symbol), 1 but to have imparted to the
intagli engraved upon its base that elegance and finish due to
their own natural taste and advancement in modelling, paint-
ing, and statuary. Hence arises the circumstance, at first sight
so difficult of explanation, of the co-existence of two contem-
porary classes of scarabs, one extremely rude, the other highly
finished as regards the intagli.
In Sicily and Magna Grsecia gem-engraving, like the
cognate art of die-sinking, attained to its highest perfection
first. Greece itself was ever a poor country, and distracted
by perpetual wars, whilst the colonies sent out from it were
advancing, through commerce and agriculture, to an incre-
dible degree of prosperity. In one Dorian colony, Cyrene,
.ZElian expressly notices the wonderful skill (or numbers) of
the gem-engravers; and Ismenias is reported to have sent
from Athens to Cyprus to purchase an emerald engraved
with Amymone, the description of which had taken his fancy.
Most of the finest gems in our collections show, by the identity
of their style, that they proceed from the same hands that
cut the coin- dies for the mintage of these same cities. After
this, the establishment of the Macedonian dynasty in Asia,
and the command of unbounded wealth, conduced greatly to
the encouragement of this art, pre-eminently the handmaid
1 Worshipped by the Egyptians eggs, typifying the creation of the
as the symbol of the Sun, by its globe. (Plin. xxx. 30.)
forming the balls, depositories of its
xl A SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF
to elegant luxury. This age gives us for the first time the
portraits of princes, whose likenesses now occupy the gem in
the place of that of the national deity; and from many
allusions of ancient authors (hereafter to be not-iced), it would
appear that the usual signet of any personage of importance
was the likeness of himself. The example of this substitution
was probably set by Alexander, and connected with his own
assumption of divinity, which will also explain his restriction of
the privilege of engraving his sacred portrait to Pyrgoteles, the
first artist of the day in that branch ; for the numerous heads
of this hero now extant are almost invariably of much later
date, and belonging to the times of the Eoman empire, when
they used to be worn as amulets. With his age also begins
the series of camei, the earliest known being the grand
Odescalchi Sardonyx of Ptolemy and Berenice, evidently a
contemporary work. Before this time, to judge from the
confused expressions of Theophrastus, the Sardonyx had been
almost unknown to the Greeks, and apparently supposed to
be an artificial composition of the Indian jeweller.
Demetrius Soter. Sard.
Thus the art went on in its rapid progress to its culminat-
ing point, its professors ranking high amongst the artists of
the day, and their works deemed worthy of commemoration by
the court-poets, as the Galene of Tryphon sung by Addaeus.
They were patronised by the greatest princes ; Mithridates
GEM-ENGRAVING. xli
is recorded as the founder of the first royal cabinet of gems ;
we find also a ^ work upon this study dedicated to him by
the Babylonian Zachalias. Unfortunately, the engravers
never ventured to place their names upon their works much
before the times of Augustus, so that Cronius and Apollonides,
mentioned by Pliny as (after Pyrgoteles) eminent in this
branch, are the only artists of this age of perfection of whom
there exists any historical record.
The Komans, following their original teachers the Etruscans,
adopted from them at first the scarab-signet, and retained
this form until late in the republican period, as the modern-
ized treatment of many of the intagli upon such gems plainly
shows. It is impossible to fix the date when they began to
substitute signet-rings for this primitive ornament. Pliny
mentions that amongst the statues of the kings only two,
Numa and Servius Tullius, were represented as wearing rings.
These early signets, also, according to Ateius Capito, were
not set with engraved stones, but had the seal cut upon the
metal of the ring itself. When the use of gold rings was
introduced amongst them by the Greeks (those of Sicily, no
doubt), then engraved gems also began to be admired and
employed for signets. This change of fashion, which took
place in the later days of the republic, produced the nume-
rous intagli that are turned up in the vicinity of Koine, dis-
tinguished from those of Greek and of Imperial workmanship
by the deeply-cut intagli upon them, retaining much of the
Etruscan style, and giving nearly the same subjects as the
original scarabs, but with a better defined outline and more
correct drawing. Many of these bear traces of having been
originally set in iron rings, and thus indicate the period of
the first introduction of engraved stones into that city.
But under Augustus gem-engraving in all its branches
reached its very highest point, and more especially in the
xlii A SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF
department of portraits. Under the patronage of Maecenas
flourished Dioscorides, Solon, Aulus, Gnaeus- all the talent
of Greece ; either attracted to the metropolis of the world as
offering the most promising field for their genius, or else
originally brought there as the freedmen of those nobles whose
family names they assumed on manumission. Now became
universal the practice of the engraver placing his signature upon
his best works, a convincing testimony to the high estimation
in which that class was held, in this permission to commemo-
rate themselves upon the ornaments of the highest personages.
Nereid and Hippocampi. Cameo.
This also is the age, par-eminence, of camei, whether portraits
or groups, or single figures ; for those that can with certainty
be assigned to the pure Grecian period are of extreme rarity.
The regular intercourse now established with the interior of
Asia supplied the Sardonyx, and that in pieces of a size and
beauty not attainable in modern times. To Severus inclusive
it may be said that the best works of the Roman school are
cameo portraits of the emperors and their relations.
During these two centuries the trade of making Pastes was
also carried on to an enormous extent to meet the require-
ments of the poorer classes, who could neither dispense with
so necessary an ornament, nor yet afford the cost of an
engraved gem of any merit, and thus were enabled to gratify
taste or vanity at a very trifling outlay. This business throve
amazingly, and has left us innumerable relics of the extra-
GEM-ENGRAVING. xliii
ordinary skill of the workmen in glass until it ceases quite
suddenly in the third century, together with the productions
of the gem-engraver himself. Camei were often reproduced
in Pastes with wonderful fidelity and an admirable imitation
of the material, especially where the cast has been re-worked
and polished after the fashion of a gem. But Camei in Sar-
donyx were also produced in large quantities, many of them
extraordinaiy for art and material, some bearing the engra-
ver's name, but the greater portion unsigned, until the reign
of Severus. In fact, some of the finest extant belong to
the times of Hadrian, the most flourishing period of Roman
art in all its extent ; but from the date just mentioned gem-
engraving declined and became extinct with extraordinary and
unaccountable rapidity. Gold medallions and coins had super-
seded the intaglio and cameo imperial portrait as personal
ornaments ; the spread of Christianity acted more and more
as a check upon the reproduction of other representations of
the elegant Western mythology ; and those v permitted by the
change in religious sentiments were only the tasteless and
barbarous symbolical figures of the new Egyptian and Oriental
creeds. At length, in the 5th century, Roman gem-engrav-
ing entirely vanishes, its last traces fading away in the
swarms of ill-cut and worse drawn Abraxas Jaspers and Ma-
nichean amulets. Of the Byzantine nobles the signets were
of metal, charged with the letters of the cognomen quaintly
arranged in the form of a cross ; and the few men of taste yet
surviving treasured up the gems, the works of previous cen-
turies, as precious articles of vertu, not to be profaned by
common use.
In the mean time the art had taken refuge under the pro-
tection of the young and vigorous monarchy of Persia,
when, together with the resurrection of the Achemenian
dynasty and religion in the 3rd century, its productions had
xliv A SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF
come again into as general request as during the ages pre-
ceding the Macedonian Conquest, which have left us such
stores of cylinders and Assyrian seals. During the long rule
of the Parthians (a truly Turkish race), that region had
indeed been singularly barren in engraved stones ; it may be
said entirely so ; so dubious are any intagli that can be re-
ferred to the Arsacidae. But on the contrary, the four cen-
turies of the revived Persian empire have left to us abundant
memorials of their sovereigns and their religion, in works
somewhat rude it must be confessed, but still far less so than
the contemporary monuments of effete Western civilization,
and extremely valuable historically from the legends that
surround the regal portrait, expressing his name and high-
sounding titles. Barbarous as the style of most of these
intagli is, and coarsely as the lines are sunk into the
stone, there is a force and individuality of expression about
many of them which display the engraver's appreciation of
the true principles of his art. This class is continued down
quite to the Mohammedan Conquest in the 7th century, and
then suddenly comes to an end simultaneously with the
dynasty whose features it had so long perpetuated.
Late Sassanian Portrait: peihaps Ctosroes II. Calcedony.
Their place is taken by the only forms permitted by the
religion of the conquerors, elegant Cuphic inscriptions ar-
ranged in cyphers wrought in a neat and precise manner
upon the choicest stones. The demand for these signets
GEM-ENGRAVING. xlv
throughout the East, and the taste required for the graceful
combination of the flowing curves distinguishing Arabic
calligraphy, kept alive all the mechanical processes of the
art until the time of its revival in Italy.
The Byzantine school of the same interval merely deserves
a passing notice, the sole evidence of its existence remaining
to us being a few camei of religious subjects, in which the
miserable execution is on a par with the tastelessness of the
design. Throughout the West for the same ten centuries
(from the fall of Home to the Italian Kenaissance) gem-
engraving was, with a few doubtful exceptions, entirely un-
known. The signets (still as much required, and for purposes
of the same importance as in the times of antiquity) were
seals of metal, or else antique intagli set in rings, having
their subjects interpreted in a scriptural s^ense, and legends
added around the bizzel to set forth this novel interpretation.
Official seals in the Middle Ages were large and elaborate
designs cut upon a metal matrix ; but the demand for antique
intagli to be set in personal signets was enormous ; not re-
gulated however in any degree by their beauty, but solely by
the nature of the subjects upon them, according to the pre-
vailing belief in the talismanic virtue of certain sigils, deter-
mined by the rules of the various Lapidaria then so much
studied.
Thus the art slumbered on, seemingly destined never to be
revived ; totally extinct in the West, confined in the East to
the production of the intricate convolutions of cyphers and
monograms, when with the first dawn of the Kevival in Italy
it not only woke up, but within the space of a single lifetime
attained to its second maturity, rivalling its ancient parent in
beauty and skill, and in one class, the camei, far surpassing
her in numbers, and perhaps in excellence. Towards the
middle of the 15th century Italian taste had grown rapidly
xlvi A SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF
more classical, and had gradually freed itself from the infec-
tion of Gothicism (la maniera Tedesca) as the several re-
publics shook off their German tyrants a transition that
manifested itself in all the works of the Quattro- Cento, in
monuments, furniture, pottery, and jewels. The new passion
for antique works was necessarily compelled from the first to
look for its gratification to the gems so long treasured up by
their mediaaval predecessors on account of either their intrinsic
value or mystic virtues, but at length admired by the newly-
opened eyes of a more cultivated generation for their true
merits. To imitate them was the next step, and that not a
difficult one; the mechanical methods, themselves of the
simplest nature, were already known to the Florentines
through their constant intercourse with the Levant ; and the
goldsmith who had worked from his youth on the Nielli of
the same century was, as far as drawing went, quite on a
level with the ancient Dioscorides or Aulus. This is the
reason why the art reached its second full development in so
short a time, and almost without passing through any stage
of infancy, for the few gems that betray any influence of
mediaeval taste are extremely rare. By the end of the same
century we find Camillo Leonardo praising Anichini, Gio.
Maria da Mantova, and Tagliacarne, as equal to any of the
ancients, and stating that their works were diffused over all
Italy, which implies that their labours had already extended
over several previous years.
The next century, the Cinque-Cento, furnishes the celebrated
names of II Vicentino, Alessandro Cesati, Maria da Pescia,
and a hundred others of nearly equal merit, whose works,
especially in cameo, constitute at present (passing for an-
tiques) the choicest portion of many a celebrated collection.
The wheel and the magnifying-glass had now enabled the
artist to pour forth a swarm of camei with a facility unknown
GEM-ENGRAVING. xlvii
to the ancient engraver ; whilst the demand for them as
ornaments (quite the converse of that prevailing in classic
times) had far exceeded that for intagli, and thus stimulated
the production of the former to an incredible degree. Large
intagli, however, in Eock Crystal, were especial favourites in
this century, and constitute the most noted works of II Vi-
centino ; these, together with the contemporary camei, adorned
both the ecclesiastical and domestic plate, the dresses and the
arms of the nobles and the wealthy merchants.
The next century, an age of civil wars throughout Europe,
which arrested and even threw back the civilization hitherto
advancing with such rapid steps, witnessed also a great decline
in this art, both in the quantity and still more in the excellence
of its productions, which are usually intagli of large dimen-
sions, coarsely and deeply cut, for the most part heads of
Roman deities and repetitions of the works of a better period.
The 18th century, however, brought with it a great and
unexpected improvement in both the branches of gem-
engraving, and more particularly in the works in intaglio.
The great point of difference to be remarked between the
style of the artists of this time and that of the best works of
the Cinque- Cento is this : the latter did not servilely copy the
antique, but borrowed its subjects and treated them in its
own peculiar manner, and that with a spirit and liveliness
that brought forth really original works bearing the stamp of
their era upon themselves, and hence valuable historically as
monuments of a particular period of art. But the engravers
of the last century totally disclaimed all originality, content-
ing themselves for the most part with making repeated copies
of certain famous gems, and placing their highest ambition
in the ability to pass off their own work upon unsuspicious
amateurs as some recent discovery of undoubted antiquity.
Almost the only one to be exempted from this charge is the
xlviii A SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF
chief of the list, John Pichler, to whom may be added, in
some instances, Natter and Eega ; though the two hitter did
engrave and pass off many gems as antique, and which still
rank as such in many a noble cabinet. This may truly be
styled the age of forgeries of all kinds and degrees; the
adding false names to genuine antiques, the re-touching the
ruder gems of ancient engravers, the making pastes to such
perfection, that when prepared as doublets they often deceive
the most experienced eye. It is this period that has thrown
so much uncertainty into this study, and has rendered the
coming to a decision as to the genuineness of a fine intaglio,
if judged of by the work alone, irrespective of mineralogical
considerations, one of the most difficult tasks for the archaeo-
logist, however much attention he may have given to this
particular subject. Sirletti, Costanzi, Ant. Pichler, and a
host of others little inferior to them as copyists of the antique
manner, all pursued this then most lucrative trade, and have
left behind them an infinite number of such fabrications to
perplex all future connoisseurs. It may be asserted with
truth that, for every gem of any note full a dozen copies are
in circulation ; and often so close is the imitation, as to cast
a doubt upon the certainty of the original itself. The larger
intagli, especially the imperial portraits, have been the most
exposed to these fraudulent reproductions. This abundance
of counterfeits, and the discredit brought upon the critical
knowledge of collectors by their admission into some of the
choicest cabinets formed during this period, may be assigned
as one of the chief causes of the sudden decline of the taste
for gems since the commencement of the present century.
The few English gem-engravers who have ever attained to
any celebrity all flourished during the latter half of the 18th
century : it will suffice to name Brown, Wray, Marchant,
and Burch. Their works, all in intaglio, though fine and
GEM-ENGRAVING. xlix
correctly drawn, are nevertheless much inferior to those of
the contemporary Italian school, the last of whom, Pistrucci,
survived till within a few years. With him and Girometti at
Rome the art may be said to have expired, as far as regards the
execution of works displaying equal genius and commanding
similar prices with the chefs-d'oeuvre of painting and sculp-
ture. Even at Rome all that survives of this once so nume-
rous profession are a few mechanics rather than artists, who
manufacture the cameo Onyx studs so largely purchased by
the visitors, mere trade articles, finished off by the dozen at
the lowest possible expenditure of time and labour; some
who still forge to order the mediocre antique intagli ; and, the
only class making any pretension to taste and skill, the cutters
of camei in shell. Thus the art of engraving designs upon hard
and precious materials may be said now to have closed its
career of thirty centuries in the same phase in which it started
at the first dawn of civilization, when the Egyptian first
fashioned his scarab out of the soft steaschlst, his first essay
being a work in relief, intended for stringing on the necklace
or bracelet ; so in our times the Roman shell-camei, of an
equally valueless substance, and designed for similar orna-
ments, alone preserve a faint shadow of the departed glories
of the glyptic art. 1
Helmet of King Stanislas Poniatowsky: Greek. Jasper-prase.
1 The different subjects touched will be found given at length under
upon in this sketch, with the au- their respective heads in the follow-
thorities for the various statements, ing chapters.
Maecenas: intaglio by Solon
.try : Greek work.
Onyx.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PREFACE
INTRODUCTION
GOETHE ON THE STUDY OF ANTIQUE GEMS
SKKTCH OF THE HISTORY OF THE ART OF GEM-ENGRAVING
DESCRIPTION OF THE COPPERPLATES
DESCRIPTION OF THE WOODCUTS
PAGE
jii
xi
xxxiii
liii
Iviii
SECTION
Ancient sources of gems
Gems used by the Greeks
Sards
Calcedony
Onyx, Sardonyx, Nicolo, Agate
Plasma
Jaspers
Garnets
Jacinth
Emeralds
Beryl
Amethyst
Sapphims Hyacinthus ..
Hyacinthus, Sapphire
Ruby
Topaz, Chrysolite, Chrysoprase
Turquois
I. MATERIALS. v
PAGE
1
3
Magnet Loadstone
Tourmaline
5
Aventurine
7
Obsidian
8
14
16
Porphyry Basalt
Opal
Diamond
20
Pastes
22
Terra-cotta seals
27
Murrhina
38
Alabaster
41
44
46
52
56
Rock-crystal
Jade
Jet
The forms of antique gems
Chemical composition of gems
59
PAGE
60
62
63
63
64
65
67
72
81
83
88
90
97
98
99
100
SECTION II. ART.
Tests of antiquity instruments
used by the ancient engravers 101
Egyptian intagH 113
Greek, Etruscan, and Sardinian
Scarabs 118
Assyrian and Persian cylinders 125
iii
CONTENTS.
SECTION 11. continued.
PAGE
PAGE
High-priest's breast-plate
134
French collection
255
Persian and Sassanian seals . .
137
Berlin collection
259
Early Persian gerns
145
Florentine collection
260
Indian engraved gems
149
Other Italian collections
260
Modern oriental iutagli
153 Modern gem-engravers
261
Greek and Roman glyptic art . .
156 English gem-engravers ..
273
Stone-rings
176 Rings and settings
276
Flexible glass
1 79 Figure rings
295
Cameo-engravings
181
Papal and Episcopal rings
296
Names of artists inscribed on
Mediaeval use of antique gems
301
gems
200
Cross of King Lotharius
305
Coin-dies
206
Jewellery of the Roman ladies
306
Names of ancient gem-engravers
211
Crowns of the Gothic kings of
Catalogue of ditto
230
Spain
308
Antique gems of the British
Ring of the Great Mogul
310
Museum
238 Statues adorned with jewels . .
311
The Devonshire gems
246
SECTION
III. SUBJECTS.
Remarkable signets of antiuuitv
316 Ta,o. Abraxas
354
O ^ J
Chimerae
327
Isiac symbols
366
Astrological intagli
331
Medical stamps
371
Mithraic intagli
338 '
Bronze stamps
375
Serapis
340
Subjects of intagli
376
Gnostic gems
342
Casts in plaster and wax
384
Christian intagli
352
SECTION IV. MYSTIC VIETUES.
Lapidarium of Marbodus
389
Magic rings
457
Medical virtues of gems
418
Prophylactic rings
459
Magical sigilla
433
Planetary rings
459
Signs of the zodiac
437
Gimmels
460
Figures of the planets
439
Dactyliomancy
461
Sigils of Ragiel
442
Toad-stone
463
Sigils of Chael
444
Treatises on gems
466
The worm Samir
448
APPENDIX
471
Observations upon these sigils .
449
INDEX
489
Ovum Anguinum
454
Cupid on a hippocamp
Onyx.
l
18
1Z
15
v
.. Salanetri icl . et
LOUDON: JOHN M17RHA.Y, SO, AJ.B EMA-RI.E STR F .
PLATE T.
SCARABEI FROM THE MERTENS-ScHAAFHAUSEN COLLECTION. 1
1. FEMALE in a long robe lifting; from the ground a child with deformed leers:
probably Pallas and Ericthonius. Etruscan. Sard.
2. SEATED SPHINX, above is the royal vulture, in front a palm-tree. Phenician,
Calcedony.
3. WARRIOR on horseback caiTying a trophy. Etruscan. Sard.
4. GRYPHON devouring a stag. Greco-Italian. Sard.
5. CROUCHING SPHINX, in front two hawks, in the field various letters. Late
Egyptian. Topaz.
6. NAKED MAN touching his ancle : perhaps an Apoxyomenos. Greco-Italian of the
best period. Amethyst.
7. WARRIOR plunging a sword into a human head which he carries in his left hand :
perhaps Tydeus with the head of Melanippus. Etruscan. Sard.
8. SILENUS reclining, in his hand the cantharus ; a large crater in the field. A
magnificent old Greek work. Calcedony.
9. FAUN reclining on a raft formed of six amphorse fastened together, and holding
up a wine-skin for a sail. Etruscan. Sard.
10. WARRIOR extracting an arrow from his leg: probably Diomede wounded by
Paris. Greco-Italian. Sard.
11. BACCHUS in a long robe, in one hand a rhyton, in the other a myrtle-branch.
Etruscan. Sard.
12. A WINGED MONSTER, resembling the winged boar on the coins of Clazomenae.
Sard.
13. SEATED SPHINX, bold and spirited style, perhaps assignable to Chios. Agate.
14. WARRIOR in full armour kneeling (Tydeus in ambush), of the best Greco-Italian
style. Sard.
15. SEATED FIGURE adoring an Egyptian king, advancing towards him. Fine Greco-
Egyptian work. Obsidian.
16. CUPBEARER; in one hand the wiue-strainer, in the other the ladle by which the
wine was taken out of the crater. Late Etruscan. Obsidian.
17. NAKED WARRIOR with huge hemispherical shield and large sword. Etruscan.
Sard.
18. NAKED YOUTH, in his hand a large broadsword, weeping over a sepulchral
column (Castor at the tomb of Aphareus), on which is bung a discus and a
strigil. Greco-Italian. Onyx.
19. WARRIOR bending a bow, behind a shield; perhaps Pandarus. Greco-Italian.
Calcedony.
20. AN AGED MAN supporting a fainting youth, a female grasps his arm. This group
is explained by Steinbiichel as Daedalus introducing Theseus to Ariadne.
Greco-Italian work of the most perfect execution. Sard. (Perhaps Electra
and the Chorus tending the mad Orestes.)
1 This collection is one of the most im- Cento works, and continued until her death to
portant ever formed by a private person. enrich the series with fresh acquisitions made
Madame Mertens-l^-haafhausen of Bonn was i in Germany, France, and Italy. At present it
already in possession of about 100 antique consists of 1876, comprising fragments and an-
gems when, in 1839, she purchased the entire tique pastes (the latter comparatively few), or
Praun Collection. This consisted of above 1626 stones and 250 pastes.
1000 engraved stones, and had been formed i In 1859 this Cabinet was purchased by the
during the second half of the 16th century by j present owner, and was added to his already
Paulus von Hraun, a patrician of Nuremburgh, ; important series, amongst which are nuni-
who died at Bologna in 1616, after having bered some of the finest intagli of the Herz
passed the greater part of his life in Italy. ; Collection, the Maecenas, the Discobulus, &c. ;
His cabinet of gems, left as an heir-loom to and (from another source) the Triumph of
his family, had always been preserved intact Silenus, perhaps the most perfect antique
until the time of its acquisition by Madame composition known ; nil figured in these
Mertens. She separated from it the Cinque- plates.
e 2
PLATE II.
GREEK INTAGLI FROM THE MERTENS-SCHAAFHAUSEN COLLECTION.
1. HERCULES SLAYING THE HYDRA. Exactly identical with a type of the coins of
Phaestus, in Crete. Sard.
2. HEAD OF PENELOPE, or more probably of Creusa. See Christodorus ' Statues
in the (Gymnasium of Zeuxippus' (Anthol. i. p. 32) :
" ./Eneas' consort next, in mournful guise
The veiled Creusa met my wondering eyes ;
Round both her cheeks her veil full closely drawn,
Down to her feet descends the flowing lawn
As one lamenting stands the woeful dame,
And tears of bronze her nurse's fall proclaim ;
How conquered Ilium on that fatal day
Lost and betrayed had sunk, the Argives' prey. 1 '
Deeply cut on a very fine Sard.
3. ATREUS ARMED WITH THE HARPE OF PERSEUS (the founder of Mycenae),
about to cut up the child of his brother Thyestes. Bold Greco-Italian work.
Sard.
4. HEAD OF APOLLO. Fine work of the early school. Nicolo.
5. HEAD OF A POET (perhaps Terpander, wrongly called of Ulysses). Calcedony.
6. WOUNDED WARRIOR DEFENDING HIMSELF WITH AN AXE. Antique paste.
7. NEPTUNE. Delicate work in low relief. Yellow Sard.
8. SILENUS holding a crater to his panther. Late work, probably Roman. Sard.
broken.
9. HERO AND LEA.NDER. Fine work. Pale Sard.
10. ORPHEUS seated on a rock, supporting his lyre on the trunk of a tree. Sard.
11. CERES, or a priestess with sceptre and fillet, her hair gathered into a long tress.
Minutely finished. Sard.
12. ACTOR IN THE COMCEDIA TOGATA, holding the pedum, and wearing a comic
mask. Sard.
13. VENUS REGARDING HERSELF IN A CONVEX MIRROR. Agate.
14. INDIAN BACCHUS. Archaic style. Sard.
15. ERECTHEUS ABOUT TO SACRIFICE HIS DAUGHTER CHTHONIA beneath the sacred
olive-tree: a female seen emerging from the ground typifies the following
suicide of all her sisters. Agate.
16. YOUTHFUL FAUN CARRYING A KID. An admirable work. Yellow Sard.
17. LUNA VISITING ENDYMION sleeping upon Mount Latmos : Cupids bearing attri-
butes of the chase An admirable group, and engraved on a Sard of extra-
ordinary beauty.
18. ARGUS WITH ADZE cutting out the stem of his ship from the vocal oak of Dodona
supplied by Pallas. Greco-Italian work. Sard.
GREEK GEMS.
LONDON; JOHN MURRAY, hO. AI.BEMA.BJ.E STREET j I860.
LONDON ; JOKN MURRAY. SO. AiBEMARt. E STREET, I860 .
PLATE III.
ROMAN INTAGLI FROM THE MERTEXS-$CHAAFHAUSEN COLLECTION.
1. A SEATED YOUTH holding a serpent over an altar : behind him is a butterfly on
a branch: symbolizing a sacrifice to Esculapius. Sard.
2. AGED FAUN SEATED, stirring the contents of a large vase : iu front, Cupid with
a flambeau. Deeply cut on a splendid Jacinth.
3. JUNO CAPITOLINA ; before her the sacred goose. Sard.
4. CUPID ON DOLPHIN, playing the double flute. Onyx.
5. DOG'S HEAD AND SACRIFICIAL KNIFE: attributes of Hecate. Red Jasper.
6. BUSTS OF GALLIENCS AND SALONINA crowned with wheatears: between them
an altar on which stands an eagle. (Compare the noted aureus of Gallieuus
thus crowned : Rev., VBIQVE PAX.) Sard.
7. JUPITER SEATED WITHIN THE ZODIAC : upon the gem of Jupiter, Lapis-lazuli.
Astrological intaglio, the horoscope of the owner :
" Nunquam erit pauper cigus nativitatis dominus est Jupiter." Almansor, XII.
8. CERES (perhaps Agrippina Junior) IN A TRIUMPHAL CAR drawn by two ele-
phants. Fine work. Yellow Sard.
9. CUPID ARMED WITH THE TRIDENT, MOUNTED ON CAPRICORN : beneath are the
globe and two stars. Astrological gem. Sard. See p. 332.
10. CUPID GUIDING WITH THE TRIDENT TWO HORSES issuing out of a large shell.
A most elegant intaglio. Sard.
11. JUPITER ENTHRONED, the eagle at his feet: in the fieW, Cancer. Astrological
gem. Calcedony.
" If Jupiter be found in Cancer (as Horoscope) the native will be the friend
and faithful confidant of the secrets of the great and powerful." (Firmicus,
Decreta Signorum.)
12. CUPID MOUNTED ON A WHALE ; above him four stars : below, a swordfisb and
a dolphin. Agate surrounded by an imitation of an Etruscan border. Con-
stellation of the Fish.
13. GAUL WITH FLOWING HAIR AND NAKED TO THE WAIST, Crouching down, his
shield slung at his back ; in his hand is the huge and pointless iron broadsword
described by Polybius (n. 33). Early Roman, referring to some Gallic victory,
perhaps of Marius. Plasma.
14. HERMES PSYCHOPOMPUS RAISING THE SOUL OUT OF HADES: in the field C.A.D.,
initials of the owner. A work of the Early Empire. Onyx.
15. LYRE FORMED OF TWO DOLPHINS AND A MASK: upon the bridge sits an owl.
Onyx.
16. HERMES LEASING AGAINST A COLUMN, holds forth a serpent; at his feet two
more rear themselves towards him. Calcedony.
17. GORGON'S HEAD. A work of amazing vigour. Purple Ruby (or Almau-
dine).
18. ROMAN SOLDIER ADORING MARS, who holds in one hand a trophy, in the other
a legionary standard. Early work much in the Etruscan manner. Sard.
PLATE IV.
GREEK AND ROMAN GEMS FROM THE MERTENS-SCHAAKHAUSEN
COLLECTION.
1. YOUTH SEATED and making a gesture of refusal with his han<] ; before him
stands a woman apparently urging some request. (Hippolytus and Phadra's
nurse ?) Roman Plasma.
2. PORTRAIT OF MESSALINA : behind the head are the letters TON remaining of the
owner's name, the field of the gem having been broken away. Very fine work
of the period. Jacinth,
3. ROMA SEATED ON ARMOUR, HOLDING A VICTORY : in front the petasus of Mer-
cury placed upon two shields ; behind are the sceptre of Jove and the staff and
serpent of Esculapius. Sard.
4. WARRIOR REGARDING A BIRD placed upon a sepulchral column round which
twines a serpent ; at its base lies a ram. Panofka explains this as the oracle
of Picus consulted by a warrior. Sard.
5. ARTIST SEATED ON THE GROUND engaged in chasing a huge Corinthian crater.
Sard.
6. BUST OF SERAPIS supported on a globe and column placed over an altar : in the
field a trifid emblem between the letters T and 2. Red Jasper.
7. BUST OF A BACCHANTE looking upwards. Worked in a very bold manner.
Sard.
8. THREE GRECIAN WARRIORS at the foot of a sepulchral column, one of them
stooping down puts his hand into a tall pitcher. The Argonauts purifying
themselves after the accidental slaughter of Cyzicus ; or, more probably, accord-
ing to Urlichs, the Heraclidae drawing lots for the partition of the Peloponnesus :
their respective pebbles having been cast into a vase of water, Cre^phontes by
substituting a ball of clay, which dissolves, obtains the last choice, Messene.
(Apollodorus, II. 8.) Greco-Italian work. Sard.
9. FOOT OF HERMES CRUSHING A BUTTERFLY: the symbol of death. A most
exquisitely finished engraving on a splendid Jacinth.
10. HEAD OF AUGUSTUS within an olive-garland. Minute work. Sard.
11. EAGLE WITH SPREAD WINGS; on his breast the head of Ganymede. Sard.
12. ULYSSES PRESENTING THE BOWL OF WINE TO POLYPHEMUS; behind him
stands one of his companions with a wine-skin on his shoulder. Carbuncle of
extraordinary size and beauty.
13. MOUNTED HUNTER with two hounds chasing a lion. Sard, convex on each side,
and perforated in the centre.
14. THREE SIRENS WALKING. Amethyst.
15. THE CHILD OPHELTES encircled by a monstrous serpent. Red Jasper.
16. BUST OF FATHER NiLUS with the cornucopia ; in front, the papyrus. Pale
Sard. Very fine work.
17. THE CITY OF ANTIOCH seated on rocks; below is the river-god Orontes; in
the field the initials A. I. M. A., for " Antioch the Sacred, the Metropolis of
Asia." Plasma.
18. The same City, but seen in front: on one side stands Fortune, on the other the
tutelary genius of Antioch placing a wreath on her head. Calcedony.
CREEK AND ROMAN GEMS.
LOIIDONiJOHN MURRAY. SO. ALBEMAKLE STREET. 165O.
Plate
GREEK AND ROMAN GEMS
i tis. ^~ 7 / v St. ' . ^ ^rv : 7 '
: JOH>J MURRAY. SO. A.LBEMA.RLE STREET. 18GO .
PLATE V.
INTAGLI, FROM THE RHODES COLLECTION, GKKEK AND KOMAX.
1. SAGITTARIUS. Fine Roman work. Sard.
2. PROCESSION OF SILENUS, supported by a Faun. One of the finest Greek gems
known, both for excellence of grouping and perfect finish of the figures. Sard.
3. MESSALINA. Contemporary portrait. Yellow Sard.
4. VENUS INSTRUCTING CUPID IN ARCHERY. Roman. Sard.
5. APOLLO DELPHICUS. Greek of the best period. Jacinth.
6. VENUS ROBING HERSELF. Roman. Sard.
7. FAUN POURING AN AMPHORA INTO A CRATER. Greek. Sard.
8. BACCHIC FESTIVAL. Roman. Sard.
9. BACCHUS WITH HIS PANTHER. Greek. Sard.
10. VENUS GUIDING HER SHELL. Modem Italian. Calcedouy.
11. PRIAM BEFORE ACHILLES, Briseis raising him from the ground. Finest Greek
style. Sard. (P. 157.)
12. MERCURY AND SCORPIO. Astrological Roman. Plasma.
13. PALLAS. Finest Greek work. Sard.
14. CUPID RACING. Excellent Roman work.
15. A DISCOBOLUS. A gem to be reckoned amongst the very finest Greek iutagli
extant. Sard.
16. AGRIPPINA JUNIOR. Contemporary portrait. Plasma.
17. PAN AND OLYMPUS before a fountain on the margin of which crawls a snail.
(The emblem of voluptuousness.) A most minutely-finished Roman intaglio.
Sard.
18. FAUSTINA MATER. Contemporary portrait. Sard. Formerly in Horace Wai-
pole's Collection.
$7!
mttr gjampfum of
As most of the gems here given have been selected from the Mertens-Schaarhausen Cabinet,
it has only been considered necessary to designate those introduced from other sources.
Lion's head, signet of Theodoras :* Archaic Greek. Sard (Rhodes), (p. 168.)
Agave : Cameo. Plasma. A splendid example of the Roman style in flat relief
Plato: contemporary work. Sard (Rhodes). This rare portrait has a marked
individuality of expression, which, in addition to the Psyche-wings attached
behind the ear, sufficiently distinguish it from the heads of the Indian Bac-
chus (see next No.). It is worked out very carefully in a flat style upon
a pale Sard, and belongs to a much earlier period than the signet of Saufeius,
the portrait upon which it identifies in a most striking manner. To this
most interesting intaglio we can apply in their fullest extent the words
of Wiuckelmann (Pierres Gravees, p. 420) speaking of a similar, if not
the same, gem " La gravure de cette pierre est fort antique, et elle est
exe'cutee avec grande finesse ; elle parait si antique qu'on la croirait faite du
terns de Platon meme" (See Mon. Ined. iii. pi. 169)
Apollo of Canach us: Roman. Sard.
Vizored Helmet : Etruscan. Sard
Macedonian, or Syro-Macedonian, Helmet. Agate
Prometheus making Man : Cameo. Onyx (Rhodes).
Amymone: Early Greek. Sard. The pitcher in her hand signifies the gift of
the fountain of Lerna by Neptune, and which gushed from the rock struck
by the trident
I'AGK
Title
XI
xii
xviii
xviii
xxiii
1 Where no scale is attached the gems have
been drawn to twice the diameter of the ori-
ginals ; the only way to produce the same im-
pression of magnitude upon the eye as the
cast itself from the intaglio creates by its
spherical projection. This is the reason why
drawings of gems if made exactly to the scale of
the originals always appear much diminished,
for though the outline of the figures remains
equal in both, no allowance has been made for
this projection, amounting often to half a dia-
meter, where the work is in high relief.
2 Or perhaps Theumenes. Combe gives
(PI. 18, No. X), a drachma of Cnidus, with the
type of a lion's head in a precisely similar
style, and over it the magistrate's name
EYME . .
LIST OF WOODCUTS. lix
I'AGE
Triton: Roman, lied Jasper (Rhodes) xxx
Alexander. Reverse, Venus and Apollo. Lapis-lazuli. Pronounced by Stein-
biichel a contemporary portrait of this prince, but see p. 44, note
Priest adoring the Winged Bull : Early Assyrian. Limestone (Layard)
Egyptian Scarabs in Steaschist (Layard) xxxvi
Demetrius Soter. Sard (Rhodes.) (p. 159.) xl
Nereid and Hippocampi : Cameo xlii
Late Sassanian Portrait perhaps Chosroes II. Calcedony. Chosroes alone in
the Sassanian series appears in front-face on his coinage (Author's Col-
lection) xliv
Helmet of King Stanislas Poniatowsky : Greek. Jasper-Prase (p. 203, note)
(Eastwood)
Maecenas: Intaglio by Solon. Topaz (Florence)
Mercury: Greek Cameo. Onyx. This is one of the finest works in relief of
unquestionable antiquity that has ever come under my notice. The head
is in the low flat relief that invariably marks the productions of an early
Greek artist, and is also entirely cut out upon the black stratum by the
diamond-point alone. It possesses the additional and historic interest of
having once belonged to Caylus, who has figured it Recueil, vol. i. pi. lii.,
where he notes the fact that it is a fragment from a larger group cut down
to the size of a ring-stone (Rhodes) li
Cupid on a Hippocampus : Roman Cameo. Onyx lii
Heads of Silenus (Sard) and of Socrates (Onyx), showing the actual distinction
between these portraits, so frequently confounded with one another .. .. Iviii
Greco-Italian intaglio upon a scarab a Lion pulling down a Bull of some-
what later work than the same subject given at p. 156. Sard of the
most beautiful quality, resembling a Carbuncle. The beetle itself is skil-
fully cut, though of small dimensions. Scarabs of this highly-finished
class are usually much inferior in magnitude to the genuine Etruscan sort
(Rhodes) Ixiv
Livia. Red Jasper. A contemporary portrait (Rhodes) 1
Male and Female Comic Masks : Roman. Sard. The inscription is as upon
most of these caprices purposely obscure, and now unintelligible (Rhodes). 5
Diomede and Ulysses carrying off" the Palladium: Greco-Italian work. Agate. 16
Medusa: Greek. Black Jasper. This was regarded by Madame Mertens as
superior to any Medusa known even to the Blacas ; perhaps with justice . . 20
Sappho: Archaic Greek. Jacinth (p. 169) 27
Augur taking the Auspices: Etruscan. Jacinth. He is dividing the sky into
templa with his lituus. An unique representation (Rhodes) 27
Olympic Victor : Etruscan scarab. Emerald 37
Taras or Palasmon: Greco-Italian. Beryl. Winckelman (Pierres Grave'es de
Stosch, p. 353) calls the antique paste of this gem a precious monument of
Etruscan art, and equal to the Tydeus of the Berlin Cabinet) 38
Apollo: Greek work. Amethyst. Engraved in a very shallow and early manner 41
Hercules : Roman work. Obsidian (Rhodes) 63
Seals of Sennacherib and Sabaco II. (Layard) 81
Hercules Mad : Etruscan scarab. Crystal 96
Horses of Achilles mourning over the slain Patroclus 3 (p. 157) : Greek. Yellow
Sard (Rhodes) 101
3 Winckelman (Mon. Ined.) calls this Dio- I gem the attendant figure is clearly a female,
modes the Thracian exposing Abderus to be not Diomedes.
devoured by hi savage horses; but on the I
lx LIST OF WOODCUTS.
PACK
Sacred Hawk: Greco- Egyptian work. Garnet 113
Sacred Animals. Green Jasper. This group consists of the cynocephalus, his
tail formed into the asp, supporting on his paw the ibis ; over his head is
the beetle ; behind him the hawk ; and looking up to him the jackal. This
gem is of the Roman period, rude, and deeply cut 113
Portrait of a Ptolemy : Greco-Egyptian. Dark Sard (formerly Herz's) 115
Signet of Sabaco II. (Layard) 118
Di-drachm of Sybaris .. .. 119
Scarab with Mask. Agate. Winckelmann (Mon. Ined. i. pi. 13) figures an
antique paste of Stosch's, a fly-shaped mask, exactly agreeing with that
cut upon the back of this scarab. He plausibly enough explains it as refer-
ring to Jupiter Apomyios, or " the Chaser away of flies," to whom Hercules
instituted sacrifices at Elis in gratitude for the sen-ice he once rendered to
him in that capacity. Baal-zebub, the Tynan god, " the Lord of flies," was
so named from the same prerogative. Hence, taking into account the Phe-
nician style marking the intaglio itself, as well as its subject a Thundering
Jupiter we may regard this insect-formed visage as designed for the type
of that redoubtable divinity. The turretted head also, introduced as a dis-
tinctive symbol into the field a frequent obverse on the coinage of Pheni-
cian cities (Aradus, Berytns, Orthosia, Sidon, &c.) strongly confirms this
attribution 124
Assyrian Cylinders First Period (all from Layard) 126
Pure Babylonian Second Period (Layard) 128
Persian Third Period (Layard) 131
Signet of Sennacherib. Amazon-stone (Layard) 137
Assyrian Seal Sacrifice to the Moon. Agate (Layard) 137
Assyrian Seal the Babylonian Dagon. Agate (Layard) 137
Persian Seal with Phenician legend. Calcedony. The inscription is indubitably
of equal antiquity with the intaglio itself, the strokes forming the characters
being manifestly cut by the same tool as the figures, and both equally worn
by use 140
Narses. Garnet. This inscription is imperfect, the gem having been broken
and cut round. The true reading, therefore, may be " Nowazi Shah," and
refer to Sapor I. Certainly the extreme beauty of the work would seem
to indicate the earliest times of the Sassanian sovereignty (Pulsky) 142
Pirouzi Shapouhri (Sapor II.). Sardonyx (p. 144) 142
Varanes (Bahrain). Nicolo, perforated. The legend reads, VRHANPI 142
Assyrian and Persian Seals in Agate and Calcedony (Layard) 145
Satrap of Salamis. Sard (p. 146) (Author's Collection/ 149
Persian : Seipentine. The King contending with two Andro-Sphinxes : Ormuzd
hovering above the Tree of Life (Layard) 153
Hebrew Jacinth of the Sassanian period (Eastwood) 155
Proteus: Etruscan. Sard. The subject as uncommon as is the extraordinary
perfection of the engraving itself 156
Archaic Greek. Calcedony. Lion pulling down a Bull ; the type of the coins
of Acanthus. The work of this intaglio shows much of the Assyrian
mariner, and is probably Asiatic Greek (Author's Collection) 1 56
Youthful Hercules: Greek. Sard. He wears the hide of the Cithaeronian lion,
which he slew at the age of nineteen. This he afterwards discarded for
the invulnerable skin of the lion of Nemea. Such youthful heads are
usually, but wrongly, described as of lole or Deianira, but the short curlv
locks stamp them of Hercules (Rhodes) " 15<|
4 The character beneath the chin of the unique gold piece of Menelaus king of'Cyprus,
jMirirait is the Persian S.aml Is seen thus singly minted at Salamis. See the Xnm. Cypriote of
beneath the Ram's head on the coinage of this the I)uc <le Luynes.
city, also behind the head of Venus on the
LIST OF WOODCUTS. Ixi
PAGE
Caligula and his Sisters, Julia, Drusilla, Agrippina. Sard. This is one of the most
singular historic intagli in existence, and its genuineness beyond suspicion.. 164
Antoninus Pius: Cameo. Emerald. The stone is a true Emerald, though of
bad quality ; doubtless from the Egyptian mine 1 04
Philosopher meditating upon the Immortality of the Soul: Greek. Agate of
three bands. The severed head upon the ground typifies Death, as the
escaping butterfly the Soul set free (Rhodes) 165
Sailor of Ulysses opening the Bag of Winds given to him by ^Golus to ensure a
calm voyage : Etruscan scarab. Sard. 165
Caligula as Mercury. Sard (p. 171) (Rhodes). 176
Apotheosis of Augustus, who is borne up to heaven by Mithras. The " Cameo
of the Sainte Chapelle," Paris 181
Greek Cameo found in Cabul. Sardonyx (p 199) (Rhodes) 185
Ceres, with name of artist, Aulus. Sard (Rhodes) 200
Cicero ; contemporary portrait. Antique paste. 200
Signet of Rutina. Red Jasper. A monster with heads of a boar and a bull
conjoined (p. 484) 201
Gryllus, signet of Titinius. Obsidian. The " motive " of this composition
(not clearly given by the cut) is two doves pecking at the ear of a huge
mask, one from above, the other from below. The figure is completed by a
wolf's head. This was a favourite caprice. One exactly similar, but
better finished, is now in the collection of 0. Morgan, Esq., M.P 201
Neptune: Poniatowsky gem. Amethyst (Rhodes) v 202
Inscribed Etruscan gem. The name is that of the hero, but written in the cus-
tomary barbarous manner (Foreign Collection) (p. 168) 202
Hercules strangling Antaeus ; Earth, the giant's mother, reclining below :
Cinque-Cento. Sard (Rhodes) 206
Di-drachm of Caulonia, showing the guilloche Etruscan border 210
Maecenas, by Apollonius. Jacinth. This portrait is perhaps superior even to
the Julius of Dioscorides, being in a more elegant and softer style (Rhodes). 211
Satyr surprising a sleeping Nymph (Amymone) ; signet of Aspasius: Roman
work. Agate. Extremely minute, half the diameter of the cut, yet most
elaborately finished (Rhodes). ' 228
Faun with Urn : finest Greek style. Sard (Rhodes). 230
The Julius of Dioscorides. Sard (British Museum) 238
Hydraulis : Plasma (p. xvii.) (British Museum). The two men at the sides are
working the pumps that force the water into the huge bronze reservoir,
shaped like an altar, which supports the pipes and the performer. The
air compressed in its upper part served the purpose of the wind-chest in
the modern organ. The letters are blundered, but probably stand for
VIVAS ; addressed to the musician to whom the gem was doubtless pre-
sented by an admirer. 8 242
Cupid rescuing Psyche ; by Pamphilus. Sard (British Museum) 245
Hermes making Lyres (Foreign Collection) 246
Roma holding forth a torques, the usual reward of military valour : a Victory
presents an olive-branch ; at her side is a singular vizored helmet on a
stand. Spotted Sard .. 255
Hercules and the Stymphalian Birds (Foreign Collection) 260
5 The description of the hydraulis, invented i means of water ; for the pipes are bent down
by Ctesibius of Alexandria, as given by Aihe- i into water, and the water being 'pounded ' by
nseus (iv. 75), exactly applies to this intaglio. ' an attendant, whilst tubes pass through the
" The hydraulic organ seems to be somewhat | body of the organ itself, the pipes are filled
alter the nature of a water-clock. Perhaps it j with wind and give forth an agreeable sound,
ought to be termed a wind-instrument, inas- ' The organ resembles in form a round altar."
much as the organ is filled with breath by
Ixii LIST OF WOODCUTS.
PAGE
Juno; by John Pichler. Sard (Rhodes) '269
Ship under sail emblem of mortal life (Foreign Collection) 276
Cupid chained by Psyche to a column. Girasol. The signet of M. Mausius
Priscus 284
Narcissus and Echo : Roman. Prase. Cupid, emerging from the fountain, is
aiming his shaft at Narcissus ; Echo, reduced to a shadow, hovers before
him (Rhodes) 284
Mask hollowed out behind to contain poison. Onyx (p. 278). The subject
apparently chosen by the wearer from the same motive that caused masks
to be adopted as the usual decorations of monuments, or else to mark his
opinion, " Life is a jest and all things show it." 289
Signet and Monogram of Paulus. Sard 294
Serapis: Roman work: Cameo. This Onyx has running through its white
layer in which the bust is cut the large perforation of the original
Indian bead 30 1
Triple Mask: Roman. Jacinth (now in Lord Braybrooke's Collection) 301
Jupiter Olympius: Roman work of the best times. Sard (Rhodes) 302
Attributes of Ganymede : Roman : Cameo. Onyx 311
Diocletian and Maximian as Janus. Green Jasper 315
Antique gem with forged name of artist (Mycon), an addition of the last century:
Greek work, on a very fine ruby-coloured Sard (Rhodes) 316
Signet of Maecenas : Etruscan scarab. Calcedony 319
Mithridates ; a contemporary portrait. Yellow Sard of a very singular quality,
neai-ly opaque (Author's Collection) . . . . 322
Stymphalian Bird: Roman. Burnt Sard (Author's Collection) 327
Bunch of Grapes: Roman. Red Jasper (Author's Collection) 328
Gryllus, a fantastic Horse : Roman. Sard. 329
Sol within the Zodiac (Foreign Collection) 331
Augustus with his Horoscope Capricorn (Foreign Collection) 332
Hipparchus the Astronomer: Roman. Lapis-lazuli. The gold spots of the
stone have been taken advantage of to form the sun and stars 337
Alexandrian Emerald : of Roman date, and the identical gem figured by Caylus
(Vol. I. pi. Ixvi.), who calls it " une tr&s belle prisme d'e'meraude ; but it
is a true Emerald of the Mount Zahara mine 337
Mithraic Bull symbol of the Earth. Green Jasper (Author's Collection). .. 338
Mithraic Talisman of Nicandra. Green Jasper. A gryphon supporting a wheel
a common attribute of Sol stands upon a column, to which a figure is
fastened with hands bound behind the back. The legend on the reverse
invokes his protection for Nicandra and Caleandra ; apparently Alexandrian
ladies, judging from the orthography of the name Neicandra, instead of
Nicandra 340
Anubis, surrounded by the seven vowels (p. 345), standing on a serpent. Green
Jasper. The stone is broken at each extremity, but the head is evidently
that of a jackal, not a hawk's as it appears in the cut. The work of the
intaglio is extraordinarily fine, rendering this gem quite unique in its class. 342
Abraxas. Green Jasper. Also of unusually good and finished work, and
belonging to the very dawn of Gnosticism ; certainly not later than
Hadrian's reign 342
Chneph : Alexandrian. Sard. The legend, if written in the usual letter, is
XvovQis Avox 2e/us E<A.eyi, followed by the trifid emblem so common in
these formulae 344
Martyrdom of a female Saint. Red Jasper. This was probably executed about
the time of Diocletian, its style bearing a close affinity to the neat work
characterizing his restoration of the coinage (Litchfield) 352
Triune deity, with Coptic legend. Greeii Jasper. This figure has the heads of
LIST OF WOODCUTS. Ixiii
PA OK.
the ibis, jackal, anil hawk, attributes of Isis, Annbis, and Phre or Sol,
whose triple godhead he symbolizes. The legend on the reverse ends with
the word Sou^apra, a title constantly occurring in these invocations, but
as yet unexplained 358
Mithraic Symbol. The two Principles, altar with the sacred wafers, lustral
water, raven, &c. ; above are seen the busts of Sol and Luna. Plasma.
The work of the rudest description 359
Hermes Heptachrysos : Roman. Sard 363
Isiac Vase. Red Jasper. This is an extremely elegant composition. Asps
form the handles, under which are Satyric masks. The (afterwards)
Christian symbols upon its surface are worthy of attention 366
Oculist's Stamp. Sard (British Museum) 374
Jupiter, Sol, Luna. Opal (p. 66) 37G
Cassandra mourning the doom of Troy. Sard. Gerhard, however, explains this
as Aglauros meditating suicide. The subject is, in fact, extremely obscure.
It may mean Roma lamenting some great calamity before the Palladium . . 378
Minerva supporting the bust of Domitian. Sard. The head has, in the gem, a
proper radiated crown, which is blundered in the cut. The work of this
gem is particularly neat 378
Hercules trimming with his sword an uprooted tree for his club: Etruscan
scarab. Sard. Mercury furnished Hercules with a sword on his first start-
ing upon his adventures, but he exchanged it for a club on having to deal
with the impenetrable hide of the Nemean lion, which \he was obliged to
flay off with the beast's own talons (Apollodorus, ii. 4) 380
Type of the Satyric Drama. Red Jasper. This symbolical group comprises the
satyr, the mask, and the goat, the original prize of the early comedians. . . 380
Gorgon : Greco-Italian Cameo. Sard. An unique example of so early a period,
worked in the same manner as the scarabs. This identical Gorgon's head
is seen on the coins of Posidonia, and may be safely assigned to the same date. 383
Pompey, with his titles. Nicolo. The legend is formed of the contractions for
" Cnaeus Pompeius Imperator Iterum Pra?fectus Classis et Ora? Maritime/'
his style upon his denarii ; where it will be remarked that the engraver
like the Arrius immortalized by Catullus has thought proper to spell Orae
with an H 384
Death of Eschylus. AD eagle drops a tortoise upon his bald pate, mistaking it
for a stone. He holds a bowl to signify his love of wine (Stosch) 388
Polyphemus: Sard. A fragment of a magnificent Greco-Italian scarab. The
giant seated upon an inverted amphora, has been beguiling his hopeless love
for Galatea upon a rustic lyre, which appears dropping from his hand : iu
the field is the plectrum, the exact form of which instrument is here very
carefully defined, and gives additional value to this remarkable intaglio. . . 389
Plato ; signet of Saufeius. Sard. An early Roman work, dating from the
Republic. Heads of Plato can only be distinguished from those of the
Indian Bacchus whom he resembled as much as his master did Silenus
when the butterfly-wings, in allusion to his doctrine of the soul's immor-
tality, are introduced, as here, upon the shoulder, or, as sometimes, behind
the ear. I believe, however, that I have discovered another distinction
the extremely elevated eyebrows, arched into a complete semicircle, in such
portraits ; a personal peculiarity of the sage that did not escape the witti-
cisms of the comic writers of his own times. Thus Amphis, in the Dexi-
demides (Diog. Laert. iii. 1)- Q plato> p]ato>
How all thy wisdom lies in looking grave ;
Majestically lifting high thy brows
Like as the snail [protrudes his eye-tipped horns]." 418
Psyche mourning the flight of Cupid (Foreign Collection). 433
Ixiv LIST OF WOODCUTS.
PAGE
Phenician Sphinx. Spotted Onyx. The object in the background is probably a
mummy-formed divinity (Rhodes)." 438
Silenus placing a crater on its stand ayyoOrjicr), or incitega] : Roman. Sard
(Author's Collection) 442
Parthian King between two crowned Asps. Sard. On the reverse of this most
puzzling gem are cut a serpent, some Greek letters, and certain unknown
characters. It is probably due to some early Persian Manichean, or
Gnostic, which would explain the introduction of the asps, the Egyptian
symbol of royalty 448
Indian Sacred Bull, with Pehlevi legend. A calcedouy, hemispherical, stamp.
This Brahminee bull figures even on the early Assyrian monuments. Here
the legend commences with the usual AP, or title of the king, but the other
letters are so rudely cut as to be undecipherable ; perhaps the three last
stand for Bagi, " the Divine." 454
Favourite Racehorse, Syodus (Speedaway). Jacinth. Greek work of uncommon
spirit, commemorating, there can be little doubt, some victor in the
Stadium (Rhodes) 466
Somnus, on his rounds, holding a wreathed horn in each hand, and from one
pouring out his balm upon the earth. The god here is depicted with but-
terfly-wings like Psyche, of which 1 have seen no other example, since his
figure upon monuments can only be distinguished from Cupid's by the
diversity of their attributes. Lessing has admirably treated this subject in
his dissertation, " Wie die Alten den Tod gebildet." The work of this
intaglio belongs to the best period of Roman art, and is cut on a Sard of
the finest quality 470
Death, within an opened monument ; beneath is the pig, the funeral sacrifice :
Cameo. Onyx. The ancients represented Death and Sleep as twin-
brothers, but black and white in colour, earned in the arms of their mother
Night (Pausan. Kline, xviii.). In addition to the difference of colour Death
is distinguished by his inverted torch, Sleep by the horn whence he pours
out his dewy blessings.
"Et Nox, et cornu fugiebat Somnus inani." Theb. vi. 27.
" Night fled, and with her Sleep with emptied horn." 471
Dagon : Phenician scarab. Green Jasper ; or perhaps a green terra-cotta. . . 476
Babylonian Cylinder. Loadstone. Remarkable for the neatness of the cutting
of the cuneiform inscription filling one half its surface 488
Fauns playing : Nicolo. Described by Caylus (II. pi. Ixxxiii) as having been re-
cently discovered at Xaintes, set in a massy gold ring weighing l\ oz. The
antique setting has disappeared, by reason doubtless of its large intrinsic
value, but the correspondence of the scale and material prove the identity oi
the gem itself. 489
Canopic Vase : Greco-Egyptian date. Almandine ; retaining its antique iron-
ring (p. 285). On the belly of the vase is the sun's disk, and below, the
royal vulture with spread wings. The iron ring itself is elegantly formed.
(Author's Collection) 498
8 Described by Raspe as " a Persian Sphinx, the bas-reliefs of Chelminar; with a figure be-
or Mithras, the image of the Sun, as seen upon hind, like Horus, swathed."
Combat between Lion and Bull : Etruscan. Sard.
ANCIENT GEMS,
SECTION I. MATERIALS.
SOURCES WHENCE GEMS WERE OBTAINED BY
THE ANCIENTS.
BEFOEE we enter upon the consideration of the intagli and
camei themselves, and of the various styles of art which they
present, it will be more appropriate to give a brief descrip-
tion of the different sorts of gems upon which they usually
are found, to point out their respective characters, and at the
same time to identify, as far as can be done, the species of
stones principally employed by the ancients for these works ;
and to distinguish them from those only known to modern
engravers, or at least more generally used by the latter than
by the artists of antiquity. The sources whence they were
obtained will be separately noticed under each head, but a
most suitable introduction to this section will be the elegant
description given by Dionysius Periegetes of the trade in
precious stones carried on by the Orientals early in our era ;
for, although the date of his poem is disputed, yet his allu-
B
2 MATERIALS. SECT. I.
sions to Persian wars seem to point to the age of Augustus,
or at the latest of Trajan :
" And Babylon's vast plain, where miles around
The lofty palm-trees overarch the ground ;
Where, far more precious than the mines of gold,
Serpentine rocks the beryl green enfold.
Apart his Indian waves Choaspes leads,
And in a separate course bounds Susa's meads :
Upon his banks the beauteous agates gleam
Rolled like to pebbles by the rushing stream,
Torn from their native rock by wintry rains
And hurried by the torrent to the plains.
Those who Parpanisus' deep valleys claim
Conjointly bear the Arianian name :
No lovely land the wretched natives own,
But sandy wastes with thickets rough o'ergrown :
Yet other sources do their lives maintain,
And endless wealth springs from the barren plain ;
On every side the ruddy coral shines,
On every side they view the teeming mines
Whence th' azure slabs of sapphire brought to light,
With guerdon rich laborious hands requite.
Towards the east spreads India's lovely land
Farthest of all along the ocean's strand :
The first illumined by his earliest rays
When rising Phoebus heaven and earth surveys :
Hence the sleek natives dark as night appear,
Adorned with flowing hyacinthine hair ;
Of whom, some, skilled the golden ore to seek,
The sandy plain with crooked mattocks break ;
Others the airy webs of muslin weave,
Whilst others to the ivory polish give ;
Some seek amidst the pebbles of the stream
The verdant beryl, or the diamond's gleam,
Or where the bright green jasper meets their view,
Or the clear topaz shows its lighter hue,
SECT. I. GEMS USED BY THE GREEKS. 3
Or the sweet amethyst, which, serenely bright,
Diffuses far and wide its tranquil light.
The land thus blessed with rivers never dry
To all her sons doth constant wealth supply."
These gems, together with other Indian productions, were
brought for transmission into Europe to the great annual
fairs held in Syria, one of which is thus described by Amnii-
anus (xiv. 3) : " Batne, a municipality in Anthemusia,
founded by the ancient Macedonians, situated at a short
distance from the Euphrates, and crowded at that time with
wealthy traders, where on the annual festival, held at the
beginning of September, a vast multitude of people of all con-
ditions assemble at the fair to purchase the goods sent by the
Indians and Chinese, and the numerous other productions
accustomed to be conveyed thither both by sea and land."
GEMS USED BY THE GEEEKS.
Theophrastus (c. 30) thus specifies the kinds of gems most
used in his own time, the 4th century before our era : " But
of gems out of which signets are made there are several
others, such as the glass-like sort (Beryl), which possesses
the property of reflection and transparency, and the Car-
buncle and the Omphax (perhaps the Chrysoprase), and
besides these the Crystal and the Amethyst, both of them
transparent. Both these and the Sard are found on
breaking open certain rocks, as well as others, as we have
before stated, presenting certain differences, but agreeing in
name with each other. For of the Sard the transparent and
blood-red sort is called the female, while the less transparent
and darker kind is termed the male. And the different
kinds of Lyncurium are distinguished in the same way, of
which the female is the more transparent and of a deeper
B 2
4 MATERIALS. SECT. I.
yellow ; and the Cyamis also is named, one sort the male
and the other the female, but the male is the deeper in
colour of the two. The Onyx is made up of white and
brownish red in parallel layers. The Amethyst is of the
colour of wine. A handsome stone too is the Agate, brought
from the river Achates in Sicily, and is sold at a high price.
At Lampsacus there was once discovered in the gold-mines
an extraordinary kind of stone, out of which, when taken k>
Tyre, a signet gem was engraved, and sent as a present to
the king (Alexander) on account of its singularity. These
gems, in addition to their beauty, possess the recommenda-
tion of rarity ; but those coming out of Greece itself are
much less valuable, such as the Anthracium (Carbuncle) from
Orchomenos in Arcadia. This is darker than the Chian sort,
and mirrors are made out of it. 1 And also the Troazenian ;
this last is variegated partly with red, partly with white
patches. The Corinthian also is variegated with the same
colours, excepting that the stone itself is somewhat greener.
And, generally, stones of this kind are common enough ; but
the first-class gems are rare, and come from but few places,
such as Carthage, and the neighbourhood of Marseilles, and
from Egypt near the Cataracts, from Syene close to the town
of Elephantina, and from the district called Psepho ; and
from Cyprus the Emerald and Jasper. But those that are
used for setting in ornamental metal- work come from Bactria,
close to the desert. They are collected by horsemen, who go
out there at the time when the Etesian winds prevail ; for
then they come to sight, the sand being removed by the
violence of the winds. They are however small, and never
of large size." This last gem is probably the Turquois, so
much used by the Persians of all ages for setting in their
1 The flat surface of a dark garnet will reflect objects with tolerable
distinctness.
SECT. I.
SARDS.
arms and ornaments. The locality named by Theophrastus,
and the small size of the stone, particularised by him, arc
also arguments in favour of the correctness of this sup-
position.
Male and Female C
S A E D S.
The Carnelian, and its superior variety the Sard, may
justly claim the first place in this list of stones employed by
the ancient engravers, as they alone present us with as many
intagli cut upon them as all the other species of gems put
together. The Carnelian is a semi-transparent quartz of a
dull red colour, arranged often in different shades, and is
found in great abundance in many parts of Europe; for
instance, on every coast where the beach is composed of
rolled flint shingle, as on the Chessil Bank, Wey mouth, the
coast of Devonshire, &c. The most ancient intagli, such as
the Etruscan and the Egyptian, are usually cut upon this
variety. But when the trade with the East was established,
after the conquest of Asia by Alexander, a much finer de-
scription of this stone, the Sard, came into general use; and
on this all the finest works of the most celebrated artists are
to be found. And this not without good cause, such is its
toughness, facility of working, beauty of colour, and the high
polish of which it is susceptible, and which Pliny states that
it retains longer than any other gem. The truth of his
assertion has been confirmed by the testimony of the seven-
teen centuries that have elapsed since he wrote, for antique
6 MATERIALS. SECT. I.
Sards are found always retaining their original polish, unless
where they have been very roughly used ; whilst harder gems,
as Garnets, Jacinths, and Nicoli, have their surfaces greatly
scratched and roughened by wear. So true is this, that the
existence of a perfect polish in any of the latter class of
stones affords in itself a tolerably sure proof that the gem is
either modern, or has been retouched in modern times.
When Pliny wrote, the bright red variety was the most
esteemed, the honey-coloured were of less value, but the
lowest place of all was assigned to those of the colour of a
burnt brick, that is, to the kind we now call Carnelians. The
bright red are certainly very fine in hue ; they often equal
the Carbuncle, and come near to the Kuby in tint and lustre ;
but they are always to be distinguished from these gems by
a shade of yellow mixed with the red. This colour in some
Sards deepens into that of the Morella cherry ; these were
considered the males of the species, for the Komans, following
the Greek mineralogists, divided gems into males and females,
according to the depth or the lightness of their colour. Upon
this bright red variety the best Eoman intagli usually occur.
The light yellow sort resembling amber was much in use at
an earlier period; on this are frequently found the finest
works of the Greek artists, and also those stiffly drawn yet
highly finished figures of the most minute execution, sur-
rounded with granulated borders, which were formerly termed
Etruscan, but now with more reason assigned to the Archaic
Greek school. Very meritorious Eoman engravings present
themselves upon this kind also, but they usually belong to the
times of the Early Empire, the latest I have seen being a
very well cut head of Severus.
On the common red Carnelian we often have very good
intagli of the Republican age; and most of the Etruscan
scarabei are cut out of this material, of which they got a
SECT. I. CALCEDONY. 7
plentiful supply from the beds of the Tuscan rivers ; even
now the shingle of the brook Mugnone, near Florence, fur-
nishes this stone in great abundance. The name Sardius is
derived from the fact of the gem being first imported into
Greece from Sardis, probably brought thither from the inte-
rior of Asia ; for we are informed by Pliny that the best
came originally from Babylon. This Babylonian mine had
at that time failed ; but the Komans obtained them also from
many other countries, especially from Paros and Assos.
Those from India were transparent, from Arabia somewhat
opaque. One of the three Indian varieties used to be backed
with silver foil when set. A gold foil was employed for those
found in Epirus and Egypt. Sards retained their polish
longer than any other gem, but suifered most from contact
with oil.
CALCEDONY.
This is a semi-transparent white quartz, slightly tinted with
yellow or blue ; the latter kind is sometimes called the
Sapphirine, being erroneously considered a pale variety of
the Sapphire. This stone was much used at every period
of antiquity ; the earliest Babylonian cylinders being formed
of it as well as the latest Sassanian stamps. Scarabei of
Etruscan work, as well as good Greek and Koman intagli
of all ages, occur in this material ; but engraved upon the
Sappherine in preference to the other sort ; and justly so, as
it is an extremely pretty stone, often approximating to a pale
Sapphire in colour, although entirely destitute of brilliancy.
The finest Persian cylinder known (engraved with the usual
type of the king fighting with the lion) was formed out of
this variety ; the signet doubtless that once graced the wrist
of some Darius or Artaxerxes of the later days of the Persian
monarchy.
8 MATERIALS. SECT. I.
Busts and heads, in full relief and of considerable volume,
are frequent in Calcedony. When the stone has a bright
tinge of yellow, it is named the Opaline, and these heads
and busts are therefore sometimes described as made out of
Opal ; a material in which it is almost needless to say that
none ever existed.
The most noble work in relief executed on a gem that /
myself have ever seen was a three-quarter head of Augustus
in a white opaque Calcedony greatly resembling ivory ; it
was about three inches in height, and the work the very per-
fection of sculpture. 2 It subsequently passed into the Fould
Collection. In what way this stone got its present name is a
very puzzling question, for the ancient Chalcedonius, so
called from the locality where it was obtained in the copper-
mines, was a kind of inferior Emerald, " the green in it being
mixed with blue, like the feathers of a peacock's tail, or of a
pigeon's neck," but of which the supply had failed before the
age of Pliny. The modern Calcedony, or White Carnelian,
as our lapidaries call it, was probably the Leucachates and
the Cerachates, the White and Wax Agate of the ancient
mineralogists. 3
ONYX, SAEDONYX, NICOLO, AGATE.
Next in point of frequency to the Sards come these stones,
all being varieties of the same material, but distinguished by
the different colours and arrangement of the layers of which
they are composed. The Sardonyx is defined by Pliny as
" candor in sarda," that is to say, a white opaque layer super-
8 The " Chernites " is described of camei, will be found in Calcedony
as a stone only differing from ivory than in any other stone ; whilst,
in its superior hardness and density : on the other hand, genuine antique
the sarcophagus of Darius the Great works in this material are much
\vas made of it. more unfrequent than on any of tlic
3 More modern forgeries,espccially other varieties of the quartz family.
SECT. I. ONYX, SAKDONYX, NICOLO, AGATE. 9
imposed upon a red transparent stratum of the true red Sard ;
and no better description can be given of a perfect gem of this
species. Such were the Indian Sardonyx stones of his times,
whilst the Arabian species retained no vestige of the Sard,
but were formed of black or blue strata, covered by one of
opaque white, over which again was a third of a vermilion
colour. These stones were found in the beds of torrents in
India, and were but little valued by the natives ; they were of
sufficient size to be worked up into sword-hilts. The Indians
also bored holes through them, and wore them as necklaces ;
and this perforation was considered by the Eomans as
the test of their Indian origin. 4 In certain specimens of
this Indian variety the base was of the colour of wax or of
horn, then came a white layer sometimes slightly iridescent,
and the surface was " redder than the shell \)f a lobster."
This stone (and, literally, Pliny's definition of it, " candor
in Sarda ") was imitated by the ancient as well as by modern
lapidaries, by placing a Sard upon a red-hot iron ; this process
converted the red surface of the stone into an opaque white
layer of the depth required, which forms a good relief to the
intagli cut through it into the transparent ground beneath.
No doubt this effect of fire upon the Sard was first discovered
by accident, and that too at a late period of the Empire, as
I have never seen any fine engravings upon such a material,
though Gnostic subjects are common enough in it. As might
4 This fact explains the reason of many collectors have been puzzled
the fine hole we so frequently notice to account for the purpose served by
passing through the axis of Sardo- these minute perforations, as well
nyx cainei ; the stones, having been as the method by which they had
imported into Europe in the form been drilled through the width of
of oval beads, were subsequently cut these thin slabs without the risk of
down into flattened disks to afford fracture. Amongst the Pulsky camei
the proper disposition of their strata is a perforated Onyx still retaining
for the working out of the design in within the hole the rusted wire on
relief. From ignorance of this ori- which it was anciently strung,
ginal destination of the material,
10 MATERIALS. SECT. I.
be expected, it was a favourite substance with the Italian and
French artists since the Revival, to whom it was recom-
mended by the lively contrast of colours afforded by it when
engraved upon.
Under this head some notice may be taken of the famous
signet of Polycrates ; the pretended stone of which, a Sard-
onyx, and not engraved (intacta illibatd], was shown in
Pliny's time set in a golden cornucopia in the Temple of
Concord, and there occupying but the last place amongst a
multitude of other gems, all deemed of superior value. How
came this legend to be affixed to this particular Sardonyx ?
For Herodotus expressly calls the signet of Polycrates " an
Emerald, the work of Theodoras of Samos :" Clemens Alex-
andrinus adds that the device engraved upon it was a lyre.
Lessing, in order to support Pliny's tale, endeavours, with
the usual " iiberklugheit " of a German critic, to prove that
aQpnyis does not necessarily signify an engraved gem, and
that the expression " the work of Theodorus of Samos "
merely refers to the setting of the stone, because this same
artist is celebrated for having executed certain works in
metal for King Alyattes. But Herodotus says nothing about
the gold ring itself: the ^Emerald signet, valuable both on
account of the precious stone and of the intaglio by so famous
an artist, was the priceless object the sacrifice of which was
supposed to be of sufficient importance to avert the wrath of
the offended Nemesis. A few years back an Emerald was
shown in Rome (said to have been just discovered in the
earth of a vineyard at Aricia), which enthusiastic antiquaries
looked upon as this far-famed gem. The stone was of large
size and fine quality ; the intaglio a lyre, above which
hovered three bees, or, more probably, "cicadae," an insect
noted by the poets for its musical powers, and which, though
of much greater bulk, somewhat resembles in shape a large
SECT. I. ONYX, SARDONYX, NICOLO, AGATE. 11
drone. This type of the lyre and cicadse often occurs on an-
tique gems ; I have no doubt that it was borrowed from the
traditionary description of the signet of Polycrates, and was
a favourite device with literary men. 5
The common Onyx has two opaque layers, of different
colours, usually in strong contrast to each other, as black and
white, dark red and white, green and white, and many other
varieties. In the Oriental Onyx, still a very valuable gem
(one the size of a crown-piece selling for 30L at the present
day), three layers occur the top one red, blue, or brown ;
the middle white, sometimes of a pearly hue ; and the base
a jet black or a deep brown. The stone is considered more
perfect if the top and the bottom layer be of the same colour.
The Onyx of Theophrastus was composed of white and
brownish-red in parallel layers ; but, according to Pliny, this
variety was distinguished by spots of various colours surrounded
by white veins, like so many eyes an exact description of cer-
tain Agates. 6 By cutting out a blue spot with a black zone
encircling it, the so-called Nicolo is obtained ; a stone named
by the Komans JEgyptilla, " Vulgus in nigra radice cffiruleam
facit," blue upon a black ground. The name Nicolo is an
abbreviation of the Italian " Onicolo," a little Onyx ; and
not derived, as is often absurdly stated, from Nicolo, an
artist's name. The upper layer of a first-class stone of this
kind is of a rich turquois blue, and the base a jet black.
On this gem fine Roman intagli occur more frequently than
upon any other after the Sard. On the other varieties of the
5 There are several pretty epi- concentric, whilst in the latter they
grams in the Greek Anthology are parallel. Hence in descriptions
(especially one by Meleager) ad- of camei the terms are often used in-
dressed to the reTTiyg, cicada ; or discrimicately ; the ancients, how-
cigala of the modern Italians. ever, seem at first to have restricted
6 In fact, the Agate and Onyx are the designation of Agate to the stone
the same substance, but the layers of black and white strata.
in the former are wavy and often
12 MATERIALS. SECT. I.
Onyx they are not uncommon ; and a good engraving on a
fine Oriental Onyx will command a higher price than upon
any other gem. And there is good reason for this preference,
since the design penetrating through the surface into the
next layer is brought out in full relief by the contrast of
colour, and thus is conspicuous at a distance, which is not the
case with a transparent stone, for it must be held up to the
light to show the engraving.
The use of the Sardonyx was first made fashionable in
Borne by Scipio Africanus the elder : the favourite gems of
the Emperor Claudius were the Sardonyx and the Emerald.
We may return to the subject of the precious Onyx to
observe that, although the true Oriental kind still retains its
value, pieces of large dimensions bringing the high price
above mentioned, yet the great majority of the stones so
called at present by jewellers are almost worthless. These
generally present strong contrasts of red and white, or black
and white layers. These colours are produced artificially by
boiling the stone, a kind of flint, for several days in honey
and water, and then soaking it in sulphuric acid to bring out
the black and white, and in nitric to give the red and white
layers. They all come from Germany, where the secret was
either discovered a few years ago, or, as some assert, intro-
duced from Italy. Pliny says that all gems are brightened
by boiling them in honey, especially in Corsican (noted for
its acridity), although they are injured by all other acids. I
have myself seen an antique Agate, which had been reduced
by fire to nearly the appearance of chalk, restored to almost
its original colour by being treated in this manner for three
consecutive days and nights. The antique gems, indeed, par-
ticularly the Sards and the several varieties of the Onyx, are
incomparably superior to anything of the kind which we
meet with in Nature at the present day ; but it would be
SECT. I. ONYX, SARDONYX, NICOLO, AGATE. 1,3
hazardous to ascribe this excellence to any artificial treatment
of the stones by the old lapidaries, as it may have been the
consequence of their better and more abundant supply of the
material from sources now closed to us. This we know was
the case with many antique marbles, such as the Kosso and
Giallo Antico, the Yerde and the Cipolliiio, all only known
at present as existing in fragments of ancient architecture.
Numidia is said to have furnished the Giallo; Laconia the
Verde ; Carystus the Cipollino ; but the coast of the Ked Sea
was the chief source both of the coloured marbles of anti-
quity and also of many of their most valuable gems.
The enormous dimensions of the pieces of Sardonyx used
by the ancient engravers for some of their more important
works, as the Onyx of the Sainte-Chapelle, have induced
many to believe that they were a production sof art. Veltheim
goes so far as to say that they were made by fusing obsidian
and sulphur together ; but this experiment, when tried, gave
nothing but a black porous glass. De Boot gives a ridiculous
receipt for making the Sardonyx by steeping pounded shells
in lemon-juice for several days, and with the white cement
thus made forming the upper layer upon a Sard or Carnelian.
It is curious, however, to notice that the same idea as to the
artificial origin of the Sardonyx appears to have prevailed
in the days of Theophrastus ; at least, this seems the most
natural interpretation of his words (' On Stones,' chap. 61) :
" Earthy minerals, these assume all kinds of colours, by reason
of the diversity of the subjects and of the influences acting upon
them ; of which, some they soften (by fire), others they fuse
and pound, and so put together those stones that are brought
from Asia." Now we must remember that the Murrhina,
and the Gremma of which the huge draught-board (carried in
Pompey's triumph) was made, were not known at Eome before
the conquest of Asia, long after the age of Theophrastus.
14 MATERIALS. SECT. I.
PLASMA.
This word, sometimes written Prasma, whence the Frencli
name of the stone, Prisme d'Emeraude, is merely the Italian
corruption of Prasina Gemma, according to their common
vulgarism of interchanging K with L, and vice versa. Thus
the Tuscan peasant always says Leopordo for Leopoldo. This
gem is merely Calcedony coloured green by some metallic
oxide, probably copper or nickel, and is, in fact, a semi-trans-
parent green Jasper ; and although it often approximates to
the finest Emerald in colour, yet it is never pure, but always
interspersed with black spots, or with patches of the dull
yellow of the original species, blemishes aptly named by
Pliny "sal et pterygmata," grains of salt and bees' wings.
But of a pale-green variety pieces do occur quite free from
flaws and spots; such, however, are probably rather to be
considered as varieties of the Chryoprase. These last are the
true Prases of the ancients, so called from their exact resem-
blance to the colour of the leek, and some of the best stones
of this variety will be found quite equal to the Emerald in
tint, though devoid of its lustre. I have also met with the
G-rammatias of Pliny " the Prase with a white line running
through it" employed as a Gnostic amulet; and also the
kind "horrent with spots of blood;" specimens accurately
determining the species of gem intended under his designation
of Prase. The commonness of the stone when he wrote is
clearly shown by his expression " Vilioris est turbae Prasius,"
the Prase belongs to the vulgar herd.
The Plasma was a great favourite with the Romans of the
Lower Empire, but not of an earlier date, to judge from the
circumstance that, although intagli on it are more abundant
than on any other stone except the Sard and Carnelian, yet
SECT. I. PLASMA. ir>
I have never met with any of fine work, and antique, in this
material. The subjects also of the intagli occurring in it are
usually those chiefly in vogue at a late epoch of Rome, such
as the Eagle, Victory, Mercury, Venus, and the Graces. I
should conclude from this that the stone was a late importa-
tion into the Roman world, else it would certainly have been
employed by good artists, both on account of its agreeable
colour and of its resemblance to Calcedony in the facility of
working. I have often met with camei in this stone, but all
apparently of the Renaissance period. Its native country is
now unknown, but large masses of it are occasionally dis-
covered among the debris of ancient buildings in Rome.
Several of the green gems distinguished by Pliny by the
names of Tanos, Prasius, and Molochites, are now, to all
appearance, included under the appellation of Plasma by
collectors. Certainly the great variety of the tints and quali-
ties of the stones now called Plasmas indiscriminately would
have induced the ancients, whose mineralogical system was
entirely based on external peculiarities, to class them under
different species. The Molochites (now confounded with the
Malachite or carbonate of copper) was quite a different sub-
stance, resembling the Emerald, although not transparent,
good for making impressions on wax, and worn around chil-
dren's necks as an amulet. It perhaps was the clear green
Jade in which small figures for suspension are so often found.
Prismatical beads 7 of Plasma, as well as of Garnet, are often
found in the earth about Rome. They all range nearly
about the same size, so that collectors have but little diffi-
culty in forming an even row out of many distinct purchases.
Here it may be added that our Malachite was the Chrysocolla
7 This tends to prove that one Jasper beads, as we shall see in the
species amongst our Plasmas was verses quoted from Naumaclmis.
the green Jasper of the ancients, Vide Sapphire.
who often mention necklaces of
16 MATERIALS. SECT. I.
of the Romans, a name also given to native verdigris, from
its use as a solder for gold work. Nero, as patron of the
Green Faction, in one of his fits of extravagance caused the
Circus to be strewn with the powder of this valuable ore,
instead of the ordinary sand. Antique camei in Malachite,
though extremely rare compared with the frequency of
modern works in this material, nevertheless do exist.
Amongst the Pulsky gems is a most lovely bust of a Bac-
chante, of the best period of Roman art, still retaining in
portions the thin hard patina of brown oxide, with which its
surface was entirely encrusted when it came into the hands of
the present owner a convincing proof of the ages that must
have elapsed since its concealment in the earth.
Diomede and UlyBBes carrying off the Palladium : Greco-Italian. Agate.
JASPEES.
ras /3ovs Kai TOV tacrmv Iftatv nrept X el P' SoK^creis
ras (lev avcmvfielv rov8f x\orjKop.efi.v.
Anthol. ix. 750.
" You '11 deem this jasper, deftly graved with cows,
A grassy mead where breathing cattle browse."
Of tins stone the green semi-transparent kind 8 was con-
sidered the most valuable by the Eomans, and to this sort
8 This was the " Jasper " properly lucet Jaspis." Pliny goes on to
so called in the lapidary's language notice its former high estimation
of the times : " Viret et saepe trans- and subsequent neglect.
JASPERS. 17
refers the pretty epigram of King Polemo (Anthol. ix. 746),
' On a herd of cattle engraved on a green Jasper : '
" Seven oxen does this jasper signet bound,
All seem alive within its narrow round ;
Hence lest they roam beyond the verdant plains,
A golden fold the little herd restrains."
That spotted with red, now called the Bloodstone, anciently
bore the name of Heliotrope, or " Sun-turner," from the
notion that if immersed in water it reflected an image of the
sun as red as blood, " sanguineo repercussu ; " and because,
also, "when in the air it might be used as a mirror to observe
the eclipses of the same luminary, and the moon passing
before and obscuring it." In this kind antique intagli are
very rarely to be met with. 9 On the other hand, they are
very frequent in a hard green Jasper mottled with brown,
a favourite stone with the Gnostics. A dull yellow variety
was also much used by them for their talismans, and also by
the engravers of the earlier Mithraic representations. The
black, a very fine and hard material, presents us with many
excellent intagli of every epoch of the art, 10 as does also the
dark-green variety above all for Egyptian work. The so-
called red Jasper is a softer stone, and of a different species ;
it is now often called Haematite, but the ancient Hematites
bore no resemblance at all to this substance, for it could be
dissolved in water, and was used in medicine, and was, there
can be little doubt, nothing more than our Bole Armoniac.
Of this red Jasper there are two sorts one of a vermilion
9 It was, however, a great fa- niously availing themselves . of the
vourite with the early Italian en- red spots on its surface to imitate
gravers, many of whose works on the issuing blood,
bloodstone have been sold as pre- 10 A fragment of one of the finest
cious antiques. They were fond of Greek intagli known, the Medusa's
using it for representations of the profile of the Mertens-Schaafhausen
Flagellation, or Martyrdoms : inge- Collection, is on black Jasper.
18 MATERIALS. SECT. I.
colour, the other of a very rich crimson ; the latter is by far
the rarest. This stone has always been a favourite with the
Romans, from the middle period down to the end of the
Empire. We often find in it Imperial portraits of admirable
work ; while the rude intagli also, of latest date, appear on
this material in an endless abundance. One of the finest
intagli in existence, the head of Minerva, after Phidias, the,
perhaps, chief treasure in that division of the Vienna Collec-
tion, is engraved on red Jasper. It bears the signature of
Aspasius, whose works, as Visconti observes, appear exclu-
sively upon this stone a singular exception to the usual
mediocrity of intagli in this material. Hence we may con-
jecture that red Jasper, in the age of this artist, was still
rare in Europe ; and that he was captivated by the beautiful
opacity and rich colour of the substance, as well as by its
close and easily-worked texture, which made it so favourite
a ring-stone under the Lower Empire, when the importation
of it had so largely increased. At the present day the source
of this supply is unknown : the true antique Jasper, ver-
milion coloured, is only to be met with in antique examples,
and hence the modern engravings, will be always discovered
to be executed on a brownish-red variety. This peculiarity,
at the first sight of the stone itself, caused me to doubt the
authenticity of the Bearded Bacchus, by Aspasius, in the
British Museum, the modern origin of which I have since
ascertained to be established beyond all dispute.
Pliny distinguishes several varieties of the Jasper, and says
that the best sort had a tinge of purple, the second of rose-
colour, and the third of the Emerald. A fourth sort was
called by the Greeks Borea, and resembled the sky of an
autumnal morning hence must have been of a pale blue.
One kind, like an Emerald, and surrounded by a white line
passing through its middle, was called the Grammatias, and
SECT. I. JASPERS. 19
was used in the East as an amulet. I have seen a square
gem, exactly answering to this description, engraved on both
sides with Gnostic legends. According to Pliny, Jaspers were
much imitated by means of pastes ; and a combination of
several colours artificially cemented together with Venice
turpentine produced a new variety called the Terebinthizusa.
To baffle such a fraud the best stones were always set trans-
parent, "the edges only of the gem being clasped by the
gold." Jaspers were the stones called " Sphragides," seal-
stones par eminence, at this period, and held precedence
above all others for the purpose of signets, as they made the
best impressions of all intagli upon the soft wax then in use.
A pale-green variety, of a very fine grain, and quite opaque,
sometimes occurs, and often with good engravings upon it :
this was the kind so much imitated by the v ancient pastes.
There is no doubt that many of the lighter-coloured Plasmas
were reckoned among the green Jaspers of ancient times.
The ancient " Agate " comprehended latterly as many
varieties as are classed under that name and that of Jasper
in the present day. The different kinds are prettily described
by Orpheus (v. 605), who prescribes this stone as an antidote
against the bites of serpents :
." Drink too the changeful agate in thy wine ;
Like different gems its varying colours shine ;
Full oft its hue the jasper's green displays,
The emerald's light, the blood-red sardian's blaze ;
Sometimes vermilion, oft 'tis overspread
With the dull copper, or the apple's red.
But best of all that sort whereon is spied
The tawny colour of the lion's hide.
This gem by th' ancient demigods was famed,
And from its hue Leontoseres named.
All covered o'er with thousand spots 't is seen
Some red, some white, some black, some grassy green.
C 2
20 MATERIALS. SECT. I.
If any, groaning from the scorpion's dart,
Should sue to thee to heal the venomed smart,
Bind on the wound, or strew the powdered stone,
The pain shall vanish and the influence own."
,
^
Medusa : Greek. Black Jasper.
GAKNETS.
This gem has borrowed its name from the " Granatici," or
red hyacinths of antiquity, so called from their resemblance
to the scarlet blossom of the pomegranate. For stones of the
same colour were promiscuously classed under the same title
by the ignorance of the Middle Ages, whence has arisen the
strange interchange of names between ancient and modern
precious stones so often to be noticed in these pages.
Garnets were largely employed by the Eomans and the
Persians; though they do not appear to have been much
used for engraving upon before a late date, to judge from
the fact that splendid stones often occur completely dis-
figured by the wretched abortions of intagli cut upon them,
evidently the productions of the very decrepitude of the art
I have, however, seen a few admirable works of antique skill
upon this gem, but they are of excessive rarity, and, in most
instances, belong to the Roman school. 1 Portraits of the
Sassanian monarchs frequently appear on this gem ; in fact, it
1 The magnificent Atalanta of the and of the finest Greek work, is an
Berlin gallery, on a large Carbuncle, exception to this remark.
SECT. I. GARNETS. 21
would seem to have been regarded by the later Persians as a
royal stone, from the preference they have given it as the
bearer of the sovereign's image and superscription. Pliny
says that all the varieties of the garnet " Carbunculus "
obstinately resist the engraver, and the wax adheres to them
in sealing. This remark is quite correct as referring to the
soft sealing material used by the ancients, a composition
similar to our modelling wax, which is made of beeswax, to
which is added a few drops of turpentine, and a little vermilion
to give a colour. They also used for sealing a fine pipe-clay
called " creta," which still continues the Italian term for
plastic clay. 2
The common Garnet is of the colour of red wine more or
less diluted. The Carbuncle, which is always cut en cabochon,
i.e. in a form approaching to the hemispherical, is of a deeper
and a richer colour. The Vermilion Garnet shows a con-
siderable admixture of yellow, and often much resembles the
dark Jacinth. The Almandine or Siriam Garnet, so called
from the district in Pegue whence it now comes, has a tinge
of purple mixed with the red, and exactly corresponds with
Pliny's description of the Carbunculi amethystizontes, which
were considered the first of all the varieties of that gem ; and
this rank it has retained in modern times. It is in truth one
of the most beautiful of all the coloured precious stones, and
is found in crystals of considerable size.
Garnets and Carbuncles are now supplied in large quantities
from the mines of Zoblitz in Silesia ; yet even now a stone of
a certain size, of good rich colour, and free from flaws, is of
considerable value, ranging from 81. to 10?. But its estima-
tion has greatly fallen since the times of Mary Queen of
8 Greta is usually rendered Chalk, is probably Marga, and derived from
but this substance is unknown in the Gallic name at the time the
Italy : the true Latin term for chalk Romans first saw it in Gaul.
22 MATERIALS. SECT. I.
Scots ; the pendent Carbuncle to her necklace being valued
at 500 crowns an enormous sum in those days.
The Guarnaccino seems to be a mean between the Kuby
and this gem, since it unites the distinctive marks of both,
combining the colour of wine with the rosy tint of the former.
It is a very splendid stone; fine Koman intagli, and fre-
quently imperial portraits, occur upon it. When of the first
quality it can with difficulty be distinguished from the Spinel
Euby. Modern engravers have seldom employed the Garnet
except for works in relievo, and especially for small portrait
cameos. The stone is extremely hard to work, and also very
brittle difficulties which they cannot overcome ; a circum-
stance that affords a much stronger testimony to the skill of
the ancient artists, who have left us such highly-finished
works in so refractory a material.
A variety, though rare, is sometimes found of a beautiful
rose colour, much resembling the Balais Euby ; on this kind
I have also seen good intagli, especially one at Home (in
1848), Apollo seated and playing the lyre, of most admirable
workmanship, but the gem accidentally broken in two, a
misfortune to which all Garnets are peculiarly liable.
A very similar stone in appearance to this Eose Garnet is
produced by roasting the Brazilian Topaz for several hours
under hot ashes in a furnace: it thus changes its golden
colour into a bright pink, and at the same time acquires
additional lustre.
JACINTH.
The modern Jacinth derives its name from the yellow
variety of the ancient Hyacinthus, with which it was con-
founded in the times of barbarism. The greater part, how-
ever, of what are now termed Jacinths are only Cinnamon
Stones or a reddish-brown kind of Garnet of little beauty or
SECT. I. JACINTH. 23
value. But the true Jacinth belongs to the Jargoon family,
distinguished by having for its base the earth zircon, only
found in this class of gems. There can be little doubt that
our Jacinth was the ancient Lyncurium, a stone described by
Theophrastus as resembling amber in levity, colour, power
of refraction, and electrical properties. One kind is of a
pale yellow, and extremely brilliant : there is also another
of a rich orange brown, very agreeable to the eye.
The Lyncurium is thus described by Theophrastus (c.
28) : " This gem (the Emerald) is indeed extraordinary on
account of its singular property of tinging water: and equally
so is the Lyncurium ; for out of this also signet-stones are
engraved ; and it is very hard, exactly like a real stone ; for
it attracts in the same manner as amber, some say not only
straws and bits of wood, but even copper and iron, if they be
in thin pieces, as Diocles also hath observed. It is highly
transparent, and cold to the touch, and that produced by the
male lynx is better than that of the female, and that of the
wild lynx better than that of the tame, in consequence both
of the difference of their food, and the former having plenty
of exercise, and the latter none ; hence their secretions are
the more limpid. Those experienced in the search find it by
digging ; for the animal endeavours to conceal the deposit,
and scrapes up earth over it after he has voided it. There is
a peculiar and tedious method of working up this substance
also, as well as the Smaragdus. "
The ancients used both sorts very frequently, both for
intagli and for camei ; but for the latter purpose they
preferred the darker kind, which thus worked is very effective.
This deep-coloured gem may have been the Morio, so named
from its mulberry colour, which Pliny says was used for
engravings in relief " ad ectypas sculpturas faciendas." The
style of all engravings on this gem is very peculiar, so as to be
24 MATERIALS. SECT. I.
easily recognised even in the impression from such an intaglio.
It is characterised by a kind of fluidity and roundness of all
the lines, and a shallowness of engraving, perhaps adopted in
order to avoid all risk of fracture in working so porous a stone.
This porousness is manifest even to the naked eye ; for a
Jacinth held up against a strong light appears like a mass of
petrified honey. The difficulty of engraving on the Lyncu-
rium is alluded to by Theophrastus in the above passage ;
for, after mentioning that signet-stones were engraved out of
this substance, he adds, " the working in it is somewhat more
tedious " than in other stones : such at least appears to be the
meaning of his obscure expression, yivsrai Se x<zi xaTsya<rta ns
IZUTOV 7r\iuv. If this version is correct we have here a distinct
allusion to the peculiar style of the engravings in this stone,
worked out as they are in a manner composed of flowing
and shallow hollows, totally different from that found in other
gems belonging to the same period. From the porousness
of the stone, intagli cut upon it, in spite of its great hardness,
usually have a very worn and scratched surface, so that a
Jacinth intaglio, exhibiting a high polish on the exterior, may
justly be suspected of being a modern work. Even the
interior of the design, unless where protected by the unusual
deepness of the cutting, will be found to have suffered in a
singular manner from the effects of friction and of time. The
finest intaglio in Jacinth at present known is doubtless the
full-face portrait called that of Pompey, but more probably that
of Ma3cenas, formerly in the Herz Collection, which also derives
additional value from the name of the artist AHOAAQNIOY
engraved upon it. A fine Jacinth is a splendid ornamental
ring-stone, and much superior to the best Topaz, as it has a
peculiar golden lustre mixed with its rich orange ; however, it
is at present completely out of fashion, and consequently of
little value ; such is the unreasoning caprice of the mode.
SECT. T. JACINTH. 25
Pliny indeed denies the existence of a gem Lyncurium, 3
which word, he asserts, is only another name for amber; but
the descriptions he quotes of it from Theophrastus and Diocles,
who write that it was used for signets, and was of the colour
of fiery amber, are quite sufficient to identify it with our
Jacinth, a favourite stone with the Greek artists of the age
of these two authors. They also distinctly mention its strong
attractive property when heated by friction.
As an ornamental stone the Jacinth may be distinguished
from the Cinnamon Stone both by its porous texture, and
above all by its electricity, a quality only found in the Dia-
mond, Sapphire, Tourmaline, and this class of gems.
Most probably our Jacinth was also reckoned among the
varieties of the Lychnis by Pliny, who makes this one of his
classes of the genus Carbunculus. The Lycimis got its name
from its supposed property of lighting lamps, " a lucernarum
accensu." This wonderful power is mentioned by Orpheus,
v. 270 <
" Dear to the gods, thou canst the sacred blaze,
Like to the crystal, on their altars raise."
It was divided into two sorts, one with a purple, the other
with a red tinge. It possessed the property of attracting
light objects when rubbed or heated in the sun, and it was
imported from India. These particulars would seem to
identify this stone with the Ked Tourmaline or Eubellite,
which is as electric as amber itself. 4 Both Jacinths and
Carbuncles were obtained by the ancients in masses of extra-
ordinary bulk ; Callistratus states that the Indians hollowed
3 So called as being supposed to too soft a stone to answer the an-
be formed from the urine of the cient description of the Lychnis,
Lynx converted into stone when which was extremely difficult to en-
buried in the earth by that beast. grave. See Euby.
4 Except that the Tourmaline is
26 MATERIALS. SECT. I.
Carbunculi into cups holding a sextarius, or nearly one pint.
I have myself seen a small antique bowl of the size of a
Chinese teacup formed out of a single Garnet, and bearing
its owner's name, KOAPOY, engraved on the inside.
The Lychnis is thus mentioned by Lucian, ' De Syria Dea :'
" The goddess wears on her head a gem called Lychnis
(lamp-stone), a name derived from its nature. From it a
great and shining light is diffused in the night-time, so that
the whole temple is thereby lighted up as though by many
lamps burning. By day its lustre is more feeble, however it
still presents a very fiery appearance." Alardus, a Dutch-
man, writing in the year 1539, caps this story with the fol-
lowing wonderful description of a similar gem :
" Amongst other stones of the most precious quality, and
therefore beyond all price, and not to be estimated by any
equivalent of human riches, the gift of that most noble lady
Heldegarde, formerly wife of Theodoric, Count of Holland,
which she had caused to be set in a gold tablet of truly in-
estimable value, and which she had dedicated to St. Adalbert,
the patron of the town of Egniund ; among these gems I say
was a Chrysolampis, commonly called an Osculan, which in
the night-time so lighted up the entire chapel on all sides that
it served instead of lamps for the reading of the Hours late at
night, and would have served the same purpose to the pre-
sent day had not the hope of gain caused it to be stolen by a
runaway Benedictine monk, the most greedy creature that
ever went on two legs. He threw it into the sea close by
Egmund, for fear of being convicted of sacrilege by the pos-
session of such a gem. Some traces of this stone still remain
in the upper border of the before-mentioned tablet."
To this circumstantial narrative we may safely apply the
line
" The talc of the 'jewel' 's a damnable bounce ;"
SECT. I. EMERALDS. 27
for the property of phosphorescence is possessed by no other
gem except the Diamond, and this only retains it for a few
minutes after having been exposed to a hot sun and then
immediately carried into a dark room. This singular
quality must often have attracted the notice of Orientals
on entering their gloomy chambers after exposure to their
blazing sun, and thus have afforded sufficient foundation
to the wonderful tales built upon the simple fact by
their luxuriant imaginations.
Sappho: Archaic Greek. Jacinth. Augur taking the auspices : Etruscan. Jacinth
EMERALDS.
It has been frequently asserted by writers on gems that
the ancients were not acquainted with the true Emerald,
which they pretend was unknown in Europe before the dis-
covery of Peru, from whence in the present day the market
is exclusively supplied. In spite of the vast numbers of
Emeralds occurring in Indian ornaments, both in their native
form and rudely cut into pear-drops and " tables," no mines
of this gem are known to exist in India ; and Tavernier goes
so far as to assert positively that all Emeralds used in that
country must have been imported from Peru by the way of
the Philippine Isles. But if we carefully consider facts, we
shall be led to a very different conclusion, and shall find that
the ancients were abundantly supplied not merely with the
28 MATERIALS. SECT. 1.
true Emerald, but also with the Green Ruby, a much harder
and much rarer stone, the Smaragdus Scythicus of Pliny.
We find numbers of these gems, often of great size, adorning
antique pieces of jewellery made long before the discovery of
America a fact in itself sufficient to prove the previous
existence of the Emerald in Europe, from whatever other
region it might have been procured. Large Emeralds,
Rubies, and Sapphires, all uncut, adorn the Iron Crown of
Lombardy, presented to the Cathedral of Monza by Queen
Theodelinda at the end of the sixth century, and which has
never been altered since that period. They also appeared
in the crown of King Agilulph, also of the same date, al-
though that was probably brought to its latest and more
tasteful shape by a famous goldsmith, Anguillotto Braccio-
forte, in the 14th century, yet still long before the discovery
of Peru. They also appear in the cross of Lotharius, a work
of the 9th century, and in the crown of Hungary of the 10th,
both of which will be fully described in the course of this
work. A good Emerald may also be seen in the tiara of
Pope Julius II., who died 32 years before the conquest of
Peru : this tiara is preserved among the jewels of the Louvre.
Cellini also, speaking of the antique gems which he used to
purchase of the country people during his residence at Rome
(in which line he boasts of having carried on a very lucrative
trade with the cardinals and other wealthy patrons of art of
that day), mentions his having thus obtained an Emerald
exquisitely engraved with a horse's head. This stone was of
such fine quality that when recut " it was sold for many hun-
dred crowns." It may here be observed that the horse's head,
an attribute of Neptune, would be appropriately engraved
upon the sea-coloured stone, and, above all, that the intaglio
itself, if of the excellent work described by Cellini, must
have been antique, for the art of gem engraving had only
SECT. I. EMERALDS. 29
been revived in Italy a few years before his own birth,
A.D. 1500.
According to Pliny, the Bactrian and Scythian Emeralds
were considered the best of all, on account of their depth of
colour and their freedom from flaws" nullis major austeritas
aut minus vitii." Their extreme hardness prevented their
being engraved. All these characteristics united point out
these gents as the Green Ruby still to be met with, though
always a rare variety, among the Eubies and Sapphires of
Ceylon. In fact, the stone should rather be called a Green
Sapphire than a Ruby. I have seen one of large size from
the Hope Collection ; its colour was a very dark green, fully
agreeing with the term "austeritas," and its freedom from
flaws, as contrasted with another true Emerald of the same
bulk, was very striking. Hardly any other \gern is so liable
to defects as the latter stone ; even the smallest Peruvian
Emerald when cut will show one or more flaws in its sub-
stance ; indeed the absence of any is of itself sufficient to
excite suspicion that the gem is merely a glass imitation, for
no precious stone can be more exactly counterfeited by a
paste. In consequence of this great liability to defects, no
gem varies so much in value as the Emerald, selling at prices
varying from 10s. to 3?. per carat, according to its clearness
and depth of colour.
The Romans derived their principal supply of the true
Emerald from Egypt, from the mines in the vicinity of
Coptos. Extensive traces of these workings are still to be
seen on Mount Zahara, from which Sir G. Wilkinson brought
away several specimens of the gem in its quartz matrix, some
of which are exhibited in the Mineralogical Department of
the British Museum. These are indeed of a bad pale colour
and full of flaws, yet incontestably true Emeralds ; however,
it was not likely that a casual visitor could obtain anything
30 MATERIALS. SECT. I.
but the refuse of the ancient miners, and a further working
of the veins might produce stones of better quality, and equal
to those Emeralds of Imperial times which we shall presently
notice. Some were also obtained by the Romans from the
copper-mines of Cyprus : these were the worst of all ; we
need not however suppose, with some theoretical mineralo-
gists, that they were only pieces of green malachite. Pliny
gives a copious list of names for gems of a green colour and
of various degrees of value, so we can well afford to confine
his name of " Smaragdus " to the Green Euby and the true
Emerald. 5 The notion that these Cyprian Emeralds were
only malachite is entirely confuted by his description, " that
they were of the colour of transparent sea-water," that is, of
a light green without any depth of hue. It is said that the
tomb of Hermias, a prince of that island, which stood on the
coast near the tunny-fishery, was surmounted by a marble
lion, the eyes of which were made of these Emeralds, and
shot forth such lustre upon the sea as to scare away the fish ;
nor could the cause be discovered for a long time, until the
gems in the eyes were changed. Curiously enough, a marble
lion was brought to England last year from Cos, the pupils of
whose eyes were very deeply hollowed out, as if for the recep-
tion of some gems of an appropriate colour. The Ethiopian
Emeralds were found in a mine three days' journey distant
from Coptos ; they were of a brilliant green, but rarely clear
or of the same shade throughout, " acriter virides sed non
5 The remark of Pliny that vercd at the back : its green will
" those Emeralds which have a disappear when its plane is brought
plane surface reflect objects like a to a particular angle with the ray
mirror " is singularly correct, and of light, and it will seem precisely
attests his accurate acquaintance like a fragment of a looking-glass
with the peculiar properties of this in the same position. This sin-
gem. For if a large Emerald be gular change is not observable in
held so as to reflect the light, it will any other coloured stone,
assume the appearance of being sil-
SECT. I. EMERALDS. 31
facile puri aut concolores." Those brought from Media were
improved in hue by maceration in wine and oil ; they ex-
ceeded all others in size.
I shall now proceed to describe some true Emeralds of un-
doubted antiquity, which have at different times come under
my own notice. A hollow gold ring, the make of which be-
tokened an early date, and which had been found in the
island of Milos, was set with an Emerald retaining its native
form, a portion of a prism, and rudely polished. The stone
was of a beautiful colour, a bluish green, exactly correspond-
ing to Pliny's description of the Chalcedonian Emerald,
" like the feathers of a peacock or the neck of a pigeon ;"
but the stone was very tender and full of flaws. In a very
choice cabinet of gems, which afterwards passed into the
possession of L. Fould of Paris, were the following antique
intagli on true Emeralds, some of considerable size and
beauty of colour, and the work of which, as far as my own
judgment goes, bears every mark of authenticity : A bull
butting with his head, very spirited, the style of the engrav-
ing of the Roman period. Busts of Hadrian and Sabina
facing each other. 6 A lion's head, full face, crowned with
the persea, evidently intended for the type of the Egyptian
lion-headed serpent, Chneph, the emblem of the sun, after-
wards so favourite a device with the Gnostics. This last
6 Also an excellent portrait of raid more fashionable at Rome, and
Hadrian on a very fine Emerald, occasioned a more extended working
I have lately seen on this gem, and of the mines of Mount Zahara, the
one of perfect colour, another head, chief source of the supply. An ex-
apparently of Sabina. It is curious traordinary intaglio of Alexandrian
so large a proportion of the intagli work of this date, a head of Jupiter,
upon so rare a material should be- surrounded by various emblems, and
long to the reign of this emperor : resting on a crocodile, from the Mer-
perhaps his fondness for Egyptian tens-Schaafhausen Collection, is also
antiquities and long sojourn in that cut upon a true but pale Emerald
country may have made the Erne- of considerable size.
MATERIALS. SECT. 1.
gem was a miracle of the glyptic art ; the head in the im-
pression from it stood out in full relief, with gaping jaws,
expressive of the utmost spirit ; while the stone was of the
finest colour, purity, and lustre, and in itself of considerable
value as a first-rate Emerald.
Among the Herz gems was a bust of Neptune, a full face,
on a large pale Emerald with a bluish tinge, with the artist's
name, QAOS, at the side. The execution of the engraving
is very fine, and quite in the antique manner. It is cut upon
the flat section of a large hemispherical stone, which, after a
very careful examination, I have some doubt in pronouncing to
be an Emerald, for when held up against the light it has a very
blue tinge and a peculiar lustre, leading me to consider it as
a very fine Aquamarine, a most appropriate stone to bear
the impress of the head of Neptune.
Amongst Hancock's rings, sold Feb. 1858, was a very
spirited intaglio, Cupid riding on a dolphin through the
waves, the work to all appearance antique, upon a very large
pale Emerald, for such the stone was pronounced to be by a
jeweller of great experience in the purchase of precious
stones. When examined against the light it did not present
the peculiar tinge of the Beryl, to which class I was at first
disposed to refer it on account of its extraordinary size. It
was absurdly described in the catalogue of the sale as a
Chrysoprase.
The huge Smaragdi mentioned by Theophrastus when he
speaks of one sent by the King of Babylon to the King of
Egypt 4 cubits long by 3 wide, and of an obelisk in the
Temple of Jupiter 40 cubits high made out of only 4
Emeralds, must have been either certain Green Jaspers,
Malachites, or more probably glass. In his own time there
was a pillar made out of a single Smaragdus standing in the
Temple of Hercules in Tyre. Apion, who lived a little
SECT. I. EMERALDS. 3:5
before the time of Pliny, had mentioned a colossus of
Serapis then standing in the Labyrinth 9 cubits high, made
out of Smaragdus. The Alexandrians were always famous
for their manufacture of glass, so that these figures and
obelisks, although their size is doubtless greatly exaggerated,
may have actually existed in some vitreous composition, and
been passed off upon the credulous visitor as real Emeralds.
