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Becorattbe &rts €ccleftattual atrti Cttjtl 
 of tty 0H1to\t ages 
 
fje Becorattoe ^rts 
 
 €Cccle0ta0ttcal an* Gl toil 
 
 of tlje 
 
 jionfiou 
 
 WILLIAM PICKERING 
 1851 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 k ANY volumes would be required for the 
 | full elucidation of all the characteriftics 
 |l and varieties of defign employed during 
 ]! the middle ages on the different materials 
 in ufe for decorative purpofes. I can 
 only, therefore, hope to exhibit fome of 
 their moft ftriking features, and thus act 
 | as a guide and affiftant to thofe who wifh 
 to devote their ftudies to a more 
 minute inveftigation of the details 
 of the principles, or procelfes, pecu- 
 liar to each particular clafs. 
 
 In arranging my illuftrations, I have given precedence to works exe- 
 cuted in the various metals, and have placed at their head the fpecimens 
 enriched by that brilliant and moft durable material, termed 
 
 €mmth 
 
 The art of enamelling (like moft of our decorative proceffes) came 
 from the eaft, where the natives have continued its ufe from the moft 
 remote times, unchanged both in ftyle and character. At what period 
 it firft found its way into Europe is only a matter of conjecture ; but we 
 have evidence of its having been extenfively known during the firft ages 
 of chriftianity, and the beautiful enamelled vafe found in one of the 
 Bartlow Hills in Eflex, in 1835, (with other fepulchral relics) is alone 
 fufficient to prove its employment by the Romans during their occupa- 
 tion of Britain. 
 
 The term enamel fignifies vitreous paftes, to which various colours 
 are given by means of metallic oxides ; they are either opaque or tranf- 
 parent, and are capable of being applied fuperficially to feveral fubftances, 
 earthy or metallic, forming a decorative colouring of admirable brilliancy 
 and durability. The rich blue and green colours which appear on the 
 little figures of deities and on various ornaments difcovered in Egypt, 
 appear to be enamels ; porcelain, pottery, and glafs have ferved as the 
 
 b 
 
6 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ground-work to which enamel has been applied with the moft attractive 
 effect. Our examples, however, only mow fpecimens applied to metallic 
 bafes, as practifed fo extenfively in all christian countries during the mid- 
 dle ages. 
 
 The metals employed as a ground for enamel, are gold, filver, and 
 copper, brafs being of too fufible a nature. The colouring pafte which 
 forms the bafe, coniifts of oxides of lead and tin, fufed with filex in cer- 
 tain quantities, the opaque qualities being given by the oxide of tin, 
 while various colours are produced by the addition of other metallic ox- 
 ides ; thus from copper green is obtained, red from gold or iron, and 
 blue from cobalt. This laft colour prevails to a remarkable degree in 
 the earlier enamels. 
 
 Enamels were produced by various proceffes totally diftinct from each 
 other. In the moft choice works the mode of proceeding was exceed- 
 ingly tedious. Each colour was feparated by (lender lines of filigree 
 attached to the furface of the plate ; thefe were bent and fafhioned fo 
 as to produce the complete outline of every part of the defign in the moft 
 delicate metal threads ; the fpaces between were next filled in with the 
 defired colours, and the plate was then expofed to a degree of heat fuf- 
 ficient to fufe the enamel-pafte without affecting the metal. 
 
 In all the known examples of this mode of operation, gold was em- 
 ployed.* The celebrated jewel of King Alfred, found near Athelney 
 Abbey, Somerfetfhire, in 1693, an< ^ now depofited in the Afhmolean 
 Mufeum, Oxford, is a remarkably curious early fpecimen of this kind of 
 enamel, and the more interefting from the great probability of its being 
 of Englifh workmanfhip. An inftance of its having been practifed to a 
 comparatively late period may be feen in the German Beaker reprefented 
 in plate VIII. 
 
 The coftlinefs of this procefs led to the adoption of another by which 
 fimilar effects were more eafily accomplished, with the exception of 
 bolder lines, or narrow bands, of copper being fubftituted for the fpider- 
 like threads which could only be produced in a metal fo ductile as gold. 
 This mode was termed in France, Champ-leve, and confifted in tooling 
 out the field of the metal fo as to leave thin lines to take the place of the 
 filigree in keeping one colour diftinct from another, and to define the 
 outline and leading features of the defign. The metal plate in this pro- 
 cefs, in almoft every known inftance, is of copper, and after the cavities 
 were excifed on the face of the metal, fo as to hold firmly the enamel, 
 they were filled and then fufed as before defcribed ; and after being 
 
 * Engraved in the " Drefles and Decorations of the Middle Ages." 
 
INTRODUCTION. 7 
 
 polifhed, the lines of metal were gilded, and thus produced a brilliant 
 effect in contraft with the rich colours by which they were furrounded. 
 The belt works of this kind were executed during the twelfth and thir- 
 teenth centuries. 
 
 The next procefs, which forms the ftep of tranfition between the 
 champ-leve mode of operation and the furface enamels of the fifteenth 
 and fixteenth centuries, confifted in chafing the defign in the loweft pof- 
 fible relief, or even in fimple lines on the face of a plate, ufually of filver ; 
 a tranfparent coat of enamel was then laid over it, no lines of metal being 
 expofed, and the defign was indicated and defined by the work beneath 
 feen through this tranfparent medium.* This kind of enamelling feems 
 to have had its origin in Italy, and to have reached its greateft perfection 
 towards the latter part of the fourteenth century. 
 
 The chafed metal plate coated with tranfparent enamel was followed 
 by the art of fuperficial enamelling in opaque colours, or rather colours 
 laid on an opaque ground, whereby the metal was entirely concealed. 
 The jewels, and fometimes other ornaments, were confiderably raifed by 
 means of little femi-globular filver fpangles overlaid with brilliant tranf- 
 parent colour to give them the appearance of gems. This kind of ena- 
 melling is termed by the French, a pailliettes.-f* 
 
 The opaque enamels of the latter part of the fifteenth and beginning of 
 the fixteenth centuries are commonly met with, but fine fpecimens are 
 very rare, and always command high prices. It was under the aufpices 
 of Francis I. that fuperficial enamel reached its greatefi: perfection. He 
 eftablifhed a royal manufactory of enamels at Limoges, and by the intro- 
 duction of Italian artifis and works of art, gave to their productions ex- 
 cellence of defign as well as elaborate execution and fkill in the applica- 
 tion of colours. To this fchool we owe the exquifite paintings of Mon- 
 vearni, Leonard Limoufin, Jean Courteys, Jean Court, and a holt, of 
 artifts who fupported its reputation during the fixteenth century. At the 
 commencement of the feventeenth its decline was vifible, and as the in- 
 vention of Jean Toutin, in 1630, of painting folidly in enamel upon 
 gold, became improved and extended, this art gave way to the tafte for 
 miniature painting, and refulted in the exquifite gems of Petitot, Bordier, 
 and others. 
 
 I have not attempted to give any illufirations of thefe later and mofr. 
 fuperlative enamels, as plain engravings would be very unfatisfactory, and 
 coloured ones could only be produced at a coft the felling price of the 
 prefent publication would by no means jufiify. 
 
 * See Plate VII. t See Plate XII. 
 
s 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 flgetai aZftorft* 
 
 Of the fimple procefTes connected with the production of works in 
 metal during the middle ages little need be faid. The arts of chifelling, 
 charing, carting, embofling, pouncing, &c. have no doubt been employed 
 continuoufly from the moft remote ages to the prefent time ; we can 
 only therefore look upon the fpecimens which have defcended to us as 
 evidences of fkilful defign, or as marking the peculiar treatment or con- 
 ventional tafte prevalent at the time when they were feverally executed. 
 
 Catering* tn 23lootK 
 
 The above remarks on works executed in metal, are equally applica- 
 ble to thofe in which wood was employed. 
 
 i&atnteti, or £>tatneti dSiafe, 
 
 Glass, both white and coloured, opaque and tranfparent, was made in 
 Egypt at a very early period. Sir J. G. Wilkinfon, in his able and in- 
 teresting work on the manners and cuftoms of the Egyptians, has adduced 
 three diftincl: proofs that the art of glafs working was practifed in Egypt 
 before the exodus of the children of Egypt from that land, tfrree thou- 
 fand five hundred years ago ; but, till the commencement of the chriftian 
 era, the material does not appear to have been ufed for any other purpofe 
 than the formation of various utenfils and ornaments of mofaic works, 
 and the counterfeiting of precious ftones. 
 
 A paflage in Lactantius, fuppofed to have been written at the clofe of 
 the third century, is commonly referred to as the firft undoubted men- 
 tion of the ufe of glafs in windows.* Leo III. (a.d. 795 — 816) is faid 
 to have adorned the windows of the Lateran with coloured glafs, which 
 is the earlieft inftance of the kind that can be ftated with confidence ; 
 and there can be no doubt the art of glafs painting was known as early 
 as the tenth century, as the procefs is minutely defcribed in the fecond 
 
 * Mr. Auldjo, of Noel Houfe, Kenfington, who refided feveral years at Naples, ftates, that 
 he has feen glafs in the window-frames of fome of the houfes at Pompeii. And Mr. Roach 
 Smith has a fpecimen of ancient flat glafs, fuch as he believes to have been ufed by the Ro- 
 mans or their predeceflbrs for windows. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 9 
 
 book of the " Diverfarum Artium Schedula" of Theophilus;* a work 
 fuppofed to have been written in the following century. It contains a 
 mafs of mod curious information, which is highly interefting from the 
 light it throws on the procelfes connected with the execution of painted 
 glafs as practifed during that and many fubfequent ages. 
 
 Glafs in its fimple manufactured ftate, is either white or coloured. Silex 
 and Alkali form the principal ingredients of white glafs, and are incor- 
 porated by fufion in the melting-pot of the glafs-houfe. When the vitri- 
 fication in the melting-pot is complete, the glafs is formed into meets, or 
 as they are now termed, tables. Thefe are afterwards annealed, i. e. 
 fuffered to cool very gradually, a procefs which renders them lefs brittle. 
 
 Coloured glafs is of two kinds ; one coloured throughout its entire 
 fubftance, and called pot-metal glafs : the other coloured only on one lide 
 of the meet, and termed covered, coated, or flamed glafs ; i. e. white 
 glafs covered with a coat of pot-metal glafs. 
 
 Red, or ruby glafs, is almoft invariably coated glafs ; the other kinds 
 are ufually of pot-metal, though not unfrequently manufactured of coated 
 glafs. 
 
 Coloured glafs is formed by adding colouring matter to the materials 
 of white glafs, and incorporating thefe ingredients in the melting-pot of 
 the glafs houfe. Ruby glafs is produced by adding oxide of gold, in the 
 proportion of about 40Z. to 6cwt. ; blue, by 2lbs. of oxide of cobalt ; 
 azure, 61bs. of oxide of copper; emerald green, I2lbs. of copper fcales, 
 and I2lbs of iron ore; gold topaz colour, 3lbs. of oxide of uranium; 
 orange, I2lbs. of iron ore, and 4-lbs. of manganefe ; and amethylt or 
 purple, 2olbs. of oxide of manganefe, to the above quantity of 6cwt.-j~ 
 The glafs painter can colour white and vary the tints of coloured glafs 
 by the ufe of ftains and enamel colours. By repeating the yellow ftain 
 (which penetrates the glafs to fome little depth) all the fucceflive gra- 
 dations up to a deep orange may be obtained ; or a limited number of 
 colours may be produced on the fame piece of glafs by the following pro- 
 cefTes. Part of a piece of blue glafs may be changed to green, by means 
 of the yellow ftain, or the coloured furface of coated glafs may be re- 
 moved by attrition, or the ufe of fluoric acid, thus leaving the white glafs 
 expofed. This laft may be wholly, or, in part, ftained yellow. 
 
 There are three diftinct fyftems of glafs painting, which are ufually 
 
 * A tranflation of this part of the work is given in the appendix to the very able and ufeful 
 publication, entitled, " An enquiry into the differences of ftyle obfervable in ancient Glafs 
 Paintings, efpecially in England, with hints on Glafs Paintings. By an Amateur." Oxford, 
 Parker, 1847. 
 
 t " The Curiofities of Glafs painting," by Apfley Pellatt. London, Bogue, 1849. 
 
I 3 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 termed the mofaic, the enamel, and the mofaic-enamel methods. Of 
 thefe, the moft fimple method is the mofaic, by which each colour of 
 the defign, except yellow, brown, and black, muft be reprefented by a 
 feparate piece of glafs. The glafs painter in this ftyle ufes but two pig- 
 ments, a ftain which produces the yellow tint, and a brown called enamel 
 brown. All the fhadows and fubordinate outlines are produced by the 
 enamel brown, while the principal ones are given by the leads which 
 furround and conned: all the feparate pieces of glafs. 
 
 Under the enamel method, coloured glafs is not ufed under any cir- 
 cumftances, the pidure being painted on white glafs, with enamel colours 
 and ftains. 
 
 The mofaic enamel confifts in a combination of the two former pro- 
 ceffes ; white and coloured glafs, as well as every variety of enamel colour 
 and ftain, being employed in it. 
 
 The mode of working out the defign is nearly the fame in all the 
 methods. An outline of it is firft made, upon which is marked the 
 fhapes and fizes of the various pieces of glafs, both coloured and plain. 
 The glafs is then cut to thefe forms, and afterwards painted and burnt, 
 i.e. heated to rednefs in a furnace or kiln, which fixes the enamel colours, 
 and caufes the {tains to penetrate the glafs. The number of burnings 
 required varies according to circumftances. It is ufually fufficient to burn 
 glafs with a fingle enamel colour, once or twice ; the fame operation 
 fufficing alfo to give effed to the ftain, if any is ufed. Where feveral 
 enamel colours are employed, it is neceffary to burn the glafs more fre- 
 quently, as each colour generally requires to be fixed by a feparate burn- 
 ing. 
 
 The mofaic fyftem of painting is unfuited for mere pidurefque effed ; 
 but is remarkable for its fparkling brilliancy, arifing from the nature of 
 its colouring. This confifts of a combination of the brighteft tints, which 
 fcarcely admit of variety beyond what can be imparted to it by means of 
 fhading, or diapering in the enamel brown. 
 
 The revival of other departments of art in the fixteenth century feems 
 to have excited the ambition of the painters on glafs. Not only was 
 mofaic painting carried by them to a higher degree of perfedion than it 
 had hitherto arrived at ; but they began to emulate the excellence of the 
 oil and frefco painters in drawing and compofition ; and alfo endeavoured 
 to imitate nature by producing in a tranfparent material the atmofpheric 
 and pidurefque effeds fo fuccefsfully exhibited by their brother artifts. 
 The facility of applying colour to glafs with the brum, afforded by the 
 difcovery of the various enamel colours, about the middle of the fixteenth 
 century, foon led to their extenfive employment. It was not however 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 1 1 
 
 till the end of the eighteenth century that they entirely fuperfeded the 
 ufe of coloured glaffes in large works. 
 
 The introduction of enamels, though it occafioned a great extenfion 
 of the fcale of colour in glafs painting, was attended with difadvantages. 
 The paintings loft in tranfparency what they gained in variety of tint ; 
 and in proportion as their picturefque qualities were increafed by the 
 fubftitution of enamel colouring for coloured glafs, their depth of colour 
 fenfibly diminished. 
 
 The practical application of enamel colours to glafs, feems always to 
 have been conducted nearly as at prefent. Some of the earlier examples 
 of enamel painting are however fuperior in tranfparency to the modern. 
 This is particularly the cafe with Swifs glafs paintings of the feventeenth 
 and clofe of the fixteenth century ; in which enamel colours are con- 
 stantly to be met with, firmly adhering to the glafs in lumps of a fix- 
 teenth of an inch in thicknefs, and fo well fluxed in burning as to be 
 nearly as tranfparent as pot-metal glafs. 
 
 Of glafs employed for domeftic purpofes, the earlieft examples known 
 are the glafs beads and admirable imitations of amethyfts, and other pre- 
 cious Stones frequently found in Egyptian Tombs.* The beautiful blues, 
 produced without cobalt or nickel, and their reds, without gold (as 
 proved by Klaproth's analyfis), evince a considerable knowledge of the 
 chemical art in opaque and tranfparent colouring. The Chinefe alfo 
 from a very remote time have been Skilled in glafs-making of a fimilar 
 character. M. Abel Remufat, (in his " Hiftoire de la ville de Khotan, 
 &c") ftates, that their imitation of the precious Stone yefchm was fo ex- 
 cellent, that it was almoft impoflible to diStinguifh the artificial from the 
 real. 
 
 This defcription of glafs-ware was manufactured into vafes of various 
 forms by the Chinefe, from whom the Arabians procured them. Some 
 were of a clear tranfparent white, extremely brilliant, and as pure as a 
 precious Stone ; and others of a beautiful blue, and equally pure. In 
 Egypt and Syria, no difference was known between the real and artificial 
 yefchm, the latter being of the fame form, thicknefs, and fpecific gravity, 
 
 * The majority of thefe beads, however, are compofed, not of glafs, but of burnt clay, or 
 earthenware glazed ; or perhaps, of glazed earthenware pounded, and mixed with coloured 
 glafs fuzed together ; of fuch fubftances are the numerous figures of mummies, beetles, and 
 other figures. " Curiofities of Glafs-making," by Apfley Pellatt. 
 
12 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 as the former. It is even afferted, that in Cairo and other cities, the 
 artificial vafes were as highly valued as thofe of the real yefchm, and that 
 enormous prices were given for them. The Chinefe have equally well 
 imitated their ju fhone, which was too coftly for perfons of moderate 
 fortune. 
 
 The glafs-houfes of Alexandria were highly celebrated among the 
 ancients for the fkill and ingenuity of their workmen ; and from thence 
 the Romans, who did not acquire a knowledge of the art till a later 
 period, procured all their glafs ware. During the reign of Nero, how- 
 ever, great improvements were made in Roman glafs. The perfectly 
 clear glafs, which bore the neareft refemblance to cryftal, was fo highly 
 valued, that Nero is ftated to have given for two cups, of no extra- 
 ordinary fize, with two handles, 6000 feftertia, or nearly 50,000/. fter- 
 ling. The fuperior kinds of glafs were in fuch extenfive ufe in the 
 time of Pliny, as to have almoft fuperfeded cups of gold and filver. 
 Hence, the manufacture would appear to have been confined to articles 
 of luxury, fuch as veffels of glafs to imitate precious ftones, intended for 
 cutting by the lathe, by Roman or Grecian artifts refident in Rome, in 
 the ftyle of cameos in relief. 
 
 In the Britifh Mufeum are preferved many fpecimens of fragments of 
 vafes, and fmall pieces of white opaque enamel glafs, upon blue and ame- 
 thyft tranfparent grounds, fupporting the probability of this opinion. 
 White cryftal glafs, without lead, cut to imitate rock-cryftal, was then 
 known ; although the introduction of lead into white glafs was, till re- 
 cently, fuppofed to be of Britifh origin. 
 
 The moft celebrated ancient glafs vafe now in exiftence, is that which 
 for more than two centuries formed the principal ornament of the Bar- 
 barini palace, and now depofited in the Britifh Mufeum, and known as 
 the Portland Vafe. It was found about the middle of the fixteenth cen- 
 tury, enclofed in a marble farcophagus, within a fepulchral chamber 
 under the Monte del grano, two miles and a half from Rome, on the 
 road to Frafcati. It is ornamented with white opaque figures in bas- 
 lief, upon a dark blue tranfparent ground. The defign is admirable, and 
 the execution moft exquifite ; but the fubjecT: has not yet received any 
 fatisfaclory elucidation. The whole of the blue ground, or at leaft the 
 part below the upper welding of the handle, was originally covered with 
 white enamel, out of whicli the figures have been fculptured in the ftyle 
 of a cameo, with aftonifhing fkill and labour. In the pofteflion of R. 
 W. Hamilton, Efq. is a fragment of a vafe, which feems to be the ne 
 plus ultra of the chemical and manipulatory powers of the ancient glafs- 
 makers. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 13 
 
 It confifts of no lefs than five layers or ftrata of glafs. The interior 
 layer is the ufual blue fapphire colour. The colours of the numerous 
 ftrata are feparated from and contrafted with each other by layers of 
 white enamel, fkilfully arranged by fome eminent artift of the Grecian 
 fchool, for the embofTment of his cameo fubject, as well as blending them 
 artiftically into each other. The fubject is, a female repofing upon* a 
 fettee. It is executed in the higheft ftyle of art, and is an admirable 
 fpecimen of gem engraving.* 
 
 Venice, for a long period, excelled all Europe in the finenefs and 
 beauty of its glafs ; but as the leading procelTes employed by the Vene- 
 tians are given with the defcription of the three elegant examples in the 
 prefent work taken from the collection of Felix Slade, Efq., it is unne- 
 celTary to repeat them here. 
 
 The Germans moft probably followed the Venetians in the manufac- 
 ture of ornamental glafs veffels, as the earlieft are painted in enamel, and 
 none are known of a date prior to the year 1553. They feem to have 
 neglected fome of the Venetian procelTes ; but to others they gave an 
 exteniion, particularly by favouring enamel-painting and fchmelze, and 
 by practifing the ancient art of tracing fubjects on gold leaf, and after- 
 wards enclofing them between layers of tranfparent glafs. The loft art 
 of engraving glafs by the lathe was alfo revived by Cafpar Lehmann, in 
 1609. He worked at Prague, the capital of Bohemia, under the pro- 
 tection of Rudolph II. Half a century later, Henry Schwanhard, a 
 pupil of Lehmann, who practifed at Nuremberg, difcovered a peculiar 
 mode of etching on glafs, but he kept his fecret to himfelf, and carried 
 it with him to his grave. 
 
 SJUumtttateti 2Dratmns£- 
 
 The limited nature of my prefent work has only enabled me to in- 
 troduce two engravings from Illuminated Drawings ; both very choice 
 fpecimens of Italian art. Having, however, in a previous publication, 
 given coloured examples, mowing the peculiarities of ftyle, and modes 
 of defign, adopted in this department of art in the various countries of 
 Europe, from the earlieft authorities known till its decline in the feven- 
 teenth century, it is unneceflary to purfue the fubject further on the pre- 
 fent occafion. 
 
 * A coloured engraving of this interefting fragment is given in the " Curiofities of Glafs- 
 making," before quoted. 
 
 C 
 
14 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 6mbrottierp* 
 
 Embroidery during the middle ages was moft extensively employed; 
 not only for ecclefiaftical and civil coftume, but for many kinds of do- 
 meftic furniture ; and, in fact, for moft of the purpofes to which cloth 
 of any kind could be applied as an external covering. Its proceffes are 
 fpecially interesting as having formed the chief occupation of high-born 
 dames when fhut up in their folitary caftles, or more clofely confined 
 within convent walls. The few accomplishments then known, and the 
 many occafions when caufes (independent of wind and weather) rendered 
 it unfafe to indulge in the pleafures of Hawking and other out-door 
 amufements, muft have left abundant leifure for thofe whofe thoughts 
 were on the " pomps and vanities of this wicked world" to fupply the 
 fop with his finery ; or for thofe who had arrived at the more mature 
 conclufion that " all is vanity," to furnifh the Prieft with his veftments 
 and altar-cloths. 
 
 It would be idle to attempt to trace to its origin an art fo limple as that 
 of needle-work. It muft have formed one of the earlieft efforts of civiliza- 
 tion, of which abundant evidence may be gleaned from the Bible, as well 
 as other ancient records. In the portrait of Tyre drawn by Ezekiel, it 
 is fpoken of in connexion with the extraordinary mercantile activity by 
 which that celebrated city was diftinguimed. " Syria was thy merchant 
 by reafon of the multitude of the wares of thy making ; they occupied 
 in thy fairs with emeralds, purple, and broidered work, and fine linen, 
 and coral, and agate." " Dedan was thy merchant in precious cloths for 
 chariots. Haran, and Canneh, and Eden, the merchants of Sheba, Affhur, 
 and Chilmad, were thy Merchants. Thefe were thy merchants in all 
 forts of things, in blue cloths and broidered work, and in chefts of rich 
 apparel, bound with cords, and made of cedar among thy merchandife." 
 
 Our knowledge of the needlework of the Greeks and Romans is princi- 
 pally to be gathered from Homer and Pliny. The names of Helen and 
 Penelope are familiar to every one as connected with this fubject. There 
 was a memorable cuftom among the Greek dames, that no one mould 
 accept a fecond hufband until me had worked the grave clothes of the 
 firft, or his next of kin ; and the ftory of the famous web of Penelope, 
 as related by Homer, is founded upon this fact. Penelope having, as 
 me thought, loft Ulyfles at fea, me employed her time in working a 
 fhroud for Laertes, the father of her hufband. 
 
 " A Web fhe wove of many a flender twine, 
 Of curious texture, and perplexed defign ; 
 
INTRODUCTION. 15 
 
 My youths, ftie cried, my Lord but newly dead, 
 Forbear awhile to court my widow'd Bed, 
 Till I have wove, as folemn vows require, 
 This web, a fhroud for UlyfTes Sire. 
 His Limbs, when fate the Hero's foul demands, 
 Shall claim this labor of his Daughter's hands : 
 Left all the Dames of Greece my name defpife, 
 While the great King without a covering lies." 
 
 The ceremony of the embroidery of the Peplus, or veil for the ftatue 
 of Minerva, and its confecration, was one of the higher!: fefKvals of the 
 Athenians.* The Peplus was the work of young virgins felected from 
 the beft families in Athens, over whom two principals called Arrephora? 
 were fuperintendents. On it was embroidered the battles of the gods 
 and giants ; among the gods was Jupiter hurling his thunderbolt againft 
 the rebellious crew ; and Minerva, feated in her chariot, appeared the 
 vanquifher of Typhon or Euceladus. 
 
 The Anglo-Saxon ladies were accuftomed, like thofe of Greece and 
 Rome, to embroider the exploits of their hufbands on the hangings of 
 their chambers. The celebrated needlework at Bayeux, one of the 
 moft ancient fpecimens in exigence, is fuppofed to have been the work 
 of Matilda, Queen of William the Conqueror, and her maidens, by whom 
 it was prefented to the cathedral of Bayeux in Normandy. It confifts of 
 a continuous web of cloth 227 feet in length, and 20 inches in width, 
 including the borders at top and bottom ; thefe are formed of grotefque 
 figures of birds, animals, &c. fome of which are fuppofed to reprefent 
 the fables of JEfop. The whole is worked or embroidered in worfted, 
 and reprefents the various events connected with the conqueft of England. 
 In the part pourtraying the battle of Haftings, the lower border confifts 
 of the bodies of the (lain. 
 
 Embroidery is comparatively a modern term. The art is mentioned 
 in Mediaeval writers under the title of Aurifrafium, or Aurifrigium, the 
 opus Phrygium ; Fr. frange d'or, or work of Gold, and hence the differ- 
 ent names of Orfrais, Orfrays, or Orfreys, words indicating in their 
 general fignification, borders or facings in which gold tambour was ufed. 
 Thefe Orfrais are continually mentioned in mediaeval writers. Chaucer 
 thus fpeaks of them : — 
 
 " Richefle a robe of purple on had, 
 Ne trow not that ftie it mad, 
 For in this world is none it liche, 
 Ne by a thoufand deale fo riche, 
 
 * The Panathenaic frieze with which Phidias embellifhed the outfide of the temple of Par- 
 thenon reprefented this facred proceffion, which was celebrated every five years at Athens in 
 honour of Minerva. The remains of this frieze form a portion of the Elgin Marbles in 
 the Britifh Mufeum. 
 
