Online Encyclopedia
Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.
CRYSTALLOGRAPHY
Online EncyclopediaEncyclopedia Home :: CRE-DAH
del.icio.us it!
|
CRYSTALLOGRAPHY , little need be said here on this subject.
The brilliancy of a cut See also:
skin.
This decomposition depends on the dispersive power
of the substance. The exceptional beauty of the fiery flashes in the diamond is due to its high See also:dispersion, in other words, to the difference between the refractive indices for the red rays and the See also:violet rays at the extremities of the spectrum. The See also:peculiar lustre exhibited by the diamond is called adamantine, and is shared to some extent by certain other stones which have a high refractive index and high dispersion, such as zircon.
The use of the spectroscope may be valuable in discriminating between certain See also:precious stones. It was shown by See also:Sir A. H. s ,o, See also: GEMS IN See also:ART fortunately the See also:relief is incomplete, and the published See also:illustration inadequate. It would seem, however, that a revolving See also:tool was supported by a See also:kind of mandrel, and actuated in See also:primitive See also:fashion by a See also:bow. An alternative See also:plan of working was to use a splinter of diamond set in a handle and applied like a graver. Both systems are clearly indicated by See also:Pliny, who in one passage (H.N. See also:xxxvii. 6o) states that diamond splinters are sought out by gem engravers and set in See also:iron, and so easily hollow out stones of any degree of hardness; while elsewhere (H.N. xxxvii. 200) he speaks of the See also:special efficacy of the fervor terebrarum, the vehement See also:action of drills. A third method is also indicated by Pliny (ibid.)' when he speaks of the use of a blunted tool, which must have been moistened and supplied with See also:emery of See also:Naxos. A four-sided See also:pendant of the Hellenistic See also:period published by See also:Furtwangler (Antike Gemmen, Gesch. p. 400) shows clearly the successive stages of the operation. On See also:side a the subject is slightly sketched in with the diamond point. On side b the deepest parts of the figure have also been roughly scooped out with the See also:wheel. On sides c and d the wheel See also:work is fairly See also:complete, but the finer internal work has not been begun. After the See also:design had been completed the stone• must have received a final See also:polish on its See also:surface, to obliterate any erroneous strokes of the first See also:sketch; but this See also:process was not carried as far as in modern work. It is a popular See also:error to suppose that a high degree of internal polish is a See also:proof of antiquity. If the interior of the design has a high degree of polish it may be either See also:ancient or modern, or it may be an ancient stone repolished in modern times. If it has a matt surface uniformly produced by intention, it is probably modern. If the design is slightly dimmed and worn or scratched the stone may be See also:antique, but is not necessarily so, since modern engravers have observed this peculiarity, and have imitated it with a success which, were there no other grounds of suspicion, might See also:escape detection. See also:History.—It has been a subject of controversy whether the first See also:infancy of the art was passed in See also:Egypt or in Babylonia, but it seems highly probable that it was See also:developed in Babylonia, whence at any See also:rate the See also:oldest examples of engraved gems at present known are obtained. It does not necessarily follow, however, that Egypt was therefore a See also:pupil. It may well be that the art was developed independently in the two countries, although certain points of possible contact in respect of the forms employed will be described below in the See also:section dealing with primitive Egypt. Babylonia.—At a very remote period the cylindrical form of stone was introduced and became the approved shape, while the technical skill of the artist was still slight, and the traces of the tools employed (See also:drill and See also:pencil point) were still unconcealed. The See also:cylinder was suspended by a See also:string and used as a See also:seal. Impressions of cylinders are frequent on See also:contract tablets. If one of the parties cannot use a seal he makes a See also:nail-See also:mark in lieu thereof, as is recorded in the document. But from a See also:time that was still comparatively early the en-gravers could work with considerable skill in the hard stone. In particular a cylinder may be quoted in the de Clercq Collection bearing the name of See also:Sargon I. of Agade, who is placed about 3500 B.C. The cylinder is engraved with the See also: Apart from workmanship they possess the charms of colour deep, rich, and varied, of material unequalled for its endurance, and of scarcity, which in many instances has been enhanced by the remoteness of the lands whence they came or the fortuity of their occurrence. These qualities See also:united within the small See also:compass of a gem were precisely such as were required in a seal as a thing of See also:constant use, so inalienable in its See also:possession as to become naturally a See also:personal See also:ornament and an attractive See also:medium of artistic skill, no less than the centre of traditions or of religious and legendary associations. As regards the nations of classical antiquity, all See also:seals are classed as gems, though in many cases the material is not such as would strictly come under that heading, and precious stones in the modern sense are hardly known to occur. On the other See also:hand it must not be supposed that gems engraved in intaglio were necessarily employed as seals. At all periods many intaglios are found which could not have been so employed without great difficulty. In See also:Greece and See also:Rome, within historic times, gems were worn engraved with designs to show that the See also:bearer was an adherent of a particular See also:worship, the follower of a certain philosopher, or the attached subject of an See also:emperor. However, speaking generally, the intaglio engraving is a means to an end,. namely, a seal-impression, while an engraving in relief is complete in itself. Methods of Engraving (see also under See also:LAPIDARY).—In gem-engraving the See also:principal modern See also:implement is a wheel or See also:minute See also:copper disk, driven in the manner of a See also:lathe, and moistened with See also:olive oil mixed with emery or diamond dust.' There is no clear proof of the use among the ancients of a wheel mounted lathe-See also:wise, but we have abundant indications of drilling with a revolving tool, which might be either a tubular drill making a See also:ring-like depression, a pointed tool making a See also:cup-like sinking, or a small wheel with a cutting edge, making a See also:boat-shaped depression. We have one sepulchral See also:monument from See also:Philadelphia showing the tool of an intaglio engraver (SaarvXoaOaXoy64os; see Athenische Mitteilungen See also:des See also:Arch. Inst. xv. p. 333).. Un- form of the conquered, and continued to use it. A Persian cylinder seal of See also:Darius (probably about 500 B.C.) in the British Museum shows the king in his See also:chariot, transfixing a See also:lion with his arrows, in a See also:palm See also:wood. Above is the winged See also:emblem of the Persian deity Ahuramazda. The inscription gives the name and titles of Darius in the Persian, Scythic and Babylonian See also:languages. The style is accurate and minute. The See also:idea of the lion See also:hunt is borrowed from the See also:Assyrian monuments, but the engraver has been careful to make the necessary changes of See also:costume and treatment. The cylinder was, as might be anticipated, imitated to a certain extent by peoples of the Eastern See also:world in See also:touch with Babylonia. It occurs in See also:Armenia, See also:Media and See also:Elam. It has been found in See also:Crete (British School See also:Annual, viii. p. 77) and is frequent in the early Cypriote deposits. In some instances it has been found unfinished and therefore must be supposed to be of See also:local manufacture. Sometimes a See also:direct See also:imitation of See also:cuneiform characters occurs on the Cypriote cylinders. The same form was also employed by the Phoenicians (about the 8th See also:century-7th century B.C.). By the Greeks and Etruscans it was used, but only rarely, and by way of exception. Egypt.