Such was the case with the famous Sacro Catino of the
Cathedral of S. Giovanni at Genoa, which was said by
tradition to have been used by Our Lord at the institution
of the Last Supper. It was a large dish of a transparent
rich green substance, and believed for many ages to be
formed out of a single Emerald of inestimable value, but
which the investigating spirit of the French, when masters of
the city, speedily tested and proved to be merely glass. 7
However, it may here be observed that the antique glass
Emeralds possess a degree of lustre, colour, and hardness
very superior to those of modern pastes. One I have seen at
Rome that had been recut and set in a gold ring, that
eclipsed in beauty almost every real stone of the kind. In
fact, it is a usual practice there, on finding a fine paste
Emerald, to have it recut and facetted for a ring-stone, and
as such to obtain a high price for it from the unwary dilettante. 8
7 Such was doubtless the famous fine Emeralds, which they sell to
" Table of Solomon " found by the the " steamboat gentlemans " at
Arab conquerors in the Gothic trea- high prices. The Brighton Eme-
sury of Spain, which their histo- raids, so largely purchased by
rians describe as a table of consider- Cockney visitors, are of similar
able size, of one single piece of solid origin : the old glass fragments,
Emerald, encircled with three rows thrown into the sea purposely, by
of fine pearls, supported by 365 feet the lapidaries of the place, are by
of gems and massy gold, and esti- the attrition of the shingle speedily
mated at the price of 500,000 pieces converted into the form of real peb-
of gold. bles. These ingenious tradesmen
8 The Cingalese anxiously seek literally thus cast their bread into
after the thick bottoms of our wine- the water, and find it again after
bottles, out of which they cut very many days.
D
34 MATERIALS. SECT, I.
Nero, who was extremely short-sighted, "Neroni oculi
hebetes nisi quum ad prope adraota eonniveret," used to view
the combats of gladiators in the arena through an Emerald,
" Smaragdo spectabat." This stone must have been hol-
lowed out at the back, as many antique gems, especially
Carbuncles, are still found to be, and thus have acted as a
concave lens to assist his sight in watching the distant scene
below the emperor's seat in the amphitheatre. But its
power must then have been ascribed to the material, not to
the form of the stone, for the looking at an Emerald was then
considered as extremely beneficial to the sight a notion that
prevailed as early as the times of Theophrastus, who notices
that people wore Emeralds set in their rings for this very
purpose. Gem-engravers were accustomed to refresh their
wearied eyes, after the excessive straining of them required in
their work, by gazing for some minutes upon an Emerald kept
by them for that purpose. Had it not been for this confusion
of ideas, the invention of spectacles, at least for myopes,
would have been anticipated by more than a thousand years.
Some commentators have absurdly supposed that Nero used a
flat " table " Emerald as a mirror to reflect the distant view
of the combat; such writers could never themselves have
suffered from the affliction of short-sightedness, or they would
have known that to such an eye a reflection of a distant view
would be but doubly obscured obscurity. 9 Any one that has
examined the portraits of this emperor on a gem or a well-
preserved medal will at once recognise, from the extraordi-
nary size and fullness of his eyes, how very short-sighted he
must have been. Curiously enough, myopism is still in Italy
almost a distinct peculiarity of aristocratic birth.
9 Had the Emerald been only bat," not merely " smaragdo," which
employed on these occasions as a can only mean " by the aid of an
mirror, Pliny would have used the Emerald he used to view the corn-
expression " in smaragdo specta- bats of gladiators."
SECT. I. EMEKALDS. 35
The Hindoos of the present day are very fond of the
Emerald, especially when formed as a pear, and worn as a
drop from the ear. They also wear it much in bracelets, and
many a glorious gem of this species have they remorselessly
ruined by drilling a hole through it for the purpose of string-
ing it as a bead. One of the finest known was thus to be
seen martyrized upon the arm of Eunjeet Sing. Such stones,
in order to be used in European ornaments, must be cut in
two to get rid of the perforation; and thus a gem of matchless
magnitude is necessarily reduced into a pair of only ordinary
dimensions. One of the largest and finest Sapphires that
ever came under my notice had been thus cruelly maltreated
in order to make an ear-pendant.
It may be added that " Smaragdus " is the Greek corrup-
tion of the Sanscrit Smarakata, the gem and its name having
been imported together from Bactria into Europe by the
traders of that race. Pliny's description of the Emerald will
form a suitable conclusion to this lengthy dissertation :
" After the Diamond and Pearl, the third place is given to
the Emerald for many reasons. No other colour is so pleasing
to the sight ; for grass and green foliage we view with plea-
sure, but Emeralds with so much the greater delight, as
nothing whatever compared with them equals them in the
intensity of its green. Besides, they are the only gems that
fill the eye with their view, but yet do not fatigue it : nay,
more, when the sight is wearied by any over-exertion, it is
relieved by looking at an Emerald. For gem-engravers no
other means of resting the eye is so agreeable ; so effectually,
by their mild green lustre, do they refresh the wearied eye."
After reading this just panegyric, can any one doubt that
Pliny was acquainted with the true Emerald, or suppose that
he could have applied such terms of praise to the dull
Plasma, Jasper, or Malachite, which many writers on gems
D 2
36 MATERIALS. SECT. 1.
have contended that he exclusively meant by the name
Smaragdus ? 10
The Emerald is thus noticed by Theophrastus (On Stones,
c. 23) : " Of stones there exist also others out of which they
engrave signet-stones ; some for the sake of their beauty
alone, such as the Sard, the Jasper, and the Sapphirus : this
last is, as it were, spotted with gold-dust. But the Emerald
possesses also some peculiar properties, for it assimilates the
colour of the water into which it is thrown to its own colour
the stone of middling quality tinging a smaller quantity,
the best sort all the water, whilst the inferior gem only
colours that immediately over and opposite to itself. 1 It is
good also for the eyes, for which reason people wear ring-
stones made of it, for the sake of looking at them. But it is
rare, and small in size, unless we choose to believe the histo-
ries about the Egyptian kings, for some assert that one was
brought amongst other presents from the King of Babylon
four cubits in length by three cubits in width ; and that there
now exist, dedicated in the Temple of Jupiter, four obelisks
made out of Emerald, forty cubits long, and four wide on one
face, and three on the other. But these accounts rest merely
on the testimony of their own writers. Of the sort called by
many the Bactrian, that at Tyre is the largest, for there is
a column of tolerable size in the Temple of Hercules there ;
unless, perhaps, it be the spurious Emerald, for there is found
such a sort of gem. It exists in localities easily accessible
10 This, however, is not intended says that it could be used as a
as a denial that many of the nume- solder for gold. Pliny is speaking
rous Smaragdi, the list of which for himself in the above laudation
he has extracted from more early of the beauties of the true gem.
writers, were not mere green gems ' The meaning is that it will give
of different species : for the Cyprian a greenish cast to the water by the
Smaragdus of Theophrastus is clearly reflection of its own colour, not by
nothing but our transparent Chry- staining the fluid, as most persons
socolla, or copper Emerald, for he absurdly understand this passage.
SECT. I. EMERALDS. 37
and well known, chiefly in two places in Cyprus in the
copper-mines, and in the island that lies over against Cal-
cedon. In the latter spot they find the more peculiar speci-
mens for this species of gem is mined after, like other
metals and rods 2 are made of it in Cyprus, quite by itself,
and that too in great numbers. But few are met with of
sufficient size for a signet-stone, since most of them are too
small, for which reason they use it for the soldering of gold,
for it solders quite as well as the Chrysocolla ; and some
even suspect both to be of the same nature, as they are cer-
tainly both exactly alike in colour. Chrysocolla, however, is
abundantly found both in gold-mines and still more so in
copper-mines, as in those of Stobee. But the Emerald, on
the contrary, is rare, as we have observed, and it appears to
be produced from the Jasper ; for it is said v that once there
was found in Cyprus a stone of which the one half was
Emerald, the other half Jasper as being not yet completely
transformed by the action of the fluid. There is a peculiar
mode of working up this gem so as to give it lustre, for in
its native state it has no brilliancy."
Olympic victor : Etruscan. Emerald.
2 Probably these are the cylindri pendants so often seen in antique
of the Romans, the long and slender works.
MATERIALS.
SECT. I.
r or Palsemon : Greco-Itakau . Beryl.
BERYL.
" An Indian beryl erst, great Tryphon's skill
Has bent my stubborn nature to his will,
And taught me Galatea's form to bear,
And spread with gentle hands my flowing hair.
Mark how my lips float o'er the watery plain,
My swelling breasts the charmed winds constrain ;
Freed from the envious gem that yet enslaves,
Thou 'It see me sport amid my native waves."
ADD.EUS, 3 Anthol., ix, 544.
The Beryl is of little value at the present day, both in con-
sequence of its extreme softness and of the abundance in
which it is now produced in many p'arts of the world, and
that, too, often in masses of enormous magnitude, whose
size reminds one of the monstrous Smaragdi spoken of by
Theophrastus and Apion. In the British Museum are two
Beryls from Acworth, New Hampshire, one of the weight of
48 Ibs., the other of 83 Ibs. This stone is of the same che-
mical constitution as the Emerald, the basis of both being
glucine in almost the same proportion, but it is much softer,
and yields to the file.
3 Addams was an Alexandrian epigram, therefore, fixes the date of
poet under the first Ptolemies. This the engraver Tryphon.
SECT. L BERYL. 39
I have met with but few indubitably antique iutagli in
this stone, 4 although it was subsequently a favourite material
with the artists of the Kenaissance and later times. Antique
engravings on Beryl are almost as rare as on the Emerald :
but those on the former stone, as far as my experience goes,
all belong to an earlier period, being usually fine works of
the Greek school, whilst I have never met with intagli on
Emerald which were not clearly of Roman work. Besides
the Taras on the Dolphin, already mentioned, one of the most
exquisite relics of Magna Grecian art in existence, a Cupid
similarly mounted, also on a fine Beryl, is one of the chief
ornaments of the Cracherode Collection in the British
Museum. This stone was of the same degree of rarity
amongst the ancients as the Smaragdus itself, for it was then
obtained from India alone. It is the vast supply from Ger-
many and America that has so sunk the value of this gem in
modern times. It possesses very great lustre, and the lighter
variety is often used in jewellery, under the name of Rhine
Diamond : and persons have often flattered themselves with
being the owners of a true Diamond of enormous value,
which, on examination by a skilful lapidary, has proved to
be merely one of these comparatively worthless stones.
This was the only gem facetted by the Romans, who cut it
into a sexangular pyramid, as otherwise it had no lustre.
Beryls were highly prized at Rome, both for the purpose of
ear-drops, and of ornamental, i. e. not engraved, ring-stones.
When Cynthia's shade appears to Propertius he remarks
that
" Et solitam digito beryllon adederat ignis."
4 The finest amongst these few merit. In the same collection are
is the Taras riding ou a dolphin, of a few more intagli on Beryl of fair
the Merteus-Schaathausen Collec- Roman work,
tion, a Greek work of the highest
40 MATERIALS. SECT. 1.
" The funeral pile had with its fire defaced
The sparkling beryl which her finger graced."
A line affording a proof, if any were wanted, that the favourite
rings of the deceased were burnt together with the corpse ;
a fact which fully accounts for the number of fine intagli,
partly or wholly calcined, which every collector meets with
not unfrequently, and often with the greatest regret at the
destruction of some matchless specimen of the skill of the
engraver.
The Indians had the art of tinging crystal so as to pass it
off for the Beryl. 5 They also cut this stone into long cylin-
drical beads, and wore them strung on elephants' hair, believ-
ing that their lustre was heightened by the perforation. But
the most perfect in colour were not bored, but used for wear
by having each end secured by a gold boss.
It is a curious fact that Beryllus is the low Latin term for
a magnifying glass ; hence the German " Brille," spectacles.
Nicolas de Cusa, Bishop of Brixen (who died 1454), gave
the name of Beryllus to one of his works, " because by its
aid the mind would be able to penetrate into matters which
otherwise it would be unable to penetrate." And in his
second chapter he says, " The Beryl is a shining, colourless,
transparent stone, to which a concave as well as a convex
form is given by art ; and, looking through it, one sees what
was previously invisible." Probably the first idea of this
invention was got by accidentally looking through a double
convex and clear Beryl (or one cut en cabochon, a very usual
5 At present the Indians paint ments are, when taken out, rarely
the back of every coloured gem found to be of much value, as all
they set to improve the colour, for of high intrinsic value are sold to
which reason they never set them the European market, the inferior
transparent. From this deceitful samples, when painted, being con-
practice of giving a false beauty to sidered good enough for the native
the stones, those set in Indian orna- jewellery.
SECT. T.
AMETHYST.
41
form of ancient transparent stones), and thence concluding
that a clear piece of glass of the same shape would produce
the same effect. Thus the observer by induction was led to
apply a similar fact to that of Nero's use of his Emerald
lorgnette to the working-out of a most important result ;
through the happy thought that the marvellous effect was
due not to the material, but to the shape of the stone.
Apollo : Greek work. Amethyst.
AMETHYST.
A* \idos err' dfj.e6v(TTos, e'yco 8'6 TTOTUS
77 vTj<pfiv ireurti fi' fj /xa$erco fj-tdvei
Anih. ix. 748.
" On wineless gem I toper Bacchus reign;
Stone, learn to drink, or teach me to abstain."
The common Amethyst is only crystal coloured purple by
manganese and iron. The deeper the tint, the less brilliant
is the stone ; for which reason the ancient engravers preferred
the light-coloured variety, which of all gems, next to the
Jacinth, possesses the greatest lustre. This pale kind was
supposed by Lessing and many others to be the Hyacinthus
of Pliny, which, according to him, differs from the Amethyst,
" inasmuch as the violet splendour of the Amethyst is diluted
in this gem, and, so far from filling the eye, does not even
42 MATERIALS. SECT. I.
reach it, fading away more speedily than the flower of the
same name." This flower, it may be observed by the way,
was not our hyacinth, a bulb derived from Persia, but the
blue iris, or fleur-de-lys, the blossom of which only lasts one
day. This appears from Ovid's elegant account of the origin
of the plant from the blood of the youth Hyacinthus :
" Flos oritur formamque capit quam lilia, sinon
Purpureus color hie argenteus esset in illis."
" Formed like the lily, springs a flower to light,
But robed in purple, not in silver white." 6
But we shall prove in the next chapter that the ancient
Hyacinthus stone, as described by Solinus, agrees with the
modern Sapphire in every particular ; and we have already
seen that the stone, now called the Jacinth or Hyacinth e by
the French, was the Lyncurium of the ancient lapidaries.
Pliny mentions the suitableness of the Amethyst for
engraving on, " sculpturis faciles," a sufficient proof that no
species of this stone was the Hyacinthus, which Solinus calls
the hardest of all gems, and only to be touched by the
diamond point.
Intagli of all dates and of every style of work occur on
Amethyst, but usually on the light-coloured sort : in fact, an
engraving on a dark stone may be suspected of being modern.
I have, however, seen a fine Greek intaglio a full-faced head
of Pan, the Mask of Terror upon a dark-coloured Amethyst,
the antiquity of the work of which could not be called in ques-
tion. Scarabei also, both Egyptian and Etruscan, are by no
means uncommon in this stone ; and Roman intagli in it are
* The lilium was probably the to typify, according to the satirical
white fleur-de-lys, to judge from remark of Dante, the constant civil
the Italian giglio. The giglio of wars of that State,
the arms of Florence was first ar- per division fatto vermiglio."
gent, but after changed to gules,
SECT. I. AMETHYST. 43
sufficiently abundant, though not often of good execution.
Amongst the finest gems of the Pulsky Collection is the
head of a Syrian king upon a large and pale Amethyst,
engraved with the artist's name, NEAPKHS. Small heads and
busts, in full and half relief, are frequently found executed in
this stone, which have probably served to complete statuettes
in the precious metals.
The name (though probably derived from the Indian word
for the stone) was by the fanciful Greeks interpreted as if
formed from their own language, and thereupon the gem was
invested by them with the virtue of acting as an antidote to
the effects of wine. Hence the point of the epigram prefixed
to this article, and also of another by Asclepiades or Anti-
pater of Thessalonica (Anth. ix. 752) :
V
" A Bacchante wild, on amethyst I stand,
The engraving truly of a skilful hand ;
The subject 's foreign to the sober stone,
But Cleopatra doth the jewel own ;
And on her royal hand all will agree
The drunken goddess needs must sober be."
Even in the last century this stone was still held in high
estimation. Queen Charlotte's necklace of well-matched
Amethysts, the most perfect in existence, was valued at
2000?. ; at present it would not command as many shillings
so great has been the importation of late years of German
Amethysts and Topazes (purple and yellow crystals of
quartz), which are dug up in endless abundance in the Sie-
bengeberge on the Khine, where they are cut and polished
by steam-power, and despatched into all parts of Europe to
be made up into cheap articles of jewellery. They are also
found plentifully about Wicklow in Ireland. These occi-
dental stones are of a deep, rich hue, but have very little
brilliancy : formerly they were largely imported from the
44 MATERIALS. SECT. I.
East Indies, and these were light coloured, but extremely
lustrous. In modern usage the Amethyst is the only stone it
is deemed allowable to wear in mourning. 7
We may here mention the true oriental Amethyst, a very
rare and valuable stone, being in reality a purple Sapphire,
but its purple has little of the redness of that seen in the
common Amethyst, but is rather an extremely deep shade of
violet. It is a much rarer stone than the ordinary blue
Sapphire, but very inferior to it in beauty. English jewellers
absurdly call the common Amethyst, if very bright and of
two shades of colour, by the name of Oriental ; a stone which
in reality few of them in all their experience have ever met
with.
SAPPHIEUS HYACINTHUS.
That the Sapphirus of the ancients was our Lapis-lazuli is
evident from Pliny's description of it, " that it came from
Media (whence the entire supply of the latter stone is brought
at the present day), that it w r as opaque, and sprinkled with
specks of gold, and was of two sorts, a dark and a light blue.
It was considered unfit for engraving upon in consequence of
its substance being full of hard points," the small spots of
yellow pyrites which appear like gold. Nevertheless both
intagli and camei of Koman times are frequent in this
material, but rarely any works of much merit, though fairly
executed Koman intagli in it are not scarce. 8 With Italian
7 The colour of the Amethyst can a greater or shorter time until they
be dispelled by a careful roasting in were all brought to the same tint
hot ashes. Hence, in the last cen- of purple.
tury, when it was desirable to ob- 8 I have lately seen a very fine
tain a suite of stones of the same head of Alexander the Great on a
shade, the jewellers were able to large and fine-coloured Lapis-lazuli,
obtain this result by subjecting the the reverse of the stone engraved
several Amethysts to the heat for with full-length figures of Apollo
SECT. L SAPPHIRUS HYACINTHUS. 45
artists it has been a great favourite, especially for engravings
in relief and for busts of statuettes. A serious defect of this
substance is that it loses its beautiful azure by exposure to
heat and moisture, and assumes a chalky appearance. It has
been asserted positively by many modern mineralogists that
the Cyanos of Pliny was our Sapphire ; but this opinion is
by no means borne out by his description of the former
stone : " The Cyanos shall be noticed separately, a favour
granted to the blue colour lately mentioned (when speaking
of the blue Jasper). The best sort is the Scythian, then the
Cyprian, and last of all the Egyptian. It is very largely
imitated by staining crystal, and a certain king of Egypt has
the credit of having first discovered how to tinge crystal this
colour. This also is divided into male and female. There
is sometimes gold-dust seen within it, but different from that
in the Lapis-lazuli. For in the latter the gold shines in
points or specks amidst the azure colour." This mention of
the gold-dust visible in the Cyanos, but only occasionally,
would lead us to conclude it to have been the clear variety of
the Lapis-lazuli, pieces of which sometimes occur entirely free
from the golden specks of pyrites. Or it may have been a
bright crystal of the sulphate of copper, which is in its native
state nearly transparent and of considerable hardness. What-
ever it was, it was clearly not the present precious stone the
Sapphire.
What the Cyanus really was may be deduced from the
following passage of Theophrastus (c. 55) : "And as there is
a Ked Ochre both natural and artificial, so is there a Cyanos,
also both produced naturally, and made by art like that
and Venus with Cupid. The in- middle Roman work, and may have
taglio was pronounced by the Ger- been the ornament of a lady of the
man antiquaries to be coeval with family Macriana.
Alexander ; to me it rather appears
4(5 MATERIALS. SECT. I.
manufactured in Egypt. Of the Cyanos there are three
kinds the Egyptian, the Scythian, and a third the Cyprian.
The Egyptian is the best for thick-bodied paints, but the
Scythian for those of a diluted kind. The Egyptian is pro-
duced artificially, and the writers of the history of their kings
mention this also, which of the kings it was who first made a
fused Cyanos in imitation of the natural stone ; and that this
mineral used to be sent as a present from other regions.
From Phenicia, however, it was brought as a fixed tribute,
an appointed quantity of Cyanos, so much in its native state
and so much calcined. The persons who grind up paints say
that the Cyanos produces of itself four different shades of
colour ; the first, made from the thinnest pieces, being the
lightest ; the second, from the thickest, giving the darkest
tint." This artificial substance is the blue enamel so uni-
versally used in all Egyptian works in terracotta, and made
by fusing together copper filings, powdered flint, and soda, in
imitation of the native sulphate of copper, the true Cyanos.
This antique invention is still employed by enamellers under
the name of Zaffre.
HYACINTHUS = SAPPHIRE.
C A <r<ppayls vdicivOos, 'ATroXXwi' 8' fcrrlv ev OVTTJ
KO.I Ad<pvr), Trorepov [jLaXXov 6 A.rjroi8as ;
Anthol. ix. 751.
" Engraved on Hyacinth fair Daphne shines
With Phoebus ; say to which his heart inclines ? "
That the Hyacinthus of the ancients was the Sapphire of
the present day will be clear to every mineralogist who will
carefully consider the minute description of the gem given
by Solinus : " Amongst those things of which we have
spoken (in Ethiopia) is found also the Hyacinthus of a shin-
SECT. I. HYACINTHUS = SAPPHIRE. 47
ing sky-blue colour ; a precious stone if it be found without
blemish, for it is extremely subject to defects. For generally
it is either diluted with violet, or clouded with dark shades, or
else melts away into a watery hue with too much whiteness.
The best colour of the stone is a steady one, neither dulled
by too deep a dye nor too clear with excessive transparency,
but which draws a sweetly coloured tint (florem) from the
double mixture of brightness and purple. This is the gem
that feels the air and sympathises with the heavens, and
does not shine equally if the sky be cloudy or bright. Be-
sides, when put in the mouth it is colder than other stones.
For engravings indeed it is by no means adapted, inasmuch
as it defies all grinding (attritum respuat) ; it is not however
entirely invincible, for it is engraved upon and cut into
shape (scribitur et figuratur) by the diamond." In the pre^
ceding passage Solinus has spoken of the production of cin-
namon in the same district, which, as the native country of
this spice, must have been situated on the Indian Ocean.
The importations from India and from Ethiopia vrould
naturally be confounded together, since the produce of all
these eastern regions came to Alexandria by the way of the
Bed Sea.
We have already noticed Pliny's account of the Hya-
cinthus ; it agrees in the main with the above, although his
description of the gem is by no means so particular as that of
Solinus ; who, to judge from his style, probably flourished two
centuries later than the former writer. 9 The great com-
mercial intercourse with India, established after the age of
Trajan, had by that time made the Romans much better
acquainted with the Indian gems. At present all our best
Sapphires come from Ceylon ; the only place in Europe
9 The first author who quotes him is the grammarian Priscianus, in the
fifth century.
48 MATERIALS. SECT. I.
where they have been found being a brook near Expailly, in
France ; but these are all of a pale colour and small size.
The ancients obtained their Hyacinths from the beds of
torrents, just as the Cingalese do Sapphires at this day ; for
the gem never occurs in the matrix, but always in rolled
masses mingled with the gravel. This peculiarity of their
origin is elegantly alluded to by Naumachius in his ' Mar-
riage Precepts,' v. 58 :
" Dote not on gold, nor round thy neck so fair
The purple hyacinth or green jasper wear ;
For gold and silver are but dust and earth,
And gems themselves can boast no real worth ;
Stones are they, scattered o'er the pebbly coast,
Or on the torrent's brink at random toss'd."
Curiously enough, there is preserved amongst the anti-
quities found at Eichborough, now in the library of Trinity
College, Cambridge, a portion of a necklace formed of small
rough Sapphires, drilled through the middle of each stone
and linked together with gold wire, doubtless the very kind
of ornament alluded to by Naumachius in the above lines.
Some of the varieties of the Adamas of Pliny were evi-
dently Sapphires, to judge from the terms he uses in de-
scribing them : " laterum sexangulo laevore turbinatus in
mucronem ;" for this six-sided smooth and pointed crystal is
the primitive form of the Sapphire. The steel-colour and
great weight 10 which he assigns to the Siderites also prove
the same, for no other term could so aptly describe the tint
of the unpolished light Sapphire. The " aereus color,"
also, of his Cyprian adamant is the sky-blue of our best
Sapphire, its hue being the exact shade of the "air" or
10 The specific gravity of the Sapphire is actually one degree greater than
that of the Diamond.
SECT. I. HYACINTHUS=SAPPHIRE. 49
atmosphere in the climate of Rome. 1 It is also stated of
this variety that, besides its blue tinge, it could be perforated
by means of another Diamond, i. e. of a true Indian stone,
to which alone the Sapphire yields in hardness. The light-
coloured Sapphires can be rendered entirely colourless by
exposure to intense heat for some hours, and acquire also
great brilliancy, so as often to be passed off for real Dia-
monds. The engravings on Diamond ascribed to Jacopo da
Trezzo and other artists of the Renaissance were in reality
upon this material, or else on white Topaz. Antique intagli
in Sapphire that have come under my inspection are the
following : a head of Julius Csesar, the stone an octagon and
of the finest deep colour ; a head of Phoabus, full face and
surrounded by rays, on a pale stone of nearly hemispherical
shape, the work extremely spirited but not of so decidedly
antique a character as the first mentioned (from the Herz
Collection) ; a magnificent head of Jupiter, inscribed nv,
supposed to be the signature of Pyrgoteles himself, but more
probably the owner's name, engraved on a pale Sapphire,
the back of which was somewhat globose and highly polished.
This stone was nearly an inch in diameter, and was disco-
vered forming the ornament of the pommel of the handle
to a Turkish dagger, the intaglio being entirely concealed
by the setting, " the Sapphire being set as a stone cut en
cabochm, the flat face downwards." This furnishes an addi-
tional proof of its authenticity, and shows that the gem had
been picked up by some Oriental who looked to nothing
but the value of the material and utterly disregarded the
art displayed upon it. This intaglio was, in the opinion of
the best judges, one of the finest productions of the Greek
school. A head of Alexander as represented on his drachmae,
" Aeris ecce color turn cum sine riubibus " The colour of the air we view on high '
aer." Ovid, A. A. iii. 174. When not a cloud is seen through all the
sky."
E
50
MATERIALS.
and of the same size as that coin, on a pale stone streaked
with indigo, the execution of the intaglio in a flat, peculiar
manner, very similar to that of the gems assigned to the
cities of Magna Grecia, and indubitably antique. 2 Of intagli
of a later date the Pulsky Collection can boast of a portrait
of Pope Paul III., by the famous Alessandro Cesati, on a
beautiful Sapphire three-quarters of an inch square, a truly
inestimable gem both for the fineness of the stone and the
spirit and life of the engraving.
This stone derived its ancient name Hyacinthus from the
resemblance of its colour to the blue fleur-de-lys fabled to
have sprung from the blood of Apollo's favourite Hyacinthus,
and to bear inscribed on its petals AIAI, the cry of grief of
the god, an inscription still to be seen there. This sameness
of names, of the boy and of the stone, gave the origin of the
epigram at the beginning of this article.
The modern name of Sapphire is due to its colour ; the
2 Another very important intaglio
of clearly antique Roman work, on
a large pale stone, has lately come
under my notice. The subject is
two actors, the one in front seated,
and both bending over a comic mask
lying on a low altar (the Thymele)
in front of them. The principal
figure is wrapped in a toga, and
holds in his hand the usual crooked
stick, the badge of the comedian.
On the back of the chair hangs a
huge tragic mask. The intaglio
appears of the date of the Middle
Empire. In the possession of the
same collector is a small Etruscan
scarabeus on a very pale stone ; a
proof how early that people had at-
tained the skill of working in this
most difficult material. But the
most important antique piece in
Sapphire that has ever been dis-
covered is a cameo (now in the pos-
session of Mr. Eastwood), present-
ing the well-known subject of Hcbc
and the Eagle, cut in half- relief on
a heart-shaped stone of fine colour,
1| inch long by 1J wide. The work
is apparently of the time of Hadrian,
and is of considerable merit, though
producing but little effect, from the
clouded surface of the gem upon
which such wonderful patience and
skill have been lavished : a circum-
stance of itself attesting the late
period of its execution. The stone
has a hole drilled through its longer
axis, evidently done in India, that
it might be worn as a bead, before
it was purchased by the Roman
dealer, and subsequently engraved
as a cameo ; for the work in one
place has cut down into the per-
foration.
SECT. I. HYACINTHUS=SAPPHIRE. 51
ancient Sapphirus or Lapis-lazuli furnishing the paint ultra-
marine, " sapphirinus " came to signify "azure;" and we
find the blue varieties of the precious Corundum already
called Sapphirini by Camillo Leonardo at the end of the
15th century, to distinguish them from the red and yellow
varieties (Euby and Oriental Topaz) of the same family.
The Hyacinthus of the classic writers is always the blue
kind ; but Marbodus, in the llth century, already makes
the three divisions above noticed, the blue, red, and yellow,
and, with an accuracy surprising for that early period, refers
them all to the same family the modern mineralogical clas-
sification.
At the Eenaissance the price of coloured gems of perfect
quality far exceeded that of the Diamond; anc^as a curiosity
I give Cellini's table of their comparative value, from his
' Orificeria '
Ruby (of one carat weight) = 800 gold scudi.
Emerald 400
Diamond 100 ,,
Sapphire 10 ,,
The gold scudo equalled a half-sovereign in weight, but
was of far greater value on account of the difference in the
worth of money. This, however, was not so great at the
time he wrote (about 1560) in Italy, then the richest country
of Europe, as it was in England, where the difference between
the value of money then and now is usually computed as
fifteen to one. At the present day a perfect Sapphire or
Emerald of one carat will sell equally for 3L, a Diamond
brilliant-cut for 81. A Ruby of a carat is worth the same as
the two first ; but if it should weigh more than two carats
and be perfect, its value far exceeds that of the Diamond.
I have seen a perfect Ruby, weighing four carats, that had
been bought for 300?. ; a Diamond of the same weight would
E 2
52 MATERIALS. SECT. I.
only have been worth 160?. 3 Vossius mentions a Ruby
belonging to the Emperor Rudolph II. as large as a small
hen's egg, and valued at 60,000 ducats, or 30,000?. The
King of Ava possesses at present one even larger, and quite
perfect in colour and in water, set as an ear-drop. Its value
is inestimable and far beyond that of a Diamond of similar
dimensions.
EUBY.
The name of this stone is merely an epithet of its colour,
as being the red variety of the Hyacinthus. For the same
reason Marbodus calls the same gem " Granaticus," from its
resemblance to the vermilion blossom of the pomegranate.
This was probably the anthrax 4 of Theophrastus, of which he
says that a very small stone used to sell for forty gold staters
(about forty guineas), a statement which could not apply, at
that period of high civilisation and extensive commerce with
all regions, to the Garnet or Carbuncle, a common stone and
produced abundantly in many parts of Europe. It must
also be included among the numerous species of the Car-
bunculus described by Pliny, although he gives the first rank
to the Carbunculi Amethystizontes, our Almandines 5 or Gar-
nets of Siriam. One of the qualities which he assigns to the
Carbunculus, that of not being affected by the fire, whence
they were called Acausti, only applies to the Ruby, for the
Garnet easily fuses into a dark globule of oxide of iron.
3 I have been assured by a person Nonius.
of great experience in precious stones, 4 This name signifies a live coal,
that he has inspected a perfect Ruby, because it is red in colour, but held
weighing only eleven grains, which against the sun assumes the appear-
had been sold for 1100., or 100?. ance of a burning piece of charcoal,
per grain ! probably the highest * So called from resembling in
rate at which a precious stone has colour the blossom of the almond-
been estimated since the times of tree, a purplish pink,
the famous Opal of the senator
SECT. I. RUBY. 53
Henckel relates an experiment in which a Ruby was suffi-
ciently softened by means of a powerful burning-glass to
receive the impression from a Jasper intaglio without the
slightest detriment to its original colour and hardness when
it became cold.
It is almost certain that this gem was the ancient Lychnis
already mentioned under "Jacinth." All that Pliny says of
it is, " Of the same family of blazing stones is the Lychnis,
so called from its lighting up lamps (or, perhaps, lighting up
by lamplight, lucernarum accensu), but yet of extraordinary
beauty. It is produced near Orthosia and in the whole of
Caria and the neighbouring regions ; but the most esteemed
in India, which sort some have called a Carbuncle of milder
hue. The , second in rank is the Ionia, so called from its
similarity to the flower of the same name (the Greek Jov, or
red cyclamen). And amongst these sorts I find there is a
difference; one kind has a purple lustre, the other a red
(cocco) : warmed in the sun or by friction with the fingers,
they attract straws and scraps of paper." The description of
it given by Solinus is, as before, more definite ; he calls the
stone Lychnites, because it shines most by lamplight : it is
both of a transparent purple and of a light red, and attracts
bits of thread, straws, &c., when rubbed or heated in the
sun. It is very difficult to engrave, and then pulls away the
wax as if by a bite " velut quodam animalis morsu." Now
all these qualities can be found united in no other gem than
the Ruby : the best still come from India (though inferior
ones are sometimes found in Bohemia). The finest Ruby
shines with the red of the cochineal (cocco), the Balais is
often quite of a lilac colour (purpura) : they are only sur-
passed in hardness by the Sapphire and the Diamond ; in fact,
none but Oriental artists ever attempt engraving on them
in modern times. I have not yet had an opportunity of
54 MATERIALS. SECT. I.
trying whether the scarlet Kuby is electric; but, from its
belonging to the same class as the Sapphire, it probably will
be found to possess that property. In my own collection is
an antique intaglio, a head of M. Aurelius, cut on a gem
exactly answering to this description of the Lychnis : its colour
is a curious mixture, a yellowish red, appearing purple or
lilac when held against the light, and at a certain angle
presenting shades of blood-red : the stone itself is as electric
as amber, and apparently of excessive hardness. It was
pronounced by a very experienced lapidary to be a Spinelle
Ruby, but more probably it should be termed a Balais.
The Komans experienced the same difficulty as exists at
the present day in distinguishing the various sorts of the
Carbunculus from each other, in consequence of the practice
of jewellers of backing them with various foils so as to
improve their colour, "tanta est in illis occasio artis, sub-
ditis per quae translucere cogantur." This delusion is espe-
cially to be observed in works of the Renaissance, where
camei portraits, set in rings, often appear like the finest
Rubies, but are in fact only Garnets backed with a ruby
foil. It was also believed, in Pliny's time, that the dull-
coloured Carbunculi could be made lustrous by maceration in
vinegar for the space of fourteen days, and that the effect
lasted for the same number of months. These gems were
also imitated so well in paste, that the false ones could only
be distinguished by their inferior hardness. And this is
exactly true, for I have met with an antique paste bearing
a splendid intaglio of a Medusa's head, which could with diffi-
culty be known not to be a real Carbuncle ; it even showed
all the flaws within its substance, which the real stone always
presents. 6
6 These flaws are produced pur- suddenly on its withdrawal from
posely, by letting the paste cool the furnace.
SECT. I. RUBY. 55
True Eubies, and of good colour, uncut, but rudely polished,
occur both in ancient jewellery and set in antique rings. In
the Herz Collection was a necklace formed of rough Rubies
and Emeralds of fine colour of the size of horsebeans, drilled
through and linked together with strong twisted gold-wire,
in a similar manner (but much more substantially) to the
Sapphire necklace from Richborough, already described.
The Ruby, though of the same chemical composition as the
Sapphire, yields to it in hardness ; but yet antique intagli
are even rarer in it than in the former stone. In fact, the
experienced Lessing, as well as the Comte de Clarac, alto-
gether deny the existence of any really antique intagli in
these harder gems, but the instances already adduced under
" Emerald " and " Sapphire " sufficiently prove that this
dictum, though generally true, yet admits^ of some rare
exceptions. It may also be remarked in this place that
engravings on any of the precious stones are always to be
examined with the greatest suspicion, modern artists en-
graving for wealthy patrons having found it their interest to
employ such substances as recommended themselves to their
purse-proud employers by the mere value of the stone (a thing
which at least they could appreciate), as well as by the art
thereupon displayed, which was frequently to them but a
minor consideration. The ancient artists, on the contrary,
chose such stones as were best suited for the execution of
the work, and to give the most perfect impression of it when
required for use as a signet ; always, for these reasons, pre-
ferring the Sard, on which more engravings by the famous
artists of antiquity are to be found than upon all the other
gems put together. Entirely devoted to the one object,
that of attaining to perfection, they entirely disregarded the
paltry merit of overcoming obstacles by the fruitless waste of
their invaluable time; neither did they seek for glory by
56 MATERIALS. SECT. I.
the preciousness of the material of their work rather than by
the excellence of the work itself.
The following are the only intagli on Ruby that I have
met with of apparently indisputable authenticity : A head
of Hercules, in the Webb Cabinet, of good bold work, the
stone of small size, and bad colour, and full of flaws. A mag-
nificent head of Thetis, wearing a helmet formed of a crab's
shell, of the finest Greek work as far as the style can guide
one's judgment, engraved on a large irregular stone of a
beautiful rose-colour: it belonged to the Herz Collection,
where, however, it was classed among the Cinque-Cento gems.
On a pale Ruby, too, occurred the very finest intaglio I have
ever beheld, a full face of a Bacchante crowned with ivy ;
the expression of the countenance full of a wild inspiration,
and the exquisite treatment of the hair and the flesh beyond
all praise, a true masterpiece of the best days of the Greek
glyptic school. At the side was the name EAAHN in very
minute and elegant characters, a name which was previously
known as occurring upon an admirable bust of Harpocrates.
This gem was pronounced antique by the best judges in
Paris, and is now in the Fould Collection.
TOPAZ = CHRYSOLITE, CHRYSOPRASE.
The ancient Topaz 7 was the present Chrysolite or Peridot,
as clearly appears from the description of it as being im-
ported into Europe from the Red Sea, of a bright greenish-
yellow, a colour peculiar to itself (in suo virenti genere), and
the softest of all the precious stones, yielding readily to the
file. The Peridot is extremely difficult to polish so as to
7 Pliny oddly derives Topazion " to seek," because the island where
from " topazein," which he says in it is found is often lost amidst thick
the " Troglodyte " tongue means fogs.
SECT. I. TOPAZ=CHEYSOLITE, CHRYSOPRASE. 57
bring out all its brilliancy, and this can only be done by a
peculiar process, known but to few lapidaries, in which vitriol
is employed.
Theophrastus (c. 27), speaking of the Smaragdus, says,
" There is a certain mode of working this stone so as to give
it lustre, for in its native state it has no brilliancy." It is
very likely that he has the Peridot in view in this passage,
for in his age the coast of the Red Sea was the only source of
the supply of the true Emerald, as well as of the Peridot or
Topazion ; which last, by the way, Pliny classes in his de-
scription as next in order to the Smaragdus. It was found
in pieces of such size as to allow of a statuette of Queen
Arsinoe, in whose time it was first brought to Egypt, to be
carved out of a single gem. All these characteristics are
combined in our Peridot, a stone on which I have rarely
seen antique engravings, although such of modern times are
sufficiently abundant. Its extreme softness probably de-
terred the ancients from using it for engraving upon, as it
soon wears away when carried on the finger. 8 It was highly
valued still in Pliny's age, though somewhat fallen in esti-
mation from the time of its first discovery, when it was pre-
ferred to all other gems. 9
In compensation for this exchange of names the ancient
8 I have, however, met with two lustre of the Diamond, and appears
Roman intagli, both figures of Mi- of the purest water, its colour not
nerva, upon this stone, and now pos- being then discernible. The Chry-
sess a Medusa's head, cut in the solite differs from the Peridot in
bold, grand style of the period of its being much harder, as well as of a
first introduction into Alexandria, yellower tint; for in it the yellow
in a large and very globose Peridot : predominates over the green. In
an extraordinary gem, both for work- the Peridot green is the prevailing
manship and rarity of material. colour, modified by yellow : the
9 Were it not for its softness this stone, in fact, in the rough, much
would be one of the most desirable resembles a rolled pebble of bottle-
of all gems as an ornament : by glass or Brighton Emerald,
candle-light especially it has all the
58 MATERIALS. SECT. I.
Chrysolitlms is the present Topaz. The best kind is a yellow
variety of the Ruby, of equal value and hardness with that
gem, and very rare ; Dutens values it at a third higher than
the Sapphire. But most Topazes come now from Brazil;
they are much softer, and of a different chemical composition
from the Ruby ; and besides the orange, there are white, red,
and blue varieties of this stone, only to be distinguished from
the Diamond, Ruby, and Sapphire by their much greater
softness.
The Chrysolithus was the only gem set transparent by the
Romans, who seem never to have engraved it. All other
stones were foiled with aurichalcum, i. e. a red foil of copper
and gold. In confirmation of this remark of Pliny, I may
observe that, on taking out a Sard intaglio from the oxidised
remains of an antique iron ring, I found it backed by a
thin plate of gold of a reddish colour, very different to the
fine gold usually employed in ancient jewellery. Both Cel-
lini and Winckelman have noticed this ancient practice of
backing transparent intagli with a leaf of gold, which in fact
shows off the engraving to greater advantage, when in wear,
than if the stone according to the modern fashion were set
open. Pliny mentions the practice of backing Carbuncles
with silver foil, a method still used, and the best if the stone
be of good quality. The use of coloured foils is a mere de-
ception, and the sole end that the setter lias had in view is
to impose upon the unskilful by thus imparting to an in-
ferior gem the finest colour of its own class.
The Chrysoprase is an opaque, apple-green stone of a
most agreeable hue, and extremely hard ; its material is cal-
cedony coloured by oxide of nickel. It is much of the same
nature as the Plasma, but differs from it in the brightness of
its tint, in its hardness, and in its opacity. Intagli are some-
times met with cut upon a stone which is either the true
SECT. I. TURQUOIS. 59
Chrysoprase, or else a Plasma very nearly approaching to it
in beauty. 10 At present this gem is only found at Kosemiitz
in Silesia.
TUKQUOIS.
This stone agrees pretty well with the description of the
ancient Callais : " which grew upon its native rock in shape
like an eye, was cut, not ground into shape, set off gold
better than any other gem, was spoilt by wetting with oil,
grease, or wine, and was the easiest of all to imitate in glass.
It was also the most favourite ornament of the Carmanians of
that day," an observation equally applicable to the modern
Persians, who lavish it in profusion over all their ornaments
and weapons. Many supposed antique intagli and camei
are shown cut in this gem ; but I suspect the authenticity of
all that have come under my inspection. From the rapid
decay of this substance when exposed for a few years to the
light and to moisture, there can be little doubt that any in-
taglio of Eoman times executed in Turquois would long ere
this have been reduced to a chalky mass. This actually is
the case with such gems set in ornaments but a few centuries
old, and which have lain underground for part of that period.
The mediaeval notion concerning this change of colour was
that the Turquois grew pale on the finger of a sickly person,
but recovered its colour when transferred to a healthy hand.
Another fancy was that its hue varied with the hour of the
day, so that to the careful observer it could serve the purpose
of a dial. In Germany it is believed that, when presented as
a love-gift, its colour will remain unaltered so long as the
giver is faithful, but will grow pale as his affection fades.
The "fossil ivory mottled with dark blue and white," of
10 The true Chrysoprase is some- jewellery, set alternately with bits
times found in antique Egyptian of Lapis-lazuli.
60 MATERIALS. SECT. I.
Theophrastus, was our Occidental Turquois: in which the
osseous structure is plainly discernible to the microscope, and
which also is much softer than the true Oriental Turquois, or,
as jewellers name it, that " de la vieille roche," which strikes
fire with steel, while the Occidental can be scratched by steel.
According to Hill, the blue which mottles the white surface
of the latter can by means of heat be made to diffuse itself
regularly throughout the whole, thus greatly improving its
appearance and enabling it to be passed off for the precious
variety. It is in this softer material that all the truly an-
tique camei that I have seen have been executed, by far the
best of which is a laureated head of Augustus among the
Pulsky gems, and a Gorgon's head now in the Fould Col-
lection. It is hardly necessary to add that the original azure
of these gems, due to the oxide of copper, has been converted
into a dull green by the action of the earth.
MAGNET.
On Magnet, a black compact and hard iron-ore, 1 I have
seen rude intagli of the Lower Empire, especially of Gnostic
subjects : the mysterious quality of the stone naturally point-
ing it out as a fit material for amulets. The Magnet was
thought by the Romans capable of imparting knowledge in a
case where ignorance is bliss, as appears from Orpheus, 312 :
" If e'er thou wish thy spouse's truth to prove,
If pure she's kept her from adulterous love,
Within thy bed unseen this stone bestow,
Muttering a soothing spell in whispers low :
Though wrapped in slumber sound, if pure and chaste,
She '11 seek to fold thee in her fond embrace ;
But if polluted by adultery found,
Hurled from the couch, she lies upon the ground."
This is the usual material of the cylinders of the purely Babylonian class.
SECT. I. MAGNET. 61
Dinochares, the architect of the city of Alexandria, had
commenced the building of a temple in honour of Arsinoe, wife
of Ptolemy Philadelphus, intended to be constructed entirely
of loadstone, with the idea that an iron statue of the queen
would, by the counterbalancing attraction of every part of the
structure, remain suspended in mid- air; but the plan was
never carried out in consequence of the death of Ptolemy.
Here we have the origin of the mediaeval fiction of the iron
coffin of Mahomet. Claudian, Idyl, v., thus describes a temple
containing a statue formed out of loadstone, as actually exist-
ing in his own time, the end of the 4th century :
" A stone there is which people magnet style,
Dull, dark of colour, in appearance vile ;
Unlike to such as deck the combed-back hair
Of princes, or the necks of maidens fair ;
Or such as on the golden buckles shine,
Which by their clasp the imperial belt confine.
Yet such its wondrous force it far outweighs
All beauteous ornaments, all jewels' blaze,
Or all those treasures which on Eastern shores
Th' Indian midst groves of coral red explores.
From iron draws its force, 2 from iron lives ;
'T is this its food, 't is this its banquet gives ;
And hence renews its strength ; borne through its veins
The rugged aliment its life maintains.
Of this deprived, its frame exhausted lies,
Fierce hunger gnaws, and thirst consuming dries.
With gilded ceilings decked a temple shines,
And two immortals grace two common shrines ;
Mars scourging cities with his blood-stained spear,
And Venus, solace sweet of human care.
2 The Roman antiquaries at pre- in a box of iron filings in order " to
sent, whenever they meet with a keep up its strength."
loadstone intaglio, always preserve it
62 MATERIALS. SECT. I.
Different their forms in iron Mars commands ;
Sculptured in magnet lovely Venus stands.
Their nuptials high with solemn rites to grace
The priest prepares, the guardian of the place :
The blazing flambeaux lead the dancing quire,
High o'er the gates the myrtle-boughs aspire ;
With heaped-up roses swells the marriage bed,
The bridal chamber is with purple spread.
Behold a marvel ! instant to her arms
Her eager husband Cythereia charms,
And, ever mindful of her ancient fires,
With amorous breath his martial breast inspires.
Lifts the loved weight, close round his helmet twines
Her loving arms, and fond embraces joins.
Drawn by the mystic influence from afar,
Flies to the wedded gem the god of war :
The magnet weds the steel, the secret rites
Nature attends, and th' heavenly pair unites.
Say from what source to differing metals came
This hid affinity, this wondrous flame ?
What mystic concord bends their stubborn minds ?
The panting stone love's melting influence finds,
Seeks the loved metal her deep wound to heal,
Whilst love's mild pleasures tame the cruel steel."
TOUKMALINE.
The Tourmaline is a dark olive-green stone, often nearly
black and almost opaque. But Brazil, the land of coloured
gems, produces also a blue and a bright-green variety, trans-
parent and ornamental ring-stones. A red kind, or Eubellite,
comes from India ; the specimen in the British Museum is of
extraordinary size, and valued at 1000?. This stone is the
most electric of all gems ; one end of the crystal attracts, the
other repels, light objects, when heated by friction. Some
have supposed the Eubellite to be the Lychnis of the Ko-
SECT. I. TOURMALINE AVENTUKINE OBSIDIAN. 03
mans ; but its inferior hardness, only equal to that of quartz,
controverts this theory. On the olive-coloured sort I have
met with intagli, but all modern ; in fact, the Tourmaline was
not known in Europe before the last century.
AVENTURINE.
The Sandaresus, an Arabian stone, classed by Pliny among
the Carbunculi, seems to have been our Aventurine, for he
describes it as full of golden stars shining through a trans-
parent substance, not from the surface, but from within the
body of the stone. The true Aventurine, or Goldie-stone, is
a brownish semi-transparent quartz, full of specks of yellow
mica. It is very hard, and takes a high polish : in the last
century it was of considerable value, but now is altogether
neglected. The common sort, so often seen in Italian orna-
ments, is a composition made by stirring brass filings into
melted glass, and is said to have been discovered by accident,
" per aventura," whence the name Aventurine.
Hercules. Obsidian.
OBSIDIAN.
Pliny describes the Obsidian as a stone found in ^Ethiopia
by a certain Obsidius, who gave it his own name. It was
very black, and sometimes transparent. Used as slabs to
64 MATERIALS. SECT. I.
line walls of rooms, it acted as a dark mirror reflecting
shadows instead of the objects themselves. " Many persons
make ring-stones out of it, and we have seen complete
figures of Augustus made of it." That prince was charmed
with the deep colour (crassitudine) of the stone, and himself
dedicated four elephants of Obsidian in the Temple of Con-
cord. An Obsidian statue of Menelaus, found among the
property of a former prefect of Egypt, was restored by order
of Tiberius to the Heliopolitans, its original destination a
fact which proves the ancient use of the stone itself, now so
largely imitated in glass. I have met with a few intagli in
this stone, which greatly resembles black glass, and is semi-
transparent in the thinnest parts ; indeed it can only be dis-
tinguished from black glass by its superior hardness, easily
scratching the latter substance. I know of a splendid head
of Hercules crowned with poplar-leaves in Obsidian, a work
apparently of the Augustan age : a gem generally considered
by its former owners as nothing better than a modern dark
paste. 3 By a curious coincidence this stone was employed by
the old Peruvians also for mirrors, as well as for cutting in-
struments, specimens of which are often found in their tombs.
POBPHYBY BASALT.
The first of these extremely hard stones is easily recog-
nised by its deep red colour, thickly dotted with small white
spots. 4 It was chiefly employed by the Romans for columns
and bas-reliefs, and first introduced by Yitrasius Pollio, who
brought from Egypt statues of Claudius on this stone : though
3 Among the Prann gems 1 ob- stone; and a rare addition, with a
served a gryllus of the common Gnostic device, of apparently coeval
type, the cock and masks, cut in a work, upon the reverse,
very bold deep manner on this 4 Hence called Leptopsephos.
SECT. I. OPALS. 65
it did not take, at least in Pliny's time, as he adds that no
one followed Pollio's example. However, as taste declined,
it became under the Lower Empire a favourite building
material, magnificent relics of which are still preserved. It
was also, probably when still a novelty, used for intagli, on
selected pieces of peculiar bright colour, some of which I
have noticed of very good work, and of an early imperial
date. It was also employed for this purpose by the Italian
artists of the Kevival : the Florence Gallery possesses a fine
head of Leo X., engraved on a piece of large size, and set in
iron, to be used as an official seal.
On Basalt, a dark, iron-coloured stone of a very fine grain,
looking when worked more like metal than a stone, intagli
also occur, but usually rude in style, and of the Gnostic class.
This stone was largely used for statues, both by the Egyp-
tians and the Romans of the Empire.
OPALS.
Opals came to the Romans from India ; at present the best
are brought from Hungary. The largest known to the an-
cients did not exceed the size of a hazel-nut ; this was the
famous Opal of Nonius, valued at 20,000 of our money;
rather than yield which to M. Antony, he preferred going into
exile. The Turks at present esteem the stone almost as highly,
and readily give WOOL for a fine and perfect one of the above-
named size. Pliny grows quite poetical in his description of
the Opal : " Made up of the glories of the most precious
gems, to describe them is a matter of inexpressible diffi-
culty. For there is amongst them the gentler fire of the
Ruby, there is the rich purple of the Amethyst, there is
the sea-green of the Emerald, and all shining together in
an indescribable union. Others by an excessive heightening
F
66 MATERIALS. SECT. I.
of their hues equal all the colours of the painter, others the
flame of burning brimstone, or of a fire quickened by oil."
Yet the mines of Hungary now supply Opals infinitely larger
than those known to Pliny, the finest of which are preserved
among the Austrian crown-jewels. Although so high a value
is set upon this beautiful gem, yet it is but a precarious pos-
session, being extremely brittle, sometimes cracking when
the hand is held near the fire in cold weather, and losing its
beauty completely by wear, after dust and grease have closed
up the innumerable cracks of its flinty substance, which pro-
duce the brilliant play of colours constituting its only charm.
It is said that by roasting an Opal thus spoilt, and so expel-
ling the grease from its pores, its former lustre can be restored ;
a process which seems to me extremely hazardous. The Opal
was counterfeited by the Indians in glass more successfully
than any other gem (similitudine indiscreta). The Eomans
named it the Psederos, or Cupid, as being the perfection of
beauty ; for the same reason it was called, in the Latin and
German of the Middle Ages, the Orphanus and the Waise.
Some rude intagli, but apparently antique, sometimes are
found upon bad and opaque Opals. 5 Though Pliny calls
India the sole mother of the Opal, yet he can only mean of
the best variety, as he afterwards mentions some found in
Egypt, Pontus, Galatia, Thasos, and Cyprus : these had less
lustre than the Indian, their colours being a mixture of sky-
blue and purple, "ex aere et purpura," which wanted the
emerald green of the Indian variety.
8 But there is a fine Opal in the diocre Roman work, and pronounced
Praun Collection, engraved with antique by the best judges a truly
heads of Jupiter, Apollo, and Diana, unique gem.
surrounded by nine stars, of me-
SECT. I. DIAMOND. 67
DIAMOND.
The Diamond, contrary to the usual custom, must, in pur-
suance of my plan, occupy the last place in the list of gems,
as furnishing no engravings of either ancient or modern
artists, and merely supplying an instrument for the execu-
tion of their work.
Under the Komans it was a well-known gem, and then, as
now, " the most precious of all possessions." Before the age of
Pliny it had been seen only on the hands of kings, and of
but a few among them ; but the spread of commerce under
the Caesars had by that time made the gem much more
common. Six varieties were then known, of which the
Indian, " sometimes as large as a hazel-nut kernel," and the
Arabian were clearly real diamonds, as is shown by their
peculiar form, described by Pliny as that of two whipping-
tops united at their broadest ends. Their silvery or steely
lustre is also noticed, a striking peculiarity of the stone in
its natural state. The Macedonian found in the gold-mines
of Philippi was no larger than a cucumber-seed. The Cyprian,
of a bluish tinge, "vergens in aereum color em," and the
Siderites, of a steel colour and very heavy, were doubtless
Sapphires, for they could be drilled by means of another
Diamond. Pliny goes on to repeat the jeweller's fiction as
to the infrangibility of the Diamond, a thing still believed in
by most people, who cannot separate the ideas of hardness
and of resistance to violence, and who do not choose to try
so costly an experiment on any Diamond in their own pos-
session. But in reality, from the fact of this gem being com-
posed of thin layers deposited over each other parallel to the
original faces of the crystal, it can easily be split by a small
blow in the direction of these laminae. This property may
be exemplified by the following story. The London jeweller
F 2
68
MATEKIALS.
iu trusted with the re-cutting of the Koh-i-noor 6 was displaying
his finished work to a wealthy patron, who accidentally let
the slippery and weighty gem slip through his fingers and
fall on the ground. The jeweller was on the point of fainting
with alarm, and, on recovering himself, reduced the other to
the same state by informing him, that, had the stone struck
the floor at a particular angle, it would infallibly have split
in two, and been irreparably ruined. A few particulars about
this famous Diamond will not be out of place here. Taver-
nier saw it two centuries ago in the treasury of the Great
Mogul, not many years after its discovery. Its weight in the
rough, of above 800 carats (according to report), had been
reduced to 284 by the bungling Italian lapidary who had
' The Hindoos have a superstition
that this Diamond brings certain
ruin upon the person or the dynasty
possessing it. It was turned up by
a peasant when ploughing in a field
forty miles distant from Golconda,
and was in its rough state fully as
large as a hen's egg. Its first
owner, in the 17th century, was a
Hindoo Rajah, from whom it was
wrested by Meer Jomlah, who pre-
sented it to Aurungzebe. Imme-
diately after this fatal gift the Mogul
race degenerated, each of his suc-
cessors being more vicious and in-
capable than his father, until, in
1739, the last, Mohammed Shah,
was deprived of the unlucky jewel
in the sack of Delhi by Nadir Shah.
The conqueror was assassinated by
his generals on his return to Persia,
and the Diamond fell into the hands
of one of the conspirators, Ahmed
Shah Dooranuee, the founder of the
Affghan monarchy, the history of
which is a perpetual series of crimes
and massacres. From the last of
this line, Shah Soojah, it was -ex-
torted by Runjeet Singh (by the
means of starving him into a sxir-
render of the treasure), when he
had fled to the Khalsa Court for re-
fuge from Dost Mohammed. Run-
jeet, in order to break the spell and
avert the fatal influence from his
race, bequeathed at his death the
stone to the Temple of Juggernaut ;
but his successors would not relin-
quish the baleful treasure, which in
a very few years worked its destined
effect the ruin of his family and
the subjugation of the Punjaub to
the English. Lord Dalhousie pre-
sented it to Queen Victoria in 1849 ;
within ten years the usual conse-
quences of its possession were mani-
fested in the Sepoy revolt, and the
all but total loss of India to the
British crown, in which beams its
malignant lustre, lighting up a very
inauspicious future for that region,
fated apparently ever to be dis-
turbed by the measures of ignorant
zealots at home and the plots of
discontented and overpowerful allies
in the country itself.
SECT I. DIAMOND. 69
brought it to the ugly and unskilful form in which it appeared
when brought to this country. This was a rude hemisphere
facetted all over, apparently intended for the rose shape.
The re-cutting in London was effected by the means of a
small steam-engine, under the superintendence of two artists
brought expressly from Holland, where alone the business is
kept up. This operation cost 8000?., and has brought the
stone to the form of a perfect brilliant, with a wonderful
augmentation of its beauty and lustre, though with a reduc-
tion of the weight to 180 carats. Even now it remains one of
the largest Diamonds in Europe Halphen's Star of the South
weighing 244 carats ; the great Russian 193 ; the Pitt or
Regent of France 136 ; the Austrian, a yellow stone, 139 ;
and Hope's blue Diamond, the most beautiful, though least
valuable of all, 177. 7 The art of cutting and polishing this
gem was only discovered in the fifteenth century by Louis de
Berghem, and the first ever cut by him was a large one be-
longing to Charles the Bold, and weighing 55 carats. It is
now known as the Sancy diamond, which, having been found
on his corpse on the field of Granson, was sold for a few
francs, and, after passing through innumerable vicissitudes
(having once been swallowed by a faithful servant when beset
by robbers, and afterwards extracted from his dead body by
his master), now reposes amongst the French regalia. Vos-
sius says, the largest Diamond known in his time, the end of
the sixteenth century, was that bought by Philip II. of Carlo
Affetati, of Antwerp, in 1559, for 80,000 crowns. Its weight
was but 47i carats. It was then a prevalent opinion that
the stone lost its lustre by too much warmth, whence persons
7 The Rajah of Mattan in Borneo It may, after all, like the famous
is indeed reported to possess a Dia- Portuguese stone, prove only a white
mond of the incredible weight of Topaz when examined by an Eu-
367 carats, but no particulars are ropean connoisseur,
given of its water, perfection, &c.
70 MATERIALS. SECT. 1.
on going to bed used to place their diamond rings on a
marble-table, or in a glass of water.
Hence they were always worn by the Romans in their
native form, a fine instance of which is afforded by the clasp
of the mantle of Charlemagne set with four large Diamonds,
the legacy doubtless of his Imperial predecessors. The Herz
Collection also possessed a well-formed octahedral Diamond
of about one carat, set open in a massy gold ring of indubit-
able antiquity. The largest cabinets of Europe do not, to my
knowledge, boast any such specimens, yet I have met with
another example in the collection of an acquaintance, where
a small pyramidal Diamond, showing distinctly its primitive
form and silvery lustre, was set in its original ring of thick
gold-wire, to all appearance a work of Roman times. Such
was the
" Adamas notissimus et Berenices
In digito factus pretiosior "
that graced the hand of the imperious lady of the days of
Juvenal ; the stone being prized, not for its beauty, but for its
rarity and extraordinary virtues as an amulet.
It is said that the Austrian Diamond was originally bought
for a mere trifle at a curiosity-shop at Florence, being consi-
dered merely a yellow crystal. Brazil furnishes a vast supply
of these yellow stones, the most unpleasing of all the tints
the Diamond assumes, for to my taste the pink and blue
varieties are much superior in beauty to the colourless.
The ancient Indian mines of Golconda and Cooloun (where
at the time of Ta vernier's visit more than 60,000 men, wo-
men, and children were employed in the various operations
of the search), in the Madras Presidency, have long since
been exhausted ; the only source of the supply at present is
Brazil, and even there the tract containing the gravel (cas-
calhao) in which they are found is nearly worked out. But
SECT. I. DIAMOND. 71
I have little doubt that in a short time the market will be
flooded with an importation of this gem from Australia, even
greater than that which took place on the first discovery of
the Brazilian mines. As in that region they were accident-
ally discovered in the search for gold, so in Australia a few
have already made their appearance under similar circum-
stances ; one of which, as well as a Sapphire from the same
locality, has been deposited in the Museum of Geology,
Jermyn-street. And this important discovery will doubtless
take place when the gravel of the Australian diggings comes
to be turned over by persons having eyes for other things
besides gold flakes and nuggets. 8 The observation made of
old by Pliny, that the diamond always accompanies gold, has
been fully borne out by the experience of succeeding ages, 9
for in most deposits of alluvial gold have they been found in
greater or less abundance, even in Wicklow and in Cornwall.
This stone is highly electric, attracting light substances
when heated by friction, and, as we have already noticed,
has the peculiarity of becoming phosphorescent in the dark
after long exposure to the rays of the sun. The ancients
also ascribed magnetic powers to the Diamond in even a
greater degree than to the loadstone, so much so that they
believed the latter was totally deprived of this quality in the
presence of the Diamond ; but this notion is quite ungrounded.
Their sole idea of magnetism was the property of attraction ;
therefore, seeing that the Diamond possessed this for light
objects, the step to ascribing to it a superiority in this as
in all other respects over the loadstone was an easy one for
their lively imaginations.
8 A letter has appeared this sum- possession.
mer (1859) from a miner, speaking 9 In the British Museum, among
of the vast quantity of small Rubies the native Diamonds, is " an octa-
found in washing the " dirt," some hedral Diamond attached to alluvial
hundreds of which were in his own gold."
72 MATERIALS. SECT. I.
PASTES.
Pastes are imitations of precious stones and of engraved
gems, both camei and intagli, transparent and opaque, in
coloured glass, and are manufactured in the following man-
ner : A small iron case of the required size is filled with
fine tripoli mixed with pipeclay, and moistened, on the sur-
face of which an impression is made of the gem to be copied.
This matrix is next carefully dried, and a piece of glass of the
proper colour is placed upon it. If a stone composed of va-
rious strata is to be imitated, the proper number of layers of
coloured glass are piled upon each other. The whole is then
carefully placed in a furnace and watched until the glass
begins to melt, when it is closely pressed down upon the
mould by means of a flat iron, coated with French chalk in
order to prevent the glass from adhering to it. It is then
taken out of the furnace and cooled gradually, when the
glass will be found to have received an exact hollow impres-
sion of the design first made in relief upon the tripoli. If
it is required to imitate a gem full of flaws, as a Carbuncle
or Emerald, the effect is produced by throwing the paste,
when still hot, into cold water. This was, doubtless, the
method followed by the ancients, except that they used a
coarser material for their moulds, perhaps those terracotta
impressions of intagli hereafter to be noticed, for antique
pastes have a much rougher surface than the modern, and
are full of air-bubbles. A curious fact, however, concerning
them is that they are much harder than our common win-
dow-glass, and will scratch it in the same way as a splinter
of flint does, whereas all modern coloured glass is softer than
the transparent kind. This was due to the composition of the
substance ; for at present the German glass, which is made with
soda, is greatly superior in hardness to the English, into which
a large quantity of lead enters. Besides this superior hard-
SECT. I. PASTES. 73
ness, other supposed marks of an antique paste are the beau-
tiful iridescence with which its surface is often coated, owing
to the oxidation of the glass by the action of the acids of the
earth in which it has lain, as well as the bubbly and porous
texture, not merely of the whole exterior, but also of the
entire substance itself. This last peculiarity distinguishes
the antique from the modern glass-pastes, which, when they
imitate the transparent gems, are usually clear and homo-
geneous throughout, being, in fact, made out of pieces of what
glass-painters call " pot-metal," or stained glass of one colour
selected for the purpose ; and these, from the greater fusi-
bility of the material, usually show an even interior within
the intaglio with difficulty to be detected from the work on
a real gem. But it may be remarked that this superior
hardness may be found in pastes of the modern fabrique, if
manufactured out of fragments of ancient glass, whilst the
porousness and roughness of the cast will depend upon the
coarseness of the sand or clay used in forming the matrix,
and also upon the regulation of the cooling of the paste
after the fragment of glass has been fused down upon the
impression. Thus, at present, false Carbuncles and Emeralds
are made to show all the flaws and " feathers " of the true
stones by cooling them suddenly when removed from the fur-
nace. As for the iridescence so much valued by collectors,
I strongly suspect that it is often produced by artificial
means, by the use of acids ; for bits of window-glass, after a
few years' exposure in a garden-bed, will be found with a
surface as much corroded and as iridescent as that of the
finest antique pastes.
We have already remarked, under "Emerald," the high
perfection to which the Komans had carried the art of
making false gems, and the difficulty of distinguishing such
from the true is frequently alluded to by Pliny. He also
74 MATERIALS. SECT. 1.
enumerates the following kinds of coloured glass as employed
for drinking-vessels : "Glass like Obsidian is made for
dishes (' escaria vasa '), and an entirely red, opaque sort,
called Hsematinon. An opaque white is also made, and imi-
' tations of Agates, Sapphires, and Lapis-lazuli ; and all other
colours." Specimens of all these kinds are continually met
with among the fragments of vessels found in company with
Eoman remains; more especially those imitations of the
Sapphire here mentioned, a semi-transparent glass of the
richest blue. 10 Probably the finest paste in existence is an
exact imitation of Lapis-lazuli, now preserved amongst the
antique glass in the British Museum, on which is a three-
quarter figure, in half-relief, of Bonus Eventus, a naked
youth holding a cornucopia. The slab is of considerable
size, and has been worked all over with the wheel, or some
similar instrument, after the manner of a gem cameo, and
not simply cast, as is usually the case with antique pastes.
Hadrian sent his friend Servian as a present from Alexan-
dria (Vopiscus, Vita Saturnini) two cups of opalescent glass
(" calices allassontes versicolores ") given him by the priest
of the Temple of Serapis, probably as a choice specimen of
a national manufacture for which that city had been long
celebrated. 1 Pliny also speaks of draughtmen made of
10 These fragments are collected ' The Egyptian glass-workers also
by the Roman lapidaries, cut and produced small mosaics of the most
polished and set in bracelets and minute and delicate finish, and suffi-
brooches, where they show like ciently small to be worn in rings,
Agates of the most novel and beau- and as pendants to necklaces, in the
tiful varieties, variegated with bril- following ingenious manner. A
liant colours, arranged in wavy pat- number of fine glass rods, of the
terns. Blue with white stripes colours required, were arranged to-
passing through its substance, and gether in a bundle, in such a way
green similarly marked with red, that their ends represented the out-
were favourites of the antique glass- line and shades of the object to be
workers, judging from the frequency depicted, as a bird or a flower,
of such fragments. exactly as is practised at present in
SECT. I.
PASTES.
75
coloured glass of several varying tints, " pluribus modis versi-
colores."
The art of making paste intagli was rediscovered by the
Italians of the Kenaissance, and afterwards brought to per-
fection by the Regent Orleans, under whose patronage the
manufacture attained the greatest celebrity, and far sur-
passed any productions of the ancients in the same line.
Clarac gives the following notice of the origin of the Orleans
pastes: "Having engaged (1691-1715) the services of the
celebrated chemist Homberg, and assisting him with his own
hands in his operations (in a laboratory established in the
Palais Eoyal), the Eegent made him reproduce in glass-
pastes all the gems that he himself had collected, and also
a large number selected from the royal cabinet. It is said
that he manufactured six complete sets of these pastes, one
of which Clarac himself possessed, the bequest of M. Gosselin
of the Academie. It had been in his hands for many years,
and was always regarded as one of the original six sets
coming from the Regent's own laboratory. It had, however,
the manufacture of Tunbridge-ware.
This bundle was next enclosed in a
coating of glass of a single colour,
usually an opaque blue : then the
whole mass, being fused together,
sufficiently to unite all the rods into
one compact body, was drawn out
to the proper diameter. Thus the
rods all became equally attenuated
without losing their relative posi-
tions, and the surrounding case of
glass, when the whole mass was cut
through at certain intervals, formed
the ground of a miniature mosaic,
apparently composed of the minutest
tessara, put together with incon-
ceivable dexterity and niceness of
touch. Each slice of the finished
mass necessarily produced the same
pattern, without the slightest varia-
tion. The most beautiful specimen
of this elegant art in existence is to
be seen amongst the gems of the
British Museum. It is a square of
one inch, the ground a brilliant blue,
enclosing a kneeling figure of a
winged goddess, Sate, in which the
union of the pieces defies the closest
scrutiny, and gives the effect of a
miniature painted by the finest
pencil, and in the most brilliant
colours, which are brought out by
the high polish given to the surface
of the slab. The back, left un-
polished, clearly shows the process
of the manufacture. It formerly
belonged to the Duchess of Devon-
shire, and was deemed one of the
choicest treasures of her collection.
76 MATERIALS. SKCT. I.
been increased by the addition of several other pastes, pro-
bably made by Clachant and Mdlle. Falloix, who had been
instructed by Homberg in this art, and became dealers in
its productions. These pastes of the Eegent are of very
fine glass, or of enamel, and exactly reproduce the colours
of the original gems. It is plain that they were produced
with the utmost care ; the material is very dense and free
from flaws and air-bubbles; the intagli in them are clean,
polished, and lustrous in the interior, a result extremely
difficult to obtain. When held against the light, those
which are transparent produce, by the richness of their tints,
precisely the effects of the real stones. Some of them,
however, particularly the Sardonyx, have been better imi-
tated subsequently as far as the tone of the colour is con-
cerned; but nevertheless, in spite of the recent advances
in the art of glass-making, and in enamels, as well as in
chemistry, it is very much to be doubted if finer pastes than
these of the Regent could be produced in our times."
The new process was soon spread throughout Europe ; and
when Goethe visited Eome, in the last quarter of the past
century, the making these glass pastes was a favourite occu-
pation of the dilettanti residing there. At present the Eomans
display the very greatest skill in this art : I have seen some
of their pastes, especially of the opaque kind, such as onyxes,
that could not be distinguished from the real stone except
by the file. To baffle this mode of detection, the dealers
use the ingenious contrivance of backing the paste with a
slice of real stone of the same colour ; this being set in a
ring, the junction is concealed, and when tested by the file
enables the whole to pass for the real gem adorned with a
valuable engraving. 2 The same method is adopted for
2 Clarac mentions his having been Marchant, and still retaining traces
shown a paste from an intaglio by of his signature, which, having been
SECT. 1. PASTES. 77
forging all the precious coloured stones, the Kuby, Emerald,
and Sapphire : a paste of proper colour is backed by a piece
of rock crystal facetted in order to give the requisite bril-
liancy, and then sold to the unwary as a gem of the first
class ; nor is the deception detected until the wear of some
time begins to act upon the soft surface of the upper vitreous
layer. Pliny mentions a somewhat similar device of the
Eoman lapidaries in the case of the Jaspis Terebinthizusa,
the three several strata being made up of three separate
stones of the best colours respectively, cemented together
with Venice turpentine, which is still used for the purpose on
account of its perfect transparency.
I have seen tolerable antique pastes set in old bronze
rings, and evidently genuine, but hardly ever in rings of
the precious metals ; as might have been expected, for such
base imitations were only worn by people of the lowest class
or slaves. Pliny mentions expressly " the glass gems of the
rings of the populace," which, when ground up with pipeclay,
produced the paint called " annulare." A paste cameo of a
sphinx seated, an imitation of the Sardonyx and very well
executed, set in a massy antique gold ring, once came
under my notice ; but without doubt this cameo had been
passed off upon the ancient owner as the real gem of which
it was so admirable a counterfeit. This antique fraud re-
minds one of the jocular punishment inflicted by Gallienus
upon the jeweller who had taken in the Empress Salonina
with some false gems. She demanded that an example
should be made of him, and the emperor ordered that he
should be exposed to the wild beasts in the amphitheatre.
The poor wretch was thrown naked into the arena, the door
manufactured into an antique Sard had been sold at an enormous price
in this manner, and vouched to have to a Neapolitan duke, an enthusiastic
been recently dug up at Otranto, amateur of gems.
78 MATERIALS. SECT. I.
of the den thrown open, when out strutted a cock, and the
culprit got off with the fright, Gallienus saying that it was
just that he who had cheated others should himself be
cheated. Antique glass rings also occur, with the shank
of a twisted pattern, and in colour imitating the Agate,
the head bearing a comic mask, in relief, in opaque paste
of green or some different colour from the ring, copies, no
doubt, of the cameo masks in Emerald, and Plasma, and
Amethyst so often met with in collections. I once bought
one at Rome, the very fac-simile of that given by Caylus (II.
Ixxxix.). These, from the fragility of the material, are
naturally of extreme rarity when perfect.
I shall now hazard a remark that will greatly shock the
faith of most collectors, to this effect, that, of the pastes sold
as antique in such abundance, hardly one in a hundred is
genuine. In the handfuls of stones brought to the dealers
at Rome by the peasants, just as they are found in turning
over the ground of their vineyards and gardens in the neigh-
bourhood, pastes never occur without some portion of the
old bronze mounting still adhering to them : the loose intagli
are always cut on stones, even though most of them are
engraved in the rudest manner, and evidently for the wear
of the poorest classes. Besides, as these valueless glass gems
were never worn by people who could afford rings of gold
or silver, there was no probability that they were taken out
of the settings and thrown away when the ring was melted
down for the sake of the metal, as was the case with the
real gems in the times of barbarism. Again, every one who
has ever seen a paste in its original bronze ring will be
convinced of the all but impossibility of its being extracted
from the metal without being broken into fragments. Had
pastes been as abundant in antiquity as they are in collec-
tions, they would form the majority of the intagli turned up
SECT. I. PASTES. 70
in the ground about Rome, whereas the direct contrary is
the case; whence we may fairly conclude that any paste
appearing never to have had a setting may be looked upon
with the utmost suspicion. One of the best antique pastes
I have ever met with was one found near Rome in the spring
of 1850 : the intaglio representing the town of Troy upon an
excellent imitation of a black and white Agate, and still set in
its massy bronze ring, which was almost entire. Many pastes
are produced as antiques which still retain the projecting
edges of the superfluous piece of glass, forming, as it were,
a thin frame around the back, which clearly shows that they
have never been set at all or intended for setting : all such
may be put down, without hesitation, to the account of the
fabrique of the amateurs of the last century.
Some early pastes of the Renaissance are Occasionally to
be met with in settings of the time, which fixes the date of
their manufacture : they are very rude and cast out of " pot-
metal," to imitate the Sapphire. But the pastes of the
flourishing period of the same school are often very minute
and carefully finished productions, containing elaborate groups,
and finished up by means of the wheel : and such have often
passed for true antique intagli. One in particular, a group
on an imitation of Garnet in an enamelled gold ring of the
period, was quite a masterpiece of imitative art.
The abundance of pastes, all styled antique, but due in
great part to the ateliers of the dilettanti of the last century,
that now fill the English collections, is perfectly amazing,
and furnishes another and a most amusing proof of Ovid's
remark, that to believe
" quod volumus credula turba sumus."
Many amateurs possess several hundreds of them at once,
and must believe, therefore, that the ancient glass-workers
80 MATERIALS. SECT. I.
passed all their days in making these fac-similes of gems for
the mere purpose of sowing them broadcast in the earth for
the delectation of future ages.
At some of the sales of collections of gems in London I
have seen cards full of pastes sold at the rate of two shillings
and sixpence the dozen pieces, many being as good and as
genuine as such generally are. It was therefore an amusing
proof of the influence of a name in this branch of art, as in
every other, to see at the sale of the Herz Collection the
ignorant dealers in antiquities bidding high prices, often
some pounds per lot, for the worthless pastes forming so
large a portion of its numbers, and which the astute old
diamond-merchant, the first possessor, had purchased in
former years at the rate of a shilling for every pound
realised at the sale.
I have lately examined a large quantity, perhaps above
200 lumps, of coloured antique glass, of the size and shape
of the various kinds of gooseberries, some much larger than
others, but all cast as much as possible to the same form,
and evidently intended to receive an impression from the
proper matrix after a semi-fusion in the manner above de-
scribed. Some of these lumps were of very fine colours, and
a few were observable composed of two different layers,
designed to imitate the Sardonyx. Although many were of
a pure kind of pot-metal, the greatest part exhibited that
porous, bubbly texture so generally found in antique pastes.
This entire stock, including a few finished works (one a
remarkably fine cameo bust of Jupiter in green glass) as
well as a few rude intagli in Sards and Garnets, was stated
to have been discovered in one deposit near Naples. Unfor-
tunately no dependence whatever can be placed upon these
accounts as to the discovery of antique gems imported from
Italy, the dealers having always a well-authenticated and
SECT. I. IMPRESSIONS OF INTAGLT IN TERRA-COTTA. bl
circumstantial story at their fingers' ends to give a false
value to whatever they may have to dispose of: these em-
bryo pastes, therefore, may either have been collected singly,
if antique, or else recently made to order for the antiquity
market by some glass-worker ; but supposing this statement
as to the provenance of the hoard to be essentially true, we
should have here a very interesting example of the first
processes of this curious manufacture. Many years ago a
specimen, beyond all suspicion of forgery, of a globule of
paste prepared for the matrix came under my notice, though
at the time its object was unexplained ; a lenticular piece of
dark-blue glass, rough as when cast, and looking like a dark
flat pebble, was found, together with a large Carnelian, cut
ready for setting but unengraved, and a silver ring set with
a rude intaglio of Mars in red Jasper, all deposited beneath
a large stone in the ruins of a Roman building in the Broad-
way, Caerleon.
Seals of Sennacherib and Sabaco II,
IMPKESSIONS OF INTAGLI IN TERRA-COTTA.
Impressions of intagli on small pieces of burnt clay of the
same form as the gems are not unfrequent in collections.
Those discovered so abundantly amongst Assyrian remains,
bearing the impress of the royal seal (and in one most inte-
resting case given by Layard, that of the cotemporary king of
82 MATERIALS. SECT. I.
Egypt), were deposited in the places whence they have been
exhumed (ancient archive-offices) when attached by a string
to documents, as is clearly proved by certain papyri still
extant with similar clay seals appended. Others of later
date, I have little doubt, served as moulds for making the
pastes described above, and the coarseness of the material
will account for that roughness of surface which so dis-
tinguishes the antique from the modern productions. This
view is confirmed by the fact that the moulds used for
the issue of the extensive base silver forgeries of the Lower
Empire are also made of the same material and in a
very similar manner; these coin-moulds have been found
abundantly in Somersetshire, Yorkshire, and in France at
Aries and Lyons. 3 Many of the clay impressions of intagli
come from Syria, a country always famed in ancient times for
its glass manufactures. Some, however, have taken these
stamped pieces of terra-cotta for " tesserae hospitales," or cre-
dentials carried by travellers as means of introduction from
one friend to another at a distant city. In the ' Pseudolus '
of Plautus the Macedonian soldier leaves an impression of his
signet, his own portrait, in the hands of the slave-dealer, with
a part of the purchase-money of the girl whom he has bar-
gained for, and subsequently sends his servant Harpax with
the remainder of the sum, who, to authenticate his mission,
brings with him another impression of the same signet. This
Plautus styles Symbolum ; and the various counters still
preserved so abundantly in lead, ivory, and clay, are supposed
to have been intended for similar purposes. The famous
courtezan Glycera, amongst her other witticisms recorded by
Athenaeus, on receiving the clay impression of her lover's
3 Hence it is certainly allowable analogous process of manufacturing
to conclude that moulds of the same the cheap paste gems so much in
material would be employed for the demand at the same period.
SECT. I. MURRHINA. 83
signet, a pre-arranged signal that she was to visit him,
replies to the messenger, " Tell him I cannot come, for it is
muddy (or mud)," the Greek word admitting both meanings ;
hence the joke. That too enthusiastic collector, Yerres, has
it laid to his charge by Cicero as a most heinous crime, that,
having been greatly pleased with the seal on a letter, he
sent for the signet itself, and never returned it to the owner,
a proceeding which would be reprobated and imitated by
many antiquarians of the present day.
MUKEHINA.
To treat of gems and to omit the Murrhiiie would be like
writing a history of this century which should contain no
mention of Napoleon, so fierce a war has been waged by
theoretical archasologists with one another about the real
nature of this substance. Some have absurdly supposed it to
be Chinese porcelain, basing this theory entirely upon the
line of Propertius
" Murrheaque in Parthis pocula cocta focis."
" And murrhine goblets baked in Parthian fires."
A mode of expression which is nothing more than one of his
favourite poetical conceits for conveying the same idea as
Pliny, when he says " Some consider it to be a liquid substance
solidified by subterranean heat." This, by the way, is a strange
anticipation of the modern theory ascribing the production of
Agates and Jaspers to igneous action. One consideration
alone suffices to show the utter absurdity of the porcelain
hypothesis, as though Pliny, a man so skilled in the arts,
could ever have mistaken the Chinese painting of figures,
animals, or flowers, on their porcelain ware, for natural spots
aud colours on a real stone. Besides, the material itself was
G 2
84 MATERIALS. SECT. T.
brought to Rome in the rough, and there wrought up into
dishes and flat bowls, for which purpose alone it was suited,
in consequence of the want of thickness of the strata, Pieces
however were obtained of considerable superficial extent ;
for, amongst the valuable objects displayed at Pompey's
triumph, was a draught-board four feet long by three wide,
formed out of only two slabs. This was the first occa-
sion on which the stone was introduced into Rome, and
Pompey dedicated to Jupiter Capitolinus the unworked
pieces (lapides) and the vases borne in procession during
the triumph. 4
The dimensions of a slab were never beyond those required
for a dish (abaci escarii) ; and the trulla, especially particu-
larised as usually made of this stone, was precisely of the
form and size of a modern breakfast-saucer. These Murrhine
vessels were, in spite of their high price, accumulated in
large numbers by the wealthy Romans ; those belonging to a
single senator, and which, on the owner's death, Nero seized
for himself, were sufficient, when set out as a spectacle to
the public, to fill a theatre in the Palace-gardens of con-
siderable capacity. They are mentioned by various ancient
authors as Jbeing in use down to the close of the empire ;
and legal writers especially distinguish Murrhina from vessels
of glass or of the precious metals. Heliogabalus is recorded
to have employed Murrhine vases, as well as those of Onyx,
for the basest purposes, 5 which seems to have been regarded
as the very extreme of licentious extravagance. As the
material was indestructible, we should expect to find these
4 This was his third triumph to Albania, Iberia, Crete, the Basterni,
celebrate his victories over the Cili- and the kings Mithridates and Ti-
cian pirates, Pontus, Armenia, Cap- granes.
padocia, PaphlagOnia, Syria, Judaea, "In niurrhlnisetonychintsmln.\it."
Treb. Pollio.
SECT. I. MURRHINA. 85
vases, either whole or in fragments, amongst ancient remains,
on the axiom that whatever cannot be annihilated must
exist in some place or another,, and the only vases we do
meet with under circumstances fulfilling all the requirements
of the case, are of Agate, fragments of which I have seen
at Rome belonging to bowls of extraordinary diameter, fully
accounting for the vast sums paid by the luxurious for the
rarities amongst this -class. For instance, Petronius pos-
sessed a trulla valued at 3000 talents, which, immediately
before killing himself, he broke to pieces, in order to disap-
point the expectations of Nero, who himself is said to have
afterwards paid the same sum for a sfcialler vase. These
fragments even now are found so abundantly at Rome as to
prove the extensive use of these Agate vessels in ancient
times : they are now cut up into brooch-stones, if not large
enough to be preserved as curiosities for their own sake.
Perfect vessels, as may be supposed, are of the greatest
rarity. 6
Pliny describes the Murrhine as a stone covered with spots
varying from white to purple, which last colour at that time
included all shades from dark-red to indigo. The substance
also exhibited a mixture of tints, the purple passing into a
flame-colour, and the milky shades turning to a red. Such
changes I have myself witnessed in an Agate trulla be-
longing to an acquaintance, the colours of which are a
nearly transparent white, milky in parts, and a reddish-
brown, going through many curious changes of hue as the
light is allowed to pass through the vessel at different
angles. Agates present all possible varieties of colour : they
occur with shades of Sapphire, blue mixed with the white,
a The splendid Agate vase of the Museo Borbonico was purchased for
the sum of 10,000 ducati, or 1500?.
86 MATERIALS. SECT. I.
with well-defined stripes of the brightest opaque colours, and
the China Agate has a milk-white ground, in parts semi-
transparent, variegated with a dark-red ; and this last seems
to come nearer to Pliny's poetical but somewhat obscure
description than any other stone. "Murrhine vases have a
lustre without any strength, or more properly a polish than
a lustre. But their value lies in their variety of colours,
the spots occasionally turning themselves into purple and
white, and a third made up of both ; the purple, by as it were
a transition of colour, becoming fiery, or the milky hue
turning red. Some especially admire the edges of these
spots, and a kind of play of colours such as is seen in the
rainbow. Opaque spots are most esteemed ; any part trans-
parent or pale is a defect, as are also flaws and warts not
projecting from the surface, but as if implanted within the
substance itself. There is some recommendation also in
their agreeable smell." This description exactly agrees with
that of a polished Agate : the absence of lustre, the infinite
variety of shades, and even the defects noticed, can be
observed in no other material of sufficient size for the pur-
poses to which the Murrhine was employed. It has been
supposed that this stone was Fluor Spar, the Blue John of
Derbyshire ; but, besides the fact that this is almost peculiar
to England, I do not believe that fragments of it have ever
been found amongst Koman remains. Even granting that
a few fragments of the fluor spar of undoubted antiquity did
occur, the great frequency of the pieces of Agate vases is a
sufficient proof that they once constituted the class of vessels
so abundant under the Empire. For, if the whole vessels of
an imperishable substance were so plentiful at a former
period, it is a logical consequence that at least their frag-
ments must be as abundant at the present day, as no pos-
sible circumstance could have swept them out of existence.
SECT. I. MURRHINA. 87
Another corroboration of this opinion is the fact of many
glass vessels being found, both entire and broken, which are
very good imitations of striped Agates ; and Pliny expressly
mentions, amongst the varieties of coloured glass made in his
day, one imitating the Murrhine.
The most splendid Agate vase in existence is the two-
handled cup, carchesium, of the capacity of a sextarius (above
a pint), and covered with Bacchanalian subjects, presented by
Charles the Bald, in the 9th century, to the Abbey of St.
Denis, and which was always used to hold the wine at the
coronation of the kings of France. In this case, then, we
trace a Murrhine cup almost up to the days of the Eoman
Empire ; and, from the style of art displayed upon it, the
vase might, without hazard, be ascribed to the epoch of Nero
himself. 7 We may conclude, from Pliny's mode of expression,
that, although flat saucers . of Murrhine were not uncommon,
the thinness of the slabs of the stone made a scyphus, or deep
hemispherical bowl, an extraordinary rarity ; for, among the
show of Nero's vases in the Palace-garden theatre " were the
broken fragments of one scyphus preserved in a case with as
much care as the corpse of Alexander the Great, and exhibited
to the public to excite, I suppose, the grief of the age, and to
cast odium upon fortune !"
At the present day we might still say with Pliny, " The
East sends us Murrhine vases." Collections of Agate vases
formed in India frequently occur in the auctions of articles
of virtu in London, where they still fetch high prices, though
7 This cup bore upon its setting gold enriched with precious stones
the legend added at the time of its melted down by the thieves ; but
donation to the abbey by Charles : the vase itself was fortunately re-
" HOC vas Christe tibi devota mente dicavit covered undamaged, and has been
Tertius in Franco subiimis regmine Carius." remounted in an elegant style by
It was stolen in Feb. 1804 from the Delafontaine.
Museum, and the ancient setting of
88 MATERIALS.
by no means equal to those paid for them in their native
country. It was grievous to read of the amount of skill,
labour, and value, annihilated in a moment, when, at the
recent sack of the palace of Delhi, our soldiers, with the brutal
love of destruction that characterises John Bull, smashed
chests upon chests full of these elegant productions. Had
they been preserved and sent to England they would have
added largely to the amount of prize-money, being worth
considerably more than their weight in gold.
ALABASTER.
This stone was originally known as the Onyx, a name
afterwards exclusively appropriated to the gem still called
by that name. From the description of it given by Pliny
it must have been the stone now known as the Oriental
Alabaster, "being of the colour of honey, variegated with
spiral spots, and opaque." It came from Arabia and Egypt,
but the best sort of it from Carmania. It was at first only
used for making drinking-cups, but soon became so plentiful
at Eome that Pliny mentions columns thirty-two feet long
formed of it, and also a dining-room of Callistus (a freedman
of Claudius) adorned with more than thirty such pillars.
The columns and pilasters presented by Mahomet Ali to the
building of the church of S. Paolo-fuori-le-Mura at Eome
are above forty feet in length, of a single block each, and of
the most beautiful quality. This stone is often of a rich
brown mixed with lemon-colour; and this kind is quarried
to a large extent at Volterra, where it is worked up into
those elegant vases of colossal size now often to be seen in
the London shops. Pliny says that it received the name of
Alabaster from its being used to make the little jars for
holding perfumes, which were called alabastra as being
SECT. I. ALABASTER. 89
shaped like an amphora without handles ; hence the stone of
which they were commonly made got the designation of
Lapis Alabastrites. These perfume-jars are of common occur-
rence and of all sizes, both in this material and also in glass
and pottery, but those of stone were thought to preserve the
perfume better. Hence we see that St. Mark's "alabastrum
unguenti nardi spicati " and the " nardi parvus onyx " of
Horace meant the same thing. The " box of ointment " of
the Jacobean translators gives an incorrect idea of the passage,
an error due to their notions being biassed by the usages of
their own times, when ointments, as at present, were solid
compounds of lard, and necessarily kept in boxes for use ; a
mistranslation the more absurd when we consider the epoch
and the country where the event recorded by the evangelist
took place. But the unguenta of the ancients were merely
scented oils obtained by macerating spices or flowers in olive
oil, and thus obtaining their essence by pressure. The neck
of the Alabaster vessel was broken off when its contents were
required, as it had been hermetically sealed by the maker
to prevent the evaporation of the scent. In the museum at
Naples are shown some large Alabaster jars from Pompeii
still retaining a strong perfume from their former contents,
at which fact the Emperor Nicolas, on his visit, "rimase
sorpreso," as well he might ; at least so says the custode of
the gallery. We find a large number of canopi, or sacred
Egyptian vases, with a cover shaped like the head of a
mummy, made of this stone. The commoner variety used
for these little vessels is exactly like that of Derbyshire
worked up into similar forms at the present day. This stone
deserves the name of Onyx much better than the gem to
which, at a later period, the term was exclusively confined,
for it is of the exact colour of the finger-nail, and shaded in
the same manner. The Onyx vases already mentioned as
90 MATERIALS, SECT. I.
having, as well as Murrhine, been so degraded by Helioga-
balus, must have been some elegant drinking-vesscls of the
Oriental Alabaster designed to adorn the tables of his more
tasteful predecessors.
KOCK-CEYSTAL.
The Murrhine Vases naturally introduce the subject of
those of Crystal, which were as much in fashion among the
Romans as with their imitators, the wealthy Italians of the
Cinque-Cento period. The ancients had a notion that this
stone was only hardened ice, and hence its name, the Greek
word for ice. This theory was supposed to be confirmed by the
circumstance that their chief supply of Crystal was obtained
from the Alps, where it still abounds in the moraine, or de'bris
left by the glaciers. The Eomans used it almost exclusively
for making cups and vases. I have met with hardly any
antique intagli in Crystal ; no doubt its want of colour operated
against its use as a ring-stone. The engravers of the Re-
vival, on the other hand, often employed it for intagli, and
executed some of their best works in this stone. Vasari espe-
cially praises the Crystals of Giovanni del Castel Bolognese, 8
the most eminent of those early artists. Their engravings
were not so much intended for signets as for personal orna-
ments, and to adorn articles of plate, where largeness of
extent and transparency were rather recommendations than
otherwise. Pliny mentions the lucrative fraud then common
of staining Crystal so as to imitate Emeralds, Amethysts, and
other coloured gems, but forbears to give the process, because
even luxury, as he says, ought to be protected against imposi-
tion. Dutens, however, is less scrupulous ; he asserts that a
8 Vasari names in particular the Tityus and the Ganymede engraved
by him for Ippolito dei Medici.
SECT. I. KOCK-CRYSTAL. 91
Crystal heated and plunged into the tincture of cochineal, be-
comes a Euby ; into a mixture of turnesole and saffron, a
Sapphire ; and so on for the rest, always assuming the colour
of the tincture into which it is plunged. Or the same end
may be obtained by macerating the crystal for some months
in spirits of turpentine, saturated with a metallic oxide of the
required tint. I believe it much more probable that the
ancients employed the more simple method now so much in
use, and to which most of the Carbuncles of the London shops
are due, and that is to cut the crystal to the proper form, and
painting its back the required colour, so to set it in the piece
of jewellery. The fact that ancient gems were usually set
with a back to them, would greatly favour the execution of
this fraud, to baffle which, in the case of the Chrysolitlms for
instance, Pliny expressly mentions that the stone was set
open. Although the Roman jewellers made false Jaspers of
three colours by cementing as many slices of different stones
together, and hence its name Terebinthizusa, they do not
seem to have been acquainted with doublets, the favourite
device of the modern trade, by which a thin slice of real
stone is backed by a facetted Crystal, and then so set as to
conceal the junction. The ancient frauds in coloured stones
were entirely confined to the substitution of pastes for the true,
to detect which Pliny lays down many rules, some fanciful
enough, but containing one that is infallible, that by means
of a splinter of Obsidian a paste may be scratched, but not a
real stone. We may as well conclude the subject of false
gems, which falls appropriately under the head of the Crystal,
so much used in their fabrication, by quoting the curious
observations of Camillo Leonardo, of Pesaro, on the various
frauds practised by the jewellers of his own times, 1502.
Many of these are extremely ingenious, and the recipes for
them doubtless handed down by tradition from remote ages.
92 MATERIALS.
Besides pastes of Smalto, which exactly counterfeited the
true gems, they converted common stones into others of a
more precious quality by various curious processes. Thus a
Garnet cut very thin and backed with Crystal, was sold as a
Euby ; an Amethyst hollowed out and filled with a coloured
tincture imitated the Balais, which gem was likewise counter-
feited by a thin tablet of Amethyst laid upon a ruby-coloured
foil. Diamonds were forged by cutting a pale Sapphire or
a Beryl to the right shape, and then backing it with the
proper tincture. To understand this, it must be observed,
that until quite lately Diamonds were always set upon a
black ground, to give them lustre : on the proper preparation
of which Cellini treats at great length in his ' Oreficeria,' as
being of the utmost importance to the effect of the stone.
To baffle the test of the file, which no paste can resist, the
forgers of the time of Camillo Leonardo chiefly imitated the
Emerald and the Peridot, as these gems are in reality but
little harder than glass, and yield to the file almost as easily
as their counterfeits in paste ; so that the sole means of detec-
tion remaining, was to examine them by the light of a candle,
when the colour of the false gems would be found to fade
away the more intently they were viewed.
The annexed epigram is entitled in the Anthology, " Upon
an Engraved Crystal," in which case it would give us the
name of another ancient engraver of the Greek period ; but
the expressions of the epigram itself would rather make me
conclude that the portrait was painted in gold on the back of
a piece of glass, which was covered by another piece fused
upon it, so that the painting appeared enclosed in the sub-
stance of the glass, of which art some beautiful specimens are
still preserved. 9
9 The finest probably of these is perty of Dr. Conyers Middle-ton, and
the portrait of a child, once the pro- now iu the British Museum.
SECT. I. ROCK-CRYSTAL. 03
DIODOB.US, Anthol. ix. 770.
" The art and colour well might Zeuxis claim,
But Satyreius is my author's name,
Who on the tiny crystal drew the face,
Arsinoe's portrait full of living grace ;
An offering to his queen, though small in size,
No larger work with me in merit vies."
Renaissance Crystal intagli are sometimes found in jewellery
of that period, set with the engraved side downwards upon a
gold or azure foil. The effect thus produced is very singular,
the figures appearing as though cut in relief in a transparent
gem, a Topaz or Sapphire, and the deception is so perfect as
only to be detected by the touch. A veiled bust of the Ma-
donna, thus treated and set in a ring, the first instance of this
ingenious device that came under my notice, v puzzled me for
some time, by the apparent relief of the work upon an actually
plain surface. This style of work iii Crystal is also men-
tioned by Mariette, in whose time several had been circulated
amongst the Parisian connoisseurs as antiques of the Roman
period.
The Romans used to give fabulous prices for vessels in
this material. Pliny mentions a lady, and one too by no
means wealthy, who bought a Crystal trulla for a sum equal
to 1500?. of our money ; and Nero, to avenge himself upon
the world, when informed of his deposition by the Senate,
threw down and smashed two crystal bowls, scyphi, engraved
with subjects from Homer.
Crystal is found in very large masses ; the largest known
to the Romans weighed 50 pounds, and was dedicated by
Livia in the Capitol ; and a bowl is mentioned which held
four sextarii, or about two quarts. I myself have seen a rolled
Crystal more than a foot in length, of a perfect egg-shape,
and of admirable transparency. It had formed a part of
94 MATERIALS. SECT. I.
the plunder of Delhi, and was intended to be cut into a
vase, the capacity of which would doubtless approach to that
recorded by Pliny.
The balls of Crystal occasionally found amongst ancient
remains were used as burning-glasses. 10 That they were thus
employed by surgeons appears from the passage of Pliny :
" I find it asserted by physicians, that when any part of the
body requires to be cauterized, it cannot be better done than
by means of a crystal-ball held up against the sun's rays."
Orpheus (170) recommends their employment to kindle
the sacrificial fire :
" Take in thy pious hand the Crystal bright,
Translucent image of the Eternal Light.
Pleased with its lustre, every power divine
Shall grant thy vows presented at their shrine.
But how to prove the virtue of the stone,
A certain mode I will to thee make known :
To kindle without fire the sacred blaze,
This wondrous gem on splintered pine-wood place,
Forthwith, reflecting the bright orb of day,
Upon the wood it shoots a slender ray.
Caught by the unctuous fuel this will raise
First smoke, then sparkles, then a mighty blaze.
Such we the fire of ancient Vesta name,
Loved by th' immortals all, a holy flame.
No other fire with such grateful fumes
The fatted victim on their hearths consumes ;
Yet though of flame the cause, strange to be told,
The stone snatched from the blaze is icy cold."
The Cairngorum, so much in fashion at the beginning of
this century, that Mawe (1804) speaks of ten guineas being
the usual price of a seal-stone, is only a Crystal coloured a
10 They were also held in the hand ness during the fiery heat of the
for the sake of their refreshing cool- southern summers.
SECT. I. ROCK-CRYSTAL. 95
dark orange or deep brown by some metallic oxide. Some
of them are certainly very beautiful, much resembling the
Jacinth, and are .by far superior in lustre to the German
Topaz, a stone of the same kind, and now imported in such
large quantities.
Crystals and Agates are not uncommon in collections, con-
taining a small quantity of water in a cavity left within
them at the time of their formation. I am informed that in
California the miners often meet with large nodules of quartz
thus filled, and are often killed by drinking the liquid con-
tained therein, so strongly impregnated is it with silica.
This is the Enhydros of Pliny and the Mediaeval miner-
alogists, who looked upon it as a most wonderful miracle of
nature, to judge from the numerous epigrams, of which it has
been thought worthy by Claudian and other pqets :
EPIGRAM VIII. et seq.
" When the Alpine ice, frost-hardened into stone,
First braved the sun, and as a jewel shone,
Not all its substance could the gem assume ;
Some tell-tale drops still linger in its womb.
Hence with augmented fame its wonders grow,
And charms the soul the stone's mysterious flow,
Whilst stored within it from Creation's birth,
The treasured waters add a double worth.
Mark where extended a translucent vein
Of brighter crystal tracks the glittering plain.
No Boreas fierce, no nipping winter knows
The hidden spring, but ever ebbs and flows ;
No frosts congeal it, and no Dog-star dries,
E'en all-consuming Time its youth defies.
A stream unfettered pent in crystal round,
A truant fount by hardened waters bound,
.Mark how the gem with native sources foams,
How the live spring in refluent eddies roams .'
96 MATERIALS. SECT. I.
How the bright rainbow paints the opposing ray
As with the imprisoned winter fights the day I
Strange nymph ! above all rivers' fame supreme,
Gem yet no gem ; a stone, yet flowing stream.
Erst, while the boy, pleased with its polish clear,
With gentle finger twirled the icy sphere,
He marked the drops pent in its stony hold,
Spared by the rigour of the wintry cold ;
With thirsty lips th' unmoistened ball he tries,
And the loved draught with fruitless kisses plies.
Streams which a stream in kindred prison chain,
Which water icere and water still remain,
What art hath bound ye, by what wondrous force
Hath ice to stone congealed the limpid source ?
What heat the captive saves from winter hoar,
Or what warm zephyr thaws the frozen core ?
Say in what hid recess of inmost earth,
Prison of fleeting tides, thou hadst thy birth ?
What power thy substance fixed with icy spell,
Then loosed the prisoner in his crystal cell ?
Hercules Mad : Etrus
I have read of one of these pregnant crystals exploding
when held in a person's mouth, in consequence of the expan-
sion of the inclosed fluid, and lacerating his palate very dan-
gerously. Whether the water was inclosed within the stone
at the time of its formation, as the ancients supposed, or
afterwards infiltrated through its pores in the lapse of ages,
is still a matter of dispute. I have myself seen the hollow
spherical portions of the stems of Venice glasses nearly filled
with water, which has penetrated either through their sub-
SECT. I. JADE. 97
stance, or else through some imperceptible fissures in the
soldering, during the few centuries they have lain under
ground ; and curiously enough the marks made by the suc-
cessive deposits of the rising liquid on the interior of the
glass exactly imitate the natural layers of an Agate. At the
sale of Barbetti's collection of Phoenician antiquities, some
hollow rims of glass sepulchral urns filled with water, which
had doubtless penetrated in the same manner as in the sphe-
rical bosses above mentioned, were bought at high prices by
credulous antiquaries, who took for granted the truth of the
wily Italian's assertion, that they contained a wonderful per-
fume with which they had been filled at the time of their
manufacture. And to increase the prodigy, he pretended that
this liquid was of so powerful an odour, that one of these
rims having been broken by accident in a roo~m in Paris, all
the persons present were immediately driven out by its
strength !
JADE.
Jade is a semi-opaque stone of a soapy appearance, and
varying in colour from a dirty white to a dull olive. Amulets
made of it were believed in the Middle Ages to prevent all
diseases of the kidneys ; hence the name of the stone from
Hijada, the Spanish for " kidney," and its scientific title of
Nephrite. Many vases and figures in this material are to be
seen in collections, but few of them probably are antique.
The sole merit of these works lies in the extreme difficulty
of their execution on account of the excessive hardness of
the stone, which circumstance greatly recommends it to the
Chinese and to their brethren in taste, certain amongst the
rich and curiosity-loving of the English collectors. I scarcely
believe the stone to have been known to the ancients, from
the fact that its popular name is due to the Spaniards or
H
98 MATERIALS. SECT. I.
Portuguese, who first imported it from the East ; for if com-
monly employed in ancient art, 1 we should have expected to
find it still designated by some Italian corruption of its
Latin synonym. Pliny mentions a Syrian stone, the Adadu-
nephros, or " kidney of Adonis ;" but as there was also the
"eye" and the "finger" of the same personage represented
by gems, we may conclude they all owed their names merely
to their similarity in form to those parts of the human body.
Even had the Jade been known at an earlier period, the
ancient love of the beautiful and their correct taste would
have prevented their throwing away their labour and time
upon so ugly and refractory a material.
JET.
This name is a corruption of Gagates, its ancient appella-
tion ; but it was then chiefly used in medicine and in magic,
as a means of fumigation. It was also employed for staining
pottery an idelible black : " fictilia ex eo inscripta non de-
lentur." Anklets and bracelets are found turned out of it, as
well as of the similar substance, Kirnmeridge coal, the works
of the Eoman-British inhabitants of our coasts ; 2 but the in-
tagli in Jet palmed off upon antiquarians so abundantly within
these few years, are known now to be recent forgeries.
1 I have, however, met with one rings, a half-crotalon with the head
or two intagli of the Gnostic class of Medusa, in all 26 articles, were
upon either this stone or else a bad discovered in two stone-coffins, de-
plasma, not to be distinguished from posited under the chief entrance of
it by the eye. Saint Gere'on, Cologne, at the time
2 A complete suite of Jet orna- of the repairs of that church in 1848.
ments, comprising two hair-pins They are supposed to have been the
with heads composed of pine-cones, ornaments of some priestesses of
almonds, and trefoils, bracelets, Cybele.
SECT. I. FORMS OF ANTIQUE GEMS. 99
THE FORMS OF ANTIQUE GEMS.
In the age of Pliny the favourite form was, he says, the
oblong, meaning thereby the very long oval in which an-
tique gems are so often to be found. In the next degree of
favour stood the lentile-shaped, or a sphere much flattened
on both sides, now called a " stone cut en cabochon," or in
jewellers' phrase " tallow drop." Lessing has some ingenious
speculations as to the general adoption of this form, which is
to be seen in fully half the number of intagli existing. He
endeavours to show that it facilitated the" engraving of the
design, and assisted the perspective by bringing the various
depths of the intaglio into the same plane. But the most
probable motive was, that the projecting surface of the gem
forming a corresponding depression in the wax might serve
to protect from defacement the impression of the intaglio in
that soft material. 3
Next in favour came the cycloidal or elliptic shape, a very
common one in the intagli of the preceding century ; and last
of all the circular. Angular stones were disliked, and indeed
we never meet with fine intagli cut upon such, for whenever
gems of this shape do occur, which is but seldom, they present
engravings belonging to the latest ages of the Empire ; and
such are also octangular. A square antique intaglio I have
never met with. Gems with a hollow or irregularly projecting
surface were naturally regarded as inferior to those of a flat
and even exterior. To understand this remark, it is necessary
to have seen in what manner the Komans employed the harder
precious stones, as Rubies and Sapphires, and we find that they
never attempted to reduce them to any regular shape, but set
them retaining their natural form, to which the lapidary had
3 Besides, the protuberant form of ornamental and showy when worn
the coloured gem rendered it more on the finger.
