GEMS. 
countries of Europe. Sandrart mentions an engraver of 
ftones at Nuremberg, of the name of Engelhard, as a 
friend of Albert Durer. France « owes the ia codacuon of 
invited cele- 
and England, ever fince the fe) 
of Ever ae in every re{pect fee to doe of "the French 
{chool. 
The fludy of antique engraved gems has in all times en- 
gaged the attention, u uot only of the a antiq: vary, bi 
of fcience in general, and principally of thole artifts, who 
confider tafte and claffica pee ge as objects not un- 
oO 
=] 
worthy © taining. It is efs to ex patiate on the 
importance of which gems are Oo the hiftorian and antiqua- 
; fuffice it to fay, that the knowledge of a variety of 
fuc g gods, heroes, and celebrated men 
reprefented on them, cannot be derive a fource mo 
authentic fatistaCtory than they even oe ie 
roduCtions of early is are interefting, fo far $ the 
afift in tracing the Shes of the arts epee on de- 
fign. But by far the greater part of antique gems that 
have reached modern times, (and indeed their {uperior du- 
rapility, Pa other favourable circumftances, have 
cone preferved a great number of mafter-pieces 
ravages of ae and barbarifm,) may be contidered as fo 
many models for forming the tafte of the “fiudent of the 
fine arts, and for ftoring his-mind with corre&t ideas o 
what is truly beautiful. 
In order to one with deep ae the merits of engrav- 
ed ftones, n ome t ade iaintance with the art 
engravers. 
The former of thefe requifites conftitute the object of par- 
ticular {ciences ; and with regard to the latter, it will fuf- 
fice to give a = enumeration of thofe fubftances. Before 
‘we proceed, it may be proper to obferve, that ttones, con- 
“vex on one fide, are called pee eee or cuten ; 
rabai are oval engraved ftones, with the upper furface cut 
in the thape of a beetle, or fcarabzeus, cf which fometimes 
only the engraved bafe is remaining 3 gry//i, carricature 
heads, or heads with diftorted features, fo called fr 
Athenian of the e of Gryllus, famous for his uglinefs ; 
ioe or /ymplegmaia, are heads grouped together in a fan- 
tic manner, fuch as the head of Meleager joined to ees 
ofa wild eee ; chimeras are imaginary beings, produced by 
the monftrous union of the members of feveral wired 
into one ; oe (conjugata) are heads reprefented together 
the fame profile ; and oppofite they are called if they ie 
€a chother 
The anal and vegetable fubftances on which engravers 
ms have exercifed their {kill fcarcely merit to be 
: : ae ; 
of 
defheaGion: ufed for engraving gem 
but eae! 7 modern, pecially Italian and Dutch, artis: : 
they employed the pearl- -oytte i 
{tances that may have been employe for this puipele by 
the ancients, nothing remains but fome fmall pieces of fy- 
camore wood o Egyptian Bie om which cet phic 
charat : are 
pear from their hardnefs and other ufefu 
qualities, ar are mor fe 
and nen 
ciently valuable. in themfelves, and the 
was more judicioufly employed to en 
other lefs expenfive ftones, which moreover 
a a eke oe a i properties requifite for the 
nicelt e ti effing has proved that what Pliny fays 
of the eee of the ancie a with regard to Ai does net 
apply, as feveral antiquaries have imagined, to engraved, but 
whofe weight and ie they did not 
he engraver’s tool ; modern artiits, 
aay Nad have oy employed them. 
le aaa were ignorant of the art of 
acne age gem. They e diamonds in their rough 
ftate, preferring thofe oa ere had cut for them in ar 
oéto he dral form. Thefe, which the French call @ a pointes 
naives, we fee in rings and other ancient jewellery prior to 
the year 1456, when Louis de Berquen invented the art 
of cutting and polifhi ing this precious ftone (fee Dramonp). 
The four diamonds in the clafp whic belenged to the 
drefs of ‘C arlemagne, an ich was _Preferve at St. 
Denis, were of this defcription. Bu is probable that. 
the ancient engravers made ufe of eae of diamonds 
for finifhing their on opo da Trezzo appears to 
have been the fir o engraved on diamond; but Mari- 
ette icpoke. that Gikmer wt de Bir ieee executed this tak 
in 1564, while a mention ae haradoffa as hav- 
ing, in I5c0, engra he 
pope Julius TI. 
graved on diamonds ; ae neither to ue advantage of the 
fubftance nor to that 0 the workm 
Sapphire and Ruby. —(See the ee Gere eds Nei- 
ther of thefe two very hard {tones has been engraved on by the 
ancients; and indeed the latter, which they called anthrax, 
or carbunculus, was fup pe - by them to melt the wax. 
The fapphire has been men pe and others as 
ned by 
the ftone on which the beni antique head cf: Julia is 
engraved, and which is in one of the public scene of 
Pans: : but this is one of the nee errors fo com mong 
antiquarics | unacquainted with mineralogy ; the oe in 
a portrait of 
Henry IV. executed in sake by ie hee Coldoré. 
A German artift, Hoefler, has likewife exercifed his {kill 
on it. 
Topaze.—It has oS that the ancients did no 
engrave on this fton 
of antiquities cape ee at Paris,) is a 
topaze ; as alfo that the peri of the emperor . Ruffia 
offeffes 
