COLOURED GLASSES OF THE ANCIEKTS. 235 



of painting mufl have been executed hy joining varioufly co- 

 loured filaments of glafs, and fubfequently fufing of the fame 

 into one coherent body. The other fpecimen is of about the Another fpeci- 



fame fize, and made in the fame manner. It exhibits orna- '"f","" ^^^*"'*' 



mirable. 



mental drawings of green, white, and yellow colours, which 

 are traced on a blue ground, and reprefent volutes, beads, and 

 flowers, refting on pyramidally converging lines. All thefe 

 are very diftind and feparate, but fo extremely fmall that even 

 a keen eye finds it difficult to purfue the fubtle endings, thofe 

 in particular in which the volutes terminate. Notwiihftand- 

 ing which, thefe ornaments pafs uninterruptedly through the ' 

 whole thicknefs of the piece." 



Of the fame glafs-pafte, which has been here defcribed, The fame were 

 mention is made by Sulzer in his Theory of the Polite Arts, un-^*" ^^ SuUer. 

 der the article Mufaic (mofaich). Having feen the piece 

 itfelf in the houfe of its then poffelTor, Cafanova, at Drefden, 

 he confirms, in the capacity of an eye-witnefs, the defcriplion 

 given by Winkelmann, and calls it '• a remnant of antiquity, 

 which indicates the exiftence of an art brought to the higheft 

 degree of perfedion." 



Mr. Townley, of London, enumerates, among the principal Extremely mi- 

 rarities of his celebrated cabinet of antiquities, the flone of a ^"J^^^j"''','"*^'^* 

 ring of a fimilar antique glafs-pafte, which reprefents a bird of legion. 

 fo fmall a delineation, that it cannot be diftindly feen but by 

 means of a magnifying lens. 



As very few fpecimens of this fpecles of glafs-painting, Two fpedmens 

 which undoubtedly rauft be reckoned among the loft attain-'" poffeflion of 

 ments of art, and of which even the exiftence is ftill fo little 

 known, are met with ; I think it not fiiperfluous to give the 

 following notice of two new famples which I podefs of this 

 clafs of antique fubjefls. Both pieces have a heart-Ihaped Defcription. 

 form. The principal front is flat, the reverfe is convex, and 

 has from eight to ten prominences (Ecken). The length of 

 one of them is one inch, the breadth four- fifths, and the thick- 

 nefs two-fifths of an inch. The other fpecimen is two-thirds 

 fmaller. As to colouring and manner of drawing, they 

 are both nearly alike. The principal mafs of the larger is of 

 a dark-blue, and wholly opake; but that of the fmaller is a 

 fapphire-blue, and in fome places tranfparent. The blue 

 ground is embelliftied with voluted, flellular, minute flowers, 

 of fo very fmall a delineation as to be hardly imitable by the 

 4f pencil 