16 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Ne none fo faire, for it full well 
 With Orfreis laied was every dell. 
 And purtraid in the ribanings 
 Of Dukes ftories, and of Kings." 
 
 In Anglo-Saxon times embroidery was extenlively practifed in this 
 country, and Englifh workmanfhip enjoyed for many centuries a high 
 reputation over the reft of Europe, under the title of Opus Anglicanum. 
 In the Chapter Houfe at Durham is ftill preferved the ftole which JE\f- 
 flaed, Edward the Elder's Queen, got made for Fritheftan, Bifhop of 
 Winchefter. This Anglo-Saxon liturgic Ornament is all over-wrought 
 with figures of the apoftles. Reginald, the Monk of Durham, defcribes 
 moll minutely the Dalmatic found in the year 1104 on the body of St. 
 Cuthbert ; and the Englifh Dominican Friar Thomas Stubbs, writing 
 a. d. 1 360 tells us, in his notice of St. Ofwald, Archbifhop of York in the 
 year 971, that the Anglo Saxon Saints' Chafuble, a purple one, adorned 
 with gold and precious ftones, and ftill as beautiful as ever, was kept at 
 the church at Beverley. Italy herfelf could fhow nothing to be compared 
 with fome of our veftments ; and a cope which iEgelnoth, the Anglo- 
 Saxon Primate, had given, together with many other prefents, to an 
 Archbifhop of Benevento (who once came here to beg alms at Canute's 
 court for Apulia), long remained without an equal in that country, where 
 Eadmer, years afterwards found it ftill unmatched ; and by far the moft 
 beautiful among all the like veftments worn by the Bifhops at a council 
 prefided over by the Roman Pontiff at Benevento, whither this English- 
 man had gone, along with another archbifhop of Canterbury, St. An- 
 felm.* An inftance of the eftimation in which Englifh embroidery was 
 held at the court of Rome is mentioned by Matthew Paris. He ftates 
 that Pope Innocent IV. (1246) obferving on the copes and infula? of 
 certain of the ecclefiaftics fome very defirable Orfrais, he inquired where 
 they were made, and being anfwered, in England, he exclaimed, " Truly 
 England is our garden of delight ; in footh it is a well inexhauftible ; 
 and where there is great abundance, from thence much may be extract- 
 ed ;" and accordingly his Holinefs difpatched his official letters to nearly 
 all the Abbots of the Ciftercian order in England, to the prayers of whom 
 he had juft been committing himfelf in the Chapter Houfe of their 
 Order, and urged them to procure for his choir, for nothing if they 
 could accomplish it, yet, at all events, to purchafe things fo eftimable. 
 An order which, adds the chronicler, was fufficiently pleafing to the 
 London merchants, but the caufe of many perfons detefting him for his 
 covetoufnefs.-f* 
 
 * Eadmeri Hift. Novorum, lib. ii. pp. 50, 51, ed. Seldeno. 
 t Matt. Paris, Hift. Angl. p. 478, edit. Paris, 1644. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 17 
 
 The Norman chronicler Vitalis relates, that when Matilda, the Queen 
 of William I. vifited the Abbey of St. Evroul, Adelina, the wife of Roger 
 de Bellmont (her attendant) brought with her an Alb richly adorned with 
 Orfrais, and prefenting it at the church, the prieft wore it while cele- 
 brating mafs. Matilda alfo left by her will to the Abbey of the Trinity 
 at Caen, which fhe had founded, a Chafuble worked at Winchefter by 
 the wife of Alderet, and a cloak worked in gold made for a cope, and 
 alfo another veftment wrought in England. 
 
 Down to the time of the reformation needle work was continuoufly 
 employed in combining the moft gorgeous materials into articles of ec- 
 clefiaftical and civil coftume ; of the riches difplayed on thofe of the 
 former clafs fome idea may be formed from the catalogue of the church 
 veftments preferved in the cathedrals of York, Lincoln, London, and 
 Peterborough. In Lincoln alone there were upwards of fix hundred, 
 wrought with divers kinds of needle work, jewellery and gold, upon 
 Indian baudikin, famit, tarterian, velvet, and filk. A notion of the coft: 
 of fome of thefe veftments may be gleaned from the Liberate roll, 24 
 Hen. III. (1241) where among the entries we find this monarch order- 
 ing payment for a cope of red filk for the Bifhop of Hereford, which 
 according to the rate of money at prefent (calculated by Dr. Henry and 
 Adam Smith to be fifteen times greater than at that period), mull have 
 been equal to 361/. is. 6d. That monarch alfo gave to another Bifhop 
 (Peter de Aqua Blancha) a mitre which coft 83/. equal by the above 
 valuation to 1230/. ; and a fum as large as 2100/. was given to Thomas 
 Cheiner for a veft of velvet embroidered with divers work, purchafed by 
 Edward III. for his own Chaplain. 
 
 The oldeft fpecimen of Englifh embroidery with which I am acquainted 
 is a very beautiful cope which once belonged to the Monaftery of Syon, 
 near Illeworth, but now the property of the Earl of Shrewfbury. It is 
 quite a ftoried veftment. The ground is covered with interlaced qua- 
 trefoils, in each of which is a facred fubject ; the higher part of the 
 back having the affumption, or crowning of the virgin, with the cruci- 
 fixion below it, and at the bottom St. Michael overcoming the dragon. 
 The Orphreys are two broad bands of fhields decorated with coats of 
 arms, among which occur thofe of Ferrers, Earls of Ferrers and Derby, 
 Geneville, Champernoun, Newburgh, Barons of Livarot, Mortimer, 
 Percy, Defpencer, Caflele, and Leon, &c. This portion is not quite fo 
 old as the body of the cope, which appears to have been worked about 
 the fecond half of the thirteenth century. 
 
 The principal portions of the old needle-work were never wrought 
 on the velvet or filk of the robe or hanging they were intended to adorn; 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 but were done feparately on linen and then attached to the general ground, 
 the edges being bound with a cord, which was afterwards caft over (en 
 guipure) with gold or filver tambour. A coarfe kind of unbleached 
 linen was generally employed. The other materials ufed in the embroi- 
 dery were gold and filver threads called paffing, or tambour, flofs filk, and 
 mitorfe, or twifted filk, and jewels. The fcrolls and fprays to floriated 
 patterns were formed of filk cord, twifted with gold and coloured filk 
 threads, and commonly terminating with fpangles, which feem to have 
 been introduced at a very early period. 
 
 Skelton in defcribing the various kinds of needle-work practifed by 
 Englifh Ladies in the fixteenth century, fays : 
 
 " With that the tappettes* and carpettes were layde, 
 Wheren thefe Ladyes foftely might reft, 
 The fampler to fow on, the laces to embroyde. 
 To weave in the ftolef fome were full preft, 
 With flaces, with tavels,J with hedelles§ well dreft, 
 The frame was brought forth, with his weaving pin ; 
 God give them good fpeed their work to begin." 
 
 " Some to embroider, put them in preafe, 
 
 Well gydyng their glotten to keep ftraight their filke ; 
 
 Some pyrlyng of golde, their work to encrefe, 
 
 With fingers fmall, and hands as white as mylke 
 
 With reche me that fkayne of tewly fylke, 
 
 And wynde me that batoume of fuch an hewe, 
 
 Grene, red, tawney, whyte, purple, and blewe." 
 
 jftcttle asiare* 
 
 According to M. Brogniart, Fictile Ware was known in China at leaft 
 2060 years before the chriftian era, as there was at that time a fuperin- 
 tendant of the potteries, but the oldeft fpecimens which have defcended 
 to us (with the exception of the Babylonian bricks) are thofe taken from 
 the catacombs of Thebes, and which date about 1900 to 1800 b. c. 
 Thefe were followed in Greece and Etruria by thofe wonderful examples 
 of fictile art which have excited the admiration of all fucceeding ages 
 from the extraordinary elegance and beauty of their various forms : the 
 exquifite defigns with which they were frequently covered : and alfo from 
 the purity of the materials employed in their manufacture. 
 
 Pottery made anterior to the chriftian era have frequently been found 
 
 * Tappettes, hanging cloths. f Stole, a weaver's instrument. 
 
 % Slaces, and tavels, inftruments for filk-women. 
 
 § Hedelles, the fmall cords through which the warp is parted in a loom, after going through 
 the reed. 
 
INTRODUCTION. i 9 
 
 in England, France, Germany, and other countries of Europe ; and fpe- 
 cimens of a hard texture have alfo been difcovered in Mexico, Guatem- 
 ala, and various diftricts of South America. 
 
 The pottery fo famous during the middle ages, and generally known 
 under the names of Majolica, Raphael ware, and fometimes by the term 
 " Umbrian ware," though the production of the fifteenth and fixteenth 
 centuries, owed its origin about the twelfth, to the introduction into Italy 
 of the Moorifh pottery, obtained as the fpoil of conqueft by the various 
 Italian republican Hates engaged in warfare with the Infidels. 
 
 The firft introduction of painted pottery into Italy may be traced to the 
 Pifans. It is related by Sifmondi, that the zeal of the Pifans againft the 
 infidels led them to undertake the deliverance of the Tyrrhene fea from 
 the aggreffion of the Muffelmen Corfairs. That the painted Moorifh 
 pottery, an article of great value, and fuppofed to have been alrnoft un- 
 known at that time in Italy, formed part of their fpoils, appears probable 
 from the fact of plates, or bacini, of apparently Moorifh origin and pat- 
 tern being found incrufted in the walls of the moft ancient churches of 
 Pifa, as well as in thofe of many other towns of Italy. 
 
 It was a cuftom at Pifa with the warriors returning from the Crufades 
 and flopping at Majorca, to bring home this particular earthenware by 
 way at once of teftimony and trophy. They are accordingly only to be 
 found in the buildings of the ftyle that we in England fhould call Norman. 
 
 Thefe fpecimens of Moorifh pottery feem to have remained a long 
 time admired and venerated as religious trophies before they were imi- 
 tated, as there exifts no record of any manufacture of Majolica in Italy 
 before the fourteenth century ; about two hundred years afterthe period 
 before mentioned. 
 
 The early examples of Majolica of the fourteenth century, confifting 
 of arabefque patterns in yellow and green upon a blue ground, are evi- 
 dently copied from the Moorifh pottery. Under the patronage of the 
 Houfe of Sforza, the art was greatly improved, and the manufacture at 
 Pefaro had in 1450 arrived at a high degree of perfection. 
 
 The moft diftinguifhed name connected with early Italian pottery is 
 that of Luca della Robbia, born in 1388. He ferved an apprenticefhip 
 with Leonardo, the ableft goldfmith in Florence, but foon forfook that 
 calling and became an eminent fculptor in marble and bronze, and 
 worked both at Florence and Rimini ; he alfo abandoned this employ- 
 ment for modelling in terra-cotta, and after many experiments, fucceed- 
 ed in making a white enamel, with which he coated his works and thus 
 rendered them durable. His chief productions are Madonnas, fcripture 
 fubjects, figures, and architectural ornaments. They are unqueftionably 
 
20 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the fineft works of art ever produced in pottery ; though fpecimens ftill 
 exift executed by his fcholars, fhowing that fome of them very nearly 
 approached the Ikill of their mafter. The " Petit Chateau de Madrid," 
 formerly Handing in the Bois de Boulogne, near Paris, received the ap- 
 pellation of " Chateau de Fayence," from having been ornamented with 
 enamelled tiles, the work of an Italian artift, named Girolomo della 
 Robbia, a grand nephew of Luca, whom Francis I. brought from Italy. 
 Thefe tiles feem to have been introduced into portions of the architec- 
 tural compolition, rather as acceffory ornaments than as a lining or " re- 
 vetement" of the walls. Analogous ornaments, the work of Luca de 
 Maiano, with the date 1521, were to be found in the old gate, Whitehall, 
 and may ftill be feen at the palace at Hampton Court. Julius Scaliger 
 fays the Italian pottery derived its name from Majorca, where the pottery 
 was moft excellent. This is confirmed by Octavius Ferrari, in his work 
 upon the Italian language. This celebrated manufacture owed its great 
 perfection to the princely houfe of Urbino, by whom it was patronized 
 for about two hundred years. 
 
 The term Raffaelle ware, has no doubt been given to thefe celebrated 
 productions from a miftaken idea that the admirable pictures with which 
 many of them are covered, from the defigns of the immortal Raffaelle 
 Sanzio d'Urbino, who was born at Urbino in 1483, and died at Rome in 
 1520, either painted them himfelf or fuperintended their execution; 
 whereas the fineft fpecimens are not of an earlier date than 1540. Thefe 
 defigns however, were furnimed by his fcholars from the original draw- 
 ings of the great mafter, or copied from the excellent engravings of 
 Marc Antonio, who was employed by Raffaelle, lived in his houfe, and 
 worked under his eye. The prints he thus produced became the fafhion, 
 and were confequently transferred to Difhes and other articles of pottery. 
 Keyfer relates that Baron Taffis, of Venice, poftefTed an autograph wri- 
 ting of Raffaelle, in which he informs the Duchefs of Urbino that the 
 defigns are ready which the Princefs had defired to be made for fome 
 porcelain for her fideboard.* 
 
 Although Pefaro, Gubbio, and Urbino, were in the middle of the fif- 
 teenth and beginning of the fixteenth centuries the fites of this cele- 
 brated manufacture, it afterwards extended to Rimini, Faenza, Forli, 
 Fermignano, and along the banks of the Metaurus, to Caftel de Duruta, 
 in Perugia. Sienna, alfo, towards the end of the fixteenth century, fur- 
 nifhed remarkably fine fpecimens. In the valley of the Abbruzzi there 
 was likewife a manufactory. 
 
 The early fpecimens from 1450 to 1500, were a coarfe ware called 
 
 * Travels in Germany, Italy, &c. 1756. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 2 I 
 
 Mezza Majolica. The finer ware, called Porcellana,* was afterwards 
 introduced, in which the artifts could paint grander compofitions, and 
 give a higher degree of finifh. It was at its greater!; celebrity from 1540 
 to 1560, under Duke Guidobaldo II. Afterwards, from various caufes, 
 particularly the death of its royal patron which took place in 1 574, the 
 manufactory began rapidly to decline, and the introduction of oriental 
 porcelain completed its ruin. An eftablimment of an inferior ware ex- 
 isted at Urbino as late as the year 1722. 
 
 Originally, the plaftic furface of Robbian ware was of a uniform glis- 
 tening white, which, though cold in effect, is very favorable to the pure 
 religious fentiment at which it generally aimed. The eyes were then 
 blackened, in order to aid expreffion. Next, the pallid figures were 
 relieved againft a deep cerulean ground. The followers of Luca added 
 wreathed fruits and flowers, in their proper colours. Agincourt juftly 
 regrets that thefe men were led into fuch innovations by a defire for 
 mattering difficulties, and the ambition of adding to fculpture the beau- 
 ties of painting ; for when colour is given to draperies, the eye is ill- 
 reconciled to an addition which feems to transfer fuch productions from 
 the category of high art to the level of wax-work. 
 
 What the Mezza Majolica wanted in drawing and defign, was admi- 
 rably made up in the beauty and perfection of its colour and enamel glaze. 
 From the excellence of the latter, the yellow and white colours have the 
 metallic luftre of gold and filver. The changeable light and " Madre- 
 perla" fplendour were alfo given in great perfection, and indeed have 
 never been furpaffed. The irridefcent ruby colour is peculiar to Pefaro 
 and Gubbio, and is of very rare occurrence. Blue and yellow only, with 
 their mixtures, appear generally to have been ufed in painting this ware, 
 and the finking effect produced by the union of thefe fimple colours, 
 fhows the great talent of the painters employed in that early period of 
 the art. 
 
 The metallic and prifmatic glaze was obtained by dipping the half- 
 baked pottery into a white varnifh, over which, while moift, the fubject 
 was rapidly painted, correction or retouching being incompatible with 
 the immediate abforption of its colours, which, apart from accidental 
 fufion of tints, and flaws in the furnace, abundantly accounts for the fre- 
 quent inaccuracy of the defign. The metallic luftre depended a good 
 deal on lead, the whitenefs on a free ufe of tin. The prifmatic glaze, 
 efpecially of gold and ruby colour, was unequalled in thofe painted at 
 Gubbio by Maeftro Giorgio Andreoli, whofe name was enrolled among 
 
 * The name given at this period in Europe to the beft kinds of pottery, from the Portuguefe 
 word, " Porcellana," a cup. 
 
 d 
 
22 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the nobility in 1498 ; though the date affixed to his plates extends from 
 1 5 18 to about 1537.* 
 
 Arabefques and coats of heraldry round the rim of the dim, with a 
 buSt in the centre, characterize the general Style of the " Mezza Majo- 
 lica." Semi-buSts of the Deity were very generally introduced ; as alfo 
 portraits of princes, of their conforts, and occasionally of Popes, accom- 
 panied fometimes with fentences in Latin or Italian. 
 
 There was alfo a variety of plates called Amatorii, either tender fou- 
 venirs, or marriage gifts. Thefe ufually had the lady's portrait, with the 
 complimentary epithet of bella, at other times united hands and a tranf- 
 fixed heart, with a motto of affection, moralizing, or banter. Moil of 
 thefe portrait plates were deep, and faid not to have been delivered empty. 
 Brides fometimes received them brimming with jewels. 
 
 In the year 1560 a new era commenced in the hiStory of Majolica. 
 Then began to be painted landfcapes and friezes, together with every 
 Strange variety of fanciful conceit, or *' capricci," (as they are termed). 
 Boys, birds, trophies, mufical instruments, monftrous animals, as well as 
 copies from many of the fine Raffaelle grotefques. But the decline of 
 the art had begun. The drawings grew incorrect, the colours pale, 
 cloudy, and badly Shaded. In 1574 the ducal establishment was fup- 
 preSTed on account of the expenfe, and henceforth Majolica was only 
 manufactured for common purpofes. 
 
 After 1600 this celebrated ware almoSt ceafed to be made in the States 
 of Urbino, but in the following century there fprung up at Naples a 
 manufactory, which, in the forms and the Style of the figures, has much 
 refemblance to the ancient Majolica ; and more recently a Similar ware 
 was made at Venice. 
 
 The moSt fplendid collection of Majolica now existing, is that pre- 
 fented by the Duke Francefco Maria (of Urbino) to the " Santa Cafa 
 di Loretto." It contains three hundred and eighty vafes painted from the 
 defigns of Raffaelle, Giulio Romano, Michael Angelo, and other great 
 maSters. A fine collection of this ware is to be found in the Ducal Mu- 
 feum of Brunfwick, and another in the Mufeum at Berlin. 
 
 In the Japan palace at Drefden, are to be feen one hundred and eighty 
 pieces of this ware, dating from 1532 to 1596, the Subjects being taken 
 from fcripture hiStory or the Greek mythology. 
 
 Narford Hall, in the county of Norfolk, the feat of Andrew Fountaine, 
 Efq. contains the fineSt collection of this ware in England. Many pieces 
 
 * Memoirs of the Dukes of Urbino, illuftrating the arms, arts, and literature of Italy, from 
 1440 to 1630. By James Denniftoun, of Denniftoun. Longman and Co. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 23 
 
 were painted from the defigns of RafFaelle. They were collected, together 
 with a moft valuable feries of pictures, enamels, coins, &c. by Sir Andrew 
 Fountaine, Vice Chamberlain to Queen Anne, and Warden of the Mint ; 
 a gentleman diftinguifhed for his tafte and liberality, and the friend and 
 companion of Pope, Swift, and the moll; diftinguifhed wits of his day. 
 Ralph Bernal, Efq. M. P. has alfo a very extenfive feries, chofen with 
 great judgment, and exhibiting almoft every variety of type. There is 
 likewife a very fine one in the pofTefllon of Jofeph Marryat, Efq. author 
 of " Collections towards a hiftory of Pottery and Porcelain, in the 15, 16, 
 17, and 1 8th centuries, with a defcription of the manufacture, a gloffary, 
 and a lift of monograms," to whom I am indebted for many of the lead- 
 ing facts contained in this article, and to whofe valuable work. I would 
 refer thofe of my readers who may wifh to enter more largely into the 
 hiftory or peculiarities of pottery. 
 
 Nuremberg claims the credit of bringing Majolica into Germany, in 
 1507; and Nevers has the reputation of the firft introduction of ena- 
 melled pottery into France, though an inferior imitation of the Italian 
 ware. 
 
 The employment of Majolica in France, and the eftablifhment of its 
 manufacture there under the name of " Fayence," took place in the time 
 of Catherine de Medicis. Her kinfman Louis Gonzaga, on his eftab- 
 lifhment in the kingdom of Nevers, fent to Italy for artifts, and finding 
 fuitable materials fucceeded in making a fuperior defcription of pottery ; 
 this, however, as well as all fine enamelled wares, foon became fuper- 
 feded by the general ufe of Porcelain. Of the Faenza of this time called 
 Henry II. ware, the chief particulars at prefent known accompany the 
 two examples given in plates XXXVIII. and XXXIX. 
 
 The next defcription of pottery peculiar to France is that which has 
 immortalized the name of its maker, Bernard PalifTy ; of whofe extra- 
 ordinary life and the leading characteriftics of his manufacture, a brief 
 account is given in the defcription of Plate XL. 
 
 Germany and Holland were diftinguifhed at an early period for the 
 excellence of their pottery, owing to the difcovery of a fine glaze. A 
 commentator on the work of the Monk Theophilus, " Schedula diver- 
 farum artium," ftates that this fine glaze was ufed as early as 1278, by 
 a potter whofe name he does not mention, though he ftates that he died 
 in 1283. 
 
 The potters of Nuremberg were celebrated for enamel tiles of great 
 fize ufed for covering ftoves. Of thefe a remarkable collection ftill exifts 
 in the caftle of Nuremberg. They are compofed of flabs 27 in. by 25 in. 
 and enriched with figures in bas-relief, of a fine character, after the fchool 
 of Holbein. 
 
24 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Lower Saxony produced the coloured wares with a black glaze; but 
 the Dutch ware made at Delft, and called the parent of pottery, is the 
 moll celebrated. Thefe were chiefly copied from the old Japan porce- 
 lain, both in form and colour. The exclufive communication with Japan 
 maintained for fo long a period by the Dutch, gave them a priority over 
 the reft of Europe in a knowledge of thefe beautiful examples. The 
 date of its introduction is doubtful, but it was certainly in ufe in the be- 
 ginning of the fixteenth century, and probably earlier. 
 
 Great uncertainty exifts regarding the period when the manufacture 
 of fine earthenware was firft introduced into England. It feems the 
 Dutch fent large quantities to this country from Delft, as early as the 
 beginning of the fixteenth century ; but the fkill and tafte of. the Englifh 
 at that time was difplayed on filver and other metals rather than on pot- 
 tery. Of this inftances are recorded in the correfpondence of Salignac de 
 La Mothe Fenelon, the French Ambaflador at the court of Elizabeth, and 
 in the travels of Hentzner, who vifited England in 1598. Both defcribe 
 in glowing colours the filver plate which adorned the buffets, as well as 
 the magnificent furniture of the palaces of that fumptuous Queen. The 
 celebrated Shakefpeare jug (fuppofed to have been made at Stratford-le- 
 bow) is the moft remarkable inftance of early Englifh pottery now exift- 
 ing. It had been carefully preferved by the collateral defcendants of 
 Shakefpeare from the year 161 6 till 1841, when it was fold by auction. 
 It is about 10 in. high, by 16 in. round in the wideft part, and is divided 
 lengthways into eight compartments, having in each a mythological fub- 
 ject in high relief, admirably executed in the quaint ftyle of the time. 
 
 The Elizabethan pottery is hard, and approaches very nearly to fine 
 ftone ware. In 1684 Mr. John Dwight obtained a patent for a pottery 
 at Fulham, which is ftill continued by Mr. White, a defcendant in the 
 female line. 
 
 Jofeph Wedgewood, born in 1730, and who died in 1 795> carried 
 Englifh pottery to the greater! perfection it has arrived at in modern 
 times, but his works are too well known to need a defcription here. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 2 5 
 
 The art of Book-binding naturally grew out of the art of writing on 
 portable or flexible fubflances, and feems at all times to have been ren- 
 dered gorgeous and coflly in proportion to the intrinfic value, or the 
 veneration attached to the treafures it was intended to protect and pre- 
 ferve. 
 
 Of the origin of writing nothing is known ; but its firfl developement 
 feems to have been in the form of engraving, or fculpture on flone. Pil- 
 lars and obelifks were raifed to receive the records of the noble deeds of 
 nations, or of individuals ; and even the fides of rocks and of mountains 
 were devoted to the fame laudable purpofe. Abundant evidence of the 
 latter cuftom (which mufl have continued for many ages) are flill to be 
 found in Denmark, Norway, and other comparatively unfrequented 
 countries. This primitive mode of publication was probably followed 
 by that of infcribing the truths of religion, of fcience, or other important 
 facts, on the fofter material of clay, which, by the Ample procefs of burn- 
 ing could be rendered equally durable. Of this practice the Babylonian 
 bricks, (many of which have defcended to us in a perfect flate of pre- 
 fervation), offer the earlieft evidence. That Mofes was acquainted with 
 writing is proved by the command given to him, " Write this for a me- 
 morial in a Book." What was the form, or the material employed on 
 the original book of the law cannot now be afcertained. Montfaucon 
 believed it was written on fkins ; which is probable, as the roll is the 
 form flill adopted in all the fynagogues of the Jews. 
 
 In the times of the Greeks and Romans the firfl books were fquare, 
 and confided of but one leaf or tablet. The etymology of the word Book, 
 and its equivalents in many languages, indicates that they were originally 
 written on vegetable fubflances. The leaves of the Palm tree, and in 
 Ceylon thofe of the Talipot, and the fineft and thinneft part of the bark 
 Filia, the Phylyra, (a fpecies of Linden) the Lime, the Afh, the Maple, 
 and the Elm, were firft ufed. Numbers of thefe books, executed in a 
 fine and beautiful character, and bound together with boards, may be feen 
 in the library of the Eaft India company and other collections. The 
 early writers made ufe fuccefiively of linen and cotton cloths ; of the 
 fkins, integuments, and even fhoulder blades of various animals ; of table 
 books, of wax, ivory, and lead ; of fkins of fifhes, and of the inteflines 
 of ferpents. Thefe fubflances foon fell into difufe on the introduction 
 of the Egyptian papyrus, which is unqueftionably the earliefl of any of 
 
26 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the various kinds of paper with which the ancients were acquainted. 
 The exact date of its difcovery is unknown, and where it was firft made 
 is a matter of difpute. It was very common in the time of Alexander, 
 but from the fpecimens found at Thebes, and its mention in Ifaiah xix. 7, 
 it muft have been known long before that period. 
 
 Succeffive experiments in the manufacture of fkins ultimately led to 
 the invention of vellum or parchment. This difcovery is attributed to 
 the prohibition of the exportation of the papyrus from Egypt, by one of 
 the Ptolemies ; in order to throw an obftacle in the way of Eumenes, 
 King of Pergamus, who endeavoured to rival him in the magnificence of 
 his library. Thus left without material, we find from Voffius that Eu- 
 menes invented a method of cleaning fkins on both fides, before only 
 written on one. It was called Charta Pergamena, from the name of the 
 capital. 
 
 When flexible materials firft begun to be ufed, the form of binding 
 was doubtlefs the roll, called by the Romans, volumina, and alfo fcapi, 
 which firft confided in fewing the different meets or leaves together, till 
 the volume or book was finifhed. Only one book was included in a vo- 
 lume, fo that a work confifted of as many volumes as books. They 
 might meafure when extended one yard and a half wide, and fifty yards 
 long. They were written in feparate pages, and faftened parallel to each 
 other, fo that the reader perufed one page, then rolled it up at one end, 
 unrolling the next page, and fo on to the end. 
 
