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 NOTES ON SOME 
 
 OK THE 
 
 ANTIQUE AND RENAISSANCE 
 
 GEMS AND JEWELS 
 
 IN HER MAJESTY'S COLLECTION AT WINDSOR CASTLE. 
 
 COMMUNICATED TO THE SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES 
 
 C. DRURY FORTNUM, ESQ.. F.S.A. 
 
 LONDON : 
 PRINTED BY NICHOLS and SONS, 25, PARLIAMENT STREET. 
 
 1876.
 
 THE ARCH^OLOGIA, 
 
 Vol. XLV.
 
 NOTES ON SOME 
 
 OF THE 
 
 ANTIQUE AND RENAISSANCE 
 
 GEMS AND JEWELS 
 
 IN 
 
 HER MAJESTY'S COLLECTION AT WINDSOR CASTLE. 
 
 The collection of antique and other engraved stones, of jewels of the period 
 of the Renaissance, and objects of like class but ir.ore recent workmanship, 
 belonging to Her Majesty the Queen, is comparatively little known, although 
 containing several objects of high importance. 
 
 On the occasion of a special exhibition of objects of " glyptic art " brought 
 together by the Royal Archaeological institute, and held at the rooms then occu- 
 pied by that Society in Suffolk Street, Pall Mall, in the month of June 1861, 
 the laro-er portion of this Royal Collection was graciously contributed, but could 
 only be seen through the glass case which necessarily protected the precious 
 objects it contained. 
 
 The series as then shown was examined, as I believe under these disadvantages, 
 by the Rev. C. W. King, M.A. Avho embodied his observations in a paper published 
 in the eighteenth volume of the Archaeological Journal, page 307. 
 
 The Royal Collection was also in part exhibited at the South Kensington 
 Museum in 1862, when some of the more remarkable pieces were specially but 
 briefly noted by Mr. J. C. Robinson, in the catalogue of that Loan Collection at 
 
 page 559, et seq. 
 
 A more advantageous opportunity of closely examining these valuable objects 
 has been recently afforded to myself, in company with two gentlemen who com- 
 bine the highest archaeological erudition with a profound and accurate technical 
 knowledge of engraved stones and jewels, both of antique and more recent work- 
 
 a
 
 2 Antique Gems and Jewels in Ser Majesty's 
 
 mauship. This examination was made with a view to reporting on the collection 
 for Her Majesty's private information." 
 
 Availing myself of this privilege to make a preliminary descriptive list of 
 the whole series, I was the more strongly impressed with the great excellence of 
 some of these examples of antique and Renaissance art, and suggested that appli- 
 cation might be made for permission to take photographs or drawings of the 
 2)rincipal specimens. 
 
 That permission has been most liberally accorded, and the accompanying 
 illustrations exhibit some of the more remarkable objects in the Royal Cabinet. 
 
 The Collection is, at present, arranged in two glazed tabular cases, that 
 occupy corresponding places on either side of a door of entrance to the elegantly 
 decorated room known as the " Private Audience Chamber " in Windsor Castle. 
 It numbers in all 292 objects of a somewhat heterogeneous character, for 
 among them are works representing the most developed period of the Greco- 
 Roman scalptor's art, others descending through the Byzantine to the period of 
 the Renaissance, and many by the more imitative artists of the seventeenth and 
 eighteenth centuries of our era. Among the latter not a few are portraits, the 
 majority of which, although not at present recognised, are of considerable interest, 
 and might afford profitable stvuly in tracing, and as far as possible verifying, their 
 likeness to the originals whom they may represent. 
 
 My present purpose is not, however, to undertake a work of this nature, but 
 merely to draw attention to, and put more distinctly on record, some of the more 
 important objects of the cabinet, considered from an artistic and archaeological 
 point of view ; commencing with those of earlier date. 
 
 The autotypes obtained by Her Majesty's gracious permission will greatly 
 enhance the interest of their description, and assist us in appreciating the beauty 
 of the objects which they so accurately portray. 
 
 Of those that I have selected as being of more importance than the remainder, 
 the number amounts to 68, viz. antique gems, 16 ; recent gems and enamelled 
 jewels, 52. Of these autotypes of 25 have been taken, and wood engravings of 
 two rings and one gem. 
 
 Some few antique and modern gems, of minor relative value as to subject or 
 artistic merit, have been included in the following descriptive list, for, although 
 secondary, they are perhaps worthy of being recorded. 
 
 " Report furnLshed to Her Majesty, 1872.
 
 Collection at Windsor Castle. 3 
 
 No dclinile history ol' tho formation of this collection can he referred to. The 
 various pieces have been drawn together from time to time, not so much l)y that 
 peculiar force (shall I borrow a modern term, dilferently a|)plicd, and call it 
 psychic!') which gathers objects of a like nature under tlie directing medium of 
 the amateur, as from an attractive ])ower attaching to royalty, which, acting 
 through numerous family and other connections, induces gifts of portraits, aud 
 jjresents of greater or less artistic and antiquarian merit, in addition to many pur- 
 chases of objects to which Royal attention has been directed from time to time. 
 
 That some of the choicer portraits, as those of Henry VIII. and Elizabeth, have 
 been in the royal cabinet from the period of their production there can be little 
 doubt, notwithstanding any temporary dispersion that may have occurred under 
 the Commonwealth. 
 
 They are not, however, mentioned in A^an der Doort's catalogue of the objects 
 belonging to Charles I. although he records the large antique cameo and some 
 others. 
 
 At the latter end of the last century, when dilettantiism was in high feather, 
 and works of the antique scalptor's art were sought for and purchased with more 
 avidity than discretion, a premium was offered to the cunning hand that could 
 best imitate the works of classic times ; not however without encouraging, to 
 a degree that has never before or since been equalled, those fine artists who, 
 catching much of tlie antique spirit, produced authentic works of a very high 
 order ; the names of Natter, Rega, Pichler, and Pistrucci are representative. 
 Collections of a mixed character were formed accordingly ; some from pure love, 
 some from vanity, and some, alas, with a view to dishonest gain. Among these 
 collectors, deceiver or deceived, or l)oth, was Consul Smith, long resident at 
 Venice, who eventually sold the collection he had formed to H.M. George III. 
 The King was further induced to patronise, and in the main pay for, the pub- 
 lication of two folio volumes entitled Dactyliotheca Smithiaiia, Venice, 1767 ; 
 in which the Consul's cabinet is described by A. F. Gori, and illustrated by 100 
 well-executed copper-plate engravings. The fact that only three of the speci- 
 mens that I have deemed worthy of selection and am about to describe, are to 
 be recognised as having formed portions of the Consul's series, will suffice to 
 indicate the infei'iority of its contents. The addition of the Smith collection to 
 the other comparatively few but far choicer specimens, and acquisitions since and 
 variously made, have swelled the royal cabinet to its present extent, while, as in 
 like case with the miniatures, drawings, prints, and other rich artistic treasures 
 
 a 2
 
 4 Antique Gems and Jewels in Her Majesty's 
 
 contained in the apartments of AVindsor Castle, their systematic gathering 
 together and arrangement in one place is due to the directing energy and judg- 
 ment of the late Prince Consort. 
 
 I will now proceed to describe separately those objects which I have selected 
 as more important, and in doing so have attempted an approximate chronological 
 order, dividing the antique from the Renaissance and modern gems." 
 
 Differing in opinion, as I am forced to do on more than one specimen, from our 
 erudite modern autliority on antique gems, I feel convinced that such an oppor- 
 tunity as I have had of careful and individual inspection, assisted by minute 
 examination with the lens, would have induced a different dictum on his part, 
 had Mr. King enjoyed a similar advantage. 
 
 But I am further fortified in advancing my own humble opinion by its agree- 
 ment with that of Mr. Newton, of Signor Castellani, and, as far as expressed by 
 him in the catalogue of the Loan Collection, with that of Mr. J. C. Eobinson. 
 
 The measurement is given in inches and lines, one-twelfth of an inch. 
 
 Cameos and Intaglios of Antique Workmanship. 
 
 193. Intaglio on red or "male" sard; set in a ring, oval. Height 7^ lines. 
 Width 6^ lines. Cupid bending his bow. Fine Italo-Greek work, probably of 
 about 200 B.C., after the well-known statue. 
 
 218. Sunk cameo; intaglio rilievato ; oval. Height 1 inch 10 lines; width 
 1 inch 5 lines. (Plate II.) 
 
 A Eoman male portrait, head in profile, facing to the right of the spectator. 
 
 This is a noble work of the best period of Romano-Greek art. The hair, closely 
 cut, is indicated by minutely executed stippling ; the brow wrinkled ; the ear 
 admirably treated ; he is beardless, and bald on the forehead. The general 
 appearance is that of a man between fifty and sixty years of age. 
 
 The stone, cracked at the lower end, is backed with glass to strengthen it, and 
 set in a modern gold edging, with loop for suspension. 
 
