of ornament in use by savage or civilised peoples, as repre- 

 senting processes of every kind used to produce ornamenta- 

 tion, from the simple process of incision in wood, to the 

 cutting of cold steel with chisel or graver, into designs 

 grotesque or curious, elaborate and artistic. Many examples 

 show how well their producers understood metalline sculp- 

 ture, or sculpture in metal ; of " damascening," i.e., the 

 insertion of tender threads of precious metals into other 

 metals of lesser value, and by the art-labour employed 

 therein, increasing the value of the object so enriched. 

 There are many examples of great value and beauty, in 

 "niello''; and the enamelled examples give abundant illus- 

 trations of all its specialities of opaque and translucent, as 

 applied on cloissonn'e or champlevi foundations; while the 

 introduction of the translucent variety applied over the 

 richly repouss'e, or beaten-up ground, should have attracted 

 the attention of all engaged in the production of articles of 

 bijouterie, for personal decoration, in precious metal. We 

 will simply allude to the hints to be picked up by the 

 engraver on metals. In carving, what clever examples of 

 this are to be found on the lids of pipe-cases formed of ivory 

 and wood, from the simple ornament, up to the most compli- 

 cated artistic combinations in some of the more important 

 examples. Let us take some of the more special objects, 

 constructed out of jade, jasper, rock crystal, chalcedony, or 

 agate, and see how the natural form, especially in jade, has 

 been taken advantage of to be converted into figures, droll, 

 quaint, and curious, illustrating the fancies of the Chinese 

 and Japanese lapidaries by whom they were worked. If 

 they show nothing more, they are lessons of the perseverance 

 of their producers, their skill in manipulating the hardest of 

 substances — even the drilling and the formation of the 

 receptacle to contain the titillating powder in the bottle, or 

 for the tobacco in the bowl of the pipe. But to speak of 

 the external ornamentation supplies food for thought, and 

 tells of the indomitable patience which animates their 

 producers. If we take, again, the artificially produced 

 imitations of stones — in plain words, glass — the examples of 

 glass, in its varieties, include all the most rare which the 

 natives of every age or country have produced. Egypt, 