 Of the great fkill in making thefe rolls, an inftance is found in Jo- 
 fephus, in reference to a copy of the law fent to Ptolemy Philadelphus, 
 which was written in letters of gold, upon fkins fo artfully put together, 
 that the joinings did not appear. The Greeks derived their firft know- 
 ledge of the roll from the Egyptians. What progrefs they made in 
 book-binding does not appear ; but the writers among the Romans, who 
 doubtlefs obtained much of their knowledge from the Greeks, enter into 
 the minutias of the art, and furnifh us with a full defcription of the mode 
 of preferving the records of early times. The Romans had their tran- 
 fcribers, engravers, binders, and bookfellers. 
 
 The firft operation of the Greek and Roman Bookbinder was to cut 
 the margins above and below perfectly even, and the fheets at the begin- 
 ning and end fquare. He then gave the exterior the moft perfect pof- 
 fible polifh by means of the pumice ftone, with which fubftance the 
 writers had previoufly fmoothed the interior, and to the prefent day the 
 fame procefs is adopted in fome of thefe operations. The cover, which 
 was called the Involucrum, was then faftened to a cylinder of wood, 
 round which the volume was rolled. They had frequently one of thefe 
 
INTRODUCTION. 27 
 
 rollers at each extremity. At the ends of the cylinder a ball or knob was 
 then affixed, which was employed as a handle for evolving the fcroll ; it 
 being at one time a reputed crime to take hold of the roll itfelf. 
 
 The Diptych was ufed by the Romans both for fecular and alfo for fa- 
 cred purpofes. It confifted of two boards covered with wax, on which 
 the characters were marked with the ftylus. 
 
 They were generally compofed of ebony or box-wood, connected to- 
 gether with two or more hinges. They were then embellimed with 
 carved ivory, and frequently with gold, filver, and with precious ftones, 
 rivetted very clofely to the wood, and finimed with the utmoft elegance 
 and tafte. 
 
 The next fubject for conlideration is the mode of binding adopted in 
 the monaftic eftabliiriments of Europe. Before the invention of paper 
 and printing, books were fo fcarce and dear as to be beyond the reach of 
 all but the rich. Hence learning was almoft exclulively confined to mem- 
 bers of the priefthood and people of rank. The papyrus was in moft ge- 
 neral ufe before the Saracens conquered Egypt in the feventh century, 
 when it could no longer be procured. Parchment, the only fubftance for 
 writing which then remained, was fo difficult to be obtained that it was 
 cuftomary to erafe the characters of antiquity, and Sophocles or Tacitus 
 were obliged to refign the parchment to miftals, homilies, or the golden 
 legend.* In this manner, many of the beft works of antiquity were for 
 ever loft, though fome have in late times been recovered from the im- 
 perfect way in which the firft writing was erafed. In the early part of 
 the middle ages, private perfons rarely poflelTed any books at all ; and 
 even diftinguifhed monafteries were but fcantily fupplied. Of the fear- 
 city of books, Wharton, in the fecond differtation to his Hiftory of En- 
 glim Poetry, has given a long account. The monks and ftudents in the 
 monafteries were the principal labourers, and it was part of the Sacrift's 
 duty to bind and clafp the books ufed for the fervice of the church. The 
 St. Cuthbert's copy of the Gofpels, in the Britifh Mufeum, which was 
 written by Eadfrid, Bifhop of Lindisfarn, (a. d. 698-721) is one of the 
 fineft fpecimens of Saxon caligraphy and decoration extant. *f- Athelwold, 
 his fucceftbr, caufed it to be fplendidly bound in gold and filver plates, fet 
 with precious gems, under his own direction, by Bilfrith the anchorite, 
 who, according to Simeon of Durham, was " aurifkii arte praecipuus." 
 The prefent binding is modern, and no precife opinion can be formed of 
 the (kill or national peculiarities of our Anglo-Saxon anceftors in this 
 
 * Gibbon. 
 
 f One of the elaborate illuminations in this exquifite volume, is given in the " Illuminated 
 Ornaments of the Middle Ages." 
 
28 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 refpect from any actual fpecimen, as none is known to exift. That they 
 did work well in gold and filver is put beyond doubt by Alfred's Jewel, 
 ftill to be feen at the Afhmolean Mufeum, Oxford. Indeed, Anglo- 
 Saxon fkill, in every fort of nice work in gold or filver, flood fo high in 
 the eftimation of all Europe at the time, that certain kinds of cups and 
 lamps, fo made in this country, were fought for abroad, and became 
 known at Rome by the diftinctive name of Saxon veffels — gabathae Sax- 
 icae, as we find from fo many palfages in the curious Liber Pontificalis, 
 t. ii. pp. 47, 243, &c. ed. Vignolia. Among the prefents made by one 
 of our Anglo-Saxon kings to St. Peter's Church at Rome, when he went 
 on pilgrimage to the Holy City, were many productions of the Anglo- 
 Saxon goldfmith's art. On leaving their ifland home in fearch of a live- 
 lihood, the Anglo-Saxon goldfmiths were often drawn to Italy, in different 
 parts of which they wrought much ; and one of the great artiftic won- 
 ders of Milan at this day, the golden Altar- frontal at the Bafilican Church 
 of St. Ambrofe, is the work of an Anglo-Saxon, — of Walwin, a name 
 very common during that period in this country, as appears from old 
 deeds and charters, and ftill to be met with in the midland counties 
 of England. That the meed of approbation given to fuch men by the 
 Italians was not ftinted, is fhown by the high-founding praifes beflowed 
 by Leo, Cardinal Bifhop of Oftia, upon the workmanfhip and beauty of 
 a fhrine made by Anglo-Saxon hands, and given to the Church of 
 Monte CafTino.* We learn, too, that an Englifh goldfmith, a few 
 years after, was bufy with fome work in this fame Italian Church, when 
 he happened to be killed by a flafh of lightning. 
 
 The Irifh, with regard to this department of their national antiquities, 
 are more fortunate than ourfelves, for they can flill fhow examples of 
 the fplendid way in which their churchmen anciently had their fervice- 
 books adorned ; and feveral of thefe curious and interefHng filver bind- 
 ings, as well as filver cafes, or cumhdachs, of old Irifh workmanfhip, are 
 yet to be found, moflly in private hands, 
 
 In O'Connor's " Rerum Hibernicarum " we find that Dugasus, a 
 monk who flourished in Ireland in the fixth century, and died in 587, 
 was a fkilful calligraphic, and manufactured and ornamented binding in 
 gold, filver, and precious Hones; and Ethelwolf, in a metrical epiftle to 
 Egbert, at that time refident in Ireland for the purpofe of collecting 
 MSS., extols one Ultan, an Irifh monk, for his talent in adorning 
 books. 
 
 A finking peculiarity about thefe ancient bindings, (whether the 
 work of Anglo-Saxon or of Irifh artifts,) is, that in moft, if not all of 
 
 * Chron. S. Mon. Cafin. lib. ii. c. xxxiii. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 29 
 
 them, a piece of cryftal, or beryl, is made to be their chief and confpi- 
 cuous ornament ! Indeed, in the inftance of fome of the Irifh filver 
 bindings, this piece of cryftal, ufually fhaped in to a convexed oval, is 
 of fo large a fize as to take up the whole fide of the cover, and readily 
 fuggefts the propriety of calling it a " glafs book."* All that are known 
 bear the Chriftian mark of a crucifix in the middle. Dr. Rock fuppofes 
 that the cuftom of making a cryftal the moft ftriking ornament of the 
 binding of early fervice-books was derived from the Druids. He fays, 
 " Scarce an old barrow or cifl happens to be opened, but fome ornament 
 or another made of cryftal is found, thus mowing the high efleem in 
 which that fubftance was held by the Britons, either as an inftrument of 
 their religious rites, or of harmlefs amufement, or as a public badge of 
 honorable diftinction. We have, indeed, ftrong reafons for thinking 
 that, under the Druid-teachers, the heathen Britons made ufe of balls of 
 cryftal in their idle fuperftitions and wicked practices. When, how- 
 ever, they became Chriftians, through the preaching of mifhonaries from 
 Rome, it is very likely that their bifhops and clergy thought, as other 
 paftors of the church have wifely thought, that one of the lawful ways 
 of leading a people to the truths of Chrift was, inftead of cafting off na- 
 tional cuftoms, to keep fuch as were innocent in themfelves, and to wrefl 
 thofe that were indifferent, from their application to what was wrong 
 and fuperftitious, by connecting them with holy and edifying things." -j- 
 The term "iEftel" employed in King Alfred's tranflation of Pope St. 
 Gregory's Liber Paftoralis, and which has hitherto been a puzzle to an- 
 tiquaries and lexicographers, was moft. probably this bofs of cryftal. 
 " To every bifhop's fee in my kingdom I will that one (of the copies of 
 his own Anglo-Saxon tranflation of the Paftoral) be fent : and upon 
 each there is an ' asftel,' which is about fifty mancufes (in value), and 
 I bid, in God's name, that nobody that * aeftel ' from thefe books fhall 
 undo." 
 
 Befides thefe a^ftels, or large knobs of rock cryftal, gems of price often 
 gliftened upon the golden plates within which the Anglo-Saxons loved 
 to bind their fervice-books. Such was the covering beftowed on her 
 highly illuminated copy of the four Gofpels by one of the lafl of our 
 Anglo-Saxon princeffes, St. Margaret, Queen of Scotland. The volume 
 was interleaved with fine gloily filk, fuch as may fometimes be met with 
 even now between the leaves of illuminated manufcripts. 
 
 * Such a one is figured in the Archaeologia, vol. vii. p. 167. 
 
 t The Church of our Fathers, as feen in St. Ofmond's rite for the Cathedral of Salifbury. 
 vol. i. p. 293. 
 
 e 
 
3 o INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The Englifh were not behind their Anglo-Saxon forefathers in the 
 richnefs and beauty of thofe bindings with which they adorned the co- 
 dices belonging to the altar : they, too, covered their miflals and texts 
 of the Gofpels with plates of gold and filver, loaded with precious gems. 
 Of this, proof may be found in the inventories of all the great churches 
 of England : Salifbury Cathedral had, a. d. i 222, a text, or book of the 
 Gofpels, bound in folid gold, ornamented with xx fapphires, vi emeralds, 
 viii topazes, viii alemandine ftones, viii garnets, and xii pearls. In the 
 year 1315, Canterbury reckoned as many as feven texts lheathed in gold 
 and precious ftones. Befides thefe golden, there were many more filver 
 texts.* There is a remarkably fine fpecimen of this ftyle of binding, 
 in filver parcel gilt, in the Britifh Mufeum. It formerly belonged to 
 the late Dr. Butler of Shrewsbury. 
 
 For the manufacture of thefe magnificent volumes a room called the 
 fcriptorium was fet apart in every great abbey. Here feveral perfons 
 were conftantly employed, not only in tranfcribing and illuminating the 
 fervice books for the choir, but alfo books for the library, and binding 
 them. Ingulphus, of the Abbey of Croyland, fpeaking of the lending of 
 books, fays : " Our books, as well the fmaller unbound volumes as the 
 larger ones which are bound, we altogether forbid." For the fupport of 
 the fcriptorium, eftates were often given. That at St. Edmondfbury was 
 endowed with two mills. The tithes of a rectory were appropriated to 
 the cathedral convent of St. Swithin, at Winchefter, in the year 1171. 
 Many other inftances of this fpecies of tranfaction occur. About the 
 year 790, Charlemagne granted unlimited right of hunting to the abbot 
 and monks of Sithin, for making their gloves and girdles of the fkins of 
 the deer they killed, and covers for their books. Large fums were dif- 
 burfed for grails, legends, and other fervice books for the choir of the 
 chapel of Winchefter College, as is mown by a roll of John Morys, the 
 warden, an. xx. Richard II. a.d. 1397. There is abundant evidence 
 that the multiplication of books was almoft wholly confined to religious 
 houfes till the invention of printing. 
 
 The earlieft known inftances of the ufe of ivory for binding is in the 
 Roman Diptych ; but it appears to have come into very general ufe dur- 
 ing the fourteenth, and early part of the fifteenth centuries, when the 
 art of carving in this beautiful material had arrived at very great perfec- 
 tion. 
 
 In the Douce collection at Goderich Court, Herefordfhire, is a re- 
 markably fine example of the time of Edward I.-f- and George Field, 
 
 * Dart's Canterbury Cathedral, app. p. 17. 
 
 t Defcribed by the late Sir Samuel Meyrick in the Gent.'s Mag. new feries, v. 583. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 31 
 
 Efq. of the Sifters, Clapham Common, has feveral of the moft elaborate 
 character and the moft exquifite execution. Thefe diptychs are ufually 
 divided into ranges of Scriptural fubjects, feparated from each other by 
 tracery or niches with figures of the Apoftles, and furmounted with gor- 
 geous canopies. 
 
 It was alfo ufual in early times to engrave the arms of the owner on 
 the clafps which were generally attached to the books. A very beau- 
 tiful example of this practice may be feen in the Britifh Mufeum, in the 
 copy of the Sforziada, formerly in the pofleffion of P. A. Hanrott, Efq., 
 which has a portrait of Ludovico Maria Sforza, and the arms and devices 
 of the Sforza family admirably executed in niello. Eleanor, Duchefs of 
 Gloucefter, mentions in her will, in 1399, " a chronicle of France, in 
 French, with two clafps of lilver, enamelled with the arms of Burgoyne ; 
 a Book containing the Pfalter, Primer, and other devotions, with two 
 clafps of gold, enamelled with the arms of France ; and a Pfalter, richly 
 illuminated, with the clafps of gold enamelled with white fwans, and 
 the arms of my lord and father enamelled on the clafps." 
 
 Velvet was ufed at a very early period. Richard, Bimop of Chi- 
 chefter, bequeathed (1258) to the four orders of friars, each one part, 
 GlofTatum, which means with marginal notes ; and miftals were fre- 
 quently covered with velvet, and ftudded with jewels. In the will of 
 Lady Fitzhugh, a.d. 1427, feveral books, &c. are thus bequeathed: 
 " Als fo I wyl yat my fon William have a ryng with a dyamond, and 
 my fon Jeffray a gretter, and my fon Robt. a Sautre covered with rede 
 Velvet, and my Doghter Mariory a Primer cou'ed in Rede, and my 
 Doghter Darcy a Sauter cou'ed in blew, and my Doghter Mai de Eure a 
 prim'r cou'd in blew." 
 
 A very rich and effective ftyle of binding prevailed during the greater 
 part of the fixteenth and feventeenth centuries, which ladies of the pre- 
 fent day might imitate to advantage, in preference to many of the fenfe- 
 lefs articles to which Berlin wool is now fo prodigally devoted. It con- 
 fifted in working in gold and filver threads, blended with filk, trees, 
 flowers, coats of arms, devices, mottoes, &c. on grounds formed of richly 
 coloured velvets. Two Angularly fine fpecimens of this kind of binding 
 are preferved in the Britifh Mufeum. The one is a copy of Parker's 
 " De Antiquitate Ecclefias Britannicas," of the date 1572, and which is 
 remarkable as being the firft book printed at a private prefs. The de- 
 fign employed is compofed of Deer fporting among trees. The other is 
 a copy of the bible bound for James II. mowing on the cover his initials, 
 J. R. furmounted by a crown, and furrounded with branches of Laurel, 
 the four corners being filled with Cherubim. 
 
3 2 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 In bringing my work to a clofe, I truft it will be confidered by my 
 fubfcribers and the public, that independent of the intereft they poffefs 
 in an antiquarian point of view, few of my illuftrations fail of difplaying 
 fome beauty, either of form, of detail, or of the arrangement of colours, 
 which the accomplifhed artift of the prefent time may take advantage of, 
 although it may fometimes be defirable to deprive them of the quaint- 
 nefs attaching to a paft ftyle. I feel alfo I may ftand excufed for fuggeft- 
 ing that modern defigners may benefit confiderably in their ftudies from 
 nature, by obferving how their predecefTors modified her moft beautiful 
 forms, to meet the neceffities of the materials on which they were to be 
 employed, or to give them the fymmetry required to bring them into 
 harmony with the architectural or other arrangements by which they were 
 to be furrounded. 
 
 I have likewife endeavoured to give (as far as the limited fpace to 
 which I have felt myfelf reftricted would allow,) a general view of the 
 origin, progrefs, and peculiarities of the different claries of decorative art 
 in ufe during the middle ages ; together with the various proceffes by 
 which the primitive materials were changed by chemical action, or com- 
 bined by manipulative fkill into the beautiful objects fo abundantly 
 employed at that time both for facred and domeftic purpofes. It only 
 remains therefore, for me to return thanks to thofe from whom I have 
 received affiftance during the progrefs of my laborious undertaking. 
 
 To all the owners of the interefting articles from which my illuftrations 
 have been taken, I feel under great obligation; but more efpecially to 
 Hollingworth Magniac, Efq. for the ufe of fo many fpecimens from his 
 choice and valuable collection. 
 
 My acknowledgments are alfo due to the officers of the Britifh Mu- 
 feum in the feveral departments I have had occafion to refer to ; and I 
 beg to offer them more particularly to Antonio Panizzi, Efq. and John 
 Winter Jones, Efq., the Keeper and Affiftant Keeper of the printed 
 Books, for great kindnefs mown to me perfonally, and for many facilities 
 afforded me in the Library of that Inftitution. 
 
 May \Ji, 185 1. 
 
 HENRY SHAW. 
 
LIST OF ENGRAVINGS. 
 
 €ncrufleti CnameL 
 
 1. A Figure of a Saint holding a Book, in the Britifh Mufeum. 
 
 Cuts. A Ciborium from the Cathedral of Sens, in France, and a Book-cover from the Cathedra 
 at Chartres. 
 
 2. A Triptych, in the poffeffion of The Rt. Hon. the Earl of Shrewfbury. 
 
 Cuts. Ends of a Stole, and two Maniples. 
 
 3. A Pyx in the form of a Dove, in the pofTeffion of H. Magniac, Efq. 
 
 Cut. Part of an Alb. 
 
 4. A Crozier, in the pofTeffion of H. Magniac, Efq. 
 
 Cuts. Staff of ditto, and a Crozier in the poffeffion of Edward Hailftone, Efq. 
 
 5. A Ruler of the Choir's Staff, in the poffeffion of H. Magniac, Efq. 
 
 6. A Pyx, at Warwick Caftle, from a drawing by Vertue. 
 
 Cuts. A reliquary in the Cathedral of Neroli, near Cafa Mare, in Italy, and a portion of a Pave 
 ment preferved in the Mufee des Monumens Francois. 
 
 CranOimD (Enamel. 
 
 7. A Morfe, belonging to H. Magniac, Efq. 
 
 Cut. A Morfe, in the poffeffion of the Rev. Dr. Rock. 
 
 8. A German Beaker, in the poffeffion of Henry Bevan, Efq. 
 
 9. A Hanap, with cover ; from the collection of the Magiftrate of Weiner Neuftadt. 
 
 0. A Silver Reliquary, in the collection of H. Magniac, Efq. 
 
 1. A Spanifh Necklace and Pendants, in the poffeffion of H. Farrer, Efq. 
 
 PainteD (ZBnamel. 
 
 2. A Figure of St. Catherine, in the poffeffion of John Swaby, Efq. 
 
 a^etal aftJorfc, ©olo ann §>itoer. 
 
 3. A Finial, from the Shrine in the Treafury at Aix-la-Chapelle. 
 
 Cuts. A Monftrance in the Cathedral at Rheims. 
 
 4. A Thurible, or Cenfer, in the poffeffion of W. Wells, Efq. 
 
 Cuts. Four Candlefticks. 
 
 5. A Cup, defigned by Hans Holbein for Jane Seymour, Queen of Henry VIII. from ; 
 
 drawing in the Britifh Mufeum. 
 
 6. Cup, defigned by George Wechter. 
 
 Cut. A Necklace worn by one of the perfonages in a Pi£ture of the Lucy family, at Charlcore 
 in Warwicklhire. 
 
 7- A Wine Flagon, from a picture by Lebeque. 
 
 Cut. A Salt Cellar, in the Gold Plate Room at Windfor Caftle. 
 
 31ron aftiorfc. 
 
 8. Iron Work, from the Cathedral of Notre Dame, at Paris. 
 
 9. Iron Work, from the tomb of Eleanor of Caftile, confort of Edward the Firft. 
 
 0. A wrought Iron Door, in the poffeffion of N. J. Cottingham, Efq. 
 Cut. The patterns more at large. 
 
LIST OF ENGRAVINGS. 
 
 moot) caorfe, 
 
 21. Wood panelling, from a picture at Hampton Court Palace. 
 
 Cut. A Column from the fame picture. 
 
 22. A pair of Bellows, from a defign by Benvenuto Cellini. 
 
 23. Reverfe of ditto. 
 
 ^tatneo ©late. 
 
 24. From the Cathedral at Bourges. 
 
 Cut. A Border from ditto. 
 
 25. From the Cathedral at Chartres. 
 
 Cut. The general defign of the Window, and a portion of diapering. 
 
 26. From the Cathedral at Bourges. 
 
 Cuts. Two fpecimens of diapering, from the Cathedral at Chartres. 
 
 27. From the Cathedral at SoifTons. 
 
 Cut. From a Window at St. Remi, at Rheims. 
 
 28. Formerly in the Church of St. Peter, Hereford. 
 
 29. In the pofTeffion of Ralph Bernal, Efq. M.P. 
 
 Venetian ®laf0. 
 
 30. Goblets, in the collection of Felix Slade, Efq. 
 
 3[llummation0. 
 
 31. From an illuminated drawing of a Crucifixion, by Giulio Clovio. 
 
 32. A fragment of an illuminated border. In the poffeffion of W. P. Salter, Efq. 
 
 OBmbtoitietp. 
 
 33. From a picture by Carlo Crivelli, in the pofTeffion of Lord Ward. 
 
 Cut. Embroidery, from a picture by Van Eyk. 
 
 34. From a Pall belonging to the Ironmonger's Company. 
 
 35. From a Pulpit Hanging belonging to St. Mary's Church, Oxford. 
 
 36. From a picture of Queen Mary, belonging to the Society of Antiquaries of London. 
 
 37. Gipcieres, or Purfes. From the collection of Monf. Martinego, at Wurtfbourg, and 
 
 the Louvre. 
 
 jTiftile ablate. 
 
 38. An Ewer, of the time of Henry II. of France. In the pofleffion of H. Magniac, Efq. 
 
 39. A Candleftick, of the fame ware, in the pofTeffion of Sir Anthony Rothfchild, Bart. 
 
 40. A Portrait of Bernard PalifTy, in the pofTeffion of Sir Anthony Rothfchild, Bart. 
 
 TBook^mtring. 
 
 41. A Book Cover, in the pofTeffion of Thomas Willement, Efq. 
 
 Cut. A fpecimen in the Britim Mufeum, by Grolier. 
 
CORRIGENDA. 
 
 PLATE VI. 
 
 Since engraving this elegant Pyx from the drawing by Vertue, I have found (by a Commu- 
 nication to the Society of Antiquaries, by F. W. Fairholt, Efq. F.S.A.) that the original ftill 
 exifts at Warwick Caftle. Mr. Fairholt having kindly placed at my difpofal this communica- 
 tion, together with a very careful drawing of the Pyx itfelf, made by him about three years 
 ago, I am enabled to fupply the following additional particulars refpecling it. The fubjecls 
 which occupy the compartments reprefent the Sacrifice of Cain and Abel, the Circumcifion, 
 Abraham and Ifaac proceeding to the Sacrifice, the Sacrifice itfelf, Jonah and the Whale, and 
 Mofes at the burning Bufh. It will thus be perceived that Vertue's defcription, ftating that 
 the ftories allude to the Sacrament is not fully borne out. The fubjec~ts follow each other in 
 the order here enumerated, and the infcriptions for each run in a confecutive line above them 
 entirely round the Chalice, only feparated from each other by a fmall crofs. The ftyle of the 
 defign exhibits all the peculiarities of the art of the twelfth century ; this is particularly vifi- 
 ble in the treatment of the trees, as well as in the conventional ftyle adopted in the drapery 
 of the figures. The enamel on the original has, to a great extent, difappeared, but a fufficient 
 quantity of all the various colours remains to ferve the purpofe of a reftoration. 
 
 PLATE XV. 
 
 The following quotation from " Rymers Fcedera," proves that this moft interefting Cup was 
 formerly in the collection of King Charles I." Item, a faire {landing Cupp of Goulde, gar- 
 nifhed about the cover with eleaven dyamonds, and two pointed dyamonds about the Cupp, 
 feventeen table dyamonds and one pearle pendant upon the Cupp, with theis words. Bound 
 to obey and ferve, and H and I knitt together ; in the topp of the cover the Queen's Arms, 
 and Queen Jane's Arms houlden by two boys under a crown imperial, whighing threefcore 
 and five ounces and a halfe." 
 
 De Warranto Speciali pro Georgio 
 Duci Buckingham et aliis. 
 
 Rymer, Vol. xviii. p. 236. 
 
 PLATE XXXIV. 
 
 In the various Items of the coft of a funeral from the Hall of the Ironmongers' Company, for 
 pence, read millings. 
 
D7VT6 ,- Tfe€ XIT? CGNTTJKY. 
 
 A flG'URG Op A SAINT, 
 IN eNCraXSTGD 6NRM6L. 
 
A FIGURE OF A SAINT HOLDING A BOOK. 
 
 IN ENCRUSTED ENAMEL. IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 
 
 ETACHED from its ancient fetting, the original applica- 
 tion of this enamelled plate can only be matter of conjecture. 
 It was formerly in the Debruge collection, in the catalogue 
 of which, it is ftated to have been a portion of a reliquary, 
 but, we think it more probable that it formed the centre of a book cover. 
 There is great elegance in the attitude of the figure, and confiderable 
 richnefs is produced by all the thin lines of metal dividing the colours 
 being delicately pounced. 
 
 Our firft wood-cut is a very elegant ciborium of filver gilt, from the 
 cathedral of Sens, in France. This cathedral pofTefTes an intereft for every 
 Englifh traveller, from its containing in its treafury, befides a number of 
 
other curious relics, a quantity of veftments ftated (with every probability 
 of truth, from their ftyle and character) to have belonged to Thomas a 
 Becket,* who refided at Sens for fome time, between his flight from 
 England in the year 1 164 and his return in 1 170. This ciborium mud 
 have been made about that time, and a tragical ftory is told in connexion 
 with it, by the authorities of the Cathedral. They ftate that in the year 
 1 54 1 a young man of the environs of Nevers ftole it while hanging over 
 the altar, and being difcovered, was condemned and burned alive before 
 the cathedral. 
 
 The term Ciborium was formerly ufed to fignify a canopy or covering 
 for the altar, fupported by four pillars, before the more modern cuftom 
 prevailed of leaving the altar expofed, and fixed to the wall. Its ufes 
 were to cover and protect the altar, to fuftain the curtains that were 
 drawn round it, to fupport the crofs rifing from its roof, and for the pre- 
 fervation of the holy Eucharift, which was ufually fufpended from the 
 centre under the crofs in a Pyx, generally in the form of a Dove. 
 
 Ciborium alfo fignifies a vefTel in which the holy Eucharift is referved. 
 Formerly the bleffed facrament was referved only for the communion of 
 
 the fick, and kept in a fmaller and more por- 
 table veftel, called a Pyx. 
 