H 2
100 MATERIALS. SECT. I.
contrived to give a certain degree of polish. Hence such a
stone, if naturally presenting a regular shape, or that of the ori-
ginal crystal, was much more ornamental than those occurring,
as is most usual, in the ungainly form of irregularly rolled
pebbles. The most valuable coloured gems, almost as rude
(with the exception of a slight polish) as when picked up
amongst the gravel of the Indian torrent, may be seen adorn-
ing, more by their intrinsic value than by their beauty, the
most precious treasures of antiquity, as the Iron Crown, that
of Hungary, and the five coronets of the Gothic kings of Spain
now deposited in the Hotel de Cluny.
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF GEMS.
Diamond: pure Carbon. Specific gravity, 3.50; hardness =10.
Sapphire : nearly pure Alumina. Sp.gr., 4; hardness = 10 nearly.
Ruby : the same, but slightly less hard.
Emerald: Glucine, 12.5; Silica, 68.5; Alumina, 15.75; Oxide
of Chromium, 0.3 ; Oxide of Iron, 1 ; Lime, 0.25. Sp. gr., 2.7 ;
hardness = 7.5 to 8.
Jacinth : Zircon, 70 ; Silica, 25 ; Oxide of Iron, 0.5. Sp. gr., 4.5
to 4.7 ; hardness = 7.5.
Garnet: Silica, 33.75; Alumina, 27.25; Oxide of Iron, 36;
Oxide of Manganese, 0.25. Sp. gr., 4.2 ; hardness = 6 to 7.
Amethyst or Coloured Quartz : Silica, 97.5 ; Oxide of Iron, 0.75 ;
Alumina, 0.25. Sp. gr., 2.6 ; hardness = 7.
Turquoise : Alumina, 73 ; Oxide of Copper, 4.5 ; Oxide of Iron,
4; Water, 18. Sp. gr., 2.8; hardness = 5.
Lapis-lazuli: Silica, 49; Alumina, 11; Lime, 16; Soda, 8 ;
Oxide of Iron, 4; Magnesia, 2; Sulphuric Acid, 2. Sp.gr.,
2.95 ; hardness, scratches glass.
Cakedony (including Carnelian, Onyx, Plasma) : Silica, 84 ; Alu-
mina, 16. Sp. gr., 2.6 ; hardness, somewhat greater than
Flint.
SECT. 11. TESTS OF ANTIQUITY. 101
SECTION II. ART, STYLES OF.
Horses of Achilles mourning over the slain Patroclus Gt-eek. Yellow Sard.
ON THE TESTS OF ANTIQUITY IN GEMS,
V
AND ON
THE INSTRUMENTS USED BY THE ANCIENT ENGRAVERS.
ON commencing the Second Section of this work, which treats
of the Intagli and Camei considered in themselves, it will be
a most suitable introduction to the subject, to make a few ob-
servations on the two points, forming the title of this chapter,
so intimately connected with each other. No definite rules
can indeed be given, as nothing but long experience, and the
careful examination of large numbers of gems belonging to
every period, can supply that almost intuitive perception in
the art, so impossible to be acquired in any other manner.
The remarks that follow are the result of much thought, and
of many years study of antique gems, and of the careful
examination of some of the principal European collections.
If we consider the purpose to which intagli were almost ex-
clusively applied, at the time of their execution, namely, that
of signets, to be worn set in rings, we shall naturally look with
suspicion upon any engraved gems the dimensions of which
102 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
exceed those of an ordinary ring-stone ; and it will be found,
by observation, that this rule has but very few exceptions,
and that almost all intagli of a large size are of a period
subsequent to the revival of the art. Of course we except
from this rule the large gnostic gems which were intended to
be worn on the dress, or to be carried on the person as
amulets, and not to be employed as signet-rings. For pur-
poses of ornament to dresses, plate, and jewellery, the Romans
preferred precious stones the beauty and value of which con-
sisted in their colour alone, and which were employed uncut ;
or else camei which their size and style of work rendered
effective when viewed from a distance, whereas intagli make
no show unless upon a close examination. The finest antique
cameo that ever delighted my eyes was a large profile head
of Jupiter Dodonaeus on Sardonyx, still enclosed in the
oxidised iron-setting that had formerly served to fix it upon
the cuirass of some Roman general. This custom explains
the use of the fine perforation running through the whole
width of the stone, so often to ; be observed in really antique
camei, and which is merely of sufficient size to admit a thread
for the purpose of affixing the cameo to the dress. But to
return to the point noticed at starting. The small size of
antique intagli, so observable on looking over any collection,
will of itself prove what a striking difference this peculiarity
alone makes between them and the works executed after
the revival of gem-engraving. Ever since that period, the
artists have always preferred stones of considerable magni-
tude ; and their best works are to be seen on gems of larger
size than those used for their less important compositions,
which is exactly the reverse of the antique practice. Groups
of several figures, and representations of well-known historical
events, are an almost certain mark of modern work ; whilst
the drawing of the earlier Cinque-Cento engravers, has all
SECT. II. TESTS OF ANTIQUITY. 103
the quaint and exaggerated character to be found in the
paintings on the Majolica of the same period.
Again, antique gems are often of a very irregular form on
the back, in fact retaining their natural shape, the edge being
merely rounded off for the convenience of setting. This was
done to increase the depth of colour of the gem, which would
have been lowered had its thickness been diminished. The
back of the gem also, although highly polished, will often
show traces of deep parallel scratches, occasioned by its
having been first rubbed down into shape on a slab of emery,
and afterwards brought to a lustrous surface by some peculiar
process ; whereas modern stones are ground down and
polished at once upon the same instrument, a revolving disk
of copper moistened with oil, and emery powder, which gives
them a perfectly smooth and even surface.
A high degree of polish on the face of the gem, although in
itself a suspicious circumstance, does not however infallibly
stamp the intaglio as a work of modern times, for it has been
the unfortunate practice with jewellers to repolish the surface
of a good antique intaglio, in order to remove the scratches
and traces of friction which true antiques usually present, so
as to make the stone look better as a mere ornament when
mounted. This is a most ruinous operation ; for besides
making the intaglio itself appear of dubious antiquity, it also
destroys the perfect outline of the design, by lowering the
surface of the stone ; and many lamentable instances present
themselves of admirable engravings almost entirely spoiled in
this way, for the sake of a little outward improvement. On
the other hand, a rough and worn surface must not be relied
on as an infallible proof of antiquity, for Italian ingenuity has
long ago discovered that a handful of new-made gems crammed
down a turkey's throat will in a few days, by the trituration
of the gizzard, assume a roughness of exterior apparently
104 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
produced by the wear of many centuries. 1 Hence, if a stone
has too rough a surface, it requires to be examined still more
carefully, as affording good grounds for suspicion by its exag-
gerated ostentation of antiquity. In a word, though Faith
may be the cardinal virtue of the theologian, Distrust ought
to be that of every gem-collecter ; so beset is he, at every
step, by the most ingenious frauds, devised and carried out by
the roguery and dexterity of three centuries.
Again, though the stone itself may be antique, yet it may
have been used as the vehicle of another species of deception,
and that the most difficult to guard against of any that I know.
It is a common practice of Italian engravers to get antique
gems bearing inferior intagli upon them, and to retouch, or
sometimes to work over again entirely, the whole design ; thus
producing an apparently antique intaglio of a good style, upon
a stone the appearance of which lulls to sleep all suspicion.
This is the most common fraud of modern times, and one
against which the only safeguard is the careful examination,
with a lens, of the entire intaglio ; when, if some portions of
the work bear a fresher and higher polish than others, and,
above all, if they are sunk deeper into the stone than is
required by the exigencies of the design, a shrewd guess
may be hazarded that this deception has been practised.
Dealers, for their own purposes, foster a belief in their
customers, that a high polish in the interior of the intaglio is
a sure proof of its antiquity ; but this doctrine is altogether
false, for all the good Italian engravers give to their works
an internal polish fully equal to that of the antique. It
merely requires the expenditure of a little extra time and
labour in working over the interior of the cutting with a
1 The effects of this treatment are very observable in many of the
Foniatowski gems.
SECT. II. TESTS OF ANTIQUITY. 105
leaden point charged with fine diamond powder. Another
popular notion is, that soft wax will not adhere so readily
to antique as to modern intagli, but this circumstance merely
depends upon the relative degree of polish of the stones.
The truest test of antiquity (leaving out the question of art
for a subsequent discussion), appears to me to be a certain
degree of dulness, like the mist produced by breathing on a
polished surface, which the lapse of ages has always cast upon
the high lustre of the interior of the intaglio. This appearance
is not to be imitated by any contrivance of the modern forger,
and, when once remarked, is so peculiar in itself, as to be
easily recognized ever afterwards. So constant is this
peculiarity in works of genuine antiquity, that its absence is
always to be regarded as very unfavourable to the authen-
ticity of any intaglio. The effect also of the real wear and
tear of time upon the surface of the stone, is rather a fine
roughness, like that of ground-glass, than the deep scratches
and indentations produced by the violent methods of the
dealers, or, as they are justly styled by Pliny, "mangones
gemmarum," personages whose reputation for honesty was
precisely the same in his time as it is at the present day.
Again, a very satisfactory proof of antiquity is found when
the engraving appears to have been executed almost entirely
with the diamond-point ; that is to say, when all the hollows
seem cut into the stone by a succession of little scratches
repeated one upon the other, while the deeper parts of the
design show that they have been sunk by means of the drill,
a tool with a blunt and rounded point, producing a succession
of hemispherical hollows of various dimensions. Some intagli
even occur, entirely scratched into the stone by means of the
diamond-point alone, especially the works in shallow relief
of the Etruscan and early Greek epoch ; and, as a general
rule, according to the observation of the famous gem-engraver
106 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
Natter, the extensive use of the diamond-point is the great
distinction between the antique and the modem art. The
word itself, scalpere, used by the Komans to express the
process of engraving on gems, signifies to scratch, and, in
itself, supplies a proof of the manner in which the work was
carried on when first introduced to their notice ; and the
Greek technical term yXa$eu/ has the same primary significa-
tion. The use of the diamond-point is particularly observ-
able in the execution of the hair of portraits, when of good
work of almost every epoch of antiquity, where it produces an
admirable and natural effect which cannot be given by the
modern instruments. Of these latter it may be proper to say
a few words in this place. The principal among them, by
means of which all the above named operations, both of pro-
ducing lines and hollowing out depressions in the design, are
carried out, is the Wheel, a minute disk of copper fixed on
the end of a spindle, which is put into rapid motion by a kind
of lathe. The fine edge of this tool, moistened with oil and
emery or diamond dust, speedily cuts into the hardest gems,
and by repeating and prolonging the lines thus produced, the
minuter portions of the design are executed. The larger and
deeper hollows are still sunk by means of a round pointed
drill, substituted for the cutting disk, and acting just as the
ancient drill, which last, however, appears to have been
always worked by the hand, by means of a bow, in the same
way as the similar tool still used by jewellers. The modern
method, though greatly expediting the operation for
Mariette speaks of Smart, a celebrated English engraver of
the last century, finishing several good portraits in one day
yet renders the operation more mechanical and stiff,
whereas the ancient scalptor, working with his diamond-point,
like the etcher with his needle, had all the freedom of hand
and boldness of the latter artist.
SECT. II. ENGRAVERS' INSTRUMENTS. 107
These diamond-points, so often alluded to, were produced
by splintering a diamond by the blow of a heavy hammer.
Pliny adds a jeweller's story (probably invented to keep up
the mystery of the business), that it was necessary first to
macerate the stone in goat's blood, and that even then it often
split both the anvil and the hammer. These little splinters
were then fixed into the end of an iron tool (pretty much as
a glazier's diamond is at present), and cut with ease into
the hardest of the coloured gems, "nullam non duritiem
ex facili cavantes." The Naxian stone, also used by the
ancients, both in cutting and in polishing gems, was our
Emery, a combination of corundum and iron, and which is
still exported for the same purposes from that island. To
the present day the sole means employed by the Hindoos for
polishing the hardest stones, even the diamond, is by rubbing
them by hand upon an iron slab, covered with corundum-
powder and oil, which explains the uneven manner in which
the facets on Indian gems are always cut. The terebrarum
fervor, or the rapidly-revolving drill, was of the greatest
service to the ancient engraver; and this observation of
Pliny's is fully borne out by the appearance of many intagli,
especially of the majority of the figures upon the Etruscan
scarabs, which were evidently produced by means of a blunt
drill and emery-powder exclusively. In these, the whole
design is carried out by the juxtaposition of a number of
hemispherical hollows of various extent, touching and over-
laying each other, by which inartificial method such extra-
ordinary caricatures of man and beast were produced by the
Etruscan artist. And their failure in the art of intaglio-
cutting strikes us the more, and must, with the greater con-
fidence, be ascribed to the imperfect mechanical means at
their command, when we observe that the very rudest
intagli, and those evidently the very first essays of the art,
108 ART, STYLES OF.
appear on the base of scarabs, which are themselves cut out
of the stone with the greatest skill and the most elaborate
finish ; often, also, set in jeweller's work, displaying the
greatest taste and most perfect workmanship ; all circum-
stances pointing out the scarab as the property of a person
able to command the utmost efforts of the artistic skill of his
period.
Some writers quote the Ostracias as being named by Pliny
as employed in gem-engraving, and they still more absurdly
suppose it to have been the bone of the cuttle-fish ; but his
words only imply that it was hard enough to scratch other
gems, a circumstance the more remarkable, as it was only a
species of sea-shell. Lippert, himself a gem-engraver, was
of opinion that the instrument used by the ancients both cut
and polished the stone at the same time, inferring this from
the circumstance of so many rude and apparently unfinished
intagli being as highly polished in the interior, as those
completed in the most minute details, and of the most
elaborate style of workmanship ; but this argument does not
seem to me altogether conclusive. It might have been that
the ancients possessed some mode of polishing the intaglio,
with very little trouble, by a merely mechanical process,
which the lowest class of engravers, who worked entirely for
the populace, were equally able to impart to their work, as
the most skilful artists. In Pliny's time 2 the wheel does not
appear to have been in use, otherwise he would certainly
have mentioned so important an innovation, which, when
once introduced, speedily drove all other means of engraving
out of the lapidary's workshop, in consequence of the extreme
facility and rapidity of its operation. Of the use of this
* Pietramari, an old Roman dealer opinion that the wheel began to be
in gems, of great experience, was of first used under Domitian.
SECT. II. ENGEAVERS' INSTRUMENTS. 109
instrument we see abundant marks in the intagli of the
Lower Empire ; more especially are its effects observable in
the letters occurring upon the gnostic amulets, where we find
the square form of the characters usually employed, on account
of the difficulty of cutting curved lines by an instrument re-
volving in a vertical plane, and consequently working forward
on the surface presented to it, and in a straight direction.
The rude Sassanian intagli (to be hereafter noticed) appear
to have been universally cut by the wheel ; and the artist
must have employed but a single disk for the whole of his
work, to judge from the fact, that all the lines composing his
figures are precisely of the same thickness, and that usually
very coarse. The wheel was probably introduced into Europe
from the East, when the commerce in gems began to attain
such considerable extent as we find it had done even in the
time of Pliny ; and the Persian conquests of Trajan, in the
next century, must have greatly widened the relations
between the two universal empires of Koine and Parthia.
Down to the fall of the Empire, and even later, as we shall
see (Cross of Lotharius), this instrument remained the sole
means of engraving the barbarous productions 'of expiring
taste. In the East, the mechanical processes have always
been kept up in full perfection, from the Mahometan custom
of wearing signets engraved on gems, often the hardest and
the most precious that could be procured. I have seen
Persian legends admirably cut on the finest Sapphire and the
Kuby ; and these long inscriptions formed in beautiful flowing
curves, united in the most intricate cyphers, and adorned
with flowers and stars, required as much taste and skill in
their execution as the classical designs of the European artist.
At the period of the Revival, the instrument, together with
the art of gem-engraving, was again brought into Italy from
the East, probably not before the time of Lorenzo de' Medici,
110 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
under whose patronage flourished Giovanni delle Carniole,
the earliest gem-engraver of whom any trace can be found.
But to make one concluding remark on the antique method,
it is my firm conviction, deduced from the appearance of the
best and truly genuine intagli, that the artist having hollowed
out his design to the requisite depth by means of the drill, and
having completed all the details with the aid of the diamond-
point, afterwards disguised all traces of the instruments em-
ployed, by the high polish which he gave to the interior of
his work ; thereby producing that appearance so characteristic
of true antique intagli, that soft and flowing outline, which
leaves nothing angular or sharply defined, but rather makes
the whole design appear to have been modelled by the most
delicate touch in a soft and yielding material. So true is
this, that one is frequently inclined to view an excellent
antique work with suspicion as a modern paste, until the
reality of the gem is tested by the file, so stronga na ppear-
ance does it bear of having been produced at once by casting
in a fused material, rather than of a design cut out by patient
labour on the hardest and most refractory of substances.
On account of the extreme minuteness of detail observable
in many antique intagli, some writers on this subject have
boldly asserted that the artists who executed them must have
had some means of assisting the eye equivalent to our mag-
nifying-glasses. In confirmation of this theory, a story is
told of certain intagli found at Pompeii in company with a
crystal lens, and they at once jump to the conclusion that
this lens had been employed in the engraving of these parti-
cular gems. But it is most probable that the supposed lens
was nothing more than a crystal or pale amethyst, cut en ca-
bochon, and prepared itself to be engraved on, a form of which
innumerable instances occur among transparent stones both
with intagli upon them and plain. A large pale amethyst
SECT. II. ENGRAVERS' INSTRUMENTS. Ill
in my collection of a very spherical form, and in which the
intaglio, a hippocampus, occupies but a small portion of the
surface, acts, when properly applied, as a magnifying lens of
great power, a quality which one cannot but suppose must in
similar cases have attracted the notice of some of the ancient
possessors of gems of this form. I have also seen an antique
Greek ring set with a crystal or white paste, of a perfect
lenticular*form, which certainly, if found by itself, might very
well have passed for an ordinary magnifying-glass. But Pliny,
who mentions so carefully the various instruments of the
engraver's art, and who possessed much more than a merely
theoretical knowledge of the subject, would never have
omitted this most important auxiliary both to the artist and
the amateur, especially where he actually mentions that " the
engravers, when their sight was fatigued by the excessive strain
required in their work, refreshed their wearied eyes by look-
ing at an emerald." Seneca, indeed, says (Xat. Quaest. i. 6),
that glass globes filled with water make small and obscure
letters seen through them appear quite legible and distinct ;
but he ascribes the magnifying power to the nature of the
water, and gives no hint that this discovery had been applied
to any useful purpose in his day. It has been thought that the
ancient engravers directed the light from a small window, or
from a lamp, so as to pass through one of these globes, and fall
in a concentrated spot upon their work, in the same manner as
is still practised by jewellers when working upon minute objects
by lamp-light ; and as the custom can be traced back for many
centuries, there is a possibility of its having been handed down
by the traditions of the trade from remote antiquity.
Engravers, however, actually execute their work with but
little assistance from the magnifier, the chief use of which is
to ascertain the progress made in the cutting of the design,
and the sinking of the intaglio into the stone, by repeated
112 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
examinations of the impression taken at short intervals in
soft wax. For by the very nature of the operation, in -which
the stone is held, cemented upon a handle, against the edge
of a rapidly-revolving disk smeared with oil and diamond-
dust or emery-powder, the work itself is concealed from the
eye of the artist, who regulates the cutting of the design
more by the feel and by the instinct derived from long prac-
tice, than by his actual observation ; whilst he keeps a check
upon the destructive power of the instrument by the repeated
application of the lens to the stone and to the wax impres-
sion. Again, the dust and oil combined fill up the lines as
the work proceeds, so that the actual view of the cutting
itself is rendered practically impossible. Even in intagli exe-
cuted by the diamond-point alone, the same inconvenience
existed, if we suppose the ancient engravers employed this
tool in the same manner as the Italians in Yettori's time,
" who fixed a diamond splinter in the end of an iron-pencil a
span in length, and rubbed it to and fro over the lines to be
traced on the stone, dropping upon the place occasionally
emery-dust and oil." Such being the case, the whole seeming
difficulty is at once removed, for the impressions of the most
minute intagli, the early Greek, are easily distinguishable in
every detail to an eye practised in the examination of such
objects ; whilst the works of Roman date, from the bolder and
less delicate nature of their finish, offer no difficulty whatever
to the ordinary sight, which is able to catch every particular
of the design without any artificial assistance. As for really
antique Camei, the work in them is so bold, or if we may use
the term, of so unfinished a character, their sole purpose
being to produce effect at a distance, that the artist could
have experienced scarcely more difficulty in working them
out of the Sardonyx with his unassisted eye, than in the exe-
cution of a small bas-relief in any other hard material.
SECT. II.
EGYPTIAN INTAGLI.
113
Sacred Hawk. Garnet.
acred Animals. Green Jasper
EGYPTIAN INTAGLI.
We cannot more appropriately enter upon the considera-
tion of the engravings on the gems themselves, and of the
various styles of art characterising their respective countries
and ages, than by a notice of the Egyptian Scarabei, or as
the Germans call them " Beetle- stones," which are without
dispute the earliest monuments of the glyptic art in exist-
ence. The beetles themselves are cut out of Basalt, Carrie-
lian, Agate, Lapis-lazuli, and other hard stones ; but are quite
as frequently made of a soft limestone 3 resembling chalk, or
of a vitrified clay. Though the figure of the insect is often
very well formed, yet they are not equal to the Etruscan in
this respect ; there is also a difference in shape which dis-
tinguishes the scarabs of each nation from one another. The
back of the wing-cases in the Egyptian beetle is flat, whilst in
the Etruscan there is usually a raised ridge running along
their junction. The harder stones appear to have been filed
3 In fact the largest proportion
will be found to be cut out of
Steatite and a calcareous schist of
different colours, blue, green, dark,
and white. Some are found in co-
loured glass, but these are among
the rarest. Very few of the earliest
scarabs or tablets are formed out 01
the harder kinds of gems : the scarabs
in these are probably almost all of
the time of the Ptolemies, when the
Greek processes of engraving had
been introduced into Egypt.
114 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
into shape by means of a piece of emery, probably the " lima
Thynica" of Maecenas, in his lines
" Nee quos Thynica linia perpolivit
Anellos nee Jaspidas lapillos."
The softer substances were probably fashioned into the
beetles, and then engraved upon their bases with a splinter
of flint. 4 Herodotus speaks of the Ethiopian arrows as being
headed with the stone "by means of which they engrave
their signets," and of the use of an Ethiopian stone to make
the first incision in the corpse preparatory to embalment.
That this stone was flint, is abundantly proved by the arrow-
heads found in Egypt, as well as on the plains of Marathon,
where the warriors spoken of by Herodotus emptied their
quivers.
But these Egyptian intagli are all extremely rude, and
only attempt the representation of hieroglyphics 5 until we
arrive at the epoch of the Ptolemies, which has presented us
with some splendid examples of Greco-Egyptian art, such as
4 Even the scarabs and tablets in loved of Amon Ra;" " Beloved of
porcelain all appear to have been Athor, the Lady of Lower Egypt ;"
cut by hand upon the material in " Sou of the Sun ;" " At peace
its dry state, and then burnt and through Truth," &c. Others bear
covered over by a blue or green figures of deities with invocations ;
vitrified glaze. Many of these small as the Sacred Serpent and " Living
works are probably composed of a Lord of the World ;" a Hawk, " The
stone that woiild stand the fire, and Good God;" "Osiris the Li vino;
admit of being glazed as well as the Lord ;" " The Sun, Disposer of the
clay so often employed. This pecu- Lower Country ;" and others of the
liarity of manufacture supplies a same nature, and which we shall see
means of detecting the false Egyp- reappear in the intagli of lioman-
tian works in glazed clay, now so Egyptian date. Others, again, have
extensively manufactured in Eng- the names of private persons and
land, and exported to Alexandria their offices, as " The Bard of
for the benefit of travellers up the Thoth ;" or qualities of the owner,
Nile. as " Truth ;" or good wishes, " A
5 These legends, when interpreted, happy life ;" " May your name en-
are found to consist of the names of dure and your being be renewed."
the kings, with their titles of " Be-
SECT. II. EGYPTIAN INTAGLI.
115
the famous front face of a monarch, very deeply cut on a
brown Sard, one of the chiefest stars of the Herz Collection,
and which brought at the sale the high price (for these days)
of 401. Ws.
Portrait of a Ptolemy : Giaeco-Egyptian. Dark Sard.
This magnificent intaglio is a portrait of one of the Ptole-
mies, probably the Fifth of that name, for the face is that of
a young person. It is represented in the same manner as
the well-known Bust of Memnon, the received mode of de-
picting then* regal divinities ; but the life-like fidelity of the
Grecian portraits is combined with admirable skill with the
majestic repose distinguishing the conventional type of the
Egyptian godhead. Its expression is absolutely marvellous,
and to the attentive gaze produces the same effect as the
original colossal statue. In the British Museum there is a
large bust, with features much resembling this, of a prince
of the same dynasty, admirably sculptured according to
this established type of the Egyptian School. Another fine
example is the Sacred Hawk of the Berlin Cabinet, a
large intaglio sunk in flat relief, but with uncommon force
and spirit ; and among the British Museum gems is another
on Sard exactly similar, but of smaller dimensions. In
the Webb Catalogue, No. 2, was a Sard, engraved with a
priestess adoring Osiris and Isis, represented as terminal
figures. This intaglio, from its precise correspondence with
the type of some of the autonomous coins of Malta, was
doubtless contemporary with their issue, and therefore be-
i 2
116 ART, STYLES OF. SECT II.
longing to this period. Among the Uzielli gems are two
very interesting Camei of the Egyptian School, but perhaps
to be assigned to the times of Koman domination. One, a
bust of Cleopatra, given in exact accordance with the pre-
scribed type of the Queen, as seen on the oldest monuments,
adorned with a profusion of small curls and many rows of
necklaces, but worked out with extreme delicacy in the black
layer of an Onyx in very flat relief ; the other, a most curious
representation of a fight between a hippopotamus and cro-
codile, executed with great truth to nature on an extremely
small green and white stone.
When the Egyptian religion again revived under Hadrian
some good intagli were executed in the ancient style, amongst
which I have seen a cylinder in Plasma, with two rows of
figures of deities engraved round it in a neat manner ; but
t his brings us down nearly to the date of the Alexandrian
class of Abraxas gems, to be hereafter more fully discussed.
Although we have already remarked that many of the early
scarabei used for signets are formed of a soft calcareous
stone, or of a vitrified clay, yet we find many, especially of
the larger kind, sculptured in Basalt, one of the hardest stones
known. The lines of hieroglyphics, usually covering the flat
surface of the bases of these scarabs, form by the rudeness of
their execution a striking contrast to the perfect finish of the
beetle-figure itself. They usually present a rough irregular
outline, as if scratched into the surface of the stone by the
point of some harder substance, the management of which
was somewhat difficult to the hand of the engraver. The
interior therefore of the figures and the lines are extremely
uneven and ill-defined, very different from the neat finish of
similar works executed under the Greek and Roman rulers
of that country. The same remark applies to the hiero-
glyphics cut on the larger monuments, which from their
SECT. II. EGYPTIAN 1NTAGLI. 117
broken outline appear rather to have been hammered into
the stone than cut out by a sharp instrument. The smaller
engravings, I have little doubt, were scratched in with a piece
of emery ; the execution of the larger as well as the mode in
which such immense masses of the hardest rocks were worked
with such facility, will doubtless ever remain a mystery. For
there is no doubt that the sculptors used only bronze chisels,
which indeed are often discovered among the debris of their
.work ; and that too for cutting granite and basalt, which now
spoil the best steel instruments after a few strokes. Sir CI.
Wilkinson supposes that the workman used emery powder
laid upon the part to be cut, and drove it into the stone with
his soft chisel, by which process the powder itself formed a
continually renewed edge to the tool, capable of subduing
the most impenetrable substances. I do not know whether
this be a mere theory, or if the experiment^ has been actually
tried. It rather seems to me that some means must have
been known of softening the stone to a certain extent, and
this, together with an unbounded supply of forced labour,
affords the only satisfactory solution of the difficulty.
Cicognetti, a Eoman architect, who erected an altar in
Cardinal Tosti's chapel in S. Maria Maggiore, the upper part
of which was decorated with small columns of red Porphyry,
informed me that the only way now known of cutting that
stone is to steep it for several weeks in urine, and that even
then it was worked with the greatest difficulty. It occupied
the French workmen with the best modern tools the space
of six weeks to cut a small groove around the base of
the obelisk of Luxor, before removing it from its pedestal.
And yet, besides these Egyptian relics so profusely covered
with sculptures, huge columns, as well as statues and bas-
reliefs of Porphyry, continued to be made in great profusion
by the Romans quite to the close of the Empire. Magnificent
118
AKT, STYLES OF.
SECT. II.
examples of this still remain in the tombs of the Empress
Helena, and of her grand-daughter Constantia, sculptured
from enormous blocks of that stone, and adorned with busts
and groups in alto-relievo, the mere repolishing and restora-
tion of which, on their removal to the museum of the Vatican,
occupied several workmen for the space of seven years.
Signet of Sabaco II.
GREEK, ETRUSCAN, AND SARDINIAN.
These classes of intagli are treated of here under the same
head, because it is as difficult to distinguish those belonging
to the archaic period of Greek art from the Etruscan, as it is
to decide the long-agitated question, whether the majority of
painted vases are of Greek or Etruscan origin. 6 There is one
remarkable peculiarity in these intagli, that no middle class
of works presents itself between the extremely rude designs
almost entirely executed by the drill, and engravings of the
nicest finish in low relief, almost entirely scratched into the
stone with the diamond point. While the first class offer
caricatures of men and animals, the favourite subjects being
8 Pythagoras is said by Hermippus the Etruscans, and that it had already
to have been the son of Mnesarchus, constituted a distinct profession at
a gem-engraver and an Etruscan this very remote period, nearly six
according to Aristotle. This shows centuries before our era.
the high antiquity of the art among
SECT. II. GREEK, ETRUSCAN, SARDINIAN INTAGLI.
119
figures throwing the discus, fauns with amphora), cows with
sucking calves, or the latter alone ; the second gives us subjects
from the Greek mythology, especially scenes from Homer
and the Tragedians, among which the stories of Philoctetes
and Bellerophon occur with remarkable frequency. The
usual finish to all these designs is a border, in most cases
simply milled like the edge of a coin, but sometimes very
carefully worked in the pattern, called the guilloche? resem-
bling a wide-linked chain, or a loosely-twisted cable. From
this striking contrast between the style of the two classes of
gems, and as no traces are to be discovered of a transition
from one to the other, a thing so observable in the various
gradations of Roman art, it is certainly allowable to con-
jecture that the fine are of Greek, the barbarous of Etruscan
manufacture. Their being found abundantly in the Etrurian
7 This guilloche border is often
found enclosing the types upon the
large flat didrachms of certain cities
of Magna Grecia, as Metapontum
and Sybaris. The figure of the bull-
headed river-god, the Achelous, on
the former coins, and the long-horned
ox regardant, resembling an ante-
lope, upon the latter, are executed
in a flat stiff manner, but highly
finished, and very similar to the
work on many of these geins, with
which there can be no doubt they
were coeval. This confirms my
opinion that the best of these intagli
are not of Etruscan origin, but that
the idea was taken from that people,
and improved upon by the Greek
colonists of the south of Italy. As
the city of Sybaris was utterly de-
stroyed B.C. 510, and never restored,
all the extant coins must have been
issued during the two centuries be-
fore that date ; and hence we can
form a notion as to the actual epoch
of the intagli corresponding with
these in style and workmanship.
120 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
soil is no proof of their native origin, for in the flourishing
times of the Etruscans before the ruin of their power by the
Gallic invasion, they carried on an extensive commerce with
the Grecian states. 8 And it is a circumstance somewhat at
variance with our notions of Greek pre-eminence in art in
every age, that Etruria supplied even the Athenians with
every kind of ornamental article in bronze, as vases, lamps,
&c., which is proved by the lines of Critias, (Atheuseus,
i. 50) :
TvpcnjVT) 8e Kparei xpvcroTVTros
KOI iras x a ^- KOS OTIS Kocr/xei 8opLov ev TIVI
" Etruria bears the palm for gold-wrought bowls,
And all the bronze that decorates our dwellings."
It was not until after the age of Alexander that the Greek
works in bronze became celebrated. All the masterpieces
of the early Athenian sculptors were executed in marble,
wood, or ivoiy. The Etruscans were naturally led to per-
fection in this manufacture, like the Florentines of the
Cinque-Cento period, from the inexhaustible supply of the
metal which they derived from Monte-Catino, near Leghorn,
still a source of great wealth to the company working the
mine.
But to return to our gems. Those assigned above to the
Greeks are usually the light amber-coloured Sards, which
seem always to have been a favourite with that people. Many
of these gems have evidently been sawn off from scarabs,
even in ancient times, for the purpose of being set in rings,
when the wearing of the beetle-stones, had gone out of
fashion as soon as the religious motive became obsolete
which had made this figure so popular with the Egyptians
8 At the moment of the accession a fleet of Tuscan pirates was plun-
of Alexander the Great to the throne, dering the sea-coast of Macedonia.
SECT. II. GREEK, ETRUSCAN, SARDINIAN INTAGLT. 121
and their disciples, the Etruscans. For to all appearance
they had derived from Egypt their entire religions system, as
is shown by the existence of a sacerdotal caste, the institution
of mysteries, and the extraordinary care lavished upon the
construction and decoration of their sepulchres.
I have seen scarabs in all possible materials from emerald
to amber, and glass pastes (the latter the rarest of all) ; but
by far the greatest number are formed of the common red
Carnelian, supplied by the beds of their torrents, and they
are usually very much of the same size. Few will be found
to exceed an inch in length, and in this particular they
contrast strongly with the Egyptian, which vary from the
colossal beetle of some feet across the back, to the tiny pen-
dant no larger than a fly.
This is the proper place briefly to notice the manner in
which they were worn as ornaments by their ancient owners.
The earliest method was that of simply stringing them, in-
termixed with other beads, and thus wearing them as a neck-
lace, the engraved base of the scarab serving at the same
time the purpose of a signet. Sometimes, however, they
seem to have been introduced into these necklaces merely as
ornaments, as in the famous one found in Tuscany in 1852,
and which merits a particular description. It is composed of
a chain woven of the finest gold wire, inch in diameter,
and 11 inches long; each end terminating in bands of scroll-
work with loops attached. From this chain descend 32
others, 1 J inch long, of a curb-pattern, the alternate links to
the left and to the right forming a diamond-pattern. Be-
tween these chains, and attached to the broad chain, are 16
full-faced bearded heads of Bacchus. In the centre of each
diamond formed by the smaller chains, are alternately 6 full-
faced harpies in a seated posture, and 7 diota-shaped orna-
ments ; between these comes another row of escallopcd forms,
122 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
14 in number. At the point of each alternate diamond
formed by the small chains are suspended scarabei of onyx
and amber mounted in a border of fine wire-work ; the other
points having full-faced harpies, the wings curving gracefully
above the shoulders.
This unique specimen of ancient jewellery was sold for
160/., by Sotheby and Wilkinson in 1856. At the same sale,
the finest Etruscan ring known, once belonging to the Prince
di Canino, and engraved in Micali's ' Atlas of Plates,' was
also disposed of for the small sum of 271. Subjoined is the
accurate description of it given in the catalogue. "It is
formed on each side of a lion, their heads facing, and the
front paws of each supporting a border of fine grain-work, in
which is set a scarabeus of Sardonyx, engraved with a lion,
his head turned back to the left." But the usual mode of
mounting the scarab, as a finger-ring, was the swivel, a wire,
as a pivot, passing through the longitudinal perforation of the
stone (the edge of which was generally protected by a gold
rim), and then brought through holes in each end of a bar of
gold ; or else of a broad flat band of plaited wire, and bent
into a loop of sufficient size to admit the finger, which was
usually the fore-finger of the left hand. For the sake of
security, the ends of the loop were formed into small disks,
touching each extremity of the scarabeus. This loop, or
ring-shank, as it may be considered, was treated in a great
variety of fashions, and sometimes was made extremely
ornamental. One that I have seen terminated in ram's
heads, the pivot entering the mouth of each ; in another, the
shank was formed as a serpent, the head of which was one of
the supporting points, and the tail, tied into a knot, the
other. Occasionally, the form of the shank was varied by
bending the bar upon itself, so as to form a bow in tho middle
of its length ; the ends were then beaten to a point, which,
SECT. II. GREEK, ETRUSCAN, SARDINIAN INTAGLT. 123
being twisted inwards, passed into the opposite holes of the
stone, and thus formed a handle to the signet. This last
manner of mounting the scarabeus was often used by the
Egyptians, the shank being made of every kind of metal : it
was also the common setting of the Phoenician stones of this
form. These last are found abundantly in Sardinia. An ex-
tensive collection of them, from the cemeteries of Tharros, a
Phoenician colony, was brought to London, by the Com-
mandante Barbetti, in 1857, and afterwards sold at Christie
and Manson's. These differed from the other classes of
beetle-stones, both in the material the greatest part of them
being made of a dark-green Jasper, instead of Carnelian and
also in the style of the intagli engraved upon them ; which
closely resembled, in their treatment, the engravings on the
best executed Persian cylinders, and were, in many cases,
very neatly finished, certainly superior to the majority of the
Etruscan class. The cutting of the figures was deep and
carefully finished, although rather stiff, which latter character
seems to be inseparable from all the productions of Oriental
art ; but some of the animals engraved upon them, especially
the antelopes, displayed an extraordinary degree of spirit and
freedom of execution.
Beetles, in coloured marble, and of considerable bulk, may
be assigned (as their Eoman style points out) to the revival
of the Egyptian religion in the days of Hadrian. Early
scarabs of that nation also occur with Gnostic devices en-
graved upon their bases, but the disparity of work in the
beetles, and in the intagli upon them, proves the latter to
have been an addition of the times of incipient barbarism.
We may conclude this subject, by noticing a very rare
peculiarity of some early Etruscan scarabei, where the back
of the beetle is formed into a full front mask, apparently of
the same date as the rest of the composition. Of this un-
124
ART, STYLES OF.
SKCT. IT.
accountable variation only two instances have come to my
knowledge. 9
Scarab with Mask.
A curious kind of natural signet was used by the Athe-
nians of the time of Aristophanes, the invention of which he
jocosely ascribes to the subtle genius of the misogynist Euri-
pides. As it was found that the wives were able to get them-
selves a fac-simile of their husband's signet for half a drachma,
and thus to open, without fear of detection, all the stores
sealed up by their lords, Euripides had taught the latter to
seal the wax or clay securing the doors with bits of worm-
eaten wood, Opnrrj&eo-Ta <npayi8ia, (Thesmoph. 425). The
curious windings and intricate curves traced on the surface of
the wood by the " fairies' coach-maker," were quite beyond all
9 1 have lately seen two additional
and very extraordinary examples of
this ornament to the scarabeus. The
first was a large one in black and
white Agate, the beetle itself formed
with astonishing truth to nature,
and the cameo-mask cut out of the
white stratum of the stone upon the
lower part of the wing-cases of the
insect. I extract the description of
it from the M.-S. catalogue : " No.
171. Scarabens. Jupiter, nude, dart-
ing the thunderbolt with the left
hand ; in the field a bust of Ehea
with a crown of towers. The back
of the scarab has been cut in relief,
and forms a bare head, of which the
chin and beard consist of the lower
body and of the wings of an insect.
The figure of Jupiter has a foreign
character, somewhat in the Phoe-
nician style. Onyx." The second,
and I believe an unique example, is
an Egyptian scarab of vitrified clay,
the base filled with well-formed
hieroglyphics, and the back adorned
with a large full-faced mask. It is
very possible that these cameo-heads
are the additions to the original
stone, of a later but still antique
period.
SECT. II. ASSYRIAN AND PERSIAN CYLINDERS. 125
imitation, and thus supplied a signet that could not be counter-
feited. Caylus gives an intaglio, the design a mere pattern
of wavy lines curiously entwined, which he takes, and pro-
bably -with reason, for an imitation of one of these natural
seals.
ASSYRIAN AND PERSIAN CYLINDERS.
These are composed of different species of hard stone,
Jasper, and Calcedony for the greatest part, but also of
Carnelian, Agate, Loadstone, and Lapis-lazuli. They are
of a cylindrical form, 10 usually from one to two inches
in length, and half as much in thickness, with a large
hole passing through their length, for a string, and in
this manner were worn tied round the wrist as a bracelet.
This custom accounts for their hardly ever being found,
with metal mountings, among Assyrian remains ; the few
that do occur, set in massy gold swivel-rmgs, prove, by the
hieroglyphical engravings they bear, that they were used by
Egyptians during the time that country was subject to the
Persian rule. The subjects they usually present are sacrifices
or combats between a man arid a monstrous beast, probably
typifying the contest of the Good and Evil Principles, the
fundamental doctrine of the Persian religion. The following
are types of frequent occurrence upon these cylinders. 1 Two
figures, half-bull half-man, fighting with two lions : between
each group are cuneiform inscriptions, arranged in vertical
lines. Four human figures : beneath the second of them is
a plant, between the third and fourth an animal, under
which are placed three balls. A figure, in a long robe, hold-
ing at arm's length, by their horns, two antelopes. 2 Four
10 Some are barrel-shaped, others Collection.
have the sides slightly concave. 2 This is a very common type on
1 All in the Mertens-Scbaafhausen both seals and cylinders.
FIRST PERIOD : ASSYRIAN CYLINDERS.
No. 6 inscribed with Pbenician characters.
3. Triumph of king.
SECT. II. ASSYRIAN AND PERSIAN CYLINDERS. 127
figures: one with bull's feet and tail (the prototype of
the modern devil), is fighting with a man; the third, with
hands raised, appears praying to the fourth, who stands
motionless. Two men, one of whom has his hands raised :
between the two is a tree ; the other figure holds a sceptre ;
on the other side are three vertical lines of cuneiform letters.
Two tall figures : a shorter one and two lines of cuneiform
letters between them. Two figures standing erect, a plant
and a staff between them : two lines of characters, mixed
with animals, on the other side. Hieroglyphics entirely
surrounding the cylinder, which is probably of Egypto-
Persian date.
Layard divides cylinders into four classes the Early and
Lower Assyrian, the purely Babylonian, and the Persian.
The Early Assyrian are usually of Serpentine, rudely en-
graved, and agreeing, in their subjects and style, with the
most ancient bas-reliefs of Nimroud, such v as the king in his
chariot, discharging his arrows at the lion or wild bull ; war-
riors in battle ; the king or priest adoring the emblem of the
deity ; the eagle-headed god ; winged bulls and lions ; all
accompanied by the common Assyrian symbols, the sun,
moon, seven stars, the sacred tree, winged globe, and the
wedge. Next in date are the Lower Assyrian, of the time of
Sargon (Shalmaneser) and his successors. These are found
in Agate, Jasper, Quartz, and Syenite, and other hard stones. 3
3 This proves that the discovery upon metal, like those Royal Seals
of the process of cutting intagli upon still preserved in gold. This is con-
the harder gems, known technically firmed by the impression of the sig-
as "Hard Stones," is due to the As- net of Sabaco II., stamped on the
Syrian engravers of the early times same clay seal as that of Senna-
of Nineveh, for the contemporary cherib ; the former being evidently
Egyptian signets are, perhaps with- produced from an engraving cut
out exception, merely cut upon such on metal, the latter from a gem-
soft materials as Steaschists, or else intaglio.
SECOND PERIOD : PTRK BABYLONIAN.
2. Hercules.
3. Dagor
4. Mithras, Athor, Bel.
SECT. II. ASSYRIAN AND PERSIAN CYLINDERS. 129
That ascribed to Sennacherib is of Amazon-stone ; the intaglio
being of the finest and most minute execution. The usual
subjects of this class are the various gods and their wor-
shippers ; thus, one (5) presents the figure of Astarte, backed
by ten stars, the crescent over her head and a seated dog in
front ; the worshipper is a female, behind whom is a tree
and an antelope rampant.
The purely Babylonian are more common in European
collections than the two former classes. For these Hema-
tite, or rather Loadstone, is the favourite material, but Agates
and Jaspers also occur. They bear the sacred figures, but
are distinguished by legends in the Babylonian cuneiform
character, containing the name of the owner and his patron
god. Many of these exhibit excellent workmanship : one (2)
in green Jasper the Assyrian Hercules wrestling with a
buffalo, and a horned human figure, having bull's legs, with
a lion is remarkable for the depth of the intaglio and the
spirit of the design.
The latest of all, the Persian, are found in all the varieties
of hard stones, Onyx, Calcedony, Crystal, Carnelian, &c.
They often bear legends in the Achsemenian cuneiform : thus
the signet of Darius, of green Calcedony, now in the British
Museum, represents him in his car, accompanied by his name
and patronymic. Another is engraved with the name of a
certain Arsaces, the chamberlain. The Persian work is easily
recognised by the draperies of the figures gathered up into
narrow folds, as in the sculptures of the Acha3menian dynasty,
a peculiarity never found on pure Assyrian or Babylonian
monuments. Another mark of distinction is the crown worn
by the royal personage, the figure of Ormuzd, now first intro-
duced, and the fantastic monsters, agreeing in design with
those of Persepolis. A cylinder of Crystal belonging to this
period, representing Ormuzd raised aloft by two human-
it
130 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. IT.
headed winged bulls above an oval containing the royal por-
trait, is a work of extraordinary delicacy and minuteness.
Cylinders went out of use on the Macedonian conquest,
and do not reappear under either the Arsacid* or the Sassa-
nians. A few, Assyrian in character, are inscribed with
Semitic letters resembling the Phenician. They belong to
various periods, from the time of the lower Assyrian dynasty
to the Persian occupation of Babylonia. To the first Layard
assigns one (6) with two human-headed bulls raising the
emblem of the deity above the sacred tree, flanked by a
priest bearing a goat and by the worshipper, behind whom is
the legend, placed vertically. Of Persian date is another (3),
the king contending with a bull and griffin ; above him soars
Ormuzd. The legend, in four lines, reads, " the seal of "
a name and patronymic undeciphered.
These cylinders are found in great abundance among the
ruins of all ancient Assyrian cities, verifying the assertion of
Herodotus, that every man of that nation carried a signet of
his own. As for their style of work, it is generally very rude,
the figures seeming to have been ground out of the solid
surface by rubbing and filing with a piece of emery ; they are
also often much worn and defaced by use, so as to be almost
unintelligible. Very few indeed display any finish of execu-
tion ; and such, especially the beautiful one in Sapphirine
(before mentioned under " Calcedony "), I am disposed to
assign to the skill of some Greek engraver in the service of
the later kings of Persia. Their court was an asylum for all
adventurers of the Hellenic race, just as that of the Great
Mogul was in the 17th century for Italian jewellers and
architects, and as that of the Sultan is for Frank pretenders
at the present day.
The impression of these signets, when required for use,
was taken by rolling them over a lump of tempered clay, laid
SECT. II. ASSYRIAN AND PERSIAN CYLINDERS.
131
THIRD PERIOD: PERSIAN.
No. 3 with a legend in Phenician character?
upon the object to be secured by the seal ; and this is the
source of the comparison in Job, where "the heavens are
turned as clay to the seal," by which he poetically likens the
concave vault, studded with the constellations, represented to
his mind by numerous fanciful figures, to the surface of the
clay spread out in a hollow plain adorned with the mytho-
logical devices impressed upon it by the revolution of the
cylinder. Some stones of this form we have already noticed
as evidently dating from Roman times, like that in Plasma
previously described, but they are very uncommon, and
merely due to the superstitious revival of an ancient usage.
Whenever signets are mentioned in the Old Testament, it
is always as being borne on the hand, and never on the finger.
Thus, in Gen. xxxviii. 18, Tamar demands the seal and the
K 2
132 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
twisted cord (Chotam and Phetil), usually rendered "ring,"
"signet," or "bracelet." Again, Pharaoh takes the signet
off his own hand and puts it upon that of Joseph. " The
signet upon my right hand " (Jer. xxii. 24) ; and " Zorobabel,
even he was as a signet on the right hand" (Eccus. xlix. 11),
with many other similar allusions, all go to prove the same
thing. Thus (2 Kings i. 10) the young Amalekite brings to
David, as the ensigns of royalty, the diadem and the bracelet
taken from the corpse of Saul, apparently because the latter
contained the royal signet, the only mode of authenticating
the edicts of the sovereign. In the list of the articles con-
tained in the treasury of the Acropolis, engraved on marble
about the tune of the Peloponnesian War, and published in
Chandler (Part II., No. iv., 2), are enumerated " two glass
signets of various colours, set in gold, and having gold chains
to them." Pliny also expressly asserts (xxxiii. 4) that " the
use of finger-rings was of no very great antiquity ; " although
we find signets mentioned in the most ancient of all historical
records. On a painted vase, figured by Visconti (Opere
Varie, ii. 1), Jupiter appears seated in the heavens, holding
his eagle-topped sceptre, and wearing on his wrist a large
oval gem, apparently intended for a scarabeus, threaded
upon a very fine line ; a manner of wearing a stone of
so convex a form much more convenient than the later
fashion of setting it in a swivel-ring, and where, by having
the engraved face next to the skin of the arm, it was much
less exposed to injury than when borne upon the finger.
The very large relative diameter of the perforation through
the axis of the Babylonian cylinders, proves conclusively
that they were intended for the reception of a thick cord,
such as might be fastened round the arm without incon-
venience, and which, if dyed of a bright colour, might also
serve as an ornamental bracelet. Thus we find that the
SHOT. II. ASSYRIAN AND PERSIAN CYLINDERS. 133
Amethyst lynx of the sorceress Nico (which I strongly sus-
pect was an Oriental cylinder), is strung upon a fleece of
purple lamb's wool, when dedicated to Venus. That the
Babylonian cylinders were rarely mounted in metal is evident
from the extreme rarity of any that retain traces of such
mounting amongst the hundreds continually brought to this
country. I have noticed the almost unique instances that
have come under my notice, as being mounted in gold-swivels
in the Egyptian manner ; and one of Herz's still retained the
bronze pin or axis rusted away into the perforation. Had the
custom of having them thus mounted been prevalent in As-
syria, they would be discovered retaining their swivels, at
least those made of the baser metals, quite as frequently as
the Egyptian scarabei. Again, all such gems, either Egyp-
tian or Etruscan, originally intended to revolve on a metal
wire, are bored with a very fine hole ; whereas the cylinders,
even when of the smallest size and less than one inch in
length, have so large a perforation as to reduce them almost
to the form of the section of a tube ; so that, unless the
substance passed through this cavity were of a soft and
yielding nature, they would have been extremely liable to
split when used. The later Persian conical seals were
probably worn in the same manner. Their flat and broad
bases were adapted to sit firmly upon the wrist, and the
convex part would form an ornament after the manner of
the embossed disk, invariably appearing as the centre of the
bracelets worn by the ancient Assyrian kings. The later
Persians adopted the shape of the signet-stones of their
Macedonian rulers ; but even here retained their preference
for the conical form, for these Sassanian ring-stones are
almost invariably cut en cabochon, and with a degree of
convexity rarely met with in those of European origin.
134 ART, STYLES OF. RKCT. IF.
HIGH PEIEST'S BEEAST-PLATE.
Here some notice may be taken of the breast-plate, or
Rationale, worn by the Jewish High Priest ; the earliest in-
stance on record of the art of the gem-engraver. The first idea
of it was doubtless taken from the vitrified tablets worn on
their breasts by the Egyptian priests when engaged in their
sacred functions, and which represent a deity in a shrine,
surrounded by various emblems. We are also told by ^Elian
(xiv. 34), that the chief-priest of the Egyptians, who was also
the supreme judge, wore round his neck an image of truth,
made of Lapis-lazuli (Sapphirus) ; and it is a curious coin-
cidence, that the above-named tablets are formed of a vitrified
composition of a bright blue colour.
The ancient tradition of the Greeks, as to the origin of the
Jewish nation, recorded by Diodorus Siculus, is, that they
were a colony despatched from Egypt into Syria, at the same
time that Danaus set out for Greece ; and the striking
analogy of their customs and laws with those of Egypt, as
given by this author, strongly supports this tradition. The
Jews themselves appear, from their own chronicles, always to
have retained a strong attachment to the parent state. In
all their political distresses, when menaced by their Syrian
neighbours, the idea of a return to Egypt continually sug-
gests itself to their minds, although strongly opposed by the
sacerdotal caste. The famous letter of Areius, king of the
Lacedaemonians, to the High Priest Onias (Josephus, xii. 5),
in which he speaks of the common descent of both nations
from Abraham ! though probably a Jewish forgery, yet
sufficiently proves the general belief, at that early period, of
the original unity of the races, as colonists from the same
mother country. Diodorus (i. 24) speaks of the Egyptian
Hercules travelling all over the world, before erecting the
SECT. II. HIGH PRIEST'S BREAST-PLATE. 135
celebrated Pillars. Again, the Grecian Hercules, the pro-
genitor of the Spartan royal house, was a native of Argos,
the first Egyptian colony planted in Europe. From the same
tradition of their common origin, the Spartans style the
Jews " their brethren," in their letter of congratulation to
Simon Maccabaeus. Intimate relations seem to have been
kept up, until a late period, between Jerusalem and Sparta ;
it was a noble Spartan, Eurycles, who became the minister
of Herod the Great, and by his pernicious counsels brought
about the ruin of his family.
The gems set in the breast-plate were engraved with the
names of the tribes, probably in hieroglyphics, and arranged
thus, if we follow the Vulgate (which also coincides with
Josephus), an authority to be respected in this point, the
version having been made at a time the 5th century when
the knowledge of precious stones, and of their ancient names,
still flourished.
1st Row. Sardius, red. Topazion, yellowish green. ISmaragdus,
bright green.
2nd Row. Carbunculus, dark red. Sapphirus, dark blue. Jaspis,
dark green.
'3rd Row. Ligurius, or Lyncurium, orange. Achates (perhaps),
black and white. Amethyst, purple.
4th Raw. Chrysolithus, bright yellow. Onyx, blue and black.
Beryl, light green.
Our version gives the same stones in different order, but
substitutes a Diamond for the Chrysolite, a most absurd
exchange, as it would baffle all engravers, both of ancient and
modern times, to cut an inscription upon this invincible gem ;
add to which, one of a size to match the rest of the stones in
the breast-plate, would have been equal in magnitude to the
Koh-i-Noor. Josephus says, that the stones were conspicuous
for their largeness and beauty, and of incomparable value. The
136 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
names of the tribes were engraved in the " national character,"
but the breast-plate seen by him must have been only a copy
by tradition of the first one made by order of Moses. Being
a square of a span, i. e., of 8 inches each side, and having the
gems arranged in four rows of three each, it follows that each
gem, with its setting, occupied a space of 2 inches long by
2 deep ; and that, therefore, they were cut in the form of
long ovals, or rather ellipses, like the cartouches containing
the proper names in hieroglyphic inscriptions. It will sound
incredible to the ear of the uninitiated, but every one con-
versant with the nature of gems will admit, that these most
venerable productions of the glyptic art must still be in
existence. No lapse of time produces any sensible effect
upon these monuments, as is testified by the numerous seals,
even in a softer material, vitrified clay, bearing the name of
Thothmes III., the contemporary of Moses himself. Their
intrinsic value also, as the finest gems that could be procured
by the zeal of a race trafficking all over the world, must
have rendered them objects of care to all the conquerors
into whose hands they fell ; and though removed from their
original arrangement, and re-set in various ornaments, they
must always have ranked amongst the most precious state-
jewels of the captor of the Holy City. This doubtless was
the cause that the breast-plate belonging to the first Temple
is not mentioned in the list of the sacred articles sent back by
Cyrus to Jerusalem ; the rest of the consecrated vessels and
ornaments appear to have been easily identified as having been
deposited, as trophies, at the tune of their capture, in the
various temples of Babylon. The breast-plate in use after
the Captivity, when worn by the High Priest, shot forth,
according to Josephus, brilliant rays of fire, that manifested
the immediate presence of the Deity. He, however,
prudently adds, that this miraculous property had become
SECT. If.
SASSANIAM SEALS.
137
extinct, in consequence of the impiety of the nation, 200
years before the time at which he was writing.
This invaluable trophy was carried to Borne, together with
the other spoils of the Temple. Of the subsequent fate of
these treasures there are two opposite accounts; one, that
they were conveyed by Genseric, after his sack of Rome, to
Carthage, but that the ship containing them was lost on the
voyage ; the other, and the more probable one, that they had
been transferred, long before that time, to Constantinople,
and had been deposited by Justinian in the sacristy of Santa
Sophia. Hence there is a chance of the gems at least
emerging from oblivion, at no distant day, when the dark
recesses of the Sultan's treasury shall be rummaged by the
Russian heir of the " sick man," whilst he
" Jam circmn loculos et claves Isettts ovansque
Currit."
v
" Joyous the long-expected wealth to seize,
Bustles about the money-chests and keys."
What a day of rejoicing, both to archaeologists and to the reli-
gious world, will the identification of one of these sacred monu-
ments occasion ; a contingency by no means to be thought chi-
merical in an age which has witnessed the resuscitation of Sen-
nacherib's signet, of his drinking cup, and of his wife's portrait.
Assyrian Seal.
net of Sennacherib : Amazon-stone.
SASSANIAN SEALS.
The consideration of the Babylonian cylinders naturally
introduces the subject of the Sassanian seals, or stamps, still
138 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. 11.
found in large numbers about Bassora and Bagdad, which
gradually superseded that most ancient form of the
Oriental signet. They are termed Sassanian, from the cir-
cumstance of their having come into general use under the
revived dynasty of the ancient Acheemenian race, commencing
with Ardeschir in the 3rd, and closing with Yezdigerd III.
in the 7th century of our era sovereigns styled Sassanidae,
from Saasaan, the Eoman mode of spelling Shaahshaan,
"King of Kings," the title in all times assumed by the
Persian monarchs, and not, as is absurdly repeated, a family
name derived from an imaginary ancestor Sasan.
These seals are conical blocks of the same kinds of stone
as those the cylinders are made of, Calcedony and Agate being
by far the most usual material, having a hole drilled through
the apex for the purpose of suspension round the neck or
wrist. Sometimes they are of a spherical shape, often with
flattened sides, and perforated through the diameter ; with
about a third of the circumference ground down so as to pre-
sent a flattened tablet for the reception of the intaglio. It
will be noticed, on examination of a collection of these stamps,
that the earliest among them, on which the designs are often
cut in a very neat but very stiff and archaic style, are generally
in the form of cones with angular sides. These are assigned
to the date of the Assyrian and first Persian monarchy, before
the conquest of Alexander. A fanciful antiquary may be
inclined to suggest that the form of the cone was adopted as
being the universally received symbol of the solar ray. Thus
we find the conical stone of Emesa, of which Heliogabalus was
the priest, occurring on the coins of that emperor, with the
legend " Sacerdos dei Solis Elagabalus ; " and the Egyptian
obelisk has always been interpreted as a representation of
the rays of that luminary. The spherical stamps, on the
contrary, are exclusively of Sassanian date, and many of
SECT. II. SASSANIAN SEALS. 139
them doubtless belong to the centuries immediately preceding
the Mohammedan conquest of Persia. The most interesting
of the early conical seals that I have ever seen bears a figure
of Mercury, identified by his caduceus and talaria, but closely
draped, and wearing a Phiygian bonnet, a singular Oriental
rendering of the representation of a Hellenic deity. The
stone is a very fine Sapphirine Calcedony, and the form of the
cone itself octangular. But the great majority of the intagli
seen upon the tablets or bases of these cones and spheres are
of an utterly rude character, and evidently cut by means of a
very coarse wheel, all the lines being thick, and the design
entirely executed by their repetition, assisted occasionally by
a blunt- pointed drill. No traces are visible of the use of the
diamond-point, or of that high polish which is so marked a
peculiarity of the Greek and Roman intaglio. I subjoin a
list of the most usual types occurring upon them, first pre-
mising that the whole-length figures or busts of royal
personages form a large proportion of the designs to be seen
upon the bases of these stamps. A priest praying before an
altar ; a priest sacrificing at a fire-altar ; a winged figure
walking, and holding a plant in his hand ; a Avinged qua-
druped, with human head, a plant in front, a star above ;
a bird, with human head and scorpion's tail ; a lion, with
scorpion's nippers and a serpent's tail, behind him a tree,
above, Capricorn and a star ; a gazelle, surrounded by a
legend ; bust of a horned animal supported on two large
wings ; a priest in front of an altar, behind him an inscrip-
tion on one side of the cone are engraved two figures, one
of them with a bull's head, engaged in combat. The fantastic
animals which will be found represented on more than half
the number of these seals, are executed, for the most part, in
a truly Chinese style of drawing. And there is a most
wonderful similarity between the mode of the design of some
140
A11T, STYLES OF.
SECT. II.
of these delineations of various beasts, and those of the same
subjects upon the Gallic and British coins. For instance, a
Carnelian stamp, engraved with a horse, a wild boar in the
field beneath (in the collection of Mr. Litchfield of Cam-
bridge), from its exact identity with the well-known potin
coins of the Channel Islands, caused me for a long time to
natter myself with having made the discovery of a unique
intaglio, the work of a Gallic gem-engraver as yet unin-
fluenced by Roman instruction in his art.
Persian Seal with Pbeuician legend. Calcedony.
We however frequently meet with Sassauian gems, cut
in the form of ring-stones, and these sometimes of very good
workmanship. They appear to be, invariably, portraits of
the reigning prince, or of members of his family, and occur
in considerable numbers ; often on the Garnet, and of very
fair execution, especially if we consider the lateness of their
date, yet still, in most instances, do they betray traces of the
heavy and coarse hand of the workman, which so strongly
mark this class of intagli. Although gems of the Sassanian
dynasty are plentiful enough, yet works that can be certainly
ascribed to the times of the Arsacidse, their immediate pre-
decessors, are extremely rare ; still more so are such as
belong to the first race of Persian kings, who ruled over all
Asia prior to the Macedonian conquest: and the small
number of examples of these liighly interesting classes that
SECT. II. SASSAXIAX SEALS. 141
have come under my own notice shall be described farther
on. A few indeed among the indisputable Sassanian por-
traits are of such good and careful execution, that, in spite of
the Pehlevi legends they bear, and which authenticate their
date, we have some difficulty in regarding them as the pro-
ductions of that late epoch, the 3rd century, when that race
regained the throne of Persia ; so great is their superiority
to any works executed by contemporary gem-engravers of
the Roman school. But it is true, that with the restoration
of the ancient religion and dynasty under Ardeschir the
Blacksmith, A.D. 226, all the arts appear to have simultane-
ously revived in Persia ; the coinage of this patriot prince
and that of his next successors, being vastly superior in all
respects, as regards both design and execution, to that of the
last Parthian sovereigns.
These ring-stones are usually gems with a very convex
surface, probably the reason of the so frequent choice of the
carbuncle for this purpose. Even when Sards and Nicoli
have been employed, they are generally cut into a pointed
shape, with a small flat surface left to receive the intaglio
and the inscription. These legends are always in the Pehlevi
character, which only appears after the restoration of the
ancient Persian monarchy at the period just mentioned ; the
ArsacidaB or Parthian kings having invariably employed, on
their monuments, the Greek language, and probably Greek
artists, as is shown by the legends and style of their medals ;
probably from a wish to be regarded as the legitimate suc-
cessors of the Macedonian line. The early Pehlevi is nearly
identical with the rabbinical Hebrew character, of which it
was, to all appearance, the parent ; but upon the coins of the
later kings it assumes the form of the Pehlevi used in the
religious writings of the modern Parsees. Some of the
legends on this class of coins, like one set of the trilingual
142
ART, STYLES OF.
SECT. II.
inscriptions on the rock-sculptures at Nakschi-Roustam, are
written in the Persepolitan alphabet ; but all the gems that
I have examined present the same shaped letters as those
used upon the medals of the commencement of the series ;
and particularly agreeing in form with the characters of the
inscriptions at Kirmanshah in commemoration of Sapor I.
and Bahran, given by De Sacy in his 'Antiquit?s de la
Perse.' This eminent Orientalist, who was the first to de-
cipher this previously inexplicable alphabet, confesses that,
as regards our gems, though the letters on them bear a strik-
ing analogy with those of the medals and of the inscriptions,
he had been able to make out but one of them, which lie
attributes to the language in which they are couched being
the Pehlevi dialect, and not the Zend. This single one he
reads : " Artaschetran-Rami-Minochetri-Rami," " Son of Arta-
xerxes, of the divine race." The medals of Sapor, for in-
stance, read thus : " Mazdiesn beh Shapouhr malcan malca
Iran Minochetri." "The servant of Ormuzd, the excellent
Sapor, king of kings of Iran, of the divine race." And this
style will serve as a guide in the attempt to elucidate the
titles figuring around the gem-portraits.
Pirouzi Shabpouhrl (Sapor II.). Varanes. Nicolo, perforated.
Sardonyx.
The numerous variations in the forms of the same letter
appear to arise merely from the carelessness of the die-sinker
in not expressing their angular parts, but turning them off
SECT.;!!. SASSANIAN SEALS. 143
into a curve in order to save trouble, exactly as one would
do for expedition's sake in writing them with a pen. Simi-
larly, in the gems, some of the inscriptions are cut in the
neatest and clearest character that could be produced by the
tool, and such will usually be found on the Garnets and
other precious stones, in which a superior artist of the times
has displayed his skill, whilst, on the coarse Calcedony seals,
the signets of the lower sort, the same letters offer a series of
seemingly arbitrary curves, with hardly any distinction of
shape between them. It seems, however, to me, that, on a
careful comparison of the inscriptions, even of those most
carefully finished, a marked difference will be observed be-
tween them, whether due, as in those of Nakschi-Roustam,
to their being expressed in two different dialects, or from
the introduction of combined letters or " nexus " into some,
and not into others. 4 I shall now particularise the most
important gems of this interesting class that I myself have
had an opportunity of examining; and the inscriptions on
which I have, in some instances, been able to decipher in a
satisfactory manner. The list must be headed by the magni-
ficent Amethyst, one of the chief treasures of the Devonshire
Collection ; a profile portrait wearing the tiara, a work of
extraordinary boldness, though of little finish; the head of
Sapor I., surrounded by an inscription, in two lines, of large
and well-formed Pehlevi letters. This stone now forms the
centre ornament of the comb, in the parure of antique gems,
lately combined and set with such exquisite taste by Mr.
Hancock, the Duke's jeweller. A Nicolo, now in the Fould
4 This series closes with the rude stoiie. I have a Nicolo of this class,
intagli, of extreme rarity, with a engraved with two figures joining
design similar to some of those hands, two stars between them ;
above enumerated in the field, and and the British Museum Collection
an ill-cut Cuphic legend running has a curious Calcedony, hereafter
around the sloping sides of the noticed.
144 AKT, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
Collection, engraved with the bust of a queen, executed in the
manner of the best Roman portraits, and surrounded by a
legend in very delicately-formed and minute letters. Amongst
the Mertens-Schaafhausen Persian stones, No. 52 is a well-
executed bust of Sapor II. on Sard, with the legend " Pirouzi
. . . Shapouhri," " the Victorious Sapor." But a still more
interesting portrait of the same king, though of inferior
workmanship, is that on a Carbuncle in my own collection,
where his bust is supported on four wings, the usual Oriental
symbol of divinity, and between the sun and moon ; at once
recalling to our recollection the arrogant style assumed by
this same prince in his Epistle to Constantius, given by
Ammian (xvii. 5), "Kex regum Sapor, particeps siderum,
frater Solis et Lunae, Constantio Caesari, fratri meo, salutem
plurimam dico." The inscription, very neatly cut, reads
distinctly " Pirouz Shahpouhri ; " an interesting corrobora-
tion of a circumstance noted by Ammian in his most graphic
account of the siege of Amida, conducted by Sapor in person,
that the Persian host, investing that city, chaunted through-
out the night the name of Sapor, Avith the titles of "Pyroses "
and " Saansaan," that is to say, " Victor," and " King of
Kings." A beautiful Guarnaccino, in the Pulsky Collection,
has the legend unfortunately defective, but apparently read-
ing " Karachi Sha ; " the portrait is much like that of the
king of that name, and of very fine work. It is not wonderful
that both the medals and gems of the second Sapor should so
abound, for the duration of his reign and life were commen-
surate, extending to seventy -two years. Although the portraits
on the medals are invariably depicted with the tiara, a balloon-
shaped turban rising out of a mural crown, from which depend
long and streaming ribbons, yet on the gems they usually
appear bare-headed. I have met with but two instances on
which the tiara occurs : the famous Devonshire Amethyst, and
SECT. II.
EAELY PERSIAN GEMS.
145
a front face, apparently of Chosroes, of late work, on Calcedony.
The gem figured by De Sacy has also the tiara. It is singular
that these princes should appear so often on the gems without
this distinctive badge of sovereignty, especially as the en-
gravers always seem to have had much difficulty in rendering
the curly locks, the cherished distinction of the Aclisemenian
race, which they for the most part attempt to represent by a
series of drill-holes set close together.
I have dwelt at some length upon this part of my subject,
as being one, so far as my researches extend, hitherto un-
touched ; and yet containing a most valuable series of por-
traits, authenticated by their inscriptions, of those very
princes who make so prominent a figure in the history of
the later Roman empire. In the point of view of art they
have an additional value from the fact, that they supply the
only intagli, with the rarest exceptions, capable of serving as
historical evidences, that are to be met with subsequent to the
age of Constantine.
Assyrian and Persian Seals in Aate and Calcedony.
EAELY PEESIAN GEMS.
Two indubitable intagli of the date of the early Persian
monarchy have been examined by me with the greatest
interest. One, on striated Onyx, represented a Persian king
seated on a throne supported by sphinxes, and engraved in
a good but very archaic style. This most valuable gem had
been nearly ruined by the folly of the owner in having its
surface polished down in order to remove a superficial frac-
L
146 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
ture, thereby destroying the original outline of the figure ;
otherwise, this intaglio would have ranked amongst the most
interesting known. The other was the bust of a Persian,
upon a Sard, of ordinary work similar to the better-executed
Sassanian gems, but in the field of the design was engraved
a ram's head and a doubled cross, precisely as on the coins
of Salamis in Cyprus, thus indubitably marking the portrait
as that of a Persian satrap of that island, at some period
before the age of Alexander, after whose time the Persian
dominion over the Greek islands had entirely ceased. I
have also seen a Roman imperial portrait, a laureated bust,
somewhat resembling Caracalla, engraved on Nicolo, accom-
panied by a Pehlevi legend ; a unique instance and very
difficult of explanation. It will be observed on the examina-
tion of many of these Oriental portraits, that a larger pro-
portion, especially of the best executed, are found on Garnet
and Guarnacino than is the case with the intagli of the
Koman school, in which good work occurring upon a Garnet
is quite the exception to the general rule. In fact, as long
as the palmy days of the art lasted, the Sard was preferred
to all other stones by both Greek and Italian engravers;
the first employing by choice the bright yellow variety, the
inhabitants of Magna Grecia and the Etruscans usually
contenting themselves with the common European Carnelian,
whilst the Romans were supplied by their Indian commerce
with the various splendid coloured sorts of the stone, some
emulating the Carbuncle, others the deep orange of the
Jacinth. A full-length portrait of a Parthian king, 5 on a
large Oriental Onyx of the finest quality, the three strata
of the stone being perfect in colour and distinctness, brings
to our mind an interesting letter of Pliny the Younger when
s Now in the possession of Mr. Uzielli.
SECT. II. EARLY PERSIAN GEMS. 147
Governor of Bithynia, addressed to the Emperor Trajan, in
which he mentions a similar intaglio. " Apuleius, the
officer stationed at Xicomedia, has written to rne that a
person named Callidromus having been forcibly detained by
the bakers Maxirnus and Dionysius, to whom he had hired
himself, had fled for refuge to your statue ; and when
brought before the magistrates made the following declara-
tion : That he had been slave formerly to Laberius Maximus,
and been taken prisoner by Susagus in Moasia, and thence
sent as a present by Decebalus to Pacorus, king of Parthia,
in whose service he had remained many years, but after-
wards had made his escape and got to Nicomedia. He was
brought before me, and, persisting in the same story, I
judged that he ought to be sent to you for examination.
This I have been somewhat delayed in doing in conse-
quence of having instituted a search for a gem engraved
with the portrait of Pacorus and the ensign^ of royalty which
he was accustomed to wear, which gem he had informed me
had been stolen from him. For I was anxious to send it to
you, if it could possibly be found, at the same time with
the man himself, as I have actually done with this piece of
ore which he asserts that he brought with him from a
Parthian mine. It is sealed with my own signet, the impres-
sion of which is a four-horse car."
This letter appears to give a satisfactory explanation of
the great number of Persian seals occurring engraved with
royal portraits, and often of such rude work and coarse
materials that they could only have belonged to the nu-
merous officials and menials of the royal household. Thus
an almost equally numerous class, engraved with figures of
priests and fire-altars, were probably the private signets of
the Magi, a powerful and extensive body which flourished
down to the fall of the monarchy in the 7th century. It
L 2
148 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
is a curious fact, that but a few years before the utter ruin
of their empire and religion, and at the time when Mahomet
delivered his famous prophecy of their coming fall in the
chapter of the Koran entitled " The Persians," which begins
thus: "The Persians have conquered the Greeks in the
uttermost parts of the earth ; but before seven years," &c.,
at this very time Chosroes had restored the ancient limits
of the Persian rule under Xerxes, and was master of all
Egypt, Asia, and the north of Africa. Similarly, under
Theodosius the Great, the Roman Empire had attained its
extreme extent, only to crumble into fragments in the feeble
hands of his sons. For after their reign the Western Em-
perors were but the puppets of the Frank or Herulian
general, who was only deterred by the shame of his bar-
barian origin from mounting the imperial throne. One point
more in this letter may be observed : " the piece of ore "
thought worthy of being forwarded for Trajan's inspection.
This was probably a specimen from a silver mine, of which
metal the Persians must have possessed an abundance. Vast
quantities are still supplied by Thibet, then tributary to
them. Both the Parthian and Sassanian currency consisted
exclusively of silver; coins of gold or copper of either
dynasty are almost unknown. Procopius, with the laugh-
able vanity of a Byzantine historian, asserts that the Sassa-
nian kings did not dare to coin gold, that being the exclusive
privilege of the Koman emperors ; a somewhat unsatisfactory
solution of the difficulty when we consider the supreme con-
tempt justly entertained by Chosroes for Justinian, his super-
stition, and his power. 6 In all times, however, the Orientals
6 He subjoins, however, the true meaning thereby that the Roman
reason, " that even if the Persian gold was the universal currency of
kings coined gold, none of the na- the world, which is perfectly cor-
tions with whom they had com- rect.
mercial intercourse would take it :"
SECT. II. INDIAN ENGRAVED GEMS.
149
have preferred silver for a circulating medium ; all gold coin
that gets into their hands being immediately melted for con-
version into ornaments, or else into ingots for the purpose of
concealment.
INDIAN ENGRAVED GEMS.
It is universally acknowledged that the inhabitants of the
Indian Peninsula derived the use of coined money from the
Greek sovereigns of Bactria, and that the types of the
earliest Hindoo pieces show evident traces of being imita-
tions of increasing rudeness, as more remote in date of
the Graeco-Bactrian currency. And this is equally true of
those few engraved gems, the types on which prove to a
certainty their Indian origin, sometimes found, but only in
small numbers, deposited, together with other jewels and
gold coin, in the Buddhist topes or relic-shrines of Cabul.
It is certainly to be reckoned among the numerous unac-
countable inconsistencies of the Hindoo race, that, although
the earliest of mankind to attain mechanical perfection and
facility in the sculpture of the hardest stones, as Granite,
Jade, Agates, &c., into ornamental vessels and other repre-
sentations, and also in the shaping and polishing of all gems
(except the Diamond), with which they supplied the ancient
world to an extent of which a very limited conception can
now be formed, yet that despite all these inducements of
ability and of abundance of materials, they seem never
150 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
to have attempted until a very late period, and then but
rarely, to imitate their Persian neighbours in embodying on
the precious stone the miniature forms of those numerous
and often graceful deities whose larger statues they daily
reproduced in innumerable multitudes. Assuredly it was not
the practical difficulties of this art that deterred them, for
they executed with facility many operations which would tax
the skill of the most expert lapidary of the present day, such
as drilling fine holes with the greatest accuracy, not merely
through beads of Onyx, but even of Sapphire and of Kuby ;
and this is a part of the work in hard stones much more
difficult, and requiring greater precision and care, than the
processes required in sinking an intaglio, at least in its
simplest forms, or in cutting a figure in relief upon the sur-
face. Their extraordinary skill in working one of the hardest
substances known, Jade, is beautifully shown in the large
tortoise found on the banks of the river Jumna near Alla-
habad, and now in the British Museum, which for fidelity
to nature and exquisite finish is worthy to be the work of a
Grecian artist. Small figures of the Sacred Bull ' couchant,'
perforated through their length for the purpose of beads, are
often found in company with the other relics here described.
Miniature idols, also of Indian work, and formed in the
hardest stones, are not uncommon. The most extraordinary
production of the kind that ever came in my way was a
figure of Buddha seated in his shrine, surrounded by various
accessories, the whole cut with marvellous skill out of a
huge Agate of red and white strata, a most valuable speci-
men of the stone for brightness of colour and for magnitude,
being six inches in height and width and of nearly the same
thickness.
Although one powerful motive for the engraving of intagli
was wanting amongst them, hinted at in the words of Pliny,
SECT. II. INDIAN ENGRAVED GEMS. 151
"Non signat adhuc Oriens literis contenta solis," the non-
employment of the signet, but merely of the writer's sub-
scription to authenticate documents, yet still we should
have expected that, as soon as acquainted with this art from
intercourse with their neighbours (and, to some extent,
masters) the Persians, whose universal use of engraved gems
is noticed by Herodotus, they would have attempted to
enhance the native beauty of their gems, though intended
merely as personal ornaments, by adorning their surface with
figures either in intaglio, or, as was the first step in the
Egyptian branch of this art, with sculptures in relief. For
it is sufficiently plain that with the latter people the scarab
was worn as an ornament or amulet on the necklace long
before its base -was engraved upon for the purpose of impress-
ing the seal ; and the same observation holds good for their
pupils the Etruscans. Be this is it may, it is certain that no
gems have yet appeared engraved with purely Hindoo types,
or as having been discovered in provinces of India lying
beyond the sphere of the influence of the Greco-Bactriac
civilization.
Wilson figures in his 'Antiquities of Afghanistan' a small
number of intagli found in the deposits already mentioned.
Of these, one is evidently a portrait belonging to the Greek
period, two are common Koman gems, as was to be expected
in sites where so many aurei of the Lower Empire are
constantly discovered, whilst the rest are certainly works of
the natives of the country where they were brought to light.
The most interesting of these is a Sard engraved with the
bust of a female, holding a flower, prettily executed, with a
legend underneath in Sanscrit letters of the 7th century,
giving the owner's name, "Kusmna Dasasya," "The Slave
of the Elower." Another is the portrait of a prince with a
pendant of four large pearls in his ear, and wearing a neck-
152 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
lace, inscribed " Ajita Varmma," " Varma the Victorious," in
Sanscrit letters of the 9th century. This was the name of
a king of Cashmere of that period. Another Sard found at
Hidda bears a regal head in the same style, but without a
legend. The same tope also furnished two gold rings set
with Carnelians, one a head in relief, apparently that of
Buddha, the other an intaglio bust. A large Carnelian
intaglio gives two seated figures in Hindoo dresses playing
musical instruments, supposed by Wilson to be intended for
Krishna and Eadama. 7 As far as a judgment can be formed
from the plate, the execution of this group is extremely neat
and careful, although rather stiff. Under the head of
" Barbarian Camei " a notice will be found of some Indian
works of the kind that have been brought under my own
examination. Although the Greek colonists of Bactria
formed a powerful and extensive state that flourished for
more than three centuries, and which also possessed great
wealth, as may be inferred from the large quantities of the
currency of their princes still in existence, it is very singular
that they should have left behind them so few engraved
gems, considering the universal use of them in their parent
country during the same space of time. We should have
expected to meet with here a numerous class of gems
engraved with figures of Indian deities, but assimilated to
the Greek treatment of such subjects, exactly after the
manner of the same figures upon the reverses of their coins.
That the artistic skill to produce gems worthy of their
mother-country was not wanting, amongst the Indo-Macedo-
nians of at least the first century of the kingdom, plainly
appears from the excellence of the execution of the portraits
7 More probably the Sign Gemini, so represented by the Hindoo
astrologers.
SECT. II. MODERN ORIENTAL INTAGLI. 153
on the coins issued during that period by the monarchs
bearing purely Greek names.
Persian. Serpentu
MODEEN OEIENTAL INTAGLI.
Before we quit the subject of Oriental intagli, the Maho-
metan, or Mediaeval and Modern, deserve a slight notice, for
two reasons : as being the immediate successors of the class
just described, and as articles the use of which kept alive
the processes of the art of gem-engraving in the East during
those centuries in which it had been entirely forgotten in
Europe.
The earliest Cuphic stones are an extremely interesting
class. The gems themselves are still of the ancient shape,
being, no doubt, importations from India ready prepared for
engraving as in Roman times. The legends upon them, in
the elegant vertical Cuphic letter, are so arranged as to form
certain figures, as a cross or a T. The letters are very fine,
often apparently executed with the diamond-point, such is
their precision and accuracy, and entirely dissimilar to the
rude wheel-cut legends of the Sassanians. They consist of
long legends in the Cuphic, or square Arabic character, in
the earliest class, and in the flowing and elegant Persian
on those of more recent execution. The Cuphic went out of
154 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
fashion in the 13th century, and thus the form of the letters
gives us a clue to the age of the signets themselves. The
mechanical execution of most of these legends is of the most
perfect description ; nothing can exceed the freedom and
elegance of the curves and the depth and boldness of the
engraving, frequently also occurring on the hardest gems,
for I have seen admirable instances upon the Euby and the
Sapphire.
Pliny remarks, "Non signat adhuc Oriens, literis contenta
solis ;" " Eastern nations make no use of seals, being satisfied
with the mere subscription of the name." This fact struck
him with peculiar force, seeing the universal use of seals in
his time throughout the whole civilized world as the sole
mode of authenticating a document. But the Oriental prac-
tice still continues unchanged, for the stone or metal signet
inscribed with the owner's name and titles, is not impressed
upon wax, but inked over, and thus applied to the paper
after the manner of a copper-plate. By the term " Oriens "
in this passage India alone is signified, for the use of seals
intended to leave their prints on a soft substance, clay or
wax, originated with the early civilization of the Assyrian
Empire.
t These legends, beautiful as they are to the eye of the
unlearned, are the very plague of all Oriental scholars, who
are often pestered by their acquaintances to decipher for
them some " engraving of a signet " which, when the words
are extricated from the calligraphic flourishes in which they
are entwined, contain some such profound idea as this:
" What is destined will surely come to pass ;" or a religious
axiom, as, " Ali is the purest of Men ;" or perhaps the name
and titles of some Captain Smith, a revenue-collector in some
Indian province. Gems also are to be seen with legends
in the Rabbinical Hebrew character, some of considerable
X
SECT. II. MODERN ORIENTAL INTAGLI. 155
antiquity ; they usually contain nothing but the name and
father's name of the owner.
A most curious if not unique example of this very rare
class is a Jacinth, en cabochon, now in the hands of Mr. East-
wood, the device on which appears intended for a vine-leaf,
and a modius with three wheat-ears, surrounded by the
legend in distinct Hebrew letters, "Helulu Bar Coasah,"
" Helel, son of Coasah." This stone was found deposited with
other engraved gems of Sassanian date, and the style of the
work upon it is certainly of that period the 5th or 6th
century and therefore furnishes one of the very earliest
instances known of the use of the modern Hebrew character.
Another, but much more recent stone, an octagonal Car-
nelian, set in a very singularly-formed Oriental silver ring,
Hebrew Jacinth of the Sassanian period
bore in Rabbinical characters the legend "Issachar Ha
Cohen," "Issachar the Priest." Huge gold rings, adorned
with filigree work and surmounted by a small temple, with
Hebrew inscriptions on the interior of the shank, sometimes
are seen in collections, and puzzle the beholders as to their
use, being much too large for the finger. They were made
for the use of the Synagogue, where they serve in the cele-
bration of the marriage ceremony, being placed on the finger
of the couple at a certain portion of the rites. As may be
supposed, they are often most exquisite specimens of the
skill of the jeweller.
156 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. 11.
Frateiis : Etruscan. Sard. Archaic Greek. Calcedony
GKEEK AND ROMAN GLYPTIC ART.
Although it is impossible to lay down any exact rules for
distinguishing the works of the Greek and Roman period
from each other without any exception, yet there are certain
general principles which will be found to obtain universally,
and which, with a little practical experience, will enable us
to separate the productions of either school.
By the term Greek intagli we mean those engraved before
the time of the Roman Empire, even though the best of
those of a later date were the work of Greek artists, as we
still see by their names added to the finest existing engrav-
ings; yet the imperial epoch has a peculiar style of its
own, the nature of which we shall hereafter endeavour to
define.
The earliest Greek intagli are undoubtedly those of very
low relief but of the most minute finish, and principally
executed with the diamond-point, whilst the design is usually
enclosed within the so-called Etruscan border. On account
of this border, these intagli were formerly all assigned to the
Etruscan school, an opinion at present quite abandoned.
The subjects which they present are single figures of deities
or heroes, animals (which are of very frequent occurrence),
and groups illustrative of events taken from Homer and the
Tragedians, amongst which, for some unknown reason, the
SECT. II. GREEK AND ROMAN GLYPTIC ART. 157
story of Philoctetes seems to have been a very favourite one
with the artists of the period. 8 One Sard, of the Herz
Collection, of the most exquisite finish, represents the hero
in the act of removing the bow and arrows of Hercules from
beneath the altar where they had been concealed ; whilst a
huge serpent twining round it, is about to sting him in the
foot. Another, of still finer work, represents him reposing
under a rock, and with a wing driving away the flies from
his mortifying foot ; Ulysses is stealing up in the background
to purloin the bow and quiver suspended over his head.
Both these designs are enclosed within very elaborate en-
grailed borders. Of Homeric subjects the best I have met
with is one representing Priam offering to Achilles the ran-
som for Hector's corpse, also from the same collection. This
design is executed in delicate lines upon the surface of the
gem, scarcely any portion of it being composed of sunken
surfaces ; in fact, the figures may be said rather to be etched
upon than engraved in the Sard. Yet they have a degree
of force and expression, although of minute size, hardly to
be equalled by any work of this description. This style of
intaglio is extremely rare : I only remember one other
instance of it, a laureated bust, probably of a poet, in the
Florentine Cabinet. Another excellent gem that has come
in my way with a Homeric subject is a group of the four
horses of Achilles lamenting over the corpse of Patroclus
stretched out naked upon a bier in the foreground. This
group also is in extremely flat relief. One of the hindmost
horses is expressed by the most delicate shadowing, so as to
be hardly visible at the first glance ; but the whole com-
8 If a conjecture may be allowed, pent when taking up the bow and
this story may have been selected quiver of Hercules from their hiding-
as illustrative of the divine ven- place, which he had sworn to his
geance on a violated promise : for dying lord never to reveal to the
Philoctetes was stung by the ser- Greeks.
158 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. IT.
position is full of life and vigour, and the drawing and
outlines of all the figures are perfection itself. In the
Pulsky Collection is a Neptune throwing his trident, exactly
like the type of the broad didrachm of Metapontum, engraved
on a large and brilliant Sard: this intaglio also is marked
by the same flatness of relief, 9 while the extremities of the
hands and feet are indicated by drill-holes, their rudeness
forming a curious contrast with the careful finish of the body
and limbs. Though all intagli of this early class much
resemble the best Etruscan, yet, if we take the most perfect
of the latter, whose origin is authenticated by the inscrip-
tions in the Etruscan character, usually occurring upon
them to express the name of the personage represented, we
shall find that these are always more stiff and exaggerated
in their action than the early Greek designs. The Etruscan
gradually merge into the Roman, many of the latter re-
taining traces of the frequent employment of the drill for
the execution of all the sunken parts and of the extremities :
they also retain the engrailed border down to a late period
of the Eepublic. It will be observed that many of these
Archaic Greek intagli are cut upon Sards of a bright pale-
yellow colour, very like the European Topaz, while the
Etruscans and early Italians employed the common Car-
nelian of their own river-beds. The Etruscan intagli will
also be found either cut on the base of scarabs, or else on
stones bearing traces of having been sawn off them at a
later period for the purpose of being converted into ring-
stones. The Greeks seem never to have used the form of
the scarabeus, and all their intagli were from the first
intended to be set as signet-stones in finger-rings. Some
9 This lowness of relief and care- Greek intagli and those executed
ful finish of all parts is in truth the by their successors of the IJoman
grand distinction between the true period.
SECT. II. GI1EEK AND ROMAN GLYPTIC ART. 159
scarabei, indeed, are said to have been found in Corfu ; but
if so, were probably importations of Etruscan traders or
pirates whose ships once scoured the Mediterranean.
When we arrive at the most flourishing period of the
glyptic art under the successors of Alexander, we have no
longer any difficulty in recognising the works of the most
perfect natural taste, arrived by this time at its full ma-
turity. In the Archaic period no portraits occur; here, on
the contrary, we meet with many heads of deities and
princes full of life and character, as well as whole-length
figures, universally nude, the symbolic expression of the
divinity of the personage in the perfected Grecian art.
These intagli are still in flat relief, compared with those of
the Roman school, but yet they are sunk deeper into the
stone than the class lately considered. There is a vigour and
a life in the expression of these works which stamps their
origin at once, and a softness in the treatment of the flesh
never to be found in works of a later period. The finest
of this class that have come under my own observation
are the Ariadne (a Sicilian gem), and the Demetrius
Poliorcetes of the Pulsky Cabinet, and recently a youthful
portrait of Demetrius II. Soter, once the property of Horace
Walpole.
Youthful Hercules : Greek. Sard.
The sole technical peculiarity that has struck me in the
work of these gems is the treatment of the hair. It is
160 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
represented by a vast number of fine lines, all distinct from
each other and never crossing, but every one perfectly well
defined. Any ornaments that may be introduced, such as the
wreaths on the heads of the deities, the diadems of the
princes, the ear-rings, necklaces, hair-cauls, or fillets, of the
female busts, are always rendered with the most scrupulous
fidelity. In fact, the artist appears to have been in love
with his work, and to have, as it were, kept it in hand as
long as possible, nor to have relinquished it before every
portion of the accessories had received the last degree of
finish. These intagli will also be found to be generally
engraved upon the fine yellow kind of Sard ; yet I have in
my own collection an exquisite head of Proserpine upon one
of a ruby-colour ; and a magnificent head of a Syrian king,
on Amethyst, is one of the glories of the Pulsky Cabinet.
Of this period also we find excellent works on Jacinth, a
stone recommended to the Greek engraver, in spite of the
extreme difficulty of working it, by its extraordinary lustre
when worn on the finger.
Much of the Greek style survives in the intagli of the
time of Augustus, some of whose portraits are executed
altogether in that manner, as is especially observable in the
treatment of the hair. This peculiarity also shows itself in
his coinage, in which the greatest diversity exists, some
being as rude as the old consular pieces, others, on the
contrary, quite of the Grecian type. However, the Eoman
manner soon became fixed, and exhibits the following cha-
racteristics. There is a great aiming at effect and a neglect
of details ; the intaglio is sunk as deep as possible, and relief
of colour is sought for by cutting through the various layers
of the Sardonyx and the Nicolo ; the hair is expressed by
broad strokes, in masses, and undefined as in painting;
everything, in short, is sacrificed to the face, which, though
SECT. II. GREEK AND ROMAN GLYPTIC ART. liil
usually effective, has a kind of stiffness of expression never
to be observed in good Greek portraits. In the female
heads, more care is bestowed upon the execution of the hair
and its arrangement according to the distinctive fashion of
the day; but the work falls very far short of the careful
finish of the same part of the design in the preceding period
of art. The portraits appear now as busts with a portion
of drapery on the shoulders, while the Greek present nothing
but the head and neck. The figures are more or less draped,
while those of the emperors are represented in full armour.
The compositions seldom exceed two figures; they usually
represent some action of ordinary life war, hunting, agri-
culture, or some well-known event of mythology, or some
religious ceremony. We no longer find designs taken from
the Tragedians or Epic Poets, as in the earlier Greek gems ;
and so invariable is this rule, that all historical or poetical
events represented on Roman intagli afford in themselves
grounds for ascribing the work to some artist of the Revival ;
a judgment which will generally be verified and confirmed
by a minute examination of the stone. The stone often has
been hollowed out to a great depth by the drill ; arid the
necessary finish of detail, such as the features, the hair, and
the drapery, put in afterwards with the diamond-point.
Much of the latest work, however, appears to have been
entirely executed by means of the wheel, an instrument
which, as before observed, there is reason to believe came
into use at Rome about the time of Domitian : certain it is,
that the rude intagli of the Lower Empire show no traces
of the other instruments which so strongly mark the flou-
rishing epoch of the art. The better class of Roman intagli
display an extreme degree of polish in the interior of the
work, and we have already noticed the theory of the expe-
rienced Lippert, that the tool used by the ancients polished
M
162 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
as well as cut the intaglio by one and the same operation,
thus accounting for the perfect internal lustre of many gems
of rude unfinished work. In modern times this polish is
the effect of a tedious operation, by rubbing diamond-powder
with a lead point into the interior of the engraving, and
therefore is only to be seen in works of the best artists,
executed in imitation of the antique. For this very reason,
the constant appearance of this high polish on every variety
of Roman work, up to a certain period, is a most singular
fact, and must have been in some manner the result of the
peculiar tool employed in cutting the intaglio, for it entirely
vanishes in the rude talismanic engravings of the Lower
Empire, which are evidently wheel-cut, as well as in the
Sassanian gems engraved by the same means. In many
heads, again, the hair, when intended to be represented as
short and curly, is rendered by holes drilled close together,
a mode of treatment common enough in Roman heads of
Hercules. In Greek gems, on the contrary, every separate
curl would have been minutely finished, and the hair com-
posing each faithfully rendered by lines cut with the diamond-
point. The same peculiarity is to be observed in busts in
marble of the Roman school, in which, towards the end of
the 2nd century, the hair and beard are simply represented
in the same manner by holes drilled into the stone. This
method of representing the hair is often found upon the
later camei. Another great distinction between the Etruscan
intagli and those of Archaic Greek work is the circumstance
that the former represent most of the deities as winged, a
manner borrowed from the Egyptians, but never found in the
works of Grecian artists.
Certain portraits of Roman times occur very abundantly
on gems of Augustus and of Nero more especially ; heads
of the Flavian family are also frequent, as well as of M. Aure-
SECT. II. GREEK AND ROMAN GLYPTIC ART. 163
lius and L. Verus, although the modern copies of the two last
are still more plentiful. Of a later date they are very rare,
with the exception of Caracalla, of whom I have seen many
rude portraits, probably worn by the military, whose favour
he courted by all possible means, in pursuance of the last
injunctions of his father. After this date they almost alto-
gether disappear, their place being taken by gold coins of the
reigning emperor, which it had become the fashion to wear in
rings. I have, however, met with a good though stiff portrait
of Aurelian ; and some of Probus are mentioned as known.
Strange to say, no more than one is described as now existing
of Constantine, in spite of his long reign, and great popularity
in the following centuries ; but Lippert mentions a well-exe-
cuted one of his eldest son, of the same name. In Stosch's
Catalogue appears this diademed head of Constantine, upon
Amethyst the sole Eoman figured on a gem with such
an ornament. The Mertens-Schaafhausen Collection pos-
sesses a supposed bust of Julian on Carnelian, 10 and a most
interesting one (if genuine) of Mauricius, front-faced, and
crowned, holding the orb, and inscribed DNMAVEITIVS.P.P.A.
It is a large Calcedony, 2 x 1 inches in size, and said to
have been dug up at Grafin, but the form of the letters in
the legend make me suspect it to be a work of the 16th cen-
tury. Under the head " Cross of Lotharius " will be found a
detailed account of the signet of that Carlovingian emperor,
the latest engraving on a gem of which I have been able to
10 This portrait is very uncertain ; heads of Gallienus and Salonina,
it does not wear the diadem, the facing each other, and with three
invariable decoration of the imperial wheat-ears over each. Between the
busts of that date. But among the busts is an altar supporting an
portraits called "unknown," in the eagle with spread wings, holding a
catalogue of the same collection, is wreath in his beak.
a most interesting intaglio : the
M 2
ABT, STYLES OF.
SKCT. II.
meet with any trace, and, indeed, one executed long after
the date usually assigned for the utter extinction of the art in
Europe. But still, as before remarked, portraits of even the
3rd century are of extreme rarity : the heterogeneous Herz
Collection, the sole design of which was to get together the
greatest possible variety of subjects, contained no portraits
posterior to the times of Severus.
Caligula and his Sisters Sard.
Antoninus Pius: Cameo. Emerald.
After the revival of the art in Italy the works of the
Cinque-Cento engravers are, as might be expected, close copies
of the Roman style, but they are marked by a curious exag-
geration, to be observed in all the productions of that age, as
their bronzes, carvings, and majolica-painting. The intagli
of the very earliest artists of this date (those who first appear
as flourishing under the patronage of Lorenzo dei Medici)
are easy to be recognised by their extreme stiffness and
thoroughly mediseval character, exactly agreeing in their
treatment with the contemporary portraits of the persons
they represent. All that I have seen are, in fact, portraits
worked out in very flat relief, and apparently with the dia-
mond-point, in the antique manner, and on stones of consi-
derable size. The head-dress and costume of the period is
most scrupulously rendered, just as in a miniature by a
painter of the Quattro-Cento. In short, nothing can be more
SECT. H. GREEK AND ROMAN GLYPTIC ART. 165
dissimilar to the flowing, exaggerated, and forcible style cha-
racterising the intagli of fifty years later, when endless prac-
tice and the study of the antique had freed the engraver's
eye and hand from the trammels of Gothic conventionalism.
These works of the second dawn of the art are excessively
rare. Subjects from Eoman history and from Ovid are very
great favourites with this succeeding school : few intagli were
however produced by them, compared with the abundance of
camei, which, issuing from their ateliers, have flooded the
cabinets of the world of amateurs. In the last century the
taste for intagli revived, and many were executed equal to
the best productions of ancient art ; however, there is usually
an undefinable expression of the period about them (in the
treatment of the drapery more especially) which guides the
experienced eye in distinguishing them from the antique.
Besides this, such great artists as Natter v and Pikler did not
profess to be mere copiers of antiquity : they always signed
their own works after they had acquired celebrity, and the
latter had a peculiar style, differing widely from the antique,
although of equal merit. Some, however, of the latest
Roman engravers have taken the Greek school for their
model ; and I have seen works by Cerbara for instance, a
lion on Emerald in the Pulsky Cabinet ; a head of Proserpine
and a Dioinede with the Palladium, camei by Girometti ;
surpassing, to my taste, any production of the artists of anti-
quity in this department.
Philosopher meditating upon tbe Immortality Sailor of Ulysses opening the Bag of Winds :
of tie Soul: Greek. Agaie. Etruscan. Sard.
166 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
I shall conclude with a few general observations upon the
mechanical execution, the art, and the subjects, of the classes
of gems treated of in the preceding chapter. A very marked
distinction of Archaic Greek and Greco-Italian intaglio work
is the constant use of the meplat, to use the French technical
term, only to be expressed in English by a long periphrasis.
It may be described as the sinking of the whole design into
the gem, with all its various portions, in flat planes, differing
but slightly in depth from each other, upon which the muscles
of the body, the folds of the drapery, and the other accessories,
were afterwards traced by the diamond-point. The impres-
sion from such an intaglio has its outline nearly as much ele-
vated as its highest projections, yet without sacrificing any of
its effectiveness ; a peculiarity observable also in the coinage
of the same epoch and regions. This flatness of the internal
surfaces within the intaglio itself may be held as the surest
mark of its genuine antiquity, being the necessary result of
the instrument employed by the ancient engraver, by which,
acting as a scraper, he could produce a flat surface to the
bottom of the cavity he was sinking in the gem with less
difficulty than a curved one. In the modern process, on the
contrary, where the wheel is the sole means used, this is
almost impossible, and semi-cylindrical or grooved hollows
mark all the productions of this tool, even in gems intended
to pass for antiques of the earliest times.
In these early gems it will be also observed that the design
is invariably so arranged as to fill up the entire field of the
surface, whether of the scarab or of the ring-stone. Hence
the forced attitudes and violent exertions expressed by the
figures of men or of beasts, which were purposely chosen by
the artist in order to accommodate the flexure of the bodies
to the elliptical form of the surface upon which he was en-
gaged. But, in fact, in all antique works, one point, carefully
SECT. II. GREEK AND ROMAN GLYPTIC ART. 167
kept in view, was to leave unemployed as little as possible
of the surface exhibiting the design of the artist. It may
be laid down as a rule that, in all intagli of good times,
and more especially in camei, the subject, be it a head, a
single figure, or a group, is always so carried out as to en-
gross, as nearly as possible, the whole surface of the stone,
leaving but a narrow field or background, often little more
than what was absolutely required for the hold of its metal
setting. On the contrary, modern camei, the works of artists
accustomed to admire and copy prints on paper, where a
large field and background form an important portion of
the whole, usually show a considerable space surrounding the
design, the dimensions of which are, as it were, gathered up,
and not extended and flattened out, as in the true antique.
The same rule holds good likewise for their intagli. But
whenever the ancient gem-engraver wished to display the
full beauty of the material, as in the case of the Oriental
Onyx or the Nicolo, he bevelled off the surface, so as to ex-
hibit the brilliant contrast of the concentric layers, and thus
contracted the field to the smallest limits capable of enclosing
his intended composition. This is the reason why imperial
portrait camei, especially when of large dimensions, are so
generally surrounded by a wreath of oak or laurel boughs,
between which and the head a very contracted field is left ;
the object evidently being to bring into play the various
colours of the stone on as many points as possible. To the
same purpose serves the line left to surround the design in
the smaller camei. But to return to the works of the archaic
school. These intagli for camei they never attempted or
at least the greater part of them, whether cut upon scarabs
or on ring-stones, are inclosed within the border already
noticed under "Etruscan Scarabei." These borders are
milled, or formed of small strokes set close together ; or
168 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
granulated, i. e. resembling a string of beads, whence the idea
was taken ; or the guilloche ; the last only occurring upon the
most highly-finished works on account of the extreme diffi-
culty of its execution. The milled border, however, occa-
sionally re-appears on Eoman intagli of very late times, where
it may readily be distinguished by its carelessness and irregu-
larity, having been introduced as a mere unmeaning finish,
whereas we can clearly perceive, from its mathematical accu-
racy in good Etruscan gems, that it was then regarded by
the artist as an essential portion of his work. The most im-
portant of the Greco-Italian works will be found to occur
upon a tricoloured Agate, i. e., a stone having a white and
transparent between two dark and opaque stripes crossing its
surface; or the converse. The regularity and evenness of
these bands constituted the value of the stone in the eyes of
the ancient lapidary. From its various shades it does not
display the work upon it so effectively as either a perfectly
transparent or perfectly opaque stone ; yet the fact is indis-
putable that it was at that time accounted the gem par emi-
nence for signets of the highest merit ; an employment con-
firmatory of the remark of Theophrastus already quoted as to
the beauty and value of the Agate in his days.
The legends seen upon these archaic intagli, even when
the characters are purely Greek, always give the names of
the heroes they represent in a most barbarous and contracted
form, as TVTE for Tydeus, AXVE for Achilles, &c. It may
be confidently affirmed that no intaglio appears with a pure
Greek inscription upon it until after the age of Alexander,
when the first few letters of the owner's name are introduced,
the earliest instance of which, to my knowledge, is an exqui-
sitely finished and minute lion's head, on Sard, with E
below, the signet of some Theodoras.
The Etruscans and the contemporary Greco-Italians appear
SECT. U. GREEK AND ROMAN GLYPTIC ART. 169
never to have attempted heads, even of divinities, much less
portraits of individuals, upon their signets. Such, indeed,
are not met with upon gems before the ages when Greek art
had attained to its full maturity. The most ancient intaglio
head that has come under my notice is one of a nymph
crowned with myrtle on a Jacinth, among the Mertens-Schaaf-
hausen gems, and there styled a Sappho ; a work much in the
Egyptian manner, and resembling the types of the earlier coins
of the Egean islands. And there is nothing surprising in this,
for, agreeably to the analogy of all other branches of pictorial
art, the earliest gem-engravers, Greek or Greco-Italian,
begun with representations of the various beasts to which,
in those times of primitive nature, their thoughts were con-
stantly directed, either as objects of utility, of amusement, or
of terror. Thus, the ox, the stag, and the lion so abundant
upon these gems may be safely accounted among the first
productions of the newly-discovered art ; a conclusion also to
be deduced from their extreme stiffness, yet careful finish.
For rudeness and slovenliness of execution, except where
owing to imperfect instruments as in the purely Etruscan
scarabs -marks the decline of a long practised art, where
great demand has occasioned cheap and hurried production,
not the cautious and laboured efforts of the first inventors of
the process. This observation equally applies to the cognate
art of coining ; the types of the earliest currency being inva-
riably animals. It needs only to mention the tortoise of the
drachms of Phidon and the lion and bull opposed of the staters
of Croesus.
The next step was the human figure at full length, repre-
senting mortals employed in the pursuits most immediately
interesting the owner of the gem agriculture, war, the chase.
In the next stage came the heroes of former ages, but all de-
picted with the literal accuracy of daily life ; and, lastly, the
170 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
gods themselves, now represented and worshipped in the
human form ; for the most ancient Hellenic, or rather Pe-
lasgic, deities were but symbols rivers, trees, or stones.
Such continued for centuries the rule for the productions of
the glyptic art, long after it had reached a point of mecha-
nical perfection never subsequently surpassed ; for what later
works, either in gems or medals, come up, in precision and
delicacy of finish, to the better sort of Greco-Italian scarabs,
or to the thin incuse didrachms of the same style and times?
During this long period, and amongst the innumerable intagli
it has bequeathed us, we never find an attempt made to
engrave on a stone a bust or head, even of a deity, though
statues had then become universal, 1 much less any portraits
of individuals. It is only when all traces of the archaic
manner have disappeared that the gems give us, first heads
in profile of heroes, nymphs, and gods, and the art having
now attained to full perfection regal portraits ; the latter
certainly not before the age of Alexander. Engraving such
portraits upon gems, it may be confidently affirmed, was
never thought of before the Macedonian princes set the ex-
ample of putting their own heads upon their coinage instead
of that of the tutelary god, the former universal rule. Even
at this stage of the art portraits of private persons are utterly
unknown. In fact, they do not appear, as far as my expe-
rience extends, before the later days of the Eoman Eepublic.
Heads given in full face begin with the latest Greek period,
are by no means rare of Eoman date, and gradually be-
come the favourite style for what were intended as the most
elaborate works of the Decline.
