Toph adatees arenes Vee ae pyri ret tes tata) Pa vt p a Net he AL f Pass) tia) mee MPan YAY cn in erro ido eee) 5 Paris Rr eA aT Weihhes Preys aii ant aie '' '' '' '' '' ''ANTIQUE GEMS: THEIR ORIGIN, USES, AND Yanga AS INTERPRETERS OF ANCIENT HISTORY; AND AS ILLUSTRATIVE OF ANCIENT ART: WITH HINTS TO GEM COLLETORS. BY. Ray doy ON. KING, M. A., FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE. “Gemmee supersunt et in arctum coacta rerum nature majestas, multis nulla sui parte mirabilior.”—Prin. Nat. Hist. xxxvii. i. ee PADD DDI SECOND EDITION. | LONDON: JOHN MURREAY. AL-BEMABLE SYEEEYL. 1866. The rj VP \ Toaesl seserved. OF THE % '' ''In compliance with current copyright law, U. C. Library Bindery produced this replacement volume on paper that meets ANSI Standard Z39.48- _ 1984 to replace the irreparably deteriorated original 2000 '' '' Agave; Carneo, Plasma. Pat hPa Goll 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 works 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 medizval, 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 aac or medizval 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, archee- 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 stndy 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? 856; and the standard work has remained the ‘Pierres Gravées’ 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. Vv many valuable hints, but these are dispersed through yolu- 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. ‘hus 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 b 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 medizval 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 Medieval 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. VIF 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 Marlborough and Devonshire, Lord Londesborough, Messrs. Pulsky, Rhodes, 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 ''aes Vili PREFACE. and Rome; 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 yalu- 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 raisonné 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 Myr. 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, Sard: 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 ''xii INTRODUCTION. with almost all the other works in that metal, has perished in the times of barbarism, is allowed by all archeologists 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 incontest- 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 cf Canachus: Roman. Sard In the same manner we obtain representations of note- worthy edifices long since reduced by time into heaps of ''INTRODUCTION. xiil 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 engraying upon gems. This artist, one of the latest lights of the Hellenic art, was a native of Magna Grecia and a contemporary of Varro, 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 Roman, both in spirit and in treatment, that to distinguish between them often baftles . 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 Mecenas 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 Romans and Rhodians 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 affections 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 loyers of the fine arts, and especially artists ''XV 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 within 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. XVil 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 archeologist, 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- ''xvill INTRODUCTION. rior, carefully made out in their minutest details; the obscure subject of the construction of the ancient trireme has been principally. elucidated by the representations thus handed down to our times, whilst the various exercises, scenes, and games of the palestra, 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- nately 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 haye 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 1s, 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, e ''xk 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 Hemsterhuis, 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. Xxl 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 Musée Impériale, 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 Kuropean 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 e 2 ''XXI1 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 archeologists, 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 archeology 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 diseouragement 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 medieval 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 ''INTRODUCTION. XXIll 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. Wow, when collections are brought to the hammer, the most ardent competition is displayed for the possession of the elegant art of the Renaissance 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 offered 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 GOETHE ON THE STUDY OF ANTIQUE GEMS. “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 this with a sagacious acuteness peculiar to himself. Ifa person is to be thoroughly imbued with the former, then ought he 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 wil 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 com- ''INTRODUCTION. KV, 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 duy 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. I lost no time in * The Princess is depicted by Goethe as the very pattern of the perfect Christian lady. ''INTRODUCTION. XXvil 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 Christian 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 ''XXVili 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 ts 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. “T 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. Tn 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: Roman. Red 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. 