 The art displayed on this gem is of the highest order and the manipulative 
 skill equally excellent ; in no place does the rilievo exceed half a line in depth, 
 while the indications of the muscles of the head and neck are delineated with 
 singular truth and delicacy. This style of antique gem engraving, the " incavo 
 
 '<■ The numbers are those now attached to the objects, corresponding with the list in the Royal Library.
 
 Collection at Windsor Castle. 5 
 
 rilievo " of Mr. Kiiitj, tenned also " Egyptian relii'f,'' is l)ut seldom found oven 
 in works of smaller size ; the present exceptional example is perhaps the finest 
 that has descended to our days. It is hy no means imjjrohalile that the study of 
 antique gems of this character may have contributed to form tlie style of 
 sculpture in low relief, on mai'ble and other material, adopted by Donatello and 
 other contemporary Italian sculptors of the fifteenth century. Mr. King does not 
 appear to have noticed this gem in his cursory examination of the Royal Collec- 
 tion, as described by his paper in the Archaeological Journal, vol. xviii. p. 301). 
 It did not however escape Mr. T'obinson's eye, who refers to it in the catalogue 
 of the Loan Exhibition at South Kensington in 1862 (page .560) as being 
 " perhaps a portrait of one of the Sci|)ios ; " in which observation I am inclined to 
 agree. The idea that it may represent Cicero is much more doubtful, neither does 
 it resemble Metellus or Marcellus. The features differ considerably from those 
 of the bust of Cicero, the nose of w^hich is more aquiline and pointed, while the 
 chin is less forward ; on that, the treatment of the hair, in short locks, is entirely 
 different ; the wart, if it existed, was upon the left cheek and thei"efoi*e not shown 
 upon the gem. Neither does it correspond with the head of Cicero upon the 
 coins of Magnesia and Lydia, the works of Greek artists. 
 
 On the other hand it has considerable affinity to the head of Scipio on the well- 
 known bust in the Capitoline Museum. The closely-cropped hair denotes the 
 warrior, and we learn from Pliny and Gellius that in Scipio's time to shave the 
 beard and hair w'as fashionable among men of forty and upwards. The scar 
 upon the left forehead could not be shown upon the gem, and it may be objected 
 that, if intended to portray the elder Scipio, so characteristic a mark would not 
 have been neglected by the artist, who might have chosen the other side of his 
 subject ; but we know that the head of Scipio (greatly resembling this gem) is 
 similarly placed in tlie wall-painting representing the marriage of Sophonisba 
 and Massinissa, or rather the surrender of the former to Scipio and her death 
 by poison, found at Pompeii, and which is figured in the Museo Borbonico, 
 vol. i. pi. 34, and in the Icouographie Grecque, pi. 56. 
 
 To assume, however, that this fine intaglio (which cannot be favoural)Iy 
 rendered by photography) is a contemporary portrait either of Scipio Africanus the 
 elder, or of the younger, might perhaps be too hasty a conclusion ; but that it 
 may represent some member of that family is presumal^le, from the similarity in 
 general character of tlie features to the only portraits with which we are 
 acquainted.
 
 6 Antique Gems and Jewels in Her Majesti/'s 
 
 180. Cameo, on a fine oriental onyx of three strata, clear white, opaque white, 
 and brown. Height 2 inches 5 lines ; width 1 inch 11 lines. 
 
 Fragment of a head of Jupiter, looking to the right of the spectator. (Plate II.) 
 
 A magnificent work of the A.ugustan age : the beard admirably treated ; the 
 wino- of the cegis is in the brown stratum, the feathers minutely executed. One 
 of the few choice gems from Consul Smith's Collection, and figured in the 
 BactyUotheca Smithiana, pi. 1. When perfect this fine cameo must have been 
 3^ inches high by 2^ wide. 
 
 32. Cameo, oblong oval, onyx of two strata, white on brown. Height 7 lines ; 
 width 9 lines. Psyche, or more probably a bacchante, lying, with a vase under 
 her right arm and partly covered by an animal's skin ; the left arm is raised, 
 the hand behind her head ; the hair falling loosely. 
 
 Very fine antique work on a beautiful stone. It is set in a ring. 
 
 242. Cameo, 7^ inches high by 5| wide, of upright oval form, cut upon a rich 
 oriental sardonyx of four or perhaps five strata. (Plate I.) 
 
 An imperial male head and bust in profile, facing to the left of the spectator, 
 laurel wreathed and armed with a cuirass fronted by the (egis, a sword with 
 eao-le-headed hilt at his left side, and the shaft of a spear or sceptre passing over 
 the right slioulder. The rivets with which the cuirass is fastened on either side 
 are concealed by thunderbolts, and the leather straps, issuing from beneath, hang 
 over the arms. Below the (Bgis is a belt or sash, tied round the waist. The 
 o-roundins is of the dark brown stratum, the head and hair worked in the white, 
 as is also the lance ; the wreath in that of honey-brown colour, some of the leaves 
 showing patches of another white stratum. The front of the cuirass is also brown, 
 as are the highly finished feathers which surround the white Gorgon's head : the 
 execution of these is almost equal in careful elaboration to those upon the Jupiter 
 (No. 180) ; the thunderbolts are white. A raised border cut in the white stratum 
 and capped with brown encircles the portrait, sloping on the inner and enriched 
 with egg-and-dart moulding on the outer side. The portrait conveys the idea of a 
 person more youthful than the original may have been at the period of its execu- 
 tion, the face being well filled out and devoid of lines ; its expression sensual, and 
 wanting in mental or physical activity. 
 
 The workmanship of this noble cameo is of a very high order, exhibiting a 
 largeness and breadth of style, combined with the highest finish and accuracy in 
 the most minute details. In these qualities it perhaps rivals the weIl-kuo\A u 
 Strozzi-Blacas cameo of Augustus now in the British Museum.
 
 Voi.XLVPLI.p.6. 
 
 ^4-^. 
 
 SAWTCNS COLtOTWC.
 
 Collection at Windsor Castle. 7 
 
 That it is a portrait of the Emperor Chuidius, and that the execution is 
 contemporary, I have no doubt, notwithstandinii; that a dilFcrent judi,'ment lias 
 been iironounced and repeated by so learned an authority as tlie Rev, Mr. King, 
 but under circumstances which probably rendered its close and careful examina- 
 tion by him somewhat difficult. 
 
 Compared with the portraits of that emperor in the Vienna and other cameos. 
 &c., iigured by Visconti in the Icoiwgvophie Bomaine, vol. ii. pi. 29, and 
 elsewhere', the features would appear to be of an earlier period of life, indeed we 
 can hardly imagine Claudius to have had so youthful an aspect when he had 
 imperial " honours thrust upon him" at the age of 51. But the same allowance 
 must be made for artistic flattery, and we know the effeminate and voluptuous 
 nature of his life and pusillanimous character, which would tend to mollify rather 
 than harden features not otherwise wanting in regularity and beauty. Moreover 
 we may gather from the description by Suetonius," that he Avas moderately stout, 
 having a thick neck, his complexion and his hair pallid or colourless ; but that 
 he was not wanting in some dignity of bearing when standing or seated. These 
 charactei'istics are admirably rendered in this cameo. 
 
 Mr. King in the Archceological Journal, vol. xviii. p. 312, states it to be " an 
 easily recognised portrait of Constantius II.'"" He notices that the cerjis is covered 
 with eagle's feathers in lieu of scales, and the delicate execution of the Gorgon's 
 head ; but he writes, " the face is without much character, and may belong to 
 any of the sons of Constantine ; " and, " here, as in all works of the far-advanced 
 decline, the artist has expended his chief pains upon the accessories," &c. 
 
 In venturing to differ from so erudite a writer on antique gems, I would 
 suggest that some of his remarks would seem to be contradictory in themselves ; 
 no such important Avork of the "lower imperial period," \\\i\\ which I am 
 acquainted, exhibits, as this does, that large character and breadth of treatment 
 combined with so careful a finish and highly artistic management of the hair 
 and other details, among which the Medusa's head is, as Mr. King writes, " in 
 itself a perfect gem for delicate execution." If so, it can hardly be "of the far 
 advanced decline," such as the well-known and comparatively barbarous works 
 of the period of the sons of Constantine, nor this grand cameo "an easily 
 recognised portrait of Constantius II." Mr. Robinson, on the other hand, remarks, 
 " The adrakable style of art displayed in the noble cameo renders it one of the 
 most important works of the kind now extant;" an opinion in which I fully agree. 
 
 " Suet. cap. XXX. 
 
 ■j An opinion repeated by Mr. King in the second edition of his Antique Gems and Rings, 1872.
 
 8 Antique Gews and Jewels in Her 3IaJesl>/'s 
 
 Being therefore accepted upon its own evidence as without doubt a work of 
 the first century, we need not look for the original among Constantine's sons, but 
 rather to the members of the family of Augustus, whose features it, in a weak 
 de"-ree, recalls. A glance over their portraits fixes attention only to that of the 
 grand nephew to Augustus, Tiberius Claudius Kero, the son of the elder Drusus 
 by Antonia, and brother of Germanicus. 
 
