l8 ACCOUNTS, &C., OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 



(J.) An alabaster pyxis, such as formed part of the apparatus of a Greek lady's toilet. 



(c.) The cheek-piece, 'parar/nathis, of a Greek helmet, beaten out so as to show in relief 

 the moustache and beard. 



(rf.) Three fragments of a shell. 



(e.) Three handles of small bronze vases. 



(/.) A shell (Cyprsea pantherina). 



ig.) A number of iron-picks, the larger ones curved, and of an unusual form ; also 

 nails and other implements of iron. 



3. A.ntiquities from Cliei'sonesos, Crete. 



The right side of the body of a male figure in marble, heroic size, and fragments of the 

 bodies of two smaller statues. On the site from which these fragments were obtained, 

 was a wall built of fragments of statues which had been broken up. 

 Presented by His Grace, the Duke of St. Albans. 



XII. Purchases. — 1. Head of Alexander the Great. 



2. Head of the Emperor Otho. 



3. Mask of an unknoAvn male figure. These three heads are in v/^hite marble, and were 

 found together at Alexandria, in Egypt. The head of Alexander appears to be the work 

 of a Greek sculptor, and is remarkable for the vivid and striking likeness which it pre- 

 sents, compared with the other extant portraits of him. It was probably executed at 

 Alexandria during the Ptolemaic period. 



4. Marble head of male figure, from the island of Cos. 



5. Archaic marble head, from Branchidce, of the same period as the seated figures from 

 this site, now in the Lycian Room in the Museum. 



6. Amethyst intaglio, with the portrait of Brutus, from Rhodes. 



7. Small bronze Cerberus, from Rhodes. 



8. Three bronze stamps, from the Purnell Collection («) L IVIJ CHRYSIPPI ; 

 (/;) FLA VI DII ; (c) OPTMPE. 



9. Three bronze lids of cislce {?) and two sets of bronze shield bosses, from Caserta, in 

 Italy. 



10. The Castellani Collection of ornaments in gold, silver, and bronze, and gems. 



The gold and silver ornaments in the Castellani Collection may be classed imder the 

 following heads : — Diadems "and wreaths, necklaces, bracelets, fibulae, earrings, hairpins, 

 rings, miscellaneous objects. The sources from which this collection has been formed are 

 principally tombs in Etruria and Southern Italy, and especially those of Cervetri, 

 Palestrina, Corneto, Bolsena, Chiusi, Tarquinii, Capua, Tarentum, and Locri. A few 

 choice objects have been obtained from tlie islands of Melos and Sardinia. The orna- 

 ments are of very various periods, the earliest being probably of the same date as the Graeco- 

 Phcenician gold ornaments from Camirus and lalysus in Bhodes already in the Museum, 

 while the latest v>'ere executed in the Mediaeval and Renaissance periods ; and although the 

 Castellani Collection does not, of course, exhibit anj^thing like a complete chronological 

 series of examples of the goldsmiths' art from the Classical j^eriod downward to the 

 Renaissance, it is remarkable not less for the number and beauty of the individual objects 

 than for their variety of date, and when combined with the collection previously existing 

 in the Museum, furnishes such amjjle and instructive materials for the history of this 

 branch of art as it would be very difficult to find elsewhere. This observation especially 

 applies to the Collection of rings. The numbers in the following notices refer to Mr. 

 Castellani's printed catalogue. 



Among the most archaic objects in the Castellani Collection may be especially noted : 

 the two bracelets, Nos. 699, 700, covered with figures and ornaments in granulated work, 

 from Cervetri ; the necklaces and bullte formed of silver, amber, and electrum, from 

 Palestrina, Nos. 618-622 ; a fibula of electrum, ornamented with groups of Sphinxes, 

 !No. 140, from Cervetri, and the Egyptian or Phoenician amulets, and other objects from 

 Sardinia and Camirus, Nos. 475, 476, 636, 681. 



To the finest period of Etruscan art belong the following objects : — A fibula from 

 Toscanella, covered with meanders, and other patterns in granulated work not to be 

 surpassed for the delicacy of the execution. No. 748. A necklace from Tarquinii with 

 alternate bull^ and bearded heads as pendants. No. 643. Various rosettes, hairpins, and 

 earrings of the saddle shape. A pomegranate fruit, ornamented with recumbent female 

 figures and floral scrolls, in granulated work of exquisite delicacy, from Locri, No. 857. 

 Fine wreaths of brjicteate gold worn by the dead, from Chiusi, Toscanella, Castel d'Asso, 

 Tarquinii, and Vulci, Nos. 811, 812, 813, 814, 816. 



Examples of Greek goldsmiths' work are exceedingly rare, and the criteria by 

 which they may be distinguished from the work of the Etruscans are as yet 



imperfectly 