In their treatment of imperial portraits the Eoman en-
1 Two thousand bronze statues, sinii, towards the close of the Etrus-
or rather statuettes, are recorded as can power,
forming part of the plunder of Vol-
SECT. II. GREEK AND ROMAN GLYPTIC ART. 171
gravers displayed every variety of style, and evidently taxed
their invention for novel modes of reproducing subjects which
they were called upon to repeat so frequently for their pa-
trons among the courtiers. 2 Hence we have such portraits
sometimes in low relief after the best Greek style, and often
upon gems of great volume like the Julia of Evodus, on an
immense Beryl ; an Augustus with the star, on an extraordi-
nary Nicolo (Fould) ; and other well-known ornaments of
the gem-cabinets of Europe. Or, again, they resorted, for
the sake of exhibiting their marvellous skill, to the opposite
extreme, engraving portraits of perfect accuracy and the
highest finish on gems of almost microscopic size, such as
a bust of Titus on a Prase inch high by T 3 ^ wide ; and
another on red Jasper but slightly larger ; both among the
Mertens-Schaafhausen gems. Of these, the former is probably
without an equal for spirit, fidelity, and minuteness. Again,
we find intaglio heads of extreme depth of cutting given in
full face, a style adopted by the artists in many of their most
famous works, of which the lo, the Muse, and the Julius Csesar,
of Dioscorides may be quoted as unparalleled examples. From
the extreme care bestowed upon the execution of these por-
traits in front face, and the larger dimensions of the gems
besides their choicer quality on which they are engraved, a
proof of their superior importance, it may be conjectured
2 A favourite mode of representing of his popularity, the three first years
the bust of the youthful Caesar, or of his reign, when a new golden age
heir-apparent, was in the character was confidently expected from the
of Mercury, with wings on the head, sway of the pupil of Seneca. They
and the caduceus on the shoulder, must all have been engraved before
Thus appear frequently Caligula, his 20th year, when, on the occasion
Nero, M. Aurelius, and Caracalla. of his first cutting off his beard, he
The numerous portraits of Nero established the festival Juvenalia.
show, by the nascent beard appear- Of his portraits in more advanced
ing on almost all of them, that they life, but one (with the radiated crown)
were executed during the first bloom has ever come in my way.
172 ART, STYLES OF, SECT. II.
that such was generally the form adopted for the heads on
official signets ; a theory supported by the almost exclusive
employment of this style in the portraits cut on the precious
stones of the Lower Empire. The large front -faced busts of
the Provinces in extremely bold, though rudish, Koman work 3
of the later period, were also designed for official signets,
probably for the use of the Proconsul of the province, 4 since
it is difficult to imagine that any private person should have
arrogated to himself so important a device for his private seal
without risking ruin from the suspicious jealousy of the em-
peror. Can it be that these heads, whether of Emperors or
of Provinces, when given in front face, have been all official
signets, but those in profile worn by their subjects through
friendship or adulation ? The words of Pliny, assigning the
entree at the court of Claudius exclusively to persons privi-
leged by the gift of a gold ring engraved with the emperor's
portrait, go to establish the official use of such ornaments
under the empire. Gems engraved with the features of an
unpopular prince or favourite were doubtless broken to pieces
upon his death or downfall; the gem-portraits sharing the
fate of their colossal brethren in bronze and marble, " descen-
dunt statuse restimque sequuntur." I have met with numer-
ous instances of this " execution in effigy " done upon fine
gems, as a Commodus an important intaglio in red Jasper
surrounded by his titles, which has evidently been muti-
lated purposely; a Caligula, also with a legend; and the
Caracalla of the British Museum Collection. In conclusion,
to return to certain points slightly alluded to above, though
of considerable importance in the distinguishing antique gems
from modern imitations. Firstly, it is an invariable rule that
3 Of Africa I have seen two ad- 4 When Clodius Macer revolted
mirable examples, and both appa- against Nero he struck denarii at
rently from the same hand. Carthage with the head of Africa.
SECT. II. GREEK AND ROMAN GLYPTIC ART. 173
all truly antique designs are marked by tlieir extreme sim-
plicity. Karely does the composition include more than two
figures, or, if others are introduced, they are treated as mere
accessories, and only indicated by an outline. To this branch
of art Horace's maxim can be strictly applied with but slight
alteration
" Xec quarta loqui persona laboret."
Except in the archaic works of the Greeks and Greco-
Italians, who, as we have seen, preferred the representations
of violent action and muscular exertions, Kepose is the cha-
racteristic of the productions of matured Hellenic and Italiote
taste. Hence the best works of the most illustrious gem-
artists are invariably single figures or heads, as will appear
on the examination of the list of artists' names and works
still extant. As a necessary consequence of this restriction
nothing of the nature of a picture with perspective, back-
ground, and carefully-finished details of unimportant objects,
is ever observed in truly antique gems, whether camei or in-
tagli. Such a treatment of the design stamps the work at
once, however ancient its aspect, as a production at best of
the Eenaissance, the artists of which had not emancipated
themselves from the mediaeval rules of art where all objects
in the picture are considered of the same importance and
made equally prominent.
Again, there is a marked soberness in the invention of the
subjects themselves, or, rather, there is no invention at all in
them. They are always literal transcripts of some event in
mythology bearing a serious or mystical interpretation ; some
fact of Heroic history, that is, the religious history of their
ancestors ; or some business or diversion of everyday life.
All these are rendered upon the stone according to certain
strict and definite rules, and nothing fanciful is ever allowed
to intrude. The whole design is carried out with the rigid
174 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
simplicity of the old tragedians, where one or two actors do
and say everything for themselves. Such is the treatment of
the events of the Epic Cycle, the favourite themes of the
early Grecian and Italiote engravers : with the Eoman
period art, though in its fullest perfection, becomes altogether
prosaic in the choice of its subjects. For gem-engraving,
" Scalptura," being from the first ancillary to Sculpture, and
ever taking its larger productions for its models the Etrus-
can his terra-cotta gods and masks, the Greek his bronze or
marble statues the gem-artist never attempted anything in
miniature the example of which had not previously been
placed before his eyes on a larger scale. Another reason
this for the simplicity of their compositions. Neither the
one nor the other ever thought of representing events of
contemporary or of actual history ; an observation which
applies invariably to Greek, and, with the rarest exceptions,
to Eoman works. Even in the latter the event was given in
the most simple manner, as in Sylla's signet, " The Surrender
of Jugurtha," and precisely as depicted on the reverses of
the coinage of the times. Such scenes as the Battle of Issus,
the Suicide of Lucretia, Scaevola before King Porsenna, the
Death of Caesar, &c., compositions crowded with figures,
grouped as in a modern painting, all in violent action, all
which we so often see upon the large intagli and camei of the
Cinque-Cento and later schools, nothing whatever of this
nature is ever met with on a really antique gem. Neither
do we find scenes from Virgil or the " Metamorphoses," the
favourite subjects of Italian artists in every department since
the revival of art. All truly antique themes are ideas hal-
lowed by long use and reverence, or, so to speak, the " scrip-
tural subjects " of the age that embodied them upon the gem.
No antique gems ever represent licentious scenes or attitudes.
Even in the undraped figures the sex is slightly indicated
SECT. II. GREEK AND ROMAN GLYPTIC ART. 175
and nothing more. Such designs, on the contrary, are suffi-
ciently plentiful on modern gems, and the great skill and
labour which have been lavished by the best hands of the
time upon such unworthy subjects prove the favour with
which they were received. The number of antique intagli
still preserved the greater portion dating from the times of
the Roman Empire is perfectly incredible until a little
reflection upon the causes of this abundance supplies a satis-
factory explanation. For the space of three centuries they
were being produced in countless thousands over the whole
civilized world as articles, not merely of ornament, but sub-
servient to the most important uses, authenticating all the
transactions of commerce, and serving as a substitute for
keys in daily life, when the locksmith's art was yet imper-
fect. Their material, utterly indestructible, sets at defiance
time and the action of the elements ; even fire can only dis-
colour it. The stone whose beauty and art charmed the eye
of Mithridates, of Caesar, or of MaBcenas, preserves all its
charms unimpaired for the gaze of the man of taste of this
day. The barbarian or new convert who melted down the
precious ring, bracelet, or vase, for the sake of its metal, cast
away as worthless or as idolatrous the Sard or Onyx with
which it was inlaid ; the priceless work of art fell into the
earth and securely slumbered within its protecting bosom
until reviving civilization enabled the world again to appre-
ciate its value. Amidst this profusion of ancient treasures
the beginner must ever bear in mind one remark that in
the antique world, as in all times, mediocrity was the rule,
first class works the exception ; hence the vast majority of
gems, whether Greek or Roman, though of the greatest his-
torical importance, fall very short of perfection as works of
art. They were an article produced by a trade, and, in most
cases, with as much rapidity as possible, and made to sell.
176 AET, STYLES OF. SECT. IT.
Still, even in these, one cannot but admire the effect pro-
duced by a few bold and rapid touches of the master's hand.
Hence a gem of very perfect work and good execution re-
quires to be scrutinized with the utmost caution before its
genuineness be pronounced indisputable, for the best en-
gravers of the last three centuries naturally copied such
antique models, and followed them with the utmost fidelity,
that being the sole means by which they could obtain an
adequate recompense for their labours from the high price
commanded by the originals or the copies passing as such.
Mediocre gems, being plentiful in the market and to be pro-
cured for a trifle, were thus left beyond the danger of
forgery.
Caligula as Mercury. Sard.
STONE-KINGS.
Kings cut out of the solid stone were in common use
among the Komans of antiquity, just as Carnelian rings .are
among their female descendants of the present day, who
wear them now as a species of amulet to keep off sickness
a notion derived from the mediaeval idea of the protective
virtue of the Sard. These ancient rings were formed out
of various substances, but most frequently of Calcedony, a
tough and firm material. It is most probable that the first
idea of these stone-rings was borrowed by the Komans from
SECT. II. STONE-RINGS. 177
the Persian conical and hemispherical seals in the same
material. Some of these latter have their sides flattened
and ornamented with divers patterns, and thus assume the
form of a signet-ring, with an enormously massy shank, and
very small opening, sufficient, however, to admit the little
finger. And this theory of their origin is corroborated by
the circumstance that all these Roman examples belong to
the times of the Lower Empire, none being ever met with of
an early date. Of these most collectors must have seen
examples. Two very interesting ones, procured in France,
came under my notice last summer (1858). Both were of
precisely the same form, much resembling the Calcedony
ring figured in Dr. Walsh's Gnostic gems, the shank being
very stout and three-sided, and the head a long oval. One
of them bore intaglio portraits of a man and woman facing
each other, with letters and numerals ; the v other a bust of
the bearded Bacchus, of excellent Eoman work ; and both
intagli apparently from the same hand. An acquaintance of
mine possessed another, found at Aries, made of Crystal, with
a very thick cable-formed shank, and a small opening, evi-
dently only meant for suspension, like the Sassanian stamps.
It was engraved with the favourite type of a youth drinking
from a bowl after the exercises of the gymnasium. In the
Herz Collection was a very massy one in Calcedony, covered
on all sides with Gnostic legends. I have also seen lately
another, still more bulky, of green Jasper, but with a round
shank, the head oval and engraved with a serpent twisted
round a wand, surrounded by the usual legend. The head of
a third, belonging to the same class, in mottled Jasper, once
in my possession, represented Osiris in the sacred boat, above
him the sun and moon, and the inscription IAO> underneath.
Under the head of " Pastes " we have already noticed the
numerous rings of coloured glass in imitation of Agate. But
N
178 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. IT.
the most curious thing of the kind that has ever come in my
way was a ring of a material like red Amber, only elastic, so
that when the shank, which had been divided, was pulled
open, it immediately resumed its shape. This elasticity was
no doubt due to the mode in which the substance, whatever
it was, had been prepared. The ring was said to have been
brought from Egypt, and certainly was the same in form as
some Carnelian rings found on the fingers of mummies. But,
even allowing it to be a modern forgery, the elasticity of the
Amber remains a most curious fact. A large Amber cup,
holding half a pint, has lately been discovered, deposited in a
tumulus in Ireland, and from its size could hardly have been
cut out of a single block of that substance. It has been
ascertained by experiment that bits of Amber boiled in tur-
pentine can be reduced to a paste, united, and moulded into
any form desired ; and this is supposed to have been the
manner in which the vessel in question was manufactured.
This fact may throw some light upon the strange story about
malleable glass told by Petronius in his account of Trimal-
chio's Feast, and thus alluded to by Pliny : " It is said that
in the reign of Tiberius the art of tempering glass was disco-
vered so as to make it flexible, but that the entire establish-
ment of the workmen was exterminated (abolitam), lest the
value of bronze, silver, and gold, should suffer diminution in
consequence." It must be remembered that Pliny was born
in the reign of Tiberius, and would hardly have thought this
story worth inserting in his 'Natural History' had not its
truth been very generally believed.
Oriental rings, exactly like the ancient in shape, and
made of Carnelian, Calcedony, and Agate, with legends in
Arabic upon the face, for the use of signets, are by no means
uncommon in collections. They are of large .size, being
designed to be worn on the thumb of the right hand, in
SECT. II. FLEXIBLE GLASS. 179
order to be used in drawing the bowstring, which the
Orientals pull with the bent thumb, catching it against the
shank of the ring, and not with the two first fingers, as is the
practice of English archers. I have seen finger-rings of
ivory, even of the Egyptian period, their heads engraved
with sphinxes, and figures of eyes, cut in low relief, as camei,
and originally coloured Of the Roman times they are quite
common ; the Mertens-Schaafhausen Collection alone con-
tains the following, the description of which I extract from
the Catalogue, as illustrative of the style of work, and the
devices, to be found in reliques of this class :
A ring with an aged head in high relief.
Do. with a Siren in high relief, with a human head covered
with a helmet ; armed with a lance and a buckler orna-
mented with a Medusa's head. (This is the Stympha-
lian Bird, the device of the Valeria family). Found near
Castell in 1854.
A ring with CAES in relief.
Do. with AM in relief: found at Aries in 1853.
Do. with two interlaced triangles.
A large ring engraved with the monogram of Christ between
A and Q, with the legend ABPACAZ, also found at Aries.
FLEXIBLE GLASS.
I give Trimalchio's account of the invention of Flexible
Glass at length; his appreciation and knowledge of art so
forcibly reminds one of many a rich collector of the present
day:
" While Agamemnon was attentively examining this dish
of Corinthian bronze, Tramalchio says, ' I am the only person
in the world who possess the real Corinthian.' I was ex-
pecting that, with his usual absurdity, he was going to say,
that he had his vessels imported direct from Corinth ; but he
N 2
180 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
did still better. ' Perhaps you ask why I alone have Corin-
thian bronzes ? Because the brazier's name of whom I buy
them is Corinthus ; now, pray, what else is Corinthian, but
what Corinthus keeps. But, that you may not take me for
a know-nothing, I understand quite well how Corinthian
bronzes first came about. At the sack of Troy, Hannibal, a
cunning fellow and a great rogue, heaped up all the gold,
silver, and bronze statues into one great pile, and set fire to
it. The metals mixed, and all ran together. From this mass
the workmen took and made pots, dishes, and statues. So
arose the Corinthian metal one thing out of several, but
neither this nor that. You will pardon what I am going to
say. I prefer glass ; others do not. If glasses were not so
brittle, I would rather them than gold ; as it is, they are
of little value. Yet there was once an artist who made a
glass bowl that would not break. He was admitted before
the Emperor with his present : he then made Caesar give it
him back, and dashed it down on the pavement. The Em-
peror could not help being frightened almost out of his wits ;
but my man picks up the bowl from the ground, and lo ! it
was only bruised, just as a brass one would have been. He
takes out a little hammer, and leisurely makes all right
again. Having done this, he thought himself already in
heaven, especially when the Emperor said to him, "Does
any one else know of this mode of tempering glass ? " Now
see as soon as he replied " No," the Emperor ordered him
to be beheaded ; for if the invention had become public, we
should look upon gold like so much clay. In plate I am
quite a connoisseur : I have bowls that will hold some eight
gallons, more or less. How Cassandra kills her children,
and the boys lie there dead, that you would think it real ! I
have a flagon which Komulus bequeathed my late patron, on
which is Daedalus shutting up Niobe inside the Trojan horse.
SECT. II.
CAMEO-ENGRAVINGS.
181
I have, too, the battles of Hermeros and Petrax (Hector and
Patroclus) on a tankard, all massy plate ; for I would take
no money for my knowledge.' "
CAMEO-ENGKAVINGS.
V
The name Cameo has been derived by some from the
Arabic Camaa, an amulet, for which purpose engraved gems
were universally used in the Middle Ages. Camillo Leonardo,
writing in 1502, speaks of "gemma? chamainee" 5 in the
sense of camei, or gems engraved with figures in relief: this
is the earliest instance of the use of the term that I have
met with. He also mentions a stone called Kaman and
Kakaman, a name which he derives from the Greek Kaupta,
" heat," as being found in hot and sulphureous places. It was
white, striped with various colours, and often mixed with the
Onyx, and derives all its virtue from the nature of the figures
engraved upon it a description which seems to support the
5 Were not x ? * t Attic a
word to have been used in the com-
mon parlance of the times of the
Greek Exarchs, when the spoken
Latin became naturally much inter-
mixed with the language of their
officials, one might be tempted to
guess that chamaina meant nothing
but a gem discovered in the ground
of a garden, &c., by accident the
only mode by which the jewellers
of that degenerate epoch could have
been supplied.
182 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
derivation from the Arabic just mentioned. Among the
numerous attempts to trace the etymology of this word, it is
surprising that no one should have deduced it from Chama,
the shell sometimes used for this kind of work ; a theory
which would have been favoured by the origin of the term
porcelain, which comes, by a similar process of transition,
from the porcellana shell formerly used in the manufacture
of the Italian Faenza ware. But if we consider the circum-
stance that as early as the time of Cellini the rustics around
Home called the Onyx stones that they used to pick up in
their grounds by the name of camei, and that this word
appears only to denote a colour, at least in its primary sense,
as, for instance, paintings in cameo or camaieu grey figures
upon a white ground we are probably justified in seeking
an Italian origin for the term. The only light that I have
been able to extract from Lessing's lengthy dissertation on
the word, though he seems to consider it a corruption of
" gemma onychina," is that " cameo " was considered by
some writers to be the equivalent of the German " Speck-
stein," or bacon-stone, which homely substance, to the vulgar
eye, the red layers of the Sardonyx greatly resemble. Hence,
after all, as no better etymology has been suggested, the
Gothic word " ham," in its baconian sense, may have acquired
this more euphonious form in the Italian mouth, a trans-
formation not so strange as that of our " hopper " into
zoppo. 6
The term applies only to minute bas-reliefs cut on a hard
6 After all, the Italian word may and grigio, &c. Bede, speaking of
only be the rustic pronunciation of Jet, describes it as nigro-gemmeus ;
gemmeus, for it is often found in old and Valerian uses the term annulus
writers spelt gamahu. The modern bigemmeus : hence we may con-
Romans continually interchange the jecture that imago gemmea would
g and c : thus cancer becomes gran- in Low Latin gradually assume this
cio ; cammarus, gambro ; chryso- form,
prasus, grisopraso; chryseus, griseo
SECT. II. CAMEO-ENGRAVINGS. 183
stone or gem, or on an imitation of the same ; for the largest
bas-reliefs upon a slab of Sardonyx would still be named a
cameo, while the smallest on marble or alabaster still remains
a bas-relief. The small heads, and even busts, in full relief,
made out of gems, are not, properly speaking, camei, though
often so called, but are rather portions of statuettes, the
rest of the figure having been intended to be completed in
the precious metals. The earliest mention of a ring-stone in
relief occurs in Seneca, who, in a curious anecdote which he
tells (De Benefidis, iii. 26) concerning the informer Maro and
a certain Paulus, speaks of the latter as having had on his
finger on that occasion a portrait of Tiberius in relief upon a
projecting gem, "Tiberii Ca3saris imaginem ectypam atque
eminente gemma." This periphrasis would seem to prove
that such a representation was not very common at the time,
or else a technical term would have been^used to express
that particular kind of gem-engraving. Pliny also mentions
a stone called Morio, probably from its mulberry colour, used
for engravings in relief, " ad ectypas sculpturas faciendas ; "
perhaps the dark Jacinth or the Guarnaccmo, in which so
many camei still remain. From a careful inspection of the
most famous cabinets of France and Italy I have come to
the conclusion that truly antique camei were usually of
larger dimensions than are suited for ring-stones, and were
almost exclusively designed to ornament armour dresses or
plate. For if we examine attentively those early collections
which were formed before the art of cameo-cutting had
revived (which was not much before the middle of the 16th
century), such as that of Florence, which contains many
camei obtained by Lorenzo dei Medici himself and marked
with his name, we shall find them to be all of large size and
of a bold but rude style of work. The same remark also
holds good for the oldest portion of the Paris Collection.
184 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
This rude but bold style is also invariably found in the
camei enchased in mediaeval jewellery and ecclesiastical
plate, in which so many precious relics of this art have been
preserved thanks to the uneducated piety of their Gothic
makers such as that perfect mine of antique gems the
silver-gilt shrine of the Three Kings of Cologne, which is
known to be a work of the llth century. The great rarity
of small antique camei is also proved by the fact that they
are seldom or never found, even those of the coarsest qua-
lity, in the miscellaneous jumble of stones of all kinds col-
lected by the Koman peasants in turning over their vineyards
a remark to which there are fewer exceptions than even in
the case of antique pastes already commented upon. Again,
not even does the largest cabinet possess an antique ring set
with a fine cameo, though, were they as abundant in ancient
tunes as the present number of professed antiques would
lead us to suppose, antique rings would present us with as
many instances of set camei as they do of set intagli. But
so far is this from being the case that the Florentine Cabinet,
amongst its innumerable gems of all ages, only possesses erne
antique gold ring set with a cameo of even fair execution,
and that so singular in its nature as to merit a detailed
description. It has been evidently the ornament of some
Koman sporting gentleman, who, as the poet sings, held his
wife "a little higher than his horse," for it is set with a
cameo head of a lady, of tolerable work, in Garnet ; and on
the shoulders of the ring are intaglio busts of his two
favourite steeds, also in Garnet, with their names cut in the
gold on each side AMOR and OSPIS. On the outside of the
shank is the legend POMPHINICA, " Success to thee, Pom-
phius ! " very neatly engraved on the gold. In all my own
experience I have met with only two camei in antique rings,
and, singularly enough, both represented birds one a parrot,
SECT. II.
CAMEO-ENGRAVINGS.
185
very rudely cut upon an Onyx of many colours, the other a
pigeon, tolerably executed, on the same kind of stone, per-
haps of early Christian times : these were set in hollow gold
rings, the genuine antiquity of which was beyond suspicion. 7
Greek Cameo, found in Cabul. Sardonyx.
The rarity of camei of the size of ring-stones in ancient
times will appear less extraordinary wh&n we reflect that
the primary use of rings was for the purpose of signets, not
of mere personal ornaments, and that very few even of the
precious stones are left to us which have not had their value
enhanced, to the eye of taste, by the engraving upon them.
The artists of antiquity do not seem to have been able to
execute small works of sufficient finish to have become
favourite or fashionable decorations of the fingers. And this
leads to the consideration of the mechanical means employed
7 In the Mertens-Schaafhausen
Collection is a Jacinth cameo, an
imperial bust, which was in a silver
setting, apparently a circular brooch,
at the time of its discovery on
the breast of a skeleton in a tomb
at Marsfeld near Mayence. The
owner had probably been a German
chief, for three large double-spiral
ornaments of bronze wire covered
his chest, having once been sewn
on his tunic for ornament and
defence at the same time ; and his
arms were incased from wrist to
elbow in spiral bracelets of the
same material. It may here be
noticed that the barbarian so often
transfixed by the emperor, on the
latest Roman coins, is usually re-
presented with his arms covered by
a series of parallel rings, probably
this identical form of bracelet, which
served the purpose of a gauntlet.
186 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
by the ancient cameo-cutters in the execution of their works.
On minutely examining a really antique cameo the design
will appear to have been cut out of the coloured layer by
the repeated strokes of a tool of the nature of a chisel,
which left a series of uneven surfaces, to be polished down
more or less by a subsequent operation. The outline of the
figure always fades away into the field of the stone, which
often shows minute traces of the upper layer not completely
cleared away from it ; and the design is never undercut, as
it often is in modern camei for the purpose of throwing it
out more from the field. The ground itself is often left
uneven and not completely cleared of the upper layer, having
evidently been scraped down by means of a narrow cutting
instrument, which could not be made to bear upon a large
surface at one and the same operation. Hence these works,
though extremely effective at a distance the purpose for
which they were intended by the engraver appear rough,
and, as it were, lumpy, on too close an inspection. This un-
evenness of the ground of the design has been pointed out by
some writers as the unvarying test of antiquity in a cameo, but
this is not exactly correct, as the same peculiarity is equally
manifest in the works of the earliest artists of the Revival.
It may be observed that many antique camei are per-
forated through their diameter to admit a thread for the
purpose of fastening them to the dress f and some are en-
closed in a massy iron setting, evidently intended as orna-
ments for armour. This was the case with the finest cameo
that ever came under my inspection, at Eome : a head of
Jupiter Dodonasus, about six inches in circumference. 9
8 But in most cases this perfora- engraver to the form most suitable
tion merely attests the Indian origin to bring out the layers of the stone
of the Sardonyx stones (Pliny), im- required by his design,
ported into Europe in the form of 9 The owner demanded 2000 scudi,
large beads, and subsequently flat- about 4:001., for this fine gem.
tened by the Greek or Eoman gem-
SECT. II. CAMEO-ENGRAVINGS. 187
Another rule given for the distinguishing of antique camei,
" that they were invariably worked out of the stone by means
of the diamond point," is certainly true in itself ; but yet all
gems cut in this manner are not necessarily antique, as pre-
cisely the same mode of operation was followed by the early
artists of the Italian school. Witness the large portrait of
Queen Elizabeth cut upon a green and white Onyx, and
now in the Kensington Museum ; and a much earlier, and
more admirable example, the oval cameo with the busts of
Henry VIII. and his three children, now set in the Devon-
shire parure, a work of microscopic perfection and delicacy
of touch. These later stones have usually a rim of the
coloured layer, out of which the design is cut, left all
round the edge of the cameo as a kind of border to the
composition: an ornament not to be found in true antique
works, except in those of the period of the Koman empire.
The later Cinque-Cento camei are easily recognised by their
extremely high relief, which gives the figures a very bossy
appearance; they are also very much undercut, sometimes
almost detached in portions from the field, which is now re-
duced to an extremely neat and even surface, whilst a re-
markable polish and rotundity is given to all the projecting
parts of the figures ; so that they often look as if modelled
out of wax, and then affixed to the surface of the stone.
This glassy semi-transparent body of the raised parts is a
sure test of the recent origin of the work on which it appears,
for the same portions of the strata in an antique Onyx are
usually converted into a dead and often chalky whiteness,
by the action of the earth and of time upon them, during the
ages through which they have been subjected to these power-
ful agents. Besides they never present that exact resem-
blance to designs in thick and opaque coloured enamels, so
striking a peculiarity of the best antique performances.
188 AET, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
But the most reliable test of antiquity in this class of work,
is the similarity of the execution of the design, of the por-
traits for instance, with those on the coins of the same date ;
as it is very likely that a good cameo portrait on a larger
scale served as the model to the ancient die-sinker, who was
also by profession an engraver on gems.
Although the smooth and unworn surface of a cameo tells
almost decidedly against its genuineness, as its exposed sur-
face renders the work so much more liable to the injuries of
wear and of time: yet one with a rough surface is by no
means on that score alone to be pronounced unquestionably
antique, on account of the common trick of dealers, before
noticed, of cramming turkeys with newly-made gems, and
thus in a few days anticipating the effect of centuries upon
their polish. The style of work is by itself alone a very in-
sufficient guide in determining the antiquity of a gem ; for
although the quaint exaggerated drawing of the artists of the
Revival 10 is easy to be recognised after a little practice, yet
later engravers, like Pistrucci and Girometti, from the con-
stant study of antique models, have produced works which
would do honour to the greatest names of antiquity ; and the
head of Proserpine, by the latter, far surpassed any ancient
work of the kind that I ever beheld whilst the Flora of the
former passed unquestioned for years as the chief ornament
of Payne Knight's Collection. In such cases, therefore, the
sole guide is the appearance which the Onyx always assumes
from age, and which can only be learnt from long obser-
10 It is said that the antique Satyr's are represented Satyrs, or Fauns, or
head was the type kept in view by Bacchanalia, may be on that account
M. Angelo in all his works. This is alone shrewdly suspected of belong-
certainly true of the cameo-cutters ing to this school, and require very
of his age, for more than half their careful examination before their
designs will be found to include or claims to an antique origin are
consist entirely of this grotesque allowed,
subject : hence all camei on which
SECT. II. CAMEO-ENGRAVINGS. 189
vation. Of this, the most obvious peculiarity is the opacity
and extreme deadness acquired by the originally semitrans-
parent strata of the stone. They actually are not to be dis-
tinguished from layers of enamel fused upon the ground of
the work, and this effect is heightened by the excessive soft-
ness of manner and flat relief characterising many of the best
antique camei ; qualities which, as we have seen, the earliest
artists of the Kevival succeeded to some degree in imitating.
Indeed many of the smaller antique camei, from their wonder-
ful smoothness, flatness of relief, and depth of colour, can
only be compared to certain of the best Limoges enamels on
copper.
Ever since the revival of the art, gem engravers especi-
ally those of the first two centuries since that epoch (the
fifteenth towards its close) have executed infinitely more
camei than intagli, for the work of the vformer is easier
by far than that of sinking the intaglio into the stone, as
well as much more rapid, now that the operation is entirely
effected by the wheel ; so that no very great skill or practice
is required to enable the engraver to produce a creditable
performance ; * and the ornamental appearance of such works
caused them to be much sought after in those ages of show
and external magnificence. The fashion, too, was very
general of wearing camei set as pendants to chains ; and in
the hats, in place of the gold or metal medallions of the
preceding century : and hence we have such a number
of the portrait camei of the Cinque-Cento still preserved
to us in the elegant enamelled settings of the time, the
forms of which still shew the purpose they were designed to
1 I was informed by a working executed for them the very neatly
cameo-cutter at Rome that the finished cameo portraits on Onyx of
dealers in articles of virtu in that poets and philosophers, so exten-
city only paid six pauls, or three sively purchased by dilettanti to be
shillings, apiece to the artists who set in studs, rings, Sec.
190 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
serve. 2 From the infinite abundance of such works produced by
artists of every degree of merit, during a space of nearly three
centuries, it will easily be discerned how small is the chance
of meeting with a really antique cameo among the numbers
in existence. And this opinion is verified by experience, for
in the numerous collections sold in London during the last
ten years, and which I have examined, scarcely one stone in
twenty presents all the required proofs of indubitable an-
tiquity ; however much collectors, and still more dealers, may
be disposed to dispute the truth of this most uncomfortable
doctrine. Many antique camei are cut on Sardonyx slabs
of extraordinary dimensions, instances of which are exhibited
in all celebrated collections ; amongst these the pre-eminence
in point of magnitude must be given to the famous Onyx of
the Sainte-Chapelle, brought by King Baldwin from Con-
stantinople, when that city belonged to the Franks in the
13th century. Some also exhibit an extraordinary variety
of coloured strata ; for instance, a large cameo representing
a quadriga in the Paris Cabinet, where each of the four
horses is cut out in a layer of the Onyx of a different
colour ; and portraits are often to be seen in which the hair,
the flesh, and the laurel-wreath around the head are all
represented in distinct shades. The works of the artists of
the Renaissance are usually cut upon an inferior sort of
stone, consisting of merely an .opaque white layer upon a
semi-transparent brownish ground, probably another reason
for their working so frequently on the reverses of antique
Sardonyxes, of a quality then unattainable at any cost ; they
2 The artists of this age were fond spirit of emulation we owe many a
of exhibiting their own skill in com- convenient means of comparing the
petition with that of the ancients, styles of the two periods where
hence we so frequently meet with a also the superiority must often be
Cinque-Cento cameo cut on the re- adjudged to the more recent hand,
verse of an antique one : to which
SECT. II. CAMEO-ENGRAVINGS. 191
were also frequently engraved upon stones of but one colour,
as Carnelians, Lapis-lazuli, and Garnets, where most of the
effect of the design is lost from the absence of contrast
between the ground and the design. Portraits of this date
sometimes occur on Eubies and other hard gems, which have
little to recommend them besides the difficulty of execution,
a point utterly disregarded by a correct taste. In the same
century also, the scarcity 3 of materials affording layers of
distinct colours led to the extensive employment of shells in
which the natural strata exactly imitate the colours of the
best pieces of the Sardonyx, an art which the modern Romans
have carried to an astonishing degree of perfection. At pre-
sent the Indian conchs are used for this purpose, affording a
choice of the most beautiful strata : but the artists of the Re-
naissance were forced to content themselves with the shells of
the Mediterranean, and works of extraordinary labour and
taste for instance, a battle scene, with an infinity of figures
will be often seen thrown away upon these coarse and perish-
able materials. In the Kensington Museum are some ad-
mirable busts of the Caesars, on shell, by an artist of the
early Renaissance school. This use of shells for the making
of camei is said to have been practised by the ancients, and
specimens of such works have occasionally been brought
before me, as for instance, a head of a nymph in the Herz
Collection, said to have been found in a vase at Vulci, and
which certainly bore every appearance of true antique work.
Other examples too I have seen, 4 but with very great doubts
of their authenticity, as it seems impossible that so fragile a
substance could remain unchanged for so many ages, when
3 For the same reason we often backs, may owe this rare decoration
find camei of this date cut upon the to some artist of this period,
reverses of really antique gems, both 4 For example, a very spirited t
camei and intagli. Some of the portrait of Galba, to all appearance
scarabei, presenting masks on their an antique work.
192 AKT, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
buried in the earth. The same observation equally applies
to the camei in Turquois so frequent in collections, a stone
which loses its colour so speedily when exposed to damp.
Heads in full relief, in Amethyst, Jacinth, and Sard, are
often met with, but the same small proportion of true antiques
occurs amongst these as amongst the other classes of camei
already noticed : a fact easily accounted for when we con-
sider the facility of the execution of these works by the
modern process, and the large reward that stimulated the
artist's ingenuity to aim at a successful imitation of antique
works.
That indeed both busts and statuettes cut out of solid gems
were known to the Romans, appears from the numerous au-
thentic portraits of imperial times in this style still preserved
to us : one of the most famous of which is the bust of Tiberius
in a stone like the Turquois, now in the Florence Collection.
Pliny states that when the Topazion, or Peridot, was first
introduced into Egypt, it became at once a favorite gem ;
and a statue of Queen Arsinoe, 4 cubits high, was made out
of it (of several pieces united, no doubt), and dedicated by her
daughter Berenice within the so-called Golden Temple erected
to her memory. For this Juba was his authority, but he had
himself seen a figure of Nero in armour, 15 inches in height,
cut out of a block of Jasper ; and also statues of Augustus,
in Obsidian, an equally hard material.
I have seen a figure of Osiris in half relief, on a true Ruby,
about half an inch long, incontestably antique, and of good
Roman work. But most of the " Ruby " camei portraits of
modern times are cut in rose Garnets, and foiled up to the
proper colour. Some heads also occur cut in relief on Eme-
ralds of such great intrinsic value, that it is almost impossible
that any artist, except in the times of imperial magnificence,
would have been allowed to use so extravagant a medium
SECT. II. CAMEO-ENGRAVINGS. ]9 o
for the exhibition of his skill. There is, however, no class of
antiques on the authenticity of which it is harder to decide,
than upon these works in relief upon the harder gems.
The Odescalchi cameo now in the Vatican Cabinet, for-
merly supposed to represent Alexander and Olympia, but
according to Visconti, Ptolemy Euergetes and Berenice, is
a precious monument both for the beauty of the work and
for the great volume of the stone : but the most singular
peculiarity of this cameo is that the slab of Sardonyx upon
which it is cut is composed of several pieces united together
for the purpose, and that in order to conceal the joinings the
artist has introduced necklaces upon the necks of the two
busts.
In the chapter on Passtez, mention has been made of the
large cameo of Bonus Eventus, formed of an excellent
imitation of Lapis-lazuli. Caylus, II. LXXXL, gives a drawing
of an admirable head of Medusa, 4 by 3J inches in size, and
made of a paste subsequently worked over with the diamond
point in the same way ; and on the same plate he gives a bust
of Victory, set in a large antique ring of bronze, which he
describes as a perfect imitation of an Onyx of three strata.
Vases also were in use among the Romans, which may be
regarded as huge camei, being entirely covered with subjects
in relief, such as the famous Agate Carchesium of St. Denys,
and others still in existence formed of similar materials-
These also were imitated in paste, as the elegant vase of the
Museo Borbonico shews, which is entirely covered with a
trellis-work of vines, cut out of a delicate white layer, fused
upon a dark blue ground ; precisely in the same manner as
the famous Portland vase was supposed by Wedgwood to
have been manufactured. The mention of the latter recals
to my mind an idea that struck me in reading the minute
account of the coifer of Cypselus, given by Pausanias: in
o
194 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
which one of the compartments " represents Peleus approach-
ing Thetis, from whose hand a serpent rushes at him ; " a
description which seems to me to explain the meaning of
one of the much disputed groups upon this vase, in which a
youth is approaching a female seated on the ground, who
pushes him away with one hand, while a huge crested serpent
rises open-mouthed against him from the other. Fragments of
vases of this kind are not very rare, and all that I have seen
are executed with great taste and delicacy of finish.
A very singular kind of antique paste, something between
a mosaic and a cameo, is presented in the small pieces of the
size of ring stones, themselves imitating Lapis-lazuli, and
inlaid with a pattern of variously coloured pastes, arranged
in the form of different objects. Two in the Herz Collection
one a vine leaf, the other a parrot brought the high price
of 10 apiece, being considered unique ; one of these (the
vine leaf) or an exactly similar one, is figured by Caylus.
Here too we may appropriately notice the glass discs stuck
into the mortar when still moist, which closes up the tombs
in the Roman catacombs. These are usually called the
bottoms of drinking-glasses, but all that I have seen appear
perfect in themselves, and never to have formed a portion of
any other vessel. They contain within their substance rude
designs, often portraits of the latest emperors, surrounded by
inscriptions, the whole worked out of a stout leaf of gold laid
between two pieces of glass afterwards fused together, and
thus incorporated within their substance. It seems most
probable that they were manufactured expressly for the pur-
pose to which we find them applied, and for that alone,
namely, to serve as imperishable memorials of the date : in
the same manner as the coins deposited along with the ashes
of the deceased in earlier times.
The consideration of this, the latest era of Eoman art,
SECT. II. CAMEO-ENGRAVINGS. 195
introduces the subject of a very numerous class of camei,
apparently belonging to the same period. These are inscrip-
tions cut in relief, in Onyx or burnt Carnelian, and mostly
enclosed within a rim of the same layer that the letters are
formed of, which last are usually engraved with extreme
neatness, and of a shape greatly resembling those of the
legends on the coins of the successors of Constantine, when
a peculiarly neat compact character replaced the sprawling
open types of the previous century. Hence they may be
justly assigned to the 4th century, a date with which the
purpose of the legends is in strict accordance. Nothing
but inscriptions are to be found in this style of engravings in
relief; with one exception, an unique cameo in my posses-
sion, representing Anubis bearing the caduceus and the palm,
the well-known Gnostic device, executed in the precise
manner of these inscriptions upon a green and white Onyx,
the figure being inclosed within a border left of the upper
layer of the stone. The spelling of these legends (usually
containing nothing but a name and a good wish, as EGNA-
TINICA " Success to thee, Egnatius ! ") offers some curious
anomalies to the student of the transitional state of the Latin
language. The Greek and Latin characters are used in-
differently ; and the B replaces the v wherever the harder
sound of the letter is required, the v being at that time
always sounded as our w : thus we have VISAS LVXVRI HOMO
BONE " Long life to thee, Luxurius, thou good man ! " The
Greek legends offer perpetually instances of the so-called
Komaic pronunciation of the vowels, as XEPETE instead of
Xaigsre, " Hail "; and are often extremely hard to make out,
from this interchange of letters, their similarity of form, and
the manner in which they are run into each other. This
gave rise to a most absurd mis-translation of one in the Herz
Collection, reading STPATONIKHYTIAINE, which last word
o 2
196 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
being read MIAINOYSA, was interpreted to convey a very in-
sulting address to the lady instead of a good wish, its actual
meaning. Others of these inscriptions only give the name
and office of the owners as EPMAAI^N KAICAPOC ; and others
present maxims, one of which is of frequent occurrence, and
of which Caylus remarks that it should be taken as the motto
of every philosopher :
AEfOVCIN A EAOVCIN AETETwCAN OV MEAEI MOL
A most interesting stone of this class, the only one I have
seen in its original gold ring, and that of the smallest size,
evidently only intended for the top joint of the little finger,
bears the legend E vcEBi' 5 an( ^ ^us ma y nave been a present
to the famous chamberlain of Constantius, the persecutor at
once of the Csesar Julian and of the patriarch Athanasius.
The Byzantine period presents us with many camei, often
cut on pieces of Sardonyx of uncommon size, and of the
most beautiful colours. But as might have been expected
from the lateness of the date, the execution of the subjects
is very far from corresponding with the perfection of the
material, being rude and clumsy in the extreme, the figures
seeming to have been hewn out of the upper stratum of the
Onyx by some rude instrument ; it is possible they may have
been scraped out of the stone with a piece of emery, like the
coarser scarabs of the Etruscan period : at least, the peculiar
roughness of finish of both these classes is difficult to explain
in any other manner. The subjects are taken from scripture,
the Angelical Salutation is a very favourite one, a circum-
stance affording some clue to the time of their execution,
since the portraits of the Virgin do not appear upon the
bezants before the reign of John Zimisces, at the close of the
10th century. Had these camei been the productions of an
Mayest thou prosper, Eusebins !
SECT. II. CAMEO-ENGRAVINGS. 197
earlier age, they would have borne heads of Christ, or else
nothing but Christian symbols such as vines, doves or
lambs. I have actually met with a plasma, on which was
cut a bust of Christ, in mezzo-relievo, inscribed ic xc of very
neat work, and resembling much the portraits on the early
Byzantine aurei, beginning in the reign of Justinian Khinot-
metus, A.D. 685, the execution of which is still careful and
by no means despicable in point of art. These huge camei
.often bear long legends in ill-shaped barbarous characters,
the orthography of which is precisely that of an uneducated
Greek of the present day, such is the confusion of the vowels
and diphthongs of similar sound. Thus on one splendid Sar-
donyx of large size, we find Xeps xai x, a /" TO / XV7 ' instead of
Xai xex,aTft>//,V7), each mode of spelling having exactly the
same pronunciation at that time as at present in the spoken
language.
Agate vases, or as they may be called cameo vases, being
of such great rarity, it may be allowed me here to return to
the subject in order to mention one described by Caylus ; II.,
LXXXVI. This was a vase cut out of an Agate of three strata,
3 inches high by 2 inches wide, in form much like the Portland,
but tapering more towards the bottom. The subjects upon it
were Apollo and Diana, Cupid and Psyche, and a group of
small cupids, some chasing butterflies, others riding through
the air in cars drawn by them. This beautiful example of the
art had been sold shortly before (1754) for a small price, at
an auction of the refuse of the Eoyal Garde Mobile. When
described by Peiresc, a century before, it was mounted in an
elaborate Cinque-Cento setting of gold, enriched with precious
stones, shewing the high estimation in which it had been
held by its first possessor at that period, probably Francois I.
The want of taste, or the avarice of the age of Louis XV.,
ha/I stripped off the precious casing, but sold the far more
198 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. IT.
valuable Agate as a piece of rubbish. Besides vases and
bas-reliefs in ivory of the earliest date, we have also many
true camei in this substance, or small medallions bearing
heads in low relief on one side, and on the other numerals
or letters : these were tickets for admission to places of
amusement, or to entitle the bearer to certain largesses given
by the emperor on days of rejoicing, as Martial :
" Nunc dat spectatas tessara longa feras."
And others may have been tessarae hospitales, or equivalents
to letters of introduction for the use of travellers. As might
be expected, these small relics are much decayed by time
and are liable to fall to pieces when dried after their dis-
covery : it has, however, been found that they may be pre-
served from this danger by saturating them for some time
in a hot solution of glue, and thus restoring to the pores of
the ivory the due proportion of gelatine extracted from them
by time.
Camei of barbarian origin are, as might be expected, very
rare. I have, however, met with a few of apparently indu-
bitable antiquity. One was a finely-executed Brahminee
bull on Onyx, the figure white upon a transparent ground.
The work was evidently Greek, not Hindoo, and therefore
must have belonged to the period of the Macedonian kings
of Bactria, on whose copper coinage this type sometimes
appears. This cameo had been brought from India, but I
could not ascertain the name of the locality where dis-
covered. Another Indian cameo of antique workmanship
was a front face of Buddha, of rude, bold work, on a brown
and white Sardonyx of considerable size. But the most
curious of all the examples of this style was a crouching
lion, of early Persian work, extremely stiff and archaic in
execution, as if the engraver had possessed but little power
SECT. II. CAMEO-ENGRAVINGS. 199
to carry out his conception upon the hard gem, a large
Oriental Onyx of three strata and of the finest quality.
Amongst the Pulsky carnei is a fragment of a large one
representing a king, in the costume of the Sassanian monarchs,
engaged in combat with an animal, the figure of which has
been broken off. The king's head is encircled by the dia-
dem, terminating in broad flowing ribands so conspicuous
in the rock-sculptures commemorative of Sapor I. The work
of this cameo is truly excellent and equal to that of the
best imperial times of Eome, and far superior to the con-
temporary Roman engravings ; indeed, were it not for the
costume of the principal figure, one would be disposed to
refer it to a much earlier date. It, however, affords another
proof of the statement, before advanced, of the wonderful
revival of the arts under the restored Persian dynasty, and
was doubtless the chef-d'oeuvre of some Asiatic Greek patron-
ized by Sapor. This composition, agreeably to the Roman
style of late times, is inclosed within a border left from the
upper layer of the stone, a fine Oriental Onyx.
Together with the two Indian gems above described, and
said to have come also from Cabul, was a cameo on Sardonyx,
Victory in a car, bold and vigorous in treatment, though by no
means minutely finished, and showing every mark of an early
Greek origin a singular testimony to the diffusion of Hellenic
art throughout the northern districts of India. The projecting
portions of the design were much worn down and flattened
by friction, perhaps among the gravel in the bed of some
watercourse whence it had been rescued by the recent dis-
coverer. The composition of the design bore a striking
resemblance to the reverses of the Sicilian tetradrachms.
But the most interesting Oriental Cameo, though of a
much later date, that has ever fallen under my notice was
one in the Webb Collection sold by Christie and Manson
200
ART, STYLES OF.
(1854). It was not, indeed, of ancient times, for the subject
was Shah Jehan slaying a tiger that had killed one of his
attendants, whose corpse lay upon the ground ; the history
of the event, in Persian characters, occupied the field of
the cameo. The style of the engraving was purely Oriental,
although one would rather have expected such a work to
have displayed something of the Italian taste, in consequence
of the constant patronage shown by the Mogul's court to
the jewellers and lapidaries of that nation. The stone a
splendid Onyx of the clearest colours was also of great
size, about three inches in diameter, through which it had
been pierced with a fine hole for the purpose of sewing it
upon the dress, after the manner used by the Komans.
Ceres, with name of artist Aulu
ry poi trait. Antique Pasto.
NAMES OF AKTISTS ON GEMS.
In all the collections of Europe taken together, there are
certainly not a hundred 6 gems inscribed with the genuine
6 Koehler boldly asserts that there
exist but four gems bearing the in-
dubitable signature of the engravers ;
but his distinctions are so arbitrary
that his dictum may be regarded
as a mere German paradox. An
archaeologist, however, of the great-
est experience, and who has paid
especial attention to this particular
question, by the collection of the
casts and the study of the originals
of all the known signed gems, is of
opinion that the number may be
extended to sixty. The rules which
he had laid down to himself for
establishing the reality of these sig-
natures, to my great satisfaction,
exactly coincided with those already
written by me in the following
article.
SECT. II.
NAMES OF ARTISTS ON GEMS.
'Ml
name of the artist who engraved them. And these authentic
signatures are usually distinguished by this peculiarity, that
they are placed at the side of the design, and engraved in
minute but elegant Greek characters. Many antique stones
also occur in which these names have been added by a
modern hand in order to augment the value of the gem;
but these forged names can generally be detected by their
great inferiority in neatness of execution to the genuine.
The ancient artist evidently attempted to distinguish his
own signature, both by its position and by the miniature size
of the letters, from the common inscriptions so abundant
upon intagli, especially those of Koman times, which consist of
the initials or the name of the owner, and sometimes that of
the town of his domicile ; or, still more frequently, invoca-
tions to the deities whose figures are represented upon the
stone.
Signet of Rufina. Bed Jasper.
Grylhis: signet of Titinius. Obsidi;
The legends occasionally seen on Etruscan intagli, and
which add considerably to their value, are the names of the
gods or heroes engraved upon them, according to the usual
practice of that people in their other works of art, as on
painted vases and the backs of their metallic mirrors. The
Greeks, on the contrary, with their usual good taste, never
impaired the effect of the design by an explanatory inscrip-
tion: all that they allowed themselves, and that but very
rarely, was to hand down the artist's name in the most
modest and unpretending manner possible.
202
ART, STYLES OF.
SECT. II.
The subject of artists' names on gems unavoidably recals
to one's mind the Poniatowsky Collection, where each stone
bears engraved upon it the name of some celebrated artist
of antiquity Pyrgoteles, Dioscorides, Cronius, Solon, Aulus,
Admon, Gams, &c. These gems are of large dimensions, often
of fine quality, and engraved with mythological subjects, for
the most part executed with much taste, but frequently also
displaying a good deal of the flighty Berninesque manner of the
Neptune : Poniatowsky gem. Amethyst.
Inscribed Etruscan Gem
last century in the attitudes of the figures and in the treatment
of the drapery. The heads and the single figures are by far the
most pleasing in the series, and approach the nearest to the true
antique. These gems were all executed for Prince Poniatowsky
(d. at Florence, 1833) by the best Eoman artists of the past
age, Cerbara, Girometti, Pichler, &c., and the inscriptions,
Avhich are masterpieces in this very difficult branch of the
art, are from the hand of Dies, who took upon himself this
department alone. Had these clever engravers put their
own names upon their productions, instead of forging those
of ancient artists, these masterpieces of their skill would have
increased in value with every passing century: whereas at
present, they are looked upon as worthless, are sold for
SECT. II. NAMES OF ARTISTS ON GEMS. 203
merely the value of their gold mountings to those persons
who understand gems, and fill the show-cases of every curi-
osity dealer in London, who often succeed in passing them
off upon " country collectors " as the genuine works of the
artists whose names they bear. As a proof of the little
value in which they are now held, I may state that, at the
sale of Lord Monson's Collection, consisting of 154 of the
best of these gems, they went at prices ranging from 25s.
to 30s. each, though many of them were cut on the finest
Amethysts and Sards and mounted in elaborate gold frames
of very elegant designs. Knowing all this, we cannot but
be amused at the blind faith of the person who last year
(1858) took the trouble to publish an elaborate and expen-
sive account of these all but worthless forgeries, illustrated
with admirably-executed photographs of the most curious,
and this evidently under the full conviction, as appears from
his preface, that they are all the genuine productions of
those celebrated ancients whose names appear so conspicu-
ously upon them. How the Prince himself could have con-
ceived so absurd an idea as the formation of this series, and
have wasted so large a sum in the carrying out of his ridi-
culous project, is very difficult to imagine, since he had inhe-
rited from his uncle, the last king of Poland, Stanislaus, a
splendid cabinet of true antique gems, the possession of
which ought to have inspired him with better taste. 7
7 The gem of the original col- the Due de Blacas. The stone, a
lection was the famous Helmet, Sardonyx of considerable size, { by
which merits a detailed description, | inch, is of most singular quality :
both on account of its extraordinary the upper layer being an opaque
beauty, and from its having fetched red Jasper ; the under, a transparent
at its last sale, February, 1859, the greenish Calcedony or Plasma. The
largest sum (89Z.) ever obtained for intaglio, deeply cut, is a Greek hel-
an intaglio at a London auction, met, with flowing crest of horse-
though it is said that Herz had hair; but the crown is unusually
refused an offer for it of 1501. from spherical. This is ornamented with
204 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
This original cabinet numbered, when catalogued by Vis-
conti, no more than 154 gems, including a few splendid
camei. The intagli were all of the finest character. Amongst
them was the masterpiece of Dioscorides, the bust of lo, a
three-quarter face, with small budding horns on the temples,
and very deeply cut in a most splendid Sard; the eagle's
head, inscribed Mie, and hence ascribed to the collection of
King Mithridates; the antique paste, a portrait of Nico-
medes IV., with the name of the artist Pergamus ; and the
famous helmet described below in detail. This last, I am
informed, is of larger dimensions than that of Stosch on the
same peculiar Jasper-plasma, now in the Berlin Cabinet, as
well as somewhat more elaborate in the ornamentation. It
was the Prince, the last possessor, who, by adding to these
genuine treasures so many absurd forgeries, brought it up to
the vast number of 3000 in all ; and thereby so discredited
the whole cabinet that, when it was brought to the hammer
in London, about thirty years ago, even the established repu-
tation of the lo was not proof against the suspicion excited
by the bad company amongst which she appeared, so that
this matchless gem was actually knocked down for 17?.,
the figure of Bellerophon on Pegasus, presentations, for the Herz Collec-
attended by his dog, and spearing tion also boasted another gem of the
the Chimera represented on the same curious material, but engraved
cheek-piece beneath : all, though on with a tall Corinthian crater ; its
so minute a scale, miracles of art, surface decorated with Bacchic sub-
both in design and execution. The jects, almost equal in finish and
flowing crest of horse-hair is care- delicacy to the work of this helmet,
fully and naturally rendered by Curiously enough Winckelman re-
means of the diamond-point alone, marks that the helmets and vases
Winckelman describes one of Stosch's of this description, executed in imi-
gems, almost identical with this, tation of Corinthian bronze-work,
both as to the nature of the stone occurring in the Stosch Collection,
and of the subject engraved on it. are all very highly and carefully
This peculiar variety of Sardonyx finished, and to be numbered amongst
seems to have been a favourite of the choicest treasures therein pre-
the ancient engravers for such re- served.
SECT. II. NAMES OF ARTISTS ON GEMS. 205
although in the previous century it would have commanded,
if sold singly, fully 1000?., a sum paid for other works made
valuable by the artists' names, yet falling far short of this
both in artistic and historical value.
The only gem-engravers mentioned by name in Pliny's
account of the art are Pyrgoteles, Apollonides, Cronius, and
Dioscorides : nor doa ny others, to my knowledge, occur in any
ancient author. But their own works have preserved to us a
somewhat copious list of names, which, together with the sub-
jects they accompany, will be found annexed to this article.
An early and therefore interesting notice of the first
artists of the Renaissance is given by Camillo Leonardo, in
the year 1502, and therefore but a short time after the art
had been revived in Italy. Nevertheless, he speaks of their
works as already diffused over the whole of that country,
and not to be distinguished from the antique ; and affirms
that the following gem-engravers, his contemporaries, were
equal in merit to any of ancient times : in Home, Giovanni
Maria da Mantova; at Venice, Francesco Nichini da Fer-
rara ; at Genova, Jacopo Tagliacarne ; at Milan, Leonardo
da Milano ; " Who sink figures in gems with such accuracy
and neatness that nothing can be added or taken away
therefrom." He adds that an art then flourished, altogether
unknown to the ancients, that of Niello in silver, in which
he praises as a most distinguished worker Giovanni, sur-
named Frazza, of Bologna. Vasari, writing in 1550, himself
the contemporary of all the best artists of the Cinque-Cento
period, names with commendation Giovanni del Castel Bolog-
nese, who cut intagli in rock-crystal, especially a Tityus and
a Ganymede, for the Cardinal Ippolito dei Medici. Valerio
Belli, II Vicentino, was a famous engraver, as was also his
daughter: he died in 1546, and therefore could not have
executed the portraits of Queen Elizabeth (1558) so often
206
AET, STYLES OF.
ascribed to him. 8 Luigi Anichini of Ferrara was distin-
guished for the fine engraving and exquisite finish of his
intagli. Alessandro Cesati, II Greco, " surpassed all his age
in the drawing, gracefulness, and excellence of his works,
and left behind him camei and intagli of the greatest merit
and w diversity." In the Pulsky Collection is a spirited por-
trait of Pope Paul III., ascribed to this artist, and cut on a
large and beautiful Sapphire, a most admirable specimen of
his skill. It has been asserted with some plausibility that
certain supposed antiques, inscribed KOINTOS AAESA, are in
reality works of this artist.
Hercules and Antaeus: Cinque-Cenco Sard.
COIN-DIES.
That the dies for the coinage of the Greeks and Eomans were
cut by the artists who also engraved the gems of the same
period is evident from the identity of treatment of the heads
and subjects occurring in each of these classes. Some sin-
gular instances in confirmation of this opinion have come
under my notice. Thus, a Sard surrounded with an Etruscan
border, bears engraved upon it a cow looking backwards,
precisely similar to the curious representation of the same
8 These are usually the works of Coldord, the proteye of Henri IV.
SECT. II. COIN-DIES. 207
animal on the silver of Sybaris, which might well be mis-
taken for an antelope. Another Sard with a figure of
Abundantia was the exact counterpart in its minutest details
of the reverse of a denarius of Hadrian in my possession. 9 If
we compare the numerous intagli of Minerva, so abundant
in all collections formed in Italy, we shall be struck by the
similarity of their execution, in numerous instances, to the
reverses of the coinage of Domitian, who regarded this god-
dess as his patroness, a circumstance which, no doubt, made
her the fashionable subject for signets during all the space
of his long reign. On many Greek coins, especially those of
Sicily and Magna Grecia, names are found engraved in a
small character on the accessaries of the subject, such as the
fillet or the helmet of the head of the deity on the obverse,
and occasionally on a small tablet, as sometimes on gems.
These are supposed, with considerable certainty, to be the
names of the engravers of the dies, a theory strongly sup-
ported by the inscription in full NEYANTOSEHOIEI on the
medals of Cydonia in Crete. Nothing of this kind is met
with in the Roman series, when such a liberty would not
have been allowed to the engravers, who were then the slaves
attached to the Quaestor or Triumviri Monetales; but I
fancy I have discovered an ingenious device employed by
them for recording their names in the symbols so often seen
in the field of the consular denarii. It will be found on
examination that the symbol on the reverse has always a
certain connexion with that on the obverse of the coin : thus,
on a denarius of the family Papia, one is the petasus, the
other the harpe of Perseus; on another the obverse gives
two horns conjoined in the form of a crescent, the reverse
9 A head of Commodus, on a gem the same engraver who cut the die
in the Mertens-Schaafhausen Collec- for a denarius of that prince, in my
tion, is also evidently the work of Collection.
208 ART, STYLES OF SECT. II.
bearing a myrtle wreath, both common Bacchic emblems ;
from which one might hazard a conjecture that the engraver
of the first die was named Perseus, of the second Dionysius
for it must be remembered that at Rome all artists were
Greeks or of Greek extraction, slaves or freedmen. We
have a corroboration of this theory in the case named
by Pliny, of Sauros and Batrachos introducing the rebus of
their names, the " lizard " and the " frog," in the capitals of
the pillars sculptured by them in the reign of Augustus, im-
mediately after the cessation of the issue of the consular
mintage. On the denarii of certain families, as the Papia
and Roscia, these twin-symbols are extremely numerous,
indicating, like the numerals which take their place on the
mintage of other families (as the Baebia), the enormous
number of dies used up in the issue of the silver currency
while the Quaestor of that particular name was in office as
Master of the Mint.
How the ancient coin-dies were supplied in sufficient num-
bers to meet the requirements of an extensive commerce,
which employed an exclusively metallic currency, is a point
the explanation of which is a problem still unsolved. The
difficulty is increased when we consider the high relief of the
types on the larger coins, such as the didrachms and tetra-
drachms of the Greek series. 10 And it should be remembered
that, in the present day, the making the die for a crown-piece
(no larger than the latter) is the work $ six months. Some
suppose that the plan was adopted of cutting a punch in
relief, and with this stamping dies in bronze in any number
required (the modern practice) ; but a fatal objection to
this explanation is, that then, as now, every issue of coins
would have produced every piece absolutely identical with
10 Besides still larger pieces, as the and the gold octodrachms of the
Syracusian Medallion, a decadrachm, Ptolemies.
. II. COIN-DIES. 209
the rest, whereas, no two ancient coins, though of the same
year, are ever found exactly alike thus proving the enormous
quantities of dies employed at every mintage. Pistrucci
believed that he had found out the secret by obtaining cast-
iron dies directly from his models : and certainly there is a
soft and flowing outline to the types of the large Greek
pieces, scarcely to be attributed to the impression of a cut
metal stamp. Again, to have engraved by hand dies suffi-
cient for the coinage _of such cities as Athens, Corinth, or
Velia, which still exist in endless quantities not to speak
of that of Philip, and still more of Alexander, which supplied
the currency of the whole civilised world, and when we
consider the constant breakage of the dies so tedious a
mode of multiplying the stamps must have required such an
army of die-sinkers, and such an amount of artistic skill
amongst them, as it is scarcely credible ^could have been
furnished even in the most flourishing times of Greece and
Asia. The dies made of mixed metal, occasionally discovered,
certainly corroborate the theory of Pistrucci: these might
have been easily cast upon a proper sand-mould and com-
pleted by the graver in a very short space of time. In the'
Meyer Collection is a die of mixed metal for the reverse of the
gold octadrachm of Berenice (if genuine) : it is well preserved,
and still shows traces of the hammer upon its back. Caylus
figures a similar die for the obverse of a medal of Augustus,
found at Aries. How dies in this soft composition were
able to resist the blows of the hammer required to bring up
the impression upon these large pieces of metal is quite a
mystery. Some suppose that the blanks were struck when
red-hot, but in this case the heat must soon have softened
the fusible metal of the dies themselves, and have speedily
destroyed them. The true solution of the difficulty seems to
be that the blanks of pure metal cast in a spherical form
p
210 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
to assist the receiving the type were struck when cold ; the
gold and silver being without alloy would yield to the die
almost as readily as pewter, and the minters did not care
for the destruction of the dies, which they had some method
of reproducing without great delay or expense a sufficient
explanation of the vast number of dies which, we have
already observed, can be proved to have been used in one
and the same issue of denarii. It is, however, strange that,
if the dies were commonly made of an indestructible metal
like the composition described, so few of them should have
come down to our times : perhaps they were always care-
fully destroyed when worn out, to prevent their being used
by forgers. Of the Roman period a few iron dies have been
preserved, but no one has ever disputed their employment
at that late period, and the infinite numbers of them used in
the coinage of the Empire would, in a few years, be converted
into undistinguishable masses of rust. But even then a more
expeditious mode of producing the species of currency most
in demand was resorted to ; for the great proportion of the
base silver of the Middle Empire was all cast in clay moulds,
quantities of which have been discovered in the ruins of a
Roman mint at Lyons, as well as in diiferent localities in
this country and in France, some of which are described by
Caylus. These, therefore, could not have been, as at first
supposed, the unauthorised implements of native forgers, but
an expeditious mode made use of by the mint itself to mul-
tiply a debased currency.
Di-dracbm of Caulon
SHOT. II. NAMES OF ANCIENT GEM ENGRAVERS.
211
Maecenas, by Apollonius. Jacinth
NAMES OF ANCIENT GEM ENGKAVERS
OCCURRING ON THEIR BEST AUTHENTICATED WORKS, AND THE COLLECTIONS
WHERE THEY EXIST AT PRESENT. 1
Extracted chiefly from the 'Catalogue des Artistes de 1'AntiquiteY par le Comte do Clarac.
1849. Paris. With Remarks and Corrections.
V
ADMON (AAMN). Cameo profile of Augustus. Blacas Collection.
Hercules drinking. Sard. Marl/borough.
Head of Hercules advanced in life. Smith.
Hercules Musagetes. Poniatowsky.
Hercules seated, a cow by his side. Antique paste. Raspe.
Vulcan forging armour for a youth seated l~>y a veiled
female ; probably a work of Natter's.
A ELI us (AEAIO2 and AIAIOS). Head of Tiberius, front-face. Sard.
Corsini Coll.
Head of Homer. Nicolo. The Hague.
Portrait unknown. Marlborough.
AEPOLIAN (AEPOAIANI). Head of M. Aurelius. Antique paste.
Stosch.
Bacchante. Sard. Probably the owner's name.
AETION (AETIwNOC). Head of Priam. Sard. Devonshire Coll.
Bacchanalia ; nine rustics sacrificing. Probably by Dormes.
Mercury bearded. Sard. Petree Coll.
All, not otherwise specified, are intagli.
p 2
212 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
AGATHANGELUS. Head of Sextus Pompeius. Sard. Stosch. Spelt
AFAGANrEAOY, but the gem is suspected.
AGATHKMERUS. Head of Socrates. Sard. Blacas Coll.
AGATHON. Bacchus. Beryl. Algernon Percy.
AGATHOPUS. Head of Sextus Pompeius. Beryl. Florence.
Elephant's Head. Stosch.
Two hands joined. Stosch. Sard.
ALBIUS. Head of Caligula. Sard. Barbarini.
ALEXA. Bull. Sard. Berlin.
ALEXA, AULUS. Paste. Barbarini.
ALEXA, QUIXTUS. Cameo fragment. Legs of a warrior. Florence.
N.B. All these are supposed to be works of Alessandro
Cesati il Greco.
ALEXANDER. Cameo. Cupid taming a lion. On one side Venus,
on the other a Bacchante. Morpeth.
Cameo. Head of Drusus. Also assigned to Alessandro Cesati.
ALLION (AAAION and AAAYQN). Head of Apollo laureated. Sard.
Florence.
Cameo. Head of Apollo. Easpe.
Bacchante seated on the lap of a faun sacrificing to Priapus,
a satyr plays the flute. Calcedony. Besborough.
Unknown Eoman bust. Easpe.
Muse. Sard. Strozzi.
Some assert this name to be the signature of Gio. Mar.
da Pescia.
Bull butting. Onyx. Thorns.
Head of Ulysses, front-face. Sard. Hamilton.
Venus Marina holding a sea-horse. Sard. Fermiani.
Nessus and Deianira. Lippert.
ALPHEUS and ARETHON. Cameo. Head of the young Caligula.
Azaincourt.
Cameo. Germanicus and Agrippina. This used to be shown
at the Abbey St. Germain des Pres as the betrothal ring of
the Virgin Mary : it was stolen with the other treasures in
1795 when the abbey was burnt down, and subsequently
sold to the Eussian General Hydrow.
ALPHEUS alone. Ajax seated on a rock. Sard.
Dying Warrior. Cameo. Derring.
SECT. II. NAMES OF ANCIENT GEM ENGBAVEBS. 213
Barbarian king in a biga. Cameo. Albani.
Venus and Cupid drawing a butterfly out of a well. Cameo.
Venuti.
AMMONIUS. Head of Laughing Faun. Jacinth. British Museum.
AMPHOTERUS. Head of youth with a fillet. Black Jasper.
Blacas. Supposed to be the head of Ehetemalces II.
AMARANTHUS. Hercules driving away the Stymphalian birds.
Sard. Praun. (Not now in that Collection.)
ANTEROS. Hercules carrying a bull. Sard. Devonshire.
A symbolic group. Sard. Lessing. (Merely the owner's
name.)
ANTIOCHUS. Head of Pallas helmeted. Sard. Andreini.
Cupid bending his bow ; in front a butterfly. Int. Sard.
Easpe.
Bonus Eventus. Ked Jasper. M'Gowan.
APELLES. Mask. Sard. Jablonowski.
APOLLODOTUS. Bust of Pallas armed. Sard. Barbarini.
The Dying Orthryades, near him two warriors. Sard.
Lucatelli.
APOLLONIDES. Cameo fragment of a cow lying down. Sold by
Stosch to the Duke of Devonshire for 1000 guineas.
Ox grazing. Amethyst. Easpe.
Cow lying down, as in the cameo. Sard. Hague.
Mask. Garnet. Berlin.
APOLLONIUS. Diana leaning against a pillar ; a rock in the back-
ground. Amethyst. Naples.
Head of Maecenas. Jacinth. Bhodes.
AQUILAS. Venus bathing, Cupid by her. Easpe.
A horse. Stosch. The name spelt AKYIAOV.
ARCHION. APXIONOC on the robe of Venus Marina carried by a
Triton. Sard. Hague.
ASPASIUS. Head of Indian Bacchus. Eed Jasper. Worsley. (A
copy is in the British Museum.)
Head of Junius Brutus. Easpe.
Head of Agrippina the Elder as Ceres, crowned with wheat
ears. Beryl. Marlborough. Perhaps a work of Natter,
or Flavio Sirletti.
Head of Jupiter fragment. Eed Jasper. Florence.
214 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
Juno standing, at her feet a peacock.
Head of the City of Antioch, Worsley.
Head of Pallas, in a highly ornamented helmet. Bed
Jasper. Vienna. Many copies of this hy Natter are
known with his signature upon them.
ASPUS. Centaur carrying off a Bacchante. Amethyst. Thorns.
ATHENION. Jupiter in his car throwing his bolts at two giants
with serpent legs. Cameo. Naples. Antique copy of
this. Webb.
Female head. Amethyst. Lippert.
AULUS. Cupid nailing a butterfly to the trunk of a tree. Sard.
Thorns.
Cupid in fetters leaning on a hoe. Cameo. Bareuth.
Cupid chained before a trophy. Sard. Carlisle.
Cupid holding a cornucopia. Calcedony. Easpe.
Head of the young Augustus. Sard. Lippert.
Horseman in armour. Sard. Florence.
Fore part of a horse. Garnet. Caylus.
Diana or Amazon. Sard. Buoncompagni.
Esculapius bust: the name in a tablet. Sard. Strozzi. (His
finest work, of which innumerable copies, some antique,
are extant.
Head of Faun front face. Sard. Jenkins.
Female pouring a libation. Stosch.
Head of Hercules. Sard. Northumberland.
Youthful head. Cameo. Collegio Eomano.
Lion devouring a horse. Green Jasper. Meghan.
Mercury holding a ram's head. Sard. Easpe.
Head of Sextus Pompeius.
Head of Ptolemy Philopator or of Abdolonymus in front a
bull's head ; behind, an old man with a staff. Sard.
Bibliotheque, Paris.
Quadriga. Sard. Carlisle.
Venus seated on a rock balancing a stick, at which a little
Cupid catches. Agate. Vettori, afterwards Jenkins the
banker. (This name has beyond all others been made use
of by modern artists. Natter confesses that he put it upon
a copy of the Venus Vettori, of which he made a Danae.)
SECT. II. NAMES OF ANCIENT GEM ENGRAVERS. 215
The following gems are also attributed to Aulus :
Cupid liolding a butterfly. Jacinth. The Hague.
Head of Ceres. Sard. Marquis de Dree.
Faun's head. Nicolo. Beck.
Head of Laocoon. Bibliotheque Royale.
Lion seizing a stag. Red Jasper. Lord Meghan.
Head of Maecenas. Sard. Lord Greville.
Mercury carrying the infant Bacchus. Jacinth. The
Hague.
Pan and Olympus. Sard of three layers. Beck.
Sacrifice to Venus : three females, a man, and a satyr, per-
haps of the 16th century.
AXEOCHUS. Faun playing the lyre, Cupid with a thyrsus, be-
tween them an altar on which is a crescent. Stosch.
Head of youthful Hercules. Sard. Cheroffini.
Perseus carrying the Medusa's head, has on his buckler
this name ASEOX Stosch.
Bacchante. Paste. De Thorns.
Hercules, Mercury, Yulcan. Sard. Count AYackerbarth.
BEISITALAS. Cupid leaning on a spear, his legs crossed. Agate.
Florence.
BOETHUS. Philoctetes reclining and driving oft' the flies from
his wounded foot with a wing. Cameo. Milliotti.
CAESILAX. Minerva seated. Sardonyx. Constable.
CAIUS or GAIUS. Head of a dog, perhaps of Sirius, full face ;
very deeply cut in a Siriam Garnet. Marlborough.
Raspe calls this a work of Natter's.
Silenus seated playing on the double flute. Jacinth. Baron
Roger.
Bust of a girl, her finger on her lips. Sard. Same collection.
CALLIMORPHUS. Thalia standing : a mask in one hand, a thyrsus
in the other. Sard. Florence.
CARPUS. Bacchus and Ariadne on a lioness bound with wreaths.
Red Jasper. Florence.
Drunken faun dancing. Antique paste. Count de Thorns.
Heads of Hercules and lole. Calcedony. Florence, per-
haps of the 16th century.
Perseus liolding the Medusa's head and the harpe. liaspe.
216 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
CHAEREMON. Conqueror in the games. Burnt Sard. Of the
Lower Empire. Raspe.
CLASSICUS. Serapis seated. Sard. Crozat.
CLEON. Apollo Citharedus, behind him a tripod and altar, in
front a helmet. Gori, once belonged to Andreini.
CNEIUS or GNAEUS. Head of Antinotis. Raspe.
Victorious Athlete rubbing himself with oil, by his side a
table, with a vase and palm branch. Beryl. Lord Dun-
cannon.
Same subject. Isicolo. Bibliotheque Royale.
Young Athlete holding a strigil. Sard. Rendorp.
Head of Brutus. Sard. Cavaliere d'Azara.
Diomed naked, armed with sword and shield, the Pal-
ladium on a cippus by him : he is seated on the ground,
his mantle thrown over his arm. Sard. Denham.
Fragment of a horse the head only.
Head of a goddess, sometimes called Sappho and Cleopatra.
Sard. Collegio Romano.
Head of the young Hercules. Beryl. Strozzi.
Head of Melpomene and a tragic mask. Turbie.
Head of Mercury. Abbe Pullini. Torino.
Head of Theseus, covered with a bull's hide. The name
said to be added by Pichler. Rendorp, Amsterdam.
COENUS and QUINTUS ; reading KOINOY and KOINTOY.
Adonis nude, holding a javelin and leaning on a cippus ;
a hound by him. Onyx. Prince Lichtenstein.
Head of Augustus. Raspe.
Faun celebrating the bacchanalia : vase in one hand, thyrsus
in the other, leopard's skin on arm. Nicolo. Extremely
delicate work ; letters very faint. L. Natter.
Figure of Pythagoras. Sard. Salinis.
CRATEKUS. Diana of Ephesus. Sard. Stosch.
CRESCESS (KPHCKHC). Harp-player. Sard. Poniatowsky.
CRONIUS. Terpsichore doubtful. Andreini. Figure standing,
holding a lyre, leaning against a square cippus on which
is a statue of Hercules ; but the work appears too late foi
the age of Cronius.
Perseus. Sard. Devonshire.
SECT. II, NAMES OF ANCIENT GEM ENGRAVERS. 217
DALIOX. Nymph seated on a sea-horse, with two dolphins.
Amethyst. The Hague. This name is probably ALLION
mis-read.
DAROX. A Janus. Sard. Crozat.
DEMETRIUS. Hercules strangling the Nemean lion. Sard.
Marquis de Dree.
A bull. Sard. Baron von Schellersheim.
DEUTON. Four cars racing. Ant. Paste. Stosch.
DIOCLES. Head of a young Faun. Jasper. Berlin.
DIONYSIUS. Head of a Bacchante. De Murr.
DIOSCOURIDES. Head of Jo : three-quarter face, fillet round the
hair, a necklace of two rows. Sard, deep intaglio.
Poniatowsky. 2
Mercury Criophorus : naked and wingless figure leaning
against a column, and holding a ram's head in his hand.
Sard. Devonshire.
Mercury on a journey, with petasus, caduceus and mantle.
Sard. Lord Holderness.
Perseus resting his hand on a shield witfe a Medusa's head,
and holding a sword. Sard. Naples.
Diomede, Master of the Palladium. Sard, in flat relief.
Devonshire.
Diomede carrying off the Palladium. Sard cracked. The
Hague.
Head of Demosthenes, front face. Amethyst, deep intaglio.
Ludovisi.
Head of Augustus ; a star in the field. Amethyst, perhaps
by Sirletti. Blacas.
Bust of Augustus, with the Paludamenturn. Amethyst. Thorns.
Head of Maecenas, formerly called that of Solon. Amethyst.
Bibliotheque Royale.
The following are also attributed to Dioscorides :
Head of Augustiis laureated. Cameo. Hamilton.
Bacchus drunken, riding on a panther, with cantharus and
thyrsus. Cades.
2 I have seen a most admirable copy of this head by Pichler, once
belonging to Beckford.
218 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
Head of Caligula. Cameo. Walmodeu.
Muse. Sard. Fulsky.
Head of Julius Csesar, front face, and lituus. Sard. British
Museum.
Giant with serpent legs. Beryl. Blacas.
Hercules chaining Cerberus. Canieo. Berlin.
Hermaphroditus reclining ; a Cupid playing the lyre ;
another the flute ; a third holds a flambeau. Amethyst
Zanetti.
Head of a girl. Topaz. Marlborough.
Bust of Serapis. Garnet. Caylus.
Silenus and a young faun playing the double flute. Very
fine Sard. Naples.
Thalia holding a mask. Sard. Blacas.
Head of Sol radiated, front face ; presented to Colbert by
the Chapter of Figeac. Sard " as largo as a 30-sous
piece."
Natter and Torricelli have copied all the best works of this
artist, some of them repeatedly.
EPITYNCHANUS. Portrait of Germanicus or Marcellus. Sard.
Blacas.
Tiiumph of Venus and Cupid. Easpe.
Mercury seated on an eagle. Easpe.
Bellerophon on Pegasus. Sard. Azara.
EROPHILUS. Head of Augustus. Cameo, Green Jasper found at
Treves:.
EUELPISTUS. Chimera of two heads, and an elephant's trunk
holding a caduceus.
Nemesis. Sard. Grivaud.
EUTHUS. Silenus seated on the ground ; in front are two cupids,
one playing the lyre, the other the syrinx. Cameo.
Altieri.
EUTYCHES, son of Dioscourides written
GYTYXHC AIOCKOYPIAOV AireiAIOC En.
Bust of Pallas, front face, holding her robe on the breast.
Pale Amethyst, deep intaglio. Marlborough or Scheller-
sheim.
SECT. II. NAMES OF ANCIENT GEM ENGRAVERS. IMO
Phoebus in his car. Onyx. The Hague.
Head of a young Eomaii. Calcedony.
Minerva putting her vote in the urn at the trial of Orestes.
Eckhel.
EUHEMERUS. Eoman emperor in a cuirass. Sard. Landgraf
von Hesse.
EVODUS. Head of Julia Titi, with diadem, curled hair, necklace,
earrings. Beryl or pale Sapphire, of extraordinary mag-
nitude. Bibliotheque Royale.
Horse's head. Sard. Baron Eoger.
Bust of a Muse, the head bound with a fillet half length.
Lippert.
FELIX, freedman of Calpurnius Severus. Diomede and Ulysses
carrying off the Palladium. Sard. Maryborough.
Centaur carrying two baskets. Sard. Odescalchi.
Victory naked slaughtering a bull. Easpe.
Head of Mercury. Bed Jasper. Bibliotheque Eoyale.
GAMUS. Hope. Emerald. Kestner.
G-AURAMUS AXICETUS. Combat between a dog and wild boar.
Bloodstone. St. Aignan. The name may be that of the dog.
GLYCON. Venus riding on a sea-bull, surrounded by cupids.
Sard. Bibliotheque Eoyale.
HEIUS. Diana the huntress, in a stiff archaic style, holding a
stag by the horn, bow in left hand. Sard. Stosch. 3
Dying Amazon. Sard. Easpe.
Head of a youth, with curly hair, and tied with a fillet.
Sard. Lord Greville.
Minerva with a diadem. Kicolo. Easpe.
Ulysses and Diomede killing Dolon. Blacas.
HELLEN T . Bust of Antinous as Harpocrates, breast partly covered
by the robe. Sard. Stosch.
Comic mask. Blacas.
Full face of young faun. E AAHN O V, doubtless name of owner.
Berlin. 4
3 This is supposed to be the most inscribed EAAHN in very minute
ancient gem known, bearing the art- characters. Pale Ruby. L. Foulcl,
ist's name. formerly Boocke.
4 Head of a Bacchante, front-face,
220 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
HERDS. Shepherd leaning on his crook. Borgia.
HOROS. Head of Tiberius. Abbe Pullini.
Silemis. Gori.
EYDRUS. Paris. This name was assumed by Natter as the Greek
form of his own German apellation, which means a water
snake.
HYLLUS. The Bacchic bull, girt with ivy, above him a thyrsus.
Calcedony. Stosch. The work of the bull similar to
that on the medals of Sybaris.
Same bull. Sard. Lord Clanbrazil.
Ditto. The Hague and Bibliotheqne Eoyale.
Copies of this gem are very numerous ; and the same
subject, though antique, often occurs with the name added
in modern times.
Head of a female, called that of Cleopatra. Sard. St.
Petersburgh.
Youthful Hercules, Aventinus. Onyx. Stosch.
Head of philosopher. Sard. Florence.
Triton, Nereid, and two cupids. Sard. Marlborough.
Head of a Muse, inscribed LAVR MED. Orleans Collection.
Sard.
Head of Paris. Modern. Algernon Percy.
Pallas seated looking at the Medusa's head. Antique
paste. The Hague.
Mask of Silenus. Sard. General Eottier. This name has
been more tisurped by modern engravers than even that of
Aulus.
IADIS. Diana walking and about to let fly an arrow. Beryl. Percy.
IRENE. Man holding a cup, surmounted by a bird. Sard.
Cortona Museum. 5
LEUCOX, probably the correct reading of DEUCON.
LIPASIUS, probably for ASPASIUS. Head of Ehea. Worsley
Museum.
LEUCIOS. Victory, in a biga. Sard. Walchenaer.
Masque of a bearded Faun. Gori.
Head of Poppaea. Sard. Wackerbarth.
This is clearly the owners name, not the artist's.
SECT. If. NAMES OF ANCIENT GEM ENGRAVERS. 221
MAXALUS. Head laureated of Antoninus Pius. Cameo. Gori.
The inscription suspicious. S
MESA OF DIODORUS. Female head with diadem. Onyx. De
Thorns. Most probably the name of the lady herself.
MIDIAS. Griffin and serpent. Cameo. Caylus.
MILESIUS. Apollo seated before a tripod. Bracci.
MiTH. 6 Head of a horse. Sard. Berlin.
Head of an eagle. Sard. Poniatowsky.
MORSIUS. Hercules carrying a bull. Denham.
Musicus. Harpocrates standing. Sard. The Hague.
MYCOX. Head of an old man. Jasper. Stosch.
Head of Caligula. Jasper. Lippert.
Cupid on a lion. Nicolo. Baron Magnancourt.
MYRON. Head of Muse. Sard. Berlin.
Lion passant. Sard. Blacas.
Ajax kneeling and falling on his sword. Berlin.
Apollo pursuing Daphne. Probably modern.
MYRTOST. Leda, the swan flying towards her. Blacas.
NAIUS, probably for GNAIUS. Bust of a Miise, in front a mask ;
often called a Virgil. Easpe.
NEISUS. Jupiter Anxur, beardless, holding fhe thunderbolt and
^Egis. Sard. St. Petersburgh.
NEPOS. Youth playing the lyre. Sard. Schellersheim.
NESTOR. Bust of Cupid. Chrysolite. The Hague.
NICANDKR. Bust of Julia Titi, inscribed NIKANAPOC EIIOIEI
Amethyst. Marlborough.
NICEPHORUS. Mercury carrying on his hand the eagle. Onyx.
Hesse Cassel.
Man seated forging a helmet. Sard. Florence.
NICOMACIIUS or NICONAS. Faun seated on the ground upon his
spread leopard's skin ; two flutes before him. Black
jasper. Marlborough.
Head of youthful Hercules. Sard. Schellersheim.
Venus Anadyomne. Splendid Sard. Uzielli. The name
apparently a modern addition.
8 Gems with these letters are of King Mithridates, but on no suffi-
usually assigned to the dactyliotheca cient grounds.
222 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
NILUS (NET AOV). Head of Hadrian. Raspe.
NYMPIIEROS. Standing- warrior, with one hand on a tree, the
other on his helmet placed upon his .shield, which is set
on the ground. Sard. Florence.
CVVESAS (ONHCAC EIlOlEl). Muse holding a lyre, and lean-
ing on a base supporting a Cupid. Antique paste.
Florence.
Head of Hercules, laureated. Sard. Blacas.
Head of Apollo. Sard. Cheroffini.
Drunken Bacchus. Lippert.
Ulysses carrying his casque. Sard. Thorns.
ONESIMUS. Jupiter Conservator. Van Hoom.
Head of Minerva, like the Pallas of Velletri, said to have
been found at Forli ; but is modern.
Osius. Head of Apollo. Beryl. Devonshire.
OSION. Head of Apollo crowned with wheat-ears ; behind it a
lyre and star. Onyx. Pallazzi.
Head of Agrippina. Kicolo. Raspe.
PAMPHILUS. Achilles seated on a rock, playing the lyre. Ame-
thyst. Bibliotheque Royale.
Achilles bending backwards and playing the lyre. Sard.
Devonshire.
Theseus killing the Minotaur.
Head of Junius Brutus. Stosch.
Youthful Hercules. Sard, modern. Portalis.
Cupid coming to the rescue of Psyche caught by the foot in
a trap. Sard. British Museum.
PANAEUS. Pan assaulting Venus as she is leaving the bath.
Sard, Caylus. nANAIOV A$POAITH. (Probably implying
that it was a copy of the picture by that painter.)
PAZALIAS, the signature of Passaglia, an excellent Eoman artist
of the last century, and a lieutenant in the Papal
Guards.
PERGAMUS. Faun dancing. Stosch.
Hercules carrying a bull. Stosch.
Head of Nicomedes IV. Paste. Poniatowsky.
Heroic head. Stosch.
Bearded head. Stosch.
SECT. IT. NAMES OF ANCIENT GEM ENGRAVERS. 22H
PETROS. Head of Caracalla. Millin. 7
PHARXACES. Seahorse. Sard. Naples.
Capricorn. Amethyst. The Hague.
Nemesis standing, holding a bridle.
Boar crouching amidst reeds.
Head of Mercury. Eed Jasper.
Lion Passant. Sard. Lord Greville.
PHILEMON. Theseus regarding the Minotaur extended on the
ground, the club in his hand. Sard found at Rome.
Vienna.
*IAHMON EHOI. Head of a faun, crowned with ivy, the
deerskin on his shoulders. Antique pasle. Strozzi.
Hercules chaining Cerberus. Onyx. Lippert.
Hercules strangling the Xemean lion, by Ant. Pichler.
Onyx. Lord Clanbrazil.
Head of a bull. Bracci.
PHILIPPUS. Head of Hercules laureated. Florence.
PHILOCALUS. Head of youth, crowned with olive.
PHILODESPOTES. Tragic mask and two fishes. v
PHILOLOGUS. Two dolphins. Red Jasper. Seen at Bezestein.
PHOCAS. Athlete holding a palm. Jacinth. Caylus.
PIIOCIOX. The head bearing this name with that of Pyrgo teles
is known to be the work of Alessandro Cesati.
PHOILAS. Bacchante. Sard. Schellersheim.
PHRYGILLUS. Cupid with large wings creeping out of an egg,
with a shell in his hand. One of the earliest inscribed
intagli known. Sard. Blacas.
PHYLAX. Actor or philosopher. Sard. Gori, perhaps mis-read
for Scylax.
POLYCLEITUS. Diomede master of the Palladium, seated on a
base, at his feet the slain priestess. Sard. Florence.
Cupid on a lion. Cameo. Gori.
POLYCRATES (nOAYKPATH2 EHOIEl). Cupid and Psyche. Gar-
net. Marquis de Gouvernet.
7 This name is clearly due to the tyrant for the traditional portrait of
amusing error of some mediasval pos- the fiery Apostle, which in truth it
sessor, who has mistaken the curly- closely resembles,
headed truculent visage of the Roman
224 AHT, STYLES OF. SECT. IT.
POTHUS. Three masks. Millingen.
POTIOLUS. Four masks. Red Jasper. S^osch.
PROTARCHUS (nPQTAPXOS EHOIE). Cupid riding on a lion and
playing the lyre. Cameo. Florence.
PLUTARCHUS. Bust of Cleopatra. De Murr.
PYGMON. Faun dancing and holding a crater. Antique paste.
Florence.
PYLADES. Mount Argaeus, surmounted by an eagle holding a
wreath. Red Jasper. Palazzi.
PYRGOTELES. Head of Alexander. A splendid work, but Clarac
speaks hesitatingly of its authenticity. Blacas.
Head of Medusa, Amethyst fragment. Blacas.
Head of Alexander covered with the lion's skin. Cameo,
but suspected. Mayence. This name has been placed on
antique copies of his works, as on a Sard of indifferent
execution found at Rome, 1788, representing Hercules
with Tolas killing the Hydra.
QUIXTILLUS. Neptune in a car drawn by two sea horses, in
one hand a dolphin, in the other his trident. Beryl.
Ludovisi.
Mercury standing with his foot on the prow of a vessel.
Sard. Poniatowsky.
RUFUS. Head of Ptolemy Physcon. Sard. Raspe.
Aurora guiding the Solar car. Cameo, inscribed POY<J>CK'
EHOEI. St. Petersburgh.
SATURNINUS. Antonia the younger. Cameo. Seguin.
SCOPAS. Apollo Citharedus, bust. Sellari. Cortona.
CEdipus and the Sphinx. Stosch.
Head of a Roman. Sard. Leipzig.
Head of Epicurus. Sard. Count Butterlin.
Young woman at her toilette. Caylus.
SCYLAX. Eagle's head. Sard. Algernon Perc}'.
Head of Pan, full face. Amethyst. Blacas.
Hercules Citharedus. Sard. Baron Roger.
Head of C. Antius Restio. Sard. Marlborough.
Male portrait. Sard. Marlborough.
Head of a bald man. Garnet. Baron Roger.
Man standing holding a bow. Sard. Baron Roger.
SECT. II. NAMES OF ANCIENT GEM ENGEAVERS. 225
Mask of Satyr, front face. Sard. Baron Eoger. These
three last very doubtful.
Combat between a giant and griffin. Sard. St. Petersburgh.
SCYMNUS. Bacchus followed by a panther.
SELEUCUS. Mask of Silenus, crowned with ivy. Sard. Cerre-
tani at Florence.
Herme of Priapus. Square Emerald. Thorns.
Cupid and a wild boar. Amethyst. Wordlidge.
Head of Hercules. Blacas.
Unknown portrait. Fine work. Stosch.
SEVERUS. Hygea offering a bowl to a serpent.
Plasma. Slade. Probably the owner's name.
SLECAS or CAECAS (Cascae). Youthful warrior holding a sword ;
perhaps Theseus contemplating the sword of his father.
Stosch.
SOCRATES. A comic actor. Onyx. Roger.
Fortuna Panthea. Black Jasper. Borre.
Comic actor leaning on a crook. Carney on Oriental Sar-
donyx of three layers. Eoger.
SOLON. Head of Medusa, eleven serpents in the hair. Calce-
dony. Strozzi, now Blacas. Found in a vineyard on the
Monte Celio, near S. Giovanni e Paolo. There exists a fine
copy made by Costanzi for Cardinal Polignac, 1729. One
by Madame Preissler, smaller size ; another by Jeuffroy,
on Amethyst.
Diomede, master of the Palladium. Sard. Blacas.
Portrait of a bald man. Sard. Ludovici.
Head of Maecenas. Topaz. Florence.
Cupid standing : a mediocre gem. Sard. Eoger.
Bust of a Bacchante. Sard. Stosch.
Emperor leaning on his shield. Easpe.
Head of a Faun. Calcedony : doubtful.
Head of Hercules, laureated, front face. Stosch.
Livia as Ceres, veiled bust. Sard. Gori.
Victory Apteros sacrificing a bull : fragment. Sard. Stosch.
SOSTHENES, formerly read SOSICLES. Head of Medusa. Calce-
dony. Carlisle. This was considered by Pichler as su-
perior to that by Solon.
Q
226 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. IT.
Head of Junius Brutus. Sard. Lord Aldborough.
Head of Minerva. 8 The Hague. Is a copy by Natter, jV
Tinder the head being his usual mark: for though he
copied many of the finest antique gems, he always sold
them as his own works, and his Minerva, and Hercules
strangling the Nemean lion, can be compared with the
best productions of the ancients.
SOSTRATUS. Bacchic Genius in a car drawn by two panthers girt
with ivy -wreaths. Cameo on an Agate of two layers, half
the stone lost. Devonshire.
Victory sacrificing a bull. Sard. Devonshire.
This Collection possesses almost all the known works
of Sostratus.
Victory in a biga. Cameo, once belonging to Lorenzo dei
Medici ; now Naples.
Bellerophon watering Pegasus. Sard. Easpe.
Meleager and Atalanta. Cameo. Devonshire.
Nereid riding on a marine grifiin. Sard. Lippert, who also
ascribes to this artist an Europa and a Diana Taurica.
STEPHANUS. Man in a biga. Sard. Dubois.
Pegasus. Gori.
TEUCEE. Head of Antinous. Easpe.
Faun holding a wreath. Sard. Carlisle.
Seated warrior, a helmet in one hand, a spear in the other.
Winckelmann.
Hercules and lole ; the hero nude, seated on a rock covered
with the lion's skin, draws lole towards him. Amethyst.
Florence.
Copies of this by Brown, Burch, and Carpus, are known.
It is also admirably copied in the Poniatowsky series,
where it is signed EAIIHNOPHC.
Head of Minerva. Sard. Lippert.
Head of an old man. Amethyst. The Hague.
THACETAS. Hercules and Omphale. Easpe.
THAMYRUS. A winged Sphinx scratching her ear with her hind
paw. Sard. Vienna.
8 Probably Medusa. See Goethe's remarks on the gems of Hemsterhms.
SECT. II. NAMES OF ANCIENT GEM ENGRAVERS. 2'_'7
A similar Sphinx, but without name. La Turbie.
Helmeted warrior standing at the side of his horse. Modern
stone, where the name is written THAMYRIS. Prince
d'Issemberg.
Child seated. Cameo, of which many repetitions are known.
Caylus.
THYOSUS. Altar and eagle. Paste. De Thorns.
TRYPHON (TPY$QN EIIOIEI). Marriage of Cupid and Psyche:
infant forms, the latter holding a dove, conducted towards
the nuptial couch by two Cupids and Hymen bearing a
torch. Cameo, the figures flesh-colour, on a black ground
of Sardonyx. Marlborough.
The same subject, but of inferior work. Naples.
Cupid riding a lion. Sard. The Hague.
Triumphal procession. Jasper. Easpe.
Combat of -SCneas and Diomed. Sard. Caylus.
Of these artists the most illustrious Tor their ancient
reputation or for their works at present in existence are the
following.
Admon.
Cneius.
Philemon.
Aelius.
Dalion.
Phrygillus.
Aetion.
Demetrius.
Polycletus.
Agathemerus.
Dioscorides.
Poly crates.
Alpheus.
Epitynchanus.
Protarchus.
Ammonius.
Euplus.
Pygmon.
Amphoterus.
Eutyches.
Pyrgoteles.
Anteros.
Evodus.
Scopas.
Antiochus.
Felix.
Scylax.
Apollodotus.
Heius.
Scymnus.
Apollonides.
Hellen.
Seleucus.
Apollonius.
Hyllus.
Solon.
Aspasius.
Meidias.
Sosthenes.
Athenion.
Neisus.
Sostratus.
Aulus.
Onesas.
Teucer.
Axiochus.
Pamphilus.
Thamyrus.
Carpus.
Pergamus.
Tryphon.
Cronius.
Pharnaces.
Q 2
228 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
Satyr surprising a Sleeping Nymph. Signet of Aspasius : Roman. Agat.
In the above extract from Clarac's list I have omitted
some few names which he describes as doubtful, and which
appear to me rather to indicate the name o*f the owner of the
signet than that of the engraver. And this is probably the
case with many even of those here given, especially where
the gem is an intaglio intended only for the sealing and
authentication of documents. The only artists' signatures
(first supposing the work of them antique), which can
be certainly relied upon are such as are accompanied by the
word EHOIEI ("fecit" in modern parlance), or are inscribed
on a tablet in a significant manner, or else are engraved in
such minute characters at the side of the composition as only
to be recognised by a careful search, and which, purposely as
it were, avoid all interference with the proper design of the
stone. The letters Aieo following some of these names are
usually read as an abbreviation of XtQo-yXuTrrm, or gem-en-
graver; but such an artist was always styled in his own
times Sa.xruXioyXuTTT'ris, as the first appellation would not have
been sufficiently definite, applying equally well to any
sculptor or even stone-mason. Again, from the large size
of the characters in such inscriptions it is plain that the
name is merely that of the owner of the intaglio, and that
Aieo stands for the "gem or signet of such a one," and
properly serves to authenticate the impression on the wax or
clay. On camei on the contrary, such names being usually
left in relief in the same layer of the stone out of which the
figures themselves are cut, doubtless designate the artist
himself, in accordance with the common practice of antiquity
SECT. II. NAMES OF ANCIENT GEM ENGRAVERS. 229
of inscribing bas-reliefs and statues with the names of their
sculptors. I have myself examined the following intagli
supposed to bear the names of their engravers, on which I
shall make a few observations.
1. A helmeted male portrait, AAAYQN for Allion, reading Y for I
as the fourth letter, an error not likely to bave been com-
mitted by a modern engraver, who would necessarily be
on his guard against any blunder. This gem was un-
doubtedly antique. Sard. Pulsky.
2. A minute dancing faun, AYAOY in very small letters. Sard.
Bobcke. For this gem 100 had been refused by the
owner.
3. A head of Ceres, AYAOY in microscopic letters. Once in the
Webb Collection, but doubtful. Ehodes.
4. A Satyr surprising a sleeping Nymph. On a black and
white Onyx, extremely minute and delicate work, in the
exergue ACHACIOY apparently antique ; but the im-
portance given to the inscription by the large size of the
letters proves it to be the name of the owner. Ehodes.
5. Magnificent front-face of a Bacchante. On a large pale
Euby, inscribed EAAHN in the finest possible characters
at the side. Bobcke.
6. Fine bust of a Bacchante. Large Amethyst, inscribed
NEAPKO2, 9 probably the owner's name. Pulsky.* I possess
an excellent intaglio of Apollo Delphicus, on which is
scratched in antique but unfinished letters X. NBA,
apparently the same name abbreviated.
7. A head of Neptune, front-face, QAOC perhaps for Solon, but
doubtful. Emerald or fine Beryl. Herz.
8. Bust of a Muse, inscribed AIO2KOYPIAOY in somewhat larger
letters than appear on the other gems from his hand.
Sard. Pulsky. The intaglio is certainly not equal in
9 Or, perhaps, an addition of some name would be spelt Nearco), lias
Italian falsifier, who, misled by the thus blundered the name Nearchus.
usage of his own tongue (where the
230 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
merit to what we might have expected from so famous an
artist ; but the name gave it so high a value that it was
purchased by Count Wickzay for 800 gold ducats. 10
9. Bust, nearly full-faced, of a Roman, probably Ma3cenas. An
admirable intaglio, very deeply cut. AnoAAONlOY in
small neat characters indubitably antique. Jacinth.
Rhodes.
10. Naked Faun carrying a large vase on his shoulder and
ascending a hill. Of the finest and most minute execution,
in the exergue KOINOY in letters almost microscopic.
Sard. Rhodes. Clarac assigns a Faun on Nicolo, in-
scribed with the same name, to Natter. 1
Faun with Urn. Finest Greek Style. Sard.
ON THE CATALOGUE OF ANCIENT GEM-ENGRAVERS.
Taken partly from Visconti, ' Opere Varie,' II. 115.
A catalogue of ancient gem-engravers, arranged according
to their several epochs, would certainly form an extremely
instructive and curious part of any treatise on this study ; but
the difficulty of drawing it up with any sure foundation, based
upon actual documents, or even upon plausible conjectures,
surpasses all imagination. This difficulty arises, first, from
the deficiency of notices left to us by ancient writers in this
10 350Z. probably been added by a modern
1 This sard, however, is, as far as hand ; such, at least, is the opinion
concerns the intaglio, an indubitably of a most experienced connoisseur,
antique work of the best Grecian to whom the matter was referred,
time, although the inscription has
SECT. II. CATALOGUE OF ANCIENT GEM EXGKAVEKS. 231
branch of the history of art, and from the absence of all
chronological indications in the greater portion of the gems
marked with their authors' names ; secondly, from the ancient
practice of placing the original artist's name even upon copies
from his works ; and lastly, from the actual forgery of these
names a thing not uncommon among the ancients them-
selves, but of the utmost frequency amongst the moderns.
The intrinsic difficulty of the task is augmented by another
and extrinsic one: that is to say, the want of all critical
knowledge in the two archaeologists, Stosch and Bracci, who
have undertaken to collect and elucidate all gems bearing
the artists' names. Such blind guides easily lead astray
all who follow them with any degree of reliance upon their
knowledge.
Materials for a critical history being so scarce and so un-
certain, it will be the best plan to make but one class of the
artists before the age of Alexander. Amongst these, Adrnon
can have no place, his name being written with the 10 of the
form not used till after that epoch. The stiff manner of the
Diana of Heius would make us regard him as anterior to the
times of Praxiteles ; but the name HEIOS may be read as a
trisyllable Eeus, for if we suppose the first letter to be merely
an aspirate, then we should not find the final 2 used, according
to the analogy of the Athenian inscriptions of that date, and
of certain legends on the medals of Philip.
The only other engravers who have a right to appear in
this division are Mnesarchus, named as the father of Pytha-
goras an historical notice which also incidentally proves the
high antiquity of this art, as, even at that early period, fur-
nishing a distinct profession ; Thamyrus and Phrygillus, who
show by the stiffness of their style that they must have flou-
rished before the age of Alexander. The characters , C.
232 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
and U), used in the names of Action and Agathemerus, by
their recent shape cause us to refer these two artists to more
modern periods ; and the gem by Philemon, in the Vienna
Collection, besides exhibiting the lunar-shaped sigma, C, in
the name, has nothing whatever of the Archaic manner in its
treatment.
In the next period, from Alexander to Augustus, Visconti
suspects that all the works signed with the name of Alexander
are to be assigned to Alessandro II Greco, because the compo-
sition of the design shows a certain departure from the antique
manner. For instance, amongst other details, the kind of
fillet that appears on the back of his lion is never seen in
truly ancient works, except upon victims, and such the lion
was not ; again, the abbreviation AAESAN.E. for Axe^avfyos-
EffoiEj is without any precedent, and even contrary to the
usage of those times ; and lastly, Vasari expressly mentions,
amongst the works of Alessandro Cesati, a cameo of a child
and a lion.
Pamphilus and Pharnaces are of quite uncertain date ; nor
is it probable that Polycletus of Sicyon was the author of the
gem inscribed with that name, for his style as the pupil of
Agelades, though correct, would still be somewhat stiff and
'exaggerated from his early date, anterior to Praxiteles. As
however Pamphilus and Polycletus were equally famous the
one in painting, the other in statuary it may be plausibly
conjectured that the intagli inscribed with these names were
copies of famous works by these masters, either pictures or
bronze figures. The gem signed Apelles (falsely read Apsa-
lus), might likewise be adduced in support of this theory.
Gems bearing the name of Pyrgoteles may similarly be all
doubted with justice ; and here an instance of a stone may be
quoted, of incontestable antiquity, both as to the intaglio and
SECT. II. CATALOGUE OF ANCIENT GEM ENGRAVERS. 233
the name upon it. It is a Carneliau found near Home in
1788 ; its subject, Hercules and the Hydra. The work was
only mediocre ; it was consequently judged by Visconti to be
an ancient copy of a gem by Pyrgoteles. It passed into the
Trivulzi Cabinet at Milan.
The age of Tryphon is fixed by the epigram of Addeus, a
court-poet of the Ptolemies, already quoted under the head of
" Beryl."
Of the Eoman period, all the artists must be classed to-
gether from the times of Augustus to the commencement of
the decline of art under Septimius Severus ; for here, unless
the date of the work is fixed by its presenting historical por-
traits, or else by notices of the artist in ancient writers, we
are completely at a loss for other guides during the whole of
this period ; for if we take the mere excellence of the work
itself, as the ground to form our judgment upon, the intaglio
head of Antoninus Pius, in the Museum Capo di Monte, is by
no means inferior to the most finished portraits of the first
Ca3sars.
In this same category ought likewise to be classed all the
engravers having Roman names, such as Gneeus, .ZElius, and
Felix. Whatever may have been their native country, the
excellence of their works ranks them in the Greek school,
and they themselves adopt it as their own by signing their
names in Greek letters and after the Greek fashion, omitting
however that of their family ; but for this there was a suffi-
cient cause. These artists were doubtless Greeks, and the
freedmen of great nobles and of the emperors, whose family
name they assumed, according to the invariable rule, on their
manumission ; and hence we may conclude that Gnaeus flou-
rished under Pompey, .ZElius in the reign of Hadrian, and
similarly for the others who sign their Roman gentile names
in Greek characters. Probably no work of Dioscorides equals
234 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
in sublimity the youthful Hercules of Giiseus in the Strozzi
Cabinet ; and this engraver, together with Aulus, Quintus, and
Lucius, must be numbered amongst the Greek artists of the
same period. An antique paste of the Barbarini Collection has
the inscription AYAOC AAESAEHOIEI ; and hence we may con-
clude him to be the brother of Quintus, who upon another
gem also styles himself, after the Greek fashion, " son of
Alexander." This latter name of Quintus is probably the
KOIMOC given by a mistake of the reading of the signature by
Stosch and Bracci. Agathangelus is a false name added by
a modern hand to an antique intaglio, according to Yettori,
in his ' Dissertatio Glyptographica.' Agathopus and Epi-
tynchanus also belong this ciass. There can be little doubt
that these are the two persons bearing the same names de-
scribed as " aurifices," or jewellers, in the sepulchral inscrip-
tions of the household of Livia. Their epoch too is fixed by
the intaglio head of Pompey the younger, on a gem in the
Florentine Collection, engraved by Epitynchanus, and a
cameo of Germanicus by Agathopus, belonging to the Strozzi.
Probably a magnificent sard, the combat of Bellerophon with
the Chimera, in the Azara Cabinet, signed Em, is a work of
the former engraver. I have also seen an admirable head of
Germanicus on a very fine ruby-coloured Sard, also signed
Eni. This gem was once in the collection of Beckford, and
had all the appearance of antiquity.
Of altogether uncertain date are Allion and Amphoterus ;
for as to the portrait of Ehetemalces, ascribed to the latter, it
is extremely uncertain whom it really represents. The same
may be said of Ammonius and Onesas. Concerning Apollonius
and Athenion we have no sure data, yet as no characters of the
more recent form, such as the U), appear in their signatures,
this consideration, coupled with the superiority of their works,
would induce us to place both in the first times of the
SECT. II. CATALOGUE OF ANCIENT GEM-ENGRAVERS. i>3:>
Roman empire. 2 Aspasius also may be ranked among those
of an uncertain but yet early period. Although his name is
not engraved in such elegant characters as those of the two
just mentioned, yet the fact of each of his three known works
being executed in red Jasper would lead me to the same
judgment: for assuredly the luxury of the Roman times
would not have allowed such an artist to work in so common
a stone as it had then become.
As for Aulus, the variety both of manner and of merit
observable even in the indisputably antique gems, signed
with this name, must be assigned either to forgery, or else
the name, even when genuine and antique, may have been
added to ancient copies of his actual works. The best and
most authentic of all his productions is the Strozzi head of
Esculapius, a profile of sublime beauty, where the name
appears on a tablet. Whoever compares this head with the
other works bearing the same signature will find it difficult to
persuade himself that they are all originals from the same
hand. 3
Acmon is known to us by a single cameo, a portrait of
Augustus, a profile laureated head upon an onyx of two
layers, Sard and Sapphirine, in the De la Turbie Cabinet.
The work of this cameo is executed with infinite freedom and
facility, so as to appear done entirely by the hand and not by
the wheel a peculiarity observable in many other antique
camei. The name AKMQN is engraved beneath the bust.
From his style he may be concluded a pupil of Dioscorides.
Cronius was apparently anterior to the times of Augustus,
for it is probable that Pliny followed the chronological order
in placing his name between that of Pyrgoteles, the contempo-
2 The age of Apollonius is fixed 3 So common a name as Aulus
by his signature on the portrait of was doubtless borne by different art -
Maecenas. ists and at different dates.
