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Ch. 9: Gem Engraving

Ch. 9: Gem Engraving Page of 401 Ch. 9: Gem Engraving Text size:minus plus Restore normal size   Mail page  Print this page
148                                   PRECIOUS STONES.
some centuries later. The Phoenicians, who were the Britons
of antiquity, very likely diffused a knowledge of this art among
the Asiatic and insular Greeks, for, as early as Homer's time,
this commercial and enterprising people traded in jewelry with
the islands of the ^Egean. However, it was not long after
before the art was introduced into Greece proper, where the
signet ring became so popular, and its use was carried to such I
excesses that Solon deemed it essential to the prosperity of
the nation to check this extravagance by enacting laws regu- 3
lating the business of engraving. After the Macedonian conquest, it became very flourishing in Asia, — a region where
before it was comparatively but little practised. About the time
of Augustus, this art reached its highest excellence, especially
in portraits ; and in the reign of Hadrian, it began to decline at
Rome, but found, says King, an asylum in the Persian Empire,
where it flourished from the third to the seventh centuries,
when it suddenly came to an end by the Mohammedan con- 1
quest. The religion of the conquerors permitted only cipher
inscriptions upon signet stones, which, with their graceful
Arabic curves, were very beautiful, and were highly valued
throughout the East.
At the Renaissance, the art was revived, and the antiqueengraved gems hoarded by amateurs contributed in no small
degree to the general revival ; while Cinque-cento engravers
appeared, whose numerous productions are seen in modern
collections. The one at Naples, formerly owned by Alexander
Farnese, comprises a magnificent casket of silver-gilt with
plaques of crystal engraved with subjects from the history of
Alexander the Great ; another example of this school, consisting of a casket of rock-crystal engraved with scenes from the
Passion of our Lord, is found in the Florence gallery. The
art flourished in Germany under the patronage of Rudolph II.,
Ch. 9: Gem Engraving Page of 401 Ch. 9: Gem Engraving
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