 Compared with the heads upon the coins of Claudius, there is a similarity, but 
 with some difference, the nose being more aquiline upon the gem ; but we must 
 bear in mind that upon the coins of that period the heads were more or less 
 idealized, and modelled after a Greek type of the features of Augustus, a habit 
 which prevaih'd to a greater or less extent even to the time of Vitellius. The 
 cameo, however, greatly resembles the laureated head upon the medal figured by 
 Mongez in the Iconog. Bom. pi. xxvii. No. 5, around which is the legend TI 
 berius CLAVDIVS CAESAE, ANGustm Vontifex Maximus TRibimitia Votestate 
 lM?erator. 
 
 The bronze bust in the Louvre, figured on the same plate in tliat work, differs 
 from the cameo in the more pointed extremity of the nose ; the unfortunate 
 fracture of the latter has slightly chipped that feature, enough perhaps to have 
 rendered this difference more apparent. The bust is that of an older man. The 
 cameo occupies an intermediate place in point of resemblance between this bronze 
 and the colossal head of the deified Claudius in Spain, and figured in the same 
 plate ; both differ from and both resemble it. The statue in the Lateran is also of 
 his more advanced period in life, but not without considerable resemblance to the 
 head upon the cameo. There is also a bust of Claudius in the British Museum. 
 
 We next turn to the cameos which are figured on plate 29 of the work of Mongez. 
 The first of these is believed to represent Claudius and Messalina, with their two 
 children Octavia and Britannicus, drawn in a triumphal car by two centaurs, and 
 believed by the Chevalier Mongez to figure the triumph of Claudius over the 
 Britons. It is a work of inferior merit, perhaps of local origin, but ascribed to a 
 period shortly after the event represented. In this the features of Claudius more 
 nearly approach in character to those of Augustus. We can gather but little from 
 the portion of a second cameo figured on the same plate, the heads being all in full 
 face; but on the third there delineated, the well-known gem in the Imperial 
 Cabinet at Vienna, we have on its right side the profile bust of Claudius (about 
 which most antiquaries are agreed) accompanied by Messalina or Agrippina, and 
 facing those of two younger persons, variously described as Britannicus and 
 Octavia, or Germanicus and the elder Agrippina, and by Eckhel as the elder
 
 Collection at Windsor Castle. 
 
 Drusus and Antonia. In this cameo the head of Claudius faces to the right of 
 the spectator, and is cro\Aiicd with a chaplot of oak ; the features are less plump ; 
 lines upon the cheek and around the mouth denote a more advanced age than 
 on the Queen's gem. The general character of the face is however very similar, 
 and the style of the hair round the hack of the neck, &c. quite agrees. 
 
 Other gems of less importance, believed to represent Claudius, exist in cabinets. 
 Three are in the Marlborough (Arundel) Collection. Perhaps the most important 
 of these is that numbered 422 ; on a fine sardonyx the bust of Claudius, oak- 
 wreathed and wearing the cBgis, looking to the left of the spectator. This 
 portrait bears a strong aflinity to that on the Queen's gem, but represents the 
 Emperor at a later period of his life, in this respect approaching more nearly to 
 the cameo at Vienna. A photograph of it may be seen on pi. xiv. of Mr. Sodcn 
 Smith's catalogue of the Loan Exhibition of Jewellery in 1872 at the South 
 Kensington Museum. 
 
 Bearing more or less a general resemblance to each of these various portraits, 
 we can come to no other conclusion than that this grand cameo must represent 
 Claudius, either at the period when, associated with Caligula in the con- 
 sulate (a.u. 793), he was nominated to the office of sacerdos, and may be here 
 portrayed in the assumed quality of the Latin Jupiter ; or shortly after the time 
 when, thrust trembling into power by the pretorians, he became Emperor in the 
 forty-first year of our era. 
 
 This cameo came into the Royal Collection in the time of King Charles I. but 
 whence we know not. It is entered in Van der Doort's catalogue of that un- 
 fortunate monarch's collection as, " Imprimis, a large oval cracked and mended 
 agate stone of four colours, one on the top of another, first brown and then white 
 and brown again and then white ; wherein is cut an emperor's head in a laurel, 
 side -faced ; kept in a leather case ; which agate the King had when he was 
 prince." 
 
 There is a note on the margin which further states, " This was cracked and 
 broken in former time by the Lady Somerset, w^hen her husband was Lord 
 Chamberlain." " Except for the effects of this unhappy accident, by which it 
 was broken into eleven pieces, the work is in a perfectly genuine and original 
 condition. A small piece is Avanting from behind the neck, as are also the bows 
 of the ribbon which secures the laurel chaplet, and some other less important 
 fragments, together with a portion of the sm'rounding raised edge. It is now 
 cemented together and framed in a gilt metal cording and edge. 
 
 " Robert Earl of Somerset was Lord Chamberlain from 1C13 to 1615. 
 
 b
 
 10 Antique Gems and Jeivels in Her llajesfi/'s 
 
 279. Intaglio on a circular and convex oriental onyx of brown and wliite 
 strata. Total diameter 11 lines. One of the Dioscuri ; the star on the head, a 
 spear in the left hand, the horse at his side. Good antique work, in the original 
 gold mounting as a circular pendant, with loop for suspension to a neck-chain ; 
 it is hacked with gold, and has a headed edging. 
 
 This is another interesting instance of the use to which some of the larger 
 antique intaglios were applied hj the Roman jewellers. 
 
 30. Cameo ; oval; onyx of four strata, red, white, red, and white. Height 7 lines; 
 width 5^ lines. A warrior kneeling, with lance over the right shovilder; the 
 Gorgon on his shield ; prohahly antique work of the latter end of the third century. 
 
 16. Cameo; upright oval; sardonyx of three strata, dark hrown, greyish white, 
 and rich brown ; a fine stone. Height I7i lines ; width 14^ lines. Female 
 portrait in low relief to the left; probably antique Roman work of the third 
 centmy, and perhaps the portrait of a queen. 
 
 It is mounted in enamelled gold-work of the sixteenth or eai-ly seventeenth 
 century ; a white corded framing with ring above for suspension and another 
 below for a pendant drop, attached to the framing by shoulder-plates enamelled 
 with colour. 
 
 This mounting is precisely similar to to that on No. 131 of this list, and on two 
 cameos in the Marlborough Collection, Nos. 671-8. (Maskelyne Cat.) 
 
 24. Cameo ; circular ; onyx of two strata, white and brown. Diameter 14 lines. 
 (Plate III.) 
 
 A naked female seated, towards whom a small figure of a faun or satyr 
 approaches holding a wreath in the left hand, surrounded by a raised border 
 reserved in the stone, probably antique Roman work of the third century a.d. 
 The setting may be English and of the seventeenth century. It consists of a 
 gold border of embossed work enamelled with flowers ; the back is decorated 
 with double hearts surrounded by a wreath of laurel, and an unintelligible inscrip- 
 tion : the whole forming a pretty ornament. 
 
 224. Cameo ; oval ; onyx of two strata, white on grey. Height 7 lines ; width 
 9 lines. 
 
 A man and a boy gathering fruit (grapes ?). Mr. King, referring to this gem, 
 considers that the subject represents Bacchus and Ampelus. (Plate II.) Late 
 Roman work in enamelled setting of the seventeenth century, with vine-leaves at 
 the back. 
 
 2. Cameo; upright; oval onyx of three strata, dark brown, opaque white, and 
 honev brown. Height 1 inch ; width 7i lines. Head of Isis looking to the
 
 Colleclion at Windsor Castle. 11 
 
 left of the spectator. Of antique Roman art, Init somowliat coarse in tlic 
 execution. 
 
 15. Cameo ; upright oval ; sardonyx of two strata set in a ring. Height 10 
 lines; width 7 lines. Female bust to the left, hohling ears of corn on a branch. 
 Antique Roman, of good style, but rather coarsely executed. 
 
 234. Cameo ; oval ; sardonyx of two strata, wliite on brown. Height 10^ lines ; 
 width 7.y lines. Portrait head, to the left, laurcated ; perhaps of Commodus. 
 Coarse late Roman work, not improbably colonial, in enamelled setting of the 
 seventeenth century. 
 
 250. Cameo ; oval, on otiice zaffarina of two strata, white on lilue. Height 
 7^ lines ; width 10 lines. A lion couchant to the right. A work of the later 
 Roman period set in a ring. Mr. King refers to this gem as antique. 
 
 2i0. Cameo ; onyx of three strata, red, white, and red. Length 9 lines ; 
 height G| lines. A man in a Jjiga driving to the right of the spectator. 
 
 A very spirited work, Mhich, although not without a suspicion of Odelli, may 
 1)e of the later Roman Imperial period. 
 
 34. Cameo ; oblong oval ; on a fine sardonyx of three strata, black, blue, and 
 brown. Height 17 lines ; Avidtli 2 inches. (Plate II.) 
 
