GEMS. 
maintained itfelf till the tine of Septimius pee es it 
decline. e ftill fin of 
hilip -are very {carce. 
a a pretty good head of Vale- 
ne II. 
Millin claffes among the Roman artifts, or at leaft thofe 
that were ftrangers to Greece, all whofe names appear to 
him not of Greek origin, or are written in Latin: the lift 
is not a very confiderable one 
Aquilas (AKYIAAC) ; Venus bathing ; Cupid aaa eh 
mirror to her. ae ieee seo eae HATE 
ig ; Diom g off the palladiu °F elix 
was probably a eee eee of GC ipaniee Severus. 
— Qin 8 (KVINTE A.) has givena Neptune on a ber 
aquam ufus (POTSOY, POY®OC ETLOIE!); a figure - 
Pto ane Vil. or Lathyrus; Aurora driving in a quadrig: 
and holding a torch in her right hand. The fame fees is 
reprefented on a medal of the family Plautia, with a mafk on 
ufus, who recalled to 
oe ies re 
¢ 
5 
ioned 3, 
ut ably t 
thole of ee oe ae of the ito 
he celebrated dog Sirius, ei to Cajus (rAIoc) 
in the collection of the duke of Marlborough, is gene rally 
quoted as the work of a Roman artilt ; but Rafpe is ? opi- 
nion, that the name is fictitious, and that this valuable gem 
is the work of Natter, who executed it at Florence, for 
Baron Stofch. If as this is one of the moft remarkable 
~ initances of refignat 
been aferted, that the engraver of the head of 
a 1s - lait who has added his name to his works ; 
© judge from the execution, the form of the letters, 
ee ey , thofe who have written their names on the 
fo ollowing ftones, have, according to M. Millin, probably flou- 
rifhed i in the Lower Empire. —Of wpe XAIPHMON ) 
tah 3 a pugi 
(AMMONIOY) 3 ahead of a fawn, an excellent engra 
f the {canty production of art, during the lea ; 
feveral Greek Nee have been preferved, reprefenting vari- 
j Id and New Teftamen’ i 
carly a trace e it 
occafonally ufed as fe 
chus ; Charlemagne w itha Soo. Sean after their ale for 
fealing | was sea as they were no longer fet in rings, 
y peared, w erfed, eke they were diet a 
for ornamentin Ai pene in the chur and it was in this 
manner that many of the highly algae. aneeas gems were 
preferved to pofterity. 
The engravings on ftone, of thofe times, offer {carcely any 
thing except pious easel images of Chrift, or the Virgin, 
or fimply their monogra ; 
the Qlidp 
Keisos Giese 
moft celebrated engraved ich ony the in taglios, 
with mn names of the artifts enumerated in the preceding 
part of this article are, the Io, the Demosthenes, the Per- 
feus and Mercury of Diofcorides, the bull of Hyllus, the 
Hercules of Onejus, the Medufa of Solon, the Julia of Evo- 
dus, &c. on of the mott famous of thofe are are with- 
much conjecture, and 
Mautour difcovers in it facrifical rites in honour of the birth 
of Bacchus; according to Tournemine, it is Alexander re- 
prefented as Bacchus, and the whole relates to the conqueft 
of India; but, according to Rofman, it is the birth and edu- 
seals of Alexa ore Baudelot and Thierheim confider it as 
thenian religious proce ion. a- 
o 
ow 
roved that itt is ag ee of Maria di Pefcia, a celebrated 
modern artift and friend. of Michael Angelo, and that the 
figure of the little fifherman in the exergue alludes to his 
own name. ‘This ftone has been. often copied, and there are 
a great number of impreffions from it. Other diftinguifhed 
- intaglos are, a young Hercules, anda Hercules veiled like 
a Lydian woman, both in one of the public collections. of 
Paris, . five chiefs before Thebes, &c. &c. 
othe emperor of Auftria ; 
St. Denis, 
the Brunf- . 
hiftory of Ceres in fearch ayaa and that of Trip- 
tolemus, and which orginally peered to the family ree 
zaga, but was ftolen the facking of Man ntua in 1630 
foldier, who fold it for 100 ducats to the duke of Bas ; 
this wonderful work of art is now likewife at Paris. But the 
‘of m and,or Barberini 
a aia was firft in the colleétion of the bee. from 
whence it came into. the 
Leonarde ‘di Milano, and Severo di Ravenna, likewife ac- 
5D2 quired 