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 302. 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 somany 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 Romans Aigyptilla, “ Vulgus in nigra radice ceruleam 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 Nicold, 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- grams in the Greek Anthology (especially one by Meleager) ad- dressed to the rérriy&, cicada; or cigala of the modern Italians. ® Tn fact, the Agate and Onyx are the same substance, but the layers in the former are wavy and often concentric, whilst in the latter they are parallel. Hence in descriptions of camei the terms are often used in- discriminately ; the ancients, how- ever, seem at first to have restricted the designation of Agate to the stone of black and white strata. ''12 MATERIALS. Sxcr. 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 Rome 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 ’ ''Seer. F- ONYX, SARDONYX, NICOLO, AGATE. 13 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 Rosso and Giallo Antico, the Verde and the Cipollino, 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 Red 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 of 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. GL); “ Harthy 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 Gemma of which the huge draught-board (carried in Pompey’s triumph) was made, were not known at Rome before the conquest of Asia, long after the age of Theophrastus. ''14 MATERIALS. Secr. J. PLASMA. This word, sometimes written Prasma, whence the French name of the stone, Prisme d’Emeraude, is merely the Italian corruption of Prasina Gemma, according to their common vulgarism of interchanging R with L, and vice versd. Thus the Tuscan peasant always says Leopordo for Leopoldo.' This gem is merely Calcedony coloured green by some metallic oxide, probably copper oxxnickel, 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 Grammatias 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 turbe 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. 15 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 débris 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’ 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 Naumachius.— 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 Ulysses carrying off the Palladium: Greco-Italian. Agate. JASPERS. A “a ww tas Bovs Kau Tov taomuy idav rept xeupi Soxnoers A > ~ A , Tas pev avarvereiy Tovdé yAonKopeety. Anthol. ix. 750. ‘* You'll deem this jasper, deftly graved with cows, A grassy mead where breathing cattle browse.” Of this stone the green semi-transparent kind*® was con- sidered the most valuable by the Romans, 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 seepe trans- and subsequent neglect. ''Sect. I. JASPERS, | Lt refers the pretty epigram of King Polemo (Anthol. ix. 7 46), ‘On a herd of cattle engraved on a green J asper :’— ‘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.? 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,° as does also the dark-green variety—above all for Egyptian work. The go- called red Jasper is a softer stone, and of a different species ; it is now often called Hematite, 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 ° It was, however, a great fa- vourite with the early Italian en- gravers, many of whose works on bloodstone have been sold as _pre- cious antiques. They were fond of using it for representations of the Flagellation, or Martyrdoms : inge- niously availing themselves of the red spots on its surface to imitate the issuing blood. 0 A fragment of one of the finest Greek intagli known, the Medusa’s profile of the Mertens-Schaafhausen Collection, is on black Jasper. Cc ''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 ''Szcr. I. JASPERS. ap 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, J aspers 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 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 J asper 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. ay ''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, GARNETS. 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. _ NGamets were largely employed by the Romans 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.! Portraits of the Sassanian monarchs frequently appear on this gem ; in fact, it * The magnificent Atalanta of the and of the finest Greek work, is an Berlin gallery, on a large Carbuncle, exception to this remark. ''SHOT. f. 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.” The common Garnet is of the colour of red wine more or less diluted. The Carbuncle, which is always cut en cabochon, 2. 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 Zéblitz 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 8/. to 107. But its estima- tion has greatly fallen since the times of Mary Queen of ® Creta 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 Ruby 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 Roman intagli, and fre- quently imperial portraits, occur upon it. When of the first quality it can with difficulty be distinguished from the Spinel Ruby. 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 Ruby; on this kind I have also seen good intagli, especially one at Rome (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 Rose 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. JACIN TH. 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. Lut 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, aud 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. Sror. 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, yiveTat O€ xa MATELYAOIA TIS airov mAawy. 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 Macenas, formerly in the Herz Collection, which also derives additional value from the name of the artist AMOAAONIOY 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. I. JACINTH. 