 The fubject of our fecond wood-cut repre- 
 fents a very elegant book cover of the twelfth 
 century, taken from one in the hands of a 
 Prieft fculptured on the exterior of the Ca- 
 thedral at Chartres. Thefe early defigns of 
 book covers are interefting, as few of the 
 covers themfelves have been preferved. They 
 were frequently adorned with rich metals 
 and precious ftones, which excited the rapa- 
 city of plunderers and iconoclafts. Enamels 
 alfo were abundantly employed to add to the 
 fplendour of the more precious volumes. 
 The principal fubject (commonly the cruci- 
 fixion) being furrounded with jewels, and hav- 
 ing raifed borders, fparkling with gems, the 
 fpaces between the precious ftones and the 
 various enamels being covered with richly 
 engraved arabefques. 
 
 * The molt important of thefe veftments have been engraved in the " Dreffes and Deco- 
 rations of the Middle Ages." 
 
3 
 
DATS 9 THE XIlTIi aflCH.TXfK.7r 
 
 1 1 11 
 
A TRIPTYCH. 
 
 OF ENCRUSTED ENAMEL. BELONGING TO THE RIGHT HON. 
 THE EARL OF SHREWSBURY. 
 
 ERHAPS no article in 
 ufe during the middle 
 ages, whether for facred 
 or domeftic purpofes, call- 
 ed forth fo much talent 
 in almoft every depart- 
 ment of art as the Trip- 
 tych. The painter, the 
 enameller, the chafer in 
 metal, the carver in ivory, 
 and the followers of other 
 kindred purfuits, all found 
 abundant opportunities 
 for the exercife of their 
 highefh fkill in the production of thefe beautiful ob- 
 jects. They were made of all fizes, from a few 
 inches in width and height to many feet, and were 
 formed of different materials fuitable to their vari- 
 ous purpofes. Thofe formed of enamel, were ufu- 
 ally covered with facred fubjects and emblems, fimi- 
 lar to the example here given, while thofe made 
 of ivory were carved with facred imagery, and were 
 fometimes fet and hung with filver. But thofe 
 introduced at a later period and on a larger 
 fcale, were constructed of wooden panels and 
 are remarkable and valuable for having handed 
 down to us, in a portable form, many of the 
 celebrated productions of the moft diftinguifhed artifts of 
 the fifteenth and fixteenth centuries. No traveller who has 
 vifited the hofpital of St. John at Bruges can, we prefume, 
 have forgotten the exquifite painting of the marriage of St. Catherine 
 on a Triptych, the equally exquifite miniature pictures in oil, reprefent- 
 ing fcenes in the life of St. Urfula, on a chafTe, or the other admirable 
 works ftill preferved there, executed by Memling, while a brother of 
 that charitable foundation. The ftill more celebrated pictures of the 
 crucifixion, and the defcent from the crofs, by Rubens, in Antwerp 
 Cathedral, are painted on Triptychs. 
 
 Every Triptych ufually contains five pictures. Firft, the centre piece, 
 which was, of courfe, devoted to the principal fubject. Second, the inner 
 fides of the two doors. On thefe were either two other fubjects relating 
 
to the centre, or as was very frequent, portraits of the perfons for whom 
 they were painted reprefented kneeling (the hufband ufually on the right 
 fide and the wife on the left), and attended by their patron faints. Third, 
 the outer fides of the doors, which were painted either with two images 
 of faints, — a religious fubject confining of two figures, as the Annuncia- 
 tion, — or the fhields and devices of the perfons reprefented within. 
 
 One formerly belonging to the celebrated Sir Thomas More, contain- 
 ing an invocation to the Bleffed Virgin for the protection of his family, 
 is now in the poffeflion of the Earl of Shrewlbury. 
 
 The term Triptych merely means, a picture formed of three tablets, 
 joined by hinges to admit of their being folded together. This arrange- 
 ment was probably continued for the better prefervation of the larger 
 pictures ; though there can be little doubt it was adopted originally for 
 the more convenient tranfport of thefe moveable altars. It is derived 
 from the Diptych, an article ufed in the Church foo.n after the eftablifh- 
 ment of the Chriftian religion. 
 
 The mode of its introduction is thus defcribed by Dr. Rock in his 
 " Hierurgia, or fervice of the mafs." The Diptych " was originally one 
 " of thole prefents that the newly chofen Roman Conful, on entering 
 " upon his office, diftributed among his friends. As their name implies, 
 " the Diptychs were compofed of two folding tablets, in general made 
 " of ivory, though fometimes of box wood, or filver, and fo connected 
 " together by hinges that they could be fhut or opened like a book. 
 
 " The exterior furface was carved in bafTo-relievo, and ufually ex- 
 " hibited the portrait of the conful, or fome fcene reprefenting the Cir- 
 " cenfian games, which he propofed to celebrate for the public amufe- 
 " ment during his occupation of the curule chair. Upon the interior 
 " face was written either an epiffle, or fome poetical panegyric on the 
 " recently elected magiftrate himfelf. 
 
 " Among the crowds of Gentiles who daily embraced the faith of 
 " Chrift, there were feveral illuftrious individuals who, along with other 
 " offerings that they bellowed upon the Church, prefented their confular 
 " Diptychs, which were always regarded as valuable and diftinguifhed 
 " objects. A becoming refpect for the volume containing the facred 
 " record, as well as for all the books on religion, fuggefted to the an- 
 " cient Chriftians the idea of enveloping them with every fpecies of 
 " covering that was precious, on account either of the richnefs of its 
 " material, or of the elaborate workmanfhip with which it happened to 
 " be ornamented. Such magnificent covers prefented themfelves in the 
 " ancient Diptychs." 
 
 Thefe curious fculptures were afterwards employed to enclofe what in 
 ecclefiaftical language was called the facred Diptychs, or tablets on which 
 were infcribed the names of benefactors to the Church, and others for 
 whom the prieft and people were inftructed to pray each time the holy 
 facrifice was offered. The names of martyrs whofe relics were poffefTed 
 by the Church were afterwards added, and in procefs of time the reigning 
 emperor and his confort, the patriarch and other dignified ecclefiaftics 
 
were enrolled upon them, that they might be feverally commemorated 
 in public prayers. 
 
 They then came to be ufed as altar pieces with effigies of the Saviour 
 and faints upon them. Thefe led on to the Triptychs on which, as we 
 have defcribed above, almoft every kind of art was lavifhed. 
 
 Nothing is known of the hiftory of the beautiful example forming the 
 fubject of our plate beyond the fact of its having been imported into this 
 country from the Netherlands about twenty years fince. It is formed 
 of copper-gilt, encrufted with enamel, and is one foot fix inches and a 
 half long, by one foot two inches in height. 
 
 Our three wood-cuts below reprefent the ends of a ftole and two 
 maniples, taken from fculptured figures under the fouth porch of the Ca- 
 thedral at Chartres. 
 
 The ftole in ancient times was made of fufficient length to reach 
 almoft to the feet, and to (hew both its ends below the chafuble of the 
 prieft, and the ftill lower dalmatic of the bifhop. It might often be faid 
 to be of pure gold ; for that precious metal, inftead of being wrought 
 
 [Triptych, fol. 2) 
 
into what is now called gold thread, was drawn out into very thin wire, 
 and in this light but folid form was woven, with the help of a very little 
 filk, into a kind of metallic web, leaving at proper intervals bare fpaces 
 for the working of the figures of faints, by the needle, or the fattening 
 on of the jewels with which it was fometimes ttudded. 
 
 As around the bimop's tunicle, fo to both ends of the ttole, little bells 
 of filver ufed fometimes to be fattened, in Anglo-Saxon times, there is 
 ttrong reafon for fuppofing ; certain, indeed, it is that, for ages after the 
 Anglo Saxon period, fuch bells, as well as delicately twitted chains of 
 filver and of gold, having little knobs of the fame metals hanging to 
 them, and beautiful lilken and golden fringes, knotted fretty-wire, to ufe 
 a term of Heraldry, continued to be fewed to the extremities of our 
 Englifh ttole and maniple. 
 
 Since the end of the fourteenth Century the ttole has always been 
 crofted on the breaft of the priefthood of England, when vetted for the 
 Holy Sacrifice. Previous to that time it was allowed to hang ttraight 
 down from around the neck. 
 
 The difference between the length of the ttole in ancient and modern 
 times is very ttriking. Among all our national eccleliattical monuments, 
 either in painting or fculpture, from the earlieft Saxon epoch up to the 
 latt days of Queen Mary, there is not one to be found of a priett in his 
 mafs vettments, in which the two ends of the ttole are not to be feen 
 falling down fome way lower than the Chafuble. Now, however, the 
 ttoles are made fo fhort that not even the fmallett portion of them is feen 
 below that garment. 
 
 The maniple was at firtt, moft probably, nothing more than a plain 
 narrow ttrip of the finett and whitett linen, more like a napkin than to 
 the prefent ornament ; very foon, however, it began to be enriched, 
 here, as every where elfe throughout the wettern parts of the Church ; 
 and if the maniple at that time in France may be looked upon as a 
 fample of the Anglo Saxon one, then was that article of facerdotal attire 
 often made of the richeft golden fluffs, and had, like the ttole, not un- 
 frequently, an edging of little gold or filver bells hanging tinkling to it. 
 
 The maniple was not always worn as it is at prefent ; for from the 
 figured as well as written documents of ecclefiaftical antiquity, we fee 
 that at firft it was held, thrown over the outttretched fingers of the left 
 hand ; afterwards it came to be borne, as now, fattened on the wrift. 
 
 The more general type of the ttole and maniple was for them to run 
 quite ttraight all through, yet, every now and then, examples are met 
 with, fhewing the ends of both thefe clerical ornaments widened, fome- 
 times by flopping fhort and fpreading in the form of an oblong fquare, 
 as in two of two examples, and fometimes the maniple had a gradual 
 diminution to its centre, as in the other. 
 
A PYX OF ENCRUSTED ENAMEL. 
 
 IN THE POSSESSION OF H. MAGNIAC, ESQ^ 
 
 HE Pyx during the earlier ages of the 
 Catholic Church was commonly formed 
 in the fhape of a Dove. 
 
 This cuftom, however, feems to have 
 been generally changed by the begin- 
 ning of the thirteenth century, as none 
 are known to have been made after the 
 year 1200; though Dr. Rock in his 
 " Hierurgia, or Service of the Mafs," 
 ftates that they were ftill in ufe in many 
 churches in France till within a few 
 years. 
 
 Very few are known to exift at the 
 prefent time, and the one from which 
 our print is taken, (of the lize of the original) was purchafed by Mr. 
 Magniac out of the celebrated Debruge collection. 
 
 In ancient times the Pyx was fufpended by a cord from the interior 
 of the Altar canopy, or Ciborium. In our example the cord was fatt- 
 ened to the points of the arms projecting from the bafe on which it 
 
flands ; in others the dove flood in the middle of an enamelled dim, hav- 
 ing fmall perforated projections to receive the cord. 
 
 Another very early form for this veffel was that of a round box with 
 a conical top terminated with a crofs ; an example of which is given in 
 the " Drefies and Decorations of the Middle Ages," by the author of 
 the prefent work. 
 
 They were fometimes made in the form of a Turret, and various ma- 
 terials were employed in their conflruction. 
 
 In Lincoln Cathedral, before the reformation, there was a Pyx of 
 Cryflal, having a foot of filver and gilt, with an image of the Virgin on the 
 top ; and another of ivory bound above and beneath with filver and gilt, 
 having a fquare fleeple on the top, a ring and a rofe, with a fcutcheon 
 on the bottom, and within a cafe of cloth of gold with 3f. Ij). %>* on every 
 fide fet with pearls. In York Minfler was one of Beryl, adorned with 
 filver gilt in the manner of a cup, with a crofs on the top of the cover. 
 St. Paul's had a painted Pyx ; and the chapel of St. Radegunde two of 
 wood for the altar breads. 
 
 Our wood-cut reprefents the embroidery round the lower part of an 
 Alb on the effigy of a priefl, under the fouth porch of the cathedral at 
 Chartres. An Alb is a veflment worn by the priefl at the euchariftic 
 facrifice, and from the earlieft times had nearly the fame form as thofe 
 in ufe at prefent. It was generally of fine white linen, though fometimes 
 of rich filk, and ornamented with a peculiar round decoration of gold, 
 which has long ceafed to be ufed in any country ; but, whether of one 
 or other of thefe fluffs, it was almofl always hemmed at the bottom with 
 a brightly tinted filken, or golden border. Among the feveral regal gifts 
 made to St. Peters by our Anglo Saxon King iEthelwolf, when he took 
 his renowned fon Alfred, to Rome, a. d. 855, were filken Albs richly 
 ornamented with gold ; Camifias albas figillatas holofericas cum chry- 
 foclavo. (Liber Pontificalis in vita Benedicti III. t. iii. p. 168, ed. Vig- 
 nolio.) 
 
 But if under the Saxons, a fluff fo very coflly, and fo rare as filk mufh 
 have been in their times, was often beflowed upon the Alb, this veflure, 
 inflead of lofing, gained new fplendour in the hands of the Englifh at a 
 later period ; while linen of the finefl quality continued to be, as now, 
 the material of which it was always made for common ufe, — on great 
 occafions and in the larger churches, it was to be feen formed, not only 
 entirely of filk, but fometimes even of velvet and cloth of gold. But this 
 was not all, for though white was, of courfe, its ufual colour, yet we find 
 a green, or blue, or red, or black alb to have been occafionally worn, and 
 albs were not called by the name of one or the other of thefe dies, be- 
 caufe their apparel was of that colour, but becaufe they were tinted 
 throughout, red, blue, or green, as the cafe might be. As will readily 
 be fuppofed, thefe rich albs, of filk, or cloth of gold, were brought forth 
 and ufed upon the higher feflivals and more folemn functions only. 
 
 Our fpecimen feems to reprefent embroidery with pearls, and jewels, 
 fet in a band of thin gold, and terminating with a fringe. The trian- 
 gular interlacings in the lower panels are evidently fymbolical of the 
 holy trinity. 
 
Date, the 12th century. 
 
 CROZIER. 
 
 Of Encrufted Enamel. 
 
CROZIER OF ENCRUSTED ENAMEL. 
 
 IN THE POSSESSION OF H. MAGNIAC, ESQ^ 
 
 OW important it is to the ftudy of archeology, 
 or the hiftory of any particular branch of deco- 
 rative art, to be able to refer to examples the 
 dates of which are unqueftioned, every one who 
 has purfued fuch investigations will readily ac- 
 knowledge. 
 
 The elegant Crozier which is reprefented in 
 our engraving is of that clafs, or at leaft, the 
 place of its difcovery fixes a time after which it 
 could not have been made, although it was pro- 
 bably in existence many years previous 
 to its being depofited in the Tomb of 
 Barthelemy de Vir, Bifhop of Laon, 
 in the Abbey of Foigny, where' it was 
 found by the Marquis d'Aliancourt. 
 
 The Bifhop is recorded on his Mo- 
 nument, to have died in 1181. In a 
 Pamphlet published at Laon in 1844, 
 entitled " Vifite a L'ancienne Cathe- 
 drale de Laon, Par. M. O. H." it is ftated 
 that he attended the confecration of the 
 reftoration of his Cathedral on the 1 6th 
 of September 11 14. Should this date be 
 correct, it is clear that he not only lived to 
 a great age, but muft have received his Bi- 
 fhopric at an unufually early period of his 
 life. On the exterior of the tomb was fculp- 
 tured a reprefentation of this Crozier, from 
 which the flafF mown in the wood-cut on 
 the next page was copied, the original, of 
 wood, having dropped into dull: when the 
 tomb was opened. The engraving is three 
 fourths of the fize of the original. 
 
 Colour is neceffary to do juftice to this 
 fine fpecimen of enamelling, but from the 
 
number of minute parts into which the patterns are divided, that could 
 only be accomplished at a coft far beyond what the price of our publica- 
 tion would juftify. We muft therefore be content to give fuch a de- 
 fcription as will enable our readers to understand the arrangement of the 
 various tints. 
 
 The trefoil in the centre of the flower with which the volute termi- 
 nates is green with red fpots. The flower itfelf is filled in with blue, 
 the tints becoming lighter towards the edge, which is white. The 
 malTes of deep blue are relieved by rows of red beads. The medallion 
 in the centre of the bofs is perforated. The middle of the flower, the 
 quatrefoils, and the upper part of the wings of the birds on the ftafF are 
 green with red fpots. The reft of the bofs, the ftaff, and the volute are all 
 filled in with blue. The ground work of the whole being of copper gilt. 
 
 Our fecond example having on the volute the fubjecl: of St. Michael 
 and the Dragon, the latter enriched with turquoifes, is of the thirteenth 
 century. It is the property of Edward Hailftone, Efq. 
 
Date, the end of the 1 2th century. 
 
 STAFF OF THE RULER OF THE CHOIR. 
 
A RULER OF THE CHOIR'S STAFF. 
 
 IN THE POSSESSION OF H. MAGNIAC, ESO^ 
 
 HIS elegant work of Art was bought 
 by Mr. Webb of Bond Street at the 
 fale of the choice Mediaeval collec- 
 tion of Monf. Dugue at Paris in 
 March laft, and fold by him to Mr. 
 Magniac. 
 
 In the fale catalogue it is defcribed 
 as a double Epifcopal Crozier. This, 
 however, is a miftake, though one 
 quite pardonable, as this fpecimen, if 
 not unique, is an exceedingly rare 
 example, and calculated to puzzle 
 any one unacquainted with the ancient ritual and ceremonies of the 
 catholic church. 
 
 The Ruler of the Choir's Staff is thus defcribed in Dr. Rock's learned 
 and elaborate work " The Church of our Fathers as feen in St. Ofmond's 
 Rite for the Cathedral of Salifbury." " It quite differed from the true 
 paftoral ftaff, both with regard to fhape and emblematic fignification. 
 The " rectores chori," or rulers of the choir, who were few or many ac- 
 cording to the folemnity of the feftival, but always arrayed in Alb and 
 Cope,* and often having the Precentor at their head,-f~ directed the 
 
 * Befides their fillcen copes, the rulers of the choir wore the canon's grey furred amys. 
 
 t His ftaff at St. Paul's Cathedral, London, judging from the following defcription, muft 
 have been very fine : Baculus cantoris de peciis eburneis, et fummitate criftallina, ornata cir- 
 culis argenteis, deauratis, triphoriatus lapidibus infertis (Vifit. in Thefaur. S. Pauli. Lond. Apud 
 Dugdale, Hift. of St. Paul's, p. 316). At the Royal Chapel at Windfor, a. d. 1385, this 
 dignitary's ftaff is thus noticed : Unus baculus pro precentore in choro, ligatus in quinque 
 locis, cum puncSto argenteo in fine, habens in fummitate ejufdem unam partem eburneam ex 
 tranfverfo cum criftallo in finibus. (Idem, Mon. Anglic, t. viii. p. 1365.) At Winchefter 
 Cathedral there was : One rector's ftaff of unicorn's horn. (Ibid. t. i. p. 202.) 
 
 The Royal Abbey of St. Denys, near Paris, had in its treafury a very fine chanter's ftaff, 
 given by one of its Precentors, a.d. 1394, and figured Plate I. in Felibien's Hift. de PAbbaye 
 de Saint Denys. 
 
 The enamelling, the imagery, the lace-like tabernacle work, beftowed efpecially upon the 
 head of the Englifh ftaff, for the rector of the choir, is prefented vividly before us in the de- 
 
finging of the choir all through many parts of the divine fervice, at 
 Matins, at Mafs, at Evenfong. As they arofe from their ftools, or went 
 down from their ftalls to clufter around the huge brazen eagle, upon the 
 outflxetched wings of which lay the heavy Grail, or widely fpreading 
 Antiphoner, from the noted and illuminated leaves of which they were 
 chanting ; or, as they walked to and fro, giving out to each high canon 
 in his turn the anthem to be fung, thefe rulers of the choir bore in their 
 hand a ftaff, fometimes beautifully adorned and made of lilver, ending, 
 not with a crook, but a fhort crofs beam, which carried fome enrichment, 
 elaborately wrought and richly decorated. Of fuch a liturgical practice 
 we have evidence for Anglo-Saxon as well as Englifh times, and it is ftill 
 continued in Belgium by putting ftaves into the hands of the Choir 
 rulers. 
 
 The figure on the top of our example has been called St. Michael ; 
 but, as the head appears to be that of a female, it is moft probably St. 
 Margaret who was one of the Dragon Saints. That in the volute is St. 
 Valeria, virgin and martyr, a.d. 250, who was faid to have brought her 
 head to St. Martial while he was faying mafs. The whole defign is ex- 
 quifitely graceful and appears to be of about the end of the 1 2th century- 
 It is divided in the middle by a large cryftal, and the cabochons of dif- 
 ferent light coloured ftones are mounted in filver-gilt, thofe on the ftaff 
 being fet within panels of filigree work. All the reft is of copper-gilt. 
 
 Our engraving is of three fourths of the fize of the original. 
 
 fcription of the " Baculi pro chori regentibus," fet down in the lift of plunder carried off by Henry 
 VIII. from Lincoln Cathedral ; Imprimis, a ftaff covered with filver and gilt, with one image 
 of our Lady graven in filver at one end, and an image of St. Hugh in the other end ; and 
 having a bofs, fix fquared, with twelve images enamelled, having fix buttrefies, wanting one 
 pinnacle and two tops. Item, two other ftaves, covered with filver and gilt, having an image 
 of our Lady, and a chanon kneeling before her at every end, with this fcripture, Pro nobis 
 ora, &c; having alfo one knop, with fix buttrefies, and fix windows in the midft, one of them 
 wanting a pinnacle, with this fcripture about the ftaff", Benediclus Deus in donis fuis. Item, 
 two other ftaves, covered with filver parcel gilt, having a knop in the midft, having fix but- 
 trefies, and fix windows in every ftaff, gilt, wanting one round filver plate of one crouches 
 end. (Dugdale, Mon. Anglic, t. viii., p. 1281). From thefe, and other defcriptions, it would 
 appear that the head of the ftaff was made like the St. Anthony's crofs, or the capital letter 
 T. Upon the top of this were fet the images. 
 
 There is in the Treafury of the Cathedral at Cologne a crofs having on the top a repre- 
 fentation of the adoration of the Magi, which in a rude engraving kindly lent to us by A. 
 Nefbitt, Efq. is called " La Croffe du Choreveque Seculier." And the beautifully wrought 
 ftaff-head figured in Dibdin's " Tour through the Northern Counties of England," appears 
 to be one of thofe carried in his hand by the ruler of the Choir. 
 
A PYX. 
 
 FROM A DRAWING IN THE POSSESSION OF THE SOCIETY OF 
 ANTIQUARIES OF LONDON. 
 
 OR this beautiful fpecimen of enamelling we 
 are indebted to a drawing by Virtue, forming 
 one of a collection made for his patron, Lord 
 Coleraine, and 
 
 prefented after 
 the death of the 
 latter to the So- 
 ciety of Anti- 
 quaries of London, by Mrs. Du- 
 pleffis, to whom they had been 
 left by his Lordfhip. 
 
 On the back of the drawing 
 is the following defcription, " A 
 Pyx of copper gilt and enamel- 
 led, y e body is adorned w : fix 
 rounds wherein are figured as 
 many ftorys out of y e old Tefta- 
 ment alluding to ye facrament ; 
 & in y e faffia over y e faid rounds are infcrip- 
 tions in blew enamell explaining each hif- 
 tory. In y e middle of y e concave within 
 is y e Holy Lamb w ,h ye Banner, out of 
 whofe breaft ifiueth blood into a Chalice. 
 It was bought about Auguft 17 17, out of 
 a Brafiers mop in London, & is now in y e 
 poffeffion of Mr. George Holmes, Deputy 
 Record Keeper in y e Tower of London." 
 
 The infcriptions over the rounds are not 
 indicated in the drawing, and the Pyx is in- 
 complete, from the top being wanting ; but 
 it forms a very elegant example of enamel- 
 ling of about the end of the twelfth century. 
 From its unufual fize it would appear to 
 have been employed in the fervice of a very 
 large parim. 
 
The wood-cut on the previous page reprefents an interefting Reliquary 
 of the twelfth century, flill preferved in the Cathedral of Neroli, near 
 Cafa Mare, in Italy. It is made of brafs, gilt, and ornamented with a 
 repetition of the letter R, the top enclofing the relic being of glafs. It 
 is faid to contain the blood of one of the Saints. 
 
 The one below mows a portion of a very curious pavement preferved 
 in the Mufee des Monumens Francois. It is of the twelfth century. 
 The rofes are red, and the fmall circles within them yellow. 
 
 Our initial is taken from a large MS. Bible of about the fame date as 
 the other illuftrations to this article, and reprefents a favourite fubject in 
 the illuminations of that period, the combat between David and the 
 Giant Goliath. 
 
d*it« ♦ Thfl BemnmuG of tiim xiv oortvk.v. 
 
 7T axmse t 
 
 BGLORGIPG To ft »0>ilG I?I fid . ttSCL- 
 
A MORSE 
 
 OF TRANSLUCID ENAMEL. BELONGING TO H. MAGNIAC, ESQ^ 
 
 F the Morfe, Dr. Rock in " The Church 
 of our Fathers as feen in St. Ofmond's Rite 
 for the Cathedral of Salifbury," fays, " To 
 hinder the cope from flipping off, it was 
 fattened on the breaft by a kind of clafp, 
 which here in England was familiarly 
 known as the Morfe, which was, in fhape, 
 flat, or convex ; from five to fix inches in 
 breadth, either circular, fquare, or in fome 
 one of thofe many forms of graceful out- 
 line to be found in the details of pointed 
 architecture. It was made of gold or of 
 
filver, of ivory or copper, or of wood overlaid with one or other of the 
 precious metals. Gems too, and pearls were given for its enrichment. 
 But the workmanfhip as much as the material lent a value to this ap- 
 purtenance ; for all the cunning of the goldfmiths' art was exercifed upon 
 its defign ; and though it happened to be at times merely of copper, yet 
 the beautiful enamels with which it glowed, rendered it even then coftly." 
 
 Our example fully juftifies this glowing defcription. The metal frame- 
 work, of copper gilt, is arranged with much tafte, and very delicately 
 moulded. The enamelled portions are on filver. On the circle in the 
 centre is a reprefentation of the birth of St. John the Baptift ; and in the 
 femi-circle immediately over it, a figure of the Deity, from whom pro- 
 ceeds a ftream of glory furrounding a dove, and reaching to the head of 
 the infant, who is being prefented to the BlefTed Virgin. On the right 
 of the Almighty, is a figure of St. Paul, having below him a fainted 
 Bifhop, without any emblems to give a clue to his identity. To the left 
 is St. Michael over St. Helen, while St. Mary Magdalene occupies the 
 lower panel. In the angular compartments between the femi-circles is 
 the following infcription. 
 
 " Nativitas Beati Johis Batifta." 
 
 The eafy attitudes and careful drawing of the various figures, the fkil- 
 ful management of the draperies, the harmonious arrangement of the 
 colours, and the delicacy and truth of expreflion mown in the engraving 
 of the heads, give this precious fpecimen of the goldfmiths' (kill a very 
 high place among the few works of the kind that have defcended to 
 us from the early period to which its execution muft be affigned. Our 
 engraving is of the fize of the original. 
 
 The Cope was not always held faft by a Morfe : it was fometimes con- 
 fined, as now, by a fquare piece of the fame fluff" as the Cope, by the 
 help of large hooks and eyes, or with loops and knots made of gold lace. 
 But even fuch Morfes had generally their adornments ; and, befides the 
 embroidery upon them, they fhone with jewels, and knobs or cones 
 covered with pearls flood out from them. 
 
