The Sapphire 
price to he within the reach of all. Indeed the lower 
priced ones with their self colored glazes are usually 
better adapted to this purpose than the more ornate 
and higher priced ones. 
No attempt has been made by the writer to sug¬ 
gest anything as to the arrangement of the flowers 
themselves, a most important consideration, and in 
those illustrated, allowances must be made for the 
fact that flowers were not available to group and 
make sketches from, so that the artist labored under 
a serious disadvantage—nor has the subject been 
anything like exhausted, but it may perhaps set 
others thinking on the same lines and possibly be the 
means of evoking suggestions of more value than 
anything herein contained. The field for invention, 
in the direction indicated, is practically limitless. 
THE SAPPHIRE 
/ "~PHIS beautiful stone was known to the ancients 
■*- as amethystus and hyacinthus. I hough it 
bears the same family name as the amethyst, it is 
more nearly related to the ruby, being formed of pure 
alumina, which is the oxide of the metal aluminium, 
besides which it has other properties which mark it 
as “precious corundum.” 
There are some splendid specimens of old uncut 
sapphire in the crown of Lombardy of King Agiluph; 
also in the Iron Crown of Monza, given to the cathe¬ 
dral by Oueen Theodolinda, which I have already 
had occasion to mention in our wanderings among 
precious stones. 1 here are other cabochon sapphires 
in the crown of Hungary made for Michael Ducas in 
1072. There is a curious specimen of old sapphire 
in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge, in the 
form of part of a necklace of small rough sapphires, 
drilled and strung on gold wire; is corresponds ex¬ 
actly to an ornament mentioned by the poet Nau- 
machius. How it found its way to Cambridge I do 
not know. 
Old engraved sapphires are rare, no doubt because 
their hardness made them costly to work; but King, 
in his history of precious stones, mentions one which 
had been found decorating the pommel of a Turkish 
dagger; the engraving had been turned inwards, and 
the back roughly cut by some unskilled Oriental 
lapidary. The engraving was a magnificent head of 
Jupiter, with the inscription IIY upon it; it was in 
the best Greek style, which proved it to be of great 
age. It probably had been looted from some Greek 
palace in the old fighting days, and the stone turned, 
because all images are anathema to the true believer. 
At one time the Marlborough Collection boasted an 
even finer work of art than this Jupiter; it was of the 
same school and period, and was a Medusa’s head in 
the finest workmanship, the stone itself being the 
clearest blue. 
For centuries sapphires have been the favourite 
stone for episcopal rings. The ring of the Abbot of 
Folleville, which is preserved at Braybrooke College, 
is probably the oldest ecclesiastical jewel extant; it is 
set with a large uncut or native sapphire, and is of 
great age. 
Epiphanius records the notion prevalent in his 
time that the sapphire had the power of extinguish¬ 
ing fire; this idea no doubt arose from the extreme, 
almost icy coldness of the stone, which seems by na¬ 
ture to repel all idea of warmtb. Sapphires vary very 
much in color, passing from deep indigo blue to white. 
Sapphires are the best gems for wearing by day¬ 
light, as the beauty of their coloring can then be 
better observed; they are, however, popular at all 
times, and are one of the favorite gems of King Ed¬ 
ward, of England, who frequently gives sapphires 
for presents. 1 hey are a very becoming stone, and 
do not scratch or chip easily. 
F. Lancaster Lucas in The Art Workers' Quarterly. 
227 