25 Pliny indeed denies the existence of a gem Lyncurium,? 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 fms 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 Lychnis 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 Red Tourmaline or Rubellite, which is as electric as amber itself. 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 Luby. * Except that the Tourmaline is ''* 26 MATERIALS. Sect. I. Carbunculi into cups holding a sextarius, or nearly one pint. Ihave 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 ita 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 Egmund; 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 tale of the ‘jewel’ ’s a damnable bounce ;” ''Suen: 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 haying 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. Secr. |. 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 IL, 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 ''Her? 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 gems as the Green Ruby still to be met with, though always a rare variety, among the Rubies 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 gem 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 ''380 MATERIALS. Secor. 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 Ruby and the true Emerald.’ only malachite is entirely confuted by his description, “that The notion that these Cyprian Emeralds were 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- The Ethiopian Emeralds were found in a mine three days’ journey distant tion of some gems of an appropriate colour. 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 “those Emeralds which have a plane surface reflect objects like a mirror” is singularly correct, and attests his accurate acquaintance with the peculiar properties of this gem. For if a large Emerald be held so as to reflect the light, it will assume the appearance of being sil- vered at the back: its green will disappear when its plane is brought to a particular angle with the ray of light, and it will seem precisely like a fragment of a looking-glass in the same position. This sin- eular change is not observable in any other coloured stone. ''Secr. 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 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 ;” my own notice. 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 engray- 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 * Also an excellent portrait of rald more fashionable at Rome, and Hadrian on a very fine Emerald. I have lately seen on this gem, and one of perfect colour, another head, apparently of Sabina. It is curious so large a proportion of the intagli upon so rare a material should be- long to the reign of this emperor: perhaps his fondness for Egyptian antiquities and long sojourn in that country may have made the Eme- occasioned a more extended working of the mines of Mount Zahara, the chief source of the supply. An ex- traordinary intaglio of Alexandrian work of this date, a head of Jupiter, surrounded by various emblems, and resting on a crocodile, from the Mer- tens-Schaafhausen Collection, is also cut upon a true but pale Emerald of considerable size. ''SZ MATERIALS. Secor. I. 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 Kmerald. 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. 33 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.’ 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.* 7 Such was doubtless the famous “Table of Solomon” found by the Arab conquerors in the Gothic trea- sury of Spain, which their histo- rians describe as a table of consider- able size, of one single piece of solid Emerald, encircled with three rows of fine pearls, supported by 365 feet of gems and massy gold, and esti- mated at the price of 500,000 pieces of gold. ® The Cingalese anxiously seek after the thick bottoms of our wine- bottles, out of which they cut very fine Emeralds, which they sell to the ‘‘ steamboat gentlemans” at high prices. The Brighton Eme- ralds, so largely purchased by Cockney visitors, are of similar origin: the old glass fragments, thrown into the sea purposely by the lapidaries of the place, are by the attrition of the shingle speedily converted into the form of real peb- bles. These ingenious tradesmen literally thus cast their bread into the water, and find it again after many days. : D ''34 MATERIALS. SECT. L, Nero, who was extremely short-sighted, “Neroni oculi hebetes nisi quum ad prope admota conniveret,” 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. 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. ®° 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 com- expression ‘‘in smaragdo specta- bats of gladiators.” ''SEcr. I. EMERALDS. 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 Runjeet 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 D2 ''36 MATERIALS. Sect. J. have contended that he exclusively meant by the name Smaragdus ? 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 But the Emerald possesses also some peculiar properties, for it assimilates the last is, as it were, spotted with gold-dust. 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 It is good also for the eyes, for which reason people wear ring- colours that immediately over and opposite to itself.’ 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 , Of the sort called by many the Bactrian, that at Tyre is the largest, for there ¢s . a column of tolerable size in the Temple of Hercules there ; unless, perhaps, it be the spurious Emerald, for there is found on the testimony of their own writers. such a sort of gem. It exists in localities easily accessible 10 This, however, is not intended as a denial that many of the nume- rous Smaragdi, the list of which he has extracted from more early writers, were not mere green gems of different species: for the Cyprian Smarazdus of Theophrastus is clearly nothing but our transparent Chry- socella, or copper Emerald, for he says that it could be used as a solder for gold. Pliny is speaking for himself in the above laudation of the beauties of the true gem. 1 The meaning is that it will give a greenish cast to the water by the reflection of its own colour, not by staining the fluid, as most persons 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? 