 Our wood-cut reprefents a circular Morfe, alfo the property of Mr. 
 Magniac, of about the fame date as the one mown in the coloured en- 
 graving. It is of filver-gilt, enriched with partes and enamels. Of the 
 latter, four are incrufled, and reprefent the evangeliflic fymbols, and one 
 has a figure of the Saviour executed with tranflucid enamel. 
 
A GERMAN BEAKER. 
 
 Of the early part of the i 5th Century. 
 
A GERMAN BEAKER. 
 
 OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. IN THE POSSESSION OF 
 HENRY BEVAN, ESQ^ 
 
 EAKER, a term by fome fuppofed to be derived from 
 the Greek word BtKog, an earthen vafe with handles. 
 It belongs to that clafs of words which has for its 
 root the old teutonic word Bak, or Bac, fignifying 
 any fubftance hollowed out, particularly a veffel for 
 holding wine, or any other liquid — whence in the 
 gloffary of Ifidorus we have bacchia, vas potato- 
 rum : fee alfo Schilter, GlofTarium Teutonicum, fub voce Bac. 
 
 This exquifite fpecimen of Goldfmith's work may be confidered as be- 
 longing to the fifteenth century, though the form of the windows, and 
 the character of their tracery are evidently copied from types belonging 
 to the preceding one. The bowl, and alfo the covers, have each three 
 windows filled with tranflucid enamel, with broad bands paffing from 
 one to the other enriched with the fame brilliant material, arranged in the 
 form of flowers and fcrolls. The wonderful delicacy of the gold plates 
 dividing the lights and tracery of the windows, as well as the various 
 colours employed in the bands, mows an amount of manipulative fkill 
 in the execution of this beautiful work of art truly aftoniming. Thefe 
 plates, although fcarcely thicker than the fineft hair line, are worked to 
 the form of the various curves with the greateft accuracy. The minute 
 and delicate fcrolls, paffing completely through the enamel, are calculated 
 to perplex thofe unacquainted with the procefs by which they were im- 
 bedded in that material. It was thus ; the gold plates were firft worked 
 into the requifite forms in a mould. They were then filled with the vari- 
 ous coloured enamels in a powdered ftate, and expofed by means of a 
 blow-pipe to a fufficient degree of heat to melt the enamel without af- 
 fecting the metal, and then ground to the requifite thicknefs and polifhed. 
 
 In this kind of enamel, gold was always ufed to divide the various 
 colours, no other metal being fufficiently flexible for that purpofe. The 
 bottom of the cup is inlaid with enamel fimilar to the bands. As the 
 fmall circles round the bafe and the cover are perforated, it is not im- 
 probable that they were originally filled with pearls. 
 
The branches of oak leaves and acorns, vine leaves and grapes, birds, 
 &c. are moft delicately dotted on the lurface of the poliihed metal, which 
 produces a very fparkling and pleafing effecl:. The cup is in excellent 
 condition, with the exception of the top of the finial, which in our copy 
 has been filled in with berries to give it a more complete appearance, as 
 the leaves now enclofe only a fcrew, to which was probably attached the 
 creft of the perfon for whom it was originally made. 
 
 It was bought by Mr. Bevan at Antwerp many years ago, and is no 
 doubt of Flemifh workmanfhip. 
 
Date: - i*<n. 
 
A HANAP, WITH COVER, OF SILVER-GILT, 
 
 PARTLY ENAMELLED. FROM THE COLLECTION OF ANTIQUITIES OF THE 
 MAGISTRATE OF WEINER NEUSTADT, FROM A DRAWING 
 BY G. O. WILDER, OF NURENBERG. 
 
 HIS exquifite fpecimen of German Goldfmith's work, 
 was, according to tradition, prefented to the Emperor 
 Frederick III. as a memorial, on the occafion of the peace 
 concluded in Neuftadt, between him and Matthias Cor- 
 vinus, in the year 1463. It weighs five pounds, twelve 
 ounces ; is two feet feven inches high; and feven inches in diameter at the 
 wideft part. When quite full it holds two quarts and a half. On the top 
 of the cover, which reprefents a crown, a knight in armour is kneeling, 
 who holds a heart-fhaped fhield, bearing the monogram A. E. I. O. U., 
 that of the Emperor above named, and of the Hungarian King, Matthias 
 Corvinus, and the date 1462. The ground of the rim, at the foot, orna- 
 mented with tendrils, the octangular foot, ornamented in like manner, 
 up to the commencement of the perforated tracery, and the bofTes at the 
 rim of the cup are enamelled of a bright green. The foliage is dark 
 green with red tips. The ftar-fhaped flowers on the bofTes are likewife 
 red. The flowers in the tendril work of the cover, as alfo the ground 
 of the buds in the middle of the top, and the flower on which the knight 
 kneels, are white. All the reft is gilt. 
 
 This cup, a remarkable fpecimen in every refpect, of German filver 
 work, difplays in its form a ftrong refemblance to that figured in 
 " HeidelofF's Ornamentik dis Mittelalters, Part XII." Plate 6, with this 
 difference, that the latter is only adorned with Gothic ornament, with- 
 out enamel, flowers, or figures of animals. 
 
A SILVER RELIQUARY, PARTIALLY GILT. 
 
 IN THE POSSESSION OF H. MAGNIAC, ESO^ 
 
 OST of our readers will recoiled! the magni- 
 ficent golden altar, and other choice ecclefi- 
 aftical relics from the Cathedral of Bafle, in 
 Switzerland, brought to London by Col. 
 Theubert, and publicly exhibited in 1842. 
 
 The Colonel in his catalogue ftates, that 
 many of the treafures with which this cele- 
 brated Cathedral was formerly enriched were 
 difpofed of in 1529, when the fplendid coronation drefs prefented by the 
 Emperor Henry II. (a.d. 1002-1024), was fold to the Margrave of 
 Baden ; the poverty of the Bifhops of Bafle compelled them alfo to fend 
 the imperial crown to the mint, and only the altar-piece and the crucifix 
 were preferved of the many coftly decorations derived from the munifi- 
 cence of that fovereign. 
 
 At that period the catholic churches were clofed by the reformation, 
 and the treafure of the cathedral was concealed in the fubterranean vaults. 
 In vain did the Chapter and Bifhop of Roggenbach claim it, and bring 
 the affair before the Helvetic Diet, in 1663 ; in vain did their delegates 
 vifit Bafle, and make formal demands, which, when repeated in 1685, 
 led to a deliberation of the reformed Communes on the fubjecl:. The 
 treafure was only to be vifible to deputations of the government, who, 
 from century to century took inventories of it, probably for the purpofe 
 of converting it into fpecie in a moment of penury. At length in 1826, 
 it was conveyed, for greater fecurity, to the Town Hall, as the provi- 
 fional ftage towards it becoming public property, as was the cafe after 
 the revolution of July, 1830, the influence of which was ftrongly felt in 
 Switzerland. 
 
 The Canton of Bafle became divided, and the people of the country 
 having feparated from the city, demanded their fhare of the church pro- 
 perty, and obtained two thirds of its treafures; which on the 23rd of 
 May, 1834, were put up to the higheft bidders by a government in the 
 greaterr. financial diftrefs, and who had no refpect for hiftory or art. 
 
The Reliquary under notice fell to the lot of a Jeweller and celebrated 
 antiquary at Balle, of whom Mr. Magniac purchafed it after three years 
 of negotiation, on account of the high price demanded. The original 
 jewels, of confiderable value, were then remaining, but have fince been 
 taken out and refold to the authorities of the Cathedral, and their places 
 lupplied by imitations in parte. 
 
 This Foot we are told by an infcription on the fole, was made to con- 
 tain a foot of one of the Innocents, which was given to Bafle Cathedral 
 by St. Columbanus. An infcription on the interior records that Ofval- 
 dus made this work by the will of God in 1470; the boffes on the 
 ankles, however, are ornamented with enamels on gold, furrounded by 
 pearls and filigree, of a date apparently far anterior to that of the entire 
 work. 
 
Date, itje xvit\a«:ntuv^. 
 
A SILVER-GILT FILIGREE NECKLACE, 
 
 ENAMELLED ; AND AN ENAMELLED PENDANT, BOTH OF SPANISH 
 WORKMANSHIP. IN THE POSSESSION OF 
 HENRY FARRER, ESQ^ 
 
 • PANISH tafte in jewellery is difplayed to confiderable 
 advantage in the two elegant articles we have felected 
 for the fubjecf. of our prefent plate. The firft is a Neck- 
 lace compofed of ten elliptical compartments of elaborate 
 filigree work, furrounding flowers of black enamel, from 
 which fpring branches of black and white enamel, within which are in- 
 ferted four fmall pearls. Thefe filigree divifions are feparated from each 
 other by means of flowers with gold ftuds in their centres, fimilar to the 
 above, attached to them by means of fmall rings. From the lower part 
 of the Necklace is fufpended a coronet picked in with light blue and 
 white enamel, from the middle of which hangs an enamelled fetter-lock, 
 having a large pearl of the fhape of an inverted heart in the middle, 
 while feven double and two fingle pearls fall from rings furrounding 
 thefe emblems of the dignity of the original owner. 
 
 The Pendant, of which we have given a back as well as a front view, 
 is remarkable for its graceful outline, and the fkilful diftribution of its 
 delicate colours. It is formed of a niche furrounded with pilafters and 
 fcroll-work, wrought with fmall bands of twitted filver-gilt wire. The 
 Niche contains a coral figure of the Virgin with the infant Saviour, re- 
 lieved by a back-ground of deep blue enamel powdered with gold ftars. 
 The Pilafters and fcroll-work are filled in with light blue, green, and 
 white enamel, and from the lower fcrolls are fufpended three pearls. 
 
 The back of the Pendant is fimilar to the front, with the exception of 
 the panel which fupplies the place of the Niche. 
 
Dfttr; Qr.xvS CCenturp. 
 
 Itrom a ^aitittfb GCtvameJL 
 
A FIGURE OF ST. CATHERINE. 
 
 IN PAINTED ENAMEL. FROM A TRIPTYCH IN THE POSSESSION OF 
 
 JOHN SWABY, ESQ^ 
 
 HE term a Pailliettes (fpangled) has been given, with 
 great propriety by French antiquaries to the kind of ena- 
 mel of which the very beautiful Triptych, from which 
 our print has been copied, offers one of the moft brilliant 
 and highly finifhed fpecimens we have met with. Spen- 
 fer may be fuppofed to have had before his mind's eye fome fuch graceful 
 figure as this St. Catherine when he penned the following couplet in his 
 " Fairie Queene." 
 
 " A vefture — fprinkled here and there 
 
 With glittering fpangs that did like ftars appear." 
 
 Recent writers on the continent have confidered this kind of enamelling 
 as forming the tranfition feries between the champ-leve mode of opera- 
 tion, in which the field of the metal is tooled out, leaving flender lines to 
 keep one coloured enamel diftinct from another, and to define the out- 
 line and chief features of the defign ; and the beautiful productions of 
 the fchool of Limoges during the reign of Francis I. and the latter part 
 of the fixteenth century. But Mr. Way, in an article in the Archaeolo- 
 gical Journal on " The decorative proceffes connected with the arts dur- 
 ing the middle ages," fuggefts that " the true tranfition ftyle was that 
 which was carried to great perfection during the latter part of the four- 
 teenth century ; in which the defign was chafed in the loweft pomble 
 relief, or even in fimple lines on the furface of a plate, ufually of filver ; 
 a tranfparent coat of varioufly coloured enamel was then laid over it, no 
 lines of metal being expofed, and the defign was indicated and defined 
 by the work beneath, feen through the tranfparent medium." 
 
 The morfe given in our laft number is an excellent example of this 
 kind of enamel. 
 
 In clafling enamels, however, according to the proceffes employed, 
 the one we are now illuftrating may be diftinguifhed as that in which 
 furface enamel was firfr. ufed, and in which the pictures and illuminations 
 of the period were copied, with their back-grounds and various acceffories. 
 
 Thofe familiar with the miffals and other fervice books of the fifteenth 
 century, will recognize how literally, and how faithfully, in the defign, 
 in the colours employed, and in the delicacy of his finishing, our enam- 
 eller has followed the types thus prepared for him. 
 
The triptych from which we have taken our plate contains in the 
 centre compartment, a reprefentation of the Entombment of Chrifl:, 
 with the figure of St. Catherine on the one fide, and the martyrdom of 
 St. Sebaftian on the other. 
 
 Our engraving is of the lize of the original. The characteriftic frame 
 by which it is furrounded is of copper gilt. 
 
A FINIAL. 
 
 From the Shrine in the treafury of the Cathedral of Aix-la-Chapelle. 
 Date, the beginning of the 13th Century. 
 
A F I N I A L, 
 
 FROM THE SHRINE IN THE TREASURY OF THE CATHEDRAL 
 
 OF AIX-LA-CHAPELLE. 
 
 EVERAL exquifite engravings are given in the 
 publication by MefTrs. Cahier and Martin, en- 
 titled, " Melanges D'Archasologie, D'Hiftoire, et 
 de Literature," of the celebrated fhrine in the 
 cathedral at Aix-la-chapelle, from which our 
 print is taken. It reprefents one of the orna- 
 ments rifing from the apex of the gables over the principal 
 figures, and continued at intervals along the roof of the 
 fhrine. 
 
 It is formed of a ball or globe, covered with moft elabo- 
 rate and elegant filigree work, riling out of a feries of 
 branches of cluftered leaves, of a bold and graceful character, 
 with pine-cones between them. From the top of the globe 
 fimilar leaves rife from a branch and fall over in the fhape 
 of a dim, out of which other cones fpring at irregular inter- 
 vals, with a larger one in the centre. 
 
 The wood-cut on the next page is taken from a very beautiful monf- 
 trance in the cathedral at Rheims. A monftrance is a tranfparent Pyx, 
 in which the blefTed facrament is carried in folemn proceffions, and ex- 
 pofed on the altar. 
 
 The ufe of Monftrances is not very ancient. Father Thiers, in a 
 learned treatife on the expofition of the blefTed facrament, ftates that he 
 has found it impoflible to fix the precife period when the cuftom of ex- 
 pofing the blefied facrament, and the confequent ufe of Monftrances com- 
 menced ; but as the folemn proceffion of Corpus Chrifti is not older 
 than the early part of the fourteenth century, and as the blefied facra- 
 ment was originally carried in a covered Pyx in that proceffion, it is not 
 probable that Monftrances were introduced before the end of the four- 
 teenth, or generally ufed before the beginning of the fifteenth century. 
 
 The ufual form of modern Monftrances is that of a radiated fun with 
 a cryftal Pyx in the centre. This ftyle of Monftrance did not come into 
 general ufe until the feventeenth century, but there is an example as 
 early as the beginning of the fixteenth. 
 
 The example we have chofen is obvioufly compofed of two fragments 
 of utenfils made for other purpofes, as the engraving round the cryftal in 
 the upper part is of a much later date than the ftem. In fact, an en- 
 graving on the infide reprefenting our Saviour teaching the gofpel, has 
 been mutilated by the procefs of attaching the one to the other. It is 
 clear alfo from the date of the ftem, which cannot be placed much later 
 than the middle of the thirteenth centurv, that it could not have been 
 
made for a velTel which did not come into ufe for a long while after 
 that period. The beautiful forms and elegant details of this interefting 
 relic render it highly worthy of being preferved, though its various parts 
 are not ftriclly confident with each other. 
 
Date, about the middle of the 14th century. 
 
 THURIBLE, OR CENSER. 
 
A THURIBLE, OR CENSER. 
 
 IN THE POSSESSION OF WILLIAM WELLS, ESQ^ OF HOLME LODGE, 
 
 HUNTINGDONSHIRE. 
 
 ONSTANTLY in ufe, from being 
 employed for burning incenfe during all 
 the folemn offices of the catholic church, 
 the Thurible is generally diftinguifhed 
 for the beauty and elaboration of its de- 
 fign. It is held in the hand fufpended 
 by chains. The one pafling from the 
 apex of the finial, through the centre of 
 the top to which the others are attached, 
 and there fattened to a ring (as mown in 
 our engraving) is for the purpofe of raif- 
 ing the upper portion of the cenfer from the bafin to admit of its being fup- 
 
 plied with fuel and incenfe. 
 
 This beautiful relic was lately found in Whittlefea 
 Mere, during the procefs of draining that extenfive 
 Lake, and became the property of Mr. Wells, as Lord 
 of the Manor of Glatton with Holme ; in virtue of 
 which he holds the larger!: right of fifhing, with power 
 to fummon the Fifhermen 
 to his courts at Holme, 
 when prefentments are 
 made, and the Bailiff of the 
 Manor proves the nets with 
 a brazen mem-pin, &c. 
 
 From its general charac- 
 ter, and the ftyle of its de- 
 tails, there can be little 
 doubt of its being of Eng- 
 lish workman- 
 fhip. It is of fil- 
 ver, and weighs 
 nearly fifty ounc- 
 es, the whole be- 
 ing gilt with the 
 exception of the 
 chains. The ba- 
 fin is remarkable 
 
 for its graceful form, 
 and the mofl exqui- 
 fite delicacy is pre- 
 
ferved in the tracery and mouldings throughout. 
 
 Our minor illustrations confift of four candlefticks. The one with a 
 tripod ftand was made for the fervice of the altar. It is of the twelfth 
 century, and formed of copper-gilt, picked in with various coloured 
 enamels. The fmall bands round the top and bottom 
 of the bowl are of green and gold. The rays within 
 of light blue and gold, the knop of deep blue and gold, 
 and the fcroll-work in the foot, of green, blue, and gold. 
 The original belongs to Meffrs. Colnaghi and Co., of 
 Pall Mall, Eaft. 
 
 Our fecond example is a highly 
 curious fpecimen formed of a rude 
 imitation of an elephant with a caf- 
 tle, or feries of turrets, on its back. 
 The defign is of the earlier portion 
 of the thirteenth century, and is in- 
 teresting as having a nozzle (which 
 from the rude ftyle of 
 the workmanfhip, and 
 the colour of the metal 
 being in harmony with 
 the reft of the article, has 
 every appearance of be- 
 ing genuine) dating feve- 
 ral centuries earlier than 
 that feature was fup- 
 pofed to have been in 
 ufe. This candleftick 
 appears to have been de- 
 figned for domeftic pur- 
 pofes. 
 
 The third cut is one of a feries of fix altar candle- 
 fticks of various fizes, made (for the fake of being con- 
 veniently portable) to fit one within the other, and 
 formed of a plain conical pricket riling from a circu- 
 lar ftand, the latter being covered with byzantine ena- 
 mel. It is of the thirteenth century, and peculiar as 
 Ihowing the early introduction of the lozenge fhaped 
 fhield. 
 
 Our laft engraving is from a German picture of 
 the beginning of the fixteenth century. 
 
CUP. Defigned by Hans Holbein. 
 For Jane Seymour, Queen of Henry VIII. 
 
V 
 
CUP. DESIGNED BY HANS HOLBEIN. 
 
 FOR JANE SEYMOUR, QUEEN OF HENRY VIII. 
 
 OR the accompanying print we are indebted to 
 a defign by Hans Holbein, now depofited in the 
 Print Room of the Britifh Mufeum. It was 
 purchafed of the Meffrs. Smith, the celebrated 
 Printfellers of Lifle St. by the prefent keeper of 
 the Print Room, Mr. Carpenter, for the Truftees 
 of that eftablifhment. The MeiTrs. Smith bought 
 it out of the collection of the late Mr. Beckford, 
 whofe tafte, appreciation, and patronage of every thing beautiful in art, 
 whatever its clafs, combined with literary talent of the higheft order, and 
 almofr. equally verfatile in its range, have placed his name among the 
 moft diftinguifhed of thofe who have devoted their wealth and genius to 
 the inftruction and refinement of mankind. 
 
 The drawing is evidently the working one made for the Goldfmith. 
 It is geometrical, drawn with great freedom, and in outline only. It is 
 fifteen inches in height, and fix inches in the wideft part of its cover. 
 The hiftory of the drawing we have not been able to trace beyond its 
 pofieflion by Mr. Beckford, but the perfon for whom it was defigned 
 admits of no doubt. The well known motto of Jane Seymour, BOVND 
 TO OBEY AND SERVE is repeated on two of the bands, and the 
 letters H. and I. (Henry and Jane) interlaced with true lovers' knots is 
 continued round another, alternately, with rofes having jewels projecting 
 from their centres. We have ventured, in reducing the drawing, to put 
 it into perfpective, and given it a more finifhed appearance than it has in 
 the original, for the benefit of thofe who are not intimately acquainted 
 with ornamental detail, and have alfo filled in the fhield with the arms 
 of Jane Seymour, as there can be little doubt it was left blank from a 
 knowledge that it was unneceffary to draw what the enameller would 
 be able to accomplifh fufficiently well from authorities known to himfelf. 
 
 Of the many Painters, who (during the fifteenth and fixteenth centu- 
 ries) commenced their career as Goldfmiths, or who exercifed their in- 
 ventive faculties in making defigns to be employed on the precious metals, 
 
and other rich and coftly materials fo abundantly ufed at that time, no one, 
 we believe, excelled if they even approached Holbein in the verfatility of 
 his fancy, the elegance of his combinations, or the intimate acquaintance 
 he difplayed with all the details and refources of decorative art. The more 
 important of his Pictures fupply abundant evidence of his fkill and patience 
 as an imitator, while the numerous defigns from his hand, ftill in exig- 
 ence, prove his facility of invention. Perhaps no example now remain- 
 ing exhibits thefe qualities in greater perfection than the cup and cover 
 reprefented in our engraving. The elegant form of its general outline, 
 the fymmetry of its proportions, and the lightnefs and grace of the 
 attached figures, and pendant jewels, make us regret that the cup itfelf 
 is not in exiftence, and placed in our National Mufeum, to aflift in puri- 
 fying the tafte, and ftimulating the creative powers of future ftudents in 
 decorative art. 
 
 The public in general are not, we believe, aware of there having been 
 four painters of the name of Holbein, and all of the fame family. The 
 drd was Hans, called the elder, who was born at Augfburgh, about the 
 year 1450. The fecond, Sigifmond, his brother, born about 1456; and 
 the two fons of the former, Ambrofe, born at Augfburgh in 1484, and 
 Hans the younger, who was born at Bafle in 1498, and died in London, 
 of the plague, in 1554. They all practifed portrait painting; but the 
 pictures of the three firft were in the dry, hard, and tame manner fo gen- 
 eral in Germany during that early period of the Art. And, but for the 
 fuperior talent of the laft, the name might have paffed into oblivion. 
 Examples of the fkill of all of them may be feen in the Royal and Im- 
 perial Gallery at Vienna, where the genius of the younger is exemplified 
 by no lefs than fifteen of his fineft works. 
 
 Our initial is taken from an exquifite feries of Illuminated Letters in a 
 fuperb Volume in the Britifh Mufeum, printed on Vellum, and bearing 
 the following title : " La Hiftoria delle cofe facte dallo invictiffimo Duca 
 Francefco Sforza, fcripta in latino da Giovanni Simoneta, et tradocta in 
 lingua Fiorentina da Chriftofero Landino." Milano, Antonio Zarotto, 
 1490, folio. 
 
CUP. 
 
 Defigned by George Wechter. 1620. 
 
CUP. 
 
 DESIGNED BY GEORGE WECHTER, 1628. 
 
 ^7 ANY Cups are ftill in exigence bearing the ge- 
 neral characterises of the one here engraved ; 
 but few, we believe, exhibit the fame bold and 
 picturefque variety of graceful forms. The 
 outline is of the mod fimple defcription — its 
 richnefs and beauty depending upon the fkill 
 with which the various bands are interlaced, 
 and made to combine with the figures, the 
 mafks, the groups of flowers, and other details 
 ufually found in ornamental works of the renaiffance period. 
 
 It is taken from a Book publifhed in Paris under the Title of " Or- 
 nements des Anciens Maitres des XV. XVI. XVII. et XVIII. Siecles. 
 Recueilles Par Ovide Reynard," but as no text has yet been given we 
 are unable to ftate any particulars beyond the name of the Defigner and 
 the date of its production. The name of the Artift is new to us, and we 
 have not been able to find it in any of the works of reference we have con- 
 fulted. The date being given forms the moft efiential fact necefiary to 
 corroborate the fly le of the period, and enable us to give it its proper 
 place in our feries. 
 
 The wood-cut on the following page is taken from a drawing kindly 
 lent us by Mr. Willement, whofe numerous beautiful works in Stained 
 Glafs are fo well known. It reprefents the necklace worn by one of the 
 perfonages in a large picture of the Lucy Family, painted in the time of 
 James the Firft, and ftill at their feat (fo celebrated for its connexion with 
 Shakefpeare), at Charlecote in Warwickfhire. It is formed of gold, 
 jewels, and various coloured enamels. The flowers are of gold, having 
 large pearls in their centres — in fome inftances furrounded by four fmaller 
 
ones — in others by fmall blue ftones, probably fapphires. The links 
 formed of the cable pattern coming to points in the centre, are covered 
 with red enamel ; the fimple twitted ones of blue, and the fmall plain 
 ones of gold. 
 
DATE, THE 17™ CENTURY. 
 
 >ROM A PICTURE BY LEBKGUE 
 
A WINE FLAGON. 
 
 ERY little can be faid with regard to the ori- 
 gin or hiftory of the article reprefented in our 
 Plate. 
 
 It is taken from a picture of fKll life in the 
 poffeffion of Mr. William Anthony, of Lifle 
 Street, Soho, painted by an artift of the name 
 of Lebegue. The picture is compofed of this 
 very elegant Flagon, a drinking Glafs, a quan- 
 tity of Mufcles, and a few Shrimps; the Flagon 
 forming the principal object, and the others mere acceflbries. 
 
 The name of Lebegue we were not previoully acquainted with, and 
 have been unable to find any record of his works, or even of his name ; 
 although from the mafterly manner and the great truthfulnefs with which 
 the different objects are here reprefented, it is evident he muft have been 
 a painter of confiderable repute. 
 
 The various mountings of the Flagon are, apparently, of filver gilt. 
 The bowl, the fpout, the neck, and the bofs covering the mouth, being 
 formed of laminated mother of pearl, adding confiderable richnefs to its 
 general effect, by the delicacy and variety of its tints. 
 
 It is one fixth larger in the painting than in our reprefentation, and is 
 evidently of the workmanfhip of the feventeenth century. 
 
 Our wood-cut difplays an example of Goldfmith's work of about the 
 fame date. It is taken from a falt-cellar depofited in the gold plate room 
 of Her Majelty, at Windfor Cattle. The lower part of the bowl is of 
 mother of pearl. The graceful bunch of flowers and tendrils, forming 
 the top of the cover, are of frofted filver, with the exception of the cen- 
 tre one, which is coated with green enamel. All the other portions are 
 of filver-gilt. 
 
DATE , THE 
 
 El-TTURY 
 
 FROM THE CATHEDRAL OF JIOTRE DAME 
 
IRON WORK. 
 
 FROM THE CATHEDRAL OF NOTRE DAME AT PARIS. 
 
 ANY interelting remains of wrought Iron of 
 the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries frill exilt 
 in our Cathedrals, Parim Churches, and other 
 buildings ; but we know of none fo florid and 
 fo varied in defign, or of finer execution than 
 thofe fpread over the weltern doors of the Ca- 
 thedral of Notre Dame, at Paris. Nothing whatever is known 
 of their hiftory. There is a popular ftory connected with them 
 that they were made by a lockfmith who fold his foul to his 
 Satanic Majefty, to enfure for his work an excellence which 
 nobody mould ever equal. But as the faid tradition attributes 
 their production to the 1 6th century, we may reafonably hope 
 there is no foundation for it. 
 