 Two helmeted male heads facing each other, inclosed in a raised rim or bord(>r 
 reserved in the blue stratum, in which the heads also are worked, the helmets 
 being in the brown. The cutting is in low relief, probably colonial, of the third 
 or may be early in the fourth century, on a magnificent sardonico oniciato. I 
 agree with Mr. King in thinking it to be a work of the decadence ; but whether 
 portraits of some of the sons of Constantine is less certain. That on the left 
 would seem to be the elder ; on the helmet of the other a lion is represented in 
 relief. At the back an anubis-ahraxas is engraved in intaglio, sm-rounded by a 
 Gnostic inscription; probably work of a later period, and very coarsely executed. 
 
 Byzantine, Renaissance, and Modern Works. 
 
 43. Large pendent ornament fpiccia pettoj of enamelled gold, of the latter 
 half of the sixteenth century. It is set with cameos of various periods, and is 
 probably of Venetian workmanship. (Plate II.) 
 
 In the centre is an oblong square cameo, on onyx of two strata, white and grey 
 in very high relief. Height 13 lines ; width 20 lines. 
 
 62
 
 12 Antique Gems and Jewels in Her Majesty'' s 
 
 The subject is Joseph receiving his brethren on their second visit to Egypt. 
 It is a composition of many figures. Joseph is seated on a sort of throne ; to the 
 right before liim, one kneels, holding the cup which had been found in his sack. 
 Of the remainder, four stand surrounding ; one holds the sack ; the others are 
 merely indicated by their heads seen behind the group. 
 
 The figures are cut in the white stratum of the stone, leaving the ground of a 
 grey colour. The artistic workmanship is of a very peculiar character, having an 
 antique sentiment, but of the late decline. It is much undercut, and is probably 
 Byzantine of the sixth or seventh century, and, if so, a most rare and interesting 
 example of the scalptor's art of that period. 
 
 Surrounding the central and more important stone, the enamelled gold framing 
 is further enriched with several smaller cameos in pietra dura, for the most part 
 of Venetian workmanship and of the period of the ornament. They represent 
 negroes' heads, in some cases relieved on the white ground ; three are arranged 
 above the centre, and are surmounted by one immediately beneath the ring for 
 suspension. Tliree other cameos are similarly placed on the lower side ; of these 
 the central one is of oblong oval form and probably antique workmanship, repre- 
 senting a Pan regarding a recumbent Venus, cut in the black stratum, whom a 
 Cupid reveals ; it is of good art, and on an onyx of three strata : on the left of 
 this (as seen by the spectator) is a helmeted male head to the left, and on the 
 right an imperial head to the right, while another negro is suspended from 
 l)eneath. On the left side of the central piece another cameo is set, a negro- 
 black on grey — from which again another is suspended as a drop ; and on the 
 right, to correspond, is an imperial head to the left, which may be an antique 
 retouched, and from which another drop is hanging, set with a negro's head, as 
 on the other side. The back is enamelled in the centre with foliated sprays in 
 black upon the gold, while on either side a dragon is emerging from a cornucopia ; 
 strap-work and other ornaments cover the remainder of the framing. 
 
 This noble jewel, remarkable in itself from its unusual size, being b\ inches 
 long by 3i inches wide, is still more so from the rare cameo which forms its 
 central enrichment. 
 
 210. Cameo ; oriental onyx of two strata, black and white ; St. George and the 
 Dragon, riding to the right, with his name in Greek letters. Height 9| lines ; 
 width 74 lines. (Plate II.) 
 
 Bvzantine work of the tenth or eleventh century. 
 
 241. Cameo ; on a ruby of pale colour and clear lustre. About 8 lines high 
 by 6 lines wide. Portrait of Louis XII of France, crowned, head to the right.
 
 Collection at Windsor Castle. 
 
 13 
 
 CAMEO LOUIS Xll. 
 
 Doiilile size lineiir. 
 
 This is a remarkable and rare work of the latter end of the 
 fifteenth or early part of the sixteenth century. Mr. King 
 considers it may be the earliest known llenaissancc portrait in 
 cameo on so hard a stone, and Avith considerable prol)ability 
 ascribes it to Domenico dei Camei, who executed the portrait of 
 Ludovico il Moro on the same material. 
 
 It is mounted in a modern setting of gold as a ring, enamelled 
 witli flein's-de-lis on the shoulders ; on the gold plate at the 
 back of the bezel is engraven the inscription "Loys XII'"' Hoy 
 de France deceda 1 Janvier, 1515." 
 
 The gold casing or rim, with claws holding the stone, is old, and it would 
 seem that a more ancient mounting, made however subsequently to a chip on the 
 edge of the stone, had been injured or altered and in part grafted upon an enamelled 
 setting, that is manifestly of modern workmanship and in very bad taste. 
 
 4G. A fine Italian pendent ornament {piccia licttoj of the best artistic period 
 of the sixteenth century, and probably of Florentine workmanship. (Plate III.) 
 
 It consists of an enamelled gold framing to a central oval medallion. The 
 original of this has been replaced by a male head in cameo, looking to the right 
 of the beholder, on an onyx of two strata, clear and opaque brown ; it is of more 
 recent workmanship, the setting of which appears to be of the latter end of the 
 eighteenth century or even later. 
 
 This cameo, in the mock classic style, without head covering, but with draperv 
 fastened on the shoulder, bears no sort of resemblance to the well-known portrait 
 of Francis I. as has been suggested. 
 
 The three pendent gems beneath are also, unfortunately, additions of the same 
 period to replace others. That in the middle is a modern cameo of the Blessed 
 Virgin, on turquoise, on each side of which is an inferior one of the eighteenth 
 century, set round respectively with rubies and emeralds, and which have been 
 the bezels or tables cut from finger-rings of that period. 
 
 It is desirable that these unsightly hangers shoidd be removed, retaining, 
 perhaps, the central medallion, as also the pendent pearls. 
 
 On the enamelled gold framing, at the sides, are figures of Cupid and Mars; 
 another cupid or amorino is flying above the central medallion, and beneath is a 
 sea-monster. Pendent pearls, table diamonds, and rubies enrich other j)arts 
 while at the back, occupying the whole of the centre, are enamelled figures in bold 
 relief of Apollo and Daphne, having a cartouche inscribed uaphnem . puebvs . 
 AMAT ; on other labels are names of the figures on the front, cvpid . febvs . &c. 
 
 In respect to workmanship this is one of the finest ornamental jewels of the
 
 14 Antique Gems and Jeioels in Her Majesty's 
 
 best period of the cinque-cento (uufortunately not intact), and is an admirable 
 example of the goldsmith's and enameller's skill and of artistic design at that period. 
 
 Mr. King refers to this pendant in his paper in the Archceological Journal 
 (vol. xviii. p. 309)," and singularly enough concluded that the central cameo and 
 those hanging from beneath are of the same period as the ornament itself. He 
 considers the first to be " an excellent profile head of Francis I." of France, and 
 strangely confirms that idea by describing the sea-monster beneath as a " sala- 
 mander." He overlooked the fact that this cameo is in a recent " casing " or 
 mounting, and is an addition of the last century, or even of more modern time, 
 and that the creature is an imaginary marine and not an igneous monster. He 
 also speaks of the pendent cameos beneath as " works of the same age" (as the 
 ornament), " the best a veiled head of Ceres on a large and fine tm-quoise." 
 
 These errors in Mr. King's judgment could only have arisen from the dis- 
 advantageous circumstances under which he must have examined the jewel. 
 
 Its total length is about 4^ inches, width about 2^ inches. 
 
 74. A " George." The group of St. George and the Dragon riding to the 
 right is in ronde bosse, and formed of finely chased and enamelled gold in a 
 circular suiTOunding; the figure of the princess is seen kneeling in the back- 
 ground. On the back is green enamel. Diameter If inch. (Plate III.) 
 
 Probably German work of the early half of the sixteenth century. 
 
 It is now inclosed under glass in a gilt and enamelled box framing of the 
 period of George IV., which is made to open, and is surrounded by the garter 
 and motto in blue enamel. 
 
 131. Double cameo, on an oriental onyx of three strata, dark brown, blue, and 
 rich golden brown ; oval. Height of stone 2 inches. Width 1^ inch. On the dark 
 stratum a negro's head, three-quarter face, looking to the right of the spectator. 
 It is worked in a sort of intaglio rilevato, a surrounding rim being left of the 
 same depth as the most prominent part of the head. The flesh is without, but 
 the eyes are strongly marked by having a high, polish. He wears a cuu-ass, and 
 ear-rings are in the ears. 
 
 On the other side is a female bust in profile, also looking to the right, carved 
 in the blue layer on the darker ground ; she wears a wreath of vine-leaves, which, 
 together with the more prominent portion of the dress, is executed in the rich 
 honey-brown stratum of the stone. There is something in the execution of this 
 head that gives rise to the suspicion that it may have been an antique, injured 
 and again worked over. It is mounted as a pendant in white enamelled and gold 
 framing with loop attachments picked out in red, that above having a ring for 
 
 " See also " Antique Gems and Rings," 2d ed. 1872, p. o23.
 
 Vol. XL'; 
 
 94.
 