—We must go back to the remotest periods for the origin of intaglio engraving in Egypt. .See also:Recent discoveries of tombs of the earliest dynasties at See also:Abydos and Nagada have thrown much light on the early stages of See also:Egyptian art, and have revealed the remarkable fact that in Egypt (as in Babylonia) the cylinder was the earliest form used for the purpose of a seal. The cylinders that have been found are comparatively few in number; but a large number of See also:jar-stoppings of See also:clay are pre-served on which cylinder designs have been rolled off while the clay was still soft. Such early incised cylinders as are extant are made either of hard wood or (as in an instance in the British Museum) of stone. The identity of form has been thought to indicate a connexion with Babylonia, but none can be traced in the designs of the respective cylinders. The Egyptians of the earliest dynasties had an admirable command of hard stones, as shown by their beads and stone vases, but with the exception of the cylinders quoted they are not known to have applied their skill to the See also:production of intaglios. At this early period the See also:scarab (or See also:beetle) was still unknown as a gem-form. It was only about the time of the 4th See also:dynasty that the scarab (q.v.) was first introduced, and gradually took the See also:place of the cylinder as the prevailing shape. The Scarabaeus sacer (Egyptian, Kheperer), See also:rolling its eggs in a See also:ball of mud, became the accepted emblem of the See also:sun-god, and so the form had an amuletic value. Scarabs of See also:obsidian and crystal date back to the 4th dynasty. Others, coarse 'and uninscribed, belong to the beginning of the first Theban See also:empire. After the 18th dynasty they are counted by thousands. While the beetle form was naturalistically treated, the flat surface underneath .was well adapted to receive a hieroglyphic sign. The scarabs, however, are by no means the only product of the art. We have also figures of all kinds in the See also:round and in intaglio—statuettes, figures of animals and of deities, and sacred emblems such as the ankh (or crux ansata) and the eye. Among interesting See also:variations from the scarab form is the oblong intaglio of green jasper in the Louvre (See also:Gazette arch., 1878, p. 41) with a design on both sides. It represents on the obverse Tethmosis (Thothmes) II. (1800 B.C.) slaying a lion, and identified by his See also:cartouche. On the See also:reverse we have the same king See also:drawing his bow against his enemies from a See also:war chariot. The scarabs of Egypt though uninteresting in themselves, considered as examples of engraving, have this accidental importance in the history of art, that they furnished the Phoenicians with a See also:model which they were able to improve as regards the intaglio by a more See also:free spirit of design, gathered partly from Egypt and partly from See also:Assyria. The scarab thus improved exercised a lasting See also:influence on the later history, since, as will be seen below, it was adopted and modified both by Greeks and Etruscans. Engraved Gems in the See also:Bible.—While the Phoenicians have See also:left actual specimens to show with what skill they could adopt the systems of gem-engraving prevailing at their time in Egypt and Assyria, the Israelites, on the other hand, have left records toprove, if not their skill, at least the estimation in which they held engraved gems. " The sin of See also:Judah is written with a See also:pen of iron and with the point of a diamond " (Jerem. xvii. I). To See also:pledge his word Judah gave Tamar his signet, with its See also:cord for suspension, and See also:staff (Gen. xxxviii. 18) ; whence if this passage be compared with the frequent use of " seal " in a metaphorical sense in the Bible, and with the usage of the Babylonians of carrying a seal with- an emblem engraved on it recorded by See also:Herodotus, it may be concluded that among the Israelites also every See also:man of mark at least wore a signet. Their acquaintance with the use of seals in Egypt and Assyria is seen in the statement that See also:Pharaoh gave See also:Joseph his signet ring as a badge of See also:investiture (Gen. xli. 42), and that the stone which closed the den of lions was sealed by Darius with his own signet and with the signet of his lords (See also:Daniel vi. 17). Then as to the stones which were most prized, See also:Ezekiel (See also:xxviii. 13), speaking of the See also:prince of See also:Tyre, mentions " the sardius, the See also:topaz and the diamond, the See also:beryl, the See also:onyx, and the jasper, the See also:sapphire, the See also:emerald and the See also:carbuncle," stones which again occur in that most memorable of records, the description of the breastplate of the high See also:priest (See also:Exodus xxviii. 16-2r, and xxxix. 8-14). Twelve stones grouped in four rows, each with three specimens, may be arranged on a square, so as to have the rows placed either vertically or horizontally. If they are to See also:cover the whole square, then, unless the See also:gold mounts supplied the necessary See also:compensation, they must be cut in an oblong form, and if the names engraved on them are to run lengthwise, as is the manner of Assyrian cylinders, then the stones, to be legible, must be grouped in four See also:horizontal rows of three each. There is in fact no See also:reason to suppose that the gems of the breastplate were in any other form than that of cylinders such as abounded to the knowledge of the Israelites, with this possibility, however, that they may have been cut lengthways into See also:half-cylinders like a fragmentary one of See also:sard in the British Museum, which has been mounted in See also:bronze, and, as a remarkable exception, has been set with three small precious stones now missing. It could not have been a seal, because of this setting, and because the inscription is not reversed. The names of the twelve tribes, not their See also:standards, as has been thought, may have been engraved in this fashion, just as on the two onyx stones in the preceding verses (Exodus xxviii. 9-11), where there can be no question but that actual names were incised. On these two stones the See also:order of the names was according to See also:primogeniture, and this, it is likely, would apply to the breastplate also. The accompanying See also:diagram will show how the stones, supposing them to have been cylinders or half-cylinders, may have been arranged consistently with th'- descriptions of the See also:Septuagint. In the arrangement of See also:Josephus (iii. 7. 5) the jasper is made to See also:change places with the sapphire, the amethyst with the See also:agate, and the onyx with the beryl, while our version differs partly in the order and partly in the names of the stones; but probably in all these accounts the names had in some cases other meanings than those which they now carry. It must be remembered that we have two See also:series of equivalents, namely, the See also:Hebrew compared with the Septuagint, and the See also:Greek words of the Septuagint compared with the modern names, which in many cases, though derived from the Greek, have changed their applications. From the fact that to each tribe was assigned a stone of different colour, it may be taken that in each See also:case the colour was one which belonged prescriptively to the tribe and was symbolic, as in Assyria, where the seven See also:planets appropriated each a special colour [see See also:Brandis in See also:Hermes, 1867, p. 259 seq., and de Saulcy, Revue archeologique, 1869, ii. p. 91; and compare See also:Revelation xxi. 12, 13, where the twelve See also:gates, which have the names of the twelve tribes written upon them, are grouped in four threes, and 19, 20, where the twelve precious stones of the walls are given]. The precious stones which occur among the cylinders of the British Museum are sard, emerald, lapis lazuli (sapphire of the ancients), agate, onyx, jasper and See also:rock crystal. Gem-Engraving in Greek Lands.