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 Stobe. 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 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.” ANY | < Olympic victor: Etruscan. Emerald. 2 Probably these are the cylindri pendants so often seen in antique of the Romans, the long and slender works. ’ ''38 MATERIALS. Secr. I. Taras or Palemon: Greco-eItalian. 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 ’lt see me sport amid my native waves.” Appaus,® 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 parts 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 lbs., 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 Addeus was an Alexandrian epigram, therefore, fixes the date of poet under the first Ptolemies. This the engraver Tryphon. ''Secor. I. BERYL. 39 I have met with but few indubitably antique intagli in this stone,‘ although it was subsequently a favourite material with the artists of the Renaissance 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, z.¢. 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 on a dolphin, of afew more intagli on Beryl of fair the Mertens-Schaafhausen Collec- Roman work. tion, a Greek work of the highest ''40 MATERIALS. peor. L. ‘« 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’ 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 > At present the Indians paint the back of every coloured gem they set to improve the colour, for which reason they never set them transparent. From this deceitful practice of giving a false beauty to the stones, those set in Indian orna- ments are, when taken out, rarely found to be of much value, as all of high intrinsic value are sold to the European market, the inferior samples, when painted, being con- sidered good enough for the native jewellery. ''Sect. I. 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. AS Nios est’ apeOvaros, eyo 86 moras Advucos 4h unpew reo pw pabéro wedvery. Anth. 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 andiron. ‘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 hic argenteus esset in illis.” ‘‘ Formed like the lily, springs a flower to light, But robed in purple, not in silver white.’ 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 Hyacinthe 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 liliwm 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, ''Secu. 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: :— «« 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 20002.; 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 Rhine, 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. Kast 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.” ; 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. SAPPHIRUS — 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 was 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 Roman times are frequent in this material, but rarely any works of much merit, though fairly executed Roman intagli in it are not scarce. With Italian 7 The colour of the Amethyst can be dispelled by a careful roasting in hot ashes. Hence, in the last cen- tury, when it was desirable to ob- tain a suite of stones of the same shade, the jewellers were able to obtain this result by subjecting the several Amethysts to the heat for a greater or shorter time until they were all brought to the same tint of purple. ® I have lately seen a very fine head of Alexander the Great on a large and fine-coloured Lapis-lazuli, the reverse of the stone engraved with full-length figures of Apollo. ''Sect. I. 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 Red 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 ''46 MATERIALS. — Secr. 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 Seythian 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. ‘A odpayis tdxw6os, ’Ardddov 8 early ev auth kat Addyn, wotépov paddov 6 Anroidas ; 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- ''SEor, 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 would naturally be confounded together, since the produce of all these eastern regions came to Alexandria by the way of the Red 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.? 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 * 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. “{he 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 Richborough, 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 levore turbinatus in mucronem ;” for this six-sided smooth and pointed crystal is the primitive form of the Sapphire. The steel-colour and great weight*® 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.' It is also stated of this variety that, besides its blue tinge, it could be perforated by means of another Diamond, @. 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 Cesar, the stone an octagon and of the finest deep colour; a head of Phoebus, 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 my, 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 cabochon, 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 drachme, 1 « Aeris ecce color tum cum sine nubibus “* 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. Sect. I. 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? 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 fieur-de-lys fabled to have sprung from the blood of Apollo’s favourite Hyacinthus, and to bear inscribed on its petals azar, the cry of gyief 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 Hebe and the Eagle, cut in half-relief on a heart-shaped stone of fine colour, 13 inch long by 13 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 (Ruby and Oriental Topaz) of the same family. The Hyacinthus of the classic writers is always the blue kind; but Marbodus, in the 11th 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 Renaissance the price of coloured gems of perfect quality far exceeded that of the Diamond; and as a curiosity I give Cellini’s table of their comparative value, from his ‘ Orificeria ’— Ruby (of one carat weight) = 800 gold scudi. Hmorald. 