(JKM 



127 



which ill'- intaglio ilevice was engraved. An iin- 

 I.M-MOII in soft clay or other medium was obtained 

 trom Mich -i-uls I iy gently rolling the cylinder <>MM 

 tin- surface to be impressed. The earliest of such 

 ioe \vere cut in steatite, serpentine, and oilier 

 mil ively soft stones ; hut these materials 

 li\ degrees gave way to the harder ami more 

 enduring materials in which it was possible to 

 sculpture line ill-tails with great minuteness. 

 Tin- cylindrical signet of Darius I. of Persia, 

 i \ nl in chalcedony, and preserved to the present 

 is an example of the art at its highest develop- 

 ment among the Asiatic monarchies. 



I-' mm the nature of the subjects engraved on 

 . ami from the method in which they were 

 mounti'd, it is evident that they soon came to be 

 rioyed otherwise than as signets. Gems came 

 ie worn as personal ornaments mounted in rings 

 in other settings, they were treasured as works 

 of art, and they were treated as charms to avert 

 evil and to win success and the favour of gods and 

 men. For the breastplate of the Jewish high- 

 Moses was instructed to 'take two onyx 

 lie*, and grave on them the names of the children 



Kg. 2. Chalcedony Cylinder : Signet or Darius I. 



of Israel. . . . With the work of an engraver on 

 stone, like the engravings of a signet, shall thou 

 engrave the two stones (Exodus, xxviii. 9-11). 

 With the extension of the uses of gems, the forms 

 of the stones also changed ; in the case of cylinders 

 lirst into cones engraved on the base, then into 

 hemispherical stones, ultimately taking a Hat thin 

 form tli rough which the light would pass sufficient 

 to show the engraving by transmitted light; and 

 with this view the stones were sometimes convex 

 and cut en cabochon. Ancient gems, like ancient 

 coins, were generally irregular in outline, but at all 

 times their prevailing form was oval. 



The earlier engraved gems of the Greeks, as 

 already mentioned, were in the form of scarabs. 

 In these the engraved intaglio was enclosed in a 

 guilloche or engrailed border, and the engraving 

 was stiff and formal, in every respect like Etruscan 

 work. Gem-engraving in Greece 

 reached its highest perfection dur- 

 ing the three centuries which pre- 

 ceded the Christian era, and the 

 names of some of the most famous 

 artists of that period have been 

 handed down to the present day. 

 In Kome the art was encouraged, 

 and flourished till the period of 

 the^ Antonines, after which it 

 rapidly declined ; and such By- 

 zantine work as exists .is rude in 

 execution, and interesting only 

 from the fact that with it Chris- 

 tian subjects begin to appear in 

 gems. Cameo-engraving was not 

 practised till the days of imperial Rome. 



The subjects of ancient gems embrace the 

 whole circle of ancient art, and follow the laws 

 of its development, animal forms being succeeded 



Fig. a 



Greek Sard, with 

 Indian Bacchus. 



\<\ t In we of deities and subjects derived from the 

 baltles of Greeks and Amazons and Centaur*, 

 the exploits of Hercules and other heroea ; then 

 by scene- from tragedians and later myths ; and 

 finally by portraits, historical representation*, 

 and allegories. The inscriptions consist of the 

 names of deities, heroes, and subject*; dedi- 

 cations to deities; the names of artiste, some- 

 limes in the genitive case, but often accompanied 

 liy the verb ejtoei, ' fecit ;' addresses to individual* ; 

 gnomic or other sayings, indicating that the getiiH 

 are amulets against demons, thieves, and various 

 evils, or charms for procuring love ; the names of 

 the possessors, and sometimes addresses, occasion- 

 ally even distichs of poetry, and various mottoes. 

 These inscriptions were often added by subsequent 

 possessors, and are not of the age of the gem itself. 



With the decline of the arts generally, the art of 

 gem-engraving sank during the middle ages, to be 

 awakened again only through the patronage of the 

 Medici family in Italy in the 15th century, and 

 with varying fortunes it continued to l>e practised 

 till the early part of the 19th century. Strictly 

 classical models, and to a large extent classical 

 subjects, have been chosen bv modern engravers, 

 and towards the end of the 18th century the practice 

 of foisting modem imitations on buyers of gems as 

 genuine Greek works of the l>est period oecame 

 very prevalent. Prince Poniatowsky, who in- 

 herited a small collection of ancient gems from 

 Stanislaus, last king of Poland, employed the 

 most skilful engravers of his day to fill up his 

 cabinet with imitation antiques* on which the 

 names of the most eminent engravers of antiquity 

 were forged. The Poniatowsky forgeries did much 

 to bring gem-engraving into disrepute, and to 

 lower the value of even fine and undoubted works. 

 The diagnosis of gems has l>een rendered a work of 

 extreme difficulty; and, as the modern imitator 

 possesses conveniences for his task which were not 

 at the disposal of the ancient artist, works of high 

 artistic merit and great finish are more likely to be 

 modern than ancient. 



In modern times a considerable trade has been 

 carried on in the preparation of artificial gems, 

 both cameos and intaglios, for jewelry purposes and 

 for the cabinets of collectors. The most famous 

 and successful maker of pastes was James Tassie, 

 a native of Pollokshaws, near Glasgow, who in 

 the latter half of the 18th century settled in Lon- 

 don, and then, with marvellous industry, succeeded 

 in copying upwards of 15,000 of the most famous 

 and artistic gems of ancient and modern times. 

 But Tassie's activity was not confined to the copy- 

 ing of gems alone. He produced in cameo a large 

 series of portraits of his most famous contem- 

 poraries, and, while his whole productions are now 

 nighly prized, these large cameos are in great 

 request, and command high and steadily-increasing 

 prices. 



Paste copies of existing gems are made with 

 comparative ease, by obtaining an impression from 

 the original in very fine moist Tripoli earth or 

 rotten-stone, which mould is carefully dried. A 

 piece of glass of the required colour ana si/e is then 

 laid over the mould, and placed in a furnace, which 

 is raised to a heat sufficient to melt the glass, 

 causing it to flow over and accurately fill the 

 mould. When a cameo is being made, the r*i-ed 

 portion alone is so moulded in opaque white glass, 

 and, its back being ground flat and smooth, it is 

 cemented to a mount of any desired colour. In 

 some cases the mount itself is* melted to the already 

 formed relief portion, which for this purpose, after 

 grinding away of the superfluous glass, is reintro- 

 duced into the furnace emledded in a Tripoli 

 mould to allow of the mount l>eing melted over it. 

 Portrait cameos are made from wax models, casts 



