ACCOUNTS, ESTIMATES, &C. OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 



of Silenus, on carnelian, full face ; in the open mouth is a head of Medosa; below a small 

 scenic mask. 



The collection contains a few specimens of grylli, Grriostic gems, and stones with late 

 Greek inscriptions. 



There are also a few Oriental cylinders and other stones, among which the most remark- 

 able are the following : — 



(1.) Chalcedony: A Parthian King on horseback, shooting a gazelle, with a bow and 

 arrow. 



(2.) Chalcedony : Boar hunt. 



(3.) Cylinder with cuneiform characters and figures. 



(4.) Chalcedony : scarabseus, with two figures in Egyptian drapery, inscribed with the 

 four Pl^cenician characters, LAKD. 



Among the gems of the Renaissance period the following are deserving of notice : — 



(l.) Ag!)te: on the lower part, Neptune with his trident; above, a fisherman in a boat; 

 engraved, Maffei, Gemme Figurate, ii., pi. 34, and, Gori, Mus. Flor. ii., pi. 49, fig. 1. 



(2.) Rock Crystal: Neptune driving four sea horses in a car. From the Strozzi Collec- 

 tion. 



(3, 4, 5.) Three onyx cameos of the 16th century, representing tjie Passion, Flagellation, 

 and Crucifixion. 



(6.) Rock crystal : Hercules suffocating Antseus. Strozzi Colleclion. 



(7.) Rock crystal : Prometheus being devoured by a vulture ; inscribed, 10. C. B., the 

 signature of John Castello of Bologna. From the Strozzi Collection. Published in the 

 Gemme Figuraie of Maffei, iv., pi. 98. 



(8.) Rock crystal : Sacrifice to the Goddess Salus ; inscribed, VA. F., the signature of 

 Valerio Vicentino. From the Strozzi Collection. Engraved, Maffei, pi. xci.v. 



(9.) Onyx cameo : The triumph of Titus ; fine work ; many figures. 



(lO.) Onyx cameo, three layers: A ship, in which are a male and female figure, said to 

 be portraits of two of the Medici family ; a third figure is mounted on the rigi^ing. This 

 appears to be a cameo of the 16th century. 



The subjects of the 113 Pastes mostly represent deities or heroes; the following are 

 deserving of notice : — 



(1.) Head of the philosopher Aristippos, inscribed, APISTinflOS ; in front of his head 

 a naked Venus crowning him ; below, on this side, a head of Pallas ; behind, upper part 

 of figure of Dinnysos drinking; from a cup; below which, the head of Apollo with the lyre. 

 This very curious paste comes from the Schellersheim Collection. 



(2.) Blue opaque circular paste, one side broken away; the original diameter was about 

 5^ inches. Head, to the front, of Jupiter Ammon, finely n^iodelled in relief, and of unusual 

 size. 



(3.) Fragment of a blue transparent paste representing the heads of Tiberius and the 

 young Drusus in relief. 



(4.) Fragment of opaque white paste medallion on which is the head of the Emperor 

 Otho in relief. 



(5.) Fragment of glass imitating a sard, on which is an elderly male head, beardless; 

 very finely modelled. This head was attributed by the Due de Blacas to Pertinax, but is 

 certainly as early as the time of Augustus. 



n. — Greek and Etruscan Fictile Vases. 



The Collection of Vases contains upwards of 500 specimens, chiefly from Italy. They 

 may be arranged under the following classes : — 



Archaic period. — A small collection of small Vases of black ware, found beneath a stratum 

 of peperino, at Marino, near Castel Gandolfo. These Vases, which are of very rude fabric, 

 are believed to be of a remote antiquity. One of them, in the form of a hut with a 

 door and a raised roof, is very similar to a Vase described No. 1 of the Catalogue of 

 Vases in the British Museum, and is believed to be a representation of the kind of hut in 

 which the earliest inhabitants of Latium dwelt. An interesting account of these Vases has 

 been published by the late Due de Blacas in the Memoires de la Societe Tmperiale des 

 Antiquaires de France, vol. xxviii. 



A small Collection of Vases from Nola, with designs painted in black and crimson on a 

 drab ground, in what may be called the Graeco-Phcenician style. 



Also, a few specimens of the same style, from Camirus, in Rhodes. 



249. F A small 