23 as 3 400 at DDVAMONGi 100 Bappiiee oy te as 10 s 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 tor 32, a Diamond brilliant-cut for 87. 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 3007.; a Diamond of the same weight would E 2 ''52 MATERIALS. Secr. I. only have been worth 1607. belonging to the Emperor Rudolph I. as large as a small hen’s egg, and valued at 60,000 ducats, or 30,0007. The King of Ava possesses at present one even larger, and quite Vossius mentions a Ruby 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. RUBY. 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‘ 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® 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 J have been assured by a person. Nonius, . of great experience in precious stones, that he has inspected a perfect Ruby, weighing only eleven grains, which had been sold for 1100/., or 1000. per grain!—probably the highest rate at which a precious stone has been estimated since the times of the famous Opal of the senator 4 This name signifies a live coal, because it is red in colour, but held against the sun assumes the appear- ance of a burning piece of charcoal. 5 So called from resembling in colour the blossom of the almond- tree, a purplish pink. ''Secr. I. RUBY. 58 ” 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 iov, 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 harduess 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 Ruby 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 Romans 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 que 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.® ® These flaws are produced pur- suddenly on its withdrawal from posely, by letting the paste cool the furnace. ''Sect. I. RUBE 55 True Rubies, 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. Secr. 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’ 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. ''Secr. I. TOPAZ=CHRYSOLITE, 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.* 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.° In compensation for this exchange of names the ancient 8 IT have, however, met with two Roman intagli, both figures of Mi- nerva, upon this stone, and now pos- sess a Medusa’s head, cut in the bold, grand style of the period of its first introduction into Alexandria, in a large and very globose Peridot : an extraordinary gem, both for work- manship and rarity of material. ® Were it not for its softness this would be one of the most desirable of all gems as an ornament: by candle-light especially it has all the lustre of the Diamond, and appears of the purest water, its colour not being then discernible. The Chry- solite differs from. the Peridot in being much harder, as well as of a yellower tint; for in it the yellow predominates over the green. In the Peridot green is the prevailing colour, modified by yellow: the stone, in fact, in the rough, much resembles a rolled pebble of bottle- glass or Brighton Emerald. ''58 MATERIALS. Sect. I. Chrysolithus is the present Topaz. The best kind isa 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, 7. ¢. 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 has 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 ''Seor. I. TURQUOIS. 59 Chrysoprase, or else a Plasma very nearly approaching to it in beauty.’° At present this gem is only found at Kosemiitz in Silesia. TURQUOIS. 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 Roman 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 medizval 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. 1. 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,! 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 : “Tf 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 ll seek to fold thee in her fond embrace ; But if polluted by adultery found, Hurled from the couch, she lies upon the ground.” 1 This is the usual material of the cylinders.of the purely Babylonian class, ''Spon: 1. 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 medizval fiction of the iron coffin of Mahomet. Claudian, [dy/. 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,? 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. * 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.” TOURMALINE. 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 Rubellite, comes from India; the specimen in the British Museum is of extraordinary size, and valued at 10007. 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 Rubellite to be the Lychnis of the Ro- ''Secor. I. TOURMALINE—AVENTURINE—OBSIDIAN. 63 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 Kurope 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 Aithiopia by a certain Obsidius, who gave it his own name. It was very black, and sometimes transparent. Used as slabs to ''64 MATERIALS. SEoT. 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.? 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. PORPHYRY — BASALT. The first of these extremely hard stones is easily recog- nised by its deep red colour, thickly dotted with small white spots. It was chiefly employed by the Romans for columns and bas-reliefs, and first introduced by Vitrasius Pollio, who brought from Egypt statues of Claudius on this stone: though ® Among the Praun gems I 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 Revival: 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 20,0007. 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 1000/. for a fine and perfect one of the above- named size. Pliny grows quite poetical in his description of the Opal :—