488 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



In the theater are bisselhi, or chairs of state, made of bronze, and orna- 

 mented with silver, for persons of distinction and municipal authorities. 



In the tepidarium of the baths are bronze benches, six feet by one foot, sup- 

 ported by four legs, terminating in the cloven hoofs of the cow, and ornamented 

 at the upper end with heads of the same animal. In the same baths, a brazier of 

 bronze, seven feet six inches by two feet six inches, supported on cast bronze 

 legs, representing winged sphinxes, terminating in lions' paws. In one of the 

 shops a bronze urn, evidently used for making warm decoctions, and similar to 

 the muUer now in use ; a bronze mold for making pastry, and a pair of scales — 

 articles of these kinds in addition to the large number of statues and ornamental 

 articles. 



In all the bronzes from Pompeii and Herculaneum, the blue color of the 

 patina is very brilliant, although in other bronzes it is more generally some shade 

 of green. This arises from their lying so long in the earth, a difference of soil 

 probably makes a different patina ; but something is also due to varieties in the 



alloy. 



Greek seats (thronoi) are sculptured on the Parthenon frieze ; and sump- 

 tuous Greek furniture during the last two centuries b. c. was made of bronze, 

 damascened with gold and silver. It does not appear that the process of gildir.g 

 bronze was carried to any extent in classical times, except in the production of 

 finger rings, of which a considerable number remain. 



During the excavations made in the Palace of Tiberius at Capri, the bronze 

 cock of a reservoir was discovered. As there were conduits of water, and pipes 

 necessarily conveying it to the baths, the knowledge of cock-making must have 

 been known and practised, of which this discovery gives a practical proof. 



By the time of the Byzantine Empire the power of modeling seems to have 

 declined, and a taste for glittering appearance took its place, and hence the pro- 

 cess of ornamenting bronze with reliefs was superseded by inlaying it with silver 

 and other materials. 



The art of bronze casting, which has thus sunk during the Byzantine period, 

 was revived with great vigor in Germany in the eleventh century, and there used 

 for the ornamentation of gates and doors of public buildings ; notable instances 

 being the bronze gates of the Cathedral of Hildesheim, A. d. 1015, and the col- 

 umn decorated with reliefs on the model of the Trajan Column at Rome, a. d. 

 1922. 



In the twelfth century the art spread southward to Italy, and was at first 

 taken up energetically in lower Italy. But though many interesting works of this 

 date exist — and also from the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries — it was not until 

 the fifteenth century that the art obtained its full mastery. Then the revival of 

 classical art became a real revival under the Florentine artists. Andrea Pisano 

 had made a bronze gate in the Gothic style for the Baptistry of St. John at Flor- 

 ence, 1330 A. D., and in 1401 a. d., the Florentine Council decided to erect 

 another. A competition of artists for the work resulted in the selection of Lo- 

 renzo Ghiberti. The contract was entered into with him and his father, Novem- 