—We must now turn to the history of gem-engraving in Greek lands. The excavations in Crete in the first years of the loth century revealed a previously unknown culture, which lasted on the lowest computation for more than two thousand years, and was only interrupted by the See also:national upheavals which preceded the opening of Greek history proper. (See CRETE; See also:Archaeology; and See also:AEGEAN CIVILIZATION.) Through-out the whole period the products of the gem-engraver occupy an important place among the surviving remains. It must suffice, however, in this place to indicate the See also:chief See also:groups of stones. The earliest engraved stones of Minoan Crete are three-sided See also:prism seals, made of a soft steatite, native in S.E. Crete (Journ. of Hellenic Studies, xvii. p. 328). These are incised with pictorial signs evidently belonging to a rudimentary hieroglyphic See also:system, and are dated before 3000 B.C. At a period placed by A. J. See also:Evans between 2800 and 2200 the method was fully systematized and employed on the signets, as well as on tablets and other materials. This development of the hieroglyphic system was accompanied by an increasing power of working in hard material, and cornelian and See also:chalcedony superseded soft steatite (Journ. of See also:Hell. Studies, xvii. p. 334) Towards 2000 B.C. a highly developed linear form began to supersede the pictorial signs. It is abundant on the tablets, but the gems thus inscribed are comparatively rare. The linear form in turn died out some six See also:hundred years later. The signs of the pictorial script incised on the gems are re-presentations of See also:objects, expressed with precision, but giving little See also:scope for the higher side of the gem-engraver's art. Simultaneously, however, with the use of the script, a high degree of skill was acquired by the engravers in rendering See also:animal and human forms. Scenes occur of See also:ritual observance, See also:hunting, animal See also:life, and See also:strange compounded forms of demons. The excavations did not yield a large number of original gems of this class, but a great number of clay sealings from such signets were discovered. That they were synchronous with the use of the forms of script described above is proved by the fact that in the See also:palace at See also:Cnossus deposits were found, both in the linear and the hieroglyphic script, sealed with these signets, the seal impressions being again endorsed in the script (Brit. School Annual, xi. pp. 56, 62). For a remarkable See also:group of sealings found at Zakro see J See also:urn. of Hell. Studies, xxii. p11. 6-10. The finest naturalistic engravings are placed towards the See also:close of the " See also:Mid-Minoan " and beginning of the " See also:Late-Minoan " periods (about 2200-1800 B.C.). During the progress of the " Late-Minoan " period the subjects tended to assume a more formal and heraldic character. The forms of stones in favour were the disk See also:convex on each side (lenticular or lentoid stones), and during the " Mid-Minoan " period, elaborate signets in the form of modern fob-seals. Apart from the use of intaglios for sealing,the excavations have shown that the Cretan lapidaries were largely employed in the working of gems for purposes of decoration. Fragments of lapis lazuli and crystal for See also:inlaying (the crystals having coloured designs on their See also:lower surfaces) were found in the See also:throne See also:room at Cnossus; the royal gaming-See also:board, also from the palace at Cnossus, had inlaid crystal disks and plaques. The workshop of a lapidary, with unfinished See also:works in See also:marble, steatite, jasper and beryl, was also found within the precincts of the palace (Brit. School Annual, vii. pp. 20, 77). Examples were also found of work in relief, substantially anticipating the art of cameo-cutting. The See also:area over which the Cretan influence extended was wide. Its manifestations in Greek lands proper, first revealed by See also:Schliemann's excavation of the royal tombs of See also:Mycenae, ran parallel with and outlasted the later periods of the Cretan culture to which it stood in close relation (see AEGEAN CIVILIZATION). Its gems and intaglio works in gold are known to us from the finds at Mycenae, and at analogous sites, such as Menidi, See also:Vaphio and Ialysus. They have much in See also:common with the finer class of Cretan stones already described. The en- i graved gems fall principally into two groups in respect of form, namely, the lenticular (or lentoid) stones already mentioned, and (more rarely) glandular stones, so called from their resemblance to a glans or See also:sling See also:bolt. A Cretan See also:fresco shows a figure wearing an agate lenticular stone suspended from the left See also:wrist. The finer specimens of the Aegean gems are engraved with the wheel and the point in hard stones, such as chalcedony, amethyst, sard, rock-crystal and See also:haematite. A lapidary's workshop similar to that at Cnossus has been found at Mycenae, with a See also:store of unused gems, and an unfinished lenticular stone (See also:Ephemeris Archaiologike, 1897, p. 121). The characteristic of the Aegean engraver is the free expression of living forms. His subjects are figures of animals, men and demons in combat, and heraldic compositions recalling the See also:Gate of Lions at Mycenae. It was almost inevitable that the scarab should be found in the Cretan and Aegean deposits, but in such cases we have the Egyptian scarab directly imported, and not, as at a later period, non-Egyptian adaptations of the form. The cylinder also (except in See also:Cyprus, the border-See also:land between See also:east and See also:west) only occurs as an importation, and not as a currently manufactured shape. The" See also:Island Gems."—The Aegean culture was swept away probably by that dimly seen upheaval which separated Mycenaean from See also:historical Greece, and which is commonly known as the Dorian invasion. One of the few facts which indicate a certain continuity of tradition in later Greece is this, that we again find the same characteristic forms, the glandular and lenticular stones, in the cemeteries, of Melos and elsewhere. It is only recently that archaeologists have learnt to distinguish between the later lenticular and glandular stones " of the Greek Islands," as they are commonly called, and those of the Aegean See also:age. Engravings of the later class are worked in soft materials only, such as steatite. They have not the power of expressing action peculiar to the Aegean artist. In general, the continuity of tradition between the gems of the Mycenaean and the historical periods is in respect of shape rather than of art. The subjects are for the most See also:part decorative forms (the Gryphon, the winged See also:Sphinx, the winged See also:horse, &c.) in course of development into characters of Greek myth. The Phoenicians and the Greeks.