 Collection at Windsor Castle. 15 
 
 suspension, the lower one probably for a hanging pearl, wliicli lias been removed. 
 This mounting is precisely similar to that of No. 10 of this collection, and to 
 that of Nos. 578 (Arundel) and 571 (Besborough) in the Marlliorough Cal)inet 
 (Maskelyne Cat.), and in all probability of al)out the same period as the negro 
 cameo which it surrounds. The gem is of admirable execution, and might 
 with reasonable probability be ascribed to the same period, and perhaps to the 
 same artist, as the fine portrait of Elizabeth. 
 
 73. Pendant, in enamelled gold ; setting a haroquo or monster pearl, which 
 forms the body of a mermaid. She holds a mirror in the left liand and is 
 dressing her bair with a comb held in the right. The tail is set with rubies 
 on green enamel. 
 
 The figure is suspended, by two chains to an ornamental flower with ring 
 above. A mother-o'-pearl mask hanging over the figure and three pendent pearls 
 l)elow having diamond shoulders are modern additions. The former ought to be 
 removed. (Plate III.) 
 
 This is a fine Italian jewel of the sixteenth century. 
 
 158. Ring of enamelled gold set with a cameo on garnet, a mask or bacchic 
 head of fine contemporary work. 
 
 The enamelling and goldsmith's work are also of great excellence. A hole at 
 the base of the hoop, with internal screw-worm, was probably fitted with a squirt 
 by which liquids could be projected through another hole in the mouth of the 
 mask. This might have been a toy used by bluff King Hal in his merry mood. 
 
 91. Cameo ; oriental onyx of brown on a clear stratum. Height 10 lines ; 
 width 8 lines. Head of the Saviour in full face. 
 
 A "Veronica" or 'Volto Santo." Fine work of the sixteenth century. 
 
 91. Cameo; large oblong oval agate of three strata, brown, opaque white, and 
 clear brown. Height 1 inch 4 lines; width 2i inches. The Adoration of the 
 Magi. (Plate III.) 
 
 A minutely executed work of high finish, of the earlier half or middle of the 
 sixteenth century, perhaps the work of Matteo del Nazzaro ; or possibly of 
 Dominicus Romanus, who executed the cameo in the Florentine collection, 
 representing the entrance into Siena of Cosimo I. The elaboration of the figures, 
 which are deeply undercut, and the adaptation to the strata of the stone, are 
 worthy of note. 
 
 265. Cameo ; on a fine, nearly circular, sardonyx of three strata, dark broMTi, 
 white, and golden brown. Height 1 inch 5J lines ; width 1 inch 4^ lines. 
 (Plate IV.)
 
 16 Antique Gems and Jeioels in Her Majesty's 
 
 A portrait of Henry VIII. iu cap and feather, \yitliin a raised border ; three- 
 quarter face, looking to the right of the spectator. He wears a slashed doublet. 
 It is in the original simple gold setting as a pendant, and was probably cut by 
 the same hand as No. 285. 
 
 285. Cameo ; long oval. Height 2^ inches ; width 3 inches 1 line. (Plate IV.) 
 On a splendid oriental sardonyx of three strata, dark brown, bluish white, and 
 clear honey brown. Portraits of Henry VIII. and of his child Edward VI. ; the 
 former three-quarter face, looking to the right of the spectator and towards the 
 young Edward, on whose left shoulder his right hand is placed ; the latter, in 
 full face, wears a baby's cap, holding a flower in his right hand. Henry is richly 
 dressed in slashed doublet, cap, and feather; these, except the feather, which is 
 in the white, are worked in the honey-brown stratum, as also the beard, the 
 child's hair, and a ring upon Henry's first finger. The faces and hands are in 
 the white, as also the slashes of the doublet. The grounding is on the dark 
 stratum, and a raised surrounding border is reserved in the stone capped with the 
 upper brown layer. 
 
 On the reverse is an unfinished intaglio following the outlines of the cameo, 
 except that the child's cap is similar in form to that of the father, but without 
 feather, and the boy's head looks older. 
 
 Mr. King suggests that the intaglio at the back may have been cut in order 
 to give light through the stone, but it does not render the stone translucent, and 
 it is remarkable that the child's cap should differ in form from that in the cameo. 
 He refers to a similar example in the portrait of Edward VI., which is one among 
 the Devonshire gems (in the necklace, No. 48), and suggests that these and other 
 similar works may have been executed from portraits by Holbein, &c., sent to 
 Italy, and there worked in cameo by " the Vincentino, or Nazaro, then in the 
 height of his reputation " (Ai'chteological Journal, xviii. p. 309). 
 
 There can be no doubt that it is by the same artist as No. 265. 
 
 251. Cameo; onyx of dark brown and blue-white strata ; a portrait on nicolo of 
 a man, thi-ee-quarter face, wearing a high conical hat with feather in front, turn- 
 down collar, and a circular pendent jewel or medal. Height 8 lines; width 
 7 lines. (Plate IV.) 
 
 The execution of this portrait (which may be intended for Sydney or Essex), 
 although differing from the singularly low-relief of those of Henry VIII., has 
 much about it that would lead to the suj)position that it may be a later work by 
 the same hand.
 
 Collection at JFindsor Cmtle. 17 
 
 255. Cameo, on a fine oval oriental sardonyx of three strata, dark brown, 
 white, and 1)rown. Height IJ inch; width 1 inch 1\ lines. (Plate IV.) 
 
 Portrait bust of Queen Elizabeth looking to the left of the spectator, sur- 
 rounded by a raised border ; the hair and part of the dress in the upper brown 
 layer, the flesh in the white. It is mounted in a thin enamelled gold edging. 
 
 A fine work of tlie time of Elizabeth, and probably by the same hand as 
 Nos. 263 and 284. 
 
 284. Cameo on oriental onyx of two strata, oval. Height 1 inch 7 lines ; 
 wiatli 1 inch 5 lines. (Plate lA''.) 
 
 Portrait of Queen Elizabeth (?), also looking to the left, in a raised border; 
 the dress is diapered. An unfinished work. 
 
 The outline of the features and the expression of this head differ considerably 
 from those of the other portrait cameos of Elizabeth, as far as one can judge from 
 so unfinished a work. The question has indeed arisen as to whether this may 
 not have been commenced as a portrait of Mary, and perhaps left incomplete by 
 the artist, who, from circumstances political or religious, may have absented 
 himself from the country, or lost court patronage. His work is lost sight of 
 during that Queen's reign, to be again resumed under Elizabeth. 
 
 263. Cameo ; oval, on a superb oriental sardonyx of three strata, dark brown, 
 grey, and honey brown. Height 2 inches 7i lines; width 2 inches. (Plate IV.) 
 
 Bust portrait of Queen Elizabeth looking to the left of the beholder, within a 
 raised border. 
 
 The ground is of the dark layer ; the flesh, portion of the head-dress, the frill, 
 and boddice, in the white ; the hair, edge of the frill, ornaments, puffed sleeves, 
 and stomacher, in the upper brown. It is mounted in a simple gold edging with 
 claws. 
 
 This admirable work is in a large style, combined with most minute execution 
 of the details, and is probably by the same hand as the two preceding cameos. 
 
 Unfortunately we are left without any positive information as to the name 
 and country of this excellent artist, no signed specimen or sufficiently definite 
 historical record being known to us. 
 
 A comparison of all the cameos represented on Plate IV. leads, as I think, to 
 the following inference : First, that the portraits of Philip and Magarita are 
 certainly not by the same hand as those of Henry or Elizabetli ; if therefore the 
 former (as is not improbable) are the work of Jacopo da Trezzo, tlu- latter an; 
 certainly not by him. 
 
 There is considerable difference in the treatment of the portraits of Henry VIII. 
 
 c
 
 18 Antique Gems and Jewels in Her Majesty's 
 
 and those of Elizabeth, enough to give rise to the suspicion of another hand, may 
 be master and pupil — if so, the latter the more able ; or the difference may, as I 
 suspect, only arise from a modification and improvement in manner consequent 
 upon longer practice of his art. We must, moreover, bear in mind that the 
 earlier works are nearly in full face, those of Elizabeth in profile, which would 
 jiermit of a more ready exhibition of a higher relief. 
 
 Walpole's idea that Valerio Belli (Vicentino) was their author is refuted by the 
 difference of his manner, and the fact that he died in 1546, twelve years 
 before Elizabeth's accession. The same reasons apply to Giovanni del Castel 
 Bolognese. Mr. King suggests that the Henry VIII. may be by Luca Penni. 
 Why not, with equal probability. Jacobus Thronus, who, Gori tells us, cut the 
 arms of Mary of England upon a diamond about 1557 ? (Hist. Dact. p. 180.) 
 