236 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
rary of Alexander, aud that of Dioscorides, the contemporary
of Augustus. The name of Cronius appears at the side of a
standing figure of Terpsichore, a design afterwards repeated
by Onesas and Allion, whence we may conclude that these
two latter came later than Cronius ; unless indeed, which is
very probable, the intagli of all three are but copies of some
famous statue.
Dioscorides is the most famous of all the ancient engravers.
There is however a great variety in the style and in the
merit of the gems distinguished by his name. Comparing
together the impressions of the two Mercuries by him, any
experienced eye will detect at once that they certainly are
not productions of the same hand. The most admirable of
all his works is the Head of lo, which cannot be reproduced
exactly in the plaster-cast on account of the under-cutting of
the nose, the intaglio being a three-quarter face. It is far
superior, both in delicacy and correctness, to the Demosthenes
by the same artist in the Piombino Cabinet. This last is
upon a splendid Amethyst, but shows somewhat of stiffness
and hardness in its manner. Both these intagli are much
more deeply cut than is usual with antique gems, and differ
in this respect from his " Diomede, master of the Palladium,"
which is in flat relief. It is however very probable that the
difference of style observable in his works may arise from
the distant periods of his professional life at which they were
respectively executed : thus his Demosthenes may be set
down as one of his earliest productions, for certainly there is
a perceptible increase in freedom of touch between his por-
trait of Julius Cassar and that of Maecenas, in which the
elderly look of the latter would indicate the lapse of many
years between the execution of the two, even if we allow,
what was most probably the case, that the head of Julius
was engraved during the last years of the Dictator, and for
SECT. IT. CATALOGUE OF ANCIENT GEM-ENGIIAVERR. 237
his special use as a private signet. The native country of
Dioscorides is known from the inscription on the Minerva of
the Prince di Avella at Naples, which runs thus : " Eutyches,
son of Dioscorides of Aege, made this." This Aege was pro-
bably the town of that name in Aeolia of Asia Minor. 4
Hyllus, known to us by his grand Dionysiac Bull, treated
in a style similar to the type of the autonomous coins of
Sybaris, may for this very reason be placed among the artists
anterior to the Koman empire.
Of Antiochus the date is quite unknown. The Head of
Sabina, ascribed to him by Bracci, does in reality read
Antiochis, the name of the lady it represents. To the age of
Septimius Severus we may safely assign Gauranus, Carpus,
and Apelles, absurdly read Apsalus by Stosch.
Amongst those earlier than the reign of Augustus we may
reckon Apollodotus, for his style, though not altogether accu-
rate, is yet of considerable simplicity ; Plutarchus, on account
of the beauty of the characters of his signature on his cameo
at Florence, a design also treated with considerable talent ;
and Teucer, on account of the purity of his style. Caecas is but
the false reading of Cascae, the owner's name. Lucius, from
his name, belongs to imperial times.
To return to Roman artists belonging to the Greek school,
4 This form of the artist's signa- bear in mind the versatility of ge-
ture upon a gem is quite without nius of the old artists, as well as
precedent. Visconti appears to en- rare occurrence of the name ; the
tertain no doubt of its authenticity, same peculiarity of spelling occurs
but it seems to me to have been sug- in this also as upon the gems, where
gested to some Italian gem-improver we always find Dioscourides, not
by the inscription on the splendid Dioscorides. As the early mosaics
mosaic found at Pompeii in 1764, were principally composed of tesserae
representing a comic scene, ' Dios- of hard stones, and not exclusively
corides of Samos made this.' This of glass, like those of Byzantine date,
picture is the very perfection of the there is a kind of relationship be-
art of the mosaic worker, and may tween mosaic and the art of gem-
be assigned with some confidence to engraving, by which he subsequently
the great engraver himself if we became illustrious.
238
ART, STYLES OF.
SECT. II.
such as Quintus, Aulus, and Gnaeus. The finest works of the
last are his young Hercules, his Cleopatra, one in the Strozzi,
the other in the Kircherian Collection at iiome. Both are
examples of most exquisite skill. His Juno Lanuviua, or
Head of Hercules covered with the liide of the Bull of Mara-
thon, is indeed an antique intaglio, but the name Gnaeus is
a forgery of Ant. Pikler.
Of the period of the Lower Empire, the famous Sapphire of
Constantius, published by Ducange, is now in the Einuccini
Cabinet at Florence. To this epoch must be assigned Chaere-
mon, Phocas, Nicephorus, and Zosimus, if indeed the works
bearing these names are originals, and not copies of more
ancient gems. As for the names themselves, they afford no
argument as to the date of the artists, having been borne in
the early as well as in the later times of Greece.
The large size and beauty of the pieces of Sardonyx used
for the Byzantine camei representing Scriptural subjects, is a
proof that the decay of the empire had not rendered these
stones more rare or more difficult to procure a fact con-
firming the opinion that the supply of this material came
from India, with which a very active trade was kept up during
the whole period of the Greek empire.
The Julius of Dicecorides. ?ard.
THE ANTIQUE GEMS OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM.
These hidden treasures of the great National Collection, a
portion of its contents so highly interesting and yet so little
SECT. II. ANTIQUE GEMS OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 239
known, may be briefly noticed in this place, inasmuch as
amongst them will be found some gems inscribed with the
signature of the artist, which may be ranked amongst the
finest in existence. The collection is small in point of
numbers, consisting of about 500 rings and unset stones;
the former arranged in five cases and mounted in gold, with
some few in silver settings. They come from the bequests
of Townley, Payne Knight, and Cracherode ; the collection
of the latter containing indeed no work of very great im-
portance, but still characterised throughout by his usual
excellent taste in the selection of nothing but what is to be
admired either for the elegance of the subject or the beauty
of its execution ; or lastly, for the fine quality of the stone
itself. For example, to take a single instance in this casket,
an Emerald, engraved with a Cupid teasing a goose with a
bunch of grapes, is" in every respect the most charming
intaglio that can be possibly imagined, and equally graceful
is the Cupid mounted on a dolphin, cut on a fine Aqua-
marine.
But the Townley gems number in their ranks some half
dozen intagli not to be surpassed by any in the most famous
cabinets of Europe. First among these is the Julius Csesar
of Dioscorides, a front-face portrait on Sard, the brows
encircled with a laurel wreath (its leaves of unusual size) the
face full of life and energy, but hard-featured, haggard, and
expressed with all the unflattering fidelity of a photograph ;
and evidently taken but shortly before the close of his life.
The name of Dioscorides is engraved at the side in the most
minute and elegant characters, indubitably of the same time
as the intaglio itself. Far superior to this in beauty of
subject, though yielding to it in historical importance, is the
front-face bust of an empress, probably Livia in the character
of Abundantia, with veiled head, and holding a cornucopia
240 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
It bears the letters Em, and therefore is with little doubt
from the hand of Epitynchanus, the author of the famous
head of Germanicus, in the Paris Cabinet. The stone is a
fine dark Amethyst. Perseus standing and holding the harpe
in one hand, in the other the Gorgon's head, upon a large
Sard, is a figure of careful and minute finish. Of Aspasius we
find here two works: the first, a full-face of the bearded
Bacchus on red Jasper, very deeply cut, and of the most
vigorous execution ; the name inscribed in small neat letters
across the breast of the bust. The work is worthy of the age
of Augustus ; still there is something in the aspect of the
stone itself that appears to tell against its antiquity. The
other intaglio by the same artist, representing an Athenian
warrior supporting a dying Amazon, her shield and battle-axe
cast on the ground, is an exquisite design of high finish, upon
Amethyst. A full -face portrait of a young man (apparently
one of the family of Augustus) by Aelius, upon a Sard, is an
admirable work, both for expression and execution, and
undoubtedly antique. Cupid advancing to the rescue of
Psyche caught by the foot in a trap, engraved by Pamphilus
on a most splendid ruby coloured Sard, is a lovely compo-
sition, but is either the work of some eminent Italian artist
of modern times, or else the stone has been re-polished ; for
it certainly does not present an antique surface. There is
also an intaglio by Heius ; the work, though antique, is by no
means of the archaic style characterising the famous Diana
by the same artist, which Visconti considered to be the
oldest gem in existence inscribed with the engraver's name.
Heius however was a common name among the Sicilian
Greeks, and may have been borne by more artists than one,
and at different dates. A head of a laughing faun (strongly
resembling the portrait of John Wilkes), a face beaming with
mirth and mischief, by Ammonius, whose signature, cut in
SECT. II. ANTIQUE GEMS OF THE BEITISH MUSEUM. 241
the finest characters and close to the edge of the gem, is
almost imperceptible, closes this list of inscribed intagli.
The Jacinth, on which beams forth this embodiment of fun
and frolic, is the most splendid stone of the kind for colour
and lustre that has ever come in my way.
Many also of the uninscribed intagli are equal to any of
the above in artistic merit. Worthy of special notice
amongst these, is a sacred hawk, on Sard, in the Greco-
Egyptian style, and though of smaller size, by no means
inferior in execution to the famous gem of the same subject
in the Berlin Cabinet, an intaglio always quoted as the
masterpiece of that period of the art. Another, of the
highest interest to numismatists, is a Sard engraved with the
human-headed bull with the legend TEAAS in the field, done
in a very ancient manner, and exactly resembling the type
of the early coins of that city. A Medusa'^ head in profile is
of uncommon merit. A female sacrificing to Priapus is
equally remarkable for the beauty of the execution, and for
the singularity of the design. This part of the collection
also boasts of many fragments of gems of extraordinary
dimensions, and still preserving portions of engravings whose
wonderful beauty only serves to make us the more feel the
irreparable loss of the entire work. I may single out for
particular mention a large brown Sardonyx, bearing the
lower portion of an exquisite female profile, backed by a head
of Ammon, which has apparently formed the neck-piece of
the helmet originally covering the head of the goddess ; a
work in very flat relief, and of the best Greek period.
Another preserves a portion of the portrait of Caracalla, of
the size of his largest medallions, and most characteristic and
life-like in the expression of his truculent physiognomy.
The collection is also peculiarly rich in Gnostic gems, most
of the finest examples that have been published at various
times (many of them of a degree of excellence in point of art
R
242 ART, STYLES OF. SKCT. II.
far beyond any that I had met with elsewhere), having
gradually found their way from different cabinets into this
haven of unbroken rest. Of these, as well as of that rarest
class of them all, the intagli of orthodox Christian origin,
a detailed notice will be made under the proper heads.
The scarabei likewise are of especial interest, both for sub-
jects and materials ; as regards the latter point, may be noticed
one quite unique, being formed out of a Carbuncle of the
most perfect quality, and hardly to be distinguished from the
finest Ruby.
Hydraulis. Plasma.
As for gems still retaining their antique settings this
collection cannot be matched by any in Europe : it certainly
surpasses in this department those of the Uffizi and of the
Museo Borbonico. Here too, in accordance with the general
rule, the artistic merit of the gem is, in most instances, in the
inverse ratio to the value and singularity of the mounting.
One remarkable exception however must here be noted, a
magnificent intaglio of Hercules slaying the Hydra, very
deeply cut on a rich Sard, and set in a massy gold ring, of
the form fashionable during the Lower Empire. Another
intaglio of very fine work is to be seen set in a broad
bordered oval brooch, the surface of which is ornamented
with filigree arabesques in the most elegant Greek taste.
This unique example of the employment of an intaglio as the
decoration of a fibula was discovered in Sicily ; and both the
intaglio and its setting are evidently coeval, and date from
the most flourishing times of Syracusan art. The wonderful
lion-ring of the Princess di Canino, the masterpiece of the
SECT. II. ANTIQUE GEMS OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 248
Etruscan goldsmith, has lately been added to the list of these
treasures. I observed also a large and massy gold signet
with the device cut upon the metal, an undoubtedly authentic
instance of this much-forged class of antiques. Here also
is preserved one of the most tasteful adaptations of an
antique gem to mediaeval usages that has ever come under
my notice : a pretty bust on Sard, set in a gracefully shaped
ring of the fourteenth century, as appears from the Lombardic
legend surrounding the bizzel and covering the shank. Some
astrological emblems introduced upon the shoulders of the
ring plainly indicate its Italian origin.
The Camei of this collection although presenting none
of great importance for their volume, have yet several in
their number that deserve notice on account of their beauty
and their authenticity. Amongst these may be pointed out
as worthy of special consideration a head of Serapis, a front-
face, in half relief; profile portraits of Domitian and Julia
side by side ; and a fragment of an Europa on the Bull.
This last, together with the two horses, the remains of a
victory in a biga, surpass in spirited design and delicate
execution any antique works of this class that I have ever
examined. Another, a lion passant cut in low relief out of
the red layer of a Sardonyx, a highly finished work of the
best period of the art, has its value still further enhanced by
the letters LAVB MED. engraved upon the field; showing
that it had once formed part of the collection of Lorenzo dei
Medici. The stone, set in a ring, l^as its surface covered by a
glass like that of a watch, to protect it from injury : a proof
of the value set upon it by its first possessor. A gold snuff
box, presented by Pius VII to Napoleon at Tolentino, has the
lid set with an excellent antique cameo in flat relief on a
beautiful Onyx of several layers ; the subject, a young faun
riding on a goat, and expressed with much spirit and minute-
ness. This precious antique was doubtless selected to adorn
B 2
244 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
the presentation box, as being held far superior in value to
the diamonds usually employed to ornament gifts of this
description. The number of loose scarabei of all varieties,
which unfortunately my time did not allow of my examining,
is very large, and is said to include many of the greatest
interest both for subject and for workmanship. The Baby-
lonian Cylinders, as might be expected in the Museum of the
nation par-eminence of Oriental travellers, form the most
complete and extensive collection as yet made of that class of
engraved stones ; and the same may be said of the Indian and
Persian stone seals lately displayed in the gallery containing
the antique glass. I also looked with much interest mingled
with amusement at the famous Flora, the Cameo which first
brought Pistrucci into notice, having been palmed off upon
Payne Knight and the first cognoscenti of his day as one of
the finest productions of ancient Greek art. It speaks little
for the practical knowledge of these collectors that they
should have been thus imposed on by this head ; for the very
first view of it would now cause it to be referred at best to no
earlier epoch than that of the Cinque-Cento school. The face,
broken off at the neck 2 to augment the colour of antiquity,
is very much under-cut, so as to be in three-quarters relief,
and the hair adorned with a garland of red roses, in execrable
taste and clearly stamping the date of its execution. In
other respects the work is fair enough, but certainly not
superior to the ordinary run of the camei of the Italian
Kenaissance ; and infinitely below the expectations I had
formed of so highly lauded a performance.
It were much to be desired that at least the camei, together
with the intagli on opaque stones accompanied by their casts
in plaster of Paris might be exhibited in the public part of
2 On this section of the neck setting, so as to be able at pleasure
Pistrucci is said to have engraved to claim the authorship of the
his name, which is concealed by the work.
SECT. II. ANTIQUE GEMS OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 245
the Museum, arranged under glass and close to its surface, as
is done in the Bibliotheque Imperiale. The work on the
transparent stones, it is true, cannot be well examined unless
the light be suffered to pass through them by an arrangement
for raising the cases in which they are fixed similar to that
adopted in the Museum at Naples, where, by turning a screw,
the trays can be raised or lowered so as to admit the light at
any angle required for the examination of the cutting. If
this, however, should be impracticable here from the want of
side windows in the public galleries, all amateurs would be
well content with the opportunity of inspecting these gems
merely ranged horizontally beneath the eye, if at the same
time provided with their impressions in plaster.
Mention may here be made of the Townley Pastes, amongst
which are some of the largest and most important examples
known of pieces of this kind ; one quite unique, inscribed with
the artist's name, and the Bonus Eventus already noticed, so
remarkable for its dimensions and the excellence and pecu-
liarity of its workmanship. These have lately been exposed
to the public view amongst the other specimens of antique
glass, and thus furnish an additional argument why their
more important prototypes in real gems should be drawn
from the obscurity in which they have been so long buried
that is to say, ever since the removal of the last portions of
the former Montague House, up to which time the cases
might be seen under glass in the room at the top of the back
stairs leading up to the old apartments of that mansion.
Cupid rescuing Psyche : by Patnp'uilus Sard
24G
ART, STYLES OF,
SECT. II.
Hermes making Lyi
THE DEVONSHIKE GEMS.
This Collection was formed by William the third Duke of
Devonshire, during the first half of the last century; and,
augmented in its descent to the present possessor, now num-
bers upwards of five hundred gems, including some of the
finest antiques, both in cameo and in intaglio, as yet known
to the world. From this treasure, eighty-eight gems of the
most beautiful in material and the most interesting in sub-
ject, were selected by Mr. Hancock (whom I have to thank
for the permission to make a careful examination of the
suite), and mounted (with a delicacy of taste only surpassed
by the skill of the workmanship) in a complete set of orna-
ments, to be worn, for the first time, by the Countess of
Granville, lady of the English ambassador, at the coronation
of the present Emperor of Russia. This parure consists of
seven ornaments ; a Comb, a Bandeau, a Stomacher, a
Necklace, a Diadem, a Coronet, and a Bracelet. The
setting is an admirable reproduction of the elaborately
artistic style of the French Renaissance, most carefully
enamelled, and enriched with brilliants. The " motive," to
speak technically, of the whole design, was the original frame
of the portrait of Queen Elizabeth, executed by her own
SECT. II. THE DEVONSHIRE GEMS. 247
jeweller Hilliard, now forming the chief ornament (quite
in its pristine state) of the Diadem, into which it has been
introduced without the slightest alteration. The other stones,
I am informed, were all loose when selected to be employed
in carrying out this most fortunate idea, It was justly
observed at the time, " that Moore's oft quoted line,
' Rich and rare were the gems she wore,'
never had a closer application than to the matchless parure
worn by the lady of our ambassador at the recent coronation
at Moscow. While others w r ere vieing in the splendour of
their jewels, in which the Russian imperial, princely, and
noble families are very rich, none attracted so much atten-
tion as the Countess of Granville, whose parure was the
triumph of art over mere material wealth. Others displayed
a perfect blaze of diamonds, but it was fo^; the English lady
to assert a higher splendour ; and if their jewels were the
more costly, hers were positively priceless. For while lost
diamonds may be replaced, each of these fine gems is unique,
and so far has the gem-engraver's art been lost, that there
exists no artist who could produce anything to compare with
the choice works of the Cinque-Cento period, much less with
the higher and more unattainable excellence of the best
times of ancient Greek or Roman art. It was a happy
thought of the Duke to have had constructed, out of this rich
store of art-treasures, a suite of personal decorations fit for
the adornment of queen or empress. To any one who has
not seen these exquisite ornaments, the impression likely to
be conveyed by imagining a series of cameos combined in
a necklace for instance is, that it would be somewhat mono-
tonous and heavy. Nothing can be farther from the fact ;
and we were especially gratified with three of its features,
the admirable harmony with diversity of colour giving a
248 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
peculiarly soft and mellow tone to the ensemble, the agree-
able forms of contour selected, and the exceedingly light and
elegant mountings, wholly free from heaviness or dullness of
effect"
I shall now proceed to make a few remarks upon the most
important of these gems, following the order in which they
are numbered in the descriptive catalogue.
The Comb. No. 2 is a small and delicately worked cameo,
Head of Leander : an early work ; probably Greek.
No. 4. A portrait of Charles L, interesting as a specimen
of the decline of the newly revived art, and very rare.
No. 6. A large cameo ; bold antique work ; a Centaur
bearing a Bacchante on his back.
No. 7. The principal ornament of this piece is the famous
portrait intaglio of Sapor, on a beautiful Amethyst of un-
common dimensions ; the finest relic in existence of later
Persian art. The monarch appears with the usual stern
expression of face seen in all the Persian regal portraits, his
beard elaborately curled, his hair falling in long ringlets,
and his head covered with a tiara edged with pearls. Around
run two lines of well cut Pehlevi letters.
No. 8 is one of the finest camei of the collection : a Faun
balancing his youngster on his right foot. The attitudes of
the pair most natural, and the anatomical forms rendered
with the greatest knowledge and exactness. This is to all
appearance a work of the Greek period. The design is cut
in the white stratum upon a dark ground.
The Bandeau. Of this the central ornament is the far-
famed work of Dioscorides, known as " The Diomede, master
of the Palladium." The hero appears seated, with one leg
extended, and contemplating the statue placed on a cippus
before him. The intaglio, on a large red Sard, is in some-
what shallow relief, and certainly not equal in merit to the
SECT. II. THE DEVONSHIRE GEMS. 249
portraits by the same engraver. The signature of the artist
is, however, antique beyond all suspicion ; and for this
historical recommendation (another instance of the value of
a name), the stone was purchased, it is said, for 1000?. by
the founder of the collection. The characters are extremely
minute and well-formed, agreeing with those inscribed on
his portraits of Julius Csesar and of Maecenas. Probably
from the exaggerated idea one had conceived beforehand of
the transcendent excellence of this artist from the sight of
his heads (in which doubtless his forte lay), the first view of
this group is rather disappointing, although had it been
nameless it would present much to admire.
To keep fitting company with this most precious antique,
the other stones mounted in the bandeau have been selected
from those the most valuable in material of the whole
number employed. They are Oriental precious stones of
uncommon beauty, and are rather lessened than enhanced in
value by the work upon them, which (in accordance with the
usual rule) is always found the best on the cheapest stones,
when these are truly of antique date.
No. 8. A Sapphire of the most perfect quality, with a
head of Augustus ; a very deep intaglio, and apparently good
work of his period, certainly the finest stone of the kind I
have ever seen engraved upon.
And the same remark as to the quality of the stone will
apply to No. 11, a superb Emerald of extraordinary magni-
tude. It is cut into a full-faced Medusa's Head, in very high
relief, and is probably of Roman work. Nothing is more
difficult than to decide upon the antiquity of this class of
camei in the precious stones, the surfaces of which bid
defiance to the changes wrought by time in all the varieties
of the quartz species : but in this instance, besides the
extreme grandeur of the treatment and boldness of the lines,
250 ART, STYLES OK. SECT. II.
it is hardly probable that any artist of the Renaissance would
have obtained from his patron an Emerald of such high in-
trinsic value (incomparably higher then than now), merely as
a material on which to display his skill, however great might
have been his reputation at the court of the Pope or Medici
of the period.
Nos. 12 and 14 are two Plasmas or Prases of Eoman work ;
one an intaglio of Serapis, the other of Venus Victrix. They
have probably been introduced for their colour's sake, being
fine specimens of that gem, and little inferior to the Emerald.
No. 15. A head of Silenus, full-face, on Jacinth, in very
high relief; a very spirited work, and the gem of the very
finest quality for tint and brilliancy.
No. 14. An intaglio, head of a youth, very deeply cut on
a pale octagonal Sapphire, is apparently an interesting
example of the style of the Lower Empire.
But No. 17 may claim the reputation of being the most
valuable intaglio, as far as its material is concerned, that
graces any cabinet of gems. It is a perfect Ruby of the
most delicious cerise colour, weighing, as nearly as can be
judged by the eye, three carats, and consequently of enor-
mous value as a precious stone. The Venus and Cupid
engraved upon it are deeply cut in the usual style of middle
Roman work, but the figures are of very mediocre execution,
and by no means compensate for the damage done to the
Ruby, in its character of an ornamental jewel, by the excision
of so much of its beauteous surface. The corresponding
stone, No. 9 (at the other extremity of the bandeau), is also
a Ruby, but of very inferior quality, yet the intaglio it bears,
a Faun's Head, is greatly superior to this in point of art, and
of much earlier date.
In the Stomacher the gems most deserving of attention
(where all is good) are,
SECT. II. THE DEVONSHIRE GEMS. ^5i
No. 23. A cameo, white on a d-irk ground, a Roman
Emperor seated on a throne, by the side of a female com-
pletely veiled, and presenting a sword to a warrior standing
before him. This group is usually explained as representing
Tiberius and Drusus, which, however, does not account for
the introduction of the veiled lady. A more probable con-
jecture of its meaning is that the investiture of Tiberius
with the tribunician power by his stepfather Augustus, in the
presence of Li via (who always appears veiled in her portraits),
is here expressed. As a work of art nothing can exceed this
cameo in accurate drawing and delicate finish. The figures
are kept in flat relief.
No. 24. A profile of Alexander ; white, on a pinkish ground,
in flat relief, and of a style nearly coeval with his times.
No. 25. An Europa carried upon the Bull, preceded and
followed by Tritons sounding their conchs^ at her feet are
dolphins, and in the rear are two Cupids, one seated on a
dolphin and carrying a crown ; in the background is a very
elaborate landscape ; all the figures are a pure white on a dark
ground. This cameo is a masterpiece of the Cinque- Cento
school in its fullest perfection; admirable in composition,
and exquisitely finished in every part : it is, in fact, a picture
worked out in an Onyx, and bears no resemblance in its
treatment to the simplicity of antique works in the same
material.
No. 26 is a very large intaglio of Mars, in Lapis-lazuli of
the finest colour, apparently a work of the Renaissance.
No. 29. Head of Minerva, the helmet ornamented with
the group of Leda and the Swan, of which the wings form
the crest of the helmet. A work full of the grotesque vigour
of the Florentine Cinque-Cento, and cut on a remarkably
beautiful Onyx, the brown and white layers of which have
been employed with the greatest skill, and produce a very
252 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. 11.
striking effect, so that this cameo arrests the eye before any
of the other more important gems mounted in this ornament.
No. 30. A seated figure of Clotho with her distaff; a
cameo in high relief, and the body, completely nude, most
exquisitely modelled in the white stratum upon the dark
ground of an Onyx; this is evidently an antique of the
Grecian period.
No. 31. A large Sard intaglio, Ganymede feeding the
Eagle, is good Eoman work, on a splendid stone remarkable
for its size and richness of colour.
The Necklace is composed of twenty-one gems, set in
separate collets, and suspended from a plaited gold-chain, in
such a manner that a pair of intagli of a red colour (Sards
or Garnets) hang between each cameo, so as to afford the
required contrast of tints. Amongst these intagli I noticed
some apparently of exquisite work, and fine Greek gems.
The camei, more easily examined than these, of which the
delicate mounting renders the taking impressions impossible,
present the following interesting gems.
No. 36. A portrait of Queen Elizabeth, white on a dark
ground ; the hair, edges of the ruff, and ornaments on the
dress, are rendered in a brown layer. This is ascribed, with
justice, to Coldore, and is quite in the style of the latest
Cinque-Cento camei, the bust being in high relief, and the
projections very much rounded off and polished.
No. 39. A Venus and Satyr, of the Cinque-Cento, a very
beautiful Onyx, the pinky layers of which have been used
with great effect for the flesh of the figures.
No. 41. A Venus Victrix ; a beautiful antique.
No. 42. Portrait of Tiberius, forming the centre of the
necklace. A fine Roman gem : the head is white on a dark
ground ; the laurel wreath, and the border surrounding the
canieo, are brown ; outside the border is an Arabic inscription,
SECT. IT. THE DEVONSHIRE GEMS. 253
with the name of Alnaser Abu Saadal Mahamraed, a Mam-
luk prince of Cairo about 1496.
No. 48, a most interesting cameo, is a portrait of
Edward VI., full face, in flat relief, white on a dark ground,
the cap and dress brown. The work is very delicate, and
the Sardonyx one of the finest quality. The reverse has the
same portrait in intaglio.
No. 51, another excellent Cinque-Cento work, is Mutius
Scsevola brought before Porsenna. The group consists of
the king, Scsevola, and two warriors, and is cleverly executed
in white on a dark ground.
Of the Diadem, also set with twenty-one stones, intagli and
camei, the most attractive are,
No. 57. A cameo bust, white on a dark ground, of Queen
Elizabeth, still set in the original enamelled locket, and
containing, at the back, two much faded^ miniatures, by
Hilliard, of the queen and of the Earl of Leicester. There is
little doubt that this ornament was worn by the queen her-
self. The cameo is as usual ascribed to Valerio Belli, II
Vicentino ; who, by the way, died in 1546, or twelve years
before Elizabeth's accession, and who besides never was in
England. It is very likely to be a work of Coldore, who is
known to have executed portraits of Elizabeth for his master
Henry IV. ; for its treatment is altogether in the style of
his period, not in the early and stiff manner of II Vicentino's
age.
No. 63, the principal or centre-piece of the diadem, may
rank as one of the most beautiful antique camei in existence.
The subject is a Victory in her car, and rarely has an Onyx
of so fine a quality had all its capabilities brought into
employment with such exquisite skill. Victory herself is
formed in the blue stratum, her drapery in the brown ; one
of the horses is of a bluish tinge, the other brown and white
254 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
with the mane blue. The work is in very flat relief, so as
to take advantage of the extreme tenuity of the coloured
strata of the stone ; and is, besides, of so smooth and polished
a surface, as to produce the effect of enamels fused upon a
dark ground, rather than that of a design worked out of so
obdurate a substance. On the back of the Onyx a Cinque-
Cento artist has engraved a Eiver god, the Arno ; a clever
performance, and affording a useful comparison, as regards
its treatment and mechanical execution, with the matchless
Greek work on the other face of the stone. This gem also
retains its enamelled Florentine setting.
No. 66, admirable for its historic interest, rarity, and
workmanship, represents busts of Henry VIII. and his three
children ; worked out in the flat and minute manner of the
early portrait camei already treated of. The king is re-
presented in full face, a most characteristic likeness ; his
children in profile. The figures are in white on a dark
ground, the ornaments of the caps and dresses in brown,
according to the usual practice of this early school. It would
be highly interesting to ascertain if any Italian artist, capable
of executing so excellent a performance, ever visited England
in this reign ; or if these portraits w T ere done after miniatures
transmitted by Henry to Paris or to Florence. 3
Of the intagli set in the diadem, three are heads of
Socrates, one of Greek the others of Eoman work, showing
how plentiful were the portraits of this philosopher in every
age of the ancient world.
The Coronet is made up of smaller gems, principally intagli.
The camei introduced are all Heads, generally finely finished
and antique performances, of which the best is the bust of
3 At present the Roman cameo- for brooches, bracelets, &c., after pho-
cutters, Saolini for example, produce tographic likenesses sent to them as
very faithful portrait-camei in shell models from distant countries.
SECT. II. CONSPECTUS OF EUROPEAN COLLECTIONS. 255
Clytie, No. 74. One intaglio deserves particular notice, a
Head of Hercules on Lapis-lazuli, No. 79, a gem of the best
Eoman style, but which, at a later period, has been converted
into an amulet, by engraving on the reverse a scarabeus and
the sacred name ABPASAS, as was common in the fifth century.
The front of the Bracelet is set with three red stones. Of
these the centre one is a Carbuncle of extraordinary size, and
of the richest colour, but engraved, in the usual rude Eoman
manner of the work in this material, with a Muse tuning her
lyre. At each side are Cinque-Cento busts in half relief on
smaller stones, one a Carbuncle the other a Sard, selected
for their beauty of colour, and which harmonise admirably
with the magnificent centre gem.
Roma holding a torques. Spotted Sard.
A CONSPECTUS OF THE PRINCIPAL EUROPEAN
COLLECTIONS.
FRENCH COLLECTION. (CLARAC.)
Many of the finest gems of the Cabinet des Antiques have
been in France from time immemorial ; or at least the dates
at which they were brought, and the names of the persons
256 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. IT.
to whom they are due, are still subjects of dispute. The
greatest portion of them proceed from the munificence of the
various kings of France, and from the travels undertaken at
their command; others were presents made to themselves,
and given by them to the public : many also are the fruits of
conquest. St. Louis, as well as others of the Crusader princes,
brought back some of them from the East. The covers of
their Missals, and of their choice MSS., were adorned with
them, a few of which are still preserved. Charles V., and his
brother the Due de Berri, were passionately fond of jewels,
and their treasuries were extremely rich both in engraved
gems and in precious stones, as may be seen from the curious
inventory of the jewels of Charles V., existing in the
Bibliotheque Eoyale. Francis I., to whom France owes
so many masterpieces of antique sculpture (procured by his
orders in Italy through his agents Primaticcio and Cellini),
and who, as Vasari phrases it, had made another Rome of
Fontainebleau, drew also out of Italy and other countries
an immense number of engraved gems, for which he paid
vast prices. Thus the taste for them was diffused amongst
his courtiers : they adorned the arms, the chains, the caps,
the doublets of the warriors, and served for the embellish-
ment of the dresses of the ladies of the court and of the
nobility. Henri II. and Catherine dei Medici followed the
example of Francis I. ; and the latter queen had brought
with her from Florence a quantity of fine engraved stones.
It was Charles IX. who first united them in one collection
in the Louvre, and formed there the Cabinet of Antiquities,
which, having been plundered and dispersed shortly after,
was no longer in existence at the accession of Henri IV.
This great prince re-established it; he summoned from
Provence a learned antiquary, M. de Bigarris, with the
intention of purchasing the large collection of medals and
SECT. IT. CONSPECTUS OF EUROPEAN COLLECTIONS. iJ57
gems made by this amateur, in order to unite it to the
remains of the former royal collection at Fontainebleau,
where the royal library was then kept. This design was
postponed in consequence of the death of this prince, and
was not resumed until the reign of Louis XIV. His uncle,
Gaston d'Orleans, had bequeathed him his own collection,,
including, amongst other antiquities, a considerable number
of gems coming partly from that of the president De Memes,
a selection out of the t\vo thousand engraved stones got to-
gether by Louis Chaduc in Italy. This cabinet was at first
deposited in the Louvre ; Colbert, in 1664, replaced it in the
Bibliotheque Royale. Louis XIV. purchased antique gems
from all quarters, including the collection of Gualdi, and
lhat formed in the East by M. de Monceaux. Louvois, in
1684, removed the cabinet of gems and medals to Versailles,
and appointed M. de Carcavy keeper of Mt. Louis XIV.
often amused himself with the examination of these treasures,
and added to them the collections of M. de Harlai, of 31.
Oursel, and of Thomas le Comte. M. de Rainssant, keeper
of the cabinet at Versailles, also made some important
additions to the number ; and this care, after his death, was
followed up by Oudinet, deceased 1712, Simon (1719), and
afterwards by C. de Boze. Towards the end of the seventeenth
century Louis XIV. had made the purchase of the splendid
collection of Lauthier of Aix, in Provence, formed with great
taste, and under the direction of the learned Peiresc, whose
own gems Lauthier had purchased. Now also Louis XIV.
bought the cabinet of Bagarris, formerly treated for by
Henri IV., as already noticed. The famous signet of M.
Angelo belonged to the Lauthier Collection. The various
travels, in the interest of science, of Nointel, Lucas, De la
Croix, and Vaillant, all undertaken at the expense of this
sovereign, and at an enormous cost, greatly contributed to
s
258 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. IJ.
enrich the Cabinet of Antiquities. It was still further
augmented by the purchase of the medals of Pellerin in
1775 ; by the bequest of the collection of Caylus, and by the
acquisition of those of Fourcault ; and by the union of that
of St. Genevieve in 1796. The total number of the gems is
1388, thus classified:
634 Tntagli, of which 160 are heads ; 474 various subjects.
139 Camei of the Greek School : 66 heads ; 73 various subjects.
58 Camei of the Roman: 51 heads; 7 various subjects.
172 Modem Intagli (suspected) : 99 heads; 73 subjects.
33 Modern Intagli : 12 heads; 21 subjects.
93 Camei, supposed modern, of Roman portraits.
63 Camei, subjects from modern history.
16 Camei of devotional subjects.
57 Camei of various subjects.
9 Mediaeval Camei : 2 heads ; 7 various subjects.
Amongst these the names present themselves of the
engravers, Dioscorides, Evodus, Glycon, Gnaeus, Hyllus,
Midias, Pamphilus, Panaeus, Aulus (the last modern). The
intagli of this cabinet are distinguished for the beauty of the
material as much as by the variety of their subjects. Many
of them hold the first rank among antique engraved gems,
such are the Achilles Citharedus of Pamphilus, the
Dionysiac Bull of Hyllus, the Julia Titi of Evodus, formerly
belonging to St. Denis, and the signet of M. Angelo. And
as regards camei, nothing can be cited as surpassing in
volume of the stone and in excellence of workmanship the
following : the Apotheosis of Augustus (known as the Agate
of the Sainte-Chapelle, brought to France by Baldwin II. in
1244) ; the Apotheosis of Germauicus, which came from
Constantinople, and was treasured for seven hundred years
in the convent of St. Evre at Tours, until presented to
Louis XIV. in 1684 ; the Augustus, the Annius Verus, the
SECT. IT. CONSPECTUS OB' EUROPEAN COLLECTIONS. 259
Jupiter of the cathedral of Chartres, and the vase of Sar-
donyx, designated as the vase of Ptolemy, or of St. Denis.
BERLIN.
The immense collection of Berlin (by far the largest
existing) is formed out of the united cabinets of the Elector
of Brandenburg, of the Margrave of Anspach, of Stosch (in
number 3544 stones and pastes, purchased by Frederick
the Great for 30,000 ducats), of Bartoldy (entirely antique
pastes), and of later acquisitions, forming the enormous total
of 4490 stones and 848 pastes. Of these are classified 3634,
being the intagli alone, as follows :
1. Egyptian and Oriental : gems 165 ; pastes 31.
2. Etruscan and Early Greek : gems 151 ; pastes 30.
3. Greek and Eoman Eeligion : gems 1141 ; pastes 355.
4. Monuments, heroes : gems 263 ; pastes 172.
5. Historical subjects : gems 190 ; pastes 70.
6. Ancient domestic life : gems 138 ; pastes 71.
7. Arms, vases, instruments, masks : gems 297 ; pastes 66.
8. Animals: gems 316; pastes 47.
9. Inscriptions, Abraxas: gems 125; pastes 6.
Of these 316 gems and 115 pastes present heads, and 2470
gems and 733 pastes, various subjects. Amongst them occur
the artists' names of Agathangelus, Agathopus, Alexa-
Apollonides, Aulus, Craterus, Diocles, Diodorus, Deuton,
G-naeus, Hellenus, Hermaiscus, Hyllus, Seleucus, Solon.
The finest gems, to the number of 1100, are mounted in
gold, the rest in silver. Of stones retaining their antique
settings there are 65, twenty-five of which are rings. Set in
silver antique rings are 9, in bronze 15, in iron 26, in lead 1.
By the side of each intaglio is placed a cast from it in plaster,
the only mode of facilitating the study of the beauties or
defects of an engraving when it can only be examined, but
s 2
260 ARTS, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
not be taken in the hand. From Berlin this plan was
introduced into the collection of the Bibliotheque at Paris.
FLORENCE.
The collection commenced by Lorenzo grew up under the
patronage of the succeeding princes of the Medici family,
especially of Cosmo III., until it has attained the number,
according to Maffei, of nearly three thousand gems. Besides
many camei of rare beauty, it possesses 14 heads or busts
in full relief, in Turqnois, Agate, Sardonyx, and Lapis-lazuli.
The names, supposed of artists, occur on 23 intagli and 2
camei.
Gori, in the 'Museum Florentinuni,' has described 1010
intagli and 181 camei, of those most valuable for art or
subject in this collection.
a
Hercules and the Stymphalian Birds.
ITALIAN COLLECTIONS.
The Strozzi Cabinet contained, says Visconti, a larger
number of first-class works than any other of the same nature.
Amongst them was the Hercules of Gnaeus, the Medusa of
Solon, that of Sosthenes, the Esculapius of Aulus, the Ger-
manicus of Epitynchanus, the Muse of Allion, and the Satyr
of Scylax ; and many others without names but of the very
highest merit. This cabinet was attached, by the will of its
founder, to the Palazzo Strozzi at Rome, whence it could not
SECT. II. MODERN GEM-ENGRAVERS. 261
be removed without the penalty of forfeiture. It is now
dispersed, but the best gems have passed into the Blacas
Collection. The Ludovisi gems, belonging to the Prince di
Piombino, include many of great value, both antique and
Cinque-Cento works, but its chief glory is the Demosthenes
of Dioscorides. A set of casts of 68 of the finest are procur-
able at Borne.
The Cavalier Azara, Spanish minister, possessed (1796) a
collection formed by himself at great cost and with much
intelligence, and rich in many camei and intagli, valuable
either for instruction or for their workmanship.
The Vatican Collection, though accumulated more by means
of chance acquisitions than by selection, includes many
examples of gems of great volume and of excessive rarity.
The catalogue prepared by Visconti for publication, but un-
fortunately lost, filled two folio volumes, wljich may give an
idea of the great riches of this collection, access to which is
so difficult to be obtained that few visitors of the Vatican are
aware of its existence.
MODEEN GEM-ENGEAVERS.
(Principally abridged from Mariette, 'Pierres Gravees,' I. 114.)
The earliest artist in this line, mentioned by Vasari, is
G-iovanni dette Carniole, who worked at Florence, under the
patronage of Lorenzo dei Medici, in the latter quarter of
the fifteenth century. His masterpiece was a head of Fra
Savonarola, cut upon a large Carnelian. 7
Domenico dei Camei had engraved at Milan a portrait of
7 Mertens-Schaafhausen Collec- of the time of the Medici. Hieron.
tion, B. 180, Carnelian. Bust of a Savonarola ? (Is this the gem men-
Monk ; on the right the letter |, on tioned by Vasari ?)
the left S> Gothic form. Fine work
262 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
Ludovico II Moro, on a Balais Ruby, ten lines in diameter,
about this period, or a little later.
Pietro Maria, da Pescia in Tuscany, worked at Eome for
Leo X. He was the friend of M. Angelo.
Michelino also flourished there at the same time.
Matteo del Benedetti, died 1523, was a celebrated gem-
engraver of Bologna, and is praised by Achillini in his
' Viridario.'
Francia the painter, of the same city, is also said to have
worked in this line.
Marc. Attio Moretti also flourished there about 1495. He
is praised by Achillini, and invited by lo. Baptist Pio, in a
Latin elegy (1509), -to engrave the portrait of his Chloris.
Caradosso of Milan, and his assistant Furnius of Bologna,
are placed by Pomponius Gauricus (at the beginning of the
sixteenth century) on a level with Pyrgoteles and Dioscorides.
Severo da Eavenna is however set above all others by this
writer, who styles him sculptor, scalptor, cselator. He is pro-
bably the scholar of Marc. Antonio who engraved the copper-
plates with the monogram s. E.
Leonardo da Milano, mentioned with praise by Camillo
Leonardo, is probably Da Vinci, the universal genius who,
besides goldsmith's work, may have tried his powers in this
branch of art. 8
Jacopo Tagliacarne of Geneva is supposed to have engraved
the numerous portraits of Genoese nobles of that age, which
it was then the fashion to use as seals.
Henri Engelhart of Xurnberg, a friend of A. Durer's, was
famous for engraving coats-of-arms on gems.
Gio. Bernardi di Castel Bolognese, engraved for Duke
8 I have seen an enamelled pen- certainly does bear his usual moiio-
dant jewel ascribed to Da Vinci ; it gram.
SECT. II. MODERN GEM-ENGRAVERS. 2G3
Alfonso of Ferrara the attack on the Fort of Bastia, where the
latter had been dangerously wounded. He also cut the dies
for the medals of the same prince. Paulus Jovius persuaded
him to go to Eome, where he was patronised by the Cardinal
Ippolito dei Medici and Clement VII., for whom he executed
several medals, highly commended by Cellini himself, as well
as many intagli on gems. After the death of the Cardinal
in 1535, he entered the service of Cardinal Alessandro
Farnese, grandson of Paul III., for whom he executed nume-
rous intagli, chiefly in Rock Crystal, in which he worked with
great facility. Some of these are still to be seen (1750) set
in a cross and two candlesticks of silver, presented by the
Cardinal to St. Peter's. On the foot of each are three circular
intagli representing different scenes from the life of Christ,
the designs for which were probably furnished by the painter,
Perin del Vago. His best pieces were a Tityus torn by the
Vulture, now in the Strozzi Cabinet, and the Fall of Phaeton,
both made for Cardinal Ippolito from the designs of M. Angelo.
Another celebrated work of his was his portrait of the Duchess
Margaret of Austria, wife of Ottavio Farnese. He died (1555)
at Faenza, whither he had retired upon his fortune : aged
sixty.
Matteo del Nazaro of Verona worked in France for Francis I.
He had been pupil of Avanzi and Mondella, both Veronese
gem-engravers, the former of whom was famed at Rome for
his camei and Carnelian intagli ; and a Nativity by him, on
Lapis-lazuli, had been sought after by Isabella Gonzaga.
Duchess of Urbino, the first patroness of Raffaele. Matteo's
first work of note was a Crucifixion on Bloodstone, so managed
that the spots of the stone represented the blood issuing from
the wounds, and which became the property of Isabella d'Este
of Mantova. At the French Court he chiefly engraved camei,
the fashionable ornament of the day. A head of Deianira by
264 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
him was greatly admired, in which the various layers of the
Agate gave the different colours of the flesh, the hair, and
the lion's hide drawn over her head. He also executed for
Francis a portable Oratory adorned with numerous gems, and
bas-reliefs and statuettes in gold. He set so high a value on
his works that he gave them away as presents rather than
submit to what he considered too low an offer ; and is said to
have broken to pieces a fine cameo which had not been
accepted by a nobleman under such circumstances. After
the battle of Pavia he returned to Verona with his fortune ;
but was recalled to Paris by Francis immediately upon the
recovery of his freedom, was made Head Engraver to the Mint,
and died at Paris soon after the King, in 1547.
GHo. Giacomo Caraglio, also of Verona, at first a copperplate
engraver, then of gems and medals ; worked for Sigismond I.,
King of Poland, in 1539, at whose court he was still living
in 1569.
Valeria dei Belli, II Vicentino, engraved equally carnei and
intagli on all kinds of gems ; but, according to the fashion of
the age, his most numerous works are on Kock Crystal. He
also cut dies for medals, both modern and copies of the
antique. He was looked upon as the head of the numerous
engravers who flourished at Rome under Clement VII., before
the sack of that city. This Pope paid him 2000 gold scudi
for the Crystal coffer adorned with scenes from the Passion,
and which he presented to Francis I. at his interview with
him at Marseilles on the occasion of the marriage of his niece
Caterina dei Medici to the Dauphin. Besides this, a cross
and several Crystal vases by this artist were presented to the
church of San Lorenzo at Florence by Clement. He after-
wards was employed by Paul III. and the Cardinal Farnese.
No engraver has ever been so industrious or so expeditious as
Valerio, and his works were long employed as models by all
SECT. II. MODERN GEM-ENGRAVERS. 265
the Italian goldsmiths. He retired to Vicenza with an ample
fortune, but continued to work at his profession down to the
very close of his life in 1546. A daughter also of his had
been instructed by him in the art, in which she attained con-
siderable distinction.
Marmita the Elder, of Parma, a painter, engraved many
gems after the antique. Luigi Marmita, his son, however,
greatly surpassed him ; and in the service of Cardinal Salviati
at Home was distinguished at a period when nothing mediocre
would have passed muster there. His most famous work was
a cameo head of Socrates ; but he abandoned gem-engraving
for the more profitable trade of making dies for false antique
medals.
Domenico di Polo, of Florence, also a die-sinker, afterwards
engraved gems. He had been a pupil of Giovanni delle
Carniole. v
Nanni di Prospero delle Carniole is also named by Vasari
as a painter, " the son of Prospero the gem-engraver."
Luigi AnicJiini of Ferrara, but resident at Venice, a die-
sinker, engraved gems with the greatest delicacy and pre-
cision ; the smaller their size the more spirit did his intagli
display.
Alessandro Cesari, or Cesati (so called in Vasari, first edi-
tion), II Greco, surpassed the latter artist in the excellence of
his drawing. Besides coin-dies he also engraved innumerable
gems. M. Angelo considered his medal of Paul III. (reverse,
Alexander kneeling before the High Priest) as the very per-
fection of the art, beyond which it was impossible to advance.
Vasari names a portrait of Henri II., an intaglio on a Car-
nelian the size of a half-franc, made for Cardinal Farnese, as
one of his best works. M. Crozat possessed a cameo portrait
of the same king in very low relief, also on Carnelian, in-
scribed AAESANAPO2 EnoiEi. Vasari also praises his portraits
2G6 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
of P. L. Farnese L)uke of Castro, his son Ottavio, and Car-
dinal Farnese : the last a head in gold on a silver ground.
Three camei are also commended a child, a lion, 9 and a
woman naked. But his masterpiece, according to Yasari, was
a cameo head of Phocion. This, in 1750, was in the collection
of Sig. Zanetti of Venice, and was still regarded as the most
exquisite of any works of that kind.
Criovanni Antonio del Rossi, a Milanese, engraved the largest
cameo known since antique times, being seven inches in dia-
meter, with portraits, three-quarters length, of Cosmo I.,
Eleanora of Toledo, and all the princes and princesses of their
family. This work, says Vasari, established the reputation of
the artist, already known by a quantity of other engraved
gems.
Misuroni, Gasparo and Girolamo, and Jacomo da Trezzo,
all three Milanese, engraved both camei and intagli, but
chiefly worked at vases in Agate and Jasper. The last artist
was noted for the excellence of his portraits on gems.
Marietti cites an admirable head in relief, on Calcedony, of
Philip II., by whom he was brought to Madrid. He was
employed for seven years in making the Tabernacle of the
Escurial, of Agates, Jaspers, and other fine stones, all found
in Spain, and was allowed to place his name on the same line
with the King's in the dedicatory inscription on the socle of
the work. He is said even to have engraved on the diamond.
Clemente Birago, another Milanese, patronised by the same
monarch, has however a better claim to this honour. The
testimony of both Clusius the botanist (who had known him
during his stay in Spain in 1564), and of Lomazzo his country-
man, leave no doubt as to the truth of this fact. The work
9 In the Pulsky Cabinet is a most AAESANAPO2 EIIOIEI. Can this
singular intaglio, a lion in his den, be the gem praised by Vasari ?
full-faced, on a burnt onyx, inscribed
SECT. II. MODERN GEM-ENGRAVERS. 267
was a portrait of Don Carlos, intended as a present to Anna,
daughter of Maximilian II., his betrothed bride. On another
diamond he also had engraved the arms of Spain for a seal,
for the same prince.
Tortorino and Criuliano Taverna, of Milan, are also named
by Lomazzo : the first as a good engraver of camei, the second
as a worker on Crystal. Even at the present day (1750) the
Milanese excel in the working of Crystal.
Annibal Montana, died at Milan 1587, was famous for his
camei and intagli, and made, for Wilhelm Elector of Bavaria,
a Crystal coffer, for which he received 6000 scudi.
Philippo, called Pippo Santa Croce, a shepherd boy, began
by carving groups on plum and cherry stones. Count Phil-
lipin Doria brought him to Genoa, had him instructed in
drawing, and thus he became an engraver in gems.
Antonio Dordoni of Busetto in Parma, diec^ 1584 at Kome,
is said to have held the first place among the gem-engravers
of that age.
Flaminius Natalis, probably of Liege, an admirable en-
graver of coats-of-arms, died at Rome 1596.
SEVENTEENTH CENTUKY.
The art now began to fade in Italy, but flourished in Ger-
many under the patronage of Rudolph II., of whose time an
infinity of vases in hard stones are preserved at Vienna, but
nearly all of Gothic and bizarre forms. The chief of his
artists were Lehman, who had the monopoly of engraving on
glass as a recompense for his discovery of that art; and
Miseron, created a noble and made keeper of the Imperial
Cabinet of Curiosities. His son Denis also worked for the
emperor Matthias.
Christopher Schwaiger, died 1600, aged sixty-eight, is com-
pared to Pyrgoteles for his talent in engraving, in the verses
268 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
beneath his portrait by Luc Kiliau. He probably flourished
at Augsburgh.
But few names of Italian artists of this century are known,
yet an excellent portrait of Paul V., on Carneliau, set in a
ring, preserved in the Borghese Palace, proves that some
good masters still existed in his time.
Coldore however was indubitably the first engraver of the
century. He worked at Paris for Henri IV. and Louis XIII.
The portrait of the former he has repeated an infinite number
of times, both in intaglio and in cameo, and always with the
same finish and success as to the likeness. No figures by him
are known, his works being exclusively heads. He is said to
have been invited over to England by Queen Elizabeth, and
in the Crozat Collection is a cameo head of that princess on
Agate-Onyx, evidently by this artist. He is supposed to be
the same as the Julien de Fontenay mentioned in the Lettres-
patentes of December 22, 1608, as the king's valet and en-
graver in precious stones Coldore being a nickname derived
either from his dress or from his birthplace. A fine portrait
of Kichelieu, on a Siriam Garnet, in the Crozat Cabinet, is
probably of too late a date to be his work, and is besides in
somewhat too stiff a manner.
Maurice, father and son, and Jean Baptiste Certain, also
flourished under Louis XIII.
Borgognone worked at Florence for the Grand Duke about
1670.
Adoni, at Rome, principally engraved clasped hands for be-
trothal rings.
Rey, at the end of the century, had a great reputation at
Home as an engraver of all kinds of subjects on gems. They
speak with praise of his portrait of Carlo Albani, brother of
Clement XL, and of the seal of the Marchese Castel San
Vita
SECT. IF. MODERN GEM-ENGRAVERS. 209
Juno, by John Picliler.
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
Flavio Sirletti. died at Rome 1737, surpassed all modern
artists in the fineness of his touch, and approached the nearest
of all to the ancient Greek style. He excelled in portraits.
His best was one of Carlo Maratta, executed for Agostino
Masuccio, a scholar of that painter. His istagli represent-
ing antique statues the Hercules Farnese, the Apollo, the
Giustiniani Bacchus, and his Laocoon are excellent in draw-
ing and in finish. This last, on Amethyst, was bought by
Lord Besborough. He signed his works $. 2. Yettori pos-
sessed the last of his works, a Laughing Faun crowned with
ivy. His two sons, Francesco and Raimondo, followed the
same profession at Rome.
Costanzi, Giovanni and Carlo, in the year 1750, were the
most distinguished in this art at Rome. The elder, according
to Stosch, engraved the head of Nero on a Diamond for the
Prior Yaini. Carlo cut on the same gem a Leda, and a
head of Antinous for the King of Portugal. His style is
highly finished, neither too stiff nor too loose ; his drawing
correct, his portraits the flesh itself, and very like. Nothing
can be better for an intaglio than his portrait of the Cardinal
Spinola on an Agate-Onyx, though Mariette was assured that
his heads of the Pretender and of Carlo Rene Imperiali are quite
270 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
equal to it. He has succeeded better than any of the moderns
in his copies of antique gems, and has frequently repeated his
head of Antinous. Many connoisseurs have been deceived by
his copies ; such, for instance, as that of the Strozzi Medusa,
made in 1729 for the Cardinal Polignac, on a Calcedony of
the same size and colour as the original, and imitated even to
the name of the artist. 10 Though born at Naples, 1703, he
always lived at Rome, where he had a brother Tommaso, also
a skilful engraver in fine stones.
Domenico Landi was also, according to Vettori, " one of the
most famous artists at present in the same city." In 1716 he
engraved a bust of Augustus, on Calcedony, for the Marquis
de Fuentes, Portuguese ambassador; in 1720 a portrait of
N. Duodo, the Venetian envoy, on an Emerald. Two gems,
of larger dimensions than ring-stones, by him, are portraits of
Trajan, Plotina, Matidia, Marciana, facing each other; and
the other of Severus, Julia, Caracalla, and Geta.
F. Gringhaio of Florence, engraver to the two last Dukes,
living at Naples in 1750.
Ant. Pichler, established since 1730 in the same city.
Grirolamo Rossi, at Livorno.
Of all modern engravers, none in my opinion have so fully
come up to the antique style as Rega of Naples, who flourished
at the end of the last century. His Hercules Reposing and
his Head of a Bacchante might well pass for gems of the finest
Greek work, were it not for his signature PEFA which appears
10 He also engraved a portrait of and St. Paul on the other. The gem
the Empress Maria Theresa on a is two inches in diameter, and was
large and fine Sapphire. But what designed for the brooch fastening the
he himself considered his master- cope worn by his Holiness on great
piece, and which cost him two years festivals, but, after once wearing it,
and a half of constant labour, was a he ordered it to be deposited in the
table Emerald, with the head of the Treasury of San Petronio at Bo-
Pope on one side and of St. Peter logna.
SECT. II. MODERN GEM-ENGRAVERS. 271
upon them. His intagli liave much more of the true antique
spirit than those of Pikler or Natter. Visconti is of opinion
that the engravers of the last century do not deserve the
eulogium bestowed on them by Millin ; the artists of the
Cinque-Cento school, such as Cesati II Greco, Bernard], and
Belli, were far above them in boldness of manner and in accu-
racy of drawing. Besides this they had a style of their own,
or at least that of the contemporary school ; whereas those of
our day possess less intelligence, but are closer imitators of
the antique in their composition and in their forms. Rega
however Visconti pronounces a most admirable artist, and
he had seen some of his heads in intaglio that rivalled
the best of the antique ; this in my judgment is true, for
nothing of any period can surpass the " Head of a Bac-
chante," that favourite subject with the ancients, where the
treatment of the hair is especially to be admired, being truly
in the Greek manner. This Head also proves his great supe-
riority over Marchant, who has reproduced the same subject,
but in his usual tame and laboured manner ; whilst Rega's
work is full of life and energy, and displays the greatest free-
dom of touch.
G-otfried Graaft, II Tedesco, at Rome.
Laurent Natter, of Nurnberg, studied the art at Venice,
and afterwards worked at Rome with considerable credit.
Much praise is given to his copy of the Julia Titi by Evodus,
on a reduced scale ; but still more is due to his portrait of
Cardinal Albani, as being an original work. A Head of a
Youth, on Amethyst, belonging to the Abbe Rothelin, was
greatly admired in Italy. After leaving Rome he established
himself in London, whence he is said to have gone to Persia
on the invitation of Thamas Kouli Khan (Nadir Shah). He
died at St. Petersburgh, 1763.
Marc Tuscher, his townsman, was by no means his equal
272 ART, STYLES OF. SKCT. II.
in merit. Being at Koine in 1733 he engraved his own por-
trait, signed MAPKOS, and probably some other gems ; but is
chiefly known for his admirable series of plates of the coins of
Sicily and Magna Grecia.
Dorsch, of Nurnberg, 1676 to 1732, engraved for Ebermeyer
numerous suites of portraits of Popes, Kings, and Emperors,
and unfaithful copies of famous antiques, with nothing to
recommend them in the execution. He taught his two
daughters also the same art.
Seeker ^ was regarded as the best German engraver of the
century. Born at Coblentz, he went to Vienna, and engraved
medal dies for two Emperors of Germany. His works in gems
are principally seals of German Princes, containing numerous
quarterings very skilfully done. He cut portraits on gems of
Charles VI. and his Empress, and also of Prince Eugene.
F. J. Barier, born at Paris 1680, engraved portraits, the
most admired being those of the Marquis Kangoni and of
Fontenelle ; and groups of figures extremely minute on the
body of vases of Carnelian and Agate.
Jacques Guay, of Marseilles, studied at Kome, where he
engraved the head of Antiuous from the bust of the Capitol.
His drawing is correct, and imitation of the Greek style per-
fect. His portraits are admirable, especially that of Crebillon.
No modern engraver has ever thrown into his work such
spirit as Guay has done in a Carnelian intaglio, the " Victory
of Fontenoy," from the design of Bouchardon. He afterwards
succeeded to the post of gem-engraver to the King, formerly
held by Barier.
The only English artist of any merit in this line is Charles
Christian Reisen, son of a Danish engraver who came to
London with William III. He died in 1725, aged forty,
Now better known for his false dies for ancient coins.
SECT. II. ENGLISH GEM-ENGRAVERS. 273
yet left behind him a great number of works. A portrait of
Charles XII. of Sweden, a three-quarter face, is quite correct
as to principle ; but all his intagli are wanting in finish, from
the extreme rapidity of his execution.
Claus, a pupil of his, and the most able, died mad in 1739.
Smart, another pupil, was in Paris in 1722.
Seaton, a Scotchman, also his pupil, was in 1750 the first
engraver in London.
Smart worked with astonishing celerity. In a single day
he would often finish several heads, and that by no means in
a careless manner. His best work, when at Paris, was a head
of Monima from the antique. Seaton endeavoured to give an
extreme finish to his gems : hence they are weak, cold, and
without spirit. His chief works are portraits of Pope, Inigo
Jones, and Sir John Newton, for the last of which he was
paid 25 guineas.
John Pichler, the first of modern engravers, was the son of
Ant. Pichler, mentioned above, and born at Naples, where
his father had been settled from the beginning of the century.
He, however, was far superior to his father in this line, so
that his intagli were often sold by the antiquaries as first-
rate antique gems. To prevent this fraud he ever after-
wards signed all his works with his name in Greek capitals
niXAEP. He died at Home, 1791.
ENGLISH GEM-ENGRAVERS.
Mention may be fitly made here of the few English artists
whose gems, signed with their names, occasionally are seen in
collections. Of these, the chief, beyond all question, was
Marchant in the last century, who executed many fine
works, both modern portraits, antique heads, and groups in
the Greek style. There is much grace and delicacy in his
T
274 ART, STYLES OF.
figures, but the finish of them is too minute to be effective,
and consequently his heads are deficient in boldness and
expression. At the sight of his engravings you become
sensible that they were executed with the aid of a powerful
magnifying glass, and they require to be viewed through such
a medium to produce their full effect. This is a common
error with modern engravers, and one of Pichler's chief merits
is that he has avoided it, and that his works, like those of
the ancient artists in this line, produce their effect on the
eye at the first glance. Merchant's skill was, however, fully
appreciated in his own times ; probably from the circum-
stance of his carrying on his profession at Rome, and thus
becoming known to wealthy English amateurs, who at all
times have preferred to pay pounds for works of art abroad,
rather than as many shillings for productions of equal merit
executed at home. I have seen a Sard engraved by him, with
two female figures, the one seated, the other standing by her,
apparently portraits, for which he was paid 200 guineas.
Clarac mentions his having been shown at Otranto a paste
taken from one of Marchant's gems, which, backed with a
slice of Sard after the usual manner of such forgeries, had
been sold at an enormous price to an amateur as a first class
Greek work, recently discovered in that locality.
Brown was noted as an engraver of Cupids, singly and in
groups. He also executed portraits with great taste. His
intagli are always signed K. B.
BurcTi, R. A., died 1814, was an admirable artist in this
line. I have seen a Head of Hercules by him worthy of any
engraver of the times of Augustus. His works are very
numerous.
Wray, of Salisbury, died 1770, executed a few fine intagli,
Pastes of which were thought worthy of admission into
Tassie's list of antiques. But though the first of English
SECT. II. ENGLISH GEM-ENGRAVERS. 275
gem-engravers, he never obtained more than 20 guineas for
his best works. These are, as he himself classed them,
1. The Dying Cleopatra. 2. Copy of the Strozzi Medusa.
3. Magdalene. 4. Flora. 5. A Madonna. 6. Female head,
ideal. 7. Ditto. 8. Milton, front face. 9. Milton, pro-
file. 10. The same. 11. Cicero. 12. Pope. 13. Zingara.
14. Antinous.
Pistrucci, though a Roman by birth, may be mentioned in
this article, as from his long residence in London he may be
almost considered as an English artist ; although his success,
as far as pecuniary remuneration is concerned, has far ex-
ceeded the wildest dreams of any gem-engraver of previous
ages. At first he practised the art at Borne, and there
executed the Head of Flora, bought for an antique work by
Payne Knight, and long regarded as the choicest gem of his
collection. Lord Maryborough was his first patron on his
arrival in London, and when made Master of the Mint,
appointed him the Chief Engraver to that establishment.
At the great re-coinage in 1816, a Cameo by him, a Greek
Warrior on horseback, was adopted with slight alterations for
the reverse of the sovereigns and crowns. The improved
copy of this design on the subsequent coinage of George IV.
is probably the finest work that has ever appeared upon a
modern currency. His heads on the obverse of the same
coinage are by no means so successful ; they have a very
scratchy appearance, and have none of the boldness that the
work from a steel die ought to present : in fact he is said to
have cut the punches by means of the lapidary's wheel,
exactly as if operating upon a gem, a fact which fully accounts
for the feebleness of the result. His coronation medal,
however, of George IV. is a very spirited work; and his
double sovereign of the same reign has great merit in spite
of the scratchy treatment of the hair, especially when we
T 2
276 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
consider the low state into which the arts had fallen, and the
barbarism into which the country had been plunged by
twenty-five years of a ruinous and unnecessary warfare.
For his merits, great as they undoubtedly were, he obtained
the most fabulous remuneration : thus a Cameo with portraits
of Augustus and Livia, which fetched at the sale of the Herz
Collection the sum of SQL, had been executed by him some
forty years before at the astounding commission of 800?.,
doubtless the largest sum ever paid for a work of the kind.
Ship und
KINGS AND SETTINGS.
An appropriate text to this dissertation will be the advice
on this point given by Clemens Alexandrinus to the Chris-
tians of the second century. Paedagogus III. 2.
" Moreover, men ought not to wear their ring upon the top
joint of the finger, for it is an effeminate practice ; but on
the little finger, and thrust it on too as far as it will go, for
thus the hand will be easily used for all necessary purposes,
and the signet ring will not fall off very easily, being guarded
by the larger size of the joint of the finger itself. And let
the engraving upon the stone be either a pigeon, or a fish, or
a ship running before the wind, or a musical lyre, which was
the device used by Polycrates, or a ship's anchor, which
Seleucus had cut upon his signet ; and if it represents a man
fishing, the wearer will be put in mind of the Apostle, and of
SECT. II. RINGS AND SETTINGS. 277
the little children drawn up out of the water (Moses ?). For
we must not engrave on them images of idols, which we are
forbidden even to look at; 2 nor a sword, nor a bow, being the
followers of peace; nor drinking goblets being sober men.
Yet many of the licentious world wear engravings of their
naked minions and mistresses in their rings ; so that not even
if they wish it can they at any time enjoy a respite from the
torments of desire. We must \vear but one for the use of a
signet ; all other rings we must cast aside."
The earliest rings are made of pure gold, hollow, and the
metal very thin. Such occur even of the Etruscan period,
but are very rare, the signets of that nation still retaining the
form of scarabei. The most magnificent Etruscan ring
known, is that once in the collection of the Prince di Canino :
it was formed of the fore parts of two lions, whose bodies
composed the shank, whilst their head^s and fore-paws
supported the signet, a small Sard scarab, engraved with a
lion regardant, and set in an elegant bizzel of filigree work.
The two lions were beaten up in full relief out of thin gold
plate, in a stiff archaic style, but very carefully finished. A
Greek ring lately came in my way of a pretty and uncommon
design, though the make was rude enough: two dolphins
whose tails met formed the shank, and supported with their
heads the setting, containing a circular crystal or paste.
Roman rings also, if of early date and set with good intagli,
are almost invariably hollow and light, and consequently
easily crushed. This and some other interesting points are
well illustrated in the story told by Cicero of L. Piso, when
2 Macrobius says that Atcius Ca- delicacy of notions was afterwards
pito, a famous lawyer of the Repub- carried to such a degree that, under
lie, highly censured the practice of Tiberius, persons were actually exe-
wearing figures of the deities en- cuted on the charge of treason for
graved and set in rings ; but this having worn rings set with the por-
was on account of the profanation to trait of Augustus during their visits
which they were exposed. This to brothels.
278 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
praetor in Spain (in which province he was killed) : " Whilst
he was going through the military exercise, the gold ring
which he wore was by some accident broken and crushed.
Wishing to have another ring made for himself, he ordered
a goldsmith to be summoned to the Forum of Cordova, in
front of his own judgment-seat, and weighed out the gold to
him in public. He ordered the man to set down his bench in
the forum, and make the ring for him in the presence of all."
This was done to prove to the provincials his scrupulous
honesty, that he had not taken " even half an ounce " of gold
out of the public treasury, but had merely given him his old
broken ring to work up again into a new one. Here we have
a picture of the ancient goldsmith carrying about with him
his fire-pot and a few tools (like the Indian jeweller of the
present day), and squatting down to execute his work under
the eye of his employer. This mode of making the ring, by
hammering it out of the gold, affords a pretty simile to Ovid,
A. A. III., 221.
" Annulus ut fiat primo colliditur aurum."
" The gold is beat up ere the ring is made."
These hollow rings were convenient receptacles for poison,
of which they would contain a large dose, being always of a
bulky shape. Of this practice the instances in history are
numerous, as the death of Hannibal and of Demosthenes suf-
fice to show ; and another less known instance that of the
custodian of the Capitol, who, being apprehended on account
of the robbery of the gold deposited there by Camillus, which
had been taken away by Crassus, "broke the stone of his
ring in his mouth, 3 " and expired immediately, probably to
8 In the Mertens-SchaafhausenCol- have no doubt it was thus formed as
lection is an Onyx intaglio, the back of the receptacle of a dose of poison,
which has been completely hollowed for the gem was worked out so thin
out into the form of a bowl, with the that it could easily be crushed by a
usual raised circle at the bottom. I sharp bite.
SECT. II. RINGS AND SETTINGS. 279
escape the torture for his supposed complicity in the sacrilege.
The ancients were acquainted with vegetable poisons as
speedy in their effects as the modern strychnine, as appears
in the death of Britannicus from a potion prepared by
Locusta, and in innumerable other instances. These hollow
rings were put together with a degree of skill far beyond that
of our modern jewellers ; for the soldering of the numerous
joinings of the gold plates of which they are formed is
absolutely imperceptible even when breathed upon a test
under which the best modern solder always assumes a
lighter tint. This is due to the different composition of the
ancients, which was made of chrysocolla (carbonate of
copper), verdigris, uitrum (carbonate of soda, natron) mixed
with the urine of a child, and rubbed down in a copper
mortar with a copper pestle. This solder was called santerna. 4
Under Claudius it became the fashion to engrave the
device upon the gold of the ring itself, now made solid ; at
first this engraving was the bust of the emperor, and such
rings- could only be worn by those that had the entree at
court. A fine example of this sort, with busts of M. Aurelius
and L. Yerus facing each other, is to be seen in the Florence
Gallery. This was but a revival of the ancient practice, for
Macrobius, vii., 13, quotes Ateius Capito to the effect that
the devices were originally always cut upon the substance of
the ring itself, whether it was of gold or of iron ; and that
the progress of luxury introduced engravings upon precious
gems to augment the value of the signet. 5
In Pliny's time it was the fashion to wear but one on the
4 Cellini's receipt for solder is arsenic is added to promote fusion.
Native Verdigris, 6 parts, Sal- am- 5 I have seen a splendid head of a
moniac 1, Borax 1, ground down nymph, apparently of Sicilian work,
and mixed to a paste with water, engraved upon the gold of a solid
The modern, used for gold of tolerable ring; and other instances of less
quality, is made of equal parts of importance, hut certainly far earlier
gold and silver, to which a little than the age of Claudius.
280 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
little finger ; previously the signet had always been carried
on the ring-finger of the left hand from a notion that a vein
passed down it direct from the heart. At the late period
of the empire when Macrobius wrote (late in the third
century), this had again become the usual finger to wear the
signet-ring upon, for the assembled guests in his ' Saturnalia,'
vii., 13, express their surprise at seeing Avienus wear his
upon the little finger of his right hand ; for which he excuses
himself on the plea of his left hand being swollen by an
injury. Pliny's words are, " At first it was the custom to
wear but one ring on each of the fingers next to the little
finger of each hand, as we see in the statues of Nurna and
Servius Tullius (the only Koman kings represented as wear-
ing rings). Next they put them on the fore finger, even in
the statues of deities. Last of all they thought proper to
grant this honour even to the little finger. The natives of
Gaul and Britain are said to have worn them on the middle
finger. This, now, is the only one excepted, all the others
are loaded ; and even the joints individually with others of
smaller size. Some pile three upon the little finger alone,
others wear on this but a single ring which they use as their
signet. This is treasured up, and, like a precious rarity un-
justly profaned, is drawn forth from its sanctuary: and to
wear a single ring on the little finger is but a way of showing
off the more precious collection locked up at home." The
custom of covering all the joints of the fingers with rings
when in full dress was so prevalent, that Quintilian, in his
directions to orators as to their costume, attitude, and action
(xi., 3), deems it necessary expressly to caution them against
this senseless piece of foppery : " The hand must not be
overloaded with rings, especially with such as do not* pass
over the middle joints of the fingers." 6 This fashion of
6 The minute size of many an- archaeologists from their ignorance of
tique gold rings has often puzzled the passages above quoted.
SECT. II. RINGS AND SETTINGS. 281
having rings for each finger-joint is the one condemned by
Clemens Alexandrinus ; and continued in use, in spite of his
objurgations, down to the close of the empire ; for Ammian,
writing at the beginning of the fifth century, speaks of the
Roman nobles, on leaving the baths, receiving from the
attendant their rings, which they had taken off lest the wet
should injure them, and then strutting away " digitis sicut
metatis," with their fingers measured off by the rings placed
on each separate joint. The origin of the quarrel between
Plato and Aristotle was because the former found fault with
his luxurious style of dress and his custom of wearing a
number of rings, at least so says Aelian, iii. 19. Lucian,
writing in the second century, makes the girl tell her mis-
tress that Parmeno has returned from the wars quite a rich
man, and as a proof, " that he has on his little finger a large
polygonal gold ring set with a three-coloured gem, red on the
surface (an oriental Onyx)."
Taste had so far declined even when Pliny wrote that
some persons " made a boast of the weight of their rings,"
of which one found in Hungary, and now in the Fould Col-
lection, is a most convincing testimony. Though evidently
intended for the little finger its weight was three ounces,
the shank was triangular in section, increasing rapidly in
width on each side towards the head of the ring, which thus
formed a long and pointed oval. It was set with a large
oriental Onyx of the very finest quality and not engraved ;
quite the ring of Parmeno when the consideration of the
mere intrinsic value of an ornament had entirely banished
all regard for art. In my own. collection is a ring of this
date weighing 15 dwts. (a modern Roman ounce), set with
an Onyx rudely engraved with a dancing girl ; and I have
seen another of similar form, the Onyx intaglio of which was
a pigeon : both illustrative of the remarks of Clemens
282 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
Alexandrinus quoted above. These weighty rings were
probably badges of office under the Empire, for we find one
specified among the various insignia and allowances, some
singular enough, 7 ordered by the Emperor Valerian to be
made to Claudius Gothicus on his appointment as Tribune
of the Fifth Legion (Treb. Pollio Valerian). " Two brooches
in silver-gilt ; one brooch in gold, with a copper pin ; one
double-gemmed ring of an ounce weight ; one bracelet of seven
ounces; one neckchain of one pound." This term annulus
bigemmeus is difficult to explain, for no antique rings occur
set with two gems, though they do with three. I suspect that
bigemmeus refers to the stone itself, and means a gem of two
colours, as the Nicolo, so often found in these massy rings.
One weighing an ounce was found, 1836, near Bristol, set with
an Onyx, engraved with a head of Augustus in a good style ;
and Caylus V., cxn., gives one of very elegant form, the
gem of which is a Nicolo engraved with the letters Q.E.H.
The shape of these rings at once shews for which finger they
were designed, being nearly triangular, the base of the tri-
angle being the head of the ring ; so that in spite of their
weight they sit very comfortably on the little finger and on
that alone, and are much less inconvenient to wear than one
w T ould have expected from their bulky proportions. Some
Etruscan rings occur, in which the face of the ring is an
elliptical plate adorned with figures in outline, generally
Sphinxes: these were merely intended as ornamental, not
as signet rings. I have met with but one Etruscan intaglio,
not a scarab, in its antique gold setting, which was a large
case of thin gold plate, in which the Sard was fixed and sur-
rounded by several folds of plaited wire, forming a broad
bizzel around the stone. The shank was a thick round wire
7 As " duas eximias mulieres ex captivis."
SECT. II. RINGS AND SETTINGS. 283
soldered on to the side of the case, with two gold balls on
each side of the junction.
We have seen Pliny's remark that the Gauls and Britons
were the only nations who wore rings on the middle finger
(which he appears to consider a truly barbarian fashion), but
what these rings were is not known, unless the large bronze
plain hoops, so often found amongst ancient remains in this
country, were of this nature. Perhaps the smaller specimens
of the so-called "King Money " were used for this purpose,
for nothing like an intaglio 8 ring can be assigned to these
nations before the period of their subjugation by the Eomans ;
although numerous relics attest their skill in working gold
into various tasteful ornaments. The abundance of this
metal in Gaul was such in ancient times that the produce of
Caasar's campaigns in that region lowered the value of gold
at Rome by nearly one-third.
The Gallic gold coins of native unrefined metal, rude
imitations of the staters of Philip, are still numerous in
cabinets, and appear to have been current in Gaul even
under the latest emperors. In no other way can we explain
the edict of Majorian, " Let no tax-collector refuse to take
a solidus of full weight, except it be that Gallic solidus which
is rated at a lower value on account of the quality of the
gold." Now these ancient autonomous pieces are all coined
of the metal in its native state, containing a large per-
8 One intaglio, however, has come also lately seen a silver ring, of an
under my notice which was consi- extremely grotesque and barbarous
dered by its owner (whose opinion fabric, the shank being an attempted
is of the greatest weight with me) representation of caryatid figures ;
to have been the work of a Gallic instead of an engraved stone it was
artist. It was an oval bead, of pale set with a large silver coin, one of
Amethyst, engraved with a wild the common imitations of the di-
boar, and in a very peculiar style, drachm of Philip, and both its make
exactly agreeing with that of the and its substitute for a gem fully
same type so often occurring on the indicate its Celtic origin,
reverse of the Gallic coins. I have
284 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
centage of silver (which can only be separated by a skilful
metallurgist) ; whereas all the imperial gold currency, even
of the Gallic tyrants, as Postumus and Victorinus, is of the
purest metal. 9 It is my belief that most of the "Ring
Money " was used as articles of personal ornament, and that
the form with large cup-shaped extremities served as a
button for fastening round the neck the large and heavy
Gallic " sagum " or mantle, each end passing through an
opposite button-hole like a pair of modern studs.
Cupid chained by Psyche. Girasol. Narcissus and Echo: Roman. Prase.
Let us now speak of Iron Rings, the common wear of the
Romans of all degrees under the republic, the ornament of
the martial metal well beseeming the descendants of the
god of war. Here too we can appropriately introduce the
poet's fabled origin of this decoration of the hand. " Jupiter
having at length been moved to release Prometheus from
his chains, in which he had sworn to keep him for ever, to
save his conscience and yet keep his oath to the letter,
obliged the freed prisoner to wear always on his finger a ring
made out of the iron of his fetters and set with a fragment
9 Such continued the rule till late century are equal to our present
in the Byzantine period, even the standard for the sovereign,
bezants of the Comneni in the 12th
SECT. IT. RINGS AND SETTINGS. 285
of the rock to which he had been chained." When Marius
rode in triumph, both the general, and the slave standing
behind, had iron rings on their fingers, and the fashion con-
tinued universal to the very end of the Kepublic. This
fact explains the existence of the large number of good
intagli we meet with that have been originally set in iron,
though the rings themselves have generally been reduced to
masses of shapeless rust. A few, however, having chanced to
be buried in dry sand have come down to us uninjured, and in
some of them it will be observed that the gem was set open ;
an example of which was a fine and large Carbuncle engraved
with a Canopic vase, now in the Fould Collection. This mode
of setting intagli was very unusual with the ancients : in most
rings the stones were backed with a plate of gold to prevent
the rust from shewing through and thus marring the beauty
of the gem. One of the finest Eoman intagli I have ever
met with is set open in an iron ring, and is a portrait of
Massanissa; perhaps has been worn by Scipio himself; the
merit of the engraving proves that it must have been
executed for a person of high position.
Under the early republic the senators alone had the
privilege of wearing rings of gold, for they are said to have
taken off their rings to mark their sense of what they con-
sidered a public calamity the publication of the Dies Fasti,
by Cn. Flavius, the secretary of Appius Ca3cus, and his
election as tribune of the people in consequence, B.C. 305.
On the same occasion the knights laid aside their silver horse-
trappings, for a gold ring was not made the distinction of
that class until the reign of Tiberius; for even under
Augustus the greater part of that body still wore the ancient
ring of iron. By the law passed under Tiberius, no one was
allowed to wear one of gold unless he was of free birth, his
father and grandfather rated at 400 sestertia (4000Z.), and
286 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
had the right of sitting among the fourteen rows in the
theatre allotted by the Julian law to the Equestrian Order
(Pliny, xxiii. 8). Before this law was passed any one might
wear a gold ring who pleased, by which fact Pliny explains
the three bushels of gold rings collected at Cannes, as show-
ing how universal the fashion had become at that time ; and
C. Sulpicius Galba, under Tiberius, had complained that the
very tavern-keepers presumed to usurp this ornament. But
even under Augustus some senators (old Conservatives no
doubt) still retained the republican ring of iron, as Calpur-
nius, and Manilius who had been lieutenant of Marius in the
Jugurthine war, and L. Fufidius. In the family of the
Quinctii not even the ladies were allowed to wear any orna-
ments of gold. The Lacedemonians of Pliny's age also
adhered to the precept of Lycurgus, and only wore rings of
iron, which custom they retained to a much later period ;
for Phlegon, writing in the next century, while relating his
most ghastly of all ghost stories, 10 with which his book on
'Wonderful Things' opens, speaks of the iron ring of
Machatas, exchanged by him for the gold one with whicli
Philinnion, his spectre-bride, had been buried. But under
the empire rings of this metal had soon become degraded
into a badge of servitude with the Komans ; for Apuleius, in
mentioning a money bag sealed by a slave, speaks of the iron
signet ring which he, as a slave, was wearing on his finger.
Hence the wealthy freedmen used to wear them gilt. Many
of these are still preserved. They went by the name of
Sarnothracian rings in that age. Thus the rich Trimalchio,
originally a slave, though he proves to his admiring guests,
by actually weighing them in their presence, that the gold
10 The original of Goethe's ' Braut in dramatic effect, for he has Goth-
von Corinth,' but far superior to it icised and spoilt the story.
SECT. II.
RINGS AND SETTINGS.
287
ornaments on his wife Fortunata amounted altogether in
weight to six pounds and a half, 1 yet durst not himself wear a
solid gold ring, but " had on his little finger a large gilt one, arid
on the top joint of the next finger, another of gold studded with
iron stars." Freedmen could only obtain the right of wearing
a ring of solid gold by an express decree of the Senate ; and,
as may be supposed, there were not wanting instances of the
nobles thus paying court to the favourite of the ruling prince :
a degradation thus wittily commented upon by Pliny, in a
letter to Montanus. "You must have already observed,
1 The passage, from Trimalchio's
Feast, above quoted, is worth trans-
cribing at length as a curious illus-
tration of the massy ornaments of
the females of that period the time
of Nero. " But tell me, pray, Gaius,
why does not Fortunata come to
dinner?" " Why," replied Tri-
malchio, "you know what a sort
of person she is : until she has seen
that the plate is all right, and has
divided the broken meat among the
younger fry, she will not put a sup
in her mouth." "That may be,"
says Habinna, " but, unless she
comes to table, I vanish." So say-
ing, he was on the point of getting
up, but, on a given signal, "For-
tunata " was bawled out four times
and more, with one voice, by the
whole body of servants. She there-
fore came in, wearing a white apron
in such a way as to show beneath it
her red gown, wreathed anklets, and
gilt slippers. Then, wiping her hands
on the handkerchief she wore round
her neck, she approaches the couch
on which Scintilla, Habinna's wife,
was reclining, and kissed her as she
was testifying her delight at her
appearance, with " Do I really see
you, my dear?" And thus things
went on, until Fortunata pulled off
the bracelets from her brawny arms,
and showed them to the admiring
Scintilla. At last she undid her'
anklets also, and her golden hair-
caul, which she told us was of the
finest standard. This was noticed by
Trimalchio, who ordered all of them
to be brought to him ; then " Do
you see," quoth he, " the woman's
fetters ? Look how we cuckolds are
robbed and plundered ! They ought
to weigh 65 Ibs., and yet I have my-
self a bracelet of ten pounds weight
made out of Mercury's tithes on my
profits." Finally, lest we should
doubt his veracity, he sends for a
pair of scales, and bids all around
make sure of the weight. Nor was
Scintilla any better-mannered, for she
took off from her neck a little case
which she called her Good-luck,
out of which she took two ear-drops,
and gave them in her turn to For-
tunata for examination, saying,
" Thanks to my lord and master no-
body else has such fine ones."
"Why," said Habinna, " you plagued
me into buying you these glass
beads ; truly, if 1 had a daughter
I would cut her ears off. If there
were no women we should have
everything dirt-cheap ; but now we
gain a penny and spend a pound."
288 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
from my last letter, that I had lately remarked the monu-
ment of Pallas (a freedman of Claudius Caesar) with this
inscription, ' To this man the Senate, on account of his fide-
lity and affection towards his master and mistress, decreed
the insignia of the praetorian office, together with the sum of
150,000, of which vote he only accepted the honorary part.'
I afterwards deemed it worth my while to look up the decree
itself. I found it so exaggerated and extravagant, that, in
comparison with it, that most arrogant of epitaphs appeared
not merely modest but even humble. The collected and
united glories, not only of those ancient heroes the Africani, the
Achaici, the Numantini, but even of those of later times, the
Marii, Syllas, and Pompeys, not to go down further in the
list, will fall far short of the praises heaped upon a Pallas.
Must I think the senators to have been joking, or to have
been miserable wretches ? I should say joking, if joking
befitted the dignity of the Senate. Were they wretches
then ? But no one is sunk so low that he can be forced to
commit such actions. Was it done then out of ambition,
and the desire of rising in the State ? But who could be so
senseless as to wish to rise through his own or the public
disgrace, in that commonwealth in which the sole advantage
of the most exalted station was the privilege of being the
first to sing the praises of a Pallas ? I pass over the circum-
stance that the praetorian insignia are offered to Pallas, to a
slave, inasmuch as they are offered by slaves. I pass over
that they vote, 'He must not merely be urged but even
compelled to wear the gold ring,' it being, forsooth, dero-
gatory to the dignity of the Senate that a man of praetorian
rank should wear one of iron." An apt illustration of the
badge of an imperial freedman, is the following description
of a ring once in the possession of an acquaintance. "An
antique iron ring plated with gold ; it has on the centre a
SECT. II. RINGS AND SETTINGS. 289
gold medallion, Laving the busts of Augustus and Livia
facing each other, in high relief."
Mask, bellowed out to contain poison. Onyx.
Silver Rings are very abundant, both solid ones with the
devices cut upon the metal, and also set with intagli. In
one found at Caerleon, Mon. (Isca Silurum), the stone, a
Nicolo, engraved with a rude figure of Venus Victrix, was
set in a gold collet let into the silver bizzel ; an unique
instance of this mode of setting. These rjngs are usually of
rough workmanship, as well as the intagli they contain, and
appear to belong invariably to the Lower Empire. From their
size and shape they were evidently made to be worn on the
little finger, an additional proof of their late date. In this
country they are often found in the vicinity of camps and
military stations, and the subjects on them are usually
Victories, Eagles, Kavens, and similar legionary devices.
Arellius Fuscus, when expelled from the Equestrian Order,
and consequently deprived of the right to wear a ring of
gold, appeared in public, according to Pliny, with silver
rings on his fingers, apparently out of bravado, and to show
his contempt for the punishment inflicted upon him by the
Senate. Rings are by no means rare formed entirely of
this metal ; but I have only met with one presenting a well-
engraved device, a Venus, upon its face, for the work of such
engravings is generally very coarse. The silver also is of
the same base standard as the coinage of the period to which
they belong ; for the nature of their subjects, being legionary
u
290 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
insignia and rude attempts at imperial portraits, prove that
they must be all assigned to the poorest classes and common
soldiers of the Lower Empire.
These remarks apply equally to rings of Bronze, which are,
as might be expected, the most numerous of all, with this
addition, that they are often found of a fanciful design, and
set with coloured pastes for ornamental wear. Paste intagli
generally occur in bronze settings. I know but one instance
of a paste, a fine cameo of a Sphinx, being found set in a
gold antique ring ; and have never met with any in rings of
silver. Pastes thus set in antique bronze ornaments are
almost the only kind I am disposed to consider as truly of
ancient manufacture ; as we have already noticed under the
head of " Pastes." Stones rudely engraved are often set in
the rings of this metal ; and like those of silver, they were
often made solid, with the device cut on the face, of which
examples occur of Etruscan and Greek times. When the
wife in the Ecclesiazusae talks of having a counterpart of
her husband's signet-ring made for her own use for the small
sum of half a drachma, she must mean one of bronze. 2 Al-
though such early examples are naturally rare, yet of the
Eoman times they abound ; the most curious of the latter
that I have met with is a very massy one preserved among
the Rutupine antiquities in Trinity College Library. Its face
bears the letters F and E, arranged in a square as a mono-
2 Sealing up pantries. Diogenes the same door after the contents had
Laertius tells an anecdote illustrative been pilfered. But his servants,
of the simplicity of Lacydes the noticing this sapient device, soon
philosopher, that, whenever he had found that, by exactly imitating
occasion to bring anything out of his method of proceeding, they
the pantry, after sealing up the door, might help themselves with all
he used to throw his ring into it security, and resealing the door,
through a hole in the door, for fear replace the signet in the same manner
lest it should be taken off his finger as the sagacious philosopher,
when asleep, and used for resealing
SECT. II. RINGS AND SETTINGS. 291
gram, and the outside of the shank is engraved with the
inscription *STiMivrAMXTO N , where the device probably
stands for " Feliciter," " Good luck to you ; " and the legend
" Stimius Amato N," " Septimius to Ainatus," is curious from
the very late form of the final >S and A, which apparently
belong to a later period than that of the departure of the Ro-
mans from this island. The entire ring has been strongly gilt.
Roman bronze ornaments may be distinguished from the
latton or brass of similar shapes belonging to mediaeval times,
so abundantly discovered in the earth of every old town, by
an examination of the metal, for Roman relics are invariably
composed of bronze (copper and tin), whilst those of the
Middle Ages are made of " latton," that is " brass " (copper
and zinc). Bronze when polished has always a brownish
hue, and is very hard; whereas latton is more of a gold
colour and much softer.
V
In Lead rings occur, though they are very rare, and even
set with intagli of a good style of art and of early date, but
such were doubtless gilt originally, and intended to pass for
massy gold. A device which reminds one of the trick played
by Polycrates upon his Spartan auxiliaries, whom, on quitting
his service, he paid off in Samian gold pieces, which he had
coined for the purpose in lead gilt. A singular fraud of some
rogue of antiquity accidentally came to light in a ring in my
own collection. It was hollow, and formed out of strong
gold plate of very ancient Greek work, and set with a Sard
intaglio, a full face of Jupiter Ammon. From the subject,
and from the style of art, it may safely be ascribed to some
citizen of Cyrene, a State in which, according to Eupolis
(Aelian, xii. 30), " the poorest man had signet rings worth ten
minae (30?.), and the artists engaged in engraving gems were
to be wondered at." 3 The gem in question always had pro-
3 He does not say whether for their numbers, or for their skill.
u 2
292 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
jected slightly from its setting ; and on one occasion adhered
to the wax on which it was being impressed, and thus came
out of the ring, when it appeared that the hollow behind had
been filled with thin leaf-lead, retaining its form, but reduced
by age to a brittle oxide ; a change which must have been the
work of many centuries to effect. We know that Cyrene
was a favourite residence of the Jews from the very time of
its foundation : may we not have here an instance of a fair
advantage in a bargain contrived by some individual of the
Chosen People to obtain a few drachms more for his ware
from some unsuspecting Gentile ?
Having now exhausted the subject of rings in all metals
set with intagli, either in stone or paste, a fitting conclusion
will be a brief notice of those, belonging usually to the Lower
Empire, having, instead of an intaglio, a gold coin of the
reigning prince ingeniously inserted in the bizzel. A fine
specimen is given by Caylus, V. cxii., of one of elegant form,
the broad shoulders being cut into an elaborate pattern of open
work, the head octagonal, and holding an aureus of Maxi-
minus : Rev. VICTORIA GERMANICA. A very similar one, but
of still more tasteful design, in weight one ounce, and get with
an aureus of Severus Alexander, was found a few years back
in this country. This had probably been the official ring of
some Roman officer serving in Britain, and corresponding to
the " Annulus bigemmeus unciarius " assigned to Claudius
Gothicus as tribune of the Fifth Legion. 4
It was no doubt the impossibility of obtaining good portraits
engraved on gems, of the reigning emperors, that suggested
the setting of the aurei with their likenesses in these massy
* I have lately seen another equally relating to the army have been pur-
massive, hut of the rudest fahrique, posely selected in all these instances :
set with an aureus of Diocletian, another argument that they were
Eev. VIRTVS MILITVM. It will be military distinctions,
observed that aurei having; reverses
SECT. 11. RINGS AND SETTINGS.
293
gold rings, evidently from their intrinsic value the ornaments
of persons who, at an earlier period, would have worn a
cameo or intaglio portrait in the same way, of the most
admirable execution. But the art of engraving gems with
any degree of sic ill appears to have expired, as it were, all at
once, the last imperial portrait of fine work mentioned in any
collection being one of Constantinus Junior ; a fact the more
strange when we consider that the medallions of this family
are by far the most abundant in the whole series, whilst they
are by no means contemptible as works of art ; and from the
manner in which they are found mounted with loops for
suspension, were evidently designed to be used as personal
ornaments. The total disappearance of the statues of the
later emperors is more easily accounted for by the fact, that
metal statues, usually gilt, were alone considered worthy to
represent the form of the sovereign in that age of advancing
barbarism. There is but one marble statue" of Constantino at
Eome, and one solitary bust of Julian ; the last a most
wretched production of expiring art. Now, not merely do
the later historians make mention of statues of the emperors
of those times, as set up in every large city, as of Theo-
doric and even Phocas at Eome, and of Justinian, and
other celebrities of his reign at Constantinople ; but they
even allude to numerous bronze statues of poets, warriors,
and advocates, the contemporaries of these emperors. All
these, on any change of government, went at once into the
furnace and re-appeared in the vile coinage of the epoch.
This circumstance, besides the roguery of the coiners, may
explain the great proportion of lead in the later bronze
coins, such as the huge pieces of the sixth and seventh
century ; for Pliny states that a considerable proportion of
this metal entered into the composition of statuary bronze in
order to render it more fusible. Long after the art of
294 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
sculpturing marble was quite extinct, works in bronze, of
considerable size and skill, were executed by Byzantine
artists : witness the numerous doors of churches still existing,
and dating even from the ninth and tenth centuries. In the
best period of Roman art, marble seems to have been pre-
ferred to bronze for portrait statues a fortunate circum-
stance, to which we owe the preservation of so many treasures
of ancient art. Pausanias mentions 4000 statues of Hadrian
alone, collected in the precincts of the Olympeium at Athens,
the votive offerings of the same number of Grecian cities :
no wonder that statues of this prince are still so numerous.
Pliny, in his description of the Colossus of Nero, the work of
Zenodorus, the most skilful statuary of the time, says that
the execution of it proved the art of casting bronze to have
been entirely lost : a strange statement probably referring to
some defects in the finished cast, or faultiness in its colour. 5
For there still exists, in the cortile of the Senator's Palace
on the Capitol, a colossal bronze head of Nero, of admirable
execution, which to all appearance completely refutes the
assertion of Pliny as to the incapacity of the metal casters of
that epoch.
5 This may have been merely an sent (1859) the art of bell-founding
exaggerated mode of expression to is entirely lost in England, seeing
signify the badness and honey- the two successive failures of the
combed quality of the metal when Great Bell of Westminster,
cast ; just as one might say at pre-
Signet and monogram of Faulus. Sard.
SECT. II. FIGURE KINGS. 295
FIGURE RINGS.
The fashion of wearing figures of Egyptian deities on the
fingers, derided by Pliny, has left us a beautiful example,
which is now preserved among the scarabei in the British
Museum. Three busts, of Osiris, Isis, and Horus, of Eoman-
Egyptian work, and admirably executed in fine gold, are
arranged side by side, so as to form the head of a ring, to
which they are set on at a right angle ; one exactly similar
is given by Caylus, as well as another, in which the busts
of Osiris and Isis form the opposite ends of a shank, and
are so brought together as to lie side by side, the heads
pointing in opposite directions. 6 These rings composed of
deities remind one of those common in Italy, and made of a
crucifix so bent that the stem and upper limb of the cross
meet together at their extremities and form the shank, so
V
that the crucified figure becomes the most conspicuous
portion of the ring. How strangely do the usages of the
most remote ages and countries coincide in particular
instances, especially in matters connected with religious
worship. Again, the Hindoo lady generally wears on her
finger a small mirror, set in a ring, so that she may be able
to while away an idle hour in the pleasing contemplation of
her dusky charms; whilst here certain fashionable prayer
books of the best class are bound up with looking-glass linings
to the covers, so as to enable the fair Christian devotee to
support the infliction of a tedious service, or a dull sermon,
by the aid of reflections of a more agreeable nature.
6 A most interesting and unique in each of the lowest faces, the pas-
ring of solid gold and elegant Jorm, sages thus formed intersecting each
in the collection of an acquaintance, other on the centre of the edifice,
has set upon its face, instead of the On the flat top of the pyramid is a
figurine of a god, a small temple, a panther in intaglio,
pyramid of four degrees, with a door
296 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
These aids to devotion recall the decade rings of mediaeval
times. These are often found of brass, but sometimes made of
silver, and are readily known by their having ten projections
like short cogs on their circumference, representing so many
Aves, whilst the round head, engraved with I.H.S., stands for
the Pater Noster. They were worn by the pious of old
times, and could be used at night, in place of a rosary,
by the wearer if he felt disposed to tell his beads.
PAPAL AND EPISCOPAL EIXGS.
From the earliest period of the Middle Ages, the symbol of
investiture with the office of bishop has been a ring set with
a Sapphire or Kuby, and worn on the fore-finger. The real
origin of this custom is not known, but probably was derived
from the practice of the Empire, by which a ring was given
to a military tribune on his appointment, and, in fact, as
early as the age of Juvenal, had become the symbol of the
office itself ; 7 and we have seen from the letter of Valerian
that it was of a " regulation " weight and description. That
the bishop's ring is a type of his mystical union with his
diocese, is a subsequent interpretation due to the fancy of
some medieval ecclesiastic who, like Durandus, could espy a
symbol in everything, even in a bell-rope. To the same
source belongs the reason assigned for the choice of the gem
with which it is set, and mentioned by Vossius, De Physio-
logia Christiana, VI., 7. " The Sapphire is said to grow dull
and lose its colour if worn by an adulterer or a lascivious
person." And, c. 25, he adds, " The Sapphire worn in a ring,
or in any other manner, is said to check lust, and for that
reason is proper to be worn by the priesthood, and all
persons vowed to perpetual chastity." But the true reason
" Semcstri vatum digitos circumligat auro." Sat. VII.
SECT. II. PAPAL AND EPISCOPAL KINGS. 297
for the choice of the Sapphire (or ancient Hyacinthus),
besides its supposed sympathy with the heavens, mentioned
by Solinus, and its connection with Apollo the god of day,
was its violet colour, agreeing with the vestments appro-
priated to the episcopal office.
The bishop's violet represents the inferior purple, Con-
chylia, or Hyacinthina of the Komans ; a colour which Pliny
compares to that of the "angry sea," a very dark violet
indeed, as any one will remember who has sailed on the
Mediterranean in rough weather. The scarlet of the
cardinal's robes is the true Tyrian dye, " the colour of
clotted blood; dark when looked at directly, but brilliant
when held above the eye ; " 8 and the " purple ink," with
which the emperors signed their names to all documents, is,
as plainly appears in the Byzantine charters preserved to
the present time, of a bright scarlet colour. Hence the robe
in the Passion is by one evangelist called purple, by another
scarlet. 9 I therefore think it probable that, when such
mediaeval rings occur set with a Euby instead of a Sapphire,
they have belonged to bishops who were at the same time,
cardinals.
These rings were often, perhaps always, interred with the
prelates to whom they had belonged. Two were found a few
years ago in the coffins of ancient bishops of Hereford ; others
found under similar circumstances are preserved in the
library of York Cathedral ; and they often occur in col-
lections, obtained, no doubt, from the accidental desecration of
episcopal sepulchres. The one discovered in the stone coffin
of a bishop of St. Omer was entirely of gold, the head
8 Laus ei summa in colore sari- 'guis. Plin. ix. 62.
guinis concreti nigricans aspectu, 9 xAa/jvSa KOKKIVTJV, Mat. nop-
idcmqiiG suspectu refulgens. Unde (pvpav, Mark.
et Homero purpuveiis dicitur san-
gH ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
formed of three trefoils, combined together in a very tasteful
pattern. 10
The custom of burying ecclesiastics together with all their
official insignia, appears to have lasted far down into the
Middle Ages, for amongst the amusing adventures of An-
dreuccio da Perugia, related by Boccaccio, he, when reduced
to despair, joins some thieves in plundering the tomb of the
Archbishop of Naples, interred the previous day in all his
precious vestments, and with a ring on his finger valued at
500 scudi. Two parties of plunderers, the last headed by a
priest of the cathedral, visit the tomb in succession, and
almost at the same time, to which circumstance Andreuccio
owes his escape from a horrible death, and returns home in
possession of the ring, which more than makes up for all his
losses.
At one time it seemed to me probable that this common
practice of plundering the tombs as soon as the corpse was
deposited therein, even by the very parties who ought to have
most religiously guarded the sacredness of the treasure, gave
origin to those huge rings of gilt metal so often seen in
cabinets of antiques, bearing either the titles or the coat of
arms of some pope or bishop. As none that I have met with
are of earlier date than the fifteenth century, one was almost
led to the conclusion that the universal violation of the
sanctity of the tomb, even by the supposed guardians of it,
had induced the friends of the deceased prelates to substitute
these counterfeit insignia of their rank for the real ones,
which had been found to offer such irresistible temptations to
the plunderers. That these metal rings were occasionally
10 One of the earliest, if not the 1856. It is set with a large rough
earliest extant, has lately been shown Sapphire, is made of dectrum, and
me, said to have been found with hollow, and entirely covered with
other insignia in the tomb of the the elogant guilloche pattern so con-
Abbot of Folleville, near Amiens, in slant in Uomanesque ornamentation.
SECT. II. PAPAL AND EPISCOPAL RINGS. 299
deposited in tombs appears from these words of Palatin ;
Gesta Pont. Rom., III., 653. "A. S. 1607. In sepulchre
Sixti IV. repertus est annulus Pauli IL, cum hac nota,
PAVLVS II." This ring was sold (for 7 guineas) in Eoby's
collection of miscellaneous works of art, by Christie and
Manson, May 3, 1855. In the catalogue of Major Mac-
donald's Collection, sold by Sotheby and Wilkinson, Ap. 20,
1857, No. 9 is "A large ring of gilt bronze set with
Amethyst, with raised figures in high relief, and finely
chased. It formerly belonged to Pope Boniface, from whose
tomb it was taken during the popular insurrection in Rome,
1849." But here it will be as well to give a more minute
description of these rings, which may also serve to direct the
attention of antiquaries to any allusions to the use of them
occurring in medieval writers, or to the circumstances under
which they may be brought to light at the present day.
They are of very large dimensions, and evidently never
designed to be worn upon the finger ; some I have seen which
must weigh nearly a pound ; l they are all of the same form,
the shanks being four-sided, and the head square, and set
with a slab of Crystal or pale Amethyst, or sometimes with a
piece of glass of that colour. The upper part of the shank
usually bears the shield of the owner on one side ; on the
other some religious design, as the emblems of the evangelist.
These ornaments are cut out of the metal in high relief, and
often in a good bold Gothic style. On the outside of the
narrow part of the shank an inscription is often found in
Gothic letters, giving the title of the owner, as EPIS. LUGDUN :
but they more frequently are without any inscription, and
appear always to have been strongly gilt.
One of the most eminent archaeologists of the present day
1 Preserved in the Bronze Room of the Uffizi, Florence.
300 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
is of the opinion that they served as credential rings to
authenticate the mission of any person despatched upon the
business of the owner, and that they had no connection with
the ring of investiture, a valuable jewel, and one always
retained by the prelate, both in life and death. This theory
is supported by the fact, that duplicates of these metal rings,
belonging to the same individual pope or bishop, are still in
existence, which certainly would not have been the case had
merely a single one been made for the sole purpose of
accompanying the corpse within his last resting place. In
the Archaeological Journal of some years back is figured a
ring of this class (but entirely without ornamental chasing on
the sides), set with a square crystal, and inscribed on the
upper part of the shank, EOGERII REGIS, probably one of the
Neapolitan kings of that name. 2 This is the earliest instance
known to me, and confirms the hypothesis that these rings
served merely as credentials to the envoys of their possessors.
It is curious that, with these two exceptions, they should all
have belonged to ecclesiastics of various ranks. At present
this class of antiques is extensively forged in Germany, as
well as all other varieties of mediaeval seals and signets ; the
high price they command from collectors of the relics of the
Middle Ages is a great temptation to the manufacture, which
also presents but little difficulty to a skilful worker in metal.
Hence all objects of this kind which appear without a well-
authenticated pedigree ought to be examined by the amateur
with a very suspicious and critical eye.
2 Another lately seen by me has century) cm the other, marking its
a Fleur-de-Lys on one side, and French and regal origin,
a crown (apparently of the 14th
SECT. II. USE OP ANTIQUE GEMS IN MEDIAEVAL TIMES. 301
Serapis: Roman. Cameo.
USE OF ANTIQUE GEMS IN MEDIEVAL TIMES.
The foregoing dissertation naturally introduces the subject
of the mediaeval seals and rings, which are so often found set
with antique intagli for the purpose of signets. The subjects
engraved upon them were always interpreted by the owners
as representations of scriptural personages and events. Thus
a triple mask stood for the Trinity, with the legend added
Triple Mask : Roman. Jaciath.
around the stone, " Hsec est Trinitatis Imago ; " and a similar
intaglio I have seen, a Jacinth, set in a massy gold ring, with
" Noel," the corruption of Emmanuel, repeated on each side
of the setting, evidently in a similar sense. Isis nursing
Horus naturally passed for the Virgin and Child ; nor was
this substitution confined to intagli alone, for the "Black
Virgins " of certain French churches (revered from the
earliest period of the Middle Ages, but unfortunately de-
stroyed in the general wreck of everything ecclesiastical in
1794), were discovered by Montfaucon to be basalt figures
of the above-named Egyptian deities, which, having merely
302 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
changed names, continued to attract the devout to their
temples as before. The common type of a Muse holding a
mask, did duty for Herodias with the Baptist's head in her
Jupiter Olympius: Roman. Sard.
hand ; and St. John the Evangelist was represented by the
figure of Jupiter with the eagle at his feet Silenus with his
crooked stick was appropriately transformed into some
croziered abbot ; whilst cupids made very orthodox angels.
The bust of Serapis passed always for the portrait of Christ ;
and every one who has paid any attention to the representa-
tions of this mysterious divinity, characterised as they are by
a grave and pensive expression, so different to the open and
genial air of the Greek and Koman Jupiter, will feel con-
vinced that the countenance of Serapis, and not the pretended
letter of Bufus to Tiberius, supplied the original type for the
portraits of our Lord. The description of the Alexandrians,
given by Hadrian in his letter to Servianus (Vopiscus in Yita
Saturnini), seems to tend to an elucidation of the origin of
this interchange of representations between the old and new
Faith. " Those who worship Serapis are also Christians, and
those who style themselves the bishops of Christ are devoted
to Serapis. The very Patriarch himself, when he comes to
Egypt, is forced by some to adore Serapis, by others to adore
Christ. There is but one God for them all, him do the
Christians, him do the Jews, him do all the Gentiles also
worship." The Jewish prejudices entertained by the early
Christians were so powerful, that such portraits were not
SECT. II. USE OF ANTIQUE GEMS IN MEDIEVAL TIMES. 303
admitted into their churches until a very late period ; and
any traditional description of Christ's personal appearance
must in a generation or two have become much too vague to
serve as any guide to an artist. 3 Sacred plate of the Middle
Ages was enriched with swarms of intagli, a practice common
enough long before under the Empire, for Juvenal laughs at
the person who transferred the gems from his rings to the
exterior of his drinking vessels :
" Nam Virro ut multi gemmas ad pocula transfer!
A digitis."