 Each door is fupported by three hinges formed of branches 
 fpringing from foliated bands, and feparated from each other by 
 fcroll work of a limilar character. Thefe enrichments are com- 
 pofed of birds, lizards, rofes, grapes, and different kinds of foli- 
 age, employed with a degree of profufion, and chafed with an 
 amount of delicacy calculated to mow that their colt could have 
 been a matter of but little confideration. 
 
 Our example exhibits the half of one of the hinges, and its 
 connecting fcroll work. 
 
 Our initial is taken from a MS. of the thirteenth century in the Mu- 
 feum at Glafgow. The letter is of burnifhed gold, the ground blue, 
 and the leaves blue, red, green, and brown alternately. 
 
IRON WORK. 
 
 FROM THE TOMB OF ELEANOR OF CASTILE, CONSORT OF 
 EDWARD THE FIRST. 
 
 LEANOR of Caftile, whofe Mon- 
 ument is enriched and protected by 
 the elegant fcreen of which our plate 
 forms a portion, was the only daugh- 
 ter of Ferdinand the third, King of 
 Caftile and Leon, by Joan, daughter 
 and heir to John, Earl of Ponthieu ; 
 and thus, in her mother's right, fhe 
 was heir to that kingdom. She be- 
 came the wife of Edward during 
 the life-time of his Father, being 
 married at Bures in Spain, in 1254; 
 and a more truly happy union can 
 fcarcely be recorded in the annals of royal wedlock. 
 
 The following account of this very elegant example of wrought iron, 
 appeared in the Athenaeum on the 1 ft of laft September. "Among 
 other judicious works of reftoration lately effected in the Abbey by the 
 Dean and Chapter of Weftminfter, we may notice — and we do fo with 
 much pleafure — that they have reftored the fine iron fcreen which 
 originally decorated and protected the Tomb of Eleanor of Caftile, con- 
 fort of Edward the Firft. 
 
 This fcreen was taken down fome years ago, when it was the fafhion 
 to confider everything old as neceffarily ugly and ufelefs. If we miftake 
 not, it was fold as old iron ; but on fome remonftrance being made, was 
 repurchafed by the Chapter. The public may thank the Rev. Dr. Buck- 
 land, Dean of Weftminfter, that it is now replaced in its old pofition. We 
 propofe to fay a few words about this fpecimen of early iron work : — 
 which is perhaps the fineft relic of the kind in this country. It is of 
 wrought iron, rivetted ; and was made by Thomas de Leghtone, fmith, at 
 Leighton Buzzard, in Bedfordfhire, in the years 1293 and 1294. It was 
 fixed befide the tomb early in the latter year. The total coft of the work, 
 including the expenfes of its carriage to London and putting it up, was 
 thirteen Pounds : equal to at leaft 1 80 of modern currency. The fact of fo 
 large a fum having been paid, leads us to queftion whether the fmall work 
 now remaining is the whole of the fcreen originally conftructed. We 
 think not, — and have a fufpicion that the fcreen was continued formerly 
 to the plinth of the tomb : for as the tomb itfelf was painted and other- 
 
wife elaborately decorated, there would be as much, or more, reafon for 
 protecting it as for fcreening the effigy which is fo high above the floor 
 of the aille or ambulatory. However, as the ancient accounts of the coft 
 of thefe works do not give its dimenfions, our fufpicion muft pafs as 
 founded on conjecture only. There is lefs room for fpeculation as to the 
 character of the work itfelf, — which fuggefts fome fignificant reflections. 
 We have here a dated fpecimen of foliated fcroll work. The time in 
 which it was executed is early, in what is architecturally termed the 
 Decorative period ; yet the details are thoroughly thofe of the early Eng- 
 lifh ftyle, — refembling indeed, in fome points, the Norman; — as for 
 inftance, in the mafks of animals' heads in which feveral of the main 
 ftanchions terminate. Among thefe, the heads of the Boar, Ape, Dog, 
 &C. may be particularly remarked. It is true, that we may fuppofe thefe 
 peculiarities to have arifen from the fact that workers in iron were likely 
 to have been flower in adopting new fafhions than workers of flone ; — 
 but this is not very probable, feeing how widely the tafte for ornamental 
 work prevailed in the thirteenth century. We think it poffible that old 
 ftyles were copied then, juft as they are copied now. At any rate, thofe 
 purifts in architectural hiftory who date tranfitions within half an hour 
 of half a century, would do well to give fome attention to this fcreen. 
 There is, perhaps, no other monument in this country reflecting which 
 we poffefs fo much interefting contemporary evidence as the monument 
 of Eleanor. The ftone work of her tomb was constructed by Mafter 
 Richard Crundale, Mafon, the architect of the crofs at Charing. Wil- 
 liam Sprot, and John Ware, founders of London, fupplied the metal for 
 cafting the beautiful Effigy of the Queen which ftill lies in placid beauty 
 on that Tomb. The Effigy itfelf was modelled (in wax) and caft by 
 William Torel, a Goldfmith, it may be, a foreigner. Above the Effigy 
 there was originally a canopy of wood, made by Thomas de Hoctone, 
 Carpenter. This canopy — which refembled, probably, thofe over the 
 tombs of De Valence, and Edmund Crouchback — was painted by Mafter 
 Walter, of Durham, Painter ; who alfo executed the paintings on the lides 
 of the Tomb. Wooden barriers were erected in front of the monument 
 towards the fhrine of Edward the Confeffor, to prevent too clofe accefs 
 to it. Such are a few only of the details that may be obtained from the 
 accounts of Eleanor's executors, by whom the works were directed." 
 
 The fcreen is curved outwards towards the aifle, and is crowned by a 
 fort of Chevaux de frife, the fpikes of which were probably intended to 
 fupport candles on the more folemn feftivals of the Church, or on com- 
 memorations of the illustrious dead buried within its precincts. 
 
 The fcreen confifts of eleven compartments, of which we have felected 
 three, and is attached to the (hafts of two of the columns fupporting the 
 roof of the Abbey. 
 
DATE. THE 15 ra CENTURY 
 
A WROUGHT IRON DOOR. 
 
 IN THE POSSESSION OF N. J. COTTINGHAM, ESQ. ARCHITECT, 
 
 OR this beautiful fpecimen of perforated wrought iron 
 we are indebted to the extraordinary Architectural 
 Mufeum collected with fo much tafte, fo much induftry, 
 and at fo great a coft by the late Mr. L. N. Cotting- 
 ham, the celebrated Architect. 
 His enthufiafm in favour of our national architecture led him to fecure, 
 not only an immenfe number of original works offered to his notice 
 during a long profeflional career, but alfo to have cafts moft carefully 
 taken of many of the moft. beautiful gems of decorative art, of all pe- 
 riods, to be found in our cathedrals, in our churches, and in fome of 
 the fine examples of the domeftic architecture of our ancestors, ftill 
 exifting in various parts of the country. The refult is, a collection of 
 the moft ufeful and inftructive kind — not only to architects and the dif- 
 ferent operatives employed under them ; but to all who take an intereft 
 in the chronology of architecture, and wifli to trace the diftinctive pecu- 
 liarities of each particular ftyle, and the mode of treatment by which 
 its various features are brought into harmony with each other. 
 
 Thefe ftudies cannot fail of impreffing us 
 with the higheft admiration for the genius and 
 fkill of the architects of the middle ages, who 
 rarely failed of adding the picturefque and the 
 beautiful to the arrangements moft convenient 
 for the purpofes to which their buildings were 
 to be applied ; while the fmalleft details were 
 characterized by elegance of form, richnefs of 
 material, or devices and ornaments, in which 
 quaintnefs and propriety were moft happily 
 combined. 
 
 Mr. Cottingham purchafed this Door, with 
 another of a fimilar character from a dealer, 
 who could give him no information refpecting 
 the place from whence they came. 
 
 The wood-cut fhows the patterns employed 
 in the two panels more at large. 
 
DATE , ABOUT 1546 
 
 WOOD FAN EhhlNG. 
 
 FROM A PICTURE BY HOLBEIN AT HAMPTON COURT PALACE 
 
WOOD PANELLING. 
 
 FROM A PICTURE BY HOLBEIN, AT HAMPTON COURT. 
 
 ARE and elaboration in matters of de- 
 tail have rarely been carried to a greater 
 extent than in the gorgeous picture from 
 which we have felected our prefent fpe- 
 cimen. It forms, perhaps, the moft in- 
 terefting of the many portrait pictures 
 with which the collection in the palace 
 at Hampton Court is fo abundantly en- 
 riched. It muft have been painted fhort- 
 ly before the death of Henry VIII. and 
 reprefents the interior of a room, in the 
 centre of which that king is feated under an embroidered canopy, the 
 back being decorated with the arms of England furrounded by elaborate 
 fcroll work, in which the Tudor rofe forms a leading feature. The roof 
 of the canopy is occupied by two flying angels, fupporting between them 
 a wreath enclofing a panel infcribed with the monogram of the mo- 
 narch, (HR VIII.). Henry's right arm refls on the moulder of Prince 
 Edward, who ftands on one fide, while his mother, Jane Seymour, oc- 
 cupies a chair fomewhat lower than the king's on the other. 
 
 Between this group and one end of the room, the princefs Mary is 
 feen advancing ; dreffed according to the fafhion of the time, in a French 
 hood, large fluffed fleeves with hanging over-fleeves, and a gown having 
 a long flowing train. The princefs Elizabeth is reprefented on the other 
 fide, in a correfponding pofition, drefs and attitude. Immediately with- 
 out, and in the act of entering an open door in the extreme left of the 
 picture, Will Somers, the celebrated dwarf, is mown, with a monkey 
 very fmartly dreffed perched upon his moulders ; the back-ground being 
 compofed of a garden before a mafs of buildings having in front of them 
 pillars fupporting the royal badges of the Dragon and the Greyhound. 
 A female domeflic is approaching the door at the other end of the room 
 through which is feen acceflbries of a fimilar character. 
 
 The dreffes of the King, Queen, Prince, and Princeffes are as gorgeous 
 as cloth of gold, jewels, and the richeft materials could make them. The 
 room is panelled with dark oak, the mouldings and ornaments are 
 relieved with gold (the metal itfelf being employed on the picture) and 
 
divided at intervals by columns fupporting the roof. Our plate difplays 
 nine of thefe panels, with the frieze above them. The columns are all 
 precifely alike. They are fluted to one third of their height, the upper 
 portion being elaborately decorated with the pattern mown in our cut. 
 
oit«, i5B7> 
 
A PAIR OF BELLOWS. 
 
 FROM A DESIGN BY BENVENUTO CELLINI, IN THE POSSESSION OF 
 
 H. MAGNIAC, ESQ^ 
 
 OUND the lower handle of the Bellows is painted 
 in yellow the infcription given on our firft plate, 
 " Benven: Cellini 1587. Defig." and as the writ- 
 ing is in the character of the period, there can be 
 little doubt that this fpirited and elegant defign was 
 the work of that great matter, although not exe- 
 cuted till feventeen years after his death. The Bel- 
 lows are carved in oak, relieved with gold, the 
 flexible portion being of crimfon velvet, bound with braiding of the fame 
 colour, fattened with gilt ftuds. Their extreme length is two feet feven 
 inches and a half, and their greateft breadth twelve inches. 
 
 The following particulars refpecting the life of Benvenuto Cellini are 
 taken from his Autobiography (fo well known by the tranflation of the 
 late Mr. Rofcoe) written in his fifty-eighth year. He was the fon of 
 Giovanni Cellini, his mother being Lizabetta daughter of Stefano Gra- 
 nacci, and both being citizens of Florence. He derived his pedigree, 
 though upon what authority he does not tell us, from Florentino of 
 Cellino, fo named from a caftle within two miles of Monte Fiafcone, an 
 officer of the firft rank in the army of Julius Casfar, who in the infancy 
 of the town named it Florence, in compliment to that favourite. He 
 alfo claimed a defcent from diftinguifhed families of the fame name in 
 the older city of Ravenna, in Pavia, and in other places. 
 
 At an early period of his life he difplayed a tafte for drawing, and 
 difregarding the oppofition of his father, who was defirous that he mould 
 devote himfelf to the ftudy of mufic, at the age of fifteen engaged him- 
 felf to Antonio di Landro, commonly called Marcone, a goldfmith of 
 eminence. His application was fo great, that in a few months he rivalled 
 the moft fkilful workmen, and began to reap the fruit of his labour. He 
 was, however, banifhed from Florence, with his brother, in confequence 
 of having taken part in a fquabble which nearly proved fatal to the latter. 
 He went firft to Sienna, then to Bologna, and afterwards to Pifa, where 
 he entered the fervice of a goldfmith of that city. He then returned to 
 his old mafter, Marcone, at Florence, and improved himfelf by ftudying 
 the defigns of Michael Angelo and Leonardo da Vinci ; after which he 
 paid a vifit to Rome for two years, where he met abundant encourage- 
 ment, and a variety of ftrange adventures. His fellow workmen at 
 home growing jealous of him, difputes frequently arofe, and Cellini being 
 profecuted for beating and wounding one of them named Gherardo Guaf- 
 conti, he efcaped in the difguife of a friar, and made his way back to 
 
Rome, where he met with greater fuccefs than before. Having played 
 the flute at a concert before Clement VII. that Pontiff was fo delighted 
 with his performance that he took him into his fervice in the double 
 capacity of goldfmith and mufician. 
 
 His next adventure was fighting a duel with Rienzi da Ceri, a perfon 
 in the fervice of Lorenzo de Medici, which was not attended with any 
 ferious confequences. During the prevalence of the plague at Rome, 
 which interrupted all general employment, he amufed himfelf with 
 making fketches of the antiquities of Rome. Seal engraving, and damaf- 
 cening of fteel and filver on Turkifh daggers, &c. now occupied a con- 
 fiderable portion of his time. 
 
 Charles, Duke of Bourbon, having laid liege to Rome in 1527, was 
 killed whilft heading the affault ; and Cellini claimed credit for being the 
 author of his death by the difcharge of an arquebufe. After this event 
 he made his way into the caftle, and taking the command of the guns, 
 which had been deferted by the gunners for fear of killing their friends 
 in the city, he worked them with deftructive effect. He was then 
 appointed to the command of five guns, was wounded in the breaft, reco- 
 vered, and acted moft valiantly during the reft of the fiege. 
 
 On its termination he returned to Florence, and having obtained a 
 pardon for his former offence, was prefTed to go into the army, but 
 declined, and removed to Mantua. Here he was recommended to the 
 Duke of Mantua by his friend Julio Romano, but was obliged after a 
 time to retire in confequence of an indifcreet fpeech, and returned to 
 Florence, where he found his father and moft of his relations dead from 
 the plague. 
 
 Having formed an intimacy with Michael Angelo, by whom he was 
 greatly encouraged, he returned to Rome, was made engraver of the 
 mint, and defigned a medal which led to a quarrel with Bandinello the 
 fculptor. He alfo ftruck a fine coin of Clement VII. 
 
 His profeflional career was now interrupted by domeflic difafters. He 
 fell in love with the daughter of Raffaello del Moro, but was unfuccefsful 
 in his fuit, and about the fame time loft his brother, who was killed in a 
 fray by a mufqueteer. Having determined to revenge the death of his 
 brother, he laid in wait for his deftroyer, and feizing a favourable oppor- 
 tunity ftabbed him. The firft blow not proving effectual, he repeated it 
 with fuch force on the collar bone that he was unable to releafe the 
 dagger. Being in the Pope's employment, this little outbreak of fraternal 
 affection was overlooked, and he received more encouragement in his art 
 than before. 
 
 He was next employed by the Pope to make a magnificent chalice for 
 a papal proceffion ; but got into a milunderftanding with him about a 
 place he wanted, and further exafperated his Holinefs by being unable 
 to finifh the chalice from a difeafe in his eyes. Thefe unfavourable im- 
 premons were increafed by calumnies propagated by Pompeo of Milan ; 
 and he was deprived of his office of engraver to the Mint, and arrefted 
 for refufing to deliver up the chalice. On being taken before the governor 
 of Rome, that functionary, by an artifice, perfuaded him to furrender it 
 
to the Pope, by whom it was returned to Cellini, with orders that he 
 mould proceed with its completion. 
 
 At this time he became enamoured of a Cicilian courtezan named 
 Angelica, whofe mother obliged her to withdraw to Naples, and in 
 defpair at her lofs he got acquainted with a prieft who profefTed necro- 
 mancy, and attended his fpells, in the hope of recovering his miftrefs. 
 
 The next fcene in his career was one of a more tragical complexion. 
 Having quarrelled with Benedetto, a notary public, he dangeroufly 
 wounded him with a ftone, and his old enemy Pompeo of Milan having 
 at the fame time reprefented to the Pope that he had killed Tobias the 
 goldfmith of that city, his Holinefs ordered the governor of Rome to 
 have him apprehended and executed on the fpot. His good fortune, 
 however, again favoured him, and he efcaped to Naples. There he found 
 his miftrefs Angelica, and renewed his former intimacy ; but finding 
 himfelf impofed upon by the cupidity of her mother, he accepted of 
 an invitation from the Cardinal de' Medici to return to Rome, the Pope 
 having difcovered his error refpecting the fuppofed death of Tobias the 
 goldfmith. He was, therefore, not only forgiven, but reftored to his 
 former office, and commenced its duties by ftriking a fine medal of 
 Clement. 
 
 His exciteable nature would not allow him to purfue a quiet career, 
 and forgivenefs of one crime, or feries of crimes, only feemed to tempt 
 him to open a frefh account, regardlefs of confequences. He determined 
 to rid himfelf of his implacable calumniator Pompeo, and having taken 
 his life, was protected by Cardinal Carnaro, and reftored by Paul III. 
 (who had fucceeded Clement) to his place of engraver to the Mint. Pier 
 Luigi, however, the natural fon of the Pope, became his enemy, and em- 
 ployed a Corfican foldier to affafTinate him ; but he avoided this new 
 danger by returning to Florence, where he entered into the fervice of 
 Aleffandro de' Medici, as Matter of the Mint. The Pope, it would 
 appear, confidered his genius a fufficient apology for his faults, or at all 
 events feemed more difpofed to profit by the one, than make an example 
 of the other, and invited him back to Rome : foon after his arrival he 
 was attacked in his houfe by conftables, fent by the magiftrate to appre- 
 hend him for the murder of Pompeo, when, having made a noble defence, 
 he mewed the Pope's fafe conduct. 
 
 The Pope having received intelligence that the Emperor Charles V. 
 was fetting out for Rome, employed Cellini on a curious piece of work- 
 manfhip as a prefent to his imperial Majefty. The artift had an inter- 
 view with the Emperor, and made a fine fpeech on the occafion. Thinking 
 himfelf neglected, he fet out for France, and pafling through Florence, 
 Bologna, Venice, Padua, and Switzerland, arrived fafely in Paris. Fran- 
 cis I. granted him an interview at Fontainbleau, and offered to take him 
 into his fervice ; but he took a diflike to France from a fudden attack of 
 illnefs, and made his way back to Rome. He was there profecuted on a 
 falfe charge made by his fervant Perugio, of being poffefTed of a great 
 treafure of which he had robbed the caftle of St. Angelo, when Rome 
 was facked by the Spaniards. He was arretted, and confined in the caftle 
 
of St. Angelo, when the French King interpofed in his behalf, at which 
 the Pope took offence, and treated him with great feverity. He, how- 
 ever, efcaped, and was concealed and protected at Cardinal Carnaro's 
 palace ; but the Cardinal afterwards furrendered him. He tells a curious 
 ftory of his having efcaped being poifoned by the avarice of a needy jew- 
 eller employed for that purpofe, who fubftituted a harmlefs duft for a 
 diamond he had engaged to pound, and adminifter in his food. 
 
 Cardinal Ferrara having returned to Rome, perfuaded the Pope to fet 
 him at liberty, on which he finifhed a fine cup, and prefented it to the 
 former. He then entered the fervice of the French King, and proceeded 
 to Paris in the fuite of the Cardinal, but was difgufted at constantly find- 
 ing the bounty of the Monarch in a great meafure intercepted by the 
 grafping cupidity of the churchman. The King having loaded him with 
 commimons, the chief of which was an order to make large flames in 
 lilver of Jupiter, Vulcan, and Mars, paid him a vifit, accompanied by 
 Madame d'Eftampes and his whole court, and ordered him a considerable 
 fum of money, a grant of naturalization, and the lordfhip of the caftle of 
 Nefle, in which he lived. A fecond vifit of the fame kind followed, when 
 he was defired to prepare fome fuperb ornaments for the Fountain at Fon- 
 tainbleau ; but not being endowed with the tact of a courtier, he excited the 
 bitter and unrelenting enmity of the King's miftrefs, by neglecting to give 
 her a place in any of the defigns he made for his Majefty. The unlucky 
 artifl difcovered his error when too late, and endeavoured to conciliate 
 the haughty dame by a prefent of a fine filver vafe, but was refufed 
 admittance when he called for that purpofe. In fpite of her intrigues 
 againft him, Francis feems to have behaved with confiderable liberality ; 
 and on one occafion, when he found the Cardinal of Ferrara had inter- 
 cepted his bounty, he ordered his minifler to prefent him to the firft abbey 
 that became vacant. The lady at laft, however, prevailed ; and finding 
 the King's confidence withdrawn, he returned to Italy. Previous to this, 
 on a war breaking out, he had been employed to fortify Paris. 
 
 Cellini next took up his abode in Florence, where he was employed 
 by Cofmo de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tufcany, but feems to have been, 
 as ufual, on bad terms with the majority of his brother artifts. He com- 
 plains of being obftructed by confpiracies, and more particularly by the 
 enmity of the fculptor Bandinello, whom he refolved to kill ; but finding 
 him to be a coward, he magnanimoufly determined that he was unworthy 
 of being afTafiinated. With Titian, Sanfovino, and others, who from 
 following different walks of art could appreciate his genius without any 
 feeling of rivalry, he feems to have maintained good relations. 
 
 With the exception of a vifit to Rome, at the invitation of Michael 
 Angelo, concerning a bronze head of Bindo Altroili, and a pilgrimage to 
 Valhombrofa and Camaldoli, the reft of his profeflional life was fpent in 
 Florence, and in the fervice of the Grand Duke ; although he received 
 a tempting offer from Catherine de' Medici to return to France, for the 
 purpofe of erecting a magnificent maufoleum to the memory of her 
 hufband, Henry II. The Duke having fome doubt of his fkill in carting 
 bronzes, he proved his acquaintance with the art by cafting a beautiful 
 
coloffal ftatue of Perfeus and Medufa, and had his proferfional vanity fur- 
 ther gratified by the exhibition of this grand production in the public 
 fquare, where it was received with univerfal admiration. But, perhaps, his 
 greater!: gratification was derived from a fuccefsful conteft with Bandi- 
 nello refpecting a ftatue of Neptune, as it not only proved his fuperiority, 
 but caufed the death of his old rival from vexation. His triumphs were, 
 however, as ufual, alloyed with conftant bickerings and difagreements 
 with his patrons. The Grand Duchefs was incenfed againfr. him on 
 account of a pearl necklace me purchafed contrary to his advice, on the 
 recommendation of Bandinello ; and her anger and enmity were further 
 provoked by his refufal to place fome bronze figures in her apartments. 
 In fact, the latter years of his life, during which he does not appear to 
 have been engaged in any work of importance, were almoft wholly fpent 
 in litigation and embarraflment. 
 
 By a minute dated Dec. 12, 1554, his claim to be admitted into the 
 rank of the Florentine nobility was approved, and in 1 558 he received the 
 tonfure for holy orders ; but two years later, at the age of threefcore, he 
 concluded a wife would contribute more to his comfort, and married a 
 female who had attended him with great care during an illnefs, which 
 he attributed to poifon. By this connexion he had five children, two of 
 whom died in infancy. 
 
 On the 15th Feb. 1570, he departed this life, and was buried, at his 
 own requeft, with great pomp in the Chapter Houfe of the Nunziata, 
 attended by the whole Academy. All his finifhed and unfinifhed works 
 he left to Prince Francefco de' Medici. 
 
 To what extent confidence can be placed in thefe revelations it is im- 
 poffible at this diftance of time to determine. That Cellini's vanity 
 caufed him to give a falfe colouring to, if he did not altogether invent 
 many of the incidents, there can be little doubt ; but whether fact or 
 fiction, or, as is more probable, a mixture of both, this auto-biography is 
 a moft amufing one, though not at all calculated to create refpect for 
 any thing but his genius. He evidently prided himfelf almofl: as much 
 on his courage as on his talent ; but the fneaking manner in which he 
 gratified his revenge leaves the difagreeable impreflion that he was but a 
 very vulgar aflariin. 
 
 The particulars of the latter part of his career are fupplied by Vafari. 
 
 Cellini published at Florence, in 1568, a work entitled " DueTrattati 
 di Benvenuto Cellini, fcultore Fiorentino, uno dell' Oreficeria, L'altro 
 della Scultura," from which we have extracted the following very inte- 
 refting account of his method of preparing niello, the mode of applying 
 it is likewife defcribed by him, but at too great length to admit of infer- 
 tion here. 
 
 Take an ounce of the fineft filver, two ounces of copper thoroughly 
 purified, and three of lead fimilarly purified. Put the filver and the 
 copper into a crucible, and place it over a fire, which muft be blown 
 with fmall bellows [or in a fmall bellows furnace], and when the filver 
 and copper are well melted and mixed together, the lead is to be added. 
 
This being done, the crucible is to be foon withdrawn, and the whole to 
 be ftirred well together with a cinder held in the tongs, becaufe the lead 
 always naturally making a little fcum, it muft be removed as far as 
 poffible with the cinder until the three metals are thoroughly incorpo- 
 rated and quite pure. Then have ready an earthen veffel, as large as the 
 firft, with a narrow neck, fufficiently large to admit the finger. This 
 muft be half filled with well pounded fulphur, and the above mentioned 
 metals being well melted, are to be poured hot into this veffel, which 
 muft be immediately flopped up with a little frefh earth, keeping the 
 hand over it, and finally clofing it up with a large piece of old linen. 
 While the compofition cools, it muft be kept continually agitated by 
 the hand, and when cool it muft be taken out of the veffel and broken, 
 when it will be feen that by virtue of the fulphur the fufion (whih is 
 called niello) will have taken its black colour. The niello will have 
 many grains, although the object of making it was to mix it well toge- 
 ther. However, in the flate in which it is, it muft be put again into a 
 crucible, as in the firft inftance, and melted over a flow fire, putting on 
 it a fmall piece of live coal. This re-melting mull: be repeated two or 
 three times, and every time the niello muft be broken, and the grain 
 examined, until it is found to be very clofe, when the niello is perfect. 
 
STAINED CLASS. 
 From the Cathedral at Bourgea. 
 
 H. Staff 
 
STAINED GLASS. 
 
 FROM THE CATHEDRAL AT BOURGES. 
 
 HE fubject of our prefent plate is a dou- 
 ble Lancet Window in the Cathedral 
 at Bourges. It has been copied from 
 the large folio work by MefTrs. Arthur 
 Martin and Charles Cahier, under the 
 title of " Monographic de la Cathedral 
 de Bourges." In this publication, the 
 moft fplendid, the moft ample, and the 
 moft accurate of any that has yet ap- 
 peared on early painted glafs, will be 
 found all the varieties remaining in 
 that gorgeous Cathedral, together with 
 many examples, both in England and on the Continent, calculated to 
 mow in the moft comprehenfive manner, the peculiarities of defign to 
 be found in this brilliant feature of ecclefiaftical Architecture during the 
 thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. 
 