 But Coldore is supposed to have a stronger claim, although I fear he lived too 
 late to have executed the portraits of Henry and Edward, assuming them to be 
 contemporary. The latter was born in 1537, and is represented upon our cameo 
 at somewhat under three years old ; Coldore's head of Henry IV. on ruby is dated 
 J 590, half a century later; the sapphire in the Leturcq Collection (recently 
 dispersed by public sale at Messrs. Sotheby's), engraved by him with portraits of 
 Henry IV. and Marie di Medicis, face to face, is signed " Coldore," and dated 
 " 1605 ; " and Mariette tells us that he worked for Louis XIII., who did not 
 reign till 1610. Assuming, therefore, that Coldore cut the gem of Henry and 
 Edward when twenty years of age, he would have been ninety when Louis XIII. 
 came to the throne of Erance. 
 
 It is believed that he was invited to England by Elizabeth, and Mariette 
 ascribes to him, without doubt, the portrait of that Queen in the Orleans Col- 
 lection. It is moreover possible that the portraits of Henry and his children 
 may have been executed from designs taken at an earlier period, and that this, 
 and the fact of his being a younger artist, may account for their differing in 
 manner from those of Elizabeth, which he could have modelled from the life at a 
 later date. We may however, as I believe, look nearer home for the engraver of 
 the portraits of Henry VIII. and of Edward. At page 108 of the first volume of 
 Mr. Wornum's edition of "Walpole's Anecdotes of Painting in England " (Lond. 
 1849), we read : "John Mustyan, born at Enguien, is recorded as Henry's arras- 
 maker ; John de Mayne as his seal graver: and Blcliard Atsyll as his grave)- of 
 stones;" while a note at the foot of the page tells us that " Hillyard (the same 
 person, probably, of whom more hereafter) cut the images of Henry VIII. and 
 his children on a sardonyx, in the collection of the Duke of Devonshii-e. The
 
 Collection at Windsor Castle. 19 
 
 Earl of Exoter has such another. Lady Mary Wortley had the head of the same 
 king on a little stone in a ring ; cameo on one side, and intaglio on the other." 
 A second note to Atsyll states, " with a fee of 20/. a-year." 
 
 There must however be some confusion here, for Nicholas Hilliard, the limner, 
 the person "probably" referred to, was not born until the year 1547, in whicb 
 year Henry VIII. died. Nor have we any recoid of engraved stones or cameos 
 worked by that able miniature painter and goldsmith. I suspect therefore that 
 this statement of Walpole's must have been in error, and that the real author of 
 these portraits of Henry and of Edward was no other than llichard Atsyll, the 
 King's graver of stones. Walpole's inaccuracy is further shown when writing 
 of Valerio Vicentino, at pages 188-9 of the same volume, to whose hand he 
 ascribes some of the portraits in cameo of Elizabeth ; and where he states that 
 " The Duke of Devonshire has several of his works, two profiles in cameo of 
 Queen Elizabeth, another gem with the head of Edward VI., cameo on one side 
 and intaglio on the other," a characteristic which at once points to the same 
 artist as he who cut the Henry and Edward in Her Majesty's collection. I have 
 already shown that il Vicentino could not have engraved the cameos of Elizabeth, 
 having died twelve years before that Queen's accession. 
 
 Of Atsyll we hear further that he was continued in the royal service under 
 Edward VI., for, among the accounts of the Royal Household in the Trevelyan 
 Papers, published by the Camden Society in 1857, in vol. i. p. 195, we read, 
 " Item to llichard AtzeU, graver of stones, C" or five pounds, a quarter's salary; 
 and similar payments are entered in December of the second year of Edward VI., 
 and in March and Midsummer of the third year of Edward VI. (Vol. ii. 
 pp. 18, 25, 31.) 
 
 From this time to the accession of Elizabeth a period of only eight years passes, 
 but during which I have been unable to find any further note of Atsyll or Atzcll, 
 nor am I aware of any royal portraits attrilmtable to the same hand." It is not 
 unreasonable to suppose that during this interval, if still living, he may willingly 
 or otherwise have retired from office under the Crown, and developed his artistic 
 style into that shown in such perfection on the larger portrait of Elizabeth in 
 the Royal Collection. May he not have taken refuge abroad from the persecu- 
 tions and troubles of Mary's reign, improving his art under the guidance of some 
 Italian or French engraver ? 
 
 All these cameos represent Elizabeth when young and within a few years after 
 
 * His name is not referred to among the new year's gifts offerod to Philip and Mary in 1556.
 
 20 Antique Oems and Jewels in Her Majesty's 
 
 her accession. Some fifteen or more are known ; but an interesting entry, which 
 would account for their being so numerous, is to be found in Nichols's Progresses 
 of Elizabeth (i. 282), where, accompanying the description of her visit to Hunsdon 
 House in 1571, is an engraving, copied from Vertue, showing the Queen in pro- 
 cession surrounded by her Knights of the Garter. Conspicuous among these, 
 according to Vertue, are Dudley Earl of Leicester, Lord Hunsdon, Lord Burghley, 
 Charles Howard, Admiral (afterwards Lord) Nottingham, Lord Clinton, Lord 
 Russell, and Lord Sussex — seven in all then present — " each of them having a 
 ribband about his neck with a small gem or intaglio " appended to it ; thereon a 
 profile of her Majesty's countenance; which additional ornament, it is conjectured, 
 was designed to represent these noblemen to be the Queen's favourites." It is 
 probably one of such that is noticeable on the cameo portrait No. 251. 
 
 In an interesting paper by Mr. George Scharf, T.S.A., published in the Archae- 
 ological Journal, vol. xxiii. p. 131, it is shown that the painting referred to as 
 representing Queen Elizabeth's visit to Hunsdon House in 1571, according to the 
 statement of Vertue, is wrongly so described ; the occasion depicted being her 
 Majesty's procession to Blackfriars, to celebrate the marriage of Anne daughter of 
 John Lord Russell with Lord Herbert, sou of the Earl of Worcester, on the 16th 
 June, 1600. And further, that six of the noblemen represented as being Knights 
 of the Garter, and who are also decorated with a medallion of the Queen, are Ed- 
 ward fourth Earl of Worcester, father of the bridegroom ; the Lord High Admiral, 
 Charles Earl of Nottingham ; George Carey, second Lord Hunsdon, Lord Cham- 
 berlain ; Henry Brooke, sixth Lord Cobham, Warden of the Cinque Ports ; George 
 Clifford, Earl of Cumberland ; and Thomas, first Lord Howard of Walden, after- 
 wards Earl of Sufi'olk, Constable of the Tower ; and not those named by Vertue, 
 as above. The seventh Garter is not noticed by Mr. Scharf : he is seen in the 
 picture behind, and between Nottingham and Cobham. I have not however been 
 able to discover any entries of payments made to any " graver of stones," neither 
 to Atsill nor Coldore, nor to her jewellers, John Spilman nor Peter Trender, for 
 any of these portrait gems, nor are they recorded among presents made by her 
 Majesty. 
 
 Among gifts offered to her Majesty, may be noted in 1581, " By eight maskers 
 in Christmas AA^eeke;" " A flower of golde garnished with sparcks of diamonds, 
 rubyes, and ophales, with an agate of her Majestis phisnamy, and a perle pend- 
 ante, with devices painted in it.'"' And in the list of the Queen's Avardrobe in 
 
 " I suspect this word has been somewhat inacturatel}- applied. 
 ^ Nichols's Progresses, vol. ii. p. 389.
 
 Collection at IVindsor Castle. 21 
 
 1000 wc find, among objects received by Sir Thos. Gorges, Kniglit, of ^Mrs. Mary 
 EadclifFc, " Item, one jewclc oi' golde like a dasye, and small flowers aboute it, 
 garnished with sparks of diamondes and rubies, Avith her ^Fajcsties picture graven 
 within a garnet, and a sprigge of three branches, garnished with sparks of rubies, 
 one perle in the topp, and a small pendaunte of sparks of diamondes." ' 
 
 This fine series of royal cameos in Her Majesty's cabinet is unrivalled, the four 
 gems of like character in the Devonshire porure being relatively of minor im- 
 portance •, two of these portray Elizabeth, another the young Edward, already 
 referred to, and the fourth a group of Henry VIII., with Mary, Edward, and 
 Elizabeth. A similar quadruple cameo is, as I learn, in the possession of Captain 
 Peel. The Hawkins collection contains one of Elizabeth ; one belonged to Mr. 
 Webb. The fine cameo of Elizabeth (ascribed by Gori to Coldore) of the Orleans 
 collection " is now in the Hermitage at St. Petersburg, where, as I am informed, 
 are also some other cameo portraits of that Queen. One is in the Royal Collection 
 at the Hague ; ' this, like all the rest, in showing the left side of the face, has the 
 hair and head-dress, as also the ruff, in very high relief ; and another, a three- 
 quarter length figure, is in the South Kensington Museum. I am disposed to regard 
 these two last as of later date than those in the Eoyal and Devonshii-e collections. 
 