Caylus gives figures of several of the greatest merit, both
camei and intagli, selected from nearly three hundred, at that
time (1760) preserved set in the sacred vessels 4 and orna-
ments belonging to the sacristy of Troyes Cathedral. The
shrine of the Three Kings of Cologne, a work of the eleventh
century, has some admirable camei set in its two ends, and
its sides are studded with engraved gems of all sorts. For the
subject of one of them (a Leda and Swan) the devotees of
the period must have been puzzled to find a scriptural
parallel. But it is needless to particularise these works, as
every collection of documents of the Middle Ages will dis-
play, in their seals attached, abundant evidence of the
universality of the custom. The parchments preserved in
the muniment room of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge,
have a great number of impressions from antique intagli set
in the personal seals of the donors and attestors of the various
3 Epiphanius (Hasres. xxvii.) setting them up all together, worship
brings it as a grave charge against and do sacrifice unto them after the
the Carpocratians, " that they had gentile fashion."
painted portraits, and even gold and 4 The greatest part of these gems
silver images, and of other materials, were small intagli on Carnelian, and
which they affirmed to be portraits of set in a chasse containing a tooth of
Jesus, and made by Pilate after the St. Peter, and the head of St. Philip,
likeness of Christ at what time he so- made by order of Bishop Gamier,
journed amongst men. These they Almoner to the Crusaders at the
keep in secret along with others of taking of Constantinople, whence he
Pythagoras, Plato, and Aristotle, and stole the skull of the Apostle.
304 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. IF.
deeds ; amongst which, however, very few occur of any merit
as to workmanship, being generally of late Roman date. I
have seen a small rude intaglio of Pax, surrounded by a
mediaeval legend EICHARDVS ESP, which had been regarded by
the German antiquaries, in which country it had been found
(at Ratisbon), as an invaluable relic, being the very signet of
Richard Coaur de Lion !
Lapidaria or Treatises on Gems still exist, describing the
benefits that accrue from the possession of stones sculptured
with certain figures. Their virtues are deduced from the
meaning supposed by the authors of these treatises to be
implied by the engraving on the gem ; and both grounds and
inferences are, it is needless to say, in most cases ridiculously
absurd. The mode in which they express themselves on this
point would lead one to conclude that they considered the
stone and figure to be a natural production, and not a work
of art ; an idea the more admissible if we reflect upon the
great length of time during which the art of gem-engraving
had been totally unknown in Europe. The last intaglio
known, of any merit as a work of art, is the famous Sapphire
of Constantius. in which that emperor is represented spearing
a wild boar in the neighbourhood of Caesarea, that city being
typified by a female reclining on the ground. The rude
works of the Gnostics may have been executed for a century
or two longer, for the tomb of Maria, wife of Honorius was
found, when opened, to contain several, buried with that
princess as amulets, in spite of her orthodoxy ; with the notion
no doubt that they could do the deceased no harm, and might
possibly be of service to her in her passage to the next world,
as we shall see when we come to treat of the class of Abraxas
gems, a barbarous but highly interesting series of intagli.
We have already noticed the signet of Mauricius, who reigned
582 to 602, but I cannot vouch for the genuineness of the
stone, for it has much the air of a work of the Renaissance.
SECT. IT. CROSS OF KING LOTHAIUUS. 305
I have, however, met with an account of a most interesting
o
intaglio, the authenticity of which is indubitable, and which
brings down the traces of the existence of the art of engraving
on gems some centuries lower than is generally allowed ; to
the examination of which the next article shall be devoted.
CEOSS OF KING LOTHAKIUS.
This cross, itself indubitably a work of the Carlovingian
period, but mounted upon a silver-gilt foot of very elegant
design in the taste of the fifteenth century, is preserved in
the treasury of the cathedral of Aix-la-Chapelle, and affords
some singular illustrations of certain points already treated of
in these pages. The surface of the gold is ornamented with
arabesque tracery, and studded thickly with gems set close
together in plain raised collets. These consist of Pearls,
Rubies, Sapphires, Amethysts (one an intaglio of the Three
Graces), and Emeralds ; another convincing proof, if any
were needed, of the common use of the last gem in ancient
times. At the intersection of the arms of the cross is placed
a magnificent cameo on Onyx, about 3 inches high and 2J
wide, representing the laureated bust of Augustus holding an
eagle-topped sceptre ; a work of the highest merit. But the
most interesting feature that presents itself to our notice in
this early relic of the first dawn of medieval art, is the signet
of Lotharius himself, set in the lower part of the stem of the
cross, immediately beneath the cameo of Augustus. It is
engraved on a large oval piece of rock crystal about If inches
high by 1 J wide, and represents the bust of that king, his head
covered with a close-fitting helmet with a slightly projecting
frontlet, like those of the latest Roman period. Around the
bust runs this legend, in well formed Roman letters,
f XPEADIVVAHLOTHARIVMREG
" Christ, defend King Lothaire."
306 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. IT.
The execution of the engraving is very tolerable ; far better
than could have been expected at that date, A.D. 823, especi-
ally when we consider the rudeness of the coinage of the same
period. It is not the work of the Byzantine school, for the
characters of the legend bear no resemblance to those em-
ployed by its artists, but are precisely the same as those seen
on the Frankish stone and metal work of the time of this
monarch. This is by far the latest intaglio of ascertained
date, of which I have been able to find any trace ; and its
existence supports the opinion previously expressed, that the
art of engraving gems lingered in Europe to a much later
period than is generally supposed.
This most splendid specimen of ancient jeweller's work is
admirably figured in the magnificent 'Melanges d'Archreo-
logie,' Vol. I., par MM. Cahier et Martin.
PKOFUSION OF JEWELLERY WORN BY ROMAN
LADIES.
" I have seen," says Pliny, ix. 58, " Lollia Paulina (once the
wife of the Emperor Caligula) though it was on no great
occasion, nor was she in full dress of ceremony, but merely at
an ordinary wedding party I have seen her covered all over
with Emeralds and Pearls shining in alternate rows, over all
her head, her hair, hair-fillet, ears, reck, necklace, and fingers ;
the value of all which united amounted to the sum of forty
millions of sesterces (400,000?.) : a value which she was ready
to attest by the vouchers for the prices paid. Nor were these
jewels the presents of an extravagant prince ; they were, on
the contrary, family heir-looms, that is to say, bought with the
spoils of provinces. This was the result of peculation, this
the end for which M. Lollius made himself infamous all over
the East, by taking bribes from princes; and at the last
drunk poison when C. Caesar, the adopted son of Augustus,
SECT. II. JEWELLERY WORN BY ROMAN LADIES. 307
had renounced his friendship : all for this end, that his grand-
daughter might show herself off by lamp-light covered over
with the value of forty millions of sesterces ! Let any one
now count up on the one side the sums carried in triumph by
Curius or Fabricius, let him picture to himself their scanty
dishes ; and on the other side, Lollia, a wretched female, a
tyrant's plaything, seated at the feast ; would he not have
preferred that they should have been dragged down from
their triumphal cars, rather than have been victors for such a
result as this?"
Claudian enumerates among the treasures left by the
Emperor Theodosius to his two sons :
" Quin et Sidonias chlamydes et cingula baccis
Aspera, gemmatasque togas, viridesque smaragdo
Loricas, galeasque renidentes hyacinthis."
" Sidonian mantles rich with purple fold, \
Belts bossed with pearls, robes stiff with woven gold,
And helmets shining green with emeralds bright,
And breastplates rich with precious sapphires dight."
In illustration of the last lines it may be observed, that
Constantine often appears, on his small brass coins, wearing
a helmet studded with gems set together as closely as
possible. This passage also supplies another argument in
favour of the identity of the Hyacinthus with our Sapphire, as
that stone is found more abundantly used than any other in
the decoration of the jewellery of the latest Koman age, in
the few instances (to be described in the next article) that
have been preserved to our times. Here, too, it may be
observed, that these ornamental helmets of the latter empire
were the origin of the imperial crown in its present shape,
the gradual transition of form being easily traced upon the
coins of the Byzantine Caesars.
x 2
308 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
CROWNS OF THE GOTHIC KINGS OF SPAIN.
A brief notice has been already given, under Emerald, of
the Iron Crown of Monza, and that of King Agilulph. But
these have been altogether eclipsed, both in value and in
interest, by the discovery of eight crowns in solid gold, of the
intrinsic worth of 2000?., lately discovered in clearing away
a deserted cemetery at Fuente di Guerrazar, two leagues
from Toledo. The most important, that of King Receswin-
thus, A.D. 653, is a circle of fine gold one foot in diameter,
set with 30 huge Eubies and 35 Pearls, alternating with
Sapphires. The circle is edged by two borders, adorned with
a running pattern of Greek crosses made of pieces of Carne-
lian, cloissonnds in gold. From 24 little chains hang these
letters, of gold, incrusted with Carnelians, like the border,
f RECESVINTHVS REX OFFERET.
From the letters again hang 24 pendeloques in gold and five
Pearls, and support 24 pear-shaped pink Eubies, forming a
fringe all round the crown. Lowest of all hangs a magni-
ficent cross, of elegant form, set with very large gems, and
having three pendants from the arms and foot.
The second crown, supposed to be the queen's, is set with
Rubies, Sapphires, Emeralds, Opals, and large Pearls, and
has a fringe of Rubies and a pendant cross, but is altogether
of a plainer make than the first.
The other crowns are much simpler, and are set with but
few stones ; they probably were those of counts and barons of
the time. On one is the inscription,
INDNI
NOM
INE
OFFERET SONNICA
SCTE
MARIE
INS
ORBA
CES
SECT. II. CROWN OF HUNGARY. 309
which records its dedication by Sonnica to Santa Maria di
Abaxo, a church at the foot of the hill on which Toledo
stands.
CEOWN OF HUNGAEY.
This most venerable relic of Byzantine art is formed of a
broad flat circlet of fine gold, from which spring four arches
supporting a cross. It was sent, A.D. 1072, by Michael
Ducas, Emperor of Constantinople, to Geisa I., Duke of
Hungary, or, as he is styled in his enamel portrait placed
above the circlet, " Geabitras, king of the Turks." Next
comes a portrait of Constantinus Porphyrogenitus ; then one
of Ducas himself ; the fourth and largest enamel represents
Christ seated, exactly as he appears on the bezants of the
period. These four portraits are placed at the springing of
the arches that close the top of the crown ; on the front of
the circlet itself are fixed four smaller enamels of Michael,
Gabriel, St. George, and St. Demetrius.
Above the medallion of Christ is a large heart-shaped
Amethyst, below it is a huge rough Sapphire ; four large
Sapphires are also set equidistant on the circlet, all of them,
but one, being unpolished. The edges of the circlet are
closely studded with Pearls set touching each other in a row.
The large Sapphire at the back is surrounded by four green
stones, cut in an oblong form, but their precise nature cannot
be ascertained. In the deed by which Queen Elizabeth of
Hungary pledged this crown to the Emperor Frederic IV,,
the stones are enumerated as 53 Sapphires, 50 Rubies, one
Emerald, and 320 Pearls. Here is another proof of the early
existence of the Emerald in Europe, and of the correctness of
the opinion as to the real nature of the Hyacinthus, for what
other gem, to judge from Claudian's account of the robes and
armour of Theodosius, should we expect to see so lavishly
employed as this in decorations of the Byzantine age ?
310 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
KING OF THE GEEAT MOGUL.
Before quitting the subject of ancient jewellery, I cannot
refrain from giving a brief description of an ornament, which,
though not antique, exemplifies the Oriental idea of magnifi-
cence more fully than any example that has ever come before
me. This was a monster ring presented two centuries ago by
the Great Mogul to the only envoy of the Emperor of Germany
who ever visited his court. The very first sight of this jewel
sufficed to convince one that it could have had no other origin
than this, such a show of barbarian splendour did it exhibit,
forming in itself a complete cabinet of every kind of precious
stone of colour to be found within his dominions. Its form
was that of a wheel about three inches in diameter, composed
of several concentric circles joined together by the spokes
radiating from the centre, in which was set a large round
Sapphire ; the spokes, at all their intersections with the
circles, have collets soldered on them, each containing some
coloured gem; in fact, every stone of value, except the
Diamond, occurs in this glorious company. On the back is
fixed the shank, and when worn it covers the whole hand
like some huge mushroom.
Strange to say, this same pattern is found in an ornament of
a very different origin a Eoman fibula discovered at Shefford,
Bedfordshire, and now in the collection of the Cambridge
Antiquarian Society. It is composed of bronze gilt, and is
about eight inches over, and formed of three concentric
circles connected as in the ring, all set with large pastes
imitating Emeralds and Amethysts. The gilding is still very
perfect, and the colours of the pastes remarkably good and
brilliant. The form of this fibula is perhaps unique, but
there can be little doubt of its Roman origin, having been
found together with many relics of that period, such as
SECT. II. STATUES ADORNED WITH JEWELLERY. 311
Samian ware and other pottery. This is another singular
instance of the persistence of ancient types in the East,
which strikes us so forcibly in the examination of the Etruscan
and Greek gold work, much of which might have been but
yesterday brought from India, the same lightness of material
and delicacy of execution, as well as similarity of " motive,"
characterising the productions of ages so widely separated.
STATUES ADORNED WITH JEWELLERY.
At a late period of the Eoman Empire, the practice had
become common of adorning the statues of the gods with
articles of jewellery, such as would be worn by wealthy per-
sonages of the time. Of this custom wo find no traces in
former ages, for the gold and gems that decorated the statues
of the flourishing periods of the arts were employed in the
actual construction of the figure or of its drapery and acces-
sories. Zosimus ascribes the tragic end of Serena, the
widow of the great Stilicho, who was strangled by the orders
of the wretched Honorius (or rather of the eunuchs who
governed him), to the vengeance of the goddess Vesta, whose
statue she had despoiled of a most valuable necklace of
precious stones. This was done at the time the temple was
deserted by its former guardians, in consequence of the con-
fiscation of its revenues. Hence Zosimus (a devout adherent
to the ancient faith), whilst lamenting the fate of so excellent
312 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
a matron, cannot refrain from pointing out the justness of the
punishment " which encircled with the cord that very neck
previously adorned with a necklace obtained by sacrilege
from the most venerable of the Roman shrines." The priests
of old, in the Eternal City, must have had greater faith in the
devotion or the honesty of the worshippers, than is manifested
by their successors of the present day, for although some of
the Madonnas, especially that dell' Annunziata, seem one
blaze of jewels, the gifts of devotees of every age and country,
yet they are in reality nothing but false stones. The guar-
dians of the churches themselves confess the substitution, and
affirm, that to guard against accidents, every real offering is
represented to the public view by a fac-simile in paste, whilst
the originals are deposited for safety in the sacristy of the con-
vent, though it is shrewdly suspected by the natives that the
originals would not be forthcoming if demanded, having,
immediately on their dedication, been converted into a form
more applicable to the requirements of the " living temples."
The sacred vessels of the sacristy of Cologne Cathedral blaze
with a profusion of precious stones, which even to the eye of
the casual inspector, appear too brilliant to be genuine, and
have much the appearance of recent pastes. I have also
been informed, by a person of the greatest skill in antique
gems, that the large Onyx camei, already mentioned as
decorating the ends of the shrine of the Three Kings, are
not of stone but of coloured paste. If this be true, it affords
strong grounds for suspicion that the originals have been
abstracted at some time within the last three centuries;
moved from their place by the potent arguments of some
wealthy collector, and copies in paste substituted for them ; a
fraud not difficult of execution,, as the shrine is deposited
within a very gloomy enclosure, and can only be examined
by means of a hand-lantern, for which permission a consider-
SECT. II. STATUES ADORNED WITH JEWELLERY. 313
able fee, one thaler, is charged. The devout but poor
worshipper can only contemplate the open front of the shrine
which contains the sacred skulls, from without, and at some
distance, through a grating ; so that any tampering with the
ornaments of the sides of the shrine might be carried on
without any fear of detection.
The sacrilege of Serena recalls a curious circumstance
connected with the downfall of the ancient worship at Rome.
The zeal of the Christian populace, as long as the Empire
lasted in the West, was only allowed to vent itself upon the
more disreputable deities of foreign origin, such as the Egyp-
tian monsters, against which even the Senate had in earlier
times waged vigorous war ; and against other religions intro-
duced from barbarian regions, like Mithras and his host de-
stroyed by the onslaught of Gracchus, so highly lauded by
the irascible abbot of Bethlehem. The ancient deities of
\
Italian origin appear to have remained unmolested as long as
the Empire endured. The temples were indeed closed to
worshippers, and their revenues sequestrated, but the build-
ings and statues remained as decorations to the city. On the
other hand, the figures symbolizing abstract ideas, such as
Victory and Fortune, had still a certain degree of respect
paid to them. The melting down by Palladium of the gold
statue of Virtus, in order to buy off the threatened attack of
Alaric, was even regarded as an unpardonable offence, and a
sure omen of future ruin, by the almost wholly Christian popu-
lation of Rome. The figures of the goddess Roma and of
Victory appear some centuries later on the coins of the most
orthodox and fanatical Byzantine emperors. Even in the
reign of Coustantius, a persecuting Tbigot, we read of the
Consul sacrificing in the temple of Castor and Pollux at
Ostia, when contrary winds locked up the corn-fleet in the
harbours of Africa, and threatened the city with famine. But
314 ART, STYLES OF. SECT. II.
on other occasions also, the new converts, when reduced to
despair, had recourse to the expedients of the ancient faith,
sanctified by so many centuries of uninterrupted victory.
Thus during the last siege by Alaric, when all hopes of de-
fence had failed, on a rumour that the citizens of Nepi had
repulsed the Gothic besiegers by means of a thunderstorm
raised by the rites of some Etruscan Haruspices, the Senate
was anxious to try the effect of the same invocations, and had
even obtained the consent of the Bishop Innocentius to such
a scandalous proceeding. He, as Zosimus observes, \vas ready
to sacrifice his creed to his country ; but when the Etruscan
priests, rejoicing no doubt in his confusion, insisted on the
proceedings being conducted publicly, and in the Forum
itself, his pride of office came to the aid of his faith, and he
allowed the business to go no farther. As an illustration of
the preceding remarks a brief notice will not be out of place
of the numerous figures of Koma (often cut on plasma), as
well as of Victories and Eagles, usually mere scratches, and
so rude as to be hardly recognisable, even when engraved on
fine gems, and which may safely be attributed to the very last
ages of Eoman power. These rude intagli will often be found
set in massive gold rings (in fact, as a rule, the more valuable
intrinsically the setting, the less so is the gem as a work of art),
evidently the ornaments of the wealthiest classes of the time,
and who, had anything better, in point of execution, been then
obtainable, would certainly have procured it to adorn such
costly decorations. From the circumstance that only such
miserable attempts at engravings were then to be procured by
the most liberal patrons, we may conclude how nearly the art
had declined towards the period of its total extinction.
I have already noticed the rarity of imperial portraits in
intaglio after the time of Caracalla. Even the miscellaneous
Herz Collection (the sole object of which was to assemble the
SECT. II. STATUES ADORNED WITH JEWELLERY.
315
greatest possible variety of subjects, irrespective of material
or of beauty) contained none of later date than the family of
Severus. The Mertens-Schaafhausen Cabinet, so rich in
portraits, affords however a highly interesting and unique
design, the heads of Diocletian and Maximian, combined in
the character of Janus, an apt allusion to their pacific rule.
The same observation applies still more forcibly to cameo
portraits, which, though abundant enough and of excellent
style, of the time of Hadrian and his successor, entirely dis-
appear in the next century with Severus, of whom some are
extant, of considerable merit and in splendid stones. In fact,
the only genuine cameo bust I have seen of a later date was
one of Macrinus, and that of very inferior execution. 5 The
above-named collection possesses, indeed, a head of Valenti-
nian, on- a slab of Porphyry 4 inches by 3 in dimensions ; but
this, both from its size and material, must rather be designated
a bas-relief than a cameo. Camei, however, reappear at a late
period of the Byzantine empire, worked out in the same stiff
and barbarous style as the religious subjects of the same date ;
and, like these, often disfigure and deface slabs of Sardonyx
of extraordinary size and beauty.
s A cameo of considerable size, crown ; the whole worked out in flat
said to have been found at Xanten relief, like the medallions of the time,
on the Rhine, and apparently an- in an inferior single-coloured Onyx :
tique, presents a laureated bust of a most important monument of the
Constantine, enclosed in a civic expiring art.
Diocle-tiau and Maximian as Jan
Green Jasper.
316 SUBJECTS. SECT. III.
Antiqua Gem, with forged name of artist Mycon : Greek. Sard
SECTION III. SUBJECTS.
KEMAEKABLE SIGNETS OF ANTIQUITY.
" Graved on the gem the god of Love I see,
Whose mighty force no mortal heart can flee :
With dext'rous rein he guides the lion's might,
Unnumber'd graces spring around to light ;
In one hand grasped aloft the whip he roars
O'er the rough neck, in one the bridle bears.
The murd'rous god that tames the monster dire,
How few of mortals shall escape his ire !"
MARCUS ARGENTARIUS, Anthol. ix. 221.
NEXT to the celebrated Emerald signet of Polycrates, the
most famous is probably the Agate of King Pyrrhus, which is
said to have been so marked naturally as to represent Apollo
holding the lyre and surrounded by the nine Muses, each with
her appropriate attribute. The natural veins and shadings
of the stone must have been very much assisted either by art or
by the very lively imagination of the beholder, to have drawn
so complicated a design upon the small surface of a ring-
stone ; although Agates do occur at the present day marked
SECT. III. REMARKABLE SIGNETS OF ANTIQUITY. 317
with figures which it seems almost impossible to ascribe to a
mere freak of nature. Amongst those in the British Museum
is one representing the head of Chaucer covered with the
hood, as in his well-known portrait, the resemblance of which
is most extraordinary ; and yet the pebble is evidently in its
original state, not even polished, but merely broken in two.
In the Florence Cabinet is a red and yellow Agate, the shades
of which admirably represent a Cupid running ; and a few
other similar natural pictures are shown in the same col-
lection. Among the gems at Strawberry Hill was a " lusus
naturae, a rare Egyptian pebble representing Voltaire in his
night-gown and cap, set in gold ;" also " another representing,
with the utmost exactness, the portrait of a woman in profile,
a rock behind her, and sky before, set in gold, and accounted
very curious." 1 The examination of these "nature-paintings"
supplies the explanation of an epigram by Claudian " On a
table of Sardonyx-stone," which is somewhat obscure in con-
sequence of its very flowery style of expression, and at first
rather suggests the idea of a mosaic being intended by his
description, though there can be no doubt it refers to the
natural colours and veins of the stone tablet itself.
EPIGRAM XLIV. In mensd de Sardonyche lapide.
" Mensa coloratis aquilae sinuatur in alis
Quam floris distinguit honos, similisque figura
Texitur, implumem mentitur gemma volatum."
" The coloured veins that o'er its surface stray,
An eagle's form with dusky wings portray ;
With native hues trac'd on the flower'd stone,
A life-like figure in perfection shown ;
Form'd in the gem the picture seems to fly,
And wingless cheats the wond'ring gazer's eye."
1 Some others still more extraor- tion of the Hope Precious Stones,'
dinary are specified in the ' Descrip- by B. Herz.
318 SUBJECTS. SECT. III.
This epigram also supplies another instance of the vast
size of the slabs of Sardonyx obtained by the Romans ; and
this must have been the "gem," two of which made the
draughtboard, "tabula lusoria," carried in the Triumph of
Pompey, and which was four feet long by three wide.
Dio records that the head of Augustus, engraved by Dios-
corides, was the signet used by his successors until Galba
substituted for it his own family device, a dog, looking forth
from a ship's prow. Sylla's favourite seal was the surrender
of Jugurtha, 2 a subject no doubt represented thereon in the
same manner as it is found on the reverse of one of his
denarii, where the Roman general appears seated on an ele-
vated platform, and before him are two men kneeling, one of
them with his hands tied behind his back, while the other
holds forth a branch, the emblem of a suppliant. According
to Dio, xlii. 18, the Roman Senate refused to credit the news
of the death of Pompey until Julius Csesar produced before
them his very signet-ring, which was engraved with three
trophies, like that of Sylla's. The motive for selecting this
device was the same in both cases, to commemorate the three
principal triumphs of their military career. The Spaniard,
whose father had fallen in a duel with Scipio ^JEmilianus, was
so proud of the fact that he used for his signet a stone en-
graved with a representation of the combat ; whereupon Stilo
wittily inquired, what would he not have done if his father had
killed Scipio, instead of Scipio's killing his father ? Augustus
at first sealed with a sphinx, having found two intagli of
this design, and perfectly alike, among the valuables of his
mother ; and one of these, when absent from Rome, he used
to leave in the hands of his deputy to authenticate any letters
or proclamations that might be suddenly required by any
2 Pliny, Nat. Hist, xxxvii. ; my chief authority for the statements
made in this chapter.
SECT. IH. HEM AUK ABLE SIGNETS OF ANTIQUITY.
319
emergency to be issued in his name ; but so many satirical
remarks were made upon his use of a sphinx that he gave it
up, and employed a head of Alexander the Great for his
signet. 3 That of Maecenas was a frog, the sight of which, as
announcing a contribution about to be levied, used to strike
terror into people's minds. This famous patron of literature
net of Maecenas. Etruscan Calcedony.
extended his favour to this branch of the fine arts, of which
a testimony still exists in his portraits from the hand of
Apollonius, of Solon, of Aulus, and above all of Dioscorides,
which is the second in merit of the eight authentic surviving
works of that engraver. How passionately Maecenas loved
gems, doubtless not merely for themselves, but for the art
enshrined within their substance, appears from his lines upon
the departure of Horace, for which loss, he says, not even the
sight of his darling collection could console him :
" Lugens, o mea vita, te, Smaragdos
Beryllos neque, Flacce, nee nitentes,
Nuper, Candida margarita, qugero :
Nee quos Thynica lima perpolivit
Anellos nee laspios lapillos."
3 A Calcedony scarab in the Mer-
tens - Schaafhausen Collection, en-
graved with a frog (both the beetle
and the intaglio a highly finished
work of an Etruscan artist of the
best period), may be assigned, with-
out much stretch of probabilities,
to some member of the powerful clan
MAIKNE, the " regal ancestry " of
Horace's patron. That such devices,
like our heraldic crests, were here-
ditary, appears from Dio's notice of
Galba's hereditary seal.
320 SUBJECTS. SECT. III.
" Whilst I thy absence, my life, deplore,
Emeralds and lustrous Beryls charm no more ;
No more, my Flaccus, can the brilliant white
Of Indian Pearls as once my eyes delight :
Nor can my favourite rings my grief beguile,
Nor Jaspers polished by the Thynian file."
Augustus also evidently alludes to his mania for collecting
gems in the passage of a letter in which he thus mimics
his affected style : " Vale mel gentium, metuelle, ebur ex
Hetmria, laser Aretinum, adamas supernas, Tyberinum mar-
garitum, Cilneorum smaragde, iaspis figulorum, berylle
Porsennae, carbunculum habeas" (corruption of Carbuncule
Arabice). Macrob. ii. 4. " Farewell my ivory statuette from
Etruria, my Aretine spice, my diamond of the Upper Country,
my pearl of the Tiber, my emerald of the Oilman clan, my
jasper of the potteries, my beryl of King Porsena, my ruby of
Arabia," &c., joking him at once on his royal Etruscan de-
scent (his weak point) and on this his favourite hobby.
Ismenias, the celebrated flute-player in the reign of Alex-
ander, having been informed that an Emerald, engraved with
a figure of Amymone, was for sale at a town in Cyprus for
six gold staters (six guineas exactly), commissioned a person
to buy it for him, who made, as he thought, a good bargain,
and brought back two gems for the same money ; but Isme-
nias, instead of thanking him for his trouble, said that " he
had done very wrong in lessening the dignity of the gem by
beating down its price." Alexander would not allow his por-
trait to be engraved on gems by any artist except Pyrgoteles ;
and from the manner of Pliny's expressing himself, it would
appear that the Emerald was the only stone selected for this
honour. 4 According to the account in Athenaeus, the sophist
4 After his conquest of Asia, rius " to seal his edicts to the Per-
Alexander used the "ring of Da- sians, his original signet for those
SECT. III. REMARKABLE SIGNETS OF ANTIQUITY. 321
Athenion, on his return from his embassy to Mithridates, is
carried in state into Athens, reclining upon a litter with silver
legs and coverings of purple. He is lodged in the house of
Dies, the richest man of the time, which is furnished for his
reception with tapestry, pictures, statues, and a vast display
of plate. Out of this house he used to strut, trailing behind
him a splendid mantle, and wearing a gold ring engraved
with a portrait of Mithridates. Here it may be observed that
portraits of this king are of frequent occurrence on gems, for
he seems to have been very popular in Greece, where he was
no doubt hailed by the natives as a welcome deliverer from
the burdensome yoke of Home. His portrait appears, from
the arrangement of the flowing locks, to be treated as one of
Apollo, probably in allusion to his name, the equivalent of
Heliodorus, " the gift of the Sun." He was certainly a prince
who appreciated and encouraged the arts, for his coinage is
amongst the most beautiful in the entire Greek series a
circumstance hardly to be expected at that late period ; and
addressed to the Greeks. The de- Greek officer, bearing an unknown
vice of this last was probably a lion, seal, and which proved to be one
at least such was the figure on the from an agent of Darius. (Quint,
signet with which Philip dreamed Curt.)
that he sealed up the womb of Unfortunately no author has men-
Olympias (a dream interpreted as tioned what was the device on the
the presage of the future greatness signet of Darius ; although we labour
of the infant), and in commemoration under the " embarras derichesses"
of this dream, Alexander subse- in the varying descriptions of the
quently founded a city named seal of Xerxes, authenticating his
Leontopolis. Moreover the sole communications to Pausanias ; for
coins, hemidrachms, bearing his the scholiast on Thucydides, i. 129,
actual portrait with the horn of Am- says, " The signet of the King of
mon, have a lion for the reverse, the Persians bore, according to some,
At this period every man had a the portrait of the king himself;
fixed device for his signet, as well according to others, that of Cyrus
known, and as unvarying as a coat- the founder of the monarchy ; and
of- arms at present ; for we read of a again, as others say, the horse of
conspiracy being detected, in conse- Darius, by reason of whose neighing
quence of a letter being brought to a he was made king."
322 SUBJECTS. SECT. III.
he is the first monarch recorded to have formed a cabinet of
gems. The Spartan magistrates in the time of Pausanias (the
Mithridates. Yellcw Sard.
second century) used for their official seal the portrait of
Polydorus, one of their ancient kings, but no reason is assigned
why he was selected in preference to all the others. Areius,
King of the Lacedemonians, ends his letter addressed to the
High Priest Onias thus: " The seal is an eagle grasping a
serpent in his talons" (Josephus, xii. 5). In the 'Amphi-
tryon/ in the dialogue between Mercury and Sosias, we
have,
" Ubi ea patera nunc est ? M. Est in cistula
Amphitryonis obsignata signo. S. Signi die quid est ?
M. Cum quadrigis Sol exoriens. Quid me captas carnufex ?"
" Where is the bowl now? Mer. Lock'd up in my trunk,
Seal'd with Amphitryon's seal. Sos. Say what 's the seal ?
Mer. Sol rising in his car. Why seek to entrap me,
Thou gallows-bird ?
It is probable that Plautus, whose plays are all adaptations of
older Greek comedies, had some ancient authority for making
this the device of the signet of the Argive king. The fre-
quency of the portraits of Alexander the Great, upon gems of
very different ages, arose from their being worn as amulets
down to a late period. Trebellius Pollio, speaking of the
family Macriana, says that the females wore the portrait of
Alexander of Macedon, engraved on their hair-cauls, their
SECT. III. REMARKABLE SIGNETS OF ANTIQUITY. 323
bracelets, and in their rings ; and adds that it was a common
belief that persons who carried about with them a portrait
of Alexander in silver or gold, prospered in everything they
did; and even so late as the time of St. Chrysostom.. he
mentions (Horn, ii.) the practice of wearing his bronze coins
fastened to the head or feet, as charms to keep off sickness.
Cicero says (De Fin. v. 1), " I cannot forget Epicurus even
if I wished it, for our friends have his portrait not only in
paintings, but even engraved on their cups and in their rings."
I once had a portrait of this philosopher, engraved in a late
though still antique style, on a fine Sardonyx, with the cha-
E
racters i KS thus placed an early instance of such an
arrangement of the letters of a name, afterwards so frequent
in Byzantine times. His portrait is easily recognised by his
thin cheeks, long hooked nose, and ample beard, more
adapted to the character of a Cynic than to the idea one
would be inclined to form of the aspect of him that taught
pleasure to be the chief good. This too illustrates the pas-
sage of the poet, who speaks of a certain personage as being
" Barbatus, macer, eminente naso,
Ut credas Epicuron oscitari."
" Him, bearded, lean, and with projecting nose,
A yawning Epicurus you 'd suppose."
One of the omens announcing the coming fall of Nero was
the presentation to him by his favourite Sporus, as he was
taking the auspices on New Year's Day, of a ring engraved
with the Eape of Proserpine a most unlucky subject, being
the received symbol of death, and appropriated as a decora-
tion to sarcophagi. Nothing in the eyes of a Eoman could
be more ill-omened than such a New Year's Gift ; altogether
as prophetic of future woe, as the unaccountable legend on
Y 2
324 SUBJECTS. SECT. III.
the marriage medal of Mary and Francis II., " Hora nona
Dominus Jesus experavit Heli clamans," words so inappro-
priate to the occasion that they must have been suggested
by Atropos herself to the designer of the medal, in bitter
irony of the festive day. Chiflet asserts (but I fear only on
the authority of some mediaeval writer) that Augustus used a
signet engraved with a tortoise and butterfly, in allusion to
his favourite maxim, Festina lente (" No more haste than good
speed"); but this conceit savours too much of the Cinque-
Cento taste to be really authentic. The Sapphire of Con-
stantius, lately mentioned, from the legend CONST ANTIVS
AVG., engraved so conspicuously over the principal figure,
was most likely executed by that emperor's order, as his pri-
vate signet ; and the Calcedony with the bust and legend
of Mauricius, in the Mertens-Schaafhausen Collection, is, if
genuine, a most interesting personal relic of that unfortunate
prince.
Yisconti (' Esposizione di Gemme Antiche/ No. 497) thus
describes a portrait supposed to be that of Constantius II. :
" Impression of an intaglio in Rock Crystal, from the Flo-
rentine Museum ; a youthful bust wearing the paludamentum,
and appearing to offer, in his physiognomy, the features of
Constantius, son and successor of Constantine the Great."
But his next (No. 498) is a portrait of the highest historical
interest : '* A most singular Carnelian, though of miserable
execution, inscribed ALARICVS. REX. GOTHORVM. The bust
is in front-face, and has upon the shoulders a kind of stole
called lorum in those times, which formed part of the habit of
ceremony of the emperors and of the consuls." It may be
conjectured that this was cut for the official seal of the
secretary of the Gothic king. Had it been intended for his
private signet, it would doubtless have been executed on a
stone of greater intrinsic value a Sapphire or an Amethyst.
SECT. III. REMARKABLE SIGNETS OF ANTIQUITY. 325
Portraits of this late epoch, when they do occur ou gems, are
generally given in front-face and very deeply cut, showing
that the mechanical part of the arts, and the ability of sinking
intagli with facility in the hardest stones, still survived the
total extinction of all knowledge of design. Front-face por-
traits had ere this come into fashion upon the more important
productions of the Mint, such as the medallions ; and very
shortly after entirely banished profiles from the obverses of
the gold currency. In the De la Turbie Collection, No. 49,
is a Carnelian engraved with arabesques, and a Greek in-
scription, KOMNHNOC TOY CEBACTOY, " Comnenus, son of the
Emperor," or in modern phrase, Prince Comnenus. This is
consequently an intaglio belonging to the twelfth century,
during which that family held the imperial power ; and is also
the latest instance that has come under my notice of an en-
graved stone, the date of which can be approximately fixed.
It supplies another argument in support of the opinion that
the art of gem-engraving was re-introduced into Italy by the
artists fugitive from Constantinople in 1453. Pepin used for
his signet a head of the Indian Bacchus, and Charlemagne
one of Serapis ; but there is little doubt that, at that period
of ignorant orthodoxy, the first passed muster as a portrait
of Moses, the second, with better reason, as that of Christ
himself.
Probably the most famous signet of later times is that of
M. Angelo, preserved in the Paris Collection. It is a Sard,
engraved with a group representing a Bacchic Festival, quite
in the Kenaissance style. In the exergue is a boy fishing,
the rebus upon the name of the artist, Gio. Maria da Pescia.
Many connoisseurs however still hold the gem to be an un-
doubted antique. Of this relic the following curious story
is told : In the last century, as the Abbe Barthelemy was
exhibiting the rarities of the Bibliotheque to a distin-
326 SUBJECTS. SK.CT. III.
guislied antiquary of the day, he suddenly missed this ring,
whereupon, without expressing his suspicions, lie privately
despatched a servant for an emetic, which when brought he
insisted on the savant's swallowing then and there ; and
in a few minutes he had the satisfaction of hearing the signet
tinkle in the basin held before the unlucky victim of his love
of antiquities. There are more paste copies of this gem, some
of them excellent imitations, than of any other intaglio in ex-
istence, not so much on account of the actual beauty of the
composition (which, although fine, is by no means of the first
class) as from the celebrity of the signet due to the fame of
its original possessor.
An antique ring 5 lately came under my notice, which,
though its history is quite unknown, one feels tempted to be-
lieve must have been the actual signet of some empress of
the fifth century. A female portrait, front-face, like that of
Gralla Placidia, deeply though rudely cut on an octagonal
Amethyst, was set in a massy gold ring of a very uncommon
but elegant design, representing a cable of many strands, the
shank gradually swelling from the middle towards the head,
wliich thus was flattened out sufficiently to receive the stone.
The work was executed with the greatest precision, corre-
sponding fully to the elegance of the design an unusual cir-
cumstance in antique rings, especially those of Koman date,
which are for the most part clumsy in form, the only object
kept in view by the ancient goldsmith being to make them
fit comfortably upon the finger without the risk of turning
round upon it. And now that the subject of antique settings
is once more brought before us, I must mention a splendid
Greek signet of solid gold, engraved with the head of a
Nymph, of the best period of Sicilian art, proving that rings
8 Now in the Uzielli Collection.
SECT. III. CHIMERAE. 327
of this description had been in use long before the reign of
Claudius, the time assigned by Pliny for their coming into
fashion, 6 which also is refuted by the remark of Atteius
Capita, already quoted, that the older Romans cut their
signets on the iron or gold of the ring itself. Both these
rings were in the former splendid collection of Mr. Bdocke,
to whose exquisite taste and profound knowledge of this
branch of antiquity I am indebted for many of the observa-
tions incorporated in these pages. To him also belonged
the Diamond in its antique ring, described above a rarity
that I had sought for in vain amongst the most famous
European cabinets.
Stymphalian Bird : Roman. Burnt Sard
CHIMEEAE.
Chimerae, also called Grylli, from the Italian word signify-
ing both a cricket and a caprice, are grotesque figures
formed of portions of various animals combined into the
outline of one monster, which generally bears the shape of a
bird or of a horse. Paintings of similar " capricci " were com-
mon among the ancients, and went by the same name that
they still bear in Italy ; for Pliny uses the expression " pinxit
et Gryllum ridiculi habitus," to designate these fantastic
6 Pliny's remark may perhaps trait on the gold ring itself, in-
only refer to the newly introduced stead of on a gem.
fashion of cutting the imperial por-
328 SUBJECTS. SECT. III.
compositions. These intagli are sometimes called Basilidan
Figures, and classed among Gnostic gems ; to which family,
, however, they by no means belong, for besides that they
never bear the symbols or legends characteristic of the
Gnostic amulets, the style of work which they exhibit is a
sufficient proof to an experienced eye that they belong to a
much earlier date the nourishing period of Roman art.
Their first origin must have been those combinations of
masks so frequent in all collections where the engraver
sought to produce effect by putting together the strongest
contrasts, such as faces of a satyr and a nymph side by side,
or back to back Janus-like ; or a stern tragic and a laughing
comic mask ; and an infinity of similar groups, often joined
together with singular skill. A very favorite stone for these
subjects was the red Jasper; doubtless its colour was con-
sidered appropriate to such representations. One of the
most ingenious of these combinations I have ever met with
is in my possession, and represents a fine bunch of grapes
Bunch of Grapea: Roman. Hed Jasper.
with stalk and tendril, the whole formed out of five masks,
the two upper satyric, the three lower comic, a few grapes
being introduced to fill up the outline ; an idea probably
unique and carried out with much art in this instance.
Some of the very finest Roman art is to be found displayed
in the work of these groups : witness the admirable com-
bination of three masks, symbolical of the three divisions of
SECT. III. OHIMERAE. 329
the drama, on a large Sard formerly in the Webb, now in
the Fould Cabinet. A very frequent arrangement is to
represent a beautiful youthful profile covered with a helmet
composed of three or more caricature masks, all united in
one whole. A full-faced wide-mouthed tragic mask has
often a comic, with mild and regular features in profile,
attached to the back ; and every collection furnishes new
examples of the artist's ingenuity in varying these com-
binations. The next step was to combine the human head
with that of some beast : thus an old man's head is backed
by that of a wild-boar; of a rani, or of an elephant, all which
combinations are of frequent occurrence.
By adding to these compositions the head and neck of a
bird or of a horse, a complete animal sui generis was obtained,
which was next supplied with legs, and often mounted by a
Cupid, a parody of the popular subject, Cupid riding the
lion. A favorite type was formed out of a peacock's head
and neck set upon a body made out of a satyric mask, backed
by a ram's head, out of which springs a cornucopia for the
tail, while the monster tramples upon a dolphin or a lizard ;
where the general idea of the outline of the whole is that
of the sacred Ibis destroying such reptiles ; perhaps a sly
hit at the fashionable Egyptian superstitions of the age.
A mouse or rabbit is often introduced, together with a
letter or two, sometimes of the Punic alphabet, probably
330 SUBJECTS. SKCT. III.
giving to the initiated the key to the enigma, The com-
pleted figure makes a very good imitation of a crane ; or of
a cock with a horse's head, perhaps the hippaUctrym of the
comedians ; and it will be found that these monsters, however
varied in form, are almost always made up of the same com-
ponent parts : the satyric mask, or perhaps head of Socrates,
the ram's head, cornucopia, mouse, dolphin, rabbit, and
lizard, always entering into the composition. Hence one is
tempted to hazard a conjecture that these objects, the at-
tributes of Earth, Air, and Sea, have a certain designed
relation to each other, and the figure resulting from them
a deep and mystic meaning. May they not symbolise cer-
tain virtues or qualities arrogated to himself by the owner of
the signet? It is hardly probable that they would have
been so generally used for signets (at a time when good
taste still flourished), if they had been only caprices of
the artist, in which case also the component parts would
have admitted of unlimited variations, and not have been
confined to portions of the animals already enumerated.
A design sometimes occurs representing the Stymphaivm
bird, a long-legged crane, with a human head helmeted,
and armed with a buckler and two javelins; a figure
which, curiously enough, is a type of the denarii of the
family Valeria} The story goes, that these birds were
invulnerable, but could with their bills pierce through the
strongest armour a quality typified by the darts ; they con-
sequently set Hercules and his arrows at defiance until
7 Or it may be one of the birds of vice contains an allusion to the
Mars inhabiting the isle Aretias in name Valeria, another instance of
the Euxine, which shot forth their (in heraldic phrase) the " Canting
feathers like arrows in their flight Arms " of the Eoman families, as
on the approach of the Argo, and the elephant of Caesar, the calf of
wounded Oileus in the shoulder Vitulus, the larches of Lariscolus,
(Apol. Rhod. II. 10(50). This de- &c.
SECT. III.
ASTROLOGICAL INTAGLI.
Pallas came to his aid and gave him a bronze rattlo by
means of which he scared ^them away to the coast of the
Ked Sea. There their descendants continue to the present
day, for the officers employed on the late nautical survey of
its shores discovered on the sand hills the deserted nests of
a monstrous crane far exceeding in size anything known to
belong to that species. Interwoven in the structure of one
of them were the bones and tattered clothing of a ship-
wrecked sailor, still retaining his silver watch, and thus
testifying to the recent construction of the pile.
Lyres composed of dolphins and tortoises, accompanied by
ravens and hoopoes, all animals consecrated to Apollo, are plen-
tiful enough, and serve to support the opinion that the other
more enigmatical compositions had a well-defined intention.
All these chimerae, grylli, or sympleginata, are found much
more abundantly on red Jasper than on any other stone.
ASTROLOGICAL INTAGLI.
The Signs of the Zodiac are often seen upon gems of Eoman
work, either singly, combined, or as adjuncts to figures oi
deities, the representatives of the different planets. They
SUBJECTS.
SECT. III.
may reasonably be supposed to have a reference to the
horoscope of the owner : for that persons who had been
blessed with an " auspicious nativity " indulged in the vanity
of parading it before the public eye is well-known from many
historical allusions. Thus Severus selected for his second
wife Julia Domna, because she had a " Royal Nativity," and
many a senator was sacrificed by the timid tyrants of the
Empire for the same reason as was Metius Pomposianus by
Domitian : quia imperatoriam genesin habere ferebatur. One
of the most auspicious horoscopes was Capricorn,
" in Augusti felix qui fulserit ortus" Manillas,
" Who shone propitious on Augustus' birth ; "
Augustus with bis horoscope Capricorn. Cameo.
a fact commemorated by this emperor on the reverse of one
of his denarii, as Suetonius has noted. Hence this Sign
often accompanies the portrait of Augustus on gems. Fir-
micus lays down that, " on the rising of the third degree of
Capricorn, emperors, kings, and persons destined to fill the
highest offices are born." He gives a very detailed list of
the " Apotelesmata Signorum," or the influences exerted by
SECT. III.
ASTROLOGICAL 1NTAGLI.
333
each degree of the respective Signs, in its ascension, upon the
future destiny of the infant born under it : for this influence
was greatly modified by their various altitudes in the heavens.
Manilius also gives a similar list, though less full, describing
only the influences of the Signs at their rising, or when
attended by the ascensions of certain constellations. Thus
under Aries the native will be a great traveller ; under
Leo, a warrior ; under Cancer, a sailor ; under Aquarius,
honest, chaste, and religious, &c. 8 Pisces, strangely enough,
brought to light the talkative and slanderous.
Capricorn is for the above reason a very favorite device,
as are also Leo, and Virgo figured as Victory but dis-
tinguished by her helmet and the wheat-ears in her hand.
Scorpio is, next to Leo, the most frequent of all, and with good
reason, if we can credit Manilius as to his influence on the
native's fortunes. 9 These figures are generally accompanied
by a cornucopia, to define their astrological intention. A
magnificent Sardonyx intaglio (Fould) has Jupiter seated, be-
tween Mars and Mercury standing, upon an arch under which
is a bearded Eiver-god ; thus giving us the nativity of Eome,
for cities had their nativities like men.
Two or three sometimes occur in combination on the same
intaglio, as Virgo seated between Taurus and Capricorn.
This expresses the joint influence for good of these Signs ;
for some were accounted as hostile, others as friendly to
each other. The three so united are a trine, or the three
' But when receding Capricornus shows
The star that in his tail's bright summit
glows,
Then shall the native dare the angry seas,
A hardy sailor live, and spurn inglorious
ease.
Dost thou desire a son pure, holy, chaste,
With probity and every virtue graced ?
Such shall he born, nor deem the promise
vain.
When first Aquarius rises from the main."
MAKILIUS, vi.
Whoso is born beneath th' auspicious sky
When Scorpio rears his glittering tail on
high,
He shall the earth with rising cities
crown,
And trace the circuit of new founded towns.
Or ancient cities in the dust lay low
And give their sites back to the rustic
plough ;
O'er ruined houses bid ripe crops to wave,
And Ceres nourish on a nation's grave."
Ibid.
334 SUBJECTS. SECT. III.
respectively touched by the points of any equilateral triangle
inscribed within the zodiacal circle.
When they appear as adjuncts to the figures of planetary
deities, they denote the power that god or planet exerts
when placed in that particular Sign ; a power varying in
nature and in degree according to the part of the Sign in
which he happened to be at the moment of the nativity :
points all laid down with the greatest exactness by the
accurate Firmicus, 10 in his Decreta Saturni, Jovis, &c., e.g.
" If Mercury be found in Scorpio the native will be handsome,
fond of dress, honourable, and liberal. If he be found in Leo
the native will be a soldier, and gain glory and fame. If
Jove be in Cancer the native will be the friend and faithful con-
fidant of the secrets of the rich and powerful," &c., &c. Again
the Signs attend the representations of other deities besides
those of the planets : for, according to Manilius, each one was
under the patronage of its own tutelary god or goddess, whose
choice seems to have been dictated by the use or disposition
of the animal or personage thereby symbolized.
" Pallas the Ram, Venus the Bull defends,
The beauteous Twins their guardian Phoebus tends.
Cyllenian Hermes o'er the Crab presides,
Jove with Cybele the fierce Lion guides.
The Virgin with her Sheaf is Ceres' dower ;
The artful Balance owns swart Vulcan's power.
Still close to Mars the warlike Scorpion's seen ;
The Centaur huntsman claims the sylvan queen ;
Whilst Capricorn's shrunk stars old Vesta loves,
The Urn is Juno's Sign, opposed to Jove's ;
And Neptune, o'er the scaly race supreme,
Claims his own Fishes in the falling stream."
10 His voluminous treatise on Lollian, was written under Con-
Astrology, addressed to the Count stantimis Junior in the 4th century.
SECT. III. ASTROLOGICAL INTAGLI. 835
These combinations also represent the Planets and their
Houses, 1 for
" The planets look most kindly on the birth
When from his proper House each views the earth,
For there th' auspicious larger blessings shower,
And the malign are shorn of half their power."
The engravings of the Signs were evidently worn in later
times as amulets for the protection from disease and accident
to those portions of the body under their especial influence.
For each member was under a particular Sign, a belief of
the highest antiquity, and scarcely yet extinct. 2 Hephaestion
expressly observes, " the star Chnumis in the breast of Leo,
protects against all diseases of the chest." The Greek
astrologer quoted by Salmasius (De An. Clirn.), speaks of
the wearing of figures of the decani, or three chief stars, in
each Sign (of which Chnumis is one), cut upon rings as
charms against disease and accidents. These decani are, as
Scaliger observes with justice, the curious winged figures,
sometimes holding a Sign in their hands, so often appearing on
the Abraxas gems. Such were the " constellation stones " of
the mediaeval astrologer. 3 Scaliger 4 gives, as borrowed by
the Arabians from the Greeks, a catalogue of most strange
figures and groups, intended to express the particular in-
1 Dorotheas and Manetho (ii. 141) animal, the figure of which they
lay down that bear ; thus Leo against the assaults
"Chiefest of these, with aspect most benign of lions and wild beasts, Scorpio
When in Aquarius doth old Saturn shine : against scorpions and reptiles. &c. ;
Jove in the Archer joys; th' impetuous Mars , L
Of right exults in fiery Scorpio's stars; but so extremely material an inter-
P retation was Mainly not accepted
For to each planet that illumes the skies by the ancients.
His proper House some favourite Sign sup- 3 My ^^ ^ ^.^ ^^
And several constellation stones.''
2 The Arabian astrologers speak HUDIBRAS.
of these gems as defending the 4 Notre in Manilitim. Lib. V.
wearer against the attacks of the
336 SUBJECTS. SECT. III.
fluence of each degree of every Sign on the destiny of the
native. 5 Probably a careful study of these descriptions would
enable the inquirer to decipher the intent of many of the
inexplicable combinations engraved on the later talismanic
stones.
In the combinations above mentioned Sol appears as a
star with eight rays ; the planets sometimes are symbolized
by their attributes placed over a star: thus the caduceus
figures for Mercury ; the dove for Venus ; the spear for
Mars, (fee. But the Signs even in the most hasty antique
work are always given as full figures, however sketchily
indicated; never as the hieroglyphics by which we are
accustomed to see them denoted in almanacs. When such
do occur on a stone it may be safely assigned to the Italians
of the Revival and following century, when astrological gems
and amulets were produced in even greater abundance than
at any period of the ancient Empire, the belief in the science
being then far stronger and more universal than in the
times of pagan Rome. These hieroglyphic abbreviations
probably originated with the Arabian writers, the founders
of astrology in mediaeval Europe, and were due to their
religious prejudices against representations of the human
figure, which actually led them to substitute new symbols
of their own for many of the Greek constellations, as well as
for some of the Signs as Gemini, Virgo, and Aquarius. 6
Another not uncommon device is a crescent and seven
stars, the Pleiades: this may be assumed to have been a
lady's signet from its occurring as a reverse on the medals
of many of the empresses as Sabina and Faustina. The
5 These tables are termed " Myrio- 6 Gemini they rendered by two
geneses Signorum," a corruption of peacocks ; Virgo by a bunch of
Moeriogeneses, the influence of each wheat-ears ; Aquarius by a mule
part or degree upon the nativity. carrying two buckets.
SECT. III.
ASTROLOGICAL INTAGLI.
337
crescent enclosing the sun-star is also to be observed on
gems. The motive for choosing such a device is hardly to
be conjectured, unless indeed we suppose the owner thus
placed herself under the patronage of all the heavenly host
at once. Of the astronomical coins, the most singular is that of
Niger the celestial globe supported on the conjoined figures
Hipparchus the Astronomer : E
of Taurus and Capricorn : which may be supposed to contain
an allusion to his surname Justus, for Erigone (Asteea) often
appears thus supported. Some of the large bronze medals of
Antoninus Pius from the Alexandrian mint, bear on their
reverses a sign with the bust of a deity ; another has the head
of Serapis surrounded by those of the planets, and the whole
enclosed within the zodiac. The curious Emerald of the
338 SUBJECTS. SECT. III.
Mertens-Schaafhausen Collection apparently offers a similar
composition, and from its style may safely be ascribed to the
same period.
larchas, the Indian philosopher (probably the president of
a Buddhist college), presented Apollonius Tyaneus with seven
rings named after the planets, each of which that sage used
to wear upon its appropriate day : an early allusion this to
the present nomenclature of the days of the week.
ilithraic Bull, symbol of the Earth. Green Jasper.
MITHEAIC INTAGLI.
In the same proportion as the preceding class of Grylli affect
the red Jasper, so is the mottled green, or dull yellow
variety of the same stone, the favorite material for the ex-
tensive series of intagli connected with the worship of Mithras,
the oriental equivalent of Pho3bus, whose place he took in
the creeds of the second and third centuries. To judge from
their good execution many of these intagli date from the early
Empire, and thus form as it were the introduction to the
innumerable host of Gnostic gems amid which the art of
gem engraving expires. These works belong to the oriental
doctrines so widely diffused through the Koman world during
the Middle Empire, and which taught the exclusive worship
of the sun as the fountain of light and life. They are
easily recognized by the designs they present: a lion 7 sur-
rounded by stars, with a bull's head in his jaws ; or Mithras
himself attired as a young Persian and plunging his dagger
7 Leo is the " House of Sol."
SECT. III. MITHRAIC INTAGLI. 339
into the throat of a bull, above which appear the sun and
moon and some of the signs of the zodiac. In these com-
positions, the lion is the type of the sun, as the bull is of the
earth ; and the piercing its throat with the dagger signifies
the penetration of the solar rays into the bosom of the earth,
by which all nature is nourished : which last idea is expressed
by the dog licking up the blood as it flows from the wound.
The sign of Capricorn, so frequently introduced, represents
the necessity of moisture to co-operate with the action of the
sun to secure the fertilization of the soil, and the scorpion, an
almost invariable adjunct to the bull, typifies the generative
heat. Often this scene is depicted as enclosed by a host of
Egyptian sacred animals, crocodiles, ibises, hawks, &c., stand-
ing around in attitudes of adoration and gazing upon the
work of their supreme head, Mithras. Bas-reliefs in stone of
the Mithraic sacrifice have been found ni various parts of
England, as at Bath and on the line of the Picts' Wall, probably
the work of the Syrian troops stationed in this island. The
most complete assemblage of Mithraic symbols that I have
met with is to be found in an intaglio figured by Caylus, VI.,
pi. LXXIV. It is engraved on a very fine Agate, 2 inches long
by 1 J inch wide. In the centre is the usual type of Mithras
slaughtering the bull, the tail of which terminates in three
wheat-ears ; beneath is the lion strangling the serpent, the
emblem of darkness. On each side is a fir-tree against
which are fixed torches, one pointing upwards the other
downwards : at the side of one is a scorpion ; of the other,
a bull's head. Above each tree is again a torch, each point-
ing in opposite directions. On each side of the principal
group is Apollo in his quadriga, and Diana in her biga.
Above all stand two winged figures entwined with serpents
and resting upon long sceptres, between whom are three
flames, as well as four at the side of the figure to the right,
z 2
340
SUBJECTS.
SECT. III.
making up the number seven : an allusion to the seven planets.
A naked female surrounded by ten stars is on her knees before
the figure on the left : this may typify the human soul pray-
ing for purification. There is no doubt but that this com-
position, if it could be interpreted, would be found to contain
a complete summary of the Mithraic creed. 8
Mithraie Talisman of Nicandar. Green Jasper
SEKAPIS.
To the same period belong the intagli presenting heads of
Serapis with the legend ETC GEOC CAPAHIC, " there is but one
God, and he is Serapis ;" EIC ZCON 0EOC "the one living God;"
NIKAO CAPATIIC TON *eoNON, " baffle envy, Serapis," &o. A
beautiful Sard of Eoman-Egyptian work in my collection re-
presents Serapis seated on a throne with the triple-headed
animal, described by Macrobius (B. vii.), at his side ; before him
stands Isis, holding the sistrum and the wheat ears ; around the
group is the legend, H KYPIA icic AFNH, " immaculate is our
Lady Isis ; " the very terms applied in our day to the same
8 The torches raised and lowered
signify the East and West ; the
serpent winding four times around
the youth the annual course of the
sun, as is clearly proved by a torso
of Mithras found at Aries, in which
the zodiacal figures are placed be-
tween the folds of the serpent. The
tail terminating in wheat-ears al-
ludes to the fifty life-giving plants
which sprang from the tail of the
Primeval Bull when destroyed by
Ahriman. The scorpion between
his hind legs typifies autumn, as the
serpent lying beneath does the
winter. The raven represents the
attendant priest, for in these rites
the superior officials were styled
Lions, the inferior Eavens ; hence
the rites themselves are often desig-
nated Leontica and Coracica. Vide
SEEL'S Miihra.
SECT. III. SERAPIS. : : !4L
deity, whose worship has in reality ever subsisted, though
under another name. All these invocations are characteristic?
of the age when the liberal Western mythology, which
pictured Heaven as a well-ordered monarchy peopled by
innumerable deities, each having his proper and independent
position, was beginning to give place to the gloomy super-
stitions of Oriental origin, according to which the tutelary
divinity of some particular nation was the sole god of heaven
and earth, whilst those of other races were either vain fictions,
or else evil spirits. Many gems, fine both in material and
workmanship, give us the ancient Egyptian divinities exactly
as represented on the oldest monuments, but engraved in a
pure Eoman style. Most of these belong to the time of
Hadrian, who attempted to revive the outward forms of the
old religion, the spirit of which had well nigh passed away ;
an attempt which has generally precede^ the downfall of
every extinguished creed.
Macrobius, I. 20, says, " The city of Alexandria pays an
almost frantic worship to Serapis and Isis; yet all this
veneration they prove that they ofier to the Sun under that
name, both by their placing the corn basket upon his head,
and accompanying his statue by the figure of a three-headed
animal, the central and largest head of which is that of a
lion. The head that rises on the right is one of a dog in a
mild and fawning attitude, while the left part of the neck
terminates in the head of a ravening wolf. All these
animal forms are connected together by the wreathed body
of a serpent, which raises his head up towards the right hand
of the god, on which side this monster is placed. The lion's
head typifies the Present, because its condition between the
Past and the Future is strong and fervent. The Past is
signified by the wolf's head, because the memory of all things
past is snatched away from us, and utterly consumed. The
342
SUBJECTS.
SECT. III.
symbol of the fawning dog represents the Future, the domain
of uncertain but flattering hope. But whom should Past,
Present, and Future serve* except their author ? His head,
crowned with the calathus, typifies the height of the planet
above us, and his all-powerful capaciousness ; since to him
all things earthly return, being drawn up by the heat which
he emits."
" Again when Nicocreon, king of Cyprus, consulted Serapis
as to which of the gods he ought to be held, he responded,
' A god I am, such as I show to thee :
The starry heaven my head, my trunk the sea ;
Earth forms my feet, the air my ears supplies,
The sun's far-darting brilliant rays my eyes.'
"Hence, it is apparent that the nature of Serapis and of
the Sun is one and indivisible. Isis, so universally worshipped,
is either the earth or Nature as subjected to the sun. Hence,
the body of the goddess is covered with continuous rows of
udders, to show that the universe is maintained by the
perpetual nourishment of the earth or Nature."
Anubis, surronndel by the seven vowels.
Green Jasper.
Abraxas. Green Jasper.
GNOSTIC GEMS.
But the true development of the Egyptian doctrines in a
new phase is very conspicuous in the extensive class of
Gnostic intagli, which, with the exception of a few rude
engravings of victories, eagles, &c., are the sole glyptic
SECT. III. GNOSTIC GEM8. 343
monuments we possess of the last centuries of Koman domi-
nation in the West. As may be supposed, the art displayed
in these intagli is at its lowest ebb; and the work appears to
have been executed by means of a very coarse wheel, like
that on the Sassanian stamps of Persia, a country the source
of a large proportion of the ideas expressed in their figures
and legends. Instead of the choice Sards, Amethysts, and
Nicoli of an earlier period, we find these amulets almost
without exception cut upon inferior stones, most commonly
on bad Jaspers, black, green, and yellow ; on dull Plasmas,
or perhaps Jade, and sometimes on Loadstone, but rarely on
Sards or Calcedony. These Gnostic types, when found of
good work, and engraved on fine stones, as is sometimes the
case, will on examination turn out to be works of the Cinque-
Cento period, when similar subjects, and all figures bearing
any relation to astrology, were again executed in large
numbers, in compliance with the ruling superstition of the
day. A fine Amethyst once in my possession, engraved with
a figure of the hawk-headed, Priapean, Thoth, standing on a
serpent, and holding in his extended right hand a small
figure of Anubis, was a remarkable instance of this revival
of ancient ideas ; for the work was worthy of the best times of
the art, and in itself a convincing proof that the intaglio
could not have belonged to the Gnostic era. Pastes of this
class do not exist : the real stones were cut so rudely,
and doubtless produced so cheaply, that it was not worth
while to imitate them in a less valuable material. The sole
exception that has come under my notice, to the inferior
quality of the gems used for these amulets, is an extraordinary
garnet tablet, described further on.
Without entering into the intricate maze of these doctrines,
except occasionally, and just as far as is necessary to explain
the representations involving some of their ideas, I shall
344
SUBJECTS.
proceed to classify them in the order of their antiquity.
The earliest are doubtless those which offer purely Egyptian
types ; a very frequent one being a serpent, erect, and with a
lion's head surrounded by seven rays, and usually accom-
panied by the inscription XNOY^IC or XNOYMIC. This is
Chneph, the good genius of the Egyptian religion, the type of
:.-
Chneph: A'.exandiian. Sard.
life and of the sun. Sometimes we find this idea more fully
developed in the form of a lion-headed man, bearing a wand
entwined with a serpent, the head of which is directed
towards his face. A common inscription around the figure,
or on the back of the stone, is the Hebrew-Greek, CEMEC
EIAAM, "the eternal sun ;" alluding to the appearance of
Christ " the sun of righteousness," regarded as the equivalent
of the genius of light; to whom also refers the legend
ANA9ANABAA, " thou art our Father," a corruption of the
Hebrew "Lanu atha ab." To the Egyptian family also
belongs the Harpocrates, seated upon the lotus flower (having
the life-giving symbol purposely exaggerated) and often
accompanied by Anubis, serving as a type of the necessary
regeneration of the believer. 9 The same deity often is repre-
9 The regeneration of the soul is the Sun-Lion impregnating a naked
sometimes typified in a very singular female, the usual Eastern symbol of
and literal manner, by a group of the disembodied spirit.
SECT. III. GNOSTIC GEMS. 345
sented sailing through the air in the mystic boat, steered by
two hawks, with the sun and moon above his head. The
backs of these intagli are often filled up by the seven vowels
of the Greek alphabet, arranged in as many lines, each vowel
being repeated until it fills its respective line ; illustrative of
the curious tenet, that each vowel represented the sound
uttered in its course by one particular planet, which, when all
combined, formed a hymn to the glory of the great Creator
of the Universe. An outline of a human figure entirely filled
up with these vowels and other legends, is the type of the
regenerated and spiritual man, entirely freed from all earthly
taint. 10 Again, we have a combination of different deities in
the figures with many wings and arms, and uniting the
attributes of Athor and Sate, the Egyptian Venus and Juno.
But the most frequent type of this class is the Anubis, or
jackal-headed god, sometimes represented in his ancient
form, and as bearing the caduceus of Hermes, to denote his
office of conducting the souls of the dead through the shades
unto their final resting-place in the Pleroma ; l and some-
times appearing as a being with both a human and a jackal's
head, to express his identity with Christ as the guardian of
the spirit when released from the body. This idea explains
the meaning of a rude drawing on the wall of a vault in the
Palatine, where, this jackal-headed figure is represented
10 Scaliger takes him to be the representation of Christ raising souls
representative of the 365 Aeons, all out of Purgatory. The Hell of the
their names being supposed to be Persians, the burning lake of molten
compressed within the outline. metal, into which at the Day of
1 In gems of a better period Judgment Ahriman and his fol-
Hermes is not unfrequently seen lowers were to be cast, had for its
with his caduceus, bending over and object the ultimate purification of
assisting the soul to emerge from the condemned ; a doctrine recog-
the earth, or Hades. A strange nised by some of the Christian
coincidence in form, at least (if not Fathers, and even by St. Jerome,
in origin), with the common mediaeval
346 SUBJECTS. SECT. Ill,
crucified, with the inscription AAESAMENOC CEBETE TON
" Alexamenos adores the god ; " the work of some pious
Gnostic in reality, but which is usually interpreted as a
heathen blasphemy, from the jackal's head being mistaken
for that of an ass. A Sard in my collection presents to the
first view the primitive and orthodox representation of the
Good Shepherd bearing the lamb upon his shoulders, his
loins girt with a belt with long and flowing ends ; but on a
closer view the figure resolves itself into the double-headed
Anubis, the head of the lamb doing duty for the jackal's,
springing from the same shoulders as that of the man, whilst
the floating end of the girdle becomes the thick and curled
tail of the same animal. I have also met with another type
of difficult explanation: a woman seated upon a huge
crested serpent ; evidently not the usual Chneph, as it does
not bear the lion's head the invariable adjunct to that
symbol. Stones also occur entirely covered on both sides
with long legends in the Coptic language but Greek cha-
racter, the most curious of which was the famous Garnet of
the Herz Collection, an oblong slab, 2f inches high by 1^
wide, with 11 lines on one side, and 14 on the other, of a long
invocation 2 in the Greek character, but in a different language,
in which many Hebrew (or Chaldee) words were interspersed,
together with the names of angels. 3 A very singular type is
2 It is a most singular coincidence satisfy the learned and sagacious
that the inscriptions on each side of canon.
this tablet (excepting a few words 3 lamblichus (Letter to Porphyry)
enclosed within a coiled serpent at expressly says that the gods are
the top of the other) exactly cor- pleased with invocations in Assyrian
respond with those on the oval and Egyptian, as being ancient and
Calcedony given by Chiflet, xvii. 69, cognate languages to their own, and
and of which his friend Wendelin those in which prayers were first
had sent him a very orthodox ver- made to them, and that they have
sion, which, however, did not by stamped as sacerdotal the entire lan-
any means, find with good reason, guage of these holy nations.
SECT. III. GNOSTIC GEMS. 347
the figure of Osiris wearing a radiated crown, and with the
body swathed like a mummy, standing upon the heads of four
angels, upon whom two streams of water flow out of his sides. 1
An armed man, the Soldier of the Mithraic rites, often occurs,
sometimes holding a spear terminating in a cock's head, and
sometimes grasping two serpents.
The long and unintelligible legends so characteristic of
these intagli, are often found cut on the backs of gems of an
earlier date, but the subjects of which were analogous to the
religious ideas of the times, such as figures of the Sphinx, the
Lion, Medusa's head, or Sol in his car. The letters of these
inscriptions are usually of a square form, the rudeness of the
instrument employed, or the want of skill in the artist,
having prevented his forming circular characters ; to do which
neatly requires the greatest dexterity and practice, and is the
most difficult task that can be required from the wheel ; for
the elegant and minute inscriptions of the earlier engravers
will be found to have been scratched into the stone with the
diamond point, and hence their perfect neatness of execution.
We now come to the figure which has given its name to
this entire class the god Abraxas, or as the name reads on
the gems, Abrasax. The letters of this word, when employed
as Greek numerals, make up the number 365, the successive
emanations of the Great Creative Principle, which embraces
all within itself, and hence is styled the Plerorna ; an idea
fitly typified by a word expressive of the collective number of
its components. The numerical value of the letters in
Abrasax is also equivalent to those in Meithras, the repre-
sentative of Christ ; hence the figure of this god is a combina-
tion of various attributes, expressive of the union of many
4 On Assyrian gems Athor appears The Persian female Ized Arduisher
with arms extended pouring out the is the " giver of the Living Water."
waters of life upon the subject figures.
348 SUBJECTS. SECT. 111.
ideas under the same form. He is, therefore, depicted with
the head of the cock, sacred to the Sun ; or of a Lion, the
type of Mithras, with a human body clad in a cuirass, whilst
his legs are serpent's, emblems of the good genius ; in his
hands he wields the scourge the Egyptian badge of sove-
reignty ; and a shield, to denote his office of guardian to the
faithful. On one side of him, or in the exergue, is the word
I A ta, the Jehovah of the Hebrews, a malignant spirit, whose
influence Abraxas was thus entreated to avert at least this is
Matter's explanation of this type. It was the Gnostic
doctrine that the soul when released from the body, and on
its way to be absorbed into the Infinite of the Godhead (the
object aimed at in all oriental religions), was obliged to pass
through the regions of the planets, each of which was ruled
by its own presiding genius, and only obtained permission to
do this by means of a formula of prayer addressed to each
genius, and preserved in Origen. 5 These spirits were,
Adonai, of the Sun ; lao, of the Moon ; Eloi, of Jupiter ;
Sabao, of Mars ; Orai, of Venus ; Astaphai, of Mercury ;
and Ildabaoth, of Saturn. All these titles occur on gems
surrounding the figure of Abraxas, whose potent aid gives
victory to the believer over the power of them all. The
names of the Jewish angels Michael, Gabriel, Suriel, Eaphael,
Tauthabaoth, and Erataoth, occur as the titles of the genii of
the fixed stars the Bear, Serpent, Eagle, Lion, Dog, and
Bull. These notions were all of Magian origin, and had been
adopted by the Jews during their captivity. But in the
Gnostic mythology they were all degraded from their high
estate, and reduced to the rank of secondary spirits of a
mixed nature, but opposed to Abraxas, the Lord and Creator
5 According to Zoroaster the seven Dews, chief-ministers of Ahriman,
are chained each to a distinct planet.
SECT. III. GNOSTIC AMULETS. 349
of all. Most of these gems appear to have been designed
merely for amulets, and not for ring-stones, for which they
are unfit, on account of their large dimensions ; I have never
met with more than one in an ancient setting of any sort, but
Matter figures one antique gold ring, engraved with the type
of Abraxas. They were no doubt intended to be carried
about the person, 6 perhaps as credentials between the initiated
a custom to which St. John alludes in the passage, " To
him will I give a white 7 stone, and in the stone a new name
written, which no man knoweth, save he to whom it is
given."
GNOSTIC AMULETS.
That these amulets were intended for suspension around
the neck, is indicated by the generic name of such charms,
viz., Periapta ; and, in fact, the only Gnostic stone I have
ever seen retaining its antique setting, is one adapted for this
purpose. It is a red Jasper, of an oval form, engraved on
one side, with a mummy with radiated head, the type of the
glorified soul ; with the legend ABPACAZ : on the reverse is
the usual figure of IAW, with his name below. The stone, not
quite an inch in length, is set in a rude frame of gold, with
a broad loop soldered on the top edge for suspension, exactly
as in the huge medallions of the same date. This unique
example exists among the miscellaneous gems of the British
Museum, amongst which I recognised all the finest of the
Gnostic intagli, figured so long ago by Chiflet ; proving the
truth of the assertion, that all the curiosities of the world
ultimately gravitate towards London, as their centre-point of
8 Thus the talisman of the Princess on to her jewelled girdle.
Badoura, ' ' a Carnelian engraved with 7 Probably the Calcedony, on which
strange figures and letters," was car- the figures of the Egyptian Agatho
vied by her in a small purse sewed dasmon usually occur.
350 SUBJECTS. SECT. III.
attraction. In this number particular attention is due to an
oval Carnelian, covered on both sides with that inscription,
already noticed as occurring on the Garnet tablet of the Herz
Collection, and on the Calcedony figured by Chiflet ; thus
proving the formula to have been a favourite one amongst
these religionists, and not improbably a kind of confession of
faith. A very singular relic of the latest period of this
heresy is a large egg-shaped Calcedony, engraved with the
lion-headed deity, surrounded by two lines of a Cufic legend ;
the whole rude in the extreme, and in the manner of the
latest Sassanian seals. These gems, as well as plates of lead
and bronze similarly engraved, and even medals and tessarse
of terra-cotta, were placed together with the corpses in the
tomb as a safeguard against demons. Many were found
in the sepulchre of Maria, although the wife of a most ortho-
dox emperor, Honorius ; and in the ancient cemeteries of
southern Gaul they are discovered in great abundance. The
number of them in use at the close of the Empire must have
been very great, so numerous are they in Italy and in
France, which latter country was the seat of a very extensive
branch of these sectarians, the Priscillianists. It is probable
that these doctrines lurked unnoticed amongst the original
inhabitants of Gaul, under the reigns of the Arian Gothic
princes, and revived in full vigour during the twelfth and
thirteenth centuries in the Manicheism of the Albigenses,
whom the mere fact of their having been so cruelly persecuted
by the Catholics does not prove to have been necessarily such
good Protestants as they are usually accounted in our day.
A curiously-shaped globular vase, often seen on these
gems, is explained by Matter as the receptacle of the sins
committed during life, for it appears in company with Anubis
weighing two figures in a balance ; but I am inclined to take
it for the vessel shaped "like an udder," used for pouring
SECT. IIT. GNOSTIC AMULETS. 351
libations of milk at the rites of Isis. A column, terminating
in a triangle, and covered with letters, with Anubis or some
other deity standing before it in the act of adoration, is of
frequent occurrence ; as is also a group, composed of a sword,
bow, cup, and butterfly. It is curious to observe how the
Freemasons have retained many of these emblems in their
symbolical pictures ; where we see the erect serpent, the
sword, the bowl, the inscribed column, and the name of St.
John, whom these ancient sects claimed as their especial
apostle, presided over by the symbols of the Sun, Moon, and
Planets, and arranged in a manner strongly reminding one of
the ancient representations of the Gnostic doctrines. Again,
Michael actually appears (in a basalt intaglio) in the form of
a hawk-headed and winged youth, holding in each hand a
mason's level, while the oft-repeated figure of Harpocrates,
with his finger on his lips, significantly betokens the in-
violable secrecy required from the initiated. A distinguished
official of the craft, when looking over the plates of Gnostic
gems in the Apistopistus of Macarius, confessed to me his
astonishment at recognizing there many of the mystic
symbols of his brotherhood. It must also be remembered
that the Freemasons claim descent from the Templars, an
order suppressed in the fourteenth century on the charge of
Manicheism, and on grounds similar to those that led to the
extirpation of the Albigenses accusations in which there was
probably some truth, although only taken up as an excuse
for confiscating the property of the Order, which had excited
the cupidity of the needy sovereigns of Europe. 8 Some traces
3 Gnosticism of the Templars. pression of the Order, in his Chapter
Von Hammer (Mines de 1'Orient, entitled " The mystery of Baphomet
VI.) has attempted to substantiate, revealed, or the Templars convicted
by the evidence of existing remains, by their own monuments of sharing
all the charges brought against the in the apostasy, idolatry, and im-
Templars as the excuse for the sup- purity of the Gnostics, and even of
352
SUBJECTS.
SECT. III.
of Gnosticism probably still survive among the mysterious
sects inhabiting the valleys of Libanus. As late as the time
of Justinian, Procopius states that more than a million of
Idolaters, Manicheans, and Samaritans (a Gnostic sect), were
destroyed in Syria by the persecutions carried on by this
bigoted emperor ; and as that region soon afterwards fell into
the hands of the more tolerant Mahometans, who never
interfered with the religion of their tributaries, there is a
probability of these doctrines having been handed down to
the present day, especially when we consider the extra-
ordinary vitality of every well-defined system of religious
opinions.
Martyrdom. Red Jasper.
CHKISTIAN INTAGLI.
It is a most singular circumstance that, amidst this multi-
tude of heretical designs, intagli representing purely Christian
subjects are of the rarest possible occurrence, that is, in works
the Ophites." Here he makes out
that by " Baphomet " is meant the
&a(j)T) M^TiSos, or baptism of the
Spirit ; and he discovers an endless
variety of Gnostic emblems in the
jettons dug up occasionally in the
ruins of their preceptories, and in
the sculptures ornamenting the
churches of the Order. But these
mysterious jettons are in fact merely
bracteate coins of certain Suabian
Westphalian bishops, and of the
markgraves of Brandenburgh ; and
the "Baphomet," whom, as it is
set forth in the indictment, "they
adored in the shape of a man's head,
with a long beard," is only the name
Mahomet, corrupted in the mouth of
the ignorant French witness for the
prosecution.
SECT. III. CHRISTIAN INTAGLI. 353
of indubitable antiquity ; for of modern times they are, as
might be expected, by no means uncommon. I have, how-
ever, met with one of good work, apparently of the third
century, a red Jasper, engraved with the martyrdom of a
female kneeling before a naked executioner armed with a
singularly shaped sword, evidently made for the purpose of
a headsman's instrument. Before the saint is a dove with a
palm in its beak, above is the monogram of Christ, in the
exergue the letters ANFT, which may perhaps fix the scene of
the event at Antioch. A Mcolo, engraved with the Heavenly
Father seated on his throne, and surrounded by the twelve
patriarchs, might belong to any sect of the late period to
which its style induced me to refer it. In the Herz Collec-
tion was a Carnelian intaglio of the Good Shepherd standing
between two tigers looking up at him, inscribed ESIVKEV, in
which the name of Jesus appears to be intended, together
with some other appellation or title. The collection of the
British Museum contains, however, some highly curious and
undoubted Christian subjects engraved on gems.
The most interesting of these is a red Jasper set in an
elegant antique gold ring, the shank formed of a corded
pattern, in wire, of a novel and tasteful design. The stone
bears in neatly formed letters, IHCOYC GEOYYIOC THPE,
" Christ, Son of God, keep us." Another of equal interest
and of the earliest period of our religion, a fish cut on a fine
Emerald (quarter of an inch square), is set in an exquisitely
moulded six-sided ring with fluted and knotted shank, imi-
tating a bent reed, very similar to a bronze one figured in
Caylus. A beautiful and large Sapphire of very spherical
form, is engraved with the monogram of Christ, the straight
line of the P being converted into a cross by a line passing
through it. Another example this, to be added to the list of
genuine antique works upon this stone.
2 A
354 SUBJECTS. SECT. III.
A Sard of the same Collection bears a singular device, a
cross planted upon a fish, with two doves perched at the
extremities of the arms, and the name IHCOYC repeated above
and below them. Lastly, the Good Shepherd in a landscape,
did not appear to me of such indubitable authenticity as the
rest, for the work was entirely wheel-cut on Sard, in the style
of the Gnostic school ; so easily imitated by the modern gem
engravers.
IAw. ABPA&AS.
We have seen the statement of Origen, which too is adopted
by Matter, 'Histoire Critique du Gnosticisme,' that lao,
Adonai, &c., were the names of the genii of the moon, sun,
and planets, beings inferior and even antagonistic to Abraxas
the representative of the Supreme Creator himself. But,
resting on the actual authority of the inscribed amulets, I
am inclined entirely to reject this theory, and to assert that
this doctrine, if ever held, must have been that of a small
sect of Jewish or Magian origin, and certainly not that of the
numerous body who engraved and wore the gems that have
come down to us in such abundance. The inscriptions upon
these prove beyond a doubt that Abraxas, Adonai, Sabao,
are merely titles or synonyms of lao, the deity symbolically
represented by the engraving. Thus we find the prayer,
"lao, Abraxas, Adonai, Holy Name, Holy Powers, defend
Vibia Paulina from every evil spirit ; " and the same names
constantly occur united together, and followed by the epithets
ABAAGANABAA, " Thou art our Father," CEMECEIAAM, " The
Eternal Sun ; " a mode of invocation which would certainly
not have been applied to beings of a discordant, much less of
an antagonistic, character to each other. Besides, if Abraxas
were the opponent and future victor of lao, it would have
been absurd to place their names together (that of lao often
SECT. III. IAtt). ABPASA2. 355
the first), each evidently invoked in the accompanying prayer,
and honoured by the same titles of adoration. Again, the
composite figure which represents, as all writers agree,
Abraxas himself, is much more frequently accompanied by
the inscription lao than by the word Abraxas, and neverthe-
less is followed by the same addresses of " Thou art our
Father," " Eternal Sun," as when both names occur united.
It would also be quite as contrary to the usual course of
proceeding in representations of sacred subjects, to make
the picture of a deity and inscribe over it the name of his
adversary, as it would be to paint a crucifix with the name of
Satan occupying the place of an explanatory legend. And
it will be shown presently that the numerical value of the
name Abraxas has a distinct reference to the nature of the
god worshipped, from the earliest period, under the title of
lao. If we examine the figure of Abraxas, we shall find it
to be made up of portions of animals v considered, in the
ancient religion, as attributes of the sun. Thus he has the
head of a cock and serpent legs, emblems of the sun in the
Egyptian mythology, and he bears in his hand a whip, the
symbol of the god of day. That the name Abraxas had
reference to the sun appears from Jerome on Amos, in., " As
Basilides, who called Almighty God by the portentous name
of Abraxas, and says that the same word, according to the
Greek numerals, and the sum of his annual revolutions, are
contained in the circle of the sun ; whom the heathen, taking
the same sum, but expressed in different numerical letters,
call Mithras ; and whom the simple Iberians worship under
the names Balsamus (Lord-Sun), and Barbelus (Son of the
Lord)." Augustine explains these numbers thus : " Basilides
pretended the number of heavens to be 365, the number of
the days in the year. Hence he used to glorify a ' Sacred
Name ' as it were, namely the word Abraxas, the letters in
2 A 2
356 SUBJECTS. SECT. 111.
which name, according to the Greek mode of computation,
make up that number." These passages establish the
identity of Abraxas with Mithras, which latter name we also
meet with upon Gnostic intagli. For the same reason Apollo
in his car, intagli of a better time of art, occur frequently
inscribed with lao and Abraxas in characters of a later date ;
proving that the ancient type was viewed as indicative of the
same idea as the newly-coined Sacred Name of Basilides. His
religious system is thus briefly and clearly given by Tertullian,
Praescript. : " Afterwards Basilides the heretic broke loose.
He asserted that there was a supreme God, by name Abraxas,
by whom Mind was created, whom the Greeks call Nous.
From this emanated the Word, thence Providence ; from
Providence, Virtue and Wisdom; from these afterwards
Virtues, Principalities, and Powers were made ; then infinite
productions and emissions of Angels ; by these Angels 365
heavens were established. Amongst the lowest Angels indeed,
and those who made this world, he sets last of all the God of
the Jews, whom he denies to be God, but affirms that he is
an Angel."
Having thus proved the identity of Abraxas with Mithras,
or rather the fact of the word's being only a numerical epithet
applied to the Sun-god, let us examine the exact sense of the
name lao, and we shall find this too to be but a synonym
of Mithras. Macrobius (B. I.) says that Apollo of Claros,
being consulted as to which of the gods that deity was to
be regarded who was called laor, delivered the following
oracle :
" The joyous rites ye 've learnt to none disclose,
Falsehood, small wit, weak understanding, shows.
Regard lao as supreme above,
Pluto in Winter, at Spring's opening Jove ;
Phoebus through blazing Summer rules the day,
Whilst Auttimn owns the mild lao's sway."
SECT - m - IAw ABPASA2. 357
Here we find lao explained to mean one of the names of the
Supreme Deity, whose physical representative is the Sun.
Again, we have Dionysius (Bacchus) added to this list in the
following oracle of Orpheus :
"Jove, Pluto, Phoebus, Bacchus, all are one."
Thus we see that lao is an epithet of the Sun, who, in the
philosophical explanation of the old religion, is regarded as
synonymous with Bacchus. Hence originated the prevalent
belief of antiquity that the Jehovah of the Jews, a name ren-
dered in Greek by IAQ, was the Egyptian Bacchus a notion
supported in their minds by the golden vines which formed
the sole visible decoration of the Temple, and in the Jewish
custom of celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles in huts made
of boughs, and attended with many of the ceremonies used at
the Greek Dionysia. This opinion as to the real origin of the
Jewish worship is mentioned by Tacitus as prevalent in his
time, although he does not agree with it, but solely on the
ground that the gloomy and morose character of the Hebrew
religion proved but badly its relationship to the rites of the
merry god of wine.
Serapis, the representative of Universal Nature (according
to his response to Nicocreon), may also have been signified by
the names lao and Abraxas, and thus have been taken as a
type of Christ as the Creator of the worlds, which would serve
to explain the strange assertion of Hadrian, that all the
Christians of Alexandria were worshippers of Serapis, and that
Christ and Serapis were one and the same god ; for Alex-
andria was the very hotbed of Gnosticism, and the largest and
earliest portion of the gems we are now considering, by their
style of execution and the symbols upon them, clearly show
their Egyptian origin. A most singular amulet of this date,
in the Herz Collection, was a heart-shaped piece of basalt,
engraved on the one side with seated figures of Arnmon and
358
SUBJECTS.
SECT. III.
Ka (Jupiter and the Sun), between them the mystic Asp, and
on the reverse this legend :
" eis Eair eis A.d<ap pia ra>v |3ta fis 8e A^copi,
X<up* irarep Koo-pov x al P f Tpipopcpe 9eo?." 9
" Athor and Bait, one power, with Achor one,
Hail Father of the world, hail triple God."
This amulet was probably made about the time of Hadrian,
both the execution of the figures and of the letters being neat
and careful, and such as characterised that epoch.
Triune Deity with Coptic legend. Green Jaspe
A large ivory ring, found at Aries, bears the monogram of
Christ between A and CO, as it appears on the coins of the
Gallic princes of the fourth century, Magnentius and De-
centius, but accompanied by the title ABPACAZ, a sufficient
proof of the identity of the two personages in the estimation
of its owner. Mithras (Abraxas) was easily admitted as the
type of Christ, the Creator and Maintainer of the Universe,
from the circumstance that in the Persian religion, to which
the Jews owed all the spiritual portion of their creed, 10 he
was declared to be the first emanation of Ormuzd the Good
Principle, and his representative to the world. 1 The Mithraic
9 The unity of three deities, or
rather the expression of the same
deity in three persons, was a very
favourite Egyptian type.
10 Such as the belief in a Future
State of rewards and punishments,
the Immortality of the Soul, the
Final Judgment, the existence of
Angels and Evil Spirits, &c.
1 " Who being the brightness (or
rather a reflection) of his glory, and
the express image of his person, and
upholding all things by the word of
his power" " Being made so much
better than the Angels," &c. He-
brews, I.
SECT. III.
IAW. ABPAEA2.
359
rites bore a great resemblance to many subsequently intro-
duced among the Christians, as well as to the initiatory cere-
monies of the Freemasons of the present day. The believers
were admitted by the rite of baptism ; they had a species of
Eucharist ; and the courage and endurance of the neophyte
were tested by twelve successive trials called tortures, under-
gone within a cave constructed for the purpose, before he was
admitted to a full knowledge of their mysteries. These ini-
tiatory rites are thus alluded to by Justin Martyr (Apol. II.) :
" The Apostles, in the commentaries written by themselves,
which we call Gospels, have delivered down to us that Jesus
thus commanded them : ' He having taken bread after that
he had given thanks, said, Do this in commemoration of me ;
this is my body. And having taken a cup and returned
thanks, he said, This is my blood ; and delivered it to them
alone.' Which thing indeed the evil spirits have taught to
be done out of imitation, in the mysteries and initiatory rites
Uitbraic Symbols. The Two Principles, Altar with the Sacred Waf=rs, Lustral Water,
Raven, ice. Plasma.
of Mithras. For there a cup of water and bread 2 are set forth,
with the addition of certain words, in the sacrifice or act of
worship of the person about to be initiated : a thing which ye
either know by personal experience or may learn by enquiry."
2 In this round cake, termed of the designation Missa, applied to
Mizd, we have the prototype of the the Bloodless Sacrifice.
Host, and the much-disputed origin
360 SUBJECTS. SECT. III.
Again, on this point Terttillian (Praescript) says, " The devil,
whose business it is to pervert the truth, mimics the exact
circumstances of the Divine sacraments in the mysteries of
idols. He himself baptizes some, that is to say his believers
and followers ; he promises forgiveness of sins from the sacred
fount, and thus initiates them into the religion of Mithras ; he
there marks on the forehead his own soldiers ; he also cele-
brates the oblation of bread, he brings in the symbol of the
Resurrection, and wins the crown with the sword." This last
phrase he thus explains : " Blush, ye Roman fellow-soldiers,
even if ye are not to be judged by Christ, but by any soldier
of Mithras ; who, when he is being initiated in the cave, the
very camp of the powers of darkness, when the wreath is
offered to him (a sword being placed between, as if in mimicry
of martyrdom), and then about to be set upon his head, he is
warned to put out his hand and push the wreath away, and
transfer it to, perchance, his shoulder, saying at the same
time, ' My only crown is Mithras.' And thenceforth he never
wears a wreath ; 3 and this is a mark he has for a test, when-
ever tried as to his initiation, for he is immediately proved
to be a soldier of Mithras, if he throws down the wreath and
says that ' his crown is in his god.' Let us therefore acknow-
ledge the craft of the devil, who mimics certain tilings of those
that are divine, in order that he may confound and judge us
by the faith of his own followers." But a dispassionate ex-
aminer will remark that these two zealous fathers somewhat
beg the question, in asserting that the Mithraic rites were in-
vented in mimicry of the Christian sacraments, having been
in reality in existence long before the promulgation of the
Christian religion. On the contrary, there is very good reason
to believe that the simple commemorative rites established by
3 The universal custom of the the being without one would of itself
ancients at all festivities : so that be a most remarkable singularity.
SECT. III. IA^>. ABPASA2. ' 3(51
Christ himself were invested with the mystic and supernatural
attributes afterwards insisted upon as articles of faith, by the
unscrupulous missionaries, in order to outbid the attractions of
ancient ceremonies of a similar nature, and to offer to the
convert, by the performance as it were of certain magical
formulae, all those spiritual advantages of which the rites them-
selves were merely the symbols.
The worship of Mithras subsisted at Rome for a lon<>-
period under the Christian emperors. Jerome, writing to
Laeta, says : " A few years ago your kinsman Gracchus, a
name the very echo of patrician nobility, when he held the
office of Prefect of the City, did he not upset, break, and
burn the Cave of Mithras, and all those monstrous images
that served in the initiatory rites, the figures of Corax,
Niphus, the Soldier, the Lion, the Persian, Helios, and
Father Bromius ? " v
In the representations here enumerated we recognise
symbols of constant recurrence upon the gems under con-
sideration : Corax the raven ; Niphus, probably Chneph, the
lion-headed serpent; the armed man; the lion; the youth
in the Persian dress ; the sun, typified by the star ; Bromius
or Bacchus, by the large bowl. Many of these also con-
tribute portions of themselves to make up the composite
deity called Abraxas, who unites in himself Corax, Niphus,
Miles, and Helios. The gem given by Chiflet, pi. xv., 62,
appears to me to present a picture of the rites of initiation
into the Mithraic religion, and in it all the above-named
figures and symbols are introduced. Two serpents erect
form a sort of frame for the composition, at the top of which
we see the busts of Sol and Luna face to face, between them
is a hawk with expanded wings, at the back of each is a
raven. In the field are two crowned and naked men on
horseback trampling upon two dead bodies : between these
362 SUBJECTS. SECT. III.
is a kneeling figure in the attitude of supplication, over his
head are two stars. Behind each horseman stand two soldiers ;
at the bottom is a table supporting a loaf of bread, a roe
(an attribute of Bacchus), a cup, a sword, combined with
some indistinct emblems, possibly the wreath mentioned by
Tertullian. On the back of the stone is engraved a more
simple composition representing two crested serpents, twined
round staves and looking into a cup ; two stars above a table
resting on a crater, and two bows ending in serpents' heads
on each side. Here I fancy we may discover the picture of
some of the trials of courage (the twelve degrees of torture
of Suidas), to which the neophyte was subjected, exactly as
the " apprentice " on his admission to the Masonic Lodge of
the present day, 4 and surrounded by all the host of Mithras
so remorsely destroyed by the zealous Gracchus. One test
of the courage of the neophyte was the apparent approach of
death, for Lampridius mentions, among the mad freaks of
Commodus, that " during the Mithraic ceremonies, when
something was to be done for the sake of inspiring terror,
he polluted the rites by a real murder : " an expression which
clearly proves that a show or scenic representation of such an
act entered into the proceedings ; a circumstance probably
denoted by the two corpses beneath the horsemen. The
raven properly takes its place among the symbols of Mitliras
as being an attribute of Apollo in the early mythology, for
which reason it is often engraved seated on a lyre.
Niphus, or Chneph, spelt upon the gems XNOYBIC, XNOY<HC,
and XNOYMIC, the lion-headed serpent of such frequent
4 During this probation, which scourged for the space of two days,
lasted forty days, the neophyte was These twelve tests are represented
tested by the four elements ; he was on the sides of the well-known bas-
obliged to lie naked on the snow a relief preserved in the museum at
certain number of nights, and was Innspruck.
SECT. III.
IAW. ABPASA2.
303
occurrence is said by Hephaestion to be one of the Decani or
three chief stars in Cancer. This name comes from the
Egyptian XNOVB, gold. XAPXNOVMIC, the first Decanus in
Leo, also occurs figured with a human head surrounded
by rays and with a serpent's tail : his name is written
XOAXNOVBIC on the gems. A Greek 5 astrologer says of these
Decani, "there are in each sign three Decani 6 appointed, of
various forms; one holding an axe, the others represented
differently: these figures engraved in rings are charms
against accidents as Teucer says, as do other great astrologers
of his times." This passage explains the meaning of a curious
Carnelian in the Mertens-Schaafhausen Collection, engraved
Hermes Heptachrysos. Boman Sard.
in a late Eoman style, with the figure of Mercury seated on
a throne, bearing the attributes of Jupiter, the thunderbolt
and laurel-crown, and with a ram at his side. Around him
is the legend EtinTAXPVCOC, which has a strong analogy to
the XAPXNOVMIC above mentioned as the name of a Decanus
in Leo. From the statement as to the talismanic power of
the three Decani in each sign, and the custom of wearing
their figures engraved in rings, there can be little doubt but
that we have in this intaglio a potent Decanus of Leo or
Aries, for the animal at his side may do for either, and in
5 Quoted by Salmasius, De Annis spector," a term exactly rendered
Climact. by Horoscopus, the star that looks
6 From Dekan, Chaldee "In- upon the hour of one's nativity.
3G4 SUBJECTS. SECT. I IT.
his mis-spelt Greek title a translation of his Egyptian name
an epithet compounded with the word "gold," for it may be
rendered "sevenfold golden."
A curious passage indicative of the general belief of the
protective virtue of this figure of Chneph, is to be found in
Galen De Simp., Med. Facult, B. ix. " Some indeed assert
that a virtue of this kind is inherent in certain stones, such
as is in reality possessed by the green Jasper, which benefits
the chest and mouth of the stomach if tied upon it. Some
set it in a ring and engrave upon it a serpent with radiated
head, just as King Nechepsos prescribes in his thirteenth book.
Of this stone I have had ample experience, having made a
necklace out of such gems and hung it round the neck,
descending so low that the stones might touch the mouth of
the stomach, and they appeared to be of no less service than
if they had been engraved in the way laid down by King
Nechepsos."
Chneph is given as the name of the Good Genius by Euse-
bius, i., 7, where he says, " the serpent unless injured by
violence never dies naturally, whence the Phenicians named
it the Good Genius; similarly the Egyptians have called
him Chneph and given him a hawk's head on account of the
especial velocity of that bird. The priest at Epese, styled
the head interpreter of sacred things and scribe, has thus
explained the meaning of the allegory. " The most divine
nature of all was one serpent bearing the form of a hawk,
and also being most delightful in aspect : for when he
opened his eyes he filled all the places of his native region
with light, but when he closed them darkness immediately
ensued." Our serpent of the gems, however, does not appear
with a hawk's head, but always with a lion's; for which
reason one would be inclined to apply this description of
Eusebius' to the Abraxas figure, who sometimes appears with
SECT. III. IAw. ABPASA2. 305
the head of a hawk, or of a lion, instead of that of a cock,
the most common mode of representing him.
I have already described the Mithraic gems as being
earlier in date, and unconnected with the doctrines of the
Basilidans. I have no doubt as to the correctness of this
assertion, and that no difficulty will be found on inspection
in distinguishing the two classes of intagli, the former being
marked by the superiority of style as well as by the absence
of Egyptian symbols, and of the long Coptic legends. Many
of these intagli belong to the best period of Roman art,
and it is not difficult to see how the worship of Apollo was
gradually merged in that of his more spiritual Oriental
representative. The Pater Bromius of the Cave of Mithras
may, however, be designated by the title Sabao, so often
repeated in company with Adonai; for Bacchus is often
called Sabazius from the cry Sabaoi raised by his votaries
during the orgies, a word clearly the same as the Hebrew
Sabi, glory. 7 Adonai, "Our Lord," is rendered by the
Greeks Adoneus, a title of Pluto, and we have already seen
the verse of Orpheus asserting the identity of Bacchus,
Pluto, and Sol. This list of synonyms recalls the circum-
stance that the Syrian worship of Adonis was explained as
typical of the sun's loss of power at the winter solstice.
These sacred names lao, Sabao, were degraded at a later
period into charms for making fish come into the net. The
mediaeval doctors read lao as Aio, and construing it as the
cry of the peacock, promised wonderful effects from a gem
engraved with this bird with a sea-turtle beneath it, and in-
scribed with this word. There is an amulet against the
plague still current in Germany (probably the last surviving
7 Certain sectarians of the pre- what an ancient and respectable
sent dav, who shout out this word authority they may claim for the
at their " Revivals," are little aware practice.
366 SUBJECTS. SECT. III.
trace of this class of inscriptions), which is engraved on a
thin plate of silver in this manner.
+ ELOHIM + ELOHI +
+ ROGUEL+ JOSIPHIEL +
The numerals added together downwards, across, or diagonally
make up the sum 34, perhaps in allusion to the time of
Christ's ministry on earth. This table appears suspended
over the head of Melancholy in A. Durer's famous engraving :
the meaning of it there had long puzzled me until I met
with the above plate in a little work by Kerner on Amulets.
: Vase. Red Jasper
ISIAO SYMBOLS.
The most detailed account preserved of the symbols and
types used in the worship of Isis when still in its glory (in
the second century), is the description of the procession
given by Apuleius, Met. xi. " Next the crowds flow on of
persons initiated into the divine mysteries, men and women,
of every rank and of all ages, shining in the pure whiteness
of a linen robe ; the latter having their dripping hair en-
SECT. IK. ISIAC SYMBOLS. 307
veloped in a transparent covering; the former with their
heads shaven clean and their bare crowns shining white,
the earthly stars of the nocturnal religion, raising as they
went along a shrill tinkling with sistra of bronze, silver, and
even of gold. But the chief performers in the ceremony
were those nobles, who, clad in a tight linen robe descending
from the waist to the heels, carried in the procession the
glorious symbols of the most potent deities. The first held
at arm's length a lamp, diffusing before him a brilliant light,
not by any means like in form to those in ordinary use for
illuminating our evening meals, but a golden bowl supporting
a more ample blaze in the midst of its broad expanse. The
second, similarly robed, held up with both hands the altar
which derives its name from the beneficent providence of
the supreme goddess. The third marched along bearing
aloft a palm branch, the leaves formed of thin gold, and also
the wand of Mercury. The fourth displayed the symbol of
Justice, the figure of a left hand with open palm, which on
account of its natural inactivity and being endowed with
neither skill nor cunning, appeared a more fitting emblem of
equity than the right hand would have been. The same
priest also carried a small golden vessel made of a round
form like an udder, out of which he poured libations of milk.
The fifth bore a winnowing fan piled up with golden sprigs ;
the last of all carried a large wine jar. Immediately after
these follow the deities condescending to walk upon human
feet, the first rearing terribly on high his dog's head and
neck : that messenger between heaven and hell, displaying
a face alternately as black as the night, and as golden as
the day ; in his left a caduceus, in his right waving a green
palm branch. His steps were closely followed by a cow
raised into an upright position ; this cow was the fruitful
symbol of the Universal Parent, the goddess, which one
of the happy train bore with majestic steps supported
368 SUBJECTS. SECT. III.
on his shoulders. By another was carried the coffer con-
taining the mystic articles, and closely concealing the secrets
of the glorious religion. Another bore in his happy bosom
the awful image of the Supreme Deity : not represented in
the form of a beast either tame or wild, nor of a bird, nor
even in the shape of a human being, but ingeniously devised
and inspiring respect by its very strangeness : the ineffable
symbol of a deeper mystery and one to be veiled by the pro-
foundest silence. But next came, borne in precisely the same
manner, a small vase made of burnished gold and most skilfully
wrought out into a hemi-spherical bottom, embossed externally
with strange Egyptian devices. Its mouth, but slightly raised,
was extended into a spout and projected considerably beyond
the body of the bowl, whilst upon the opposite side, widening
as it receded to a capacious opening, it was affixed to the
handle on which was seated an asp wreathed in a knot, and
lifting on high its streaked, swollen, scaly neck."
The " vase shaped like an udder " is the exact description
of that seen so often upon the gems, and which Matter so
strangely explains as the vessel containing the sins of the
deceased, a most unlikely subject to be chosen for an amulet
intended to gam the favour of the heavenly powers. The
winnowing fan often occurs placed upon this vase ; and the
golden bowl used as a lamp is often met with in the group
of emblems which sometimes fills up one side of these intagli.
Anubis, in order to display by turns a golden and an ebon
visage, must have been represented with two heads in his
image carried in this procession, just as he appears witli
wand and palm in the Basilidan representations. The
mysterious figure of the Divinity too awful for Apuleius to
describe, from the strange expressions used by him to describe it
as " neither beast, bird, nor man," I am tempted to believe
must have been a compound of all three very probably a
statuette of our friend Abraxas himself, for it was of small
SECT. III. 1SIAC SYMBOLS. 3<il)
size, being carried hidden in the bosom of the priest's robe. 8
This theory is confirmed by the circumstance that a bronze
figure five inches in height, found in the South of France,
now exists in the Mertens-Schaafhausen Collection, whence
the following description of it is extracted. "No. 2002.
Statuette of lao standing, armed with cuirass and buckler
and whip, his head in the form of a cock's, his legs termi-
nating in serpents."
From the extreme rudeness of many of these iutagli, there
can be little doubt that the manufacture of them was carried
on long after the date usually assigned for the total extinction
of the Glyptic art in Europe. The mechanical proceedings
of this art are so simple and the instruments required in it
so portable and inexpensive, that the sole cause of its being-
discontinued in any age must have been the cessation of the
demand for its productions. But we actually have many
Byzantine camei of the Middle Ages, and as the Manichean
branch of the great Gnostic heresy flourished down to the
thirteenth century under the names of Paulicians, Bulgarians,
Albigenses, and Cathari, some of the extremely barbarous
engravings in which the last trace of ancient art has dis-
appeared may justly be referred to a period long subsequent
to the fall of the Western Empire. We shall see that Mar-
bodus, in the eleventh century, speaking of the Turquois and
the Beryl, orders that certain figures should be cut upon them
in order to endow them with magical powers. This he would
hardly have done, if the art of engraving had been totally
unknown in his day ; for at a later period, when such was
actually the case, we find the mediaeval philosophers always
using the expression, " if a gem be found engraved with such
8 It must be remembered also that all writers agree that lao was an
Egyptian deity.
2 B
370 SUBJECTS. SECT. ITT.
or such a figure," thus proving that they were entirely
dependant upon chance for the acquisition of these invaluable
talismans, and that they had no artists within their reach
capable of executing such designs according to their prescrip-
tions. It was not the antique origin of these amulets,
although ascribed to the ancient Hebrews, and thence called
Jews' Stones, that alone gave them their mystic potency, for
plenty of instances subsist of charms cut in mediaeval times
on metal rings, in the characters of the period, a most curious
instance of which is that figured by Caylus, VI., cxxx.
A gold ring formed out of a square bar of equal thickness
throughout, each side covered with an inscription in Lom-
bardic characters, apparently in barbarous Greek but con-
taining many Gnostic epithets, as follows :
+ OEGVTTAA + SAGRA + hOGOGRA + lOThE + hENA VEAET
+ OCCINOMOC + ON + IKC +hOGOTE -h BANG VES + ALPHA + 7IB
+ ANA + EGNETON + AIRIE + OIRA + &GLA + MEIDA + ADONAI
+ hIERN AThOI + CEBAI + GUTGUTTA + ICOThIN +
This talisman was found in France and doubtless had
belonged to some noble Albigeois of the thirteenth century,
as may be inferred from the form of the characters of the
legend. Another favourite charm was the names of the
three Kings of Cologne, Casper (or Jasper), Melchior, and
Balthasar ; also the inexplicable words " Guttu Gutta Thebal
Ebal," IHS Nazarenus, and numerous similar inscriptions of
magical effect. From these instances we may conclude that
they would have gladly multiplied the natural powers of the
gems themselves, by engraving the miraculous Sigilla upon
them, had not the art entirely disappeared from the cities of
mediaeval Europe. Indeed at the very commencement of the
Revival we find Camillo Leonardo prescribing how and at
what seasons such talismans ought to be engraved to acquire
the promised powers : and in looking over miscellaneous lots
SECT. III. MEDICAL STAMPS. 37
of stones in Italy one meets with abundance of planetary
magical, and invocatory intagli, evidently the productions of
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. I have never seen
any eamei bearing Gnostic representations : a strange fact if
we consider the extensive use of these amulets under the
Lower Empire, and one which proves the complete discon-
tinuance of the art of engraving eamei at that time. The
unique cameo in my possession representing Anubis in the
character of Hermes, above alluded to, from its high finish
and careful execution was most probably the ornament of
some believer in the Egyptian ancient doctrines, of the age ot
Apuleius.
MEDICAL STAMPS.
Medical stamps are small stone tablets with inscriptions cut
upon their face and edges, giving the name^ of the medicines
and that of the maker or inventor ; and were used for stamp-
ing the boxes containing them, in order to guarantee their
genuineness, exactly like the present method of authenticating
patent medicines by means of a seal. It is curious that most
of these stamps belong to eye-salves. Such preparations must
have been in great request among the ancients, who suffered
greatly from diseases of the eyes, of which more than two
hundred were specified by their oculists. This liability to
such complaints was due probably to their custom of always
going bare-headed, and passing from their confined and gloomy
rooms into the full blaze of a southern sun, without any pro-
tection to the eyes. In the Herz Collection was a large Sard,
engraved with a figure of the goddess Koma seated, inscribed
HEROPHILI OPOBALSAMVM. The surface of the stone was
much worn by use, and showed thereby the great demand
there must have been for the boxes containing this prepara-
tion, which may have derived its name from the famous phy-
2 B 2
372 SUBJECTS. SKCT. III.
sician, the founder of the Alexandrian school of medicine.