 The firft fubject in our Plate reprefents the Bleffed Virgin and the 
 Infant Saviour under a low canopy characteriftic of the Architecture of 
 the period. The figure of the Virgin is remarkable for the eafe and 
 grace of her attitude, combined with confiderable elegance and beauty 
 in the arrangement and diftribution of her draperies. 
 
 The figure of St. Stephen, who fupports with his right arm the model 
 of a church, and whofe head is furrounded by a nimbus of a more Am- 
 ple character than thofe given to the Virgin and Child, is attired as a 
 Deacon, having a robe termed a Dalmatic over the Alto, and a jewelled 
 maniple hanging from the right arm inftead of the left as is ufual and 
 correct. 
 
 The wood-cut on the next page is taken from the border of one of 
 the other windows in the fame Cathedral as our principal fubject. The 
 outer band next the mafonry is of white glafs, the next of blue, the 
 correfponding one on the oppofite being of yellow. The band round 
 which the foliage is entwined is green. The larger leaves and ftems, 
 (covered with a tint in our cut) are yellow on the outer fide, and green 
 on the inner one. All the reft of the foliage is white fhaded with brown, 
 
the ground furrounding the portions next the blue band being red, and 
 that next the yellow, blue. 
 
 The letter commencing this article is taken from the lame MS. as that 
 employed in our defcription of the Stained Glafs from the Cathedral at 
 Chartres. 
 
STAINED GLASS. 
 From the Cathedra] at. ChaxtrRs 
 
 H Sha.w 
 
STAINED GLASS. 
 
 FROM THE CATHEDRAL OF CHARTRES. 
 
 AVING given in the wood-cut on the next page 
 the general arrangement of the glafs in the win- 
 dow from which we have felected our fpeci- 
 men, it is neceflary to obferve that the ftrong 
 lines in the diagram reprefent the iron fram- 
 ing by which the glafs is fupported, and at- 
 tached to the mafonry, and the lighter ones 
 the leading lines of the lead work. The va- 
 rious geometrical forms enclofe fubjects of a 
 character fimilar to the one mown in the cen- 
 tre of our example, and are furrounded with diapering of the fame pat- 
 tern. 
 
 The Cathedral of Chartres, may perhaps, after that of Bourges, be 
 confidered the moft remarkable one now remaining in France, or elfe- 
 where, for the abundance, the variety, and the beauty of its ftained 
 glafs. Few ecclefiaftical ftructures have fuffered fo frequently from the 
 destructive element of fire, and it is furprifing that thefe magnificent 
 decorations efcaped with fo little damage from fo many cafualties. 
 
 From a work published by M. Lejeune, the librarian of the city, under 
 the title " Des finiftres de la Cathedrale de Chartres," we find the firft 
 edifice erected on the lite of the prefent one was totally deftroyed in the 
 year 770, the fecond in 858 by Norman invaders, the third in 962 or 
 963 by Richard, Duke of Normandy, and the fourth in 1020, from hav- 
 ing been {truck, as it is fuppofed, by lightning. 
 
 The foundation of the prefent Church was laid in 1028, by Bifhop 
 Fulbert, but it required the greater portion of three centuries to complete 
 the defign. After a period of nearly five centuries had paffed lince the 
 difafter of 1020, in the July of 1506, the Tower of the Cathedral was 
 ftruck by lightning, and the fire committed great ravages, but the moft 
 interefting and important parts of the building were happily faved. In 
 1539 the Tower was again fired by lightning. Another fire was caufed 
 in 1674 by the imprudence of one of the watchmen. The laft, and the 
 moft deplorable of the modern difafters of the Cathedral was the great 
 fire which was caufed by accident on the 4th of June, 1 836, when fome 
 
workmen were employed in the Tower. This calamity deftroyed many 
 important portions of the Cathedral, but it fpared many of the more 
 ancient and ornamental parts. 
 
 With the exception of fome reparation made in the beginning of the 
 fixteenth century, the whole of the windows are filled with the rich 
 mofaic glafs of the thirteenth, mowing an almoft endlefs variety of his- 
 torical reprefentations from the Old and New Teftament, of beautiful 
 diaperings, and elegant fcroll work. 
 
 The fubject reprefented in the centre of our Specimen, is a King 
 prefenting relics to the Church. 
 
 Our fecond wood cut reprefents the diapering employed in this win- 
 dow on a larger fcale. 
 
 The Initial at the head of this article is taken from a magnificent copy 
 in Latin of the works of Jofephus, written during the latter part of the 
 1 2th, or beginning of the 13th Century. 
 
DATE THE 
 
 13*. H CENTURY. 
 
 STATIC 1KB -&1LASS. 
 
 FROM THE CATUEDRAC AT HUI.VKGR&. 
 
STAINED GLASS. 
 
 FROM THE CATHEDRAL AT BOURGES. 
 
 HE four fpecimens of ftained glafs 
 compofing our plate are taken 
 from the Cathedral at Bourges, 
 and form the borders and diapering 
 furrounding a feries of geometrical 
 figures, within which are repre- 
 fented fubjects taken from the New 
 Teftament. 
 
 Thefe fpecimens are all in what 
 is called the Mofaic ftyle of paint- 
 ing, that is, where each colour of 
 the defign is reprefented by a fepa- 
 rate piece of glafs, and united together by means of leading. This 
 fyftem was indifpenfable till the difcovery of enamel, or furface painting 
 in the fixteenth century. The glafs previoufly employed was either 
 flamed through its whole fubftance, and called Pot Metal Ghfs, from 
 the colouring matter being fufed with the white glafs in the melting- 
 pot at the glafs houfe, or covered, or coated glafs ; that is, white glafs 
 covered with a coat of pot-metal colour. 
 
 The early glafs Painters ufed but two pigments, a yellow ftain and 
 brown enamel. With the latter the whole of the outlines and fhadows 
 were executed. The yellow ftain was employed not only as a fimple 
 colour, but occafionally to give variety to the others. For inftance, to 
 change a blue colour into green, or after removing the coloured coating 
 from the glafs, by attrition, or the ufe of fluoric acid, ftaining the 
 white parts yellow. Various fhades of yellow may be obtained on the 
 fame piece of glafs by repeating the tints. 
 
 The two wood cuts accompanying the text, are from windows in the 
 Cathedral at Chartres, the colours being yellow, red and blue, as repre- 
 fented in the various tints. 
 
 Our Initial is from a fplendidly illuminated Manufcript Bible of the 
 twelfth century, preferved in the Britifh Mufeum, MS. Harl. No. 2800. 
 
It forms the firft of three enormous folio volumes, containing a Paflionale, 
 or collection of lives of Saints, written about the year 1 190. 
 
 The larger initial letters are remarkable for their fize and intricacy of 
 pattern, and the fmaller ones (from which our fpecimen has been taken) 
 furniih good examples of the ornamental ftyle fo peculiar to the twelfth 
 century. 
 
Date, the 13th Century. 
 
 STAINED GLASS, 
 From the Cathedral at Soiflbns. 
 
STAINED GLASS. 
 
 FROM THE CATHEDRAL OF SOISSONS. 
 
 MONG the various characteriftics of defign applied 
 to ftained glafs during the thirteenth century, that in 
 which the human figure was altogether excluded, and 
 a rich and fparkling brilliancy was produced by cover- 
 ing the entire windows with florid mofaic patterns 
 within a frame work compofed of every conceivable combina- 
 tion of geometrical forms is not the leaft interefting, or the leaft 
 ufeful in fupplying hints for compofitions applicable to other 
 purpofes, and on which other materials may be employed. 
 
 The example forming the fubjecl: of our plate is a graceful 
 fpecimen of that ftyle of treatment. It is from the Cathedral 
 of SoifTons in France, and has been admirably rendered by 
 Meffrs. Martin and Cahier in their grand work on the ftained 
 glafs of the thirteenth century. 
 
 The wood-cut on the following page is taken from a win- 
 dow of a fimilar character in the church of St. Remi at Rheims. 
 The colours are as follows. The band on each fide the border 
 is red, the fecond on the inner fide being white. That run- 
 ning up the border, with the rofes combining them, are white. 
 The branches pafiing behind thefe are yellow with a green 
 leaf between them, and refKng upon a white one. The four 
 following leaves are purple, and that from which they fpring, 
 green. 
 
 The fpaces between the various circles in the body of the 
 window are all yellow. The fmaller ones are white, with the 
 exception of the rofe in the centre and the band round it, which 
 are red. The colours of the larger circles are varied alternately. 
 In the one, the outer band and rofe in the middle are blue, 
 the fquare pattern green, and the fpaces between the fquare 
 and circle red, the reft being white. In the other the outer 
 circle is green, the fquare portions blue, and the intervening fpaces red. 
 The large flower in the centre and the band covered with quatrefoils are 
 white. All the rofes interfering the circles are purple. 
 
Our initial letter is taken from a very interefting MS. in the Britim 
 Mufeum, (Royal MS. 6 E. IX.) which was written for Robert, King of 
 Naples (third fon of Charles II. of Naples, by Maria, daughter of Henry 
 V. King of Hungary) who fucceeded in the year 1309 to the throne, in 
 preference to his nephew, Charobert, fon of his elder brother, Charles 
 Martel. It confifts of a feries of latin poems of a theological and poli- 
 tical character, written in different forts of latin verfe, and is profufely 
 illuftrated with miniatures, reprefenting various allegorical figures, which 
 are of fo large a fize as fometimes to occupy the entire page. At folio 
 1 1 is a portrait of the king himfelf feated on his throne and regally at- 
 tired. 
 
PAINTED GLASS. 
 
 FORMERLY IN THE CHURCH OF S. PETER, 
 HEREFORD. 
 
 FINE example of 14th century ghfs is 
 here prefented, taken from a window 
 now in the fouth lide of the Ladye Cha- 
 pel, of the Cathedral Church of S.S. 
 Marie and Ethelbert, Hereford. 
 It was originally, with a large quantity of other frag- 
 ments, in a window at the eaft end of the north aifle of 
 S. Peter's Church in that city, and was purchafed in the 
 autumn of 1849, by Robert Biddulph Phillipps, Efq. 
 of Longworth, Ledbury, for a fmall fum, which was 
 employed by the Churchwardens in repairing the plain 
 glazing of the other windows of the Church. The 
 whole of this ancient glafs has been molt carefully reftored at his expenfe, 
 releaded, and the requifite additions made to it by Mr. Nockalls and J. 
 Cottingham the architect to the Cathedral, and has now found a worthy 
 retting place in the beautiful Ladye Chapel. The window as completed, 
 commencing from the fill contains the following fubjects ; 1. Our Lord 
 bearing the crofs ; 2. The Crucifixion ; 3. The Angel of the Lord ap- 
 pearing to the three Maries at the Sepulchre, and terminating at the head 
 with the Majefty &c. here delineated. Of thefe fubjects, Nos. 1 and 3 
 are wholly new, though fo fubdued by artificial means as to anticipate 
 the tone of age, thus rendering the whole in perfect harmony and keep- 
 ing with the ancient portions. 
 
 The defign here given is very novel and beautiful : efpecially the adapt- 
 ation of the four vefica fhaped panels for the evangeliftic fymbols, an ex- 
 ample probably unique. The arrangement of the lower portions of the 
 window confifts of a feries of three quatrefoil panels, each containing a 
 fubject, the figures only being in colour ; the ground is a grifaille painted 
 on white glafs of a light fea-green tint. The adjoining window, alfo a 
 reftoration of further portions from the fame church, is filled with an 
 exceedingly elegant geometric pattern window of grifaille with a flight 
 introduction of colour. 
 
STAINED GLASS. 
 
 IN THE POSSESSION OF RALPH BERNAL, ESO^ M. P. 
 
 IKE moll of the glafs executed dur- 
 ing the earlier part of the fixteenth 
 century, our example difplays a 
 truly gorgeous arrangement of bril- 
 liant colours, combined with ftrong 
 contrafls of light and made, and 
 the moft delicate and exquifite 
 finim. 
 
 This kind of glafs has always 
 been diftinguimed as " S wifs Glafs," 
 and was generally executed at Frie- 
 burg, and appears to have been con- 
 fined to the fixteenth century. There 
 is a rather large collection of it at 
 the royal Schlofs at Nuremberg. 
 The fplendour of the fpecimens is 
 produced by ufing " flamed glafs" 
 for all the colours ; the coloured 
 fide being ground out where white 
 or flamed yellow is required. The 
 yellow thus produced is ufually of a rich deep golden hue, and its in- 
 tenfity was increafed, when required, by the procefs of double ftaining, 
 that is, applying the ftain twice over. In fome examples a variety of 
 tint is produced by fixing pieces of another colour, by means of a flux, 
 to the back of the larger pieces, a procefs confined to works of this 
 clafs. Many new tints were alfo introduced during this period, efpeci- 
 ally pink and purple, as well as a deep blue of a purple tint, which laft 
 was much ufed in the draperies of later works. The high finim of the 
 pencilling is always marvellous. 
 
 This (termed the Cinque Cento ftyle) continued till the end of the 
 fixteenth century, but it attained its greatefr. perfection between the years 
 1525 and 1535, a period which has been termed " the golden age of glafs 
 painting." Cinque cento paintings executed after that period began gra- 
 dually to lofe their tranfparency and brilliancy, and to become black and 
 
opaque in their colours, from an apparent attempt on the part of the 
 artifts to imitate the deep fhadows of oil paintings. In richnefs of defign, 
 colour, and compofition, the lateft cinque cento fpecimens are quite equal 
 to the earlier ones. 
 
 The varied and harmonious colouring of cinque cento glafs paintings 
 was frequently increafed by taking advantage of the accidental variations 
 of colour found occafionally in the fame meet of glafs, fo as to make the 
 lighter parts of the glafs coincide, as far as pomble, with the lights of 
 the picture, and its dark parts with its fhadows. 
 
 The principal diftinction and great caufe of fuperiority of cinque cento 
 glafs over that in the earlier ftyles, is in the extraordinary diftinctnefs 
 and relief of the picture. This is the refult partly of well defined out- 
 lines, and contrafts of colour, but chiefly by powerful and fkilful con- 
 trails of light and made. Our example may be taken as an instance of 
 an artifice very commonly employed. The picture is reprefented as feen 
 beneath an archway ; the architectural frame-work being painted in rich 
 but comparatively quiet tints, while the figures and heraldry, compofed 
 of white, golden, and the brighter! ruby glafs, are thrult prominently 
 forward by means of a deep blue diapered back-ground. The figures 
 over the arch are made to affift. -the general effect by being painted on 
 glafs of a light blue tint relieved by yellow ftains on a portion of the 
 acceffories. 
 
 The painted glafs of this period affords fatisfactory evidence of its 
 being fufceptible, in connexion with its furrounding architectural em- 
 bellishments, of the moft admirable pictorial effects, without violating 
 any of the principles peculiar to the nature of the material ; and that the 
 greater! Matters may delight the world, and immortalize themfelves, by 
 producing defigns fuited to this fafcinating medium, which in modern 
 times has been treated too much as an article of mere manufacture. 
 
 We have not been able to difcover any particulars refpecting the ori- 
 ginal owner of this glafs, who, from the infcription on the Panel forming 
 the bafe, was evidently an envoy from France to the Swifs Cantons. 
 The infcription on the label forming the arch, confifts of German words 
 with the exception of the word regum. It is im andren bvch regvm. 
 — am xviii. capitel. 1 5 3 3 . This, by fupplying the letter S (no doubt 
 covered by the fhield) would read, " In the fecond book of Kings. — 
 Samuel 1 8 th chapter." In the 1 8 th chapter of the fecond book of Samuel 
 is contained the narrative of the death of Abfalom through Joab's agency. 
 Why the fecond book of Kings is alluded to is not fo clear, 
 
VENETIAN GOBLETS. 
 
 FROM THE COLLECTION OF FELIX SLADE, ESO^ 
 
 N all probability, Venice derived her firft knowledge of 
 the manufacture of ornamental glafs from her participa- 
 tion in the taking of Con flan tinople by the Italians, 
 a.d. 1 204 ; and which may have received a frefh impulfe 
 from the immigration of Greek Artifts into Italy in 1453, 
 on the downfall of the empire of the eaft. 
 
 The Venetians now began to revive the ancient proceffes which had 
 been neglected fince the Roman times, and to add fome new difcoveries 
 of their own.* Among the former were the filigree, confirming of fpirally- 
 twifted white and coloured glafs (as fhewn in our third example). Mille- 
 fiore glafs, which confifts of a variety of ends of fancy-coloured glafs, 
 cut fectionally at right angles with the filigree cone, to form fmall 
 lozenges, or tablets ; and thefe when placed fide by fide, and mailed to- 
 gether by the tranfparent glafs, have the appearance of an innumerable 
 feries of flowers or rofettes. 
 
 Mofaic glafs, as manufactured by the Romans and Venetians, was 
 produced by threads or fmall canes of varioufly coloured opaque or tranf- 
 parent glafs, of uniform lengths, ranged fectionally together in large 
 mafTes, or in fmall quantities, fo that the ends fhall form grounds, on 
 which are patterns of flowers, arabefques, or any mofaic defigns ; and 
 thefe being cut tranfverfely, obtufely, or at right angles, form flabs of 
 any required number or thicknefs, the fame pattern being repeated at 
 every cutting. Schmelze glafs is produced by fufed lumps of coloured 
 glafs, rolled one colour into another, fo as to imitate cornelian, jafpers, 
 and other ftones. Among their inventions were vitro di trino, a lace- 
 work with interfering lines of white enamel or tranfparent glafs, form- 
 ing a feries of diamond-fhaped fections ; the centre of each having an air- 
 bubble of uniform fize, executed almoft with the precifion of engine-lathe 
 turning. Frofted glafs, an art confidered to have been loft in modern 
 times, till recently revived at the Falcon Glafs Works ; and the infertion 
 
 * For thefe particulars we are indebted to the very interefting work by Mr. Apfley Pellatt, 
 entitled, " Curiofities of Glafs Making." 
 
into cryftal of exquiiitely minute particles of gold, ftrewed together in 
 regular patterns. 
 
 In felecting thefe fpecimens from the very choice and valuable collec- 
 tion of Mr. Slade, our chief object has been to choofe thofe remarkable 
 for beauty of form, rather than as exhibiting the curiofities of ancient 
 Venetian glafs-making. The fcrolls attached to the firft, and the creft- 
 ing to the third, are of blue glafs, all the reft is of the ufual greenifh tone, 
 with the exception of the threads in the filigree bands which are white. 
 
FROM AN ILLUMINATED DRAWING, BY JULIO CLOVIO. 
 
FROM AN ILLUMINATED DRAWING 
 
 OF THE CRUCIFIXION. 
 
 BY GIULIO CLOVIO. 
 
 UR plate is taken from a beautiful fpecimen of 
 the Illuminator's art, now the property of Mr. 
 J. B. White of Brownlow St. Holborn, who 
 purchafed it from Mr. Thomas Wilfon of 
 Grays' Inn, the eminent folicitor, fo well known 
 as a collector of works of art, and as the author 
 of feveral anonymous publications of great value 
 to connoifeurs; particularly one under the title of 
 "A Defcriptive Catalogue of the Prints of Rem- 
 brandt, by an Amateur." Mr. Wilfon bought it at a fale in 1 825, by the 
 late Mr. Chriftie, of " a highly valuable and extremely curious collection 
 of illuminated miniature paintings, of the greater! beauty and exquifite 
 finiihing, taken from the choral books of the papal Chapel in the Vati- 
 can, during the French Revolution ; and fubfequently collected and 
 brought to this country by the Abbate Celotti." 
 
 How far the fingers of the learned Abbate were morally tainted by the 
 firft mifappropriation of thefe beautiful drawings, we have no means of 
 determining ; but as he held an office in the Vatican prior to the Revo- 
 lution, he has laboured under the fufpicion of taking advantage of the 
 confufion arifing from that event, to cull from that celebrated library 
 fome of its choicer! gems, which would fcarcely have been felected with 
 fo much judgment by uncivilized foldiers, even if they had not entirely 
 efcaped their notice. 
 
 Mr. Chriftie's Catalogue (with fome very interefting prefatory re- 
 marks) was prepared by the late Wm. Young Ottley, Efq., the keeper 
 of the prints in the Britifh Mufeum, whofe extenfive acquaintance with 
 early art, particularly of the Italian fchool, gives the higher! value to 
 his opinions. 
 
 Mr. Ottley ftates that this drawing, with three others fold at the fame 
 time, were made for Gregory XIII. (who was made Pope in 1572, and 
 died in 1593) by the celebrated Giulio Clovio, and, he had no doubt, 
 they had appertained to the book mentioned by Baglione in 1642, in his 
 life of that eminent artift, as being then preferved in the Sacrifty of the 
 Pontifical Chapel. 
 
The intelligence with which the figures are drawn, and the general 
 character of the execution fufficiently identifying the matter. 
 
 Vafari makes no mention of this celebrated miniature painter in his 
 firft Edition of " the Lives of the Painters" printed in 1550; but, in his 
 augmented work, publimed in 1568, he has given his life; at the end 
 of which he tells us, that " although Don Giulio was then very old (he 
 was born in 1498 and died in 1578) and was chiefly occupied in prepar- 
 ing himfelf for another world ; Hill he continued to practife his art, and 
 had always fome work in hand," &c. Thefe drawings muft therefore 
 have been made at leaft five years after Vafari's account terminates. 
 
 The only purpofe we propofe in our engraving is to exhibit the defign 
 and general character of this elegant example of a Matter, whofe works 
 are fo rarely met with. To attempt to give a fatisfactory imitation of the 
 colouring of Giulio Clovio, unlefs in a publication of much higher price 
 than the prefent, would be vain, and the tints of the figures are too 
 varied to admit even of a fatisfactory defcription of them. We may, 
 however, convey fome idea of the richnefs of the frame-work by which 
 they are furrounded, which is as remarkable for its graceful combination 
 of architectural forms and details, as for the elaborate delicacy of its 
 finifh. 
 
 The evangelitts (who are accompanied by their fymbols) are clothed 
 in draperies in which the richeft colours are fkilfully varied, and relieved 
 by gold back-grounds. The upper and lower ones being furrounded 
 by fcrolls in which carmine is the prevailing colour, feparated from the 
 gold by bands of green. While thofe on the fides are of a bright green 
 with bands of red, the returns of the fcrolls being of pink and blue. 
 The mafks at the angles are enclofed in a green drapery with a purple 
 lining, and have an outer head-drefs of orange colour. The bands of 
 the fret-work in the panels running between the mafks and the frames 
 furrounding the apoftles are of ultramarine, the leaves between them of 
 orange colour, and the little balls in the centre of gold. The outer 
 frame-work to the whole is of a rich brown, heightened with gold. 
 The fiat fpaces being relieved by pearls fattened by gold ttuds. The 
 drawing is thirteen inches and a half high, by ten inches wide. 
 
A FRAGMENT OF AN ILLUMINATED BORDER 
 
 IN THE POSSESSION OF WILLIAM PHILIP SALTER, ESQ^ 
 
 MONG the miferies and lories inflicted on 
 countries unfortunate enough to become thea- 
 tres of war, the extenfive deftruction of works 
 of art, and other monuments calculated to mow 
 the progrefs of, or to promote civilization, can- 
 not be confidered among the leaft important, 
 or the leaft enduring in their confequences. 
 The fplendid collection of fragments of Illumi- 
 nated drawings formed in Italy by the late William Young Ottley, Efq. 
 (the keeper of the prints in the Britifh Mufeum), after the evacuation 
 of that country by the French troops, is a finking inftance of the wan- 
 tonnefs with which ignorant foldiery will deftroy the moft precious relics 
 for the moft paltry confiderations. In that moft interefting feries, fingle 
 letters on a large fcale containing within their different forms pictorial 
 reprefentations in the fineft ftyle of art, portions of borders, and other 
 decorative features had been cut out of books too bulky to be portable, 
 and then fold for fums totally inadequate to their value. 
 
 A magnificent volume muft evidently have fuffered from being deprived 
 of the fragment from which our plate is taken. It is in the higheft ftyle 
 of Italian art during its beft time, both in point of defign, and alfo of 
 execution. The foliage is formed of gold, (haded with brown, with the 
 moft miraculous delicacy and elaboration. The circles reprefent pearls ; 
 and the ground is picked in with ultramarine and carmine, according to 
 the tints in the engraving — the darker ones reprefenting the blue, and 
 the lighter the red. The cattle, landfcape, &c. are in their natural 
 colours. 
 
 This drawing with fome others, was purchafed by Mr. Salter while 
 purfuing his ftudies in Italy as a painter, from a dealer, for a few (hillings. 
 
 The initial letter at the head of this article is taken from the fame 
 book as the one with which we commenced our defcription of the Cup 
 defigned by Holbein for Jane Seymour. 
 
 This fuperb volume formerly belonged to the Prince de Soubife. It 
 afterwards pafTed fucceffively through the hands of the Count de Macar- 
 thy, Mr. Hibbert, and Mr. Hanrott, from the laft of whom it was 
 
purchafed, by The Right Hon. Thomas Grenville, who bequeathed it 
 to the Britifh Mufeum. It is in the original velvet binding, with filver 
 nielli, and knobs on the cover. The nielli reprefent a fine portrait of 
 Ludovico il Moro, and the badges of the family of Sforza. The vo- 
 lume is beautifully printed on vellum of the finefl quality, and is orna- 
 mented with thirty-four illuminated initials of the molt exquifite finifh.* 
 The firft leaf of the text has a magnificently illuminated border round it, 
 exhibiting a fplendid fpecimen of the talents of Jerome Veronefe (Giro- 
 lamo da i Libri). It contains beautiful miniature portraits of Francifco 
 Sforza, Cardinal Sforza, and Ludovico Maria Sforza, furnamed II Moro. 
 The remaining ornaments confiff. of the arms and devices of the Sforza 
 family, and in groups of children in the beft ffyle of the Venetian School. 
 One group being occupied at the game of " Buck, Buck, how many 
 fingers do I hold up," and the other in a fport fo graphically defcribed 
 in the old Comedy of " Gammer Gurton's Needle." 
 
 * In the " Illuminated Ornaments of the Middle Ages," by the author of the prefent work, 
 will be found carefully coloured copies of three of thefe beautiful letters and a portion of the 
 border, including the portrait of Cardinal Sforza. 
 
l£roni a picture be. OCarlo CCtfutUi. 
 
EMBROIDERY. 
 
 FROM A PICTURE BY CARLO CREVELLI IN THE POSSESSION OF 
 
 LORD WARD. 
 
 UR prefent fubject is taken from a very interefting 
 picture by Crevelli now in the pofieffion of Lord Ward. 
 It was obtained out of the Brera Gallery by Signor 
 Fidanza, and pafied from him into the collection of 
 the Marquifs de Gugelmi, at Rome, from whence it 
 was purchafed by Mr. Coningham, and fold by him 
 laft year at Mefirs. Chriftie and Manfon's. The following defcription 
 of it is taken from their catalogue of the fale " The infant Chrift on the 
 lap of the Virgin, who is habited in a rich drefs, prefenting the keys to 
 St. Peter, who kneels at his fide, and furrounded by St. Ambrofe, St. 
 Francis, and other Saints ; behind the Virgin is a drapery fufpended 
 with a feftoon of fruits above, and rich Architecture on each fide, with 
 an Angel feated on each wing of a pediment. The papal Tiara lies at 
 
 the feet of the infant ; beneath is infcribed, ' Opus Carlo Crevelli Vi- 
 
 . • > >> 
 neti. 
 