—About the end of the 8th and beginning of the 7th century B.C. the Phoenicians began to exercise a powerful influence as intermediaries between Egypt and Assyria and the Mediterranean. See also:Porcelain and other imitations of Egyptian ornaments, and especially of Egyptian scarabs, are found in great See also:numbers on such sites as See also:Amathus in Cyprus, Camirus in See also:Rhodes, in See also:Etruria, and at See also:Tharros in See also:Sardinia. The Egyptian See also:hieroglyphics are imitated with mistakes, the figures introduced are stiff and formal, the animals as a See also:rule heraldic. The scarab form, which in Egypt had had its sacred significance, was now become nothing more than a convenient shape for an See also:object of See also:jewelry or for the reverse side of a stone. It was adopted from the Phoenicians both by Greeks and Etruscans. By the Greeks, with whom we are at present concerned, its use was occasional, and about 500 B.C. it was superseded by the scarabaeoid. Under this name two forms, some-what similar but See also:independent in origin, are usually grouped without sufficient discrimination. The scarabaeoid proper is a simplification of the scarab, effected by the omission of all details of the beetle. But many of the stones known as scarabaeoids, with a flat and See also:oval base and a convex back, are in respect of their form probably of See also:North Syrian origin (so Furtwangler). The earliest examples of archaic Greek gem-engraving (other than the later " Island gems " already described) are works of Ionian art. They show a See also:desire, only limited by imperfect power of expression, to represent the human figure, though the particular theme may be a god or other mythical personages. By the beginning of the 5th century the engravers had reached the Early Greek Scarab. Early Greek Scara- of Eos. (Brit. (Brit. See also:Mus.) baeoid. (Brit. Mus.) Mus.) point of full development, and the scarabaeoids of the time embody its results. As an example of fine scarabaeoids the Woodhouse intaglio of a seated citharist (See also:figs; See also:Cat. of Gems in Brit. Mus. No. 555) may be quoted as perhaps the very finest example of Greek gem-engraving that has come down to us. It would stand early in the 5th century B.C., a date which would also suit the See also:head of Eos from Ithome in See also:Messenia (fig. 6). The number, however, of fine scarabaeoids known to us has been considerably increased in recent years. They are marked by a broad and See also:simple treatment, which attains a large effect without excessive minuteness or laboured detail. In these respects the style has something in common with the reliefs of the 5th century. See also:Literary History.—The literary references to the early gem-engravers are no longer of the same importance as before in view of the See also:fuller knowledge we possess as to the quality of early gem-engraving, but it is necessary that they should be taken into See also:account. The records of gem-engravers in Greece begin in the island of See also:Samos, where Mnesarchus, the See also:father of the philosopher See also:Pythagoras, earned by his art more of praise than of See also:wealth. " Not to carry the See also:image of a god on your seal," was a saying of Pythagoras; and, whatever his reason for it may have been, it is interesting to observe him See also:founding a See also:maxim on his father's profession of gem-engraving (See also:Diogenes Laert. viii. 1, r7). From Samos also came See also:Theodorus, who made for See also:Polycrates the seal of emerald (Herodotus iii. 41), which, according to the curious See also:story, was See also:cast in vain into the deep See also:sea on purpose to be lost. That the design on it was a See also:lyre, as is stated in one authority, is unlikely, at least if we accept Benndorf's ingenious See also:interpretation of Pliny (Nat. Hist. xxxiv. 83). He has suggested that the portrait statue of Theodorus made by himself was in all See also:probability a figure holding in one hand a graving tool, and in the other, not, as previously supposed, a See also:quadriga so diminutive that a See also:fly could cover it with its wings, but a scarab with the engravingof a quadriga on its See also:face (Zeitschrift See also:fur die6sterreick. Gymnasien, 1873, pp. 401-411), whence it is not unreasonable to conclude that this scarab in fact represented the famous seal of Polycrates. Shortly after 600 B.C. there was a See also:law of See also:Solon's forbidding en-gravers to retain impressions of the seals they made, and this date would fall in roundly with that of Theodorus and Mnesarchus, as if there had in fact been at that time a special activity and unusual skill. That the use of seals had been general long before, in Cretan and Mycenaean times, we have seen above, and it is singular to find, as Pliny points out (xxxiii. 4), no direct mention of seals in See also:Homer, not even in the passage (Iliad, vi. 168) where See also:Bellerophon himself carries the tablets on which were written the orders against his life. From the time of Theodorus to that of Pyrgoteles in the 4th century B.C. is a long See also:blank as to names, but not altogether as to gems, the production of which may be judged to have been carried on assiduously from the constant See also:necessity of seals for every variety of purpose. The references to them in See also:Aristophanes, for example, and the lists of them in the ancient inventories of treasures in the See also:Parthenon and the Asclepieion at See also:Athens confirm this frequent usage during the period in question. The mention of a public seal for authenticating See also:state documents also becomes frequent in the See also:inscriptions. In the reign of See also: 2307), purporting to be signed by him, is palpably modern. From literary See also:sources we also learn the names of the engravers Apollonides, Chronius and Dioscorides, but the date of the last-mentioned only is certain. He is said to have made an excellent portrait of See also:Augustus, which was used as a seal by that emperor in the latter part of his reign and also by his successors. Inscriptions on extant gems make it probable that Dioscorides was a native of Aegeae in See also:Cilicia, and that three sons, Hyllos, Herophilus and See also:Eutyches, followed their father's occupation. We have also a few scattered notices of amateurs and collectors of gems, but it will be seen that for the whole period of classical antiquity the literary notices give little aid, and we must return to the gems. Early Inscribed Gems.—Various early gems are inscribed with proper names, which may be supposed to indicate either the artist or the owner of the gem. In some cases there is no See also:ambiguity, e.g. on a scarab is inscribed, " I am the seal of Thersis. Do not open me "; and a scarabaeoid (fig. 7) is inscribed, " Syries made me." But when we have the name alone, the general principle on which we must distinguish be- tween owner and artist is that the name of the owner is naturally meant to be conspicuous (as in a gem in the British Museum inscribed in large letters with the name of Isagor[ as ] ), while the name of an artist is naturally inconspicuous and subordinate to I For Nos. 1-4 see Furtwangler, pl. 14; for Nos. 2-4 see Evans, Rev. archeologique, xxxii. (1898) pl. 8. s the design. V The early engravers known to us by their signatures are: Syries, who was author of the modified scarab in the British Museum, mentioned above, with a satyr's head in place of the beetle, and a citharist on the base—a work of the See also:middle of the 6th century; Semon, who engraved a See also:black jasper scarab now at See also:Berlin, with a nude woman kneeling at a See also:fountain filling her See also:pitcher, of the close of the 6th century; Epimenes, who was the author of an admirable chalcedony scarabaeoid of a nude youth restraining a spirited horse—formerly in the Tyszkiewicz Collection, and of about the beginning of the 5th century. But better known to us than any of these artists is the 5th-century engraver, Dexamenus of See also:Chios, of whose work four examplesl survive, viz.: 1. A chalcedony scarabaeoid from Greece, in the See also:Fitzwilliam Museum at See also:Cambridge, with a See also:lady at her See also:toilet, attended by her maid. Inscribed AE^ AMENO1, and with the name of the lady, MIKH1. 2. An agate with a See also:stork See also:standing on one See also:leg, inscribed DEEAMENO1 simply. 3. A chalcedony with the figure of a stork flying, and inscribed in two lines, the letters carefully disposed above each other, DE,T-EAMENOI EHOIE XIO1. 