THE VINE 237 



placed reversed round the inscription — the 

 doves, with their feet in the air, being at the 

 bottom. 



As directly emblematical of Christ Himself 

 the vine received the place of honour in all 

 Christian churches, and, even when our Lord 

 was represented in His own person, it was often 

 there by right of its secondary significance as 

 the Church of God — ' Ye are the branches.' 

 A mosaic in the Church of Saint Prisca' shows 

 a half-length figure of Christ framed in branches 

 of vine, and the golden branches, often intri- 

 cately wreathed against a dark-blue ground, 

 occur repeatedly in the early mosaics. 



But when it grew more usual not only to 

 represent Christ in His own person but also 

 the martyrs, saints and prophets of the Church, 

 the use of the vine became decorative rather 

 than devotional, and was chiefly applied to the 

 ornamentation of vestments, altar-cloths and 

 the vessels used in the celebration of the 

 Eucharist. When, in a painting, the vine is 

 introduced as the emblem of Christ or His 

 Church, it is usually in some detail, as in the very 



' Rome. 



