FLOOE.] GOLD OKNAMENT AND GEM ROOM. 137 
Case E contains ornaments from Babylonia and Egypt. 
In Cases F to Q is exhibited the series of Etruscan, Greek, and 
Roman ornaments, to which in recent years the most important addi- 
tions have been the Blacas and Castellani Collections. In Cases 
F to I the ornaments, both Greek and Etruscan, are of an early 
period. Case F contains ornaments in silver and amber from Pales- 
trina (Prseneste). Case G contains ornaments from Sardinia and 
Sicily. Case H contains ornaments from Camirus and lalysus, in 
Rhodes. The finest specimens of Greek work are in Cases L, M, N. 
The latest specimens of the goldsmiths' art among the Greeks and 
Romans are arranged in P, Q of this line of cases. 
In the upper part of Cases 0 and P are arranged statuettes, vases, 
fihulcB, tores, and other ornaments of silver. Among the statuettes 
may be noticed a female figure, personifying a city, and having above 
her head a row of busts of deities representing the seven days of the 
week ; below these are two busts of the Dioscuri ; in her left hand is 
a cornucopia, from which issue the heads of a Roman Emperor and 
Empress. This figure was found near Ma9on, on the Saone, in 1764 
(Gazette Arch. iii. p. 82). Payne Knight Coll. With it were found 
the following silver figures in the same case : Jupiter, Diana, a 
Genius, and four statuettes of Mercury. 
The collection of finger rings of all ages is exhibited in Case U. 
The collection of gems comprising examples of Etruscan, Greek, 
Roman, Medieval, and Modern Intaglios and Cameos, has been 
formed chiefly by the bequests of the Payne Knight and Cracherode 
collections, and by the purchase of the Towneley, Hamilton, Blacas 
and Castellani collections. The gems in the form of scarabs, 
mostly from Etruria, are arranged in Case R. In this Case also 
are the Archaic gems, found chiefly in the Greek islands, and thought 
to represent a stage of gem engraving which preceded the develop- 
ment of purely Hellenic art. Gems of this class have been found 
at Mycenae. The series of Greek and Roman intaglios and cameos 
is exhibited in a large Case (S) in the centre of the room and in 
Case T. The arrangement is according to subject, and begins at the 
corner of Case S, nearest the entrance, with Jupiter and his cycle 
of mythic persons, after which come the other deities and heroes of 
mythology, followed by royal, imperial, and other portraits. In 
Case T are subjects relating to ordinary life, figures of animals, 
symbols, inscriptions, and miscellaneous subjects. 
On Case R is placed the celebrated glass vase, deposited by its 
owner the Duke of Portland, in the British Museum, and thence 
popularly known as the Portland Vase. It was found in a marble 
sarcophagus in the Monte del Grano, near Rome, and was formerly in 
the Barberini palace. The ground of the vase is of blue glass ; the 
design is cut in a layer of opaque white glass. The composition is 
supposed to represent, on the obverse, the meeting of Peleus and 
Thetis on Mount Pelion, and on the reverse, Thetis consenting to be 
the bride of Peleus, in the presence of Poseidon and Eros. On 
the bottom of the vase, which is detached, is a bust of Atys. 