4. A gem, apparently by the same Dexamenus, is a cornelian formerly belonging to See also:Admiral Soteriades in Athens, and subsequently in the collection of Dr See also:Arthur Evans. It has a portrait head, bearded and inscribed LEEAMENOE EHOIE. The design of a stork flying occurs on an agate scarab in the British Museum, from the old Cracherode Collection,and therefore beyond all suspicion of having been copied from the more recently discovered Kertch gem. For the period immediately following that early See also:prime to which the gems above de- scribed belong, our materials are less copious. Some of the finest examples are derived from the Greek tombs in the See also:Crimea and See also:South See also:Russia. Reckoned among the best of the See also:Crimean gems, and that is See also:equivalent to saying among the best of all gems, are the follow- See also:ing: (1) a burnt scarabaeoid with an See also:eagle carrying off a See also:hare; (2) a gem with scarab border and the figure of a youth seated playing on the See also:trigonon, very much resembling the Woodhouse intaglio (both engraved, Compte rendu,1871, pl. vi. figs. 16, 17). In these, and in almost all Greek gems belonging to this period of excellence, the material is of indifferent quality, consisting of agate, chalcedony or See also:cor- nelian, just as in the older specimens. Brilliant colour and translucency are as yet not a necessary See also:element, and accordingly the design is worked out solely with a view to its own artistic merit. The scarab tends to See also:die out. The scarabaeoid in its turn is abandoned for the simple ring stone. The subjects chosen take by degrees a different character. See also:Aphrodite (nude), See also:Eros, See also:children and See also:women tend to replace the older and severer themes. The motives of 4th-century See also:sculpture appear by degrees on the gems. See also:Etruscan Gems.—At this point it is convenient to discuss the gem-engraving of the Etruscans, which came into being towards the close of the archaic period of Greek art. In the early Etruscan deposits, such as that of the Polledrara See also:tomb in the British Museum (towards 600 B.c.), we find nothing except Phoenician imports of porcelain or stone scarabs, both strongly Egyptian in character. During the 6th century a few of the semi-Egyptian stones of Sardinia make their See also:appearance. But in the. latter part of the century these See also:oriental products tend to die out, and we have in their place the native works of Etruscan artists. These engravings stand in the closest relation to Greek works of the close of ' the 6th century and many imported Greek scarabs also occur. The Etruscan scarab has its beetle form more minutely engraved than that of the Greeks. It is further distinguished in the better examples, alike from the Greek and the Egyptian form, by a• small border of a sort of petal ornament round the lower edge of the beetle. Like the earlier Greek scarabs it hasthe See also:cable border round the design, but the border continued in use in Etruria when it had been abandoned in Greece. The scarabaeoid form does not occur in Etruscan deposits. Etruscan engraving begins when Greek art was approaching maturity, with studies, sometimes stiff and cramped, of the heroic nude form. Some of the Greek deities such as See also:Athena and Hermes occur, together with the winged personages of Greek See also:mythology. To the heroic types the names of Greek See also:legend are attached, with modifications of form, such as TTTE for See also:Tydeus, and KAIINE for Capaneus. Sometimes the names are appropriate and some-times they are assigned at See also:random. The subjects include certain favourite incidents in the Trojan and Theban cycles (e.g. the See also:death of Capaneus); myths of Heracles; athletes, horsemen, a few scenes of daily life. Certain schemes of See also:composition are frequent. In particular, a figure too large for the See also: 170.) The Cameos.—After the beginning of the See also:regal period, in the 4th century B.C., the introduction of more splendid materials from the East was turned to See also:good account by the development of the cameo, i.e. of gem-See also:carving in relief (for the origin of the word see CAMEO). But in its simpler forms the principle of the cameo necessarily See also:dates from the beginning of the art. Thus a lion in rock-crystal was found in the very early royal tomb of Nagada (de See also:Morgan, Recherches, Tombeau de Negadah, p. 193). The Egyptian scarab, on its rounded side, had been naturalistically carved in relief in beetle form. Steatite engravings in relief (notably the See also:harvest festival vase from Hagia Triada) were found in the Cretan deposits. Subjects are found carved in the round in hard stone in Mycenaean See also:graves. When we come to historical Greece and to Etruria the cameo of later times is anticipated by various attempts to modify the traditional form of the scarab. An example in cornelian was found at See also:Orvieto in 1874 in a tomb along with vases dating from the beginning of the 5th century B.C., and it will be seen from the engraving of this gem (Arch. Zeit., 1877, pl. Xi. fig. 3) that, while the design on the face is in intaglio, the half-length figure of a See also:Gorgon on the back is engraved in relief. Compare a cornelian fragment, apparently cut from the back of a scarabaeoid, now in the British Museum. As further examples of the same rare form of cameo, the following gems in the British Museum may be mentioned: (1) a cornelian cut from back of a scarabaeoid, with head of Gorgon surrounded by wings; (2) cornelian scarabaeoid: Gorgon See also:running to left; on face of the gem an intaglio of See also:Thetis giving See also:armour to See also:Achilles; (3) steatite scarabaeoid, already mentioned, signed by Syries, head of a satyr, full face, with intaglio of citharist. There is, however, no See also:evidence at present available to show that the cameo proper had been introduced in Greece before the time of Alexander. The earliest examples found in known conditions are derived from Crimean tombs of the middle of the 3rd century B.C. Among the most splendid of ancient cameos are those at St See also:Petersburg and See also:Vienna, each representing a monarch of the See also:Diadochi and his See also:consort (Furtwangler, pl. 53). There is much controversy as to the persons represented, but the cameos are probably works of the 3rd century. The materials which ancient artists used for cutting into cameos were chiefly those siliceous minerals which, under a variety of names, present various strata or bands of two or more distinct colours. The minerals, under different names, are essentially the chalcedonic variety of See also:quartz, and the See also:differences of colour they present are due to the presence of variable See also:pro-portions of iron and other See also:foreign ingredients. These banded stones, when cut parallel to the layers of different colours, and when only two coloured bands—white and black, or sometimes white and black and brown—are present, are known a; onyxes; but when they have with the onyx bands layers of cornelian or sard, they are termed sardonyxes. The See also:sardonyx, which was the favourite stone of ancient cameo-engravers, and the material in which their masterpieces were cut, was procured from See also:India, and the increased intercourse with the East after the death of Alexander the Great had a marked influence on the development of the art. Akin in their nature to the great regal cameos, which from the nature of the case are cut on a nearly See also:plane surface, are the cups and vases cut out of a homogeneous stone and therefore capable of being worked in the round. A few examples of such works survive. The most famous are the See also:Farnese Tazza and the cup of the See also:Ptolemies. The Tazza, which is now in the National Museum at See also:Naples, was bought by Lorenzo de' See also:Medici from See also:Pope See also:Paul II. in 1471. It is a large shallow bowl of sardonyx, 8 in. in See also:diameter On its exterior surface is a Gorgoneion upon an See also:aegis; in the interior is an allegorical design, See also:relating to the See also:Nile See also:flood. The cup of the Ptolemies, formerly known as the cup of St See also:Denis, is preserved in the See also:Cabinet des Medailles of the See also:French Bibliotheque Nationale. It is a cup 44 in. high and 5i in. in diameter, carved out of oriental sardonyx, and richly decorated with Dionysiac emblems and attributes in relief.