This intaglio was purchased for the British Museum at the
high price of 81., although the work of it was rude and of late
Koman date. In fact, the stone itself had very much the
appearance of a paste ; the letters also of the inscription were
very large and ill-formed.
The inscriptions on these stamps are so curious, and throw
so much light upon the subject of the patent medicines of
antiquity, that it is worth while to give here an abstract of
Caylus' excellent dissertation upon them (i. 225). It will be
observed that they all refer to collyria, or medicines to be
applied to the eyes.
The two first were found at Nimeguen, and bore the in-
scriptions,
M. VLPI . HERACLETIS . STRATIOTICVM.
DIARRODON . AD . IMP.
- CYCNARIVM . AD . IM.
- TALASSEROSA.
This stamp served for authenticating the genuineness of
four different sorts of salves, prepared by a no doubt noted
oculist, M. Ulpius Heracles, very likely a freedman of Trajan's,
from the fact of his bearing the same family name ; and
besides, in Koman times, physicians were generally Greek or
Asiatic slaves by origin. The Stratioticum was a remedy for
the ophthalmia, to which soldiers were subject; the Diar-
rodon (rose-salve) for Impetus, or inflammations of the eyes ;
Cycnarium, a white ointment made of emollient ingredients,
for the same complaint ; Talasserosa, one into the composition
of which bay-salt entered. The second stamp bore the name
of the same person, with those of four additional salves :
Melinum, compounded with verdigris ; Tipinum, an extract
from the plant called Typhe ; Diarces, for Diacroces, saffron-
ointment ; and Diamysos, salve of misy, or red vitriol.
SECT. 111. MEDICAL STAMPS. 37:5
The third stamp, given by Spon, has the name of another
oculist :
C . CAP^ SABINIANI . DIAPSORICVM . AD . CALIG.
CHELIDON . AD . CLAR.
NARDINVM . AD . 1MPETVM.
CHLORON . AD . CLAR.
Of these, the first was a remedy for the Psora, or dry ophthalmia,
and Caligines, or dimness of sight ; the second, an extract of
the well-known herb Celidony, to clear the eyes ; the Nardi-
num, of many minerals combined with nard ; the last, Chloron
or green salve, of sulphate of copper, to clear the sight.
The fourth stamp, found at Gloucester, reads,
Q . IVL . MVRANI . MELINVM . AD . CLARITATEM.
STAGIVM . OPOBALSAMAT . AD.
The second of which was an extract of the guice of balsam, to
be dropped stactum into the eyes, and therefore an astringent
application.
The fifth bears the name of Q. Caer. Quintillian, and his
salves : Stacta ad Clar. Dialepid., an astringent derived from
the Lepidium, or wall-pepper ; Diasmyrn, salve of myrrh ;
and Crocod., or saffron ointment. This was found near Cou-
tances in Normandy.
The sixth came from Dijon, and bears the name of M. Sul.
Charito. It served to stamp his gallipots of Isochrysa ad clar.,
or golden ointment ; Diapsor., already named ; Diarrhodon ad
fervor., or a remedy for the burning heat of the eyes ; and
Diasmyrn., as already described.
The seventh, found at Besanqon, has the name of G. Sat.
Sabinian, and his salve Diacherale, the derivation of which is
not known.
The eighth, also from Besanqon, gives the name of L. Saccus
Menander, and his four collyria : Chelidonium ad cal. ; Meli-
374
SUBJECTS.
SECT. III.
num delac., or distilled ; Thalasseros. delact. ; Diapsoricum
ad sc., or ad scabiem, the dry ophthalmia.
The ninth, from Mandeuvre, bears the name of C. Sulp.
Hypnus, and is inscribed with the titles of his Stactum Opob.
ad c. : Dialepid ad Aspri., for Aspritudines, or warts on the
eyelids ; Lysiponum ad suppurationem, an emollient for the
cure of gatherings on the lids ; and lastly his Coenon ad
claritatem, or universal ointment, to clear the sight.
The tenth is in the Collection of Antiques, Paris. It is
unfortunately broken, but the original reading was perhaps
Decimi P. Flaviani Collyrium lene m. ad aspritudinem oculo.,
and Decirni P. Flaviani Collyrium rnixtum c.
Oculist's Stamp. Sard.
M. Tochon d'Anneci published in 1816 a brochure upon
these stamps, in which he described thirty examples, by
adding those of his own collection, and others unpublished
that had come to his knowledge, to the nineteen previously
described by Sacius. Of the unpublished are IVNITAVRI
CROCODPACIANADCICATETREVM ("Juni Tauri Crocod. Paci-
anum ad cicatrices et rheumata"), and IVNITAVRICEOCOD
DAMISVSACDIATHESISETREV., or Juui Tauri Crocod. diamysus
ad diathesis et rheumata. Here diathesis, rheumata, and epi-
phora, are various kinds of ophthalmia. Another stamp has
DIAMISVS ADDIATHETOL, or Diamysus ad diatheses et omnem
SECT. III. BRONZE STAMPS. .375
Lippitudinem, the last two words occurring at full length on
some of these stamps as well as in the abbreviated form.
The " Tipinum," for Tiphynum, was of the same nature as
the "Lirinum," ointment of lily, for the Tiphyon is classed
by Pliny amongst the liliaceous plants. The " Diacherale,"
hitherto unexplained, Visconti interprets as " diaceratos lene,"
a salve composed of hartshorn.
The " Authemerum" of another stamp is a salve to be pre-
pared every day, as being liable to spoil by keeping, like our
golden ointment.
Another is PHRONIMEVODES ADASPRIETCIK. ("Phronymi
euodes ad aspri. et cik."), a singular substitution of the K for
the c.
Seneca (Ep. Ixiv.) alludes to these medicaments and the
diseases of the eye for which they were employed : " Hoc
asperitas oculorum conlevatur, hoc palpebrarum crassitude
tenuatur, hoc vis subita et humor avertitur, hoc acuitur visus."
Another salve named upon these stamps is the " Floginum "
(Phloginum), made from the juice of the phlox, and the " Sar-
cophagum," or coiTosive, an application for ulcers.
BKONZE STAMPS.
This subject introduces naturally the consideration of the
very numerous class of metal stamps formed with a handle at
the back, and made for impressing the name and titles of the
owner on clay, either used as a seal, as is still practised in
the East, for securing the doors of storehouses and cellars, or
for stamping the pitch and gypsum stoppings of the necks of
amphorae and other vessels. They were also employed by
potters for impressing their names on the handles of the huge
jars of their fabrique or in the centre of tiles, in the latter
case often giving also the name of the emperor for whose
376 SUBJECTS. SECT. III.
buildings they were working. But a roost singular fact re-
lating to these objects is that the bulk of them are found with
the letters in relief, and therefore must have been intended to
be inked over, and impressed upon the parchment or papyrus
of the legal document as an official authentication, so nearly
had the makers of these fixed types approached to the prin-
ciple of stereotype printing. It is evident that these in-
scriptions, being in relief, could not have been designed for
stamping clay or wax, on which substances the impressions
themselves are always found in relief. It necessarily follows
therefore that they were employed to save time in applying
the necessary signatures to a large number of documents re-
quired simultaneously, precisely as the stamps now used in
the passport bureaux of the Continental States.
Jupiter, Sol, Luna. Opal.
SUBJECTS OF INTAGLI.
Every collector of gems must have been struck with the
extraordinary frequency with which certain subjects are re-
peated on gems, generally from causes that may be readily
conjectured, although the rarity of other representations, that
would seem to have had quite as many claims to recommend
them to the engraver's notice, is very difficult to be satis-
factorily explained. It will also be observed that many sub-
jects are cut in preference upon particular sorts of gems ; and
the following is a rough attempt at a relative view of the
SECT. III. SUBJECTS OF INT AGLI. 377
occurrence of the more usual representations, and of the
varieties of stones which each class particularly affect :
First, beyond all dispute, are the figures of Victory, executed
in every style, from that of the best epoch to the rude scratches
of expiring art. Almost as frequent are the figures of Nemesis,
that deity so justly revered by the ancient world, only to be
distinguished from Victory by her being always helmeted and
holding a bridle or a measuring-rod in her hand. Virgo or
Erigone, a similar figure, is known by her cornucopia and
rudder. These subjects, belonging to every date, are found
in every material ; those of the Lower Empire, however, occur
very abundantly in Plasma. Next come eagles in all attitudes,
and combined with various emblems, on the same kinds of
stones as were employed for the preceding figures. Venus
comes next after eagles in point of frequency, the sea-born
goddess appropriately affecting the sea-gi;een colour of the
Plasma a gem on which we rarely meet with other subjects
than Venus, eagles, and Victories. Cupids, as a necessary
consequence, also abound on gems, and give scope for the most
elegant fancy on the part of the artist, in his representation of
their various groups and attitudes, as engaged in various sports
and occupations. Minerva takes the next place, and, as may
be deduced from the style of the intagli, was the goddess who
chiefly occupied the engravers under the Flavian family ; for
most of the neatly-executed gems with this type will be found
identical in style with those on the reverses of the denarii of
Domitian. 9 Roma, distinguished from the preceding by being
9 The Medusa's Head, both as a are amongst the most numerous of
profile, the type of Beauty dead, in all, the latter form being the most
reproducing which the most skilful frequent when of late work. It even
artists of every age have emulated occurs upon the Gnostic gems, and,
each other ; and the living front- apparently from its universal use,
face Gorgon, with snakes erect, was worn as an amulet to avert
and replete with energy and rage, the Evil Eye. This seems proved
378
SUBJECTS.
SECT. 111.
seated on a throne and holding an orb, is very frequent, espe-
cially on the gems of a later period. Now follows the turn of
Bacchus, old, young, bearded, beardless ; the Dionysus, the
Indian, the Liber Pater of the Komans, with all his train of
Silenus, Fauns, and Bacchantes, who disport themselves as
full figures, busts, and heads on all kinds of gems, yet appro-
priately affecting the Amethyst as a sort of antidote to their
own influence. Mercury has been hitherto omitted, although
sandra mourninS the doom of
Troy. Sard.
Minerva supporting the bust of
Dornitian. Bard.
he ought to be placed on the same footing in the list as
Victory herself, the god of gain being properly the favourite
deity of all times, and, as may be shrewdly suspected from
the late style of many of his figures, retaining his hold upon the
finger of many a Christian convert who had made no difficulty
of casting away his other gods of a more subtle and unworldly
character. He will be found, the reason of it quite unknown,
to occur very frequently upon Amethyst. Hercules, as the
deity whose protection assured good luck, was a special
favourite, particularly of the Romans under the Middle
Empire ; and his heads will be found engraved as it were in
by a red Jasper of mine, bearing the
Gorgon's Head and the legend
APHrn-POPOMANAAPH.
" I protect Roromandares."
The letters, not being reversed, show
that the stone was not intended for
a signet, but for a talisman. The
profile heads of Medusa, on the other
hand, will be found to be productions
of the better times of the arts, and
usually among the finest specimens
of it remaining to us.
SECT. III. SUBJECTS OF INTAGLI. 379
preference on the Nicolo. The bust of Jove, usually given as
a front face, also is tolerably frequent ; but much less so is
the full figure of this deity seated on a throne a singular
circumstance, remembering how common a type this \vas of
the Grecian coinage. Serapis, however, whose worship was
so universal under the later emperors, claims by far the
largest share of the intagli representing Jupiter. This
divinity usually appears on the finest red Sards that could
be procured at the time. Ammon is met with but seldom,
and then only on gems of an early date. Apollo is next
to Serapis in point of popularity, together with his attri-
butes, especially lyres, represented in a great variety of
shapes. Diana 10 is more unfrequent, still more so Juno, their
characters doubtless being too prudish and severe to suit the
temper of the times which produced the greatest quantity of
the intagli existing. An infinite variety of masks, chimerae,
and caprices, apparently all belonging to the same epoch (the
second centuiy), now appear, and usually on the red Jasper,
a fine material, but almost unknown to earlier times. Ceres
herself is not seen very frequently, although pictures of rural
occupations are plentiful enough. Neptune is still more rare ;
still more so Saturn and Vulcan. As for Pluto, I have never
yet seen a representation of so ill-omened a deity upon any
gem. The head of Mars, or the god himself (an armed warrior
holding a spear and shield), is by no means uncommon upon
Kornan gems. The same is the case with arms, especially
helmets, on which the artists have often expended then-
utmost skill. As might have been expected in a people so
passionately addicted to the games of the circus, chariots and
10 Though Sol occurs very fre- with only in solitary examples even
quently, both as a full figure, and in the largest collections.
as a bust, yet Luna is to be met
380 SUBJECTS. SECT. III.
horses of all kinds, often mounted by fantastic riders, and
furnished with grotesque steeds and charioteers, appear in
vast numbers and in all varieties of material. Animals make
up the majority of Etruscan intagli, especially in that rude
class the origin of which can be distinctly assigned to the
engravers of that nation. They also furnish, and in the same
Hercules trimming bis club. Etruscan Scarab. Type of the Satyric Drama. Red Jasper.
style of art, coarse representations of fauns and of the games
of the gymnasium, but seem never to have attempted por-
traits. Of Roman date, the lion and the bull are the most
common subjects, from their astrological import; then the
various kinds of dogs and the wild boar, and every matter
connected with the chase of this beast. The herdsman and
the shepherd are amongst the most numerous class, and
testify to the longings of the pent-up citizen for the quiet
occupations of the country aspirations so often expressed by
the poets, " rus ! quando ego te aspiciam ? " Of fishes the
dolphin is the favourite, usually depicted as entwined around
an anchor, a trident, or a rudder : the last type was the signet
of Sextus Pompeius. The crawfish, a common device, is often
cut upon the appropriately-coloured Plasma: this creature
being taken by the Greeks as the emblem of prudence, was
on that account so frequently selected as a signet by the
ancients. Among insects the locust is common on gems : its
form is that of our grasshopper, but it is in life often two or
three inches long, and is now called by the Tuscans la cavalla.
SECT. III. SUBJECTS OF INTAGLI. 381
This must not be confounded with the cicada or cigala of the
Italians, which more resembles a huge fly in shape than any-
thing else ; and from its continuous song (a sound like the
cry of the starling) was considered as an attribute of the god
of music, and therefore was often engraved in company with
a lyre, when it is sometimes mistaken for a bee by persons
not acquainted with the real insect. Of birds, after the eagle
comes the parrot, next the peacock and the raven : the last a
prophetic fowl, and an attribute of Apollo. We have seen
how Clemens Alexandrinus recommends the Christians of his
own times to adopt for signets the dove, fish, the ship under
sail, the lyre, the anchor, and the fisherman : of all which we
find numerous intagli, and usually of the coarse execution
betokening a late period. Gnostic gems have been already
sufficiently considered : their number in Italy and France is
incredible, and probably a tenth of all intagli discovered in
those countries belong to this class. The Greek period gives
us some magnificent portraits, but they are rare, and were
most probably engraved only for the use of the person him-
self as his private signet, an usage we see alluded to in the
' Pseudolus ' of Plautus. In the Eoman period it seems to
have been held a mark of loyalty to wear the portrait of the
reigning emperor, which accounts for the vast number of such
down to the time of Caracalla, and many of which, even of
the early Ca3sars, are of the most inferior execution, clearly
manufactured at a cheap rate for the wear of the military and
the poorer classes. 1 After this period, gold medals set in
rings, and huge medallions suspended round the neck, took
the place of engraved gems. It may here be remarked that
the greater number of imperial portraits, particularly those of
1 These imperial portraits are and bronze, thus proving the po-
often found set in rings of silver verty of their original wearers.
382 SUBJECTS. SECT. 111.
large size, to be seen in collections of gems, arc the works of
artists of the times since the Kevival : they are much more
numerous than the true antique heads of the emperors and
their connexions, whence they ought always to be examined
with suspicion, above all whenever the stones themselves ex-
ceed the usual dimensions of a signet. The heads of Domitia,
Julia Titi, M. Aurelius, and L. Verus, have been those most
frequently copied by modern artists.
In the list of my own collection, it appears that more than
half of the entire number are Sards of various shades, and
after them in number come the Onyx and the Jasper.
Plasmas would have been almost as numerous as Sards, had
not the choice of the gems been guided by the good work of
the intagli, and not by the wish to obtain a great variety of
subjects. The proportionate numbers of the gems will be
found nearly the same in all collections, where the acquisition
of fine work alone is the end proposed by the amateur to him-
self in his purchases. In the Herz Collection, where the sole
object was to accumulate a variety of subjects, quite irrespective
of their authenticity, execution, or material, in an unreasoning
emulation of the famous cabinet of Stosch (the cause that more
than half of its contents were modern imitations or worthless
pastes), the varieties of stones were much more numerous ; as
the latest works of the Decline supply vast numbers of Plasmas,
and various shades of the Jasper, as well as Garnets, to the
collector. But such an assemblage of works of all degrees of
merit is only fit for a national museum, not for a private
cabinet, where the aim of the possessor should be to keep as
few pieces as possible, and those only that are the best of
their kind ; so that each gem becomes, as it were, a collec-
tion in itself.
The preference shown by the ancient engravers for parti-
cular kinds of gems, is well illustrated by the annexed tabular
SECT. III.
SUBJECTS OF INTAGLI.
.383
view of those composing the Mertens-Schaafhausen Cabinet,
formed entirely of intagli, with few exceptions, antique, only
97 of the whole number being camei of various periods.
Sard and Carnelian . .
Calcedony
Onyx
Plasma
Jasper, various
Garnets
Amethyst
Jacinth
Lapis-lazuli
Emeralds . .
Crystal
Chrysolite. .
Beryl.. ..
Euhy . .
Sapphire . .
Opal .. ..
Turquois . .
Xicolo
10
8
4
3
2
1
1
3
49
Besides these, there are a few in horn-stone, haematite,
nephrite, loadstone, and Lydian stone or touchstone.
Gcrgou; Greco-Italian Ca
384 SUBJECTS. SECT. III.
Pompey, with his titles. Nicolo.
UTILITY OF CASTS FKOM ANTIQUE GEMS.
The chief of archaeologists, Visconti, remarks in liis ' Esp.
di Gemme Antiche,' " How conducive the study and the
accurate examination of ancient works in the precious stones,
commonly termed ' Gems,' is to the understanding of anti-
quities, and to every species of valuable erudition, as well as
to the intelligence of the arts of design, and to the training
of the eyes in the distinguishing of true and simple beauty, is
an argument already sufficiently dilated upon by others, and
unnecessary to be further discussed in this place. I must,
however, preface my description of this collection of casts
(made for Prince A. Chigi), by the mention of certain con-
siderations which have served me as rules in drawing it up,
as well as in the choice and formation of the entire cabinet.
Two advantages, over all other existing relics of antiquity,
are possessed by engraved gems, and both are connected with
the service to be derived from them : the first is, that they
are able to furnish accurate instruction, not to those present
alone, whilst those absent are either entirely deprived, or
must derive it from drawings merely, as the sole resource ;
drawings too, often incorrect, scarcely ever perfectly accurate,
and which can only transfuse into the plate what the eye of
the draughtsman (often an unskilled one) has been able to
comprehend in the original of his design. Antique intagli,
on the contrary, by means of the impressions from them, in
a certain manner may be said to multiply themselves, and
SECT. III. PLASTER CASTS.
385
are represented in perhaps a better point of view than the
originals; from which circumstance these impressions serve
equally well with the monument itself to build our reflections
and our decisions upon, except in those very rare and excep-
tional cases where some peculiarity of mechanical execution
of the work is concerned. The second advantage, and that
one of the highest importance, is, that their very hardness of
material, and the nature of the work on them, especially as
regards intagli, to such a degree secure the integrity of these
antique productions of art, that the representations, together
with all their symbols and accessories, have been preserved
without the slightest damage to the present moment ; not
mutilated, as is too often the case with works of art in marble,
or as with medals, made illegible by wear, or changed and
corroded by their long entombment amidst the acids of the
earth."
V
PLASTER CASTS.
The collector of antique gems ought to take every oppor-
tunity of carefully examining all cabinets of camei and
intagli to which he can obtain access, especially in the
numerous small collections brought to London for sale during
the season. As these are usually of the most miscellaneous
character, and composed of works of all ages, gathered to-
gether without discrimination, he will have an opportunity of
comparing every style, and thus by degrees of gaining the
almost intuitive perception of antiquity, only to be acquired
by practice. He will soon learn how never to pass over an
antique as a modern work ; the converse faculty will, how-
ever, be more slowly imparted to his eye, for the most
experienced may sometimes be taken in by the exact imita-
tion of the antique in some gem the production of the skilful
artists of the last century. Much too may be learnt from
2 c
3S6 SUBJECTS. SKCT. III.
the careful study of casts from gems of undoubted authenticity,
as regards the style and design, and the execution or the
mechanical part of the work of different epochs, all which
may be acquired nearly as well from the constant and minute
examination of the casts as by that of the gems themselves.
After some practice the student will find himself enabled to
distinguish the casts produced by the various sorts of gems,
by observing how different is the work on the Sard from that
on the Plasma, how that on the Nicolo again has its peculiar
touches, while the flowing and shallow work peculiar to the
Jacinth is to be recognised at the first glance. The style of
engraving on the Garnet also, when by chance a good intaglio
on this gem does occur, has a peculiarity of its own, some-
what approximating to that of the Jacinth.
These plaster-casts are easily taken, and only require a
little care in the manipulation to produce extremely accurate
impressions : the process is as follows. The face of the gem
must first be slightly oiled, to prevent the plaster from stick-
ing in the lines of the intaglio. A little plaster must next
be mixed with water to the consistence of paste, and then
laid upon the intaglio with a fine brush, as if giving it a coat
of paint, by which we prevent bubbles from forming on the
surface of the cast, which would completely spoil it. Next sur-
round the gem with a margin of thick paper to keep the
plaster in shape, and lay upon the first coat any quantity of
plaster mixed to a strong consistence, to give the required
thickness to the cast ; let it dry for half an hour, when it will
be easily separated from the stone, and a perfect impression
will be produced. This is the regular and somewhat tedious
process ; but I have found the two first steps of oiling and
coating the gem may be dispensed with, by breathing for a
few moments upon the gem, so as to make it thoroughly hot
and moist before laying on the plaster, which if carefully
. III. PLASTER CASTS. ,-{87
worked into the intagli with the end of the instrument (a fine
wooden spatula is the best), will be found to yield a cast
quite free from bubbles, and easily detached from the intaglio
^ O
without risk of fracture. If the cast be dipped, when dry,
into strong tea, it will take a light brown tint, much more
agreeable to the eye than the glaring white of the plaster
itself. I have also found that by laying upon the cast a coat
of a strong solution of gum arabic, which it will soon absorb,
a considerable degree of hardness as well as a pleasing
marble-like gloss is imparted to the otherwise tender
material; a valuable addition to casts that are exposed to
much handling from the careless.
Casts of sulphur, coloured with vermilion, are made by
melting it slowly in a ladle, and pouring it into plaster moulds
made from the impressions of the gems in sealing wax.
These are useful when one has no opportunity of taking casts
from the gems themselves ; otherwise the sulphur does not
show the minute details of the intaglio so faithfully as the
cast in plaster.
A lump of modelling wax is the indispensable companion
of every collector in the examination of gems before making
a purchase or passing judgment upon them, as by its aid
alone can the work upon opaque substances be accurately
examined. It is made by dissolving beeswax with one-tenth
of its weight of tallow, adding a little powdered rosin to the
melted mixture, and stirring all well together ; when of the
proper consistency it will not adhere to the fingers when
handled. It may be coloured red or black, according to what
colour is preferred, by adding vermilion or lamp-black to
the mass when liquid. This composition, when moulded
between the fingers, readily softens, so as to take the most
accurate impression from an intaglio previously moistened by
breathing upon it for a short time. These impressions, if
2 c 2
388 SUBJECTS. SECT. III.
protected from friction, will remain perfect for any length of
time, whereas those taken in sealing wax waste away with
the heat of summer. For immediate use modelling wax may
be made by adding a few drops of turpentine to wax melted
and coloured to taste ; this answers well enough for a few
days, before the spirit has all evaporated, when it becomes too
hard for use. It is, however, an excellent substance for
preserving impressions in, as it resists the effects of heat and
light, and looks remarkably well when made up into a series
of casts arranged under glass. This was the wax employed
for the mediaeval seals, which have come down to us un-
injured from very remote times. Our present sealing wax,
or more properly sealing lac, as the Germans call it, was un-
known in Europe until brought by the Dutch from India in
the seventeenth century. Alexander, the prophet of Aboni-
tichos, used, as Lucian tells us, to take casts of the seals of
the letters deposited upon the altar of his temple, in a mix-
ture of quicklime and glue. With this extemporised stamp he
resealed the letters after having opened them ; and thus was
enabled to return answers adapted to the questions they con-
tained, while the letters were returned to his dupes, to all
appearance unopened.
Death of Eschylus.
SECT. IV. THE LAPIDAEIUM OF MARBODUS. 38<J
Polyphemus. Said.
SECTION IV. MYSTIC VIETUES.
THE LAPIDAEIUM OF MARBODUS.
THIS poein was probably composed by the abbot Marbodus
(Marbceuf), when master of the Cathedral School of Anjou,
an office he held from 1067 to 1081, in which last year he
was made Bishop of Henries. The substance of it is taken in
part from Pliny, but chiefly from Solinus, of whom he para-
phrases entire sentences. He also borrows largely from the
so-called Orpheus, a work composed probably in the third
century. This acquaintance of Marbodus with a Greek
author is somewhat at variance with the prevailing opinion of
the state of western literature at that period ; but it is evident
that he both understood that language, and was very proud
of his knowledge, to judge from the number of Greek words
he introduces into his text, and his careful interpretations of
the names of gems derived from the Greek. It is my belief
that Greek as a spoken tongue must have lingered in the
south of France long after the fall of the Eoman Empire. To
its very close we find that language still flourishing there ;
thus, Ausonius says of his father, a physician of Bordeaux,
390 MYSTIC VIRTUES. SECT. IV.
that he could not express himself fluently in Latin, but was a
ready speaker in Greek,
" Sermone impromptus Latio verum Attica lingua
Suffecit culti vocibus eloquii."
All the Gauls of this and later periods whose names are
not Latin bear Greek cognomina, apparently translations of
their own Celtic designations, as having generally a sylvan
or rustic meaning ; as, for instance, Agrius Cimarus for
A.yptof Xifj^ocpos, the wild goat, to be seen on a sepulchral
tablet at Caerleon, Syagrius, the last Roman prince of
Soissons; Drepanius, Staphylius, Aeonia, Calippio, Dryadia,
Euromius, Talisius, Cataphronia, Melania, Idalia ; these latter
all relations of the poet of Bourdeaux, Ausonius. Charle-
magne, though quite illiterate, is said to have understood and
spoken Greek, which would imply that it was necessary in
his intercourse with some of his own subjects. In fact, as the
large Greek cities of Provence, such as Marseilles, retained
their independence under the Gothic kings to a very great
extent, the extinction of their cherished language must have
been both gradual and slow.
Marbodus indeed ascribes the original of his poem to Evax,
and gives his dedicatory letter to Tiberius, written in very
mediaeval Latin, which last is evidently a composition of his
own. But this attribution must be regarded merely as a
poetical license, to give credit to the work in the eyes of the
learned of those times ; for he makes no difficulty of men-
tioning Nero (the sixth from Julius), when speaking of the
properties of the emerald. Doubtless many ancient authors '
1 Such as Metrodorus, whom lie dates, in which he defined their
quotes by name under " Coral " influence over human destiny,
and Zachalias of Babylon, who is " gemmis humana fata attribuit."
mentioned by Pliny as having dedi- xxxvii. 60.
cated a treatise on gems to Mithri-
SECT. IV. THE LAPIDAR1UM OF MARBODUS. 391
were extant when he wrote besides Solinus and Orpheus,
from whom he gleaned the rest of the curious superstitions as
to the mystic and medicinal virtues of gems, in addition to
those detailed by these two writers. Camillo Leonardo has
borrowed largely from Marbodus in his treatise on the
qualities of the gems in themselves, but the latter makes no
mention in this poem of the virtues of the sigils cut upon
them.
THE LAPIDARIUM OF MARBODUS.
TH*: lore of Evax, rich Arabia's king,
Addressed to Nero in these lines I sing ;
Tiberius Nero who, so willed it Fate,
Next to Augustus ruled the Eoman state.
Their different kinds, their varying hues I teach,
What land produces, what the power of each.
Thus while the bulky volume I compress,
In more commodious form the sense I dress.
This precious lore I from the crowd conceal,
But to few friends, and those the best, reveal :
For he that mysteries publishes profanes
Known to the vulgar secret nought remains.
10. Let three at most this sacred volume know,
A holy number, holy things we show ;
Who honour heaven and its commands attend,
Whom manners grave, whom holy lives commend.
For sure the hidden powers of gems to know,
What great effects from hidden causes flow,
A science this, to be to few confined
And viewed with admiration by mankind.
Hence may the healing art new aid derive.
Taught by their virtue plagues away to drive ;
For sages tell that by creative heaven
20. Distinctive potency to gems is given.
And hoar experience surely doth attest
The native virtue by each stone possessed.
392 MYSTIC VIRTUES. SECT. IV
Though in the herb a potent virtue lurks
Greatest of all that which in jewels works.
I.
Foremost of all amongst the glittering race
Far India is the Diamond's native place ;
Produced and found within the crystal mines,
Its native source in its pure lustre shines :
Yet though it flashes with the brilliant's rays
A steely tint the crystal still displays.
Hardness invincible which nought can tame,
Untouched by steel, unconquered by the flame ;
30. But steeped in blood of goats it yields at length,
Yet tries the anvil's and the smiter's strength.
With these keen splinters armed, the artist's skill
Subdues all gems and graves them at his will.
Largest at best as the small kernel shut
Within th' inclosure of the hazel nut.
Another stone the swart Arabians find,
Broke without blood, of less obdurate kind :
Of duller lustre and of lower price,
In weight and bulk it yet the first outvies.
A third gives Cyprus, girdled by the main ;
The fourth Philippi's iron mines contain :
40. Yet all alike the obedient iron sway
As does the magnet, if this gem 's away ;
For in the presence of this sovereign stone
Robbed of its force an idle mass 'tis thrown.
In magic rites employed, a potent charm,
With force invincible it nerves the arm :
Its power will chase far from thy sleeping head
The dream illusive and the goblin dread ;
Baffle the venom'd draught, fierce quarrels heal,
Madness appease and stay thy foeman's steel.
Its fitting setting, so have sages told,
Is the pale silver or the glowing gold ;
And let the jewel in the bracelet blaze
Which round the left arm clasped attracts the gaze.
SECT. IV. THE LAPIDARIUM OF MARBODUS. yi
II.
50. Achates' stream, which through Sicilians plains
Winds his soft course renowned in pastoral strains,
Named from himself the Agate first disclosed
A jet black stone by milky zones inclosed :
With figured veins its varied surface strew'd,
Painted by nature in a sportive mood.
Now regal shapes, now gods its face adorn ;
Such the fam'd Agate by King Pyrrhus worn,
Whose level surface the nine Muses graced,
Kound Phoebus with his lyre in order placed.
Strange to relate, 'twas to no artist due,
00. Nature herself the wondrous picture drew.
Another Agate yields the Cretan shore,
As coral red, with gold-dust sprinkled o'er ;
An antidote against the poisoned draught,
And for the treach'rous viper's venom'd shaft.
Whilst on that Agate which dark Indians praise
The woods arise, the sylvan monster strays :
Placed in the mouth 'twill raging thirst appease,
And its mild radiance the tired eyeballs ease.
One fumes like myrrh if on the altar strewed ;
Another is besprent with drops of blood :
Whilst those which, like the comb, with yellow gleam,
Are most abundant, but in least esteem.
70. The Agate on the wearer strength bestows,
With ruddy health his fresh complexion glows ;
Both eloquence and grace are by it given,
He gains the favour both of earth and heaven :
Anchises' son, by this attendant saved, 2
O'ercame all labours, every danger braved.
III.
Not least the glory of the gem renowned
Within the belly of the capon found,
A curious perversion this of Virgil's ' Fidus Achates.'
394 MYSTIC VIRTUES. SECT. IV.
Which, made an eunuch when three years have flown,
Through twice two more in swelling bulk has grown ;
Its utmost size no larger than a bean,
Like purest water or the crystal's sheen ;
80. Hence Alectorius is the jewel hight,
Fpr gifts of strength extolled, and matchless might.
If parched with thirst place this within thy mouth,
'T will in a moment quench thy burning drouth ;
Aided by this on many a well-fought day
Crotonian Milo bore the palm away :
And many a prince, with laurel on his brow,
Eeturned victorious o'er a mightier foe.
The weary wretch who in far exile pines,
Kestored to home, with pristine honours shines.
It gifts the pleader with persuasive art
To move the court and touch the hearer's heart :
Th' exhausted frame with youthful vigour filled
Exults once more with love's high rapture thrilled.
From this the bride full powerful aid may gain
90. To bind her spouse's heart with triple chain.
Borne in the mouth the virtues of the stone
And all its mighty works are quickly shewn.
IV.
Of seventeen species can the Jasper boast
Of differing colours, in itself a host.
In various regions is this substance seen :
The best of all, the bright translucent green ;
The greatest virtue is to this assigned ;
Fevers and dropsies feel its influence kind.
Hung round the neck it eases travail's throes,
And guards the wearer from approaching woes.
100. Power too it gives when blest by magic rite :
And drives away the phantoms of the night ;
But let the gem enchased in silver shine,
And fortify thereby its force divine.
SECT. IV. THE LAPIDAKIUM OF MARBODUS.
V.
Fit only for the hands of kings to wear,
With purest azure shines the Sapphire rare :
For worth and beauty chief of gems proclaimed,
And by the vulgar oft Syrtites named.
Oft in the Syrtes midst their shifting sand
Cast by the boiling deep on Lybian strand :
The best the sort that Media's mines supply,
110. Opaque of colour which excludes the eye.
By nature with superior honours graced,
As gem of gems above all others placed ;
Health to preserve, and treachery to disarm,
And guard the wearer from intended harm :
No envy bends him, and no terror shakes ;
The captive's chains its mighty virtue breaks ;
The gates fly open, fetters fall away,
And send their prisoner to the light of day.
E'en Heaven is moved by its force divine,
To list to vows presented at its shrine.
Its soothing power contentions fierce controls,
And in sweet concord binds discordant souls ;
120. Above all others this Magicians love,
Which draws responses from the realms above :
The body's ills its saving force allays
And cools the flame that on the entrails preys.
Can check the sweats that melt the waning force
And stay the ulcer in its festering course :
Dissolved in milk it clears the cloud away
From the dimmed eye and pours the perfect day ;
Relieves the aching brow when racked with pain
And bids the tongue its wonted vigour gain.
But he who dares to wear this gem divine
Like snow in perfect chastity must shine.
VI.
Between the Hyacinth and Beryl placed,
130. With lustre fair is the (Jalcedon graced ;
396 MYSTIC VIRTUES. SKCT. IV
But pierced, and worn upon the neck or hand,
A sure success in lawsuits 'twill command.
Unlike the Jasper, of this precious stone
Three hues alone are unto merchants known.
VII.
Of all green things which bounteous earth supplies
Nothing in greenness with the Emerald vies ;
Twelve kinds it gives, sent from the Scythian clime,
The Bactrian mountain, and old Nilus' slime ;
And some from copper mines of viler race
Marked by the dross drawn from their matrix base :
The Carchedonian from the Punic vale
To name the others were a tedious tale.
140. From all the rest the Scythian bear the palm
Of higher value and of brighter charm,
From watchful gryphons in the desert isle
Stol'n by the vent'rous Arimaspian's guile.
Higher their value which admit the sight,
And tinge with green the circumambient light :
Unchanged by sun or shade their lustre glows,
The blazing lamp no dimness on it throws.
Such as a smooth or hollow surface spread
Like slumbering ocean in its tranquil bed,
These like a mirror the beholder's face
Exactly image with reflected rays :
And thus did Nero, if report say true,
The mimic warfare of the arena view.
But best the gem that shews an even sheen,
Lustrous with equal never-varying green.
Of mighty use to seers who seek to pry
150. Into the future hid from mortal eye.
Wear it with reverence due, 'twill wealth bestow
And words persuasive from thy lips shall flow,
As though the gift of eloquence inspired
The stone itself or living spirit fired.
Hung round the neck it cures the ague's chill,
Or falling sickness, dire mysterious ill ;
SECT. IV. THE LAPIDARIUM OF MARBODUS. 397
Its hues so soft refresh the wearied eye,
And furious tempests banish from the sky :
So with chaste power it tames the furious mood
And cools the wanton thoughts that fire the blood.
1 60. If steeped in verdant oil or bathed in wine
Its deepened hues with perfect lustre shine.
VIII.
The Sard and Onyx in one name unite,
And from their union spring three colours bright,
O'er jetty black the brilliant white is spread
And o'er the white diifused a fiery red :
If clear the colours, if distinct the line,
Where still unmixed the various layers join,
Such we for beauty and for value prize,
Rarest of all that teeming earth supplies.
Chief amongst signets it will best convey
170. The stamp impressed, nor tear the wax away.
The man of humble heart and modest face,
And purest soul the Sardonyx should grace ;
A worthy gem, yet boasts no mystic powers :
'T is sent from Indian and Arabian shores.
IX.
Called by the Onyx round the sleeper stand
Black dreams, and phantoms rise, a grisly band :
Whoso on neck or hand this stone displays
Is plagued with lawsuits and with civil frays ;
Round infants' necks if tied, so nurses shew,
Their tender mouths with slaver overflow.
This the Arabian, this the Indian sends,
And five the sorts to which its name it lends :
Which name of Onyx, as grammarians teach,
1 80. Comes from the usage of the Grecian speech,
For what the name of nails amongst us bears
Expressed in Greek as Onyches appears ;
Yet if a Sardian on thy finger shine
'T will quash the Onyx' influence malign.
398 MYSTIC VIRTUES. SKCT. IV.
X.
The blood-red Sardian to its birthplace owes
Its name, to Sardis, whence it first arose.
Cheapest of gems, it may no share of fame
For any virtue save its beauty claim :
Except for power the onyx' spell to break :
190. Of this old sages five divisions make.
XI.
The golden Chrysolite a fiery blaze
Mixed with the hue of ocean's green displays ;
Enchased in gold its strong protective might
Drives far away the terrors of the night :
Strung on the hairs plucked from an ass's tail,
The mightiest demons neath its influence quail.
This potent amulet, of old renowned,
Wear like a bracelet on thy left arm bound.
'T is brought by merchants from those far off lands
Where Ethiopia spreads her burning sands.
XII.
Cut with six facets shines the Beryl bright,
Else a pale dulness clouds its native light ;
The most admired display a softened beam
200. Like tranquil seas or olives' oily gleam.
This potent gem, found in far India's mines,
With mutual love the wedded couple binds ;
The wearer shall to wealth and honours rise
And from all rivals bear the wished-for prize :
Too tightly grasped, as if instinct with ire,
It burns th' incautious hand with sudden fire.
Lave this in water, it a wash supplies
For feeble sight and stops convulsive sighs.
Its species nine, for so the learned divide,
210. Avail the liver and the tortured side.
SECT. IV. THE LAPIDARIUM OF MARBODUR. 399
XIII.
From seas remote tlie yellow Topaz came,
Found in the island of the self-same name ;
Great is the vahie for full rare the stone,
And but two kinds to eager merchants known.
One vies with purest gold, of orange bright ;
The other glimmers with a fainter light :
Its yielding nature to the file gives way
Yet bids the bubbling caldron cease to play.
The land of gems, culled from its copious store,
Arabia sends this to the Latian shore ;
One only virtue Nature grants the stone,
Those to relieve who under hemorrhoids groan.
XIV.
Three various kinds the skilled as Hyacinths name,
Varying in colour, and unlike in fame :
One, like pomegranate flowers a fiery blaze ;
220. And one, the yellow citron's hue displays.
One charms with paley blue the gazer's eye
Like the mild tint that decks the northern sky :
A strength 'ning power the several kinds convey
And grief and vain suspicions drive away.
Those skilled in jewels chief the Granate prize,
A raver gem and flushed with ruby dyes.
The blue sort feels heaven's changes as they play-
Bright on the sunny, dull when dark the day :
But best that gem which not too deep a hue
O'erloads, nor yet degrades too light a blue ;
But where the purple bloom unblemished shines
230. And in due measure both the tints combines.
No gem so cold upon the tongue can lie,
With greater hardness none the file defy ;
The diamond splinter to th' engraver's use
Alone its hardened stubbornness subdues.
The citron-coloured, by their pallid dress,
Their baser nature openly confess ;
400 MYSTIC VIRTUES. SECT. IV
With any kind borne on thy neck or hand,
Secure from peril visit every land.
On all thy wand'rings honours shall attend
And noxious airs shall ne'er thy health offend ;
AVhatever prince thy just petition hears
Fear no repulse, he'll listen to thy prayers.
Midst other treasures to adorn the ring
240. This gem from Afric's burning sands they bring.
XV.
Parent of gems, rich India from her mines
The Chrysoprase, a- precious gift, consigns,
As leaves of leeks in mingled shadows blent,
Or purple dark with golden stars besprent ;
But what its virtue, rests concealed in night :
All things Fate grants not unto mortal sight.
XVI.
The Tyrian purple the rich Amethyst dyes,
Or darker violet charms the gazer's eyes ;
Bright as the ruby wine another glows,
Or fainter blush that decks the opening rose ;
Another yet displays a lighter shade,
Like drops of wine with fountain streams allayed.
250. All these supplied by jewelled India's mart,
Easy to cut, yield to the graver's art :
The gem, if rarer, were a precious prize,
But now too common it neglected lies ;
Famed for their power to check the fumes of wine,
Five different species yields the bounteous mine.
XVII.
The rapid swallow swifter than the airs
Within her breast the Chelidonian bears,
A fatal gift, deep in her bowels pent,
AVhich with her life is from the owner rent.
The Chelidonian is of might supreme,
Though not of those which shoot a brilliant gleam :
SECT. IV. THE LAPIDARIUM OF MARBODUS. 401
Yet many a gem that men for beauty praise,
Unshapen, small, and dull, its worth outweighs.
260. The feather'd victims in their bowels stored
Two different sorts the white and red afford :
The pining sickness feels their influence mild,
The moonstruck idiot, and the maniac wild.
With force persuasive orators they arm,
And grace the hearts of multitudes to charm :
Wrapped in a linen cloth this present rare,
Under thy left arm tied ne'er fail to wear ;
The black, in woollen cloth thus too suspend,
And bring thy measures to the wished-for end.
It blunts the threats and cools the ire of kings,
270. And to the wearied sight refreshment brings.
This in a yellow cloth of linen laid
Will banish fevers that thy limbs invade,
Or watery humours that with current slow
Obstruct the veins and stop their healthy flow.
v
XVIII.
Lycia her Jet in medicine commends ;
But chiefest, that which distant Britain sends :
Black, light, and polished, to itself it draws
If warmed by friction near adjacent straws.
Though quenched by oil, its smouldering embers raise
Sprinkled with water a still fiercer blaze :
It cures the dropsy, shakey teeth are fixed
Washed with the powder'd stone in water mixed.
The female womb its piercing fumes relieve,
Nor epilepsy can this test deceive :
From its deep hole it lures the viper fell,
And chases far away the powers of hell ;
It heals the swelling plagues that gnaw the heart
And baffles spells and magic's noxious art.
This by the wise the surest test is styled
Of virgin purity by lust defiled.
Three days in water steeped, the draught bestows
290. Ease to the pregnant womb in travail's throes.
2 D
402 MYSTIC VIRTUES. SECT. IV.
XIX.
The Magnet gem-crowned India brings to light
Where lurks in caves the gloomy Troglodyte ;
Coloured like iron and by nature's law
Appointed iron to itself to draw.
The sage Deendor, skilled in magic lore,
First proved in mystic arts its sov'reign power ;
Next far-famed Circe, that enchantress dread,
To help her magic spells invoked its aid.
Hence 'mongst the Medes hath long experience shown
The wondrous powers inherent in the stone.
300. For should'st thou doubt thy wife's fidelity
Unto her slumbering head this test apply ;
If chaste she'll seek thy arms, in sleep profound
Though plung'd : th' adultress tumbles on. the ground :
Hurled from the couch, so strong the potent fume,
Proof of her guilt, diffused throughout the room.
If a sly thief slip through the palace door
And strew unseen hot embers on the floor,
And powder'd loadstone on these embers spread,
The inmates flee possessed with sudden dread :
Distraught with horrid fear of death they fly
310. While from the square the vapour mounts on high.
They fly : within the house no soul remains,
And copious spoils repay the robber's pains.
The loadstone peace to wrangling couples grants
And mutual love in wedded hearts implants :
It gives the power to argue and to teach ;
Grace to the tongue, persuasion to the speech ;
The bloated dropsy taken in mead it quells,
320. And sprinkled over burns their pain dispels.
XX.
Whilst rooted 'neath the waves the Coral grows,
Like a green bush its waving foliage shews :
Torn off by nets, or by the iron mown,
Touched by the air it hardens into stone ;
SECT. IV. THE LAPIDARIUM OF MARBODUS. 403
Now a bright red, before a grassy green,
And like a little branch its form is seen ;
Of measure small, scarce half a foot in size,
A useful ornament the branch supplies.
Wondrous its power, so Zoroaster sings,
And to the wearer sure protection brings.
Its numerous virtues Metrodorus sage
Has told to mankind in his learned page :
330. How, lest they harm ship, land, or house, it binds
The scorching lightning and the furious winds.
Sprinkled 'mid climbing vines or olives' rows,
Or with the seed the patient rustic sows,
'T will from thy crops avert the arrowy hail
And with abundance bless the smiling vale.
Far from thy couch 't will chase the shades of hell
Or monster summoned by Thessalian spell ;
Give happy opening, and successful end,
And calm the tortures that the entrails rend.
v
XXI.
From Asia's climes rich Alabanda sends
340. The Aldbandine and its name extends ;
In fiery lustre with the Sard it vies
And leaves in doubt the skilled beholder's eyes.
XXII.
Let not the Muse the dull Carnelian slight
Although it shine with but a feeble light ;
Fate has with virtues great its nature graced,
Tied round the neck or on the finger placed.
Its friendly influence checks the rising fray,
And chases spites and quarrels far away :
That, where the colour of raw flesh is found,
Will stanch the blood fast issuing from the wound ;
Whether from mangled limbs the torrents flow,
350. Or inward issues, source of deadly woe.
2 D 2
404 MYSTIC VIRTUES. SECT. IV.
XXIII.
The Carbuncle eclipses by its blaze
All shining gems, and casts its fiery rays
Like to the burning coal ; whence conies its name,
Among the Greeks as Anthrax known to fame.
Not e'en by darkness quenched its vigour tires ;
Still at the gazer's eye it darts its fires ;
A numerous race, within the Lybian ground
Twelve kinds by mining Troglodytes are found.
XXIV.
Voided by lynxes, to a precious stone
Congealed the liquid is Lyncurium grown ;
360. This knows the lynx and strives with envious pride
'Neath scraped up sand the precious drops to hide.
Surpassing amber in its golden hue
It straws attracts if Theophrast says true :
The tortured chest it cures, their native bloom
Through its kind aid the jaundiced cheeks resume ;
And let the patient wear the gem, its force
Will soon arrest the diarrhoea's course.
XXV.
Chief amongst gems the JEtites stands
370. Borne by the bird of Jove from farthest lands :
As safeguard to his nest, and influence good
To ward off danger from the callow brood.
Shut in the pregnant stone another lies
Hence pregnant women its protection prize ;
With this gem duly round her left arm tied
Need no mischance affright the teeming bride.
Sober the wearer too shall ever prove,
Shall wealth amass, and reap his people's love :
Victory shall crown his brows ; his offspring dear,
380. Shall healthy live nor fate untimely fear.
The epileptic wretch, saved by its worth,
No more shall fall and writhe upon the earth.
SECT. IV. THE LAPIDARIUM OF MARBODUS. 405
Should'st thou suspect thy friend of treason foul,
The privy poisoner lurking in the bowl,
Thus prove his mind : him to thy banquet bid
And let this stone beneath the dish be hid,
When, if he harbour treachery in his thought,
Whilst there the stone lies he can swallow nought :
Remove the gem, delivered from its power
The tasted meats he'll greedily devour.
The stone they say is found, with .scarlet dyed,
Hid on the margin of old ocean's tide.
390. In Persian lands, in eagles' nests concealed,
And by the Twins its virtues first revealed.
XXVI.
Nor must we pass the Selenites by
Whose hues with grass or verdant jasper vie,
With the lov'd moon it sympathetic shines,
Grows with her increase with her wane declines ;
And since it thus for heav'nly changes cares
The fitting name of sacred stone it bears.
A powerful philtre to ensnare the heart,
It saves the fair from dire consumption's dart.
400. Long as the moon her wasted orb repairs
To pining mortals these effects it bears ;
Yet ne'ertheless, when Luna 's on the wane
Men from its use will divers blessings gain.
This stone, a remedy for human ills,
Springs, as they tell, from famous Persia's hills.
XXVII.
Gagatromceus, differing in dye,
Like brindled skin of kids delights the eye.
Worn by the leader who to battle goes
By sea and land he '11 crush his vanquished foes.
'T was thus Alcides every danger braved
And scaped unharmed by its protection saved,
But lost the talisman (so sages tell),
410. The mighty victor soon a victim fell.
406 MYSTIC VIRTUES. SECT. IV.
XXVIII.
When flash the levin bolts from pole to pole,
When tempests roar, when awful thunders roll,
From clashing clouds the wondrous gem is thrown
Hence styled in Grecian tongue the Thunderstone.
For in no other spot this treasure 's found
Save where the thunderbolt has struck the ground :
Hence named Ceraunias by the Grecians all,
For what we lightning they Ceraunus call.
Who in all purity this stone shall wear
Him shall the bolt of heaven ne'er fail to spare ;
Its presence too protects from all such harm
His city mansion and his blooming farm.
420. Nor if he voyage o'er the briny deep
Shall lightnings strike or whirlwinds whehn his ship.
Thy foes in law, in battle, it confounds,
And with sweet sleep thy grateful slumbers crowns.
Two different species of this potent stone,
Two different colours, are to mortals known :
One, like the crystal bright, Germania sends,
Which with its red an azure colour blends.
The Lusitanian with the pyrope vies
In flamy radiance, and the fire defies.
XXIX.
The Heliotrope, or " gem that turns the sun,"
From its strange power the name has justly won :
For set in water opposite his rays
As red as blood 'twill turn bright Phosbus' blaze.
And, far diffused the inauspicious light,
With strange eclipse the startled world affright.
Then boils the vase, urged by its magic power,
And casts far o'er the brim the sudden shower ;
As when the gloomy air to rain gives way
It storms evokes, and clouds the fairest day ;
It gifts the wearer with prophetic eye
Into the Future's darkest depths to spy.
SECT. IV. THE LAPIDARIUM OP MARBODUS. 407
A good report 't will give and endless praise,
440. And crown thy honour'd course with length of days.
It checks the flow of blood, the wearer's soul
Shall laugh at treason or the poison'd bowl.
Though with such potent virtues grac'd by heaven
One yet more wondrous to the gem is given.
This with the herb that bears its name unite
With incantation due and secret rite,
Then shalt thou mortal eyes in darkness shroud
And walk invisible amidst the crowd.
The stone for colour might an emerald seem,
But drops of blood diversify the green.
'T is sent sometimes from Ethiopia's land,
450. Sometimes from Afric or the Cyprian strand.
XXX.
Experience old the Geranites' praise,
Though dark of hue, amongst the first doth raise ;
For put this in thy mouth first rinsed ^and lo !
What others of thee think thou straight shalt know :
Implanted in it is imperious sway
To make all women to thy wish give way.
To test its force thy naked body smear
With milk and honey, and this jewel wear ;
Still shall it keep the greedy swarms at bay,
Nor shall the airy host approach their prey :
460. Eemove the stone, instant the hostile brood
Plunge myriad stings and suck the gushing blood.
XXXI.
In Corinth's Isthmus springs the -Hephcestite,
More precious than its brass, and ruddy bright.
The seething caldron bubbling o'er the blaze,
Cast in the stone, its fervent fury stays ;
Tam'd by the virtue of the gem, as cool
It falls as water in a tranquil pool.
Nor flights of locusts, nor the scourging hail,
Nor whirlwinds fierce shall thy fair fields assail ;
408 MYSTIC VIRTUES. SKCT. IV.
Nor felling rust the growing crops shall blight
That stand defended by its saving might.
470. Held to the sun it shoots out fiery rays
Dazzling the eye as with the furnace blaze :
This burning stone sedition's fury charms
And 'gainst all danger its possessor arms.
But let this precept in thy mind be borne
Eight o'er the heart this mineral must be worn.
XXXII.
The Haematite named by the Greeks from blood
Benignant nature formed for mortals' good :
Its styptic virtue many a proof will shew
To heal the tumours that on th' eyelids grow.
480. And rubbed on darkening eyes it clears away
The gathering cloud and gives to see the day :
Eubbed in a mortar with tenacious glaire
And juice of pomegranates, an eye-salve rare.
Those who spit blood its healing power will own,
As those who tinder cankering ulcers groan.
It stays the flux that drains the female frame,
And, powdered fine, proud flesh in wounds can tame :
Dissolved in wine the oft repeated dose
Will stop all looseness that excessive flows ;
Dissolved in water 't will allay the smart
490. Of poisonous serpents' bite or aspic's dart.
If mixed with honey 't is an unction sure
All maladies that pain the eyes to cure.
This potent draught, as by experience shewn,
Within the bladder melts the torturing stone.
Of red and rusty hue, in Afric found,
Or in Arabian, or in Lybian ground.
XXXI1L
Of steely colour and of wondrous might
Arcadia's hills produce th' Asbeston bright ;
For kindled once it no extinction knows
But with eternal flame unceasing glows :
SECT. IV. THE LAPIDARIUM OF MAKBODUS. 409
500. Hence with good cause the Greeks Asbeston name,
Because once kindled nought can quench its flame.
XXXIV.
The mountains of the Macedonian bold
Within their mines the Pceanites hold,
Unknown the cause, with imitative throes
It heaves, and all the pangs of childbirth knows.
From some mysterious seed the wondrous earth
Conceives, and in due time excludes the birth ;
Hence teeming females its protection bless
In that last moment when their dangers press.
XXXV.
Barest the Sagda saw the light of day
Did it not yield itself a willing prey :
Sprung from the womb of the remotest deep
510. By some strange force it seeks the passing ship
Cleaves to the keel as to the port she ies,
(The crew unconscious of their priceless prize,)
But grasps the timber with so firm a fold
If that's not cut, it will not loose its hold.
Dark green its colour like the verdant Prase,
Its virtues high the learned Chaldeans raise.
XXXVI.
The Median Stone dug up in Media's plains
At once a source of health and death contains :
This in a mortar of green marble brayed
With woman's milk now first a mother made,
Will to the blinded eye restore the sight
520. Although for many a year denied the light.
Mixed with ewe's milk that once has borne a male
It remedies the gout's tormenting ail :
It heals the liver in the panting breast,
Or injured reins by racking pains opprest ;
Store it in glass or else in silver pui-e,
And take it fasting 't is a sovereign cure.
410 MYSTIC VIRTUES. SECT. IV.
But yet if them to harm thy fueman seek,
530. With it a deadly vengeance canst them wreak :
Do thou a fragment of the mortar take
And mix with this and both together break,
Then dropped in water offer it thy foe
And bid him bathe as with a wash his brow ;
Forthwith eternal darkness seals his eyes,
Or if he drink, with riven lungs he dies.
Black is the stone, not so its virtue shews :
'Tis white to heal us, black to slay our foes.
XXXVII.
No force of blows can thee, Chalazia ! tame ;
White as the hailstone and in form the same :
Which potent nature with such coldness arms
540. No furnace flame its icy crystal warms.
XXXVIII.
True to its name, the Hexacontalite
In one small orb doth sixty gems unite ;
With numerous hues for scanty size atones
And singly shews the tints of many stones.
Mid Lybia's deserts parched by burning winds
The Troglodyte this rainbow jewel finds.
XXXIX.
The Indian tortoise yields a gem full bright
With varying purple, Chelonttes hight :
Placed 'neath the tongue, as learned Magians shew,
It gives the power the future to foreknow.
To the sixth hour endures the magic boon
Whilst fills her crescent horns th' increasing moon ;
550. But at new moon the prescient power, they say,
Lasts from the opening to the close of day.
When at her fifteenth day she rides through heaven
The same extent as at her prime is given ;
But while her narrowing crescent nightly wanes
Not past the break of day this gift obtains.
SECT. IV. THE LAPIDARIUM OF MARRODUS. 411
Like the Chalazias it the fire defies
And cold remains where hottest flames arise :
XL.
Midst precious stones a place the Prase may claim,
Of value small, content with beauty's fame.
No virtue has it ; but it brightly gleams
With emerald green, and well the gold beseems ;
Or blood-red spots diversify its green,
560. Or crossed with three white lines its face is seen.
XLI.
Crystal is ice through countless ages grown
(So teach the wise) to hard transparent stone :
And still the gem retains its native force,
And holds the cold and colour of its source
Yet some deny, and tell of crystal found
Where never icy winter froze the ground ;
But true it is that held against the rayk
Of Phoabus it conceives the sudden blaze,
And kindles tinder, which, from fungus dry
Beneath its beam, your skilful hands apply :
Dissolved in honey, let the luscious draught
570. By mothers suckling their lov'd charge be quaffed,
Then from their breasts, as sage physicians shew,
Shall milk abundant in rich torrents flow.
XLIL
The ashy Galactite, if mixed with mead,
Has likewise power milk in the breasts to breed :
Yet let the dame just rising from the bath,
Before she eats, the strength'ning potion quaff :
Or let the perforated stone be strung
On thread made from the wool of ewe with young ;
Thus, round the neck of nursing mother bound,
It makes her breasts with plenteous milk abound.
Tied round the thigh in parturition's pains
580. The trembling wife an easy labour gains.
412 MYSTIC VIRTUES. SECT. IV.
This, mixed with salt and lustral water, bear
Around thy fold, ere Phoebus first appear,
Then thy ewes' udders shall with milk abound
And murrains fell be banished from thy ground.
So high the ancients do its virtues raise
That all the rest combined its worth outweighs :
Yet, melted in the mouth, with frenzies blind
And hideous fancies it disturbs the mind.
From the bruised stone exudes a milky dew
Of milky savour if report be true.
This potent gem Egyptian Nilus sends,
590. Which Achelous by its birth commends.
XLIII.
Whene'er the savage beast with goring horn
Or deadly fangs thy tender limbs has torn,
Mix'd with rose oil th' Orites, black and round,
An unguent sure, will heal the fatal wound ;
Or if through desert wilds thy footsteps stray,
'Mid tigers fell, 't will turn their teeth away.
Another, green with spots of white o'erspread,
Averts all dangers from the wearer's head ;
Another, yet more famed, its surface shews
As 't were with studs inlaid in bristling rows ;
A smoother face the underside displays,
Like plate of polished steel it meets the gaze
600. Wearing this stone a woman ne'er conceives,
Which of its load the burdened womb relieves.
XLIV.
Torn from the eyes of the hyaena fell
The fJyceneia, so the ancients tell,
On mortals can prophetic gifts bestow
And give the power the future to foreknow :
Clear to his soul futurity appears
Who 'neath his tongue this potent substance bears.
SKCT. IV. THE LAPIDARIUM OF MARBODUS. 4LS
XLV.
In Scythia's wilds the Liparea springs,
Which all the sylvan tribes around it brings ;
Whate'er the huntsmen chase with patient toil,
610. Nor need they hounds or snares to take the spoil.
Enough 'mid woods this talisman to wear
The game will rush spontaneous on thy spear.
XLVI.
As from full sources gush the rapid rills,
So the EnJiydros ceaseless tears distils :
Obscure the cause ; for if the substance flows,
How is 't the stone no diminution knows ?
Nor melts away ? And if external dew
Sink down within and thus the fount renew,
Would not its stream upon itself retreat
620. When in the pores opposing currents meet ?
s.
XL VII.
By the Eed Sea the swarthy Arabs glean
Th' Iris resplendent with the Crystal's sheen ;
Its form six-sided, full of heav'n's own light,
Has justly gained the name of rainbow bright ;
For in a room held 'gainst the solar rays
It paints the wall with many-colour'd blaze,
And where the crystal its reflection throws
The heav'nly bow in all its splendour glows.
XLVIII.
Th' Androdamas, in figure like a die,
In whiteness may with silver's lustre vie :
Hard as the Diamond, found in shifting sand,
630. Tossed by the wind along the Red Sea's strand ;
As Magians teach endued with mighty power,
To cool the soul with fury boiling o'er.
414 MYSTIC VIRTUES. SECT. TV.
XLIX.
Though from the eyes each ail th' Opthalmius chase
Yet 't is the guardian of the thievish race :
It gifts the bearer with acutest sight
But clouds all other eyes with thickest night ;
So that the plunderers bold in open day
Secure from harm can bear their spoil away.
L.
The sea-born shell conceals the Union round,
Called by this name as always single found.
640. One in one shell, for ne'er a larger race,
Within their pearly walls the valves embrace.
Prized as an ornament its whiteness gleams,
And well the robe, and well the gold beseems.
At certain seasons do the oysters lie
With valves wide gaping towards the teeming sky,
And seize the falling dews, and pregnant breed
The shining globules of th' ethereal seed.
Brighter the offspring of the morning dew, .
The evening yields a duskier birth to view ;
The younger shells produce a whiter race,
We greater age in darker colours trace.
The more of dew the gaping shell receives,
650. Larger the pearl its fruitful womb conceives :
However favoring airs its growth may raise,
Its utmost bulk ne'er half an ounce outweighs.
If thunders rattle through the vaulted sky
The closing shells in sudden panic fly ;
Killed by the shock the embryo pearls they breed,
Shapeless abortions in their place succeed.
These spoils of Neptune th' Indian ocean boasts ;
But equal those from ancient Albion's coasts.
LI.
In the Pantheros varying colours meet,
660. Where black and red, and green and white compete :
SECT. IV. THE LAPIDARTUM OF MARBODUR. 415
Here rosy light, there brilliant purples play,
And blooms the gem with varying patterns gay.
At dawn of day its potent beauties view
So shall success thy doings still pursue,
For all that day, defended by the charm,
No foe shall e'er prevail to work thee harm.
All travellers tell how 'midst far India's groves
Beauteous in spotted hide the panther roves.
How furious lions dread his piercing cry
And trembling at the sound in terror fly.
Marked like the beast that can the lion tame
670. The spotted gem obtains the self-same name.
LII.
Mid gems Apsyctos is not last in place,
And sanguine veins its ebon surface grace :
A pond'rous stone, once heated at the flame,
The fire conceiv'd scarce seven full days can tame.
v
LIII.
Like tinkling bronze the Chakophonos rings
And to the pleader vast advantage brings :
For chastely worn it gives melodious notes
And from rough hoarseness guards their straining throats.
The stone conspicuous for its sable hue
680. These gifts bestows if borne with reverence due.
LIV.
The Malachites' virtue keeps from hurt
The infant's cradle, all mischance to avert,
Lest spiteful witchcraft blast the tender frame.
Virtue with beauty joined exalt its fame.
Opaque of hue, with th' Emerald's vivid green
It charms the sight, first in Arabia seen.
LV.
Of humble aspect, but of virtue rare,
Like olive stones the Tecolites appear :
416 MYSTIC VIRTUES. SECT. IV.
Powdered, in water by the patient quaffed,
690. The torturing stone dissolves the potent draught.
LVI.
Named from the fire the yellow Pyrite spurns
The touch of man and to be handled scorns :
Touch it with trembling hand and cautious arm,
For tightly grasped it burns the closed palm.
LVII.
If e'er thou seek where deep the rivers flow
To force the water sprites the Fates to shew,
Take the Diadochus within thy hand,
No gem more potent doth the fiends command ;
Within its orb to thine affrighted eyes
Will myriad shapes of summon'd demons rise ;
But if once brought in contact with a corse,
Forthwith the stone shall lose its native force.
700. Like to the Beryl shines the potent stone
Which shuns the touch of one by death o'erthrown.
LVIII.
The Dionysia, black as ebon found,
With ruddy spots diversifies its ground.
In water steeped, fragrant of wine it smells,
And yet the fumes of wine its force dispels.
A thing opposed to nature's wonted course,
Water to wine converted by its force :
And yet the madness rising OTit of wine
Completely vanquished by this gem divine.
LIX.
The Chrysolectrus shines with golden rays
Still verging on the brightest Amber's blaze ;
710. At early morning pleasing to the eye
But fading still as Phoebus mounts the sky ;
Of purest fire its hasty nature made,
In flames bursts forth if near a fire 'tis laid.
SECT. TV. THE LAP1DARIUM OF MARBODUS. 41'
LX.
In Afric springs the Chrysoprasion bright,
Which day conceals but darkness brings to light :
By night a shining fire, it lifeless lies
Like golden ore when day illumes the skies.
Reversed is Nature's law where light reveals
Whate'er in darkness shrouding night conceals.
LXI.
720. To adorn the finger-ring with inlaid stone
Was first to men by wise Prometheus shewn,
Who from Caucasian rock a fragment tore
And, set in iron, on his finger wore.
Next following ages hooped the precious gold
And graced the ring with gems of worth untold :
Then added Art ; thus luxury's course unchecked
The unwonted hand with triple honours decked.
Now, human fraud, which nought untouched can leave,
Art aping Nature, eager to deceive,
730. Has learnt to imitate the jewel true,
With lying glass, and thus beguile the view.
Hence hard the real gems from false to know
When pastes with imitative colours glow.
Their boasted virtues soon as tested fail,
And hence discredit does the true assail :
Yet the true gem, by sages duly blest,
In wondrous works its power will manifest.
The name of gem of yore from gum arose,
For like to gum its lucid clearness shews.
Those not transparent have been named the " Blind."
The name of stone is to each sort assigned ;
Hence, gems describing and their virtues famed,
The Book of Stones this work is rightly named.
Gleaned from unnumbered hoards with patient toil,
Let this suffice thee with the precious spoil :
Where stones, their titles, colours, virtues rare,
In sixty chapters duly ranged appear.
2 E
418
MYSTIC VIRTUES.
SECT.
, signet of Saufeius. Sard.
VIRTUES ASCRIBED TO GEMS IN THE MIDDLE AGES.
We have already noticed how Pliny laughs at the " im-
pudent lies" (infandam vanitatem) of the Magicians of his
day, who ascribed supernatural properties to a few among
the precious stones, and to certain figures engraved upon
them. 3 The list of their virtues was considerably augmented
in the few centuries intervening between him and Solinus,
who apparently believed in their possessing the numerous
properties which he details. But the fourteen " ages of
faith " and of ignorance, which had elapsed between the epoch
of Pliny and that of the sage physician of Cesare Borgia, had
amazingly extended the number of magic and potent gems,
3 " The lying Magi pretend that
these gems (Amethysts) prevent
intoxication, and hence derive their
name. Moreover, if the name of the
Moon or of the Snn be engraved upon
them, and they be thus worn on the
neck suspended by the hair of a
baboon, or the feathers of a swallow,
they will baffle all witchcraft. That
they are also advantageous to persons
having suits to monarchs ; and that
they keep off hailstorms and nights
of locusts, by the employment of a
certain prayer which they prescribe.
To emeralds also they promise
similar effects, if engraved with
figures of beetles, or of eagles ; all
which stories I believe they must
have concocted out of sheer con-
tempt for, and in ridicule of, man-
kind." xxxvii. 40. There can be
little doubt that in the first sentence
we should read " numen," instead of
"nomen," and thus have the
" figure or symbol of the goddess
Lima, or of Sol," which occur plenti-
fully on gems of this date, whereas
" names " of these deities do not.
SECT. IV. VIRTUES ASCRIBED TO GEMS. 419
and, at the same time, removed all disposition to sneer at or
doubt their asserted virtues. Camillo Leonardo, in his
alphabetical list of precious stones, carefully describes the
peculiar virtues of each ; of these I shall here give a few of
the most extraordinary only, as they do not come so directly
within the scope of this work as the interpretations he gives
of the intagli engraved upon them. I may notice by the
way, that his accounts of the gems and their origin are taken
from Pliny and Solinus, but chiefly from Marbodus, whose
meaning he often mistakes, and still oftener improves upon.
Diamond has the virtue of resisting all poisons, yet if taken in-
wardly is itself a deadly poison. (This notion, though quite
ungrounded, long prevailed. Cellini details at length how his
enemy P. L. Farnese, son of Paul III., attempted to poison him
in Castel S. Angelo by causing diamond powder to be mixed in
his salad, and attributes his escape solely tb the fact that the
lapidary employed to pulverize the stone had kept it for himself
and substituted glass for it. Diamond powder is also enumerated
among the poisons administered to Sir T. Overbury in the Tower.)
It baffles magic arts, dispels vain fears, and gives success in law-
suits. It is of service to lunatics and those possessed by devils,
and repels the attacks of phantoms and nightmares, and renders
the wearer bold and virtuous.
Balais Ruby represses vain and lascivious thoughts, appeases
quarrels between friends, and gives health of body. Its powder
taken in water cures diseases of the eyes and pains in the liver.
If you touch with this gem the four corners of a house, orchard,
or vineyard, they will be safe from lightning, storms, and blight.
Crystal worn by sleepers drives away evil dreams and baffles
spells and witchcraft : powdered, with honey, it fills the breasts
with milk. Its chief use is for making cups. 4
4 This remark is interesting, as vases of rock-crystal has been re-
showing the early period of the introduced into Italy.
Revival at which the making of
2 E 2
420 MYSTIC VIRTUES. SHOT. IV.
Chi-ysolite takes its name from the Greek crisis, gold, and oletus,
entire, i. e. all golden. The Ethiopian kind is fiery in the morn-
ing, golden by day. (Here the modern topaz is clearly intended.)
Set in gold and worn on the left hand it drives away the demons
of the night, also terrors and gloomy visions. Its chief virtue is
to avail against the spells of detestable hags, and to overthrow all
their witchcrafts. If bored through and strung on an ass's hair
it is of more potency in expelling devils, and if held in the hand
cools the burning heat of fevers.
Garatromeus, a yellow stone, with reddish spots like the skin of
a roe, has the virtue of making the wearer invincible, wherefore
Achilles always carried it about with him. The people of the
East make their sword-hilts of this stone, that they may never be
without it in battle. (This is the Gagat Bomseus, or Greek Jet of
the Arabians.)
One of the most wonderful of all was the Liparean stone,
which gave the power of understanding the language of birds and
beasts after the performance of certain rites, thus described by
Orpheus (v. 685) :
" Dolon,
My kindness to requite, a present brought,
The Liparaean stone with virtues fraught,
Which erst his sire, directed by my lore,
Envoy to Memnon, from Assyria bore ;
More precious far than gold the prize he gained,
From learned Magians with rich gifts obtained.
Treasure my words in thy believing heart
Whilst I my own experience thus impart.
First shouldst thou to the bloodless altar haste
On which no living victim must be placed ;
With pious hymns to radiant Phoebus call,
And Earth, great Mother, giving suck to all.
Next melt this stone within the rising flame
Whose odorous fumes the long-drawn dragon tame.
These, as they mark the vapour mount on high,
Forth issuing from their holes towards it fly,
And hastening onward in a long array
The altar seek nor shun the light of day.
SECT. IV. VIRTUES ASCRIBED TO GEMS. -ii.'l
There let three youths robed in white vestments stand,
Each bear a sword two-edged in his hand,
And seize that snake which nearest to the blaze
Sniffing the fumes his spotted coils displays :
Then cut his body, as he slaughtered lies,
Into nine portions all of equal size.
Three, of all-seeing Sol the portions call,
And three of Earth, the mother of us all ;
And three the portions of the goddess dread,
The omniscient prophetess, th' unsullied maid.
Next, place the portions in a blood-red bowl
And add the gift of Pallas to the whole ;
The ruddy liquor of the jolly god,
And sparkling salt th' attendant of our food ;
And, brought from foreign lands, the pungent spice,
Kough-coated, black, and of enormous price ;
All other condiments which serve to excite
The dormant powers of jaded appetite. v
Whilst seethes the caldron o'er the tripod's flame
Invoke each godhead by his secret name ;
Full well the powers above are pleased to hear
Their mystic names rise with the muttered prayer.
Pray that Megsera, aye contriving hurt,
Far from the bubbling caldron they avert,
But that the Spirit from the fount of light
Upon the sacred portions wing his flight.
When boiled the flesh, the solemn feast prepare,
But off the tripod each must eat his share.
All that is left, let earth close cover o 'er,
Then on the hallowed spot libations pour
Milk, and the ruddy wine, and fragrant oil,
With these combine the bee-hive's flowery spoil :
And last with chaplets woven from the boughs
Dear to the virgin-goddess crown your brows.
Nor let it shame you, though in open day,
Stripped of your robes to take your homeward way :
Nor once turn back as from the place ye come,
But with your eyes bent forward hasten home ;
422 MYSTIC VIRTUES. SECT. IA r .
And if a traveller meet you as ye go,
Beware no greeting on him ye bestow ;
But offered to the gods on your return
Let fragrant spices on their altars bum.
These rites performed : all future things I know
What airy birds by all their warblings show ;
What beasts of prey as through the woods they prowl
Denote while answering with responsive howl."
Lyncunas is of three kinds ; one fiery, like a Carbuncle, another
dark saffron, the third green. They come from Germany, and
cure the colic, jaundice, and king's-evil.
Ligurius is like the Alectorius, and attracts straws. It cures
pains in the bowels, fluxes, jaundice, and sharpens the sight :
hence by some physicians it is used in eye-salves. (This name
is evidently a corruption of Lyncurium, and means some kind of
Jargoon or Jacinth.)
Nicolas, if of good colour, has a blue surface, and the under
part black ; sometimes it is entirely black. Some consider it to
be a kind of Calcedony. It is said to take its name from the
Greek (NicoXaoe). Its virtue is to render the wearer victorious,
and beloved by his people. (Here we may notice the early use
of the name Nicolo for this stone, and its strange derivation from
the Greek to suit the virtue ascribed to it, as if it meant Victor of
Nations. It is curious that Camillo, both in this place and in
speaking of the Sapphire and Turquois, uses flav us as synonymous
with ccelestis, azure. Hence the German, Blau.)
Opal is good against all diseases of the eyes, and preserves and
strengthens the sight. It is not unfitting to ascribe so many
properties to this stone, which shows itself the partaker of the
colours and nature of so many different gems. (The most extra-
vagant laudation ever passed upon any gem is to be found in
the description of an Opal given by Petrus Arlensis, writing in
1610, whose words are as follows: " The various colours in the
Opal tend greatly to the delectation of the sight ; nay, more, they
have the very greatest efficacy in cheering the heart and the in-
ward parts, and specially rejoice the eyes of the beholders. One
in particular came into my hands, in which such beauty, loveli-
SECT. IV. VIRTUES ASCRIBED TO GEMS. 423
ness, and grace shone forth, that it could truly boast that it
forcibly drew all other gems to itself, while it surprised, asto-
nished, and held captive, without escape or intermission, the
hearts of all who beheld it. It was of the size of a filbert, and
clasped in the claws of a golden eagle wrought with wonderful
art, and had such vivid and various colours that all the
beauty of the heavens might be viewed within it. Grace
went out from it, majesty shot forth from its almost divine splen-
dour. It sent forth such bright and piercing rays that it struck
terror into all beholders. In a word, it bestowed upon the
wearer the qualities granted by Nature to itself, for by an in-
visible dart it penetrated the souls and dazzled the eyes of all
who saw it ; appalled all hearts, however bold and courageous ; in
fine, it filled with trembling the bodies of the by-standers, and
forced them by a fatal impulse to love, honour, and worship it.
I have seen, I have felt, I call God to witness, of a truth such a
stone is to be valued at an inestimable amount !")
Obtalmius, said by some to be a stone of many colours, is of
wonderful virtue in preserving the eyes frorn^ all complaints : it
sharpens the sight of the wearer, but clouds that of the by-
standers so that they cannot see him, if it be set with a bay -leaf
under it, and with the proper incantation a most admirable
property !
Okitokius is a smaller stone than the Echites, but like it rattles
inwardly ; it is smooth to the touch and easily broken. If dis-
solved in the juice of the herb Ocyma (basil), and the blood of an
Okiteris (swift), and a head of Omis and a little water, this mix-
ture set in a glass vessel will be able to give a proof of its virtue.
For if you dip your fingers therein and so anoint the strongest
wood, metal, or stone, you will immediately break it.
Quirinus is a magical stone found in the nest of the Hoopoe ; it
has the virtue that if placed on the breast of a person asleep it
will force him to confess his crimes.
The origin and the virtues of the Coral Are thus given by
Orpheus in one of the most poetical passages of his work
(v. 505) :
" The Coral too, in Perseus' story famed,
Against the scorpion is for virtue named ;
MYSTIC VIRTUES. SECT. IV.
This also a sure remedy will bring
For murd'rous asps, and blunt their fatal sting.
Above all gems in potency 't is raised
By bright-haired Phoebus, and its virtues praised :
For in its growth it shews a wondrous change
True is the story though thou 'It deem it strange.
A plant at first it springs not from the ground,
The nurse of plants, but in the deeps profound.
Like a green shrub it lifts its flowery head
Midst weeds and mosses of old Ocean's bed.
But when old age its withering stem invades,
Nipped by the brine its verdant foliage fades ;
It floats amid the depths of Ocean tossed,
Till roaring waves expel it on the coast.
Then in the moment that it breathes the air
They say, who 've seen it, that it hardens there.
For as by frost congeal'd and solid grown,
The plant is stiffened into perfect stone ;
And in a moment in the finder's hands
Late a soft branch, a flinty coral stands.
Yet still the shrub its pristine shape retains,
Still spread its branches, still the fruit remains.
A sweet delight to every gazer's eye,
My heart its aspect fills with speechless joy.
My longing gaze its beauty never tires
But yet the prodigy with awe inspires.
Though to the legend I full credit give,
Scarce do I hope it credence will receive :
But yet to men, 1 ween, no lying fame
Has sung the terrors of the Gorgon's name ;
No idle tale the feat of Perseus, high
On airy wings careering through the sky.
Or how the hero slew 'neath Atlas' rocks
The dire Medusa tressed with snaky locks :
Monster invincible, with eyes of Hell,
Fatal to all on whom her glances fell ;
Who under that intolerable eye
To marble statues stiffen as they die.
SECT, IV. VIRTUES ASCRIBED TO GEMS.
E 'en Pallas shrunk, indomitable Maid,
To meet the terrors of that look afraid ;
And warned her brother of the golden glaive
To avert his eyes as he the death-blow gave.
Hence by a wile he won the monster's head,
And severed from the neck her serpents dread,
And stealing from behind, with crafty skill,
Drew round her neck the curved Cyllenian steel.
Though slain the Gorgon, yet her face retains
Its ancient terrors, and its force remains,
And many yet were fated through its might
The realms to enter of eternal night.
Dripping with blood the hero seeks the shore ;
And while he cleanses from his hands the gore,
Still warm, still quivering, lays his trophy down
On the green sea-weeds all around him strown.
"Whilst, tired by toil and by his weary way,
His limbs he strengthens in the cooling sea,
Pressed 'neath the head the plants upon the shore
Soaked by the stream, grow drunk with dripping gore.
The rushing breezes, daughters of the flood,
Upon the boughs congeal the clotted blood,
And so congeal they seem a real stone ;
Nor only seem, to real stone they are grown.
What, of its softness though no trace remains,
The withered plant its pristine form retains :
Tinged by the blood that from the trophy flows,
Instead of green, with blushing red it glows.
Struck with surprise the dauntless hero stares,
E'en wise Minerva his amazement shares,
And that her brother's fame may last for aye
Gives lasting virtue to the coral spray,
Ever its ancient nature thus to change.
She next endows the stone with influence strange :
For to the gem protective force she lent
To guard mankind on toilsome journeys bent ;
Whether by land their weary way they keep,
Or brave in ships the perils of the deep :
426 MYSTIC VIRTUES. SECT. IV.
Of furious Mars to 'scape the lightning sword,
Or murderous onslaught of the robber horde :
Or when vexed Kerens tosses all his waves,
The potent Coral trembling sailors saves.
If they with vows the warlike, blue-eyed Maid,
Invoke, and claim in deep distress her aid.
The hid pollution which brings ruin down
On all the house, e 'en to its lord unknown,
All baleful practice wrought by sorcery dire
Against thy weal when envious foes conspire ;
For all these evils by benignant heaven,
The Coral surest antidote is given.
Pound this, and mix it when thou so west thy grain
It shall avert all damage from the plain :
The drought which parches with destruction sere
The milky juices of the swelling ear ;
The million darts which, flung by driving hail,
With hopeless wound thy smiling crops assail ;
Destructive insects too it scares away,
The caterpillars' troop, the worms' array ;
The rust which, falling on thy corn from high,
Reddens the ear, and burns its substance dry ;
The host of flies, the locust's countless swarms,
E 'en Jove's dread lightnings from thy land it charms ;
Such honour pays he to the glorious deed
Of his great son, and grants the worthy meed.
And this, returning from earth's furthest shore,
His choicest boon to man sage Hermes bore :
But thou, still mindful of the powerful charm,
Drink this in wine and murderous asps disarm."
Amber has the same virtues as Jet, but in a higher degree. It
is a preservative against all complaints of the throat, for which
reason the ancients made their women and children wear amber
necklaces. If placed upon the left breast of your wife when she
is asleep, it will force her to confess all the naughty things she
has committed. Its fumes drive away venomous animals. If
you wish to know whether a woman has been debauched, steep
SECT. IV. VIRTUES ASCRIBED TO GEMS. 427
amber in water for three days and make her drink the water : if
she is unchaste she will be immediately forced to void it.
Selenites, Moonstone, sympathises with the waning moon, its
colour increasing or diminishing as the moon waxes or wanes.
During the increase of the moon its virtue is to cure consump-
tion. During her wane it hath wonderful potency, catising
people to predict future events. If washed in water and the
water taken in the mouth, if you think on future events, whether
they are to happen or not : if they must happen, they will be so
fixed in your mind, that it will be impossible for you to forget them ;
but if they are not fated to take place they will immediately
vanish away from the mind.
Topazius, a gem of golden colour tending to green, and of very-
great lustre (the Peridot). The Oriental kind despises the file ;
the Occidental, of a greener hue, yields to it. 5 If thrown into
boiling water the water cools immediately ; hence this gem cools
lust, calms madness and attacks of frenzy, cures the piles, augments
wealth, averts sudden death, and gives favour with the great.
Turquois is useful for riders. As long as one wears it his horse
will not tire, nor throw him. It is also good for the eyes and
averts accidents.
ffydrinus, called also Serpentine, is good against rheumatism
and all complaints arising from excess of moisture. It restores
dropsical persons to health, if they stand in the sun, holding it in
the hand, for three hours, as it makes them discharge all the
water in the form of a very stinking sweat. But great care must
be had in using it, as it extracts not merely the foreign moisture
but also the natural and radical moisture of the body. Taken
inwardly it cures the stone, and venomous bites, likewise it
drives away serpents.
Zumemo lazuli, or Zemech, or Lapis-lazuli, called for its beauty
lapis ccelestis and stellatus, as prepared by physicians, cures melan-
choly. From this also is made the colour called Azure Ultra-
marine.
Ziazia, so called from the place of its discoveiy, is black, white,
5 This is an exact definition of and yellower Chrysolite, and the
the difference between the harder softer and greener Peridot.
428 MYSTIC VIRTUES. SECT. IV.
and other colours mixed together. It renders the wearer liti-
gious, and makes him see terrible things in his sleep.
Camillo, though copying Marbodus, mentions for the first time
of any author I know, the name Sapphirine as applied to the
Hyacinth. Like Marbodus, he divides the Jacinthus into three
classes the Citrini, of lemon colour; the Granatici, of the colour
of the pomegranate flower ; and the Veneti, of a sky-blue, which
feel colder in the mouth than the other two sorts, and are also
called Water-gems, Aquatici. (The French still call the pale
Sapphire, Saphir d'eau.) Some also added a variety named Sap-
phirine ; and this was considered the best, being of a brilliant and
coerulean colour. The Citrini showed a slight tinge of red. The
Veneti were the least valuable of all, having a little red mixed
with a faint lemon colour ; but yet they were the hardest of all,
and could scarcely be cut by the Diamond. This description shows
a strange confusion of some sorts of pale Sapphires with Balais
and Spinel Rubies, Oriental Topazes, and in fact all the varieties
of the precious Corundum, all added to the blue Hyacinth of the
Romans, which we see in this passage distinguished by the epithet
Sapphirinus, or azure, which afterwards became its sole designation.
GEMS OF THE APOCALYPSE.
In St. John's vision of the New Jerusalem, the walls of the
City are built out of twelve courses of precious stones. These
are not arranged in the order of the gems in the High
Priest's breastplate, as one would have naturally expected
from so truly Hebrew a writer, but according to their various
shades of colour, in the following succession, beginning from
the foundation :
1. Jaspis, dark opaque green.
2. Sapphirus, Lapis-lazuli, opaque blue.
3. Chalcedon, an Emerald of a greenish blue.
4. Smaragdus, bright transparent green.
5. Sardonyx, white and red.
6. Sardius, bright red.
SECT. IV. GEMS OF THE APOCALYPSE. 429
7. Chrysolite, our Topaz, bright yellow.
8. Beryl, bluish green.
9. Topazion, or Peridot, yellowish green.
10. Chrysoprasus, 6 a darker shade of the same colour.
11. Hyacinthus, Sapphire, sky-blue.
12. Amethystus, violet.
This arrangement of colours is not taken from that of the
rainbow, the order of which is red, orange, yellow, green,
blue, purple, violet. This minute acquaintance with the
nicest shades of colour of the precious stones will strike the
reader with the greater force if he should endeavour to
arrange from memory, and by the aid of his own casual
knowledge, twelve gems, or even a smaller number, according
to their respective tints. He will find his attempt result in
error, unless he has had a long and practical acquaintance
with the subject. This image, however, qf the Holy City
built of precious stones is not original, as it is found in the
prayer of Tobias (certainly a much older composition than
the Apocalypse, whatever may be its date). In our version it
stands thus : " Jerusalem shall be built up of emeralds,
sapphire, and all precious stones ; her walls, and towers, and
battlements of most fine gold .... The streets of Jerusalem
shall be paved with carbuncle, beryl, and stones of Ophir."
St. John frequently alludes elsewhere to the colours of
gems in a very technical manner. " He that sat on the
great throne" was like the Jaspis and the Sardius, and
crowned by a rainbow like the Smaragdus ; and the light of
the City is like a " very precious stone, a jaspis crystallized,"
that is, the green of the Jasper, brilliant and transparent as
crystal, by which he probably means to express the true
Emerald. Such allusions, such exact knowledge of points
6 Chrysoprasus is probably an understood it, by which substitution
error for Chrysopaston, a dark blue all the shades of Hue will follow each
studded with gold, as Marbodus has other.
430 MYSTIC VIRTUES. SECT. IV.
only to be acquired by persons dealing in such articles, or
otherwise obliged to acquire a technical knowledge of them,
could not have been found in a Galilean fisherman, unless we
choose to cut the knot with the sword of verbal inspiration.
Here then may be another argument in support of the
opinion that St. John the Evangelist and St. John Theologus
were two different persons. It is hardly possible that the
writer could have had in view any tradition derived from the
Persians (the former masters of his native country), of the
seven concentric walls of Ecbatana, coloured in the following
order black, white, red, blue, yellow, silver, gold, which
probably had reference to the several planets, so important in
the religious system of the Chaldees. The twelve colours
were no doubt intended to have some fanciful analogy to
the names of the twelve tribes ; but Marbodus ingeniously
applies them to the several virtues of the members of the
Christian Church in the following poem, of which I give the
original, as an interesting example of mediaeval Latin verse.
MARBODI REDONENSIS EP1SCOPI,
Prosa de xii lapidibus pretiosis in fundamento Cselestis Civitatis positis.
Gives caslestis patrise Kegi Regum concinite
Qui supremus est opifex civitatis Uranicae,
In cujus edificio consistit hsec ftmdatio.
Sapphirus habet speciem caelesti throno sirnilem,
Designat cor simplicium spe certa praestolantium
Quorum vita et moribus refulget et virtutibus.
Jaspis colore viridi praefert virorem fidei,
Quaa in perfectis omnibus nunquam marcescit penitus,
Cujus forti praasidio resistitur diabolo.
Pallensque Calcedonius ignis habet effigiem :
Subrutilat in publico, fulgorem dat in nubilo,
Virtutem fert fidelium occulte famulantium.
SECT. IV. GEMS OF THE APOCALYPSE. 4.31
Smaragdus virens nimium dat lumen oleaginnm :
Est Fides integerrima ad omne bonum patnla
Quee nunquam scit deficere a pietatis opere.
Sardonyx constat tricolor, homo fertur interior,
Quern denigrat humilitas, per quern albescit castitas,
Ad honestatis cumulum rubet quoque martyrium.
Sardius est puniceus cujus color sanguineus
Decus ostendit martyrum rite agonizantium,
Est sextus in catalogo ; Crucis hseret mysterio.
Auricolor Chrysolitus scintillat velut clibanus.
Prsetendit mores hominum perfecte sapientium
Qui septiformis Gratiae sacro splendescit jubare.
Beryllus est lymphaticus ut sol in aqua limpidus,
Figurat vota mentium ingenio sagacium,
Quo magis libet mysticum sacrse quietis ostium.
Topazius quo carior eo est pretiosior ;
Exstat colore griseo 7 nitore et setherio v
Contemplative solidum vitse prsestat officium.
Chrysoprasus purpureum imitatur concilium :
Est intus tinctus aureis miscello quodam guttulis
Hsec est perfecta Caritas quam nulla sternit feritas.
Jacinthus est coeruleus colore medioximus,
Cujus decora facies mutatur ut temperies
Vitam signat angelicam discretione prseditam.
Amethystus praecipuus decore violaceus ;
Flammas emittit aureas notulasque purpureas,
Praetendit cor humilium Christo commorientium.
Hi pretiosi lapides carnales signant homines,
Colorum est varietas virtutum multiplicitas ;
His qui cunque floruerit concivis esse poterit.
Jerusalem pacifera haec tibi sunt fundaminea ;
Felix, Deo et proxima, quse te daretur anima !
Ctistos tuarum turrium non dormit in perpetuum.
Griseo for Chryseo, golden.
432 MYSTIC VIRTUES. SECT. IV.
Concede nobis Agie Rex civitatis
Post cursum vitae labilis consortium in superis,
Inter sanctorum agmina cantemus tibi cantica.
The following passages of this author (which are appended
in the original MS. to the above poem) are curious, as
showing that the art of engraving upon gems was still prac-
tised in his age, the latter part of the eleventh century;
unless we suppose that he had transcribed these rules from
some more ancient writer.
The Calcedony if blest and tied round the neck cures lunatics.
Moreover, he that wears it will never be drowned or tempest-
tossed. It also makes the wearer beautiful, faithful, strong, and
successful in all things. One ought to engrave upon it Mars
armed, and a virgin robed, wrapped in a vestment and holding
a laurel branch; with a perpetual blessing.
Aristotle, in his book on gems, says that an Emerald hung from
the neck, or worn on the finger, protects against danger of the
falling sickness. We therefore command noblemen, that it be
hanged about the necks of their children that they fall not into
this complaint. The Emerald is approved in all kinds of divina-
tion, in every business if worn it increases its owner's import-
ance both in presence and in speech.
A Sard of the weight of twenty grains of barley, if hung round
the neck or worn on the finger, the wearer shall not have terrible
or disagreeable dreams, and shall have no fear of incantations or
of witchcraft.
The Beryl is a large and transparent stone. Engrave upon it
a lobster and under its legs a raven, and put under the gem a
vervain leaf enclosed in a little plate of gold ; it being conse-
crated and worn, makes the wearer conqueror of all bad tilings,
and gives protection against all diseases of the eyes. And if you
put this stone in water, and give this water to one to drink, it
cures stoppage of the breath and hiccups, and dispels pains of
the liver. It is useful to be worn, and he that hath this gem
upon him shall be victorious in battle over all his foes. It is
found in India like unto the Emerald, but of a paler cast. (I
SECT. IV.
MAGICAL SIGILLA.
may here observe that the lobster, with the bird corniccia beneath
him, is the Oriental device of a scorpion seizing a bird in his
claws ; with two stars in the field, one of these intagli, of appa-
rently Sassanian work on a large Sardonyx, was once in my pos-
session. The perpetual flow of pilgrims to the East must have
made these astrological gems familiar to the ecclesiastics of that
age.)
The Sard is good to be worn, and makes the person beloved
by women ; engrave upon it a vine and ivy twining round it.
The Casteis (Callais, Turquois) is good for liberty, for he that
hath consecrated it and duly performed all things necessary to
be done in it shall obtain liberty. It is fitting to perfect the
stone when you have got it, in this manner. Engrave upon it a
beetle, then a man standing under it ; afterwards let it be bored
through its length and set on a gold fibula (swivel) ; then being
blest and set in an adorned and prepared place, it will show forth
the glory which God hath given it.
Psyche mourning the flight of Cupid.
MAGICAL SIGILLA.
We have seen how, in the days of Pliny (though he loses
no opportunity of laughing at the superstition), the Magi
ascribed extraordinary and supernatural properties to gems,
and to various figures engraved upon them. As civilization
2 F
434 MYSTIC VIRTUES. SECT. IV.
declined, these notions came more and more into vogue,
so that even a learned physician, Alexander of Tralles, re-
commends the wearing of the intaglio of Hercules strangling
the Nemean lion, as a charm against the colic ; and such
intagli do occur inscribed on the back with four Ks, to make
assurance doubly sure. Gnostic stones frequently present
inscriptions specifying the part of the body they were in-
tended to protect from malignant influences, as <puX*ov
vyi-n CTTOJM.X OV n^oxXoy, "Preserve in health the chest of
Proclus ; " as well as the others of a more general character
already noticed, praying Abraxas lao to protect the wearer
from every evil spirit. A stone thus inscribed was called
ATroTsXsovxa, " an influence," a word originally signifying the
influence of the stars on man's destiny ; hence, ^ AsroTEXeff-
/xa-nxo), the name for astrology in classic writers ; and the
same word is corrupted into our talisman. As the spirits of
the Gnostic mythology presided over the planets, their re-
presentations exerted their proper influence on the wearers
of the gems, and thus the word came to signify exclusively
the magic stone itself. Marbodus, in the eleventh century,
has already greatly improved upon Pliny's list of wonder-
working gems, and their sigilla, or intagli ; but the suc-
ceeding ages, from the perpetual intercourse of Europeans
with the Arabian schools, (from which the knowledge of all
the useful sciences, as medicine, chemistry, and mathematics,
not to mention astrology and alchemy, was again introduced
into the West) ; these next four centuries brought the science
of talismans to perfection, and laid down exactly what was
the virtue of each particular representation to be found
engraved on each particular kind of gem. The received
doctrine on this subject is clearly enunciated by Camillo
Leonardo, in his Speculum Lapidum, dedicated to Cesare
Borgia, 1503, of whose Third Book I subjoin a summary, as it
SECT. IV. MAGICAL SIGILLA.
435
will frequently serve to explain the legends accompanying
many antique intagli, set in jewellery during the Middle
Ages, as well as the value then placed upon many stones,
quite irrespective of their beauty or workmanship. These
" stones of virtue " were believed to have been engraved in
the " times of the Israelites," a notion no doubt grounded
upon the Hebrew words so frequent on the Gnostic intagli ;
those of the Eoman times are only " voluntaria3," or fancy
subjects, and have no other influence than that natural to the
gem itself. All things material have a proper form, and are
subject to certain influences ; stones, being material, derive a
virtue from a specific form, and are likewise subject to the
universal influence of the planets. Hence, if they are
engraved by a skilful person, under some particular influence,
they receive a certain virtue, as if they were endued with life
through the engraving ; just as man's wilfis free, yet it is
drawn by reason to do some determinate thing, to which it
would not be drawn if reason were taken away. Similarly,
the virtue of the gem is directed by the engraving upon it to
a certain determinate effect, to which it was not directed
before being engraved. But if the effect intended by the
figure engraved be the same as that produced by the natural
quality of the stone, its virtue will be doubled, and the effect
strengthened. This virtue remains for ever, unless the stone
be broken to pieces, and the figure totally destroyed. For
the engraving, to be efficacious, must be made by " election ; "
that is, we elect a certain hour in which the influence of the
particular planet is strongest, under which we design to
engrave the stone, and thus, by election, the planetary
influence is infused into the stone, and continues as long
as the figure continues. For all astronomers agree that
the starry influences acting by election are permanent in
all things. And Ptolemy says, that virtue infused into a
2 F 2
436 MYSTIC VIRTUES. SECT. IV.
thing at its first origin abides in the thing as long as itself
endures.
Engravings are either Universal, or Particular, or Signifi-
cative of the virtue of the stone.
Universal, are such as produce the same effect on whatever
stone they are cut; such as the Signs of the Zodiac. Thus
Aries, being of a fiery nature, induces heat on whatsoever
kind of stone he may be engraved, though this effect is in-
creased or diminished by the natural virtue of the stone itself.
Particular, are figures of the planets and constellations,
and also magical figures, since these all tend to a particular
or determinate effect.
Significative figures are of two classes, one denoting the
nature of the stone by conjecture, the other denoting the
same virtue, and having also a heavenly influence derived
from a constellation. For it is indubitable that figures were
cut on the stones to augment their potency, as well as merely
to signify the nature of the virtue of the stone. Thus there
are several kinds of Agates, and on each kind figures are
found, denoting its specific virtue. Thus the property of the
Sicilian Agate is to counteract the poison of the viper ; you
will therefore find engraved upon it the figure of a man
holding a viper, the quality of the stone being thus denoted
by the figure it presents. But if the engraving represented
the Serpentarius (Ophiuchus), a constellation which has the
virtue of resisting poisons, then, by knowing the constellation,
you would recognise the virtue of the gem : and besides, its
power would be doubled by the effect of the engraving upon
it ; and this rule holds good for all other gems.
Magical and necromantic figures bear no resemblance to
the Signs of the Zodiac, or to the Constellations, and there-
fore their virtues are only to be discovered by persons versed
in these particular sciences ; yet it is most certain that the
SECT. IV. SIGNS OF THE ZODIAC. 437
virtue of the figure may be partly learnt from the property of
the stone. And as the same stone often possesses different
properties, so figures are found made up of parts of different
animals, expressive of the various virtues of the gem itself. 8
This appears on a Jasper of my own, which represents a
figure with the head of a cock, a human body clad in
armour, a shield in one hand, a whip in the other, and
serpents instead of legs, all expressive of the various virtues
of the J asper, which are to drive away evil spirits, fevers, and
dropsies, check lust, prevent conception, render the wearer
victorious and beloved, and stanch the flowing of blood. All
such figures are of the greatest virtue and potency.
SIGNS OF THE ZODIAC.
Astrologers divide the Signs of the -^odiac into four
Trines, each composed of three, agreeing in their active and
passive qualities. They assign one triplet to each of the
four elements, as also a lord presiding over each.
First Trine, of Fire ; Aries, Leo, Sagittarius, belongs to the
East. Its lords are Sol by day, Jupiter by night, Saturn at dawn.
Hence a gem engraved with any of these signs is good against
all cold diseases, as lethargy, palsy, and dropsy, and makes the
wearer eloquent, ingenious, and cheerful, and exalts him to
honour and dignity. The figure of the Lion is the most potent
amongst these, as this sign is the house of the Sun.
Second Trine, of the Earth ; Taurus, Virgo, Capricormis,
belongs to the South ; of a cold and dry nature. Its lords are
Venus by day, Luna by night, Mars at dawn. These figures are
good against all hot and moist diseases, such as quinsy and cor-
ruption of the blood. Their wearers are inclined to rural occu-
pations and the laying out of gardens and vineyards.
8 This is an ingenious explanation of the Chimerae, or grylli, which
have been already described.
438 MYSTIC VIRTUES. SECT. IV.
Third Trine, of the Air ; Gemini, Libra, Aquarius, belongs
to the AVest. Its lords are Saturn by day, Mercury by night,
Jupiter at dawn. Hence a gem engraved with one of these
signs is good against all cold and diy complaints depending on
a melancholy humour, such as ague, hydrophobia, and loss of
memory. From the nature of the lords of this triplet, its wearers
are inclined to justice, friendship, concord, and the observance
of the laws.
Fourth Trine, of the Water ; Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces, belongs
to the North ; of a cold and moist nature. Its lords are Venus
by day, Mars by night, Luna at dawn. From its cold and moist
complexion it is good against all hot and dry diseases, such as
consumption, inflammation of the liver, and bilious complaints.
Its wearers are inclined through the nature of its lords to fickle-
ness, injustice, and lying, and it is said that Scorpio was the
sign of Mahomet. (When Camillo was writing this he must
have smiled inwardly at the thought that this Trine was cer-
tainly the ruling influence over the career of his redoubtable
patron, the Lord of Eomagna.)
Phenician Spbinx. Spotted Onyx.
FIGUKES OF THE PLANETS.
1. Saturn, engraved on a stone, is an old man with a not very
bushy beard, seated, and holding a scythe. If this figure be
found on a stone of the same nature as Saturn, it renders the
wearer powerful, and his power will go on increasing.
2. Jupiter is a man seated on a throne, holding in one hand a
wand, in the other a globe, or an idol, or a crab, or a fish, and
an eagle at his feet. Magicians figure him differently, with a
SECT. IV. FIGURES OF THE PLANETS. 439
ram's head and slender body, and wrinkled legs. If found on a
gem, especially a Kabres (a kind of crystal), it secures success
in one's wishes, procures love, and exaltation to honours.
3. Mars is figured on gems in a variety .of ways, sometimes
holding a lance, sometimes a standard, also on horseback, but
always in armour. It makes the wearer bold and successful in
whatever he undertakes.
4. Sol is represented as the sun with rays, sometimes as a man
with long hair seated on a throne, sometimes in a quadriga, sur-
rounded by the Signs of the Zodiac. It makes a man powerful,
fit to command, and fond of hunting, and lucky in getting
wealth.
5. Venus, a woman in long robe and stole, and holding a laurel
branch. It gives lightness in action, success in business, pro-
tects against fear of drowning, and produces authority.
6. Mercury, a slender man with a fine beard, but sometimes
without one, with winged sandals and caduceus, often a cock at
his feet, or a serpent beneath them. Its virtue increases know-
ledge and eloquence, and is of great benefit to traders.
7. Luna is variously figured, sometimes as a crescent, less than
the half ; sometimes as a maid in a car with horses, and a quiver ;
or a nymph with quiver, and hounds following a stag. This
image gives success in embassies, and speed and facility in the
execution of all business.
8. The Bear is represented by two bears entwined by a ser-
pent, and is of a composite nature, for the Greater Bear belongs
to Mars and Venus, the Lesser to Saturn, the Serpent to Saturn
and Mars. This engraving makes the wearer cautious, crafty,
and powerful.
9. The Crown is figured as a royal crown with many stars, and
sometimes as the crowned head of a king. It is placed in the
North, in the sign Sagittarius, and is of the nature of Venus and
Mercury. It gives success and honour in kings' courts.
10. Hercules, a man killing a lion ; sometimes a man with a
lion's skin in his hand, or on his shoulders, with a club. It is
placed in the North, in the Scorpion, and is of the nature of Mer-
cury. If cut on a stone of similar virtue, such as the Agate, it
gives victory in pitched battles.
440 MYSTIC VIRTUES. SECT. IV.
11. Swan, or Hen, is the figure of a swan, with wings spread
and neck bent back. Its place is the North, and its nature that
of Venus and Mercury. It makes the wearer beloved by the
people, augments wealth, and cures palsy and ague.
12. Ceplieus, a man girt with a sword, and with his hands and
legs stretched out, is held by Aries, and is placed in the North.
It has the nature of Saturn and Jupiter, makes the wearer cau-
tious and prudent ; and placed under the head of a sleeping
person makes him see delightful visions.
13. Cassiopea, a woman seated in a chair with her arms ex-
tended in the form of a cross, or sometimes with a triangle upon
her head. It is situated in the North in the sign Taurus, and
has the nature of Saturn and Venus. If cut upon a proper stone
it produces health, restoration from fatigue, and causes refreshing
sleep.
14. Andromeda, a virgin with loose hair and hands hanging
down, is contained in Taurus in the North. It is of the nature
of Venus, and has the virtue of appeasing quarrels between mar-
ried people.
15. Perseus, a figure holding in one hand a sword, in the
other the Gorgon's head, is placed in the northern part of
Taurus. It has the power of Saturn and Venus, and defends not
merely the wearer, but the place he is in, from lightning and
tempest.
16. Serpentarius, a man encircled by a serpent, and holding its
head in one hand and tail in the other, is situated in Scorpio in
the North, and is of the nature of Saturn and Mars. It is good
against poisons and the bites of reptiles, and steeped in water
causes one to cast up the poison he may have swallowed without
any injury.
17. The Eagle, or Falling Vulture, is the figure of an eagle
flying with an arrow in his claws: placed in Cancer in the
northern part. It is of the nature of Jupiter and Mars ; but the
arrows are of Mars and Venus. The virtue of this figure is to
preserve the ancient honours of the wearer and to make him
gain fresh ones.
18. The Dolphin is the figure of a hump-backed fish, in the
sign Aquarius, in the North ; having the nature of Saturn and
SECT. IV. FIGURES OF THE PLANETS. 441
Mars. If tied to a net it causes it to be filled with fishes, and
gives good luck in angling.
19. Pegasus, a winged horse ; or the forepart of one with wings
and without a bridle : placed in Aries, is of the nature of Mars
and Jove, and gives victory in battle. If hung round a horse's
neck, or put in the water he drinks, it will protect him from
many diseases.
20. Cetus, the figure of a big fish with bent tail and wide
mouth, placed in Taurus in the South, is of the nature of
Saturn. If cut on a stone, with a large crested serpent with a
long mane above it, it gives good luck at sea and restores lost
things.
21. Orion, a man in armour or without, with a sword or a
pruning-hook in his hand, placed in Gemini in the South, is of
the nature of Jove, Saturn, and Mars. It gives the wearer
victory over all his enemies.
22. The Ship, with lofty prow and swelling sail, both with and
without oars ; placed in Leo in the South, is of the nature of
Saturn and Jove, and protects from danger or loss at sea.
23. The Dog, Alabor, a figure of a greyhound with curled
tail, in Cancer in the South, of the nature of Venus, gives the
power, they say, of healing those lunatic, raving, and possessed
by devils.
24. The Hare, a figure of a hare running, in Gemini in the
South, has the nature of Mercury and Saturn, and defends against
the wiles of the devil ; and protects the wearer against being
hurt by any evil spirit.
25. Centaur, a man with a bull's head, holding in the left
hand a spear resting upon his left shoulder, with a hare hanging
from it. In his right he holds a little beast, back downwards,
with a kettle hung to it. Its place is in Libra in the South, and
it is of the nature of Jupiter and Mars, and has the virtue of
keeping the wearer in perpetual health ; whence some fable that
a Centaur was the preceptor of Achilles, because he always
carried about him the engraving of a Centaur upon a stone.
26. The Dog, Alabor, is the figure of a dog seated ; in Cancer
in the South. It is of the nature of Jupiter, and protects from
dropsy and the bites of dogs.
442
MYSTIC VIRTUES.
SECT. IV.
27. Thurible, or Well, is the figure of an altar (or well), with a
fire burning upon it. Its place is in Sagittarius in the South.
It has the nature of Venus and Mercury, and makes the wearer
able to call up spirits, to converse with them, and have them to
obey him. It is also said to endow the wearer with perpetual
virginity, inasmuch as it induces chastity.