 This extraordinary example of early Italian painting, forms quite a 
 treafury of ornamental art. The architecture, the drefs of the Virgin, 
 the tiara, the veftments of the Bifhops, the croziers, — in fact, every por- 
 tion is covered with the mofl delicate detail, drawn with the greateft 
 care, and wrought up to the higheft point of finifhed elaboration. The 
 various heads are characterifed by the mod intenfe devotional feeling, 
 and great individuality of character. Thefe are fo ftrongly marked that 
 it feems evident the picture was intended to be viewed at a confiderable 
 diftance. Our plate is taken from the cope of one of the Saints, who 
 is attired as a Bifhop ; Gold and filver are in all cafes employed in this 
 picture where the articles reprefented are compofed of thofe metals. This 
 gives it a rich and gorgeous, though more of a decorative character, than 
 is confident with the higheft ftyle of art. 
 
The accompanying wood-cut is taken from a wonderfully elaborate 
 and highly finimed picture in the porTeffion of Lord Ward, attributed to 
 Van Eyk, but more probably the work of his pupil Hugues Vander 
 Goes. It reprefents the Elevation of the Hoft, and the pattern here en- 
 graved is diapered in gold on a crimfon ground, and forms the ante-pen- 
 dium, or frontal of the Altar. 
 
EMBROIDERY. 
 
 FROM A PALL BELONGING TO THE IRONMONGERS' COMPANY. 
 
 IVIC fplendour during the middle ages was not con- 
 fined to the pomps and vanities, the luxuries and 
 follies of this life, but followed the wealthy citizen, 
 even to " that bourn from which no traveller returns." 
 
 None of the duties incumbent on the brethren of 
 the Guilds were more regularly obferved than thofe 
 which refpected the funerals of deceafed members ; 
 fuch obfervances leem to have been at the foundation of thefe focieties, 
 and as they originated in the rites of the Roman Church, they partook 
 largely of its ceremonial character. State Palls, or as they were then 
 called Herfe-cloths, were kept by all the principal fraternities for the 
 purpofe of doing honour to their departed Brethren. Several of thefe 
 have been preferved, and though fomewhat faded, are objects of confi- 
 derable beauty and elegance. 
 
 It was a cuftom previous to the reformation, and for fome confi- 
 derable time after that event, for the members of the City Companies 
 to attend the Funerals of their deceafed brethren. The corpfe of the 
 defunct member was conveyed to the hall, from whence the brother- 
 hood proceeded in folemn proceffion to the place of interment. Each 
 of the City Companies had its mortuary Prieft, who was habited in a 
 veftment of cloth of gold, and the ftate Pall formed (at leaff. during the 
 dominance of the Roman Church) a neceffary adjunct to this gorgeous 
 ceremonial. 
 
 We find from the records of the City Companies that they generally 
 poffeffed two or more " Herfe Cloths" or funeral Palls of different 
 fabrics which were ufed according to the degree of opulence and re- 
 fpectability of the deceafed member. 
 
 The ufe of the public Halls was alfo granted to Grangers for funeral 
 purpofes at a prefcribed rate. In the court book of the Ironmongers' 
 Company for 1672 is the following entry, " notice being taken that fince 
 the rebuilding of feuerall Halls in London there hath not been many 
 funeralls out of this, by reafon of the 30*/. extraordinary charge layed 
 thereon iince the fire ; It is therefore ordered that from this tyme each 
 funerall mail only pay 50^. among the officers for their attendance and 
 the Matter and Wardens to be invited to each funerall." 
 
A further order refpecting funerals appears in the minutes of April 
 1678, which directs "that in future 40^. fhalbe taken for all funeralls 
 of Strangers out of the Hall and of all Freemen half that fome, that are 
 members of this company, which is to be distributed amongft the Comp 5 
 officers as followeth, unto the Clerk \od., the upper Beadle and his Wife 
 \od. y to the Carnon §d. y and if he be defired to attend iod., which is 
 5 over and above the 40^. To the Butler, Porter and under Beadle $d. 
 each of them. The Mafter Wardens & Clerk to have the fame fervice 
 as the reft of the guefts have, and their fucceiTors after them." 
 
 In the inventory of the goods of the Ironmongers' Company in 1556, 
 is defcribed : 
 
 " A ftiuet of veftemetts of Clothe of Gold." 
 
 " A herfe cloth of Clothe of gold in a box" 
 
 " Another of black worfted w ,h a wyght cros ofbrygges fatten" 
 
 " A fupar altar of Stone." 
 
 And in the Ironmongers' book it is ftated under the date of 1 5 3 1 , that 
 " Mr. John Guyva gave a herfe-cloth richly embroydered." The in- 
 icription ftill remaining on the Pall itfelf, which is much defaced, appears 
 to read as follows : t ... of John Gyua. late. Iremongr. of. London 
 and Eliabeth. hys. wyffe. wythe whos. good, thys Cloth, was made if), if), 
 
 (■5'5)- 
 
 Our engraving is copied from the top of the Pall, which is made of 
 rich crimfon embolTed velvet embroidered with gold. The head, foot, 
 and fides are now formed of black velvet, on which a portion of the old 
 embroideries have been fewn, the reft having moft probably been deftroy- 
 ed on account of their worn and dilapidated condition. 
 
 For the above particulars we are indebted to the kindnefs of John 
 Nicholls, Efq. a member of the court of the Ironmongers' Company. 
 
FROM A PULPIT HANGING 
 
 BELONGING TO ST. MARY'S CHURCH, OXFORD. 
 
 HE fubject of our Plate is taken from a por- 
 tion of a very rich and elegant Pulpit Hang- 
 ing belonging to St. Mary's Church, Oxford. 
 It is formed of raifed velvet, on a ground of 
 cloth of gold. The various details are made more 
 diftincT: by being furrounded by a narrow braid- 
 ing. We have been unable to get any precife 
 information reflecting its date, but it is moft pro- 
 bably about the end of the fixteenth century. 
 The wood-cut below reprefents a very fine fpecimen of embroiderv 
 
of the fixteenth century, at Hardwicke Hall, Derbyfhire, one of the 
 feats of the Duke of Devonfliire. The ground is formed of yellow filk, 
 the outline crimfon, and the branches, flowers, and fruits of gold thread ; 
 a variety being given by fome portions of the ornament being worked in 
 a more open manner, and arranged in the form of fcales. 
 
DATE 156<L 
 
EMBROIDERY. 
 
 FROM A PICTURE OF QUEEN MARY BELONGING TO THE SOCIETY OF 
 
 ANTIQUARIES OF LONDON. 
 
 OW many exquifite deligns appli- 
 cable to other purpofes may be 
 gleaned from early portraits, mult 
 be evident to all who have paid at- 
 tention to the fubject, and have 
 noticed the architectural fymme- 
 try and ftyle given to all the ar- 
 ticles of drefs, and the careful 
 elaboration beftowed on all the 
 details of their pictures, by the 
 painters of former times. 
 
 We think our prefent example 
 may be taken as an illuftration of 
 that particular fact. The general 
 frame-work of the defign might 
 be applied to a plaifter ceiling, to wood-panelling, to a carpet, an inlaid 
 floor, and to many other purpofes, with as much, if not more, propri- 
 ety, than to a lady's petticoat. 
 
 It is taken from a very fine portrait three-quarter length, of Queen 
 Mary, now in the pofTeflion of the Society of Antiquaries of London, and 
 faid to have been formerly in Kenfington Palace. At the lower corner 
 on the right of the figure is the Monogram of Lucas de Heere, with the 
 date 1554. Its dimensions are 3 ft. 6 in., by 2 ft. 7A in. 
 
 In " Bryan's Biographical and critical Dictionary of Painters and En- 
 gravers," it is ftated that Lucas de Heere was born at Ghent, in 1534. 
 He vifited England in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, but it is not known 
 in what year. Several of his portraits of the Queen and nobility are 
 mentioned in " The anecdotes of painting by Horace Walpole." In a note 
 to the new edition of that work recently published by Bohn, the learned 
 editor, Mr. Stanley, ftates that "Lucas de Heere muft have vifited England 
 before the reign of Elizabeth, as there is a beautifully executed portrait 
 of her filter Mary by him. It is in the pofleffion of the Rev. Heneage 
 
Finch." The picture from which our engraving is taken offers a con- 
 firmation, if any were needed, of that fad:. He muft have been in Eng- 
 land at a very early period of his career, as he was only 20 years of age 
 when it was painted. 
 
 In this Portrait, Mary is more richly attired than in any other repre- 
 fentation of her we recoiled: to have met with ; but as it was taken dur- 
 ing the year of her marriage, that circumftance may account for a difplay 
 of jewellery, embroidery, velvets, and furs, more calculated to remind us 
 of the gorgeoufly fantaftic reprefentations of her lifter Elizabeth, than the 
 ufually fober ftyle of that gloomy looking Queen. 
 
 On her head fhe wears a French hood of black and white velvet, fur- 
 mounted by a band compofed of a double row of pearls divided at inter- 
 vals by rich chafings inlaid with black enamel and reaching down to the 
 ears. Her necklace is of a fimilar pattern, having attached to it a large 
 fquare jewel, in the produdion of which the Goldfmith feems to have 
 exercifed his greater!: fkill on his moft coftly materials. It exhibits a 
 graceful combination of figures and fcrolls formed of precious ftones, and 
 the various coloured enamels, terminating in a large pendant pearl. The 
 Gown is made of cloth of gold richly embroidered, having the long waift, 
 tight fleeves down to the elbows, and large fluffed appendages from 
 thence to the wrifts, common to that period. This laft feature is highly 
 elaborate, being one mafs of enrichment of the moft coftly kind. It is 
 diapred with a very elegant defign, formed of filk braiding, pearls, and 
 other jewels, and puffings of white velvet embroidered with gold. To 
 give effed and variety to this glittering mafs, over-fleeves of fur are fuf- 
 pended from above the elbows, and reach nearly to the bottom of the 
 pidure ; thus giving the advantage of a dark back-ground to thefe fpark- 
 ling materials, befides relieving the eye by the fimplicity of its texture. 
 The Gown dividing at the waift (round which is a jewelled girdle, fup- 
 porting, by a filken cord, a large circular ornament with a crofs in its cen- 
 tre), difplays the Petticoat from which our plate is taken. The materials 
 are yellow braidings on a rich brown ground, apparently of Silk. All 
 the circles reprefent pearls. 
 
 Our Letter is taken from a drawing in the poffefTion of Mr. Pickering, 
 probably by Le Petit Bernard, who defigned articles of Jewellery and 
 ornament for Diana of Poidiers, and a well known fet of Scripture Cuts, 
 printed at Lyons 1577. 
 
GIPCIERES, OR PURSES. 
 
 URING the middle ages, Purfes (or as they 
 were ufually termed Gipcieres) of various kinds, 
 and made of various materials, according to the 
 rank or occupation of the wearers, were in gen- 
 eral ufe. The ordinary kinds were of leather, 
 and the more coftly of filk, embroidery, and 
 other rich materials. They were ufually fuf- 
 pended from a narrow girdle round the waift, and are frequently found 
 in Monumental Effigies of male figures with the Anelace, or fhort fword 
 paffed through them — a rather fignificant hint to the would-be " Cut- 
 purfes" of thofe times. 
 
 Chaucer in defcribing the Franklein, fays : 
 
 " An Anelace and a Gipciere all of Silk 
 Heng at his Girdel." 
 
 And in Nichols's ProgrefTes we have " a Book of Accounts and a Purfe 
 fuch as Factors do carry with them when they go to receive money." 
 
 Our fpecimens would all appear to have been made for ladies, and in- 
 tended to anfwer the purpofe of modern Reticules, rather than as mere 
 receptacles for money. Our firft and third examples are from the col- 
 lection of Mons. Martinego at Wurtfburg, Bavaria, and have been copied 
 from a periodical work publifhed in Paris by MefTrs. Firmin Didot, 
 freres, entitled " Monumens Anciens et Modernes, Vues Generales et 
 Particulieres, Plans, Coupes, Details &c," the various papers to which 
 are contributed by many of the moft celebrated Antiquaries in France. 
 Each example confifts of a feries of fmall bags arranged with confiderable 
 tafte, fo as to form very graceful outlines, as well as rich combinations of 
 folds. The materials employed on the Purfes are yellow filk with white 
 braids. The firings by which they are clofed being yellow, with knobs 
 of gold thread in the centres of the rofes with which they terminate. 
 
 The fpecimen in the middle of our Plate is taken from an example 
 now exifting in the collection at the Louvre, in Paris. The metal frame- 
 work of the bag is of filver, the bag itfelf of crimfon velvet, and the taf- 
 fels and braiding of gold. 
 
In a prohibition contained in a Statute of Edward III. againft the 
 manufacture of fpurious jewellery, it was provided that Goldfmiths mould 
 not gild, among other articles, Gipecier rings unlefs made of filver. In 
 a tranflation of this ftatute made during the reign of Henry VIII. Gip- 
 ecier was rather ludicroufly tranflated into Gypffe Rings, to the great 
 mystification of thofe antiquaries who have confulted the tranflation in- 
 stead of the original deed. 
 
 Several interefling fpecimens of Gipecier Rings, with infcriptions on 
 them, have been engraved in the Archasologia, and alfo in the Archaeo- 
 logical Journal. 
 
 Our initial letter is taken from an Italian drawing on Vellum of the 
 1 6th century. 
 
EWER. 
 
 Of the time of Henry II. of France. 
 
EWER. 
 
 OF THE TIME OF HENRY II. OF FRANCE, IN THE POSSESSION OF 
 HOLLINGWORTH MAGNIAC, ESQ, 
 
 HE refearches of fome of the moft diftinguifhed anti- 
 quaries of France have failed of producing any fatisfac- 
 tory evidence reflecting the origin of this very beautiful 
 clafs of fidtile ware. 
 
 Not more than about forty fpecimens are known to 
 exift at the prefent time, and as they were moftly, if not all, made for 
 Henry II. the name of that monarch has been given to diftinguifh this 
 from other kinds of pottery, in the abfence of any precife knowledge of 
 the artift. by whom it was firft ufed. 
 
 The example here mown may throw fome light upon the matter, as 
 it offers prefumptive evidence, at leaft, in favour of a member of a family 
 to whom we are indebted for the fkilful application of a fimilar material, 
 and who for feveral generations enjoyed a monopoly in its employment. 
 
 It is known that the Delia Robbias were in the habit of marking their 
 productions with the initials of their chriftian, rather than their furnames, 
 as lefs likely to create confufion in identifying the works of its various 
 members. 
 
 Between the interlaced pattern covering the bowl of the ewer, the 
 letter G is repeated ; and as Girolomo Delia Robbia (the laft of that 
 diftinguifhed family) was invited to France by Francis I. where he re- 
 mained till his death, about the year 1553, and executed during that 
 interval many works for him, particularly at the Chateau de Madrid ; 
 there is every reafon to fuppofe that he was employed on, if he did not 
 originate this particular ware, and the prefent fpecimen may fairly be 
 prefumed to be a work of his hands. At all events, the pure Italian tafte 
 difplayed in all the defigns applied to it, renders it highly improbable 
 that it was of native origin. 
 
 The material is a fine pipe-clay, and fo white as not to require any 
 fuper-enamelling; its glaze is tranfparent, and (lightly tinged with yellow. 
 
 The decorations are partly in relief, the flat portions being covered 
 with elaborate morefque patterns. On the mouldings and fmaller fea- 
 tures thefe diaperings are painted on the furface, while on the larger, 
 
fuch as the bowl, they are transferred from printed impreffions. The 
 latter procefs is evident from the irregularity obfervable in the pattern 
 at the junction of the four fections of which it is compofed ; arifing, no 
 doubt, from the difficulty of applying a flat print to a round furface. 
 
 The defign of this ewer difplays confiderable elegance in its general 
 form, and originality in the compofition of its details. The moft re- 
 markable feature is the handle, which is compofed of the body of a 
 female from which two fnakes iffue, and after a fingle coil terminate in 
 heads of a non-defcript character, each grafping in its mouth the fide of a 
 gracefully formed (hell. The head of the female has been reftored. 
 Whether in its original ftate it was ftrictly human, or had a lizard, or 
 other grotefque character given to it can only be matter of conjecture. 
 Some of the mouldings and the bands interlaced with delicate tracery on 
 the upper part of the bowl, are tinted in a light brown colour, the ground 
 of the other portions being white. Its height is 15I inches, and its 
 greater! width 5 inches. 
 
 This interefting work was purchafed by Mr. Magniac out of the col- 
 lection of Monf. Odiot of Paris. 
 
CANDLESTICK 
 
 Of the time of Henry II. of France. 
 
CANDLESTICK 
 
 OF THE TIME OF HENRY II. OF FRANCE, IN THE POSSESSION OF 
 SIR ANTHONY ROTHSCHILD, BART. 
 
 F this elaborate fpecimen of fictile ware but little can 
 be added to the account we gave of the Ewer belonging 
 to Mr. Magniac, engraved in our laft number. Many 
 of the details are precifely fimilar, and there feems to 
 be ftrong ground for fuppofing that all the pieces now 
 remaining belonged to a fervice made for Henry th e 
 Second and Diana of Poictiers, and perhaps the only one executed in 
 the fame material. The initial repeated on our firft example feems 
 to point out the artift employed in their production, while the badges and 
 monograms on this mow clearly the royal patron and his celebrated mif- 
 trefs for whom they were made. The three boys in the centre of the 
 compofition fupport fhields on which are reprefented the H and D in- 
 terlaced, the arms of France, and a coat which has not been identified. 
 
 The whole compofition is exceedingly rich and fanciful, and as the 
 facred monogram is repeated in various parts, there can be little doubt 
 that it was ufed as an altar candleftick. A fimilar one is in the cele- 
 brated collection of Andrew Fountaine, Efq. at Narford Hall, in Nor- 
 folk. Sir Anthony Rothfchild bought this interefting relic at the fale 
 of the effects of the late Monfr. Preaux, at Paris, at a coft of upwards 
 of two hundred pounds. 
 
 Its height is eleven inches and three-quarters. The wreaths and in- 
 fides of a portion of the fhells are painted green, while the hair of the 
 boys and mafks are of a yellowifh brown. All the reft is nearly white, 
 having only the delicate yellowifh tint conveyed to it by the glaze em- 
 ployed. 
 
"jSate. about 
 
A PORTRAIT OF BERNARD PALISSY. 
 
 IN THE POSSESSION OF SIR ANTHONY ROTHSCHILD, BART. 
 
 HE career of Bernard de Paliffy offers one of the 
 moft ftriking inftances on record of " the purfuit 
 of knowledge under difficulties." He was a native 
 of Chapelle-Biron in France, and was born (accord- 
 ing to D'Auvigne in 1499, while others give the 
 date of 1524, and Langlois ftates it to have taken 
 place about 1503) of parents too poor to give him 
 the {lighten: education. He contrived, however, to 
 learn to read and write, and alfo to acquire fome knowledge of land-fur- 
 veying, by which he obtained a livelihood. This purfuit infpired him 
 with a tafte for drawing, which he cultivated by copying the works of 
 the great Italian matters, and thus qualified himfelf for a new occupation, 
 in painting images and pictures upon glafs. 
 
 He vilited the principal towns in France, and examined their various 
 monuments of antiquity. He alfo ftudied chemiftry, with the view of 
 making himfelf acquainted with the compofition and properties of 
 minerals, and made numerous obfervations mewing great fagacity, and a 
 more intimate knowledge of his fubject than the low ftate of the fcience 
 at that time would lead us to expect. In the courfe of his furveys he 
 conceived the notion that France had been covered by the fea, and pro- 
 pagated his opinion at Paris, againft a hoft of opponents, who confidered 
 it a fpecies of herefy. 
 
 Having finimed his travels about 1539, he eftablifhed himfelf at 
 Saintes, and lived on the produce of his talent as a painter ; but being 
 prefented with a beautiful cup of the pottery termed Magolica, the idea 
 occurred to him that if he could difcover the fecret of the comporition of 
 the enamel ufed on it, it would enable him to improve his fortune and 
 educate his children. Henceforth his mind was folely devoted to that 
 one object, and he foon fpent all his earnings ; but having been em- 
 ployed in 1543 to make a furvey and plan of the fait marmes of Sain- 
 tonge, this work brought him a conliderable fum, which he fpent in frefh 
 experiments. Thefe, however, were as unfuccefsful as the firft ; but 
 neither the reprefentations of his wife, who reproached him with neg- 
 lecting an employment by which he could fecure a competence, nor 
 the remon (Trances of his friends had any influence in deterring him from 
 continuing his experiments. He borrowed money to conftruct a new 
 furnace, and when wood failed him, he actually burnt the tables and 
 boards of his houfe to finim the operation, which fucceeded but imper- 
 fectly. He was now obliged to difcharge his only workman ; and being 
 destitute of money to pay him with, he gave him part of his clothes. 
 Paliffy now became fo wretched that he could no longer mew himfelf, and 
 trembled at meeting the looks of his wife and children, whofe emaciated 
 appearance feemed to accufe him of cruelty. He, however, affumed a 
 cheerful manner, and following up his experiments, they were at length 
 crowned with the fuccefs his patience and perfeverance fo eminently de- 
 ferved. 
 
In 1555, after fixteen years of experiments, more or lefs fuccefsful, 
 he difcovered a kind of enamel in imitation of jafper, which he adapted 
 to earthenware objects in relief. Improving afterwards on this, he 
 produced what he called ruftic pieces, which confift of veflels having 
 upon them reptiles, fiih, infects, plants, and fofiil fhells in relief, and in 
 their natural colours. There exift alfo by him fome arabefque orna- 
 ments in relief, and of varied colours, and others that are perforated ; 
 fome of the former were made after the defigns of Francois Briot. 
 
 He now received the patronage of Henry II. and the Grand Seigneur 
 of the court, who ordered from him vafes and figures to ornament their 
 gardens ; and the Conftable Montmorenci engaged him to decorate his 
 Chateau at Ecouen. Some beautiful fragments from this place are now 
 in the Mufee de Monumens Francois, among which are fome painted 
 tiles, and fome painted glafs reprefenting the hiftory of Pfyche, after the 
 engraved defigns of Raffaelle. 
 
 The remainder of Palifiy's life was embittered by religious perfecution. 
 He had embraced the principles of the Reformation ; and when the 
 Parliament of Bordeaux ordered the execution of the new edict againft 
 the Proteftants, the Duke of Montpenfier gave him a fpecial protection, 
 and ordered that his eftablifhment mould be exempted from the general 
 profcription. But the Judges of Saintes paid no refpect to that command ; 
 but arrefted him, and burned his workmops, and it became neceflary for 
 the King to claim him as his own perfonal fervant to fave his life. He was 
 called to Paris, and lodged in the Tuilleries, which moft probably faved 
 him from the maflacre of St. Bartholomew. He then gave lectures upon 
 natural hiftory and phyfics, at half a crown each perfon, a large fum for 
 that period ; but he entered into an obligation to return the money four- 
 fold, provided it were found that he taught any thing that proved falfe. 
 They were attended by all the learned men of the day, and were con- 
 tinued with unceafing fuccefs till the year 1584. 
 
 Thefe fervices did not find favour in the eyes of the Leaguers, and he 
 was arrefted by their order and locked up in the Baftile. Henry III. went 
 to vifit him in prifon, and faid to him, " My good fellow, if you do not 
 renounce your views upon the point, I (hall be obliged to leave you in 
 the hands of my enemies." " Sire," replied the intrepid old man, 
 " thofe who conftrain you can never have any power over me, becaufe I 
 know how to die." Events happily did not come to this extremity, for 
 the Duke of Montpenfier, aware that he was not able to deliver him, 
 humanely delayed the profecution, and Palifly terminated in prifon, in 
 1589, about the age of ninety, a life which he had rendered illuftrious by 
 great talents, rare virtues, and an amount of courage and perfeverance 
 feldom equalled. 
 
 This Portrait of Bernard Palifly, executed in the ware he rendered fo 
 famous, is, we believe, unique. 
 
 * He printed at Rochelle, in 1563, a work entitled " Recepte veritable par laquelle tous 
 les hommes de la France pourront apprendre a augmenter leur trefors," and in 1580, " Dif- 
 cours admirable de la Nature des Eaux, et Fontaines, des Metaux, des Sols, des Salines, des 
 Pierres, des Terres," &c. in which he firft taught the true theory of fprings, and afferted that 
 foffil fhells were real fea fhells depofited by the ocean. He alfo pointed out the ufe of marie 
 and lime in agriculture. 
 
BOOK COVER, in the pofleffion of Thos. Willement, Efq. F. S. A. 
 Date, about the middle of the 16th Century. 
 
A BOOK COVER. 
 
 IN THE POSSESSION OF THOMAS WILLEMENT, ESQ^ F. S. A. 
 
 FINE example of the ftyle of binding in ufe dur- 
 ing the fixteenth century is here prefented, but there 
 is nothing in the book to lead to a knowledge of 
 the perfon by whom it was defigned. It is more 
 flowing and maflive in the character of the orna- 
 ments employed than the celebrated Grolier Bind- 
 ings though evidently belonging to the fame period. 
 Our wood-cut reprefents an elegant fpecimen now in the Britim 
 Mufeum, but formerly in the library of that diftinguifhed connoifTeur 
 and patron of Literature and Art, the Chevalier Jean Grolier. The 
 tafte and beauty difplayed on the various bindings executed for that 
 celebrated perfon, coupled with the fact that his name, without any 
 prefix to indicate his rank, is ftamped on every volume, have led the 
 public very generally to have confidered him as the workman employed 
 in their production. It may therefore not be confidered unneceffary to 
 ftate a few particulars reflecting one who exercifed fo extenfive an in- 
 fluence in this very interefting branch of decorative art. 
 
 The Chevalier Grolier, who held alfo the higher rank of Vifcount 
 d'Aguifi, and was one of the four Treafurers of France, was born at 
 Lyons in 1479. He was a lover and encourager of art in general ; but 
 his great reputation is founded on his love of books. The delicacy, fim- 
 plicity, and beauty of the defigns employed by him are known to all 
 collectors ; and the great prices books of fmall intereft in themfelves have 
 fometimes produced at Auctions on account of their bindings may be 
 taken as a proof of the high eftimation in which they are held. Dibdin 
 in his Bibliographical Decameron, ftates, that at the fale of the celebrated 
 collection of the late Mr. Edwards, a copy of " Geyler's Navicula Fatu- 
 orum," was bought by the MefTrs. Longmans for ^£42, although the 
 work itfelf might be had on the Continent for a ducat. 
 
 Gafcon, the celebrated binder of that time was chiefly employed by 
 Grolier, but the defigns are faid to have been compofed by himfelf in 
 moments of leifure from his more feriousand public employments. The 
 workmanfhip of thefe volumes is quite worthy of their decorations. 
 They are remarkable for the care with which the margins have been 
 preferved, their firmnefs, and the beauty of their finifh. 
 
Our example is taken from a volume containing four tracls, the nrlt 
 bearing the title of " II proncipe, di Nicolo Macchiavalli, al Magnifico 
 Lorenzo de Medici. Printed by Aldus, at Venice, in the year 1540. 
 
 On the margin of the other fide of the cover is the ufual infcription, 
 IO. GROLIERII ET AMICORVM. mewing that his Books were 
 at the fervice of his friends as well as himfelf. 
 
6k ^ 
 
Ay