The Cameo in the Roman Empire.—During the 1st century of
the empire the engraver's art alike in cameo and in intaglio was
at a high degree of excellence. The artist in cameo took full
See also:advantage of his rich opportunities in the way of sumptuous
materials, and of the requirements of an imperial See also:court. The two
most famous examples of this art which have come down to the
present day are the Great Agate of the Sainte Chapelle in the
Bibliotheque Nationale, See also:Paris, and the Augustus Cameo in the
Vienna Collection. The former was pledged among other valuables
in 1244 by See also:Baldwin II. of See also:Constantinople to See also:Saint See also: It repre- sents on its upper part the deified members of the See also:Julian See also:house. The centre is occupied with the reception The lower See also:division is filled with a group of captives in attitudes expressive of woe and deep dejection. The Vienna gem (Gemma augustea), an onyx of two layers measuring 88 in. by 71, is a work of still greater artistic See also:interest. The upper portion is occupied with an allegorical See also:representation of the See also:coronation of Augustus, the emperor being represented as See also:Jupiter with Livia as the goddess See also:Roma at his side. In the composition deities of See also:Earth and Sea, and several members of the See also:family of Augustus, are introduced; on the exergue or lower portion are Roman soldiers preparing a See also:trophy, See also:barbarian captives and See also:female figures. This gem was in the 15th century at the See also:abbey of St Sernin at See also:Toulouse. According to tradition it had been placed there by See also:Charlemagne. It came into the possession of the emperor See also:Rudolph II. in the 16th century for the enormous sum of 12,000 gold ducats. The principal cameo in the collection of the British Museum was acquired at the final dispersion of the See also:Marlborough Collection in 1899. It is a sardonyx measuring 81 in. by 6 in., and appears to represent a Roman emperor and empress in the forms of See also:Serapis and See also:Isis. Here also, in imperial times as in the Hellenistic period, side by side with the great cameos, we meet with works carved out in the round. Noted examples of suchwork are the See also:Brunswick vase (at Brunswick), with the subject of See also:Triptolemus; the Berlin vase with the See also:lustration of a new-See also:born imperial prince; and the Waddesdon vase in the British Museum, with a See also:vine in relief set in a rich enamelled See also:Renaissance See also:mount. Hardly less precious than the cameos in sardonyx were the imitations carved out of coloured See also:glass The material was not costly, but its extreme fragility made the work of extreme difficulty. Examples of such work are the See also:Barberini or See also:Portland vase, deposited in the British Museum, with scenes supposed to be connected with the story of See also:Peleus and Thetis; and the " vase of See also:blue glass " from See also:Pompeii, in the museum at Naples (see Mau and Kelsey, p. 408). The world's great cameos, which are hardly more than a dozen in number, have not been found by excavation, They remained as precious objects in imperial and ecclesiastical treasuries and passed thence to the royal and national collections of Iliodern See also:Europe. The Intaglio in the Roman Empire.—The art of engraving in intaglio was also at a high level of excellence in the beginning of the Roman empire. This is to be inferred alike from the admirable portraits of the 1st century A.D., and from the number of signed gems bearing Roman artists' names, such as Aulue, Gnaius and the like, which could See also:hardy belong to any other period. It is impossible, however, to found any See also:argument upon the artists' signatures without taking into account the intricate questions of authenticity which are discussed in the following section. Signed Gems.—The number of gems which have, or purport to have, the name of the artist inscribed upon them is very large. A great many of the supposed signatures are modern forgeries, dating from the period between 1724 (when the See also:book of Stosch, Gemmae antiquae caelatae, scalptorum nominibus insignitae, first See also:drew general See also:attention to the subject) and 1833, when the multitude of forged signatures (about 1800 in number) in the collection of Prince See also:Poniatowski made the whole pursuit ridiculous. It is known, however, that forged signatures were current before 1724 (see Stosch, p. xxi.), and in the period immediately following they were very numerous. Thus Laurence Natter (Methode de graver en perres fines (1754), p. See also:xxx.) confesses that, whenever desired, he made copies. For example, he copied a See also:Venus (Brit. Mus. No. 2296), converting the figure into a See also:Danae and affixing the name of See also:Aulos which he found on the Venus. Cf. See also:Mariette, Traite (1750), i. p. 101. The question which of the multitude of supposed signatures can be accepted as genuine has been a subject of prolonged and intricate controversy. In the period immediately following the Poniatowski forgeries the extreme height of See also:scepticism is represented by Koehler, who only acknowledged five gems (Koehler, iii. p. 206) as having genuine signatures. In recent years the subject has been principally dealt with by Furtwangler, whose conclusion is to admit a considerable number of gems rejected by his predecessors. It must suffice here to point out a few general principles. In the first place a certain number of gems recently discovered have inscriptions which are undoubtedly genuine and which See also:record the names of the engravers. The form of the See also:signature may be a nominative with a verb, a nominative without a verb or a genitive. The artists in this class are Syries, Dexamenus, Epimenes and Semon, mentioned above, and a few others. Another group of gems which must be accepted consists of stones whose known history goes back to a period at which a forged inscription was impossible. Thus a bust of Athena in the Berlin Collection, signed by Eutyches, was seen by Cyriac of See also:Ancona in 1445. A glass cameo signed by Herophilus, son of Dioscorides, now at Vienna, was, in the 17th century, in the monastery of See also:Echternach, where it had probably been from old times. The portrait of Julia, daughter of See also:Titus, by Euodos (now in the Bibliotheque Nationale) was formerly a part of a reliquary presented to the abbey of St Denis by See also: A collection of gems found in See also:England, such as that in the possession of the See also:corporation of See also:Bath, shows the feeble character in particular of the gems current in the provinces. Except in See also:portraiture, and in grylli or conceits, in which various things are combined into one, often with much skill, the subjects were as a rule only variations or adaptations of old types handed down from the Greeks. When new and distinctly Roman