 Three are in the Bibliothdque at Paris, thus described by Chabouillet :' " No. 
 371. Elizabeth reine d'Angleterre. Buste. Sardonyx a 3 couches. H. 55 mill. L. 
 40 mill. Monture en or. Nous attribuons ce beau camee a Julien de Eontenay, 
 dit Coldore, graveur sur pierres fines et valet de chambre de Henri IV." He then 
 repeats, and accepts as probable, Mariette's tradition, that Coldore had been 
 invited to England to take the Queen's portrait in cameo, he being then unrivalled 
 in that art. " No. 372. Elizabeth reine d'Angleterre. Buste. Sardonyx 3 
 couches ; monture en or emaille, ornee de rubis ; " and •' No. 373. Elizabeth reine 
 d'Angleterre. Buste. Sardonyx a 3 couches." 
 
 Two are at Vienna, described by Arneth," p. 102, taf. ii. 22, and taf. v. One 
 of these, which I well recollect as a magnificent work, he considers finer than 
 that in the Bibliothfeque at Paris, or the Orleans gem. 
 
 He also repeats the story that Coldore was sent to England by Henri IV. to 
 
 •■' Nichols's Progresses, vol. iii. p. 512. ^ Vol. ii. \A. 74, p. 139. 
 
 ■= For a cast of this gem, and for other valuable information, I am indebted to our Director, Mr. A. ^V. 
 Franks, F.R.!^. ^ Cat. des Canines, &c. de la Bib. Imp. Paris. 
 
 = Ai-neth, Joseph von, die Cinque Cento Cameen, &c. im K. K. Munz und .\ntiken Cabinette zii 
 Wien.
 
 22 Antique Gems mid Jewels in Her Ilajesty's 
 
 take the Queen's portrait. The fatal ring given by Elizabeth to Essex, uo\^- belong- 
 ing to Lord John Thynne, is set with a cameo of that Queen, not on onyx, but 
 cut upon a garnet. Another portrait in cameo on turquoise is set in a pendant 
 belonging to Miss Elizabeth Wild, in whose family it has been preserved since its 
 gift by Elizabeth, as a christening present to its first owner. 
 
 Another portrait cameo of Queen Elizabeth, on an onyx of opaque white and 
 brownish yellow, of similar general character, but rather coarse workmanship, 
 was recently sold at Messrs. Christie and Manson's. It was mounted as a 
 pendant in enamelled gold set with stones and of modern French workmanship. 
 (May, 1874.) 
 
 205. Cameo on white and clear grey agate. Height 9 lines ; width 7i inches. 
 
 (Plate IV.) 
 
 Portrait bust of Philip II., looking to the left. A fine work of his time, 
 perhaps by the same hand as No. 266, but not so highly elaborated. 
 
 266. Cameo ; oval : oriental onyx of three layers ; clear, opaque white, and 
 brown. Height 1 inch 8| lines ; width 1|; inch. (Plate IV.) 
 
 Bust of Philip II. looking to the left of the spectator, in armour and with a 
 mantle, which, falling from the shoulder, is worked in the brown stratum. The 
 head is bare, the flesh in the white stratum, and polished. Van der Doort, in his 
 catalogue, describes what is in all likelihood the same stone as having been given 
 to Charles I. in 1637.=' 
 
 This is clearly by another hand than that which worked the portraits of Henry 
 VIII. or of Elizabeth. Mr. King ascribes it, and not without probability, to 
 Jacopo da Trezzo, and as by the same as "the more important one, No. 200 
 Besborough gems." He also refers another cameo on yellow crystal (No. 366 
 Arundel) to that artist, a portrait of Philip, or of his son Don Carlos. In the 
 South Kensington Museum is a fine cameo of Philip II. seemingly by the same 
 hand. Another is in the Imperial Cabinet at Vienna;' and another in the 
 Bibliotheque at Paris.' There are three in the Florentine Collection. 
 
 287. Cameo ; oval ; white on grey onyx. Height 1 inch 6 Lines ; width 
 1 inch 1 line. (Plate IV.) 
 
 « " Item: Another agate stone of King Philip of Spain, the head being while, the breast brownish, 
 and the ground transparent like to a glass; delirered to me by the King." " Given to the King, 1637." 
 
 " Arneth, die Cinque Cento Cameen, &c. taf. 1, 82, p. 60. 
 
 ^ Chabouillet, Cat. p. 71. No. 370. Philippe II. Roi d'Espagne. Buste. Onyx a 2 couches. H. 36 
 mill. : L. 25.
 
 Collection at Windsor Castle. 23 
 
 Female portrait looking to the left of the beholder ; a liighly elaborated and 
 beautiful work of the sixteenth century, ascribed by Gori to Giovanni Bernardi, 
 "Jo: del Castro Bononiensis," and to be the portrait of Margarita of Austria, 
 daughter of the Emperor Charles V., the wife of Ottavio Tarnese, Duke of Parma 
 and Governor of the Netherlands. She is young and beautiful ; her hair in 
 plaited bands crossing each other and intertwined with strings of pearls. She 
 wears a dress with a high collar, turned back, and puffed sleeves ; a frill is about 
 her neck, and a double row of pearls over her dress, which is richly braided. This 
 cameo is engraved in the JDactyliotheca Smithiana, under No. C, and may 
 probably be the stone referred to by Vasari, in his notice of Giovanni di Castel 
 Bolognese, stating that he executed this work in competition with Valerio 
 Vicentino. 
 
 58. Cameo ; oval ; onyx of three strata, grey and brown. Height \\ inch ; 
 width 11 lines. Bust of Pallas to the right. 
 
 Good work of the sixteenth century; in enamelled setting of the seventeenth or 
 eighteenth century. 
 
 236. Cameo ; onyx of two strata, clear grey and white. Height 1 inch Z\ 
 lines ; width 1 inch. Two portraits (?), that of a man on the white stratum, 
 and of a negress on the grey. 
 
 Good work of the sixteenth or seventeenth century, probably Venetian. 
 
 47. Cameo ; oval ; white opaque agate on a clear stratum. Height 7 lines ; 
 width 9^ lines. Cupid, Amphitrite, and a dolphin. 
 
 Fine work of the later years of the sixteenth century. 
 
 41. Cameo ; oval ; portrait ; female bust, to the right ; the head in carnelian 
 with drapery of amethyst. Total height 1 inch 11^ lines ; width 1 inch 5^ lines. 
 The crown jewelled and with black enamelling ; the framing of gold, with black 
 enamel ; at the back strap-work ornamentation in coloured translucent enamel : 
 sixteenth century. 
 
 45. Cameo ; oval ; onyx of two strata, white and grey. Height 10 lines ; width 
 8 lines. The full face of a bacchic boy. 
 
 Fine work of the sixteenth century. 
 
 36. Cameo ; agate of three strata, red, yellow, and brown. Height 14 lines ; 
 width 11 lines. The Virgin and Child, with St. Anna : mounted in an enamelled 
 gold setting of the latter end of the sixteenth centm-y, and forming a pretty 
 
 ornament. 
 
 226. Double cameo; oriental onyx of three strata. Height 10 lines; width 
 
 8 lines. A very fine stone.
 
 24 Antique Gems and Jeioels in Ser Ilajesty's 
 
 On one side the head of Otho, to the right; on the other, in the white stratum, 
 Vespasian, also to the right. 
 
 Good work of the end of the sixteenth or early seventeenth century, in 
 enamelled mounting. 
 
 231, Intaglio on oriental agate. Height IJ inch ; width 1 inch. Head of 
 Massinissa (?), to the left, wearing a helmet, which is ornamented with a biga 
 and a hound. Behind the head is a figure of Venus. A co^j from the Barberini 
 gem, of Carthaginian Greek work, known as Massinissa, but which Mr. King 
 suggests may represent Hamilcar Barcas. 
 
 Eine work, of the latter end of the sixteenth or earlier years of the seventeenth 
 century, after the antique. It is mounted in a silver setting of the eighteenth 
 century, enriched with emeralds, pearls, and rose diamonds. 
 
 288. Cameo ; white and grey agate. A crowned male head to the right, 
 probably a portrait, in a pretty enamelled gold setting of the same period as the 
 cameo, viz., the sixteenth or seventeenth century. 
 
 199. Cameo ; fine oriental onyx, brown and white. Height 13 lines ; width 
 \0\ lines. An Imperial bust in armour, to the left 
 
 Good work of the later sixteenth or earlier seventeenth century. 
 
 56. Cameo; opaque white and clear grey agate. Height 10| lines; width 13 
 lines. The triumph of Ariadne. 
 
 Fine work of the end of the sixteenth or earlier years of the seventeenth 
 century, in a neat gold setting of the eighteenth. 
 
 169. Cameo, on white and grey agate ; oval. Height 13 lines ; width 11 
 lines. Head of Antoninus Pius, to the left. 
 
 Early and fine work of the seventeenth century. 
 
 222. Cameo, on a long oval white and grey agate. Height lOJ lines ; width 
 13 lines. Set in a ring. Neptune in a car drawn by sea-horses. (Plate II.) 
 
 Admirable highly-finished work of the seventeenth century, in the spirit and 
 after the manner of Bernini. 
 
 235. Cameo ; white and grey agate. Height half an inch ; width 7-§^ lines. Set 
 in a ring. Jupiter on an eagle. 
 
 In the manner of, and perhaps by the same hand as. No. 222, after the school 
 of Bernini, and of the seventeenth century. I cannot agree with Mr. King, 
 who considers this to be an antique work. 
 