28. Hydra, is the figure of a serpent having an urn about the
head and a raven about the tail. Placed in Cancer in the South.
It has the nature of Saturn and Venus, makes the bearer rich,
and defends against all noxious heat.
29. Southern Crown, is like a crown imperial, placed in Libra
in the South. Of the nature of Saturn and Mars, its virtue lies
in augmenting riches and making the man cheerful and merry.
30. Charioteer, the figure of a man in a chariot, holding a goat
on the left shoulder. Placed in Gemini in the North. It has the
virtue of Mercury, and gives success in hunting.
31. Banner, the figure of a banner spread out on the top of a
spear : is placed in Scorpio in the South, and gives victory in
war.
Silenus placing a crater on its stand : Kcmau. Sard.
ARBITRARY SIGILLA. EAGIEL.
Having thus gone through the astronomical figures, we
give a list of those for whose effect no reason can be assigned,
but which rest on the authority of various learned doctors.
Thus Eagiel, in his " Book of Wings," a work indispensable
to all students of magic, ascribes the greatest potency to the
following figures, if observed and kept with due reverence.
1. Dragon, cut on a Ruby or stone of like nature, has the
SECT. IV. ARBITRARY SIGILLA. RAGIEL. 443
power to increase the goods of this world, and to give cheerful-
ness and contentment.
2. Falcon, on a Topaz, gives favour with kings, princes, and
nobles.
3. Astrolabe, on Sapphire gives wealth and the gift of prophecy.
4. Lion, on Garnet preserves in wealth and honour, and from
danger on a journey.
5. Ass, on Chrysolite gives the power of prognosticating future
events.
6. Earn, or Bearded Man's head, on Sapphire defends from
many infirmities, from poison and oppression.
7. Frog, on Beryl reconciles people at variance if you touch
them with it.
8. Camel's Head, or the Heads of Two Goats among Myrtles,
cut on Onyx has the power of convoking and constraining demons,
and makes one see terrible things in sleep.
9. Vulture, on Chrysolite has power over demons and winds,
and defends places from them, and from the attacks of evil spirits,
who are obedient to the wearer of the stone.
10. Bat, on Heliotrope gives power over demons, and is useful
in incantations.
1 1. Griffin, on Crystal has the greatest virtue to fill the breasts
with milk.
12. Man well dressed and holding something pretty in his
hand, on Carnelian has the virtue to stop the flow of blood.
13. Lion, or Sagittarius, on Jasper is good against poison and
fevers.
14. Man armed with bow and arrow, on Iris protects from
harm the wearer and his abode.
15. Man with sword in hand, on Carnelian protects the wearer
from witchcraft and the place he is in from lightning and
tempest.
16. Bull, on Prase is good in working of spells, and gives
grace in the Magisteria (proceedings of Alchemy).
17. Hoopoe, with the herb dragon in front, on Beryl has the
virtue to evoke the water-spirits and to force them to speak. It
also can call up the dead of your acquaintance and oblige them
to give answers to questions.
444 MYSTIC VIRTUES. SECT. IV.
18. Swallow, on Chelonite, gives peace and concord.
19. Man, with right hand raised to heaven, cut on Calcedony
gives success in law-suite, and protects from danger on a journey.
20. Names of GOD, cut on Thunderbolt, preserve places from
tempest, and give power and victory over one's enemies.
21. Boar, on Amethyst puts demons to flight and preserves
from intoxication.
22. Armed Man, on Magnet assists in incantations, and gives
victory in war.
SIGILLA OF CHAEL.
Chael, a most ancient doctor of the Children of Israel in
the Wilderness, saw and engraved many figures after the
figures of the signs and stars, and composed the following list
of their powers. Blessed be the Lord, who hath given to
the world such virtues for the safety of the human race.
1. Man, with long face and beard, and eyebrows raised, sitting
behind a plough, and holding a fox and a vulture, with four men
lying on his neck : such a gem being placed under your head
when asleep, makes you dream of treasures and of the right
manner of finding them, and the water in which it is steeped
cures all diseases of cattle.
2. Man armed with sword and shield, trampling upon a dragon,
if cut on red Jasper and hung round the neck, gives victory in
battle, especially on a Tuesday.
3. Horse, with crocodile over him, on Jacinth gives success in
lawsuits ; but ought to be set in gold, as gold increases its virtue.
4. Man seated, and a woman standing before him with her
hair loose hanging down to her loins, and the man looking up-
wards : if cut on Carnelian has the virtue that whoever are touched
therewith they will be led to do the will of him that toucheth
them. Under the stone, when it is figured, a little terebinth and
ambergris ought to be put.
5. Horse foaming and at full speed, with a rider holding a
sceptre, cut on Haematite gives the power of reigning and the
recovery of lost favour ; and must be set in an equal weight of
gold and silver.
SECT. IV. SIGILLA OF CHAEL. 445
6. Man seated, with a lighted candle in his hand, on Chrysolite
makes the wearer rich ; and should be set in the finest gold.
7. Stag, Hunter, Dog, or Leopard, on any stone, have the
virtue to curb demons, lunatics, and madmen, and those that war
in the night season.
8. Woman, holding a bird in the one hand, in the other a fish,
has the virtue of taking birds and fishes.
9. Horned Beast thus formed : the fore part of a horse con-
joined with the hinder part of a goat, on any stone, is good in the
breeding of cattle, and must be set in lead.
10. Woman with trumpet, on horseback, or Soldier with a
horn ; on any stone, gives good luck in hunting.
11. Man kneeling and looking back, and holding a cloth, is
lucky for buying and selling.
12. Vulture with a branch in his beak, cut on Pyrites and set
in a silver ring : if you carry this with you, you will be invited
to many feasts ; and being there all persons will gaze at you,
and leave oft 7 eating. v
13. Scorpion and Sagittary fighting together, cut on any stone :
if you make an impression in wax of it, and touch therewith
persons at variance, you will restore them to concord. It must
be set in silver.
14. Earn and Lion : half-figure, if cut on any precious stone
will pacify persons quarrelling if they be touched therewith.
This also must be set in silver.
15. Woman, the upper part of the body, the lower part a
fish, holding a mirror and a branch in her hands : if cut on a
Jacinth, set it in a gold ring and keep it on your finger : when
you wish to become invisible, turn the bizzle of the ring round
towards the palm of your hand, shut your hand and you will
become invisible,
16. Man in armour, having in his right hand a cross with
stars, on any precious stone, is good for the safeguard of fruits
and harvests, and protects places from damage by storms.
17. Basilisk or Syren, half woman, half a serpent; on any
precious stone has the power of putting to flight all venomous
animals.
18. Basilisk fighting with a Dragon, and above them a man's
446 MYSTIC YIKTUES. SECT. IV.
head, on Carnelian, and worn round the neck, gives the power of
overcoming all beasts both of land and sea.
19. Man seated, and of bloated figure, with another man well
clad, holding in one hand a cup, in the other a branch; if cut
on Jet will cure all fevers, if worn for three days.
20. Man with bull's head and eagle's legs ; cut on any stone,
and carried about with you, will hinder people from speaking
ill of you.
21. Man of great stature cut on the Diadochus (a sort of Beryl),
holding in his right an obolus, in his left a serpent, with the
sun above his head and a lion beneath his feet ; set this in a lead
ring, with a little wormwood and fennel under it ; carry this
with you to the banks of a river, and call up the evil spirits
and you shall receive answers to all your questions.
22. Man with broad shoulders and thick loins, standing, and
holding in his right hand a bundle of herbs ; engraved on green
Jasper is good against fevers ; and if a physician carries it about
with him, it will give him skill in distinguishing diseases and
knowing the proper remedies. It is also good for hemorrhoids
and instantly stops the flow of blood.
23. Sea-turtle, if cut on the stone of which touchstones are
made, prevents the wearer from being injured by any one, and
makes him beloved by his elders and his superiors.
24. Aquarius, on green Jasper, gives good luck in buying and
selling, and affords good counsel to traders.
25. Bird with a leaf in its beak, and a man's head looking at
it, cut on Jasper ; set this in gold and carry it about with you,
and you shall be rich, and worshipful in the sight of all men.
26. Jupiter seated on a chair with four legs, and four men
standing before the chair ; the hands of Jove raised towards
heaven, and a crown upon his head ; if cut on Jacinth and set in
gold and worn, or even a wax impression hung around the neck,
it shall obtain for the wearer whatever he may ask from
princes and wise men.
27. Man with lion's head and eagle's legs, and below him a
two-headed dragon with tail extended, and in his hand a staff,
with which he smites the dragon's heads : this engraved on
Crystal, or any precious stone, and set in aurichalcum (red
SECT. TV. SIGILLA OF CHAEL. 447
gold), with musk and ambergris under the stone ; whoever
carries about with him such a gem, all people of both sexes will
incline to him, the Spirits shall be obedient unto him, he shall
augment his substance and gather together great riches.
28. Man seated on an eagle, with a wand in his hand ; if cut
on Hephasstite, or on Crystal, must be set in a brass or copper
ring. Whoso looketh upon this stone on a Sunday before sun-
rise shall have the victory over all his enemies. If he look
upon it on a Thursday all men shall obey him willingly. But
the wearer must be clothed in white garments and abstain from
eating pigeons.
29. Man on horseback, holding a bridle and a bent bow ; en-
graved on Pyrites makes the wearer irresistible in battle.
30. Woman with her hair hanging loose over her breasts, and
a man approaching and making a sign of love to her ; if cut on a
Jacinth or Crystal, must be set in gold, and put under the stone
ambergris, aloes, and the herb called polium : him that carrieth
this stone in a ring all shall obey ; and if yxm touch a woman
with it she shall do your will forthwith. When you go to sleep
put this under your head, and you shall see whatever things
you desire in your dreams.
31. Man seated on a fish, and on the man's head a peacock,
engraved on a red stone : if you put this under the table, no man
that eateth with his right hand shall be able to satisfy himself.
32. Man, naked, with his arm round the shoulders of a maid
whose hair is gathered round her head, and with his other hand
upon her breast, the man looking into her face while she looks
down upon the ground ; cut on any stone, and set in an iron ring
and under the stone a bit of the tongue of a sparrow, of a hoopoe,
alum, and human blood in equal quantities, renders the wearer
invincible by man or beast, and cures epilepsy. Also red wax
stamped with it and hung round a dog's neck will prevent him
from barking.
33. Man holding flowers ; engraved on Carnelian, and set in a
tin ring made on a Monday or Friday, at the first, eighth, or
twelfth hour : touch whomsoever you will with this ring, and he
shall obey you.
34. Man, bearded, with long face and arched eyebrows, sitting
448
MYSTIC VIRTUES.
SECT. IV.
upon a plough, between two bulls, with a vulture on his hand,
has virtue in the planting of trees and the finding of hid treasure,
drives away serpents, and delivers from the fear and troubling
of evil spirits. It must be set in an iron ring, and so worn.
35. Man holding a hook over his head, and under his feet a
crocodile, set in a leaden ring with a little of the herb squill
under the stone : whoever carries this gem will be secure from
robbers on a journey.
36. Man holding a sword, and seated on a dragon, cut on
Amethyst : being set in an iron or leaden ring, and worn on the
finger, all spirits shall be obedient unto him, shall reveal the
place of hidden treasures, and shall answer all his questions.
37. Eagle standing, engraved on Ethica (astites), being set in
a lead ring gives good luck in fishing.
38. Man standing, and holding a spike (dart) ; engraved on
Onyx makes the wearer to be honoured by all lords and princes.
39. Hare, on Jasper, preserves the wearer from the shade of
demons, so that it hurts him not.
40. Man, carrying a palm, on any gem, makes the wearer
agreeable to princes and great men.
lartliian king, between two crowned asps. Sard.
THE WORM SAMIK.
There is a Eabbinical legend that Moses engraved the
names of the tribes upon the precious stones of the High
Priest's breastplate, by means of the blood of the worm
Samir, a liquid of such wonderful potency as immediately to
corrode and dissolve the hardest substances. Solomon, there-
fore, when about to build his Temple out of stones upon which
no tool was to be lifted up, was naturally desirous of obtaining
SECT. IV. OBSERVATIONS UPON THESE SIGILLA. 449
a supply of this most efficient menstruum, the source whence
Moses had obtained it having been lost in antiquity. He,
therefore, had recourse to the following ingenious expedient :
he inclosed the chick of an ostrich, or, as some say, of a
hoopoe, in a glass bottle, and placed trusty persons to watch
it. The parent bird, finding all her efforts to liberate her
young in vain, flew off to the desert, and returning with the
miraculous worm, by means of its blood soon dissolved the
glass prison, and escaped with the captive. By repeating
this process as occasion required, Solomon obtained the
needful supply of this most useful solvent.
This legend is entirely based on the fact of the Smir, or
Smiris (emery) used by the antique engravers ; the name
Samir being merely the Hebrew form of the Greek word.
Hence, the fanciful rabbis having heard of the smir as the
indispensable agent of the gem engraver, without further
inquiry invented this ingenious legend as a most satisfactory
solution of the question. They may, however, have been
influenced by some faint tradition derived from Egypt, as
to the existence of some solvent capable of rendering the
hardest stones easy to be worked upon ; a secret which, as we
have already noticed, there are some grounds of believing
was possessed by the ancient Egyptians.
OBSERVATIONS UPON THESE SIGILLA.
In looking over the foregoing list we recognise, as might
naturally be expected, many of the usual Gnostic types, as in
the " Man with vipers for legs " the Pantheistic deity
Abraxas ; the " Winged Man upon a serpent," probably
the Athor or Sate of the same class; as is likewise the
"Man standing on a serpent and holding its head in his
hand." The "Names of God" on a gem must mean the
2 G
450 MYSTIC VIRTUES. SECT. IV.
invocations usually occurring on the reverses of these stones.
It will be also observed how large a proportion of these
potent sigils are specified as occurring on Jasper, a stone
which the slightest acquaintance with these intagli shews to
have been the favourite material for the talismanic engravings
of the Lower Empire.
There is, however, an omission of one class of subjects
from the list which appears at first extremely unaccountable ;
a class too which one would have thought the most likely
to strike the fancy of the mediaeval astrologer or alchemist,
as fraught with the deepest mysteries of antiquity. These
are the so-called chimerae or monsters, made up of the parts
of various animals united into one consistent whole, which
represents the outline of a bird or horse ; and usually (how-
ever various the manner of combination) composed of nearly
the same elements : the ram's head, Silenus' mask, elephant's
trunk, rabbit, cornucopia, and lizard. In fact, since the
.Revival, these very stones have been commonly looked upon
as amulets, and are still frequently described in catalogues
as " Basilidan Gems," although in reality they have no con-
nexion with that family ; a point which their good and early
style of work would alone be sufficient to prove, not to men-
tion the invariable absence of the peculiar legends accom
panying the sacred emblems of those religionists. But as we
cannot suppose that the mediaeval doctors were influenced
by any such archaeological motives in their distinction between
the potent and magical, and the merely fanciful or, as they
termed them, "voluntary" designs of ancient artists, there
must have existed some well grounded reason for rejecting
engravings, the very appearance of which is the perfection of
all that is mystic and magical. Can it be that at the close
of the Empire, when gems began to be prized for their
supernatural properties alone, a tradition still existed that
SECT. IV. OBSERVATIONS UPON THESE SIGILLA. 451
these well-defined subjects were mere grylli or caprices of
the artist's fancy ?
It will also be remarked that many of these talismanic
figures have a real or supposed relation to the various Signs,
and Constellations from which they derived their virtue ;
whilst others represent the ancient gods who were still
believed by the astrologers to rule the planets in the character
of Genii, although the unaccommodating orthodoxy of the
age had summarily converted them into the demons of the
new Tartarus.
The origin and invention of these Sigilla were naturally
assigned to the ancient Israelites, on account of the numerous
Hebrew words and titles of the Deity that occur on the
Gnostic intagli, which the mediaeval adept very consistently
inferred could not have been the work of a race so degraded
as the Jews had become, after that the sceptre had departed
from Israel. It is very amusing to notice the curious inter-
pretations put by these writers upon many of the common
representations of ancient mythology, as on the group of
Hercules and lole, and of Hercules and the Hydra. The
" King on a chair, his hands outstretched, and borne up by
four figures," is the Manichean Ormuzd, supported by the
angels of the elements : a type not unfrequent on Gnostic
gems. The Lancer also is a favourite late Persian subject,
which often bears the legend of " The Seal of God." But it
is needless to point out more instances of the original mean-
ing of these common subjects: the odd interpretation of
many of them by the mediaeval sages will amuse the reader
who has any knowledge of antique gems ; and this has been
my chief motive for transcribing a portion of the somewhat
tedious catalogue of the worthy physician of Pesaro. 9
9 The Ortocides Sultans of Amida of Irak, put on the obverse of their
and Mardin, as well as the Atabeghs coins the types of the reverses of
2 G 2
452 MYSTIC VIRTUES. SECT. IV.
It will be noticed that the doctors who so exactly laid
down the precise influence of each sigil and gem have left
themselves a loophole for escaping whenever the promised
result failed to follow their prescriptions : for the stone was to
be worn " in all honour and purity," and thus any miscarriage
could always be ascribed to the wearer's own transgression
of the necessary conditions of success.
Strange to say, the sole nation of the present day, amongst
whom a belief in the virtue of magic stones still exists, are
the Irish ; who place the greatest faith in the medical
properties of certain round pebbles which have been pre-
served from time immemorial upon the altars of certain
chapels. The water in which these stones have been steeped
is considered a sovereign remedy for all the diseases of
cattle. But, consistently with the respective degrees of
civilization of the two races, the gem of the Italian astrologer
engraved with the mystic sigil, which aided and multiplied
its native potency, is replaced among the Celts by a round
pebble of the most ordinary quality, with nothing but
antiquity and faith to recommend it. A ball of crystal was
lately in the possession of the chief of a Highland clan,
which was famed for possessing the same virtue, and which
had been for unknown ages in the hands of the same family.
Such crystal balls are sometimes found in ancient tombs :
Greek, Roman, and Sassanian me- and. with the legend VICTORIA,
dais, evidently selected as figures CONSTANTINI. AVG. The inge-
possessing some talismanic virtue ; nious Arabs had doubtless inter-
and copied as literally as the skill preted these, to them mysterious
of the barbarous die-sinker would devices, as symbols of mystic ini-
allow. Thus a piece of Faker- port, according to the same rules as
Eddin, who reigned in the early they, and the doctors of the West
part of the twelfth century, bears on after their guidance, adopted in their
its obverse an exact copy of a explanation of the purpose of en-
reverse of Constantine, a Victory graved gems,
holding a tablet inscribed VOTXXX,
SECT. IV. OBSERVATIONS UPON THtiSE S1GILLA. 453
we have seen that Orpheus ascribes great efficacy to their
presence at sacrifices ; doubtless they were interred with
the corpse as a propitiation to the deities of the Shades.
Dr. Dee's divining ball, so famous in the seventeenth century,
and now in the British Museum, was probably a sphere of
this class, which had accidentally come into the possession of
that " egregious wizard."
I have seen two spherical gems of Roman date which must
have been made for some magical use, as not being perforated
they could not have been intended for ornaments, for which
also their size and weight rendered them inappropriate.
The first, a ball of red Jasper, 1^ inch in diameter, was
engraved with a small medallion containing various symbols ;
the second, formed of green Jasper (in the Herz Collection),
had on the centre an engraving of Osiris and Isis, inscribed
* A, probably for Pharia (compare the Isis Faria of the coins
of Julian), and this was surrounded by twelve intaglio busts of
deities, of very good execution. The Sphere was one inch in
diameter. We perpetually meet in the poets with allusions to
the lvy%, Khombus, Turbo, or magic wheel used by the ancient
witches in their operations, and more especially figuring fore-
most in the list of philtres as possessing the power of in-
spiring love when spun in one direction, and of freeing the
heart from its spell when made to revolve in the opposite one,
as appears from Horace's prayer to Canidia :
" Eetro potenten, retro, solve turbinem."
" Eeverse thy magic wheel and break the spell."
The Crystal Spheres now under consideration may have been
the very instruments referred to by the poet : at least that
employed by the famous sorceress Nico is expressly described
as cut out of Amethyst in the dedicatory inscription given
in the Anthology, v., 205.
454 MYSTIC VIRTUES. SECT. IV.
" That magic wheel which power to Nico gave
To draw the lover o'er the distant wave,
And from her couch, half willing, half afraid,
At dead of night to lure the trembling maid,
Cut in bright Amethyst by a skilful hand,
And nicely balanced on its golden stand,
Lies strung on twisted wool of purple sheen
A grateful offering to the Cyprian cjueen :
Which erst the sorceress from Larissa brave,
A precious keepsake, to her hostess gave."
Damis saw four Ivyyss suspended from the dome of the judg-
ment hall of the Parthian king. They were called " Tongues
of the Gods," and placed there to remind him of Nemesis,
and repress his pride. These may be supposed to be golden
images of Ferouers, or Protecting Genii, of the Magian re-
ligion, for this term is used as synonymous with the Platonic
" Ideas " in the Zoroastrian oracles
Noov/iewt Ivyycs irarpodev vofovai KCU avrai.
For the Ferouers are the Ideas conceived in the mind of
Ormuzd previous to, and the Architypes of, the visible
creation.
Indian Sacred Bull, with Pehlevi legend. Calcedony.
OVUM ANGUINUM.
Before we quit the subject of Magic Spheres we must not
forget the famed Ovum Anguinum of the Druids, especially
SECT. IV. OVUM AXGUINUM. 455
as it is the present practice to call by that name the largo
beads of variegated glass so frequently found in this country,
although these are in reality nothing more than the central
ornaments of Boman, British, or Saxon necklaces. Very
different was the true Ovum Auguinum which Pliny had
seen worn as a badge of office by a Druid. He describes it
as round, of the size of an apple, enclosed in a cartilaginous
crust and covered with protuberances like the suckers on the
arms of a cuttle-fish. It was evidently some natural pro-
duction, not an ornament made by art, and the description
of it resembles more that of a large echinus than anything
else ; could it have been some fossil species of that shell ?
The legend told by the Druids of its production was, that at
a certain season an innumerable host of snakes collected
together, and intertwining with each other produced from
their collected foam this substance, and borev
" The mystic egg aloft in air ;"
where it was necessary to catch it in a cloak before it fell to
the ground, otherwise it lost its virtue. The captor was
immediately pursued by the whole troop of serpents until
he could cross a running stream, and unless enabled by the
swiftness of his steed to escape his followers, woe unto him !
" Ah Tarn, ah Tain, thou 'It get thy fairing,
In hell they '11 roast thee like a hen-ing."
The possession of this wondrous egg was supposed to give
success in law-suits. To Pliny's own knowledge, a Gallic
knight who had carried one in his bosom during the hearing
of his cause, probably before the emperor himself, was
executed for this attempt to pervert justice, by order of that
" wisest fool " Claudius Caesar. The opinion that this amulet
was some sort of echinus is in some measure supported by
456 MYSTIC VIRTUES. SFCT. IV.
the fact, that a variety of this shell is still popularly called
the Mermaid's Egg.
Though we are thus obliged to degrade these large paste
beads from their sacred character of Druidical insignia, we
must still award them the merit of being frequently extra-
ordinary specimens of the taste and skill of the Gallic or
British workers in glass. Some exhibit the most vivid
colours, arranged in elegant wavy patterns equal to any pro-
ductions in a similar style by the factories of Murano : others,
probably intended to be worn on the little finger, are thick
rings of blue or green glass, with small spheres of spiral and
different coloured threads, like variegated snail shells, stuck
on the outer circumference at regular intervals. Others
again are merely circles of a bluish green glass, or of a
vitrified clay. It is curious that whenever discovered in
modern times they have always been regarded by the pea-
santry as amulets productive of good luck to the wearer.
This famous talisman of the Druids has a singular analogy,
both in name and in its reputed virtues, to the " Ophites "
or Serpent-stone of the Asiatic Greeks, of which Orpheus
sings (v. 355).
" To him 1 " had Phoebus giv'n the vocal stone,
Hight Sideritis, for true answers known ;
The ' Living Ophite' some the wonder call,
Black, hard, and weighty, a portentous ball.
Around the stone, in many a mazy bend,
In wrinkles deep the furrowed lines extend.
For thrice seven days the mighty wizard fled
The bath's refreshment and his spouse's bed ;
For thrice seven days a solemn fast maintained,
Xo flesh of living thing his strength sustained.
Then in the living fount the gem he laves,
And in soft vestments like an infant swathes ;
10 Helenus.
SECT. IV. MAGIC KINGS. 457
As to a god he sacrifices brings,
And potent spells in mystic murmurs sings,
Till, moved by offered prayer and mighty charms,
A living soul the prescient substance warms ;
Then in his arms he bears the thing divine
Where kindled lamps in his pure mansion shine ;
And as her infant son a mother holds,
So in his arms the talisman he folds.
And thou when thou wouldst hear the mystic voice,
Thus do ; and in the wondrous charm rejoice.
For, when thou long hast dandled it on high,
'T will utter forth a faint and feeble cry
Like to a suckling's wail, when, roused from rest,
It seeks refreshment from the nurse's breast.
But with courageous heart perform the rite
Lest thou the anger of the gods excite,
If from thy hand, unnerved by sudden fear,
Down to the ground thou dash the vocal sphere.
Be bold, and dare the oracle to test,
A true response 't will yield to each request.
Then having bathed it hold it near thine eye,
And mark in wondrous mode its spirit fly. 1
Through this the Trojan to the Atridse'bold
The coming ruin of his race foretold."
MAGIC EINGS.
The Gnostic rings of stone covered with incantations,
already described, remind us of the Magic Eings mentioned
by Clemens Alexandrinus, who quotes Aristotle to the effect
that "Execestus, tyrant of the Phocians, used to wear two
enchanted rings, by the clinking of which against each
1 One might almost conclude from because, when steeped in water, it be-
this line that the stone was the Hy- comes bright and opalescent, though
drophane, or Oculus Mundi, of won- naturally dark and dull,
derail reputation in the Middle Ages,
458 MYSTIC VIRTUES. SECT IV.
other he used to discover the fitting season for his enter-
prises ; he nevertheless perished by assassination, though
previously warned by the magic sound." Lucian, in the
* Philopseudes,' makes Eucrates say, " Is Ion then the only
person that has seen such things? Have not many other
persons also met with spirits some by night, some by day ?
I, for my part, have seen such, not once only, but thousands
of times. And at first indeed I used to be alarmed at them,
but now, from constant habit, I do not seem to myself to see
anything extraordinary in such apparitions, especially now
ever since the Arabian gave me the ring made out of the
iron nails got from crosses, and taught me the incantation of
many names." A clear allusion to the practice of the
Gnostics, whose amulets are covered with long strings of
Coptic and Hebrew titles, addressed to the spirits presiding
over the several planets. Orpheus also says (720) that the
gods are well pleased when addressed by their secret names
during the sacrifice offered to them. I have already quoted
Caylus' description of the gold ring (probably the ornament
of some French Manichean of the twelfth century), com-
pletely covered with Gnostic formula. I have myself seen
a broad ring of pure gold, probably of Indian origin, and
evidently of considerable antiquity \ the outer circumference
of which bore in relief the hieroglyphics of the Signs of the
Zodiac; executed in a most ingenious and artistic style.
This ring had doubtless been the distinctive badge of some
high astrologer of the olden time. Lofty too must have been
the station (considering the immense value of the gem in
mediaeval times) of the wearer of the large opal set in another
cabalistic gold ring, with shank covered with astrological
figures and the usual legend ADKOS MADEOS, &c.
SECT. IV. PROPHYLACTIC RINGS PLANETARY KINGS. 450
PROPHYLACTIC KINGS.
Aristophanes, long before this, had humorously alluded to
the practice of wearing rings as charms against evil spirits
and serpents, in the reply of the honest man to the common
informer : Plutus, 883.
" I care not for thee : for I wear a ring
For which I paid one drachma to Eudemus.
But 'tis no charm against th' informer's bite."
And Antiphanes in Athenaeus m., 96, speaks of another kind
exactly answering to the galvanic rings of to-day, a preserva-
tive against all manner of aches and pains : for the miser is
introduced saying
" In a kettle,
Beware lest I see any one boil water.
For I've no ailment : may I never have v one !
But if perchance a griping pain should wander
Within my stomach or around my navel,
I'll get a ring from Phertatus for a drachma."
Alexander of Tralles recommends from his own practice, as a
sure preservative against the colic, an iron ring, with this
figure iXJ on the f ace ' an d cu t with eight sides, on which
OOD
must be engraved the words, two syllables on each side,
(frevye lov x^ r , V Kopv8a\os <re j^ret."
" Fly, fly, Ho ! bile, the lark is after thee."
PLANETAKY KINGS.
Planetary rings, to which wonderful virtues were ascribed
in the Middle Ages, were formed of the gems assigned to the
several planets, each set in its appropriate metal, in the fol-
lowing manner :
460 MYSTIC VIRTUES. SECT. IV.
Sun ; Diamond or Sapphire, in a ring of gold.
Moon ; Crystal, in silver.
Mercury ; Magnet, in quicksilver (how fixed ?)
Venus ; Amethyst, in copper.
Mars ; Emerald, in iron.
Jupiter ; Carnelian, in tin.
Saturn ; Turquois, in lead.
GIMMEL KINGS.
These jewels, so often mentioned by our early poets, were
formerly used very generally as love pledges and betrothal
rings. The name is a corruption of Jumelle, or Twin, as they
are formed of two flat hoops of gold, the one fitting nicely
inside the other and kept in its place by a projecting rim on
the edge of the exterior circle : so that both form apparently
but one body. On each is engraved a name, or sometimes
one line of a distich in old French : 2 the two hoops could be
separated and worn singly, and thus could serve as cre-
dentials to the bearer, as well as for their original desti-
nation. The names found on them are those of the parties
between whom they were interchanged ; thus the denoue-
ment of Dryden's ' Don Sebastian ' turns upon a ring of this
kind.
" Those rings, when you were born and thought another's,
Your parents glowing yet in sinful love
Bade me bespeak : a curious artist wrought them,
With joints so close as not to be perceived,
Yet are they both each other's counterpart.
His part had Juan inscribed and hers had Zayda ;
You know these names are theirs ; and in the midst
A heart divided in two halves was placed.
* "The posy on a ring," Shakespear's synonym for something utterly trite
and commonplace.
SECT. IV. DIVINATION BY RINGS. 461
Now if the rivets of these rings inclosed
Fit not each other I have forged this lie,
But if they join you must for ever part."
DIVINATION BY KINGS.
The long list of the magical properties of gems and of the
figures engraved upon them, believed in as indisputable
truths during the times of the Lower Empire and of the
Middle Ages, may be fitly concluded by the following curious
account of a mode of ascertaining the future by means of a
ring, a species of divination called Dactyliomancy. It is the
confession under torture of Hilarius and Patricius, accused
of conspiring to raise to the Empire a certain Gaul, Theodorus,
in the reign of Valens, A.D. 371.
" We constructed, illustrious judges, this ill-omened little
table which you see before you, out of twigs of bay tree,
under direful auspices, after the pattern of the Delphic
tripod. And after it had been consecrated according to the
rites prescribed, by the repetition of mystic verses over it,
and by many and tedious ceremonies, at last we put it in
motion. Now the method of using it whenever it was con-
sulted on matters of secrecy, was the following: It was
placed in the middle of the house (which had been previously
purified by burning Arabian incense in all parts), with a
round dish placed purely upon it, which was composed of
various metals combined together : on the outer edge of the
rim of this dish the twenty-four letters of the alphabet were
skilfully engraved, at equal distances from each other. Then
one of us clothed in a linen garment, with linen slippers on
his feet, a fillet round his head, and a branch of a fruit tree
in his hand, stood over this tripod according to the mystic
science, having first propitiated by the proper form of in-
cantation the deity that is the author of the knowledge of
462 MYSTIC VIRTUES. SECT. IV.
the future ; while he balanced over the tripod a ring tied
to a very fine thread of Carpathian flax, and consecrated by
magical ceremonies. This ring, striking in its vibrations at
regular intervals against the single letters that attracted it,
formed heroic verses, in answer to our questions, composed
perfectly as to metre and numbers, such as the Pythian
oracles we read of or the responses given at Branchidae.
Thereupon, just as we were enquiring who should succeed
the present emperor ; inasmuch as the answer returned was
that he would be a prince in every respect perfect, and also
as the ring while swinging to and fro had touched the two
syllables e E o, with the final addition of another letter ; one
of those present exclaimed that Theodoras was meant by the
inevitable appointment of Destiny. Nor was the inquiry on
the subject any further pursued, we all being quite satisfied that
he was the man about whom we were consulting the oracle.
" When he had thus distinctly laid the account of the whole
affair before the eyes as it were of the judges, he added out
of consideration for him that Theodorm was entirely ignorant
of the matter. After which, being asked whether they had
learnt beforehand from the oracle which they had employed
the fate that awaited themselves, they disclosed those well
known verses clearly announcing that this enterprise of
prying into things too high for them would be fatal to the
inquirers, and that speedily : but yet that the Furies demand-
ing fire and slaughter, threatened also the emperor and their
judges ; of which it will suffice to quote the three last verses :
' Not unaveng'd, seer, thy blood shall flow,
Tisiphone prepares the fatal blow
For thy fell judges ; all on Mimas' plain
Aila Ear ! by fire devouring slain.'
Having repeated which, they were cruelly tortured with the
pincers, and then carried off in a fainting condition."
SECT. IV. THE TOAD-STONE. 403
It may be observed here that the mysterious words " A'ila
Kar " are either Sclavonic a language often appearing in
the oracles of Byzantine date (see that given by Procopius as
predicting' the death of Mundus and his son) or else they
may contain the Greek numerals giving the date of the event
foretold. This took place A.D. 378, for Valens having been
wounded by an arrow in a battle with the Goths, was carried
by his officers into a cottage near the field, the door of which
the enemy not being able to force piled straw against the
building and consumed it, with all who were inside.
This mode of divination is now degraded to the humble
office of ascertaining the time of day : a wedding ring, or a
coin suspended from a thread passing over the ball of the
thumb, and held within a glass tumbler, the hand being sup-
ported steadily about a foot above it, soon begins to vibrate
from the action of the pulse, and the strokes against the in-
side of the glass will be equal in number to the nearest hour,
whether past or coming. I have myself tried this experi-
ment, and often found it to succeed in a most extraordinary
manner.
THE TOAD-STONE.
A notion prevailed, both in the Middle Ages and down to
a recent period, that
" the toad, ugly and venomous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head."
Camillo Leonardo describes the stone under the names of
Borax, Nosa, and Crapondinus, and as being found in the
brain of a toad newly killed. He says that there are two
kinds, the white, which is the best, and the dark of a bluish
tinge, with the figure of an eye upon it : and if swallowed,
it is a sure antidote against poison, in its passage through the
464 MYSTIC VIRTUES. SECT. IV.
bowels driving out all noxious matters before it. It was also
good for complaints of the stomach and kidneys, even when
merely worn set in a ring. Vossius De Physiologia Christiana,
vi., 19, asserts of it that the Bufonites or Toad-stone is
accustomed to be taken in drink before meals to baffle the
effect of poison. It is said to burn the skin of the finger at
the very presence of poison, if worn in an open setting in
a ring. Chinese porcelain at this period (the time of its
first introduction into Europe), was believed to fly to pieces
if a poisoned liquid were put into it. Erasmus in his
' Peregrinatio Religionis ergo,' thus describes a famous Toad-
stone placed at the feet of the statue of Our Ladye of Walsing-
ham. "At the feet of the Virgin is a gem to which no
name has yet been given amongst the Greeks or Eomans,
but the French have styled it after the toad, inasmuch as it
represents the figure of a toad so exactly, that no art of man
could do as well. And the wonder is so much the greater,
that the stone is very small : the figure of the toad does not
project from the surface, but shines through as if inclosed in
the gem itself. And some, no mean authorities, add that
this kind of gem being put into vinegar the toad will swim in
it and move its legs." 3
Some of these Toad-stones, set in their original rings, are
still preserved, but the gem appears at present to be nothing
more than a common black pebble. I am not aware if any
substance of a stony nature is ever now discovered within the
head or body of the toad. Probably the whole story origi-
nated in the name Batrachites (Frog-stone as \vell as Toad-
stone), given in Pliny to a gem brought from Coptos, and so
called from its resemblance to that animal in colour. Of
this there was also an ebony, and a reddish-black variety.
3 This was probably a lump of amber inclosing some large insect.
SECT. IV. THE TOADSTONE. 485
Pliny, however, says nothing of its being found inside the
toad, nor does he mention its medicinal virtues ; but the
name alone was sufficient to induce the fertile imagination of
the mediaeval doctors to invent all the other particulars.
He does indeed specify several gems as being found inside
various animals: such as the Bronte in the head of the
tortoise, and supposed to have the property of extinguishing
fires caused by lightning ; the Cinaedia in the head of the
fish so-called, a transparent stone, which by its change from
a clear to a turbid colour foreshewed a coming storm at sea
(a useful marine barometer) ; the Chelonites of a grass
green colour, and found in a swallow's belly, which being
set in an iron ring possessed wonderful power in magic ; the
Draconites, a brilliant white gem, which must be cut out of
the head of the serpent when alive, otherwise it loses its
lustre, for which reason the Indians strewed v the ground with
an opiate, in order to catch the dragon asleep and so safely
extract the prize ; 4 the Hyaenia existing within the eye of the
hyaena, and which placed under the tongue conferred the
gift of prophecy ; and lastly, the Saurites procured from the
bowels of a green lizard, dissected by a knife made of a
sharp reed. The Scorpius and the Echites (Viper-stone) are
praised as antidotes by Orpheus :
4 Philost. III. 8. " These dragons upon him as he lies, cut off his head
are taken thus : having woven letters with their axes, and make prize of
of gold into a scarlet robe, they lay the gems within it, for in the heads of
it before the den ; but first of all these mountain-dragons are secreted
magically infuse a soporific power gems bright-coloured to the eye and
into these letters by which the dragon reflecting all kinds of hues, of virtue
has his eyes overcome, having no moreover indescribable like the
power to turn them away. They famous ring of Gyges. Often too
also sing over him many charms of does the dragon seize the Indian,
their mystic art, by which he is axe, charm, and all, and escape with
drawn forth, and putting his neck him into his den; all but making
out of his den falls asleep upon the the mountain tremble."
letters. Then the Indians falling
2 H
466 MYSTIC VIRTUES. SECT. IV.
" Named from the Scorpion fell, the potent stone
To huge Orion was, I ween, unknown ;
Else had he, tortured by the fiery pain,
Given all his stars the remedy to gain."
Favourite Racehorse, Sycxius. Jacinth,
TREATISES ON ANTIQUE GEMS.
Books treating upon antique gems, either generally or else
of particular examples, are very numerous in Itab'an and
German. A few also exist in French, but none that I am
acquainted with in the English language, with the exception
of a series of articles headed " Old Kings," which appeared
in 'Eraser's Magazine' for 1856, in which the subject of
the rings themselves was most amply and learnedly dis-
cussed, and then followed a series of excellent disquisitions
upon the several species of gems known to the ancients. The
design is cleverly carried out, and gives a vast amount of
information in a very entertaining style. It would be a great
service to English collectors if these papers were republished
in a separate form, to supply in some measure the total
deficiency of English works upon this subject a want which
I have endeavoured to meet in some degree in the foregoing
pages. I subjoin a few remarks on the treatises in different
languages which I have myself perused, and of which I have
availed myself in the compilation of this work :
SECT. IV. TREATISES ON ANTIQUE GEMS. 467
1. The 'Apistopistus' of Macarius (Canon L'Heureux),
with Appendix by Chiflet, 1610; an excellent and rational
work for so early a period, treating exclusively of Gnostic
gems, with a profusion of admirably engraved plates of the
intagli. It contains everything that can be discovered in
ancient writers relative to this mysterious subject, and is
much more intelligible than Matter's ' Histoire Critique du
Gnosticisme,' which treats upon the same class of representa-
tions, although he appears to have borrowed largely from
Macarius. The plates of the intagli are very correct, and
though so early may be reckoned among the best of the kind,
having been drawn from the originals by Jacques Werde, a
military engineer and a clever draughtsman, with a taste for
antique art.
2. Mariette's ' Pierres Gravees ' is a description of the best
gems in the French Collection. The Introduction contains a
large amount of useful information with respect to gems and
the processes of the glyptic art, together with a clear and
complete summary of all that is known about the most emi-
nent gem-engravers of all countries who have flourished since
the Eevival. Mariette, however, does not appear to have
possessed much practical acquaintance with gems themselves,
and often makes many assertions that cannot be substan-
tiated ; but in spite of this defect, his book is the best manual
that I have met with. Another recommendation of the book
is the great number of plates of gems contained in it, which
however are too much in the loose and flowing style of the
last century (published 1750) to give a very accurate idea of
the originals.
3. Winckelmann's < Catalogue of Stosch's Gems ' is doubt-
less the best work on the subject ever written, as far as the
plan allows ; for in addition to a most learned and interesting
elucidation of the subjects of the intagli, he incidentally gives
2 H 2
468 MYSTIC VIRTUES, SKCT. IV.
much information relative to the science itself, so that the
work is not a dry catalogue, but rather a series of disser-
tations on matters relating to art, history, and antiquities.
It is of the utmost value to the collector of gems, in
consequence of its containing so extensive a series of sub-
jects, Stosch having admitted into his collection not merely
antique pastes, but also modern ones of all the celebrated
intagli existing in other cabinets, to make his list of repre-
sentations as complete as possible. Hence any uncommon
design that may occur on a gem will be likely to find
an explanation in Winckelmann's description of something
analogous amongst the endless varieties brought together
by Stosch.
4. Mawe 'On the Diamond' gives brief but very clear
descriptions of the various kinds of precious stones in use at
the present day. 5
5. Caylus' ' Recueil d'Antiquites ' is valuable for the nume-
rous engravings it gives of antique rings in all metals,
very accurately represented by the pencil of that enthusi-
astic antiquary himself. But the camei and intagli, of which
he presents many plates, are somewhat roughly executed,
and his explanations of them often erroneous ; but yet, from
the great variety of subjects described, they are still of con-
siderable value. Many of his drawings of gems are of great
interest, as representing stones still preserved at the time he
was writing (1758) on the old plate and jewellery of the
sacristy of Troyes Cathedral.
6. Lessing's ' Antiquarische Briefe ' contain a series of dis-
quisitions on various branches of the glyptic art, full of in-
5 A very unpretending old - fa- the best popular description of stones
shioned book, Bingley's 'Useful and minerals of any that have ever
Knowledge,' gives in its third volume come in my way.
SECT. IV. TREATISES ON ANTIQUE GEMS. 469
formation conveyed in a most amusing and piquant style, in
the form of criticisms on a work on gems published by an
unlucky pretender, Dr. Klotz, whose ignorance he playfully
exposes, displaying at the same time his own knowledge.
More may be learnt from these letters, by the student of
this science, than from any author I have met with,
always excepting Winckelmann, who however deals more
with the subjects of the gems, whilst Lessing treats more
of the technical portion of the art, so that the two com-
bined form a complete manual for the amateur. As might
be expected in a German author, Lessing displays now and
then some very odd crotchets, apparently recommended to
him by their very absurdity, as for instance when he de-
rives the name Cameo from gemma onychina, and a few
similar flights of imagination.
7. The ' Catalogue des Artistes de 1' Antiquity,' by the
Count de Clarac (1848), contains, in the Introduction, a very
good sketch of the history of the art, as well as useful re-
marks upon the mechanical processes employed in it. His list
of artists' names is of great value, as he gives a minute de-
scription of the gems bearing their signatures, and specifies
the collections in which they at present exist, thus supplyiug
a safeguard against copies.
8. Raspe, ' Catalogue des Impreintes des Pierres Gravees.'
After Stosch's death in 1757, Tassie, a London gem-engraver,
obtained all his sulphur casts, and from these made sets of glass
pastes. These are in truth very poor, both in colour and in
finish, and bear but little resemblance to real stones. Tbe
total number of antique and modern amounts to 15,833. They
are catalogued and described by Raspe, whose remarks are
usually very sound and of great utility to a collector ; and the
arrangement of his matter is very convenient for reference.
The plates are however so badly executed and incorrect,
470
MYSTIC VIRTUES.
SECT. IV.
being taken from the pastes and not from the original, as to
be entirely useless. 6
9. Millin ' Sur 1'Etude des Pierres Gravees ' is little more
than the skeleton of a manual, very well planned, but not car-
ried out in any single department, having evidently been
composed in great haste. The object of the present Treatise
has been to supply flesh to the bones of Millin's skeleton, the
outline of which I have in great measure kept in view in the
arrangement of the preceding articles.
8 The two last volumes of the served in the gallery of the Uffizi ;
Museum Florentinum, by the Ab- and therefore will be found of the
bate Gori, give very faithful engrav- greatest service to the collector in
ings of all the most important gems identifying the subjects of obscure
contained in the Collection pre- meaning.
Homuua. Sard.
cornu fu&iebat Somnus iuani. 1
Death, in a ilonument : Cameo. Onyj
APPENDIX.
Instruments of the ancient Engravers, p. 107.
IN the earliest attempts to engrave figures upon stones to be
used as seals we may conclude from the common analogy of such
processes that the tools first employed were the splinters of flint
or Obsidian of which all their other cutting implements were
formed, and which continued, long after the use of metal had
become general, to furnish the cheaper and easily -lost class of
articles, such as arrow-heads, &c. The words of Herodotus de-
scribing those of the Ethiopians in Xerxes' army are, " arrows
headed with a stone brought to a point, the same sort by means
of which they engrave their seals." Now, inasmuch as every art
known to this barbarous people must have been introduced
among them from their neighbours the Egyptians, and all
remains both small and great in Ethiopia plainly discover an
Egyptian origin, their signets, likewise, could hardly have
differed from those of their instructors in all the arts, as innu-
merable specimens sufficiently prove. Hence we may conclude
that all the scarabs so plentiful in Steaschists, Syenite, and other
soft stones, were worked out by means of flint-flakes fashioned
into rude graving tools and mounted in handles, as the diamond-
splinters subsequently were. In addition to this instrument the
softness of the stones worked upon would allow the engravings
to be executed by means of a narrow bronze chisel, which an
examination of the cutting of the intaglio will often indicate as
the sole tool employed, the lines and hollows having evidently
472 INSTRUMENTS OF THE ANCIENT ENGRAVERS. AFP.
been scooped out by some such tool, not scratched into the stone
by the fine edge of a flint-flake. The same observation applies
equally to the first essays of the Assyrians in this line, for the
cylinders assigned to the earliest times of that monarchy are
almost invariably made out of green Serpentine, a stone readily
worked by a metal chisel. In addition to this, the engravings
upon them are though the outline is often correct and spirited
enough ragged and deeply cut, and evidently chiselled into
the mass by a cutting tool of metal ; neither being scraped out
by a sharp point, nor ground out by attrition with a hard powder,
processes of which unmistakeable traces remain in all intagli
executed by the more recent methods, hereafter to be discussed.
The discoveiy of these improved processes must with certainty
be assigned to the Assyrian engravers of the age of Sargon (B.C.
729), or a little earlier ; for, besides the numerous specimens
extant of designs in the taste of this period cut on cylinders of
Crystal, Agate, and Onyx, that in Amazon-stone ascribed, with
much probability, to Sennacherib himself shows that the
mechanical part of the art had been already perfected, which
supposes the practice of many years ; for the execution of this
intaglio would stand a comparison with any gem in the similar
taste of the archaic Greek school. Now it is certain that no
Egyptian scarabs in "hard stones" are of anything like this
antiquity, for all such discovered amongst Assyrian remains
numerous though they were (as at Arban) are all of the soft
stones already mentioned. The very royal signet of Sabaco is
shown by its impression upon the same seal as that of Senna-
cherib to have been in metal (gold no doubt), like the famous
one of the Meyer Collection ; whilst that of the Assyrian king's
was evidently from a well-cut intaglio in hard stone. Theophras-
tus (On Stones, chap. 44) states that the best sort of the stone
used by the Greeks for gem-engraving came from Armenia. The
Armenian mountains supplied the Assyrians with their building-
stones, metals, and gems, and at the same time, no doubt, with the
means of working upon the latter ; and probably a happy accident
soon revealed to some observant eye amongst the numerous signet-
makers of Nineveh the property of the emery-stone to bite into
the very hardest gems then known to them. From Nineveh to
APP. INSTRUMENTS OF THE ANCIENT ENGRAVERS. 473
Babylon the transition of the discovery was rapid, and thence,
through the Phenicians, it became diffused throughout Asia
Minor.
All the operations hitherto considered were effected upon the
surface of the intended signet by a scratching out or filing into
the substance the scalptura of the Eoman writers. The exact
mode of applying the piece of emery has, unluckily, not been
handed down to us by any author. Theophrastus, in the chapter
just quoted, says, "And again, the stone with which they
engrave signet-stones is the same as that of which whetstones
are made, or similar to it, and the best is brought from Armenia."
This very chapter (44), in which he had given some details as to
the process, is unhappily one of the most defective in his trea-
tise ; but he appears to express his surprise that the material in
question was capable of being split up and shaped by a steel
tool and yet could bite on a gem that steel would not touch.
Pliny (xxxvi. 10) has, " For polishing nwble statues, and even
for engraving and filing down gems, the Naxium (emery) long-
held the first rank : thus are termed the whets\ones (cotes) pro-
duced in the isle of Cyprus. Afterwards those brought from
Armenia bore away the palm." Again (chap. 47), when enume-
rating the whetstones used for steel tools, he mentions the Naxian
as the most in repute of those used with water, until afterwards
surpassed by the Armenian. Again (in xviii. 67, 5) he speaks
of these water- whetstones acting upon the scythe-blade after the
manner of a file. Dioscorides, writing in the first century, says,
the " Smyris is a stone with which gem-engravers polish their
gems." He also speaks of " the substance rubbed off a Kaxian
whetstone from the steel sharpened against it" (v. 165, 167) ; all
showing the use of a piece of emery to sharpen steel tools. All
these expressions demonstrate that the emery still the chief
export of Xaxos was employed in gem-cutting not merely in
powder, as at present, applied to the point of a drill but in a
solid piece, shaped into a convenient form, and working after the
manner of a file upon the gem. Another reason this for the
ancient preference for highly convex ring-stones, a form to which
anything in the shape of a file could be much more conveniently
applied than to a plane surface. The use of the diamond has
474 INSTRUMENTS OF THE ANCIENT ENGRAVERS. APP.
already been discussed (p. 105). It could not, however, have
been known until late in the Greek period, when the trade with
India had been opened, and no traces of it are to be discovered
on the intagli now under our consideration. Thus far notice has
only been taken of the means of gem- engraving consisting in
cutting or scratching instruments ; but another invention, much
more expeditious in its operations, remains to be considered the
drill, the terebarum fervor of Pliny, and the drepano of the Quattro-
Cento engravers. The use of the drill in its primitive form may
be detected in those earliest implements of mankind, the stone
axes and hammers, to be seen in all collections of Celtic antiqui-
ties ; that is to say, in those of the improved type, bored through
with a hole for a handle. This hole must have been made by
turning rapidly and continuously a stick upon the same spot,
constantly supplied with sharp sand and water. This rude in-
strument may also have been turned by means of a bow, a con-
trivance which would easily suggest itself to the mind of any
ingenious savage, as calculated to produce a much more rapid,
as well as more steady, motion of the stick, besides saving the
vast labour and time wasted in keeping it revolving by the un-
aided hand alone. The form of these orifices plainly indicates
the means by which they were sunk, the openings being much
wider on each side than in the centre, owing to the unsteady
action of the primitive drill. This powerful agent once obtained,
improvements upon it were easy ; and by substituting a bronze
wire and emery powder for the stick and sand the Assyrian
gained at once an implement capable of piercing speedily the
hardest of the gems with which he had to do. Another proof
that the use of emery for this purpose was the discovery of the
Assyrian engravers may be found in the name by which it was
known to the Greeks, their smyris being merely the Chaldean
smir slightly modified. 1 Though the early Assyrians made but
little use of the drill in sinking the intagli on the outside of
their cylinders, yet the holes passing through their length, as
well as those through the sides of their conical seals, show by
their accuracy the expertness already attained by the workmen
1 Heiice our emery, from emeril, esmeril, smeriglio.
APP. INSTRUMENTS OF THE ANCIENT ENGRAVERS. . 475
in the use of this implement. In the cylinders, indeed, the per-
forations are of considerable size to admit the soft and thick cord
that tied them round the wrist, but the holes through the seals
are often fine as a thread, and drilled with an evenness that it
would puzzle the best German lapidary to equal. The same may
be said of the holes traversing the Etruscan scarabs, usually very
accurately and truly bored. As before observed, the intagli also
upon these scarabs are entirely sunk by means of a blunt drill
ending in a hemispherical point. The hollows made by this
button sunk to various depths, and brought into contact or over-
laying each other, produce the rude figures of men and animals
that adorn fully three-fourths of the scarabs termed Etruscan ;
and but rarely in this class is the outline assisted by the use of
the diamond-point or any such scratching instrument.
As regards the action of the drill, the metal point does not
immediately come in contact with the gem, but serves as a ve-
hicle in which the excessively hard particles of the emery imbed
themselves, and thus present a perpetually renewed cutting sur-
face to the stone on which it is brought to bear. This is the
meaning of Pliny in saying that " some stones cannot be cut at
all by steel, others only by a blunt steel tool (though all can by
the diamond) ; in the latter, however, the rapid revolution of the
drill is of the greatest efficacy" (xxxvi. 76). The Phenicians
learnt the art from their Assyrian masters, and soon diffused it,
with its processes, through all the regions where they had
colonies. This nation, placed midway between the two great
foci of civilization, and in constant communication with each,
lost no time in adopting every discovery amongst either people
that recommended itself to their taste, and thus we find them
adopting the form of the scarab from the Egyptians, but the
hard stones to cut them in from the Assyrians, together with the
superior style of intaglio which the newly-discovered method
had enabled the latter to produce. Hence was communicated
both the form of the signet and the means of engraving it to the
Etruscans, unless we suppose which is more probable that
the predominant caste introduced these, with other arts, from
Asia Minor when they first settled as colonists in Central Italy.
These drill-worked intagli must have been finished off with the
476 BASSAN1AN ALPHABET. APP.
utmost rapidity, to judge from the thousands now extant ; yet
how small a portion these of what still remains beneath the soil
entombing the cities of their ancient wearers. The designs
were added upon the bases of the scarabs often, it would appear,
as mere ornaments, and not for signets, for the scarabs strung on
necklaces are equally adorned with engravings as those set in
swivel finger-rings.
Sassanian Alphabet, p. 141.
The earliest form of this alphabet is met with on the coins of
the Arsacidae whenever the Greek language is not used for the
legends and had currency in but two localities, the region
around Persepolis, where it forms the original text and occupies
the post of honour in the explanatory inscriptions cut upon the
numerous rock-sculptures there ; and, secondly, about Shahrzor,
in the bilingual inscriptions upon the fire-temples. Thus it
appears to have been current under the Parthian empire through-
out the provinces of Kurdistan, Khuzistan, and Fars (Persia
Proper), and to have had a Mesopotamian or Babylonian source,
and thus a common origin with the modern Hebrew, from which
it only difiers in a few forms (see Thomas, Num. Chron. xii. 93).
This alphabet is usually termed the Parthian, but can claim no
special Parthian attribution, any more than the Bactrian Pali on
their contemporaneous Indian currencies or the Greek on their
Asiatic. It is also termed Persepolitan, but ought more justly to
be called Clwldee the designation bestowed upon the identically
same character, the square Hebrew. The only Sassanian king
who uses this character on his coins is Ardeschir I., of whom a
very clearly-struck silver piece is figured in the Num. Chron.
xv. 180. Of gems bearing inscriptions in this early letter I have
only met with a single example an Amethyst of middling size
APP. SASSANIAN ALPHABET. 477
where it encircles a king's head with flowing hair and long
beard a portrait of the customary Arsacid type but the name
as yet undeciphered. The extreme rarity of gems of this
dynasty has been already noted. Another example, however, I
have lately discovered among the Herz intagli a Sard with
a regal portrait, but of the rudest work.
The second form of alphabet is found holding the inferior
place in the inscriptions of Nakshi-Boustan ; and is exclusively
adopted on the coinage of Sapor I. and his sticcessors for some
centuries. This is the character also by far the most common
upon the gems. Thus it is used on the famous Devonshire
Amethyst of Sapor I., as well as upon a Sard of nearly equal
size and merit, a bust of Hormisdas, now in the possession of
Mr. Boocke.
The third and latest form of the Pehlevi alphabet is the parent
of the old Syriac, and of its modification the Cuphic. As the
latter took its name from the fact of its having been adopted by
the transcribers of the Koran at Cupha in Mesopotamia it is a
natural inference that it was the usual cursive writing of the age
and country, and adopted by the Arabian conquerors, who, up
to that time had possessed no literature or alphabet of their own.
So slight is the difference between the letters used on the coin-
age of the last Sassanian kings and that of the first caliphs, who
continued the old types for some years after the conquest, that
Longperier reads the names of Sarparaz, Pouran, and Zerni, in
the very Fame legends explained by Thomas as giving those of
Omar, Farkhan, and Hani, in the usual Cuphic character.
This third alphabet is a modification of the second, produced
by running the letters into each other, after the modern Oriental
fashion, and appears on the coins of Chosroes and his successors.
Gems with legends in this letter are common enough ; and in all
that have fallen in my way I have observed that the inscriptions
round the royal portrait all begin with the characters for AP,
usually read as Apad, or Afzud, the " Most High," a title first
assumed on his medals by Chosroes I.
From the discoveries made in the topes of Cabul it is ascer-
tained that, concurrently with the usual Sassanian coinage,
another was issued in or for the Indian provinces of their em-
478 BERYL. COLDORfi. IRON RINGS. APP.
pire, with its legends in the Baotrian Pali letter, but of this no
traces, to my knowledge, have ever been observed upon the
seals bearing the heads of these sovereigns.
Beryl, p. 38.
An antique paste of this Taras is described by Winckelmann,
who was unacquainted with the gem itself, then in the Praun
Collection. One of the rare instances this of the preservation of
the original and of its ancient copy.
Coldort, p. 268.
I have seen this summer (1860) a bust of Henri IV. by this
artist ; a three-quarter face intaglio on a large octagonal pale
Sapphire. On the section of the shoulder is the usual signature,
C. D. F. The likeness is admirable, and full of spirit; the
execution perfect ; and the intaglio highly polished within.
Taking into account the quality of the stone and the excellence
of the work this gem may be ranked amongst the finest of the
Renaissance.
Iron Rings, p. 284.
Iron rings were long worn by the Eomans "ut virtutis bel-
li cae insigne." Pliny (xxxiii. 4), after stating that the use of
gold rings was first brought into Italy from Greece, expresses
his surprise that the statue of Tarquinius Priscus should be
represented without this ornament, seeing that his father Dema-
ratus was a Corinthian. But it may be observed, that if the tra-
dition be true that Demaratus was banished from Corinth by
Cypselus, B.C. 660, there is good reason to suppose that finger-
rings were as yet unknown in that city. 2 For many ages, how-
ever, not even the Eoman senators wore gold rings in private
8 Lessing boldly asserts that they were not used in Greece before the times of the
Peloponnesian War: but this is merely to support a paradox.
APP. IRON RINGS. 479
life ; they were given by the Treasury to such as were de-
spatched as ambassadors to foreign nations, as a mark of distinc-
tion, nor could any others wear them except those thus commis-
sioned by the State ; and even these only put them on in public ;
at home they continued to wear their old signet-rings of iron.
Even when they rode in triumph they were not permitted to
assume this, it would seem, exclusive privilege of an ambassador,
but, like Marius, had on their finger a ring of iron, just as the
attendant slave. This general never wore a gold one until his
third consulship having probably served the office of ambas-
sador in the mean time. As a relic of ancient usages the bride's
betrothal-ring, in Pliny's time, was of iron and without a stone.
One such has come under my notice, found at Rome. Its head
was formed as two clasped hands, the whole strongly plated
with gold, and its antiquity beyond suspicion. The ancient
Latin name for a ring was ungulus, a diminutive of unguis ;
perhaps because its bizzel covers the third joint of the finger in
the same way as the nail covers the first.
It has been already remarked that the earliest gold rings are
invariably of thin and hollow metal. Amongst the numerous
restrictions laid upon the Flamen Dialis, Fabius Pictor (quoted
by A. Gellius, x. 15) states, "item annulo uti nisi pervio cas-
soque fas non est " he must not wear a ring that has not a
hollow shank cassus properly signifying a hollow shell, like
that of a rotten nut.
The jewellers of the Cinque-Cento have lavished as much taste
and labour upon the chasing and carving of rings in steel and
bronze as upon those in the precious metals. It may be that the
very worthlessness of the material has saved these from the
melting-pot, to which the changes of fashion have remorselessly
consigned the most exquisite specimens of those possessing any
intrinsic value. Certain it is that many in steel now preserved
surpass in originality of design and elaborate beauty of chasing
any similar gold ornaments of the same date. Exquisite ex-
amples of such, as well as in bronze, met my eye in a magnifi-
cent collection of ancient rings of all periods formed at Vienna
and lately acquired by Lord Braybrooke.
480 HOUSES OF THE PLANETS. APP.
Houses of the Planets, p. 335.
Each planet has two houses, a diurnal and a nocturnal. Thus
of
Saturn, the houses are Capricorn and Aquarius.
Jupiter, the houses are Pisces and Sagittarius.
Mars, the houses are Aries and Scorpio.
Venus, the houses are Libra and Taurus.
Mercury, the houses are Gemini and Virgo.
Of Sol, one diurnal, Leo ; of Luna, one nocturnal, Cancer.
Manilius (b. iv.) thus specifies the parts of the body under the
influence of the respective signs
" Hear how each Sign the body's portions sways,
How every part its proper lord obeys ;
And what the member of the human frame,
Wherein to rule their several forces claim.
First, to the Ram the head hath been assigned ;
Lord of the sinewy neck the Bull we find :
The arms and shoulders joined in union fair
Possess the Twins, each one an equal share.
The Crab as sovereign o'er the breast presides ;
The Lion rules the shoulder-blades and sides,
Down to the flank the Virgin's lot descends,
And with the haunches Libra's influence ends.
The fiery Scorpion in the groin delights,
The Centaur in the thighs exerts his rights ;
Whilst either knee doth Capricornus rule ;
The legs, the province of Aquarius cool.
Last, the twin Fishes, as their region meet,
Hold jurisdiction in the pair, the feet."
Ceraunias, p. 406.
" Amongst the colourless gems is that called the Ceraunias,
which has snatched its lustre from the stars. It is crystalline,
tinged with a brilliant blue, and produced in Cannania. Zeno-
themis allows it to be colourless, but says there is within it a
moveable star. This must be the Girasol Sapphire. Sotacus
makes out two more kinds of the Ceraunias, a black and a red,
and says that they are like axes in shape, and that fleets and
cities can be captured by the aid of the black and round kind,
A HP. MAGIC SIGILS. 48 L
which are called Betuli ; the long sort, according to him, being
named the Ceraunias. They make out also a third variety,
excessively rare, and much, sought after by the Magi, since it is
only found in places that have been struck by lightning " (Plin.-
xxxvii. 51). It is a strange coincidence that in the present day
the popular German name for the stone-axes of the Celtic period
is " donner-keil," or thunderbolt, which they also believe are
only found in places struck by lightning, and to be a remedy for
all diseases in cattle. Probably these primeval stone-axes con-
tinued long to be used by the Romans in their sacrifices as a
relic of ancient religious usages. We find that in the ratifica-
tion of a treaty the contracting parties killed the victim, a pig,
with a flint " silice percussit." From the very nature of
things, and the tenacity of life in the animal operated upon, this
"flint" could not have been a mere stone, casually picked up,
but must have been sharpened and fitted to a handle, so as to be
capable of dealing at once a mortal blow. Hence the saying,
"Inter sacrum et silicem stare" to be in harm's way /'. e.
standing between the victim and the descending weapon of
flint.
Magic Sigils, p. 444.
Thetel Rabanus says that " the sigil of a man with a bundle of
herbs on his neck, if found on a Jasper, gives the power of dis-
tinguishing diseases and stops the flow of blood from any part.
This stone Galen is said always to have carried about with him."
Among the sigils of Solomon we find, " Head, with neck, cut
on green Jasper, set in a brass or iron ring, engraved with the
letters B. B. P. P. N. E. N. A. Wear this and thou shalt in no
wise perish, but be preserved from many diseases, especially
ague and dropsy. It likewise gives good luck in fowling. Thou
shalt also be reasonable and amiable in all things ; in battle and
in lawsuits thou shalt be victor. It helps women in conceiving
and in childbirth ; it gives peace and concord and many good
things to the wearer, but he must do so in all justice and
honesty."
2 i
482 COLLECTIONS IN PARIS. A PP.
" Capricorn on Carnelian ; set in a silver ring and carry about
with thee. Thou shalt never be harmed in purse or person by
thine enemies, neither shall a judge ever pass an unjust sentence
against thee ; thou shalt abound in trade and in honour and gain
the friendship of many, and all enchantments made against thee
shall be of none effect, and no foe, however mighty, shall be able
to resist thee."
Collections in Paris.
The Fould Cabinet of Gems, so often referred to in this work,
has been sold by auction this summer (1860) in Paris, in conse-
quence of the death of the proprietor, together with his magnifi-
cent collection of antiquities. All the gems of importance and
they were many realised the highest prices known in this cen-
tury. The Bacchante on Euby, quoted p. 56, was selected by
Baron Rothschild, to whom the choice of any one gem had been
bequeathed.
The finest private collections of gems are all now centered in
Paris. An excellent authority, who knows them all thoroughly,
places at their head the Cabinet of M. Turk ; next that of Baron
Roger, now divided between his two sons ; then the Blacas
(once the first), and that of the Due de Luynes.
The Devonshire Gems.
\Vhilst these sheets were in the press, I have availed myself
of the opportunity to spend a morning in glancing over the
entire collection of the Devonshire Gems, recently lent by the
Duke to the South Kensington Museum, where they have been
excellently arranged for the convenience of consultation. The
cabinet I found fully to bear out the observation of a connoisseur
(whose taste is equal to his experience in this branch of art),
that were the choice of any fifty gems to be offered to him out
of all the collections of Europe, he would prefer the Devonshire,
limited as it is, from which to select them. I therefore subjoin
a few remarks upon those that specially arrested my attention
in the cursory examination that could be given to so large a
A PP. THE DEVONSHIRE GEMS. 483
number (528) in a single morning : first premising that my
judgments upon them are subject to the drawback and the
amount of unavoidable inaccuracy arising from the circumstance
of having to examine gems that could not be held against the
light, nor yet were accompanied by casts, the only compensation
possible for such a disadvantage.
To commence with those inscribed with names (supposed of
artists^, in which the cabinet is singularly rich : the actual
inspection here of several quoted in Clarac's list has enabled
me to rectify Ids notices, copied as they were from various
authorities at second-hand.
No. 1. Theseus standing, regarding his father's sword; a
glorious intaglio on a large red Sard ; has the name KA.SCAK
divided on each side of the figure, in the huge bold lettering-
used on. the bronze coinage of the last times of the Republic and
of the early Csesars ; and most decidedly denoting the owner's
name, perhaps the "envious Casca" himself, for the work is
that of his times the mature Greek style just entering upon its
Roman phase.
No. 27. The M. Aurelius, ascribed to the artist JEpoliau,
shows by the magnitude of the lettering of the name, as well as
by its Latin form, that it merely designates the owner ; doubt-
less some official of that prince, for imperial portraits, accompa-
nied by private names, are sufficiently abundant to warrant the
conclusion that such an adjunct does not necessarily denote the
engraver ; which theory alone must have been the grounds for
enrolling .^polianus in the list of ancient Roman artists.
No. 23. The Achilles Citharoedus of Pamphilus is an antique
ruby paste, a cast from an intaglio of considerable size, worked
out in a style manifesting much of the Greco-Italian feeling ;
the same delicate touch, careful detail, and flat relief, marking
the entire composition : differing greatly from the purely Roman
manner of the Cupid and Psyche, ascribed to the same engraver,
among the British Museum gems. There is, however, a won-
derful resemblance in the appearance of the signature .upon
both the characters in each equally minute and elegant.
No. 32. The " Diomede Master of the Palladium," by
2 I 2
484 THE DEVONSHIRE GEMS. APP.
cut upon a large, white-banded, black Agate, is, as to the design,
exactly identical with that of Dioscorides in the same cabinet,
and perhaps superior to it as to the actual execution. This may,
however, be due to the greater effectiveness of the opaque stone
on which it is cut.
No. 186. The head of Socrates, called the work of Elpenor, is a
good bit of Eoman engraving ; bold, and deeply sunk : but the
name in conspicuous letters, and running half round the stone,
shows, by the prominence given to it, that it refers to the owner,
not to the engraver, of the signet.
No. 18. A pretty bust of a young lady, with her hair wreathed
above the head, like Faustina Senior (which, as well as the style
of the work itself, fixes its date), has her name, POY*EINA, at
the side : perhaps the very same who chose for her signet the
singular caprice figured at page 201. This is one of the few
good portraits occurring in red Jasper.
No. 195. Another lady, PAVLINA, represents herself as a dimin-
utive figure under the protection of Castor and Pollux, who
stand as guardians on each side. The stone seems a Magnet.
No. 22. A huge Hercules reposing, surrounded by the trophies
of his labours : green Jasper, with a long, unintelligible legend
in the field, is clearly a Renaissance work, betrayed, amongst
other indications, by the mediaeval form of his bow. A most
vigorous production nevertheless, and a gem modern pastes from
which are frequently to be met with.
No. 46. This struck me as perhaps the most perfect work
amongst this perfect assemblage, a Seated Muse tuning her Lyre :
the composition full of the truest Greek taste, treated with vast
care, yet retaining no trace of Archaic stiffness ; the whole
enclosed in an Etruscan bolder. Upon a large black Jasper, a
stone evidently, as before remarked, as much a favourite with the
engravers of the best times as the Red was with those of the
decline.
No. 8. A Medusa's head in profile, on brown Sard, shows by
its amazing boldness and broadness of touch, a later date of Greek
taste, already in its full maturity, and disputes the palm of excel-
lence with the gem just described.
APP. THE DEVONSHIRE GEMS. 485
No. 14. Also a glorious group, on red Sard, Scylla destroying
a Mariner, but of the best Eoman style.
No. 5. This is one of the few exceptions to the rule that
picture-like compositions never do occur on antique intagli ; for it
gives a group of no fewer than six persons, backed by the facade
of a temple : a veiled and seated female, attended by a maid and
boy, listening to an aged man and a warrior ; the design closed
by a youth holding a cornucopia. The work, as well as stone
(a fine and large Sard) have all the appearance of antiquity.
This gem merits particular attention, both for the rarity of the
subject, and as an admirable example of Imperial Koman art.
No. 28. A seated Victory chained and struggling to rise, her
hands bound behind her back, is remarkable for the truth of the
action, and the vigour and depth of the engraving. A large,
brown Sard.
The foregoing were selected almost at random from the class
of Mythological subjects : but to pass on to the other divisions,
we find the series of imperial portraits to include some unri-
valled examples. Here, as in many of those above quoted, the
dimensions of the gems are especially noteworthy, considering
the small size of the mere signet stones to which truly antique
works are generally confined. These, therefore, from their
importance, must have served some special object, and have
commanded for their execution the utmost artistic powers of the
age that produced them.
The list may be headed with (52), Head of Augustus, treated
in the Greek manner, in flat relief, upon a splendid red Sard.
Of great merit, also, is the. rarely-seen portrait of his successor,
but taken when still a young man, on brown Sard, of very large
size (196). Two heads confronted, the youthful Caligula and
his Mother (38), on the same kind of gem as the last, is also full
of life and expression. A smaller head of this prince, from the
very peculiar treatment of the hair (expressed by semi-circles),
seems to proceed from the same hand as the head (of him as
Mercury) in Stosch's Collection, and that figured at page 176.
It may here be noticed that, by a singular coincidence, the
Bacchante (30) appears identical in style and execution with
486 THE DEVONSHIRE GEMS. Apr.
that given in Plate IV. ; indeed, I have slight hesitation in
pronouncing both originals, and of the same engraver.
Besides the paste of Pamphilus above described, another bear-
ing the portraits of Nero and Poppeea is remarkable for the
extreme beauty and lustre of its colour, even surpassing the
finest Emerald which it was intended to imitate. Of the true
Emerald there are no less than three antique rings set with
oblong and rudely polished stones (171, 172, 175), none of them
engraved, confirming Pliny's statement " iis parcitur, scalpi
vetitis." The other specimens of antique settings are numerous
and important one distinguished for its enormous bulk ; but
the most interesting is that bearing cut upon the metal a head
of Domitia, and hence probably a ring of office. Another,
Etruscan, is covered with elegant and intricate patterns in
filigree, and perfectly preserved.
The camei are quite equal to the intagli in importance, from
the beauty of their work, the size and quality of the stones, and
lastly, the extreme elegance of the Cinque-Cento mountings, with
which several of them have their perfection enhanced and dis-
played to the fullest advantage. Of this combination of the ex-
quisite taste marking two widely separated epochs of artistic re-
finement, a matchless example may be adduced in (292) a head
of Diana, in a broad frame, designed as a pendant for a chain,
and enriched wiih chasings and enamels in the purest style.
Apollo and Diana busts, side by side : a magnificent Roman
work, is set in an elaborate and singularly designed framework
of interlaced serpents. Another cameo, a head, has a very
massy setting of ruder form, and enriched with four large Rubies,
a mounting apparently of some medieval jeweller. But, in the
point of view of art, perhaps the first place must be assigned
to (425) an unfortunately burnt and discoloured Onyx, offering
the bust of the Minerva of Phidias in flat relief ; one of those
rarest of the rare a cameo, of whose pure Grecian origin not
the slightest doubt can assail the mind, if ever so slightly
acquainted with genuine productions of that school. This may
be confidently put down to the times immediately succeeding
Alexander. As an example of what Roman art could produce
An>. THE DEVONSHIRE GEMS. 487
in this department, we may notice a bust of Cornmodus (488) :
a good portrait, though already displaying the stiff manner of
the decline ; but the Onyx, of extraordinary quality, its strata
rendering the hair in brown, the flesh in a pearly white, and
the field transparent; the whole enclosed in the usiial reserved
rim. A Vintage-scene : a satyr lifting a nymph on his shoulders
to gather the grapes, is well drawn, and singular as being cut
in relief upon the Peridot, probably an unique example. Another
rarity is an antique gold ring of elegant form, set with a minute
cameo, a seated Cupid ; to be added to the scarce instances
already quoted of such works actually found employed in ancient
jewellery.
Worthy also of special notice are the works of the Eenaissance
here exhibited : some for beauty, others for their historic in-
terest. Of these, the earliest and most important is a large
oval crystal, about 4 inches wide (390), inscribed with the name
of Giovanni del Castel Bolognese ; the subject a lion hunt
consisting of many figures ; in the background, a triumphal arch.
The intaglio is shallow, of the highest finish and internal polish ;
the drawing stiff from its very correctness; and the whole a master-
piece of that early period, and the most characteristic example of
the school that I have ever met with. The same remark applies
to (483), also a Crystal of the same date and of considerable
size, a Venus and Cupid, but the drawing more free than in the
preceding; and though uninscribed with any name, probably
due to Valeric Belli, being altogether in his style. All lovers
of works that stand as it were authenticated landmarks in the
history of art, will view with the same interest as I did (on its
unexpected discovery amongst these treasures), the very me-
dallion of Hercules and Antaeus, a gold chasing applique to an
oval field of Lapis lazuli, made for one of his patrons by Cellini
himself, and respecting the process of executing which he gives
full details in his ' Orifeceria.'
A magnificent cameo of his age is the Judgment of Paris
(368), on an immense single-coloured Onyx ; the grouping of the
three principal figures is admirable, and extraordinary skill is
manifested in the one detached, the Juno unrobing herself, her
back being turned to the spectator.
488
THE DEVONSHIRE UKMS.
AIT.
A bust of Oliver Cromwell (255) is evidently a contemporary
work, and much in the style of the famous medallist Simon,
though it is not stated that he ever worked in gems.
And to conclude this hasty sketch, the seal (433) deserves
notice for its very elegant and novel form, the shank being a
coiled serpent rising from an altar.
Bahyloniim Cylinder.
Fauna playing. Mioolo.
INDEX.
ABLATHANABLA.
A.
ABLATHANABLA, 344, 354.
Abraxas, 342, 347, 354.
Acmon, 235.
Adadunephros, 98.
Admon, 211.
Adonai, 354, 365.
Adoni, 268.
Adonis, 365.
JSgyptilla, ii.
-(Elius, 240.
Aetites, 404.
Africa, province, 172.
Agates, ii, 19, 393.
, German, 12.
, vases, 85, 87.
, Ste.-Chapelle, 258.
Agathangelus, 234.
Agilulph, crown of, 28.
Aio, 365.
Alabaster, 88.
Alabandine, 403.
Alardus, 26.
Alaricus, signet of, 324.
Albigenses, 369.
Alectorius, 394.
Alessandro Cesati, 232.
Alexa, 21,!.
Alexamenos, 346.
Alexander, portraits of, 320, 322.
Alexander of Tralles, 434,459.
Alexandrians, 302, 341.
Allassontes calices, 74.
Allion, 212.
Almandine, 2 r .
Amber, 178.
Amethyst, 41, 400.
, Oriental, 44.
Ammianus, 144, 281.
Animonius, 240.
Amulets, 349, 358.
Amymone, Emerald, 320.
Analysis of gems, 100.
Anathauabla, 344.
Andreuccio da Perugia, 298.
Androdamas, 4:3.
Angels, planetary, 348.
Anichini, 265.
Animals, Persian, 139.
, Etruscan, 169.
Anspach Collection, 259.
Antipater, epigram of, 43.
i Antiphanes, 259.
Anthracium, 4.
Antiquity, tests^of, 188.
; Anubis, 345, 368, 371.
Apan, Afzud, 477.
i Apistopistus, 46 7,
Apocalypse, gems of, 428.
Apollo in car, 331.
Apollonides, 213.
Apollonius Tyaueus, 338.
, artist, 211.
Apomyios, Jupiter, lix.
Apotelesmata, 332, 434.
Apoxyomenos, xi.
Apsyctos, 415.
Apuleius, 366.
Arabs, types of coinage, 45 2.
Archaic Greek style, 168.
Arduisher, 347.
Areius, signet of, 134, 322.
i Arellius Fuscus. 289.
\ Aretias, island, 330.
Aristotle's rings, 281.
on gems, 432.
Aries, 179.
Arlensis, Petrus, 422.
Armenian mines, 472.
Arsinoe, statue of, 57, 192.
, crystal of, 93.
Artashir, Ardeshir, 141.
Artists' names, 200.
, principal, 227.
Asbeston, 408.
Aspasius, 213, 240.
Aspus, 214.
490
INDEX.
ASSYBIAN GEMS.
Assyrian gems, 127, 737.
Astarte, 129.
Astrological gems, 331.
Ateius Capito, 277.
Athenion, 214, 321
Athor, 128, 347.
Augustus, 1 60, 249, 305, 332.
, letter to Maecenas, 320.
Aulus, 202, 214, 235.
Aurelian, head of, 163.
Aurifices, 234.
Ausonius, 390.
Australian gems, 71.
Austrian Diamond, 69.
Aventurine, 63.
Axes, stone, 480.
Azara Collection, 261.
B.
Baal-zebub, lix.
Babylon, mines of, 7.
, cylinders of, 128.
Bacchus, lao, 356, 378.
Bactrian Greeks, 152.
, Pali, 477.
Badoura, Princess, 349.
Bait, Athor, Achori, 358.
Balais, 53, 419.
Balsamus, Barbelus, 355.
Baphomet, 352.
Barbarian camei, 198.
Barier, 272.
Basilisk, 445.
Basilides, 355.
Basilidan stones, 328..
Bas-relief, cameo, 183.
Bat, sigil of, 443.
Batne, fair of, 3.
Batrachites, 464.
Beasts and birds, 443.
Becker, 272.
Beetles, 418.
Beetle-stones, 113.
Bel, 128.
Belli, Valerio, 264.
Berenice, 209.
Berlin Collection, 259.
Bernardi, 262.
Beryl, 38, 398.
Beryllus, brille, 40.
Betuli, 480.
Bigemmeus annulus, 282.
Birago, 266.
Bird, caprice, 327.
Blacas Collection, 261, 482.
Bloodstone, 17.
Boniface, Pope, ring, 299.
Bonus Eventus, 193.
Borgia, Cesare, 438.
Borders, Etruscan, 119, 168.
CHALAZIAS.
Borgognone, 268.
Bracci, 231.
Bracteates, 352.
Brandenburgh Collection, 259.
British Museum, 238.
Britons, rings of, 283.
Bronte, 465.
Bronze, Etruscan, 120.
rings, 290.
stamps, 375.
Buddha, 150.
Buddhist topes, 149.
Bufonites, 464.
Bulgarians, 369.
Bull, Mithraic, 128.
Burch, R. A., 274.
Burning-glass, 25, 94.
Byzantine camei, 196.
statues, 293.
C.
Cabalistic gems, 370, 442.
Cabul, cameo found in, 200.
Caerleon, 289, 390.
Caesar, Julius, 239.
Cairngorum, 94.
Caligula, 171.
Calcedony, 7, 395.
Cameo, 181.
, mode of wearing, 185, 256.
, rarity of antique, 190.
, Renaissance, 187, 189.
shell, 191.
Canachus, xii.
Canino Collection, 122.
Canon of Callicrates, xi.
Caprices, 327.
Capricorn, 332, 481.
Caracalla, heads of, 146, 241.
Caradosso, 262.
Caraglio, 264.
Carbuncle, 21, 404.
, cups of, 26.
, scarab in, 242.
Carchesium of St. Denys, 8 7.
Carlos, portrait of Don, 267.
Carnelian, 5, 403.
Carpocratians, 303.
Castel-Bolognese, Gio. di, 265, 487.
Casts, plaster, 384.
Caulonia, coin of, 210.
Caylus, Recueil of, 468.
Cellini, 28, 182, 419.
Cerachates, 8.
Ceraunias, 406, 481.
Cerbara, 165.
Cesati, not Cesari, 265.
Chaduc, 257.
Chael, sigils of, 444.
Chalazias, 410.
INDEX.
491
CHALCOPHONOS.
Chalcophonos, 415.
Chama, 182.
Charles I, 248.
Charles V., 256.
Charlemagne, 70.
Chaucer, portrait, 317.
Cheliclonian, 400.
Chiflet, 467.
Chimerae, 327.
Chneph, Chnuphis, 344.
Chosroes, 148.
Christ, portraits of, '97, 303.
Christian gems, 277, 3,2.
Christodorus, xi.
Chryselectrus, 416.
Chrysocolla, 37.
Chrysolampis, 26.
Chrysolite, 56, 398.
Chrysopaston, Chrysoprasion, 417.
Chrysoprase, 56, 400, 431.
Cicada, 10, 381.
Cinsedias, 465.
Cinnamon-stone, 22.
Cinque-Cento art, xlvii. 90, 479.
Citrini, 428.
Clarac, 469.
Claudian, epigrams of, 61, 95.
Claudius Cassar, 279, 455.
Glaus, 273.
Clemens Alexandrinus, 276.
Cleopatra's signet, 43.
Clusius, 266.
Coal, Kimmeridge, 98.
Coin dies, 206.
Coldore, 252, 253, 268, 478.
Cologne, shrine at, 184, 303, 312.
Commodus, 172.
Comnenus, signet of, 325.
Conchylia, 297.
Conical Persian seals, 138.
Constantine, 163, 315.
Porphyrogenitus, 309.
Constantius, Sapphire of, 238, 324.
Constellation-stones, 335.
Copper-Emerald, 36.
Coptic legends, 346.
Coracica and Leontica, 340.
Coral, 402.
Corinthian bronze, 179.
Corpus Christi College, seals at,
33-
Costanzi, 269.
Cracherode Collection, 239.
Crawfish, 380.
Critias, 120.
Cromwell, portrait, 488.
Cronius, 205, 216.
Crystal, 90, 411.
, works in, 267, 419.
Cuphic legends, 153, 477.
Cupids, 377.
EGYPTIAN PEBBLES.
Cyanus, 45.
Cylinders, 125.
Cylinders, how used, 133.
Cylindri, Eoman, 37.
Cypselus, 193.
Gyrene, gem-engravers at, 29 r.
D.
Dactyliomancy, 461.
Damis, 454.
Darius, signet of, 320.
Death, antique representation of, Ixiv.
Decade rings, 296.
Decani, 335, 363.
Decebalus, 146.
Demetrius Soter, 159.
Demosthenes, 236.
Demons, to evoke, 446.
Denarii, types of, 207.
Denon, xxi.
Design, antique, 116.
Devonshire gems, 246, 482.
Diadochus, 416, 446.
Diamond, 67, 392, 419.
, false, 92.
, engraved, 266, 269.
point, use of^ 105.
Diamyson salve, 372.
Dies, 202, 321.
Diomede of Dioscorides, 248.
Dionysia, 416.
Dionysius Periegetes, i.
Dioscorides, 205, 217, 236.
, naturalist, 473.
Divining balls, 45 3 .
Domenico dei Camei, 261.
di Polo, 265.
Domitia, 382.
Donuer-keil, 480.
Dordoni, 267.
Dorotheus, 335.
Dorsch, 272.
Doublets, 76, 91.
Dracontias, Draconites, 465.
Drill, 105, 107, 474.
Druids' Bead, 456.
Dryden, 460.
Durer, "The Melancholy," 366.
B.
Eagle, Sardonyx, 317.
, intagli of, 418.
Ecbatana, 430.
Ecclesiazusse, 290.
Echites, 465.
Edward VI., portrait, 253.
Egyptian and Assyrian formulae, 346.
god-rings, 295.
Egyptian pebbles, 317.
INDEX.
ELAGABALUS.
Elagabalus, 138.
Elephants, obsidian, 64.
Elizabeth, Queen, 187, 205, 252.
Emeralds, 27, 396, 432.
GRACCHUS.
Freedmen, rings of, 287.
Freedmen, engravers, 235.
Freemasons, 351.
French Collection, 255.
Front-face, heads in, 1 70.
Frog of Maecenas, 3 1 9.
G.
Gagatromaeus, 443.
Galactites, 411.
Galba's signet, 318.
Galen, 364, 481.
Galitzin Collection, xxv.
Galla Placidia, 326.
Gallic gold, 283.
Emery, 107, 474.
Enamels, Byzantine, 309.
Eu cabochou cutting, 99.
Engelhart, 262.
Engravers-, list of, 205.
Enliydros, 413.
Epicurus, portraits of, 323.
Epic cycle, 174.
Episcopal rings, 297.
Epitynchanus, 234.
Equites, rings of, 286.
Erigone, 377.
Ernst Duke of Gotha, xxx.
Ethiopian stone, 114.
Etruscan scarabs, 118.
Gallienus and Salonina, 163.
Garnets, 20, 191.
legends, 201.
settings, 277.
Eucrates, ring of, 25 7.
Euripides, 124.
Europa, cameo, 251.
Eusebius, 106.
Eutyches, 218.
Evax, king, 390.
Evodus, 219.
Evre, St., gems of, 258.
Execestus, ring of, 45 7.
Eye-salves, Roman, 372.
F.
Facet-cut gems, 39.
Faker-Eddin, coins of, 452.
False gems, 92.
Farnese, P. L., 419.
Felix, 219.
Ferouer, 454.
Fibula, Roman, 310.
Field of gem, 167.
Figeac, Chapter of, 236.
Figure-rings, 295.
Finger-joints, rings for, 280.
Fish, figure of, 381.
Flamen Dialis, 479.
Flint arrow-heads, 114, 471.
Flora of Pistrucci, 244.
Florentine gems, 260.
Foils, ancient use of, 5 8.
Folleville, Abbot of, 298.
Forms of antique gems, 99.
Fortunata's ornaments, 287.
Fossil ivory, 59.
Fould Collection, 481.
Francia, 262.
Frangois I., 256.
Gamier, Bishop, 303.
Gaston d'Orleans, 257.
Gauranus, 237.
Geisa, King, 309.
Gelas river-god, 241.
Gems of the Greeks, 3 .
Gem-engraving, origin of, xxxiii.
Gem-engravers, ancient, 2rr.
, modem, 261.
Gems, how to exhibit, 245.
, subjects of antique, 376, 383.
Genesis Imperatoria, 332.
Genseric, 137.
Geranites, 407.
Gere"on, St., 98.
Germanicus, cameo, 282.
Gimmels, 460.
Ginghiaio, 270.
Gio. delle Carniole, 261.
Girasol, 480.
Girometti, 165.
Glass, antique, 74.
Glycera, 82.
Gnaeus or Cneius, 216.
Gnostic gems, 342.
stone rings, 176.
Gods, jewels of, 311.
Goethe on gems, xxiv.
Gold, antique, 277.
Goldsmith, ancient, 278.
Good Shepherd, 353.
Gorgon amulet, 377.
Gori, 260.
Gothicus, Claudius, 282.
Graaft, 271.
Gracchus, P. V., 313, 361.
INDEX.
493
GRECO-EGYPTIAN.
Greco-Egyptian style, 115.
Italian, 162, 206, 265.
legends, 168.
Greek and Koinan style, 156.
language in France, 38^
Griffin, 443.
Grylli, 327.
Guarnaccino, 22.
Guay, 272.
Guilloclie border, 168.
Guttu Gutta, 370.
H.
Habinna, 287.
Hadrian, 34, 74.
, letter to Servian, 302.
Hsematinon, 74.
Haematite, 17, 408.
Hair on gems, how treated, 159.
Halphen's Star of the South, 69.
Hancock, 246.
Hannibal, 179, 278.
Haruspices, Etruscan, 314.
Hawk, sacred, 241.
Hebrew Jacinth, 155.
Heius, 219, 231, 240.
Helena, Empress, 218.
Helenus, 456.
Heliotrope, 17, 406.
Hellen, 219.
Helmet, Poniatowsky, 203.
, Constan tine's, 307.
Hemsterhuis, xxv.
Henri IV., 256.
Henry VIII. and family, 254.
Hephsestites, 407.
Heracles, oculist, 372.
Hercules, 260, 379, 487.
Hermes Psychopompus, 367.
Herophili Opobalsamum, 371.
Herz Collection, 314, 382.
Hexacontalite, 410.
Hieroglyphics, astrological, 336.
High Priest's breastplate, 134.
Hilarius and Patricius, 461.
Hilliard, 246.
Hindoo gems, f,?, 198.
Hoopoe, 443.
Hope jewels, 317.
Horace, Maecenas to, 319.
Hormisdas, 477.
Horoscope, 332.
Horses, gems of, 18.1.
Horse, caprice, M.-S., 329.
Host, origin of the, 359.
Houses, Planetary, 335, 479.
Hungary, crown of, 309.
Hyacinth, fleur-de-lys, 50.
Hyacinthina, 297.
Hyacinthus, 44, 399.
Hydraulis, xviiL
Hydrinus, 427.
Hydrophane, 45 7.
Hydras, 220.
Hysenia, Hyseneia, 412,465.
Hyllus, 220.
I.
lamblichus, to Porphyrius, 346.
lao, 354, 369,
laos, 356.
larchas, rings of, 338.
Ildabaoth, 348.
Imperial portraits, 162, 307.
Indian gems, 149.
Ink, purple, 297.
Innocentius, Pope, 3 14.
Inscription, Camei, 195.
Instruments, engraving, 107.
Intagli, antique, 1 10.
, ancient price of, 320.
, magical, 443.
Invisible, to become, 444.
Ionia, Ruby, 53.
Ippolito, Cardinal, 265.
Iris, 413.
Iron rings, 284, 478.
Isis, 340.
Ismenias, 420.
Ivory rings, 179.
lynx, 453.
Ized Arduisher, 347.
J.
Jacinth, 22.
Jacopo da Trezzo, 205.
Jade, 97.
, tortoise in, 150.
Janus-portrait, 315.
Jaspers, 16, 344, 364.
Jaspar, or Caspar, Melchior, Baltazar,
370.
Jehan, Shah, 200.
Jerome to Laeta, 361.
Jerusalem, New, 429.
Jesus, Name of, 353.
Jet, 98, 401.
Jews' wedding-ring, 155.
Jews' stones, 370.
Job, 131.
Josephine, Empress, xxi.
Juba, King, rgz.
Judah's signet, 132.
Jugurtha, surrender of, 3 1 8.
Julian, 293.
494
JTTL1A.
Julia Domna, 332.
Julia Titi, 382.
Julius Caesar, 239.
Julius, II., tiara of, 28.
Jupiter Olympius, 302, 379.
Justin Martyr, 359.
Justinian, art under, 293.
, Khinotmetus, 197.
K.
Kabres, crystal, 444.
Kaman, kakaman, 181.
Kimmeridge coal, 98.
Kings, Three, of Cologne, 184, 370.
Kirmanshah, inscriptions at, 142.
Knight, Payne, gems of, 239.
Knights, Koman, 285.
Koh-i-noor, 68.
KOINO2, Faun of, 230.
Krishna, and Kaduma, 152.
L.
Lacedaemonian rings, 286.
Lacydes, 290.
Landi, 270.
Lapidaria, 304, 389.
Lapis- lazuli, 44, 427.
Latest date of intagli, 369.
Lauthier, 257.
Legionary devices, 289.
Lehman, 266.
Leicester, Earl of, 253.
Leonardo da Milaiio, 262.
Leonardo Camillo, 181, 419.
Lessing, 468, 478.
Leucachates, 8.
Libanus, sects of the, 352
Ligurius, 422.
Lion, 168, 294, 443.
's head, signet of Theodoras,
168.
Liparaea, 413.
Lippert, 108.
Lithoglyptes, 228.
Little-finger, rings for, 280.
Loadstone, 60.
Lobster, 432.
Locust, 381.
Lodovico il Moro, 262.
Lollia Paulina, 306.
Lorenzo dei Medici, 109.
, camei of, 243.
Lotharius, cross of, 305.
Ludovisi Collection, 261.
Luynes, Due de, 482.
Lychnis, 25.
31. ANGELO.
Lychnites, 53.
Lyncurium, 33, 404, 422.
M.
Macarius, 460.
Machatas, 286.
Macriana gens, 322.
Macrinus, 315.
Maecenas, 24, 211, 319.
Magi, 418.
Magical sigilla, 433.
Magnet, 60, 402.
Magnifying glasses, r i o.
Magna Gra^cia, 119.
Mahomet, " The Persians," 147.
Malachite, 16.
Manetho, 335.
Manicheau gems, 45 1.
Manilius, 334.
Marbodus, 389, 432.
Marcus Argentarius, 316.
Marchant, 273.
Maria Honorii, 304, 350.
Maria Teresa, 270.
Marius, 285.
Mariette, 467.
Mannita, 265.
Maro, 183.
Marsfeld, cameo found at, 1 85 .
Martyrdom, gem, 352.
Mary, Queen of Scots, 324.
Masks on scarabs, 124.
combined, 327.
hollowed for poison, 278.
Massanissa, 285.
Matteo dei Benedetti, 262.
del Nazaro, 263.
Matter, Hist. Crit. du Gnostidsnic,
354-
Mauricius, 163, 304.
Maurice, 268.
Mawe, 468.
Medals set as gems, 292.
Medallions, glass, 294.
, astrological, 336.
Median stone, 40 >.
Mediaeval taste, xxii.
signets, 301.
Medusa, amulet, 377.
, Emerald, 249.
, black Jasper, 20.
Mercury, 378.
Mermaid, 445.
Mertens-Schaafhausen gems, liii., 383.
Metrodorus, 390, 403.
Michelino, 262.
M. Angelo's signet, 258, 325.
INDEX.
495
MILITARY.
PHILIP.
Military rings, 282, 292.
Opthalmius, 414.
Millin, 470.
Orai, 348.
Minerva, 377.
Oratory of crystal, 264.
Misuroui, 266.
Oriental signets, 153.
Mithras, 128, 338, 365.
Orites, 412.
_____ _.p tf\r\
Ormuzd, Gnostic, 451.
, symbols, 359.
Orphanus, 66.
Mithridates, 321.
Orpheus, on gems, 389.
Mnesarclms, 231.
, -/vguie, 19*
Mogul, ring of, 310.
, Coral, 423.
Molochites, 15.
, Liparsea, 420.
Monson Collection, 283.
Osculan at Egmund, 26.
Monza, iron crown of, 28.
Osiris in Ruby, 192.
Moretti, 262.
Ostia, temple of Castor and Pollux,
Morio, 23, 183.
313.
Mosaic, Egyptian, 74.
Ostracias, 108.
Murrhina, 83.
Ovidian subjects, 165.
Museum Florentinum, 260.
Ovum Anguinum, 45 4.
Myriogeneses Signorum, 336.
Mysteries, Mithraic, 359.
P.
Pacorus, 147.
N.
Pseanites, 409.
Paederos, 66.
Nanni di Prospero, 265.
Pallas, freedman, 288.
Napoleon's snuffbox, 243.
Palladius, 313.
Narses, 144.
Pamphilus, 232, 240.
Natalis, 267.
Panaeus, 222. \
Nativity of Rome, 333.
Pantheros, 414.
Natter, xxviii., 216.
Papal rings, 296.
Naumachius, 48.
Parmeno's ring, 281.
Naxian stone, 107, 473.
Parthian king, 146,448.
Nechepsos, King, 364.
alphabet, 476.
Necromantic sigils, 436.
Pasiteles, xiii.
Nemesis, 377.
Pastes, antique, 72, 194.
Nero, Emerald of, 34.
TYii'frif*p'7 "fni" RT
Dortrciit3 i ** r IQ'* ^04-
Patroclus, 101.
Nico, sorceress, 453.
Paul II., ring of, 299.
Nicocreon, 502.
Paul III, 50.
Nicolo, ii, 422.
Paul V., portrait, 268.
Nicolas de Cusa, 40.
Pazalias, 222.
Niger, astrological coin, 337.
Pehlevi character, 141,
Niphus, Corax, Bromius, 361.
Peiresc, 257.
Noel, Emmanuel, 301,
Pepin's signet, 325.
Perforated Onyx, 102.
Periapta, 349.
0.
Peridot, 5 7.
Persepolitan character, 476.
Obscene subjects, 1 74.
Perseus of Cellini, xv.
Obsidian, 64, 192,
Persian gems, 131, 145.
Oculists' stamps, 371.
Peter, St., crystals of, 263.
Odescalchi cameo, 193.
Pescia, Maria da, 325.
Official rings, 292.
Petronius, trulla of, 75 .
Okitokius, 423.
Petros, 223.
Omphax, 3.
Phenician legend, 140.
Onesas, 222.
Philemon, 223.
Onyx, 8, 397.
Philinnion, 286.
Opal, 65, 422, 458. Philip's signet, 321.
Ophites, 456. Philip II., 69.
496
INDEX.
PHILOOTETES.
Philoctetes, 156.
Phloginum, Floginum, salve, 375.
Phocas, 293.
Phrygillus, 731.
Pichler, Ant., 270.
, John, 273.
, gem, 269.
Pictures, natural, 317.
Piso's ring, 277.
Pistrucci, 209, 275.
Plague, amulet against, 366.
Planetary rings, 460.
Planets, sigils of, 438.
Plasma, prase, 14, 382.
Plato, portraits of, how distinguished,
Iviii.
Pliny's signet, 147.
Poison in rings, 2 78.
Polemo, King, 1 7.
Polish of intaglio, 104.
Polycletus, 232.
Polycrates, 10, 291.
Pompey's signet, 318.
Pomphius, or Pompeius, 184.
Poniatowsky gems, 202.
Porcelain, 83, 182, 464.
Porphyry, 64, 117.
Portland vase, 193.
Portraits, Greek, 170.
, imperial, 172.
Prase, 14, 411.
Priapus, sacrifice to, 241.
Primaticcio, 256.
Procopius, 148.
Prosa, of Marbodus, 430.
Prometheus, 284, 417.
Provinces, heads of, 172.
Pseudolus, 82.
Ptolemaic style of art, 114.
Ptolemy V., gem, 1 15.
and Berenice, 193.
Pyrgoteles, 224, 232.
Pyrites, 416.
Pyroses, Pirouz, 144.
Pyrrhus, agate of, 316.
Q.
Quattro-Cento gems, 164.
, artists of the, 205.
Quintilian, 280.
Quintus, 234,
Quirinus, 423.
R.
Ragiel, sigilla of, 442.
Raspe's Catalogue, 469.
Rationale, High-priests, 135.
Raven, 432.
SABDINIAN.
Ravens and lions, 340.
Receswinthus, crown of, 308.
Recoinage of 1816, 275.
Red Jasper, 1 7.
Rega, 270.
Regent Orleans' pastes, 75 .
Renaissance style, 90.
crystals, 267.
Retouching gems, 104.
Rey, 268.
Reynolds, Sir Joshua, xvii.
Richard Cceur de Lion, 304.
Richelieu, 268.
Rings burnt with the corpse, 38.
of stone, 176.
of metal, 276.
, minute and massy, 281.
, money, 284.
Rock-crystal, 90.
Roger, King, 300.
, Baron, 482.
Roma, on gems, 313, 371.
Roman-Egyptian style,
, inscribed gems, 201.
Roromandares, 378.
Rossi, 266, 270.
Rubellite, 62.
Ruby, 29, 52, 250.
Rudolph II., 52, 267.
Runjeet Singh, 35.
Rural subjects, 380.
Russian Diamond, the, 6y.
S.
Sabaco, signet of, 81, 118.
Sabao, 348.
Sabazius, 365.
Sacro Catino, 33.
Sagda, 409.
Salonina's jeweller, 77.
Salarnis, satrap of, 146.
Samaritans, 352.
Samothracian rings, 286.
Sandaresus, 63.
Santerna, 279.
Sapor I., 248.
, cameo, 199.
! Sapor II., Sardonyx, 142.
, titles of, 144.
Sapphire, 46, 49.
, of Constantius, 304.
Sapphirine, 7.
Sapphirus, 44, 395.
Sappho, 169.
Sard, 5, 398.
Sardonyx, 9, 397.
, artificial, 13.
Sardinian gems, 123.
41)7
Sargon, 472.
Sassanian seals, 138, 141.
, latest character, 476.
Saufeius, signet of, 418.
Saurites, 463.
Scarabs, 113, 121.
, how set, 122.
Schwaiger, 267.
Scipio JSmilianus, duel of, 318.
Africanus, gems of, 1 2 .
Scymnus, 225.
Seatou, 273.
Seleuites, 405.
Seleucus, 225.
Semes Eilam, 344.
Sennacherib, signet of, 137.
. Serapis, colossus of, 33.
Serapis, 302, 340.
Serena, 311.
Severe da Eavenua, 262.
Shell-camei, 191.
Siderites, 48.
Signets, famous, 316.
Signorum decreta, 334.
Silice percussit, 480.
Silver rings, 289
Sassanian coin, 14^.
Siriam, not Syrian, Garnet, 21.
Smaragdus, 33.
, obelisks of, 36.
Smart, 273.
Sinir, Smyris, 149, 474.
Socrates, portraits of, 254.
, artist, 225.
and Silenus, Iviii.
Solinus, 47, 389.
Solders for gold, 279.
Solomon, 481.
Solon, 225.
Somnus, Ixiv.
Sonnica, 308.
Sosthenes, Sosicles, 225.
Sostratus, 226.
Sources of ancient gems, r.
Speckstein, 182.
Speculum Lapidum, 434.
Sphinx of Augustus, 319.
Sphragides, 19.
Sporus, ring of, 323.
Steaschist, Steatite, 113.
Stimmius Amato, 291.
Stobaj, mines at, 37.
Stone rings, 176.
Stosch, 231, 467.
Strozzi Collection, 260.
Strawberry-hill gems, 317.
Styles, Greek and Roman, 172.
Stymphalian bird, 330.
Sun and moon, names of, 4:8.
Surface, false, of gems, 104.
Swallow, 444.
Sybaris, coin of, 119.
Sylla, signet of, 318.
Symbolum, 82.
Symplegmata, 327.
Syria Dea, 26.
T.
Tabernacles, feast of, 357.
Table of Solomon, 33.
Tabula; lusorise, 318.
Tagliacarne, 262.
Talisman, 363, 434.
Talismanic rings, 3 70.
Tallow-drop cutting, 99.
Tauos, 15.
Taras, 39.
Tassie's Gems, 469.
Taverna, 267.
Tavernier, 27.
Tecolite, 415.
Templars, gnosticism of, 35 r.
Terebinthizusa, 19.
Terebra, 107.
Terra-cotta, seals in, 81.
Tertullian, 360.
Tests of antiquity, 101.
Teucer, 363.
Tharros, gems from, 123.
Theodosius, jewels of, 307.
Theophrastus, 3, 36.
Thetel Rabanus, 48 r.
Thoth, Priapean, 343.
QpLir^Seffra ff<ppayi8ia, \ 24.
Thunderbolt, 406.
Thynica lima, 1 14.
Thyosus, 227.
Tiara, 144.
Tiberius, 183, 252.
and Drusus, 25 i.
Titus, minute portrait, 171.
Toadstone, 463.
Topaz, 56, 399.
Tortorino, 267.
Tortoise in jade, 1 50.
Tortures, Mithraic, 359.
Tourmaline, 62.
Townley Collection, 239, 245.
Tragic subjects, 161.
Tribune's ring, 282.
Tricoloured Agate, 168.
Trimalchio, 179.
Trinity, representation of, 301.
Trinity College Library, 290.
Trines, 333,437-
Triune deity, 35 8 -
Troyes, cathedral, gems of, 303.
Tryphon, 38, 233.
2 K
498
INDEX.
TURBO.
Turbo, magic, 453.
Turk, M., 482.
Turquois, 59, 427,433-
Tuscher, 271.
Tyrants, portraits of, broken, 176.
U.
Udder shaped vase, 368.
Unguentaria, 89.
Union, 4r4.
Universal sigils, 436.
V.
Valens, death of, 463,
Valentinian, portrait of, 315
Valeria gens, device of, 330.
Value of precious stones, 33.
Vasari's notices of gem-engravers, 205 .
Vases, cameo, 193.
, intagli of, 204.
, Isiac, 368.
Vatican Collection, 261.
Venice glasses, 96.
Venus, 377.
Vermeille, vermilion garnet, 2 1 .
Verres, a gem-collector, 83.
Verus, L., 382.
Vesta, necklace of, 311.
Vetton, 112.
Vicentino, II., 205.
Victory, intagli of, 3 70.
Virgilian subjects, 1 74.
Virgin Mary, betrothal ring of, 212.
Virgins, Black, 301.
Virtus, gold statue of, 313.
Virtues of gems, 418.
Visconti, 230, 384.
Voltaire, portrait, 317.
Vol terra, alabaster, 88.
Voluntariae gemmae, 435.
Vopiscus, 302.
Vossius, 296.
Vulture, 445.
W.
Waise, Opal, 66.
Walsingham, toadstone at, 464.
Walsh's Gnostic Gems, vi.
Water in crystals, 95.
Water-Sapphire, 428-
Water-spirits, 444.
Wax, modelling, 387.
Webb Collection, 199.
Westminster bell, 294.
Wheel, use of, 106.
Wickzay Collection, 230.
Winckelmann's Catalogue, 467.
Wings, Book of, 442.
Worm-eaten wood, seals of, 124.
Worm Samir, 448.
Worship, heathen, decline of, 313.
Wray, 274.
X.
Xanten, gem found at, 185.
Xerxes, signet of, 321.
Z.
Zachalias, 390.
Zahara, emerald-mines, 29.
Zenodorus, 294.
Zenothemis, 480.
Ziazia, 427.
Zodiacal sigils, 437.
signs, influence of, 479.
Zoroaster, 403.
, oracles of, 454.
Zosimus, 311.
Zumemo lazuli, 427.
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