subjects occur, such as the finding of the head on the Capitol, or Faustulus,. or the she-See also:wolf with the twins, both the stones and the workmanship are poor. In such cases, where the design stirs a genuine national interest, it may happen that very little of artistic rendering will be acceptable rather than otherwise, and much more is this true when the design is a See also:symbol of some See also:article of faith, as in the early See also:Christian gems. There both the art and the material are at what may be called the lowest level. The usual subjects on the early Christian gems are the See also:fish, See also:anchor, See also:ship, See also:dove, the good shepherd, and, according to Clemens, the lyre. Under the Gnostics, however,_ with whom there was more of See also:speculation than of faith, symbolism was developed to an extent which no art could realize without the aid of See also:writing. A gem was to them a See also:talisman more or less elaborate with long, but for the most part quite unintelligible, engraved formulae. The difficulty is to make out how the stones were carried; many specimens exist, but none show signs of mounting. . The materials are usually haematite or jasper. As regards the designs, it is clear that Egyptian sources have been most See also:drawn upon. But the symbolism is also largely associated with Mithraic worship. The name See also:Abraxas, or more correctly Abrasax, which, from its frequency on these gems, has led to their being called also " Abraxas gems," is, when the Greek letters of which it is composed are treated as Greek numerals, equal to 365, the number of days in a year, and the same is the case with MEIOPAZ. More interesting, from the occasionally forcible portraiture and the splendour. of some of the jacinths employed, are the See also:Sassanian gems, which as a class may be said to represent the last See also:stage of true gem-engraving in ancient times. The art of cameo-engraving, which, as we have seen, attained its greatest splendour at the beginning of the empire, followed on the whole a similar course. It waned in the early part of the-3rd century after the death of the emperor See also:Severus, but under • the first Christian emperor See also:Constantine it enjoyed a brief period of revival. Fine cameo portraits of Constantine are extant; and it was during or shortly after his reign that Christian Scripture subjects began to appear on cameos. That class of subjects constituted the See also:staple of such work—generally See also:rude and artistically debased—as continued to be cultivated under the See also:Byzantine empire down to nearly the See also:epoch of the Renaissance. From the Byzantine period downward one peculiarty of gem-engraving becomes noticeable. Cameo-work as compared with intaglios in classical times was rare and infrequent, but now and onwards the opposite is the case, intaglio-sinking having almost died out; and cameos being chiefly produced. Commercial intercourse with the East still secured for the engravers a See also:supply of magnificent sardonyxes, although blood-stone and other non-banded stones were very commonly used for works in relief. Cameos during the long dark ages were used chiefly for the decoration of reliquaries and other See also:altar See also:furniture, and as such their designs were purely ecclesiastical or scriptural. To this period also belongs the class of complimentary or See also:motto cameos, which, containing only inscriptions and an ornamental border, executed in nicolo stones, were used as personal gifts and adornments. In See also:medieval times antique cameos were held in peculiar veneration on account of the belief, then universal, in their potency as medicinal charms. This power was supposed to be derived from their origin, of which two theories, equally satisfactory, were current. By the one they were held to be the work of the children of See also:Israel during their sojourn in the See also:wilderness (hence 'the name Pierres d' Israel), while the other theory held them to be direct products of nature, the engraved figures pointing to the peculiar virtue lodged in them. Interpreters less mystically inclined found Biblical interpretations for the subjects. Thus the cameo of the Sainte Chapelle was supposed to represent the See also:triumph of Joseph in Egypt. A cameo with See also:Poseidon, Athena and her See also:serpent was See also:Adam and See also:Eve. The revival of the glyptic arts in western Europe dates from the pontificate of the Venetian Paul II. (1464-1471), himself an ardent See also:lover and See also:collector of gems, to which See also:passion, indeed, it is gravely affirmed he was a See also:martyr, having died of a See also:cold caught by the multiplicity of gems exposed on his fingers. The cameos of the early part of the 16th century See also:rival in beauty of execution the finest classical works, and, indeed, many of them pass in the cabinets of collectors for genuine antiques, which they closely imitated. The Oriental sardonyx was not available for the purposes of the Renaissance artists, who were consequently obliged to content themselves with the colder See also:German agate onyx. The scarcity of worthy materials led them to use the backs of ancient cameos, or to improve on classical works of inferior value executed on good material, and probably to this cause must also be assigned the development of See also:shell cameos, which are rarely found, of an older period. Among the means of distinguishing antique cameos frcm cinquecento work, the kind of stone is one of the best tests, the classical artists having used only rich and warm-tinted Oriental stones, which further are frequently drilled through their diameter with a minute hole, from having been used by their original Oriental possessors in the form of beads. The cinquecento artists also, as a rule, worked their subjects in high relief, and resorted to undercutting, no case of which is found in the flat See also:low work of classical times. The projecting portions of antique work exhibit a dull chalky appearance, which, however, fabricators learned to imitate in various ways, one of which was by cramming the gizzards of See also:turkey fowls with the gems. Another index of antiquity is found in the different methods of working adopted in classical and Renaissance times. The tools employed by the Renaissance engraver were the drill and the wheel, while the ancient artist also employed the diamond point. The gem-engraver's art again during the 18th century revived under an even greater amount of encouragement from men of wealth and See also:rank. In this last period the names of engravers who succeeded best in imitating classical designs were Natter, See also:Pichler (fig. 14), and the Englishmen Marchant (fig. 15) and Burch. Compared with Greek gems, it will be seen that what saa• \~~wn~'~ Oyu.,; \ 1~t ° .. ~1JJY Fig. 14.