 96. Cameo ; opaque white and clear agate. Head of a man crying or gaping ; 
 of irregular form, about 1 inch in average diameter. 
 
 A highly-finished work, probably of the earlier half of the seventeenth century.
 
 Collection at Windsor Castle. 25 
 
 This is one of Consul Sniitli's scries, and figured in the JJochiliolhcca, plate xiii., 
 where it is stated to represent a Tyiihon, and similar to one on heliotrope in the 
 Medici Cabinet. 
 
 148. Cameo, on a white and clear grey agate. Height 1 inch 2 lines; width 
 Hi lines. Venus, Adonis, and Cupid. 
 
 A fine work of the seventeenth century in very high relief. 
 
 155. Cameo; agate; white stratumou black. Height 7 Hines ; width H lines. 
 Female head, to the right. Set as a pendant. 
 
 Pretty work of the seventeenth century- From Consul Smith's Collection, 
 figured on plate xix. It is described by liini as a "Baccha " 
 
 20. A badge or order, of the Knights of Malta (?), or more probably of Mount 
 Carmel or St. Lazarus, formed of a plate of gold shaped and enamelled. 
 Diameter 2f inches. On the convex face is the Maltese cross in Avhite enamel 
 on a blue ground, with a border of fl.owers. On the reverse, which is concave, is 
 a central sunk medallion of the Holy Family, surrounded by a border of flowers, 
 in scale-shaped sunken panels edged with ijold. 
 
 The painting is carefully executed, and may, perhaps, be Spanish work of the 
 seventeenth century. 
 
 Two similar badges in the South Kensington Museum have for subject, on one 
 St. John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness ; on the other, the Holy Family 
 with Joseph and the infant St. John. They are by the same hand. 
 
 Another, belonging to the Countess Somers, has St. Peter and other saints. 
 
 And again another was in the possession of Signor Castellani, with the subject 
 of St. Francis, with views of buildings, &c., at the back. 
 
 134. Pendent ornament of enamelled gold, enriched with diamonds, pearls, and 
 rubies, and formed as a pelican "in her piety" in front of a cross set with 
 diamonds. It is suspended by two chains from a jewelled top, to which the ring 
 is attached. Total length about 2f inches ; width 1 inch 4 lines. (Plate III.) 
 
 Probably Spanish or Portuguese work of the seventeenth century. 
 
 98. The Seal of King Charles I. when Prince of Wales, cut on a crystal and 
 set in pale blue enamelled gold, diapered with delicate black ornaments. The 
 quarterings are those of England, France, Scotland, and Ireland, with a label 
 svirmounted by the princely crown, with the letters C. R. 
 
 141. The Signet Ring of King Charles I. when Prince of Wales. 
 
 A large shield-shaped diamond of fine lustre, engraved in intaglio with the 
 Prince of Wales's feathers between the letters C. P., and issuing from a coronet ; 
 
 d
 
 26 
 
 Antique Gems and Jeicels in Her Majesty s 
 
 SIGNET. 
 
 Double size linear 
 
 beneath is a ribbon -n-hicb bears the motto ich . dien. It is set as 
 a ring in enamelled gold, painted behind the bezel with a bow and 
 quiver crossed saltirewise on the dark blue ground. The hoop 
 has a simjile edging. (See woodcut) 
 
 This is an extremely elegant and remarkable ring. The engraving 
 on the diamond is executed with great precision, and is deeply cut. 
 Following the accepted opinion, which was confirmed by Mr. King, 
 I had assumed that this ring was the signet of Charles the Second when Prince 
 of Wales. A little reflection and comparison of dates might, hoAvever, have raised 
 some doubt, for when we recollect that the Prince was only nineteen at the date 
 of his father's execution, and the troubled times and impoverished circumstances 
 of the King for years before, it would hardly seem probable that so costly a gem 
 would have been cut for the young Prince's use. That it was the signet used by 
 Charles I. when Prince of Wales is proved by the fact that it seals an autograph 
 letter of his in the possession of the late Mr. Labouchere of Paris. A cast from 
 this was given by Dr. Kendrick of Warrington to the late Mr. Albert Way, and is 
 now in the possession of Mr. Pranks. 
 
 The art of engraving on the diamond has been ascribed to more than one of the 
 Renaissance sculptors, Jacopo da Trezzo, or "Treccia," being, according to Gorlseus, 
 the discoverer. Clementc Birago, of Milan, is another claimant ; he engraved a 
 portrait of Don Carlos, and the Spanish arms on a diamond, as a seal. The former 
 is said to have cut the arms of Philip II. on the same hard material. In England, 
 about 1557, Jacobus Thronus is said by Gori to have engi'aved 
 Queen Mary's arms. I should have, however, little hesitation 
 in ascribing Prince Charles's ring to Prancis Walwyn, who, 
 in 1628 or 1629, engraved a diamond for King Charles I." 
 132. The Signet Eing of King Cliarles I. 
 A richly ornamented gold hoop, on the shoulders of which 
 are a lion and unicorn of carved steel chiselled in high relief. 
 The bezel is faced with steel and engraved witli the Hoyal 
 arms; quartering, first and fourth, Prance and England; 
 second, Scotland; third, Ireland ; encircled by the garter, and 
 surmounted by the crown between the letters C. R. 
 
 On the gold sides of the bezel the motto diev . et . mon . 
 DROIT . is inserted in letters of steel. (See woodcuts). 
 
 An exquisite piece of metal-work, and of admirable 
 Vide Walpole's Anecdotes of Painting (edited by Wornum, 1849), vol. i. p. 286, note. 
 
 IMPRESSION OF SIGNET. 
 
 Double ^ize liiie.u . 
 
 SIGNET RING. CHARLES I. 
 
 Douljle size lir.Uiir.
 
 Collection at Windsor Caslle. 27 
 
 (Icsigu, of the history of which we know nothing. Mr. King inclines to recog- 
 nise in the engraving the manner of the celebrated Simon, afterwards medallist 
 to the Protector; or, he thinks, it may have been the work of Vatiderdoort, 
 who was commanded, on 2nd April, 1G25, to make patterns for His .Majestyv' 
 coins. (" Gems and liings," p. 40(j.) 
 
 138. An Indian Seal, the handle formed of calcedony, mounted in gold and 
 set with rubies. The seal is an intaglio on glass, and represents a monster, witli 
 the sun, moon, &c. Said to have belonged to Tippoo Sahib. 
 
 229. Cameo; grey and opaque white agate. Height 11 lines; width 9 lines. 
 Set in a gold ring. A portrait, which may possibly be that of Louis XJ V., 
 looking to the right of the spectator, in a raised border. Signed x\ttkk 
 (Plate II.) 
 
 The hair, long behind, is dressed in a peak over the forehead. Mr. King refers 
 to this cameo as probably a portrait of William III. 
 
 71. Intaglio on a large oval cornelian. Height 2 inches 2 lines; width 
 1 inch 8 lines. St. George and the Dragon, to the left. Signed ueuixi . f. 
 
 Mounted in gold with the garter and motto. 
 
 223. Cameo; cornelian Height 1 inch ; width f-inch. A msAa portrait head 
 to the right, with long hair. 
 
 A fine and probably English work of the early part of the eighteentii 
 century 
 
 140. Intaglio on a fine brown sard. Set in a ring. Ariadne, from the antique 
 statue in the Vatican. 
 
 A very fine work. Signed marchant . f . roma. 
 
 181. Intaglio on a choice oriental onyx, cut through the brown to the white 
 layer. Height 1 '- inch ; width 1 inch ^ line. Head of Bacchus. Set in a ring. 
 Signed bvrch . r.a. 
 
 A remarkably fine work. 
 
 102. Intaglio on cornelian. Height 9i lines. Head of Antinous (?), to the 
 left. Signed picler. Set in a gold ring. 
 
 118. Cameo; oval; red and white agate. K lion couchant. Signed bvrch. Set 
 in a gold ring. 
 
 130. Cameo; oval; onyx of two strata. Heiglit 1 inch 1^ Line; Avidth 1 inch. 
 Three-quarter bust portrait of a lady, to the right, in a costume of the time of 
 Louis XV. (Plate III.) 
 
 In an elegant mounting of silver, as a medallion, set with diamonds and rubies : 
 Avorkmanship of the eighteenth century. Proba1)ly the portrait of Clementina
 
 28 Antique Gems and Jewels at Windsor Castle. 
 
 Sobieski, Avife of the first Pretender. It lias, however, been suggested that this 
 cameo may be a portrait of one of the daughters of George II. 
 
 200. Intaglio on cornelian. Height 10^ lines ; width 8^ lines. Set in a 
 gold ring. 
 
 Portrait of King George III. when a young man ; a work of that ^leriod. 
 
 202. Intaglio on cornelian. Height 6| lines ; width 6 lines. Set in a gold ring. 
 
 Portrait of King George III. in middle age; a work of that period, of able 
 execution, and signed kirk . f.
 
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