—Muse, by Pichler. (Brit. Mus.) at first sight is attractive as refined and delicate is after all an exaggerated minuteness of execution, entirely devoid of the ancient spirit. The success with which modern engravers imposed on collectors is recorded in many instances, of which one may be taken as an instructive type. In the Bibliotheque Nationale is a gem (Chabouillet's cata- logue, No. 2337), familiarly known as the signet of See also:Michelangelo, the subject being a Bacchanalian See also:scene. So much did he admire it, the story says, that he copied from it one of the groups in his paintings in the Sistine See also:chapel. The gem, however, is evidently in this part of it a See also:mere copy from Michelangelo's group, and therefore a subsequent production, probably by da See also:Pescia. In our own day the engraving of cameos has practically ceased to be pursued as an art. Roman manufacturers cut stones in large quantities to be used as See also:shirt-studs and for setting in See also:finger-rings; and in Rome and Paris an extensive See also:trade is carried on in the cutting of shell cameos, which are largely imported into England and mounted as brooches by See also:Birmingham jewelry manufacturers. The principal shell used is the large bull's-mouth shell (Cassis rufa), found in East See also:Indian seas, which has a sard-like underlayer. The black See also:helmet (Cassis tuberosa) of the West Indian seas, the horned helmet (C. cornuta) of See also:Madagascar, and the pinky See also:queen's See also:conch (Strombus gigas) of the West Indies are also employed. The famous See also:potter See also:Josiah See also:Wedgwood introduced a method of making imitations of cameos in pottery by producing white figures on a coloured ground, this constituting the peculiarity of what is now known as Wedgwood See also:ware. Gem Collectors.—The See also:habit of gem-See also:collecting is recorded first in the instance of Ismenias, a musician of Cyprus, who appears to have lived in the 4th century B.C. But though individual collectors are not again mentioned till the time of See also:Mithradates, whose cabinet was carried off to Rome by See also:Pompey, still ft is to be inferred that they existed, if not See also:pretty generally, yet in such places as See also:Cyrene, where the passion for gems was so great that the thriftiest See also:person owned one See also:worth ro See also:minas, and where, according to See also:Aelian (See also:Var. his& xii. 30), the skill in engraving was astonishing. The first cabinet (dactyliotheca) in Rome was that of See also:Scaurus, a stepson of See also:Sulla. See also:Caesar is said to have formed six cabinets for public See also:exhibition, and from the time of Augustus all men of refinement were supposed to be See also:judges both of the art and of the quality of the stones. In the middle ages the chief collections were incorporated in works of art in the church treasuries. The first collector of modern times was, as already mentioned, Pope Paul II., who was followed by a long See also:succession of princely and See also:noble collectors such as Lorenzo de' Medici and the great See also:earl of See also:Arundel. The collection of the latter passed into the hands of the See also:dukes of See also:Marl-See also:borough and thence into the possession of Mr See also:David Bromilow. The collection was finally dispersed by See also:auction in See also:June 1899. In modern times the principal collections are contained in state museums. The cabinets of Vienna and of the Bibliotheque Nationale are incomparably rich in the historic cameos. Those of the British Museum and of Berlin are the strongest in their range over the whole field of the gem-engraver's art. Special Periods :—Babylonia, &c.—Menant, " See also:Les Pierces gravees de la haute Asie," Recherches sur la glyptique orientale (1883-1886). Egypt.—For the early cylinder sealings, &c., see See also:Petrie, " Royal Tombs of the First Dynasty " (Egypt Explor. Fund, X VIIIth Memoir), p. 24; pls. 12, figs. 3 to 7, and pls. 18-29; Amelineau, Nouvelles Fouilles d'Abydos, 1897-1898," Compte rendu, pp. 78, 423; pl. 25, figs. 1-3. The Bible.—Petrie, " Stones (Precious)," in See also:Hastings' See also:Diet. of the Bible. Phoenician.—See M. A. See also:Levy, Siegel and Gemmen, with three plates of gems having Phoenician, Aramaic, old Hebrew and other inscriptions (See also:Breslau, 1869) ; and, on the same subject, De See also:Vogue, in the Revue archiologique, 2nd series (1868), xvii. p. 432, pis. 14-.6. Crete.—Articles by A. J. Evans in See also:Journal of Hellenic Studies, xiv., xvii., xxi., and in Annual of British School at Athens, vi. and onwards. Classical Gems.—See Furtwangler, op. cit. Gnostic Gems.—Cabrol, Dict. d'archeologie chretienne, s.v. " Abrasax." For the controversy as to gems with artists' signatues, see Koehler, Abhandlung fiber die geschnittenen Steine, See also:mat deaPNamen der Kiinstler; Koehler's collected works, ed. Stephani, vol. iii. (1851); Stephani, Notes to Koehler as above; also Uber einige angebliche See also:Steinschneider des Alterthums (St Petersburg, 1851); See also:Brunn, Geschichte der griechischen Kiinstler, ii. (1859), pp. 44z-637; Furtwangler, Jahrbuch d. k. See also:deutsch. arch. Inst. iii. (1888), pp. 1o5, 193, 297; iv. (1889), p. 46, and Geschichte, passim. For the history of the Poniatowski gems, see See also:Reinach, Pierres gravies, p. 151. Catalogues.—The chief catalogues dealing with modern public collections are: Berlin, A. Furtwangler, Beschreibung der geschnittenen Steine See also:im Antiquarium (1896); British Museum, A. H. Smith, A See also:Catalogue of Engraved Gems in the British Museum (Dept. of Greek and Roman Antiquities) (1888); Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale, Chabouillet, Catalogue . . . des camees et pierres gravies de la Bibliotheque Impiriale (1858) ; E. Babelon, Catalogue des camees ... de la Bibliotheque Nationale (1897).
Modern Engraving.—Vasari vii. p. 113 (ed. See also:Siena, 1792) ; continued by Mariette, Traiti des pierres gravies (1750), i. p. 105. The older books on gems are very numerous, but those of present-day importance are not many. See also:Faber, Illustrium imagines . apud Fulvium Ursinum (See also:Antwerp, 1606) ; Stosch, Gemmae antiquae caelatae, scalptorum nominibus insignitae (See also:Amsterdam, 1724); See also:Winckelmann, Description des pierres gravies du See also:feu See also:Baron de Stosch (176o) ; See also:Krause, Pyrgoteles, See also:oder die edlen Steine der See also:Alten (1856); a convenient reissue of Stosch, and seven others of the older works, by S. Reinach, Pierres gravies, &c. . . . riunies et reidities, avec un texte nouveau (1895).
Pastes.—The principal collection of glass and See also:sulphur pastes from gems was that issued by See also: Engraved Gems .. . arranged and described by R. E. See also:Raspe (the author of Baron See also:Munchausen) (1791). (A. S. M.; A. H. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML. Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide. |
|
|
[back] CRYSTALLIZATION |
[next] CRYSTALLOGRAPHY (from the Gr. Kpbo TaXXO , ice, and... |