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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
154
PRECIOUS STONES.
inferior workmanship and tasteless designs. Certain gems with
inscriptions in Hebrew or in Persian claim to be antiques, but
this circumstance alone does not constitute positive proof of
great age.
Style and Character. — Antique art never offends the moral
sense by representing degrading scenes, as is sometimes done
by modern artists, greatly to the shame of our vaunted superior civilization ; but they were those which " custom and
reverence sanctioned." The earliest Greek engravings are
in low relief, executed with the diamond point, it is believed,
and with an Etruscan border, which has led some connoisseurs
to assign them to the Etruscan school,—a mistake indicated
by the material selected for the purpose. With the Etruscans
and early Italians, carnelian was the favorite, while the Greeks
preferred a yellow sard resembling topaz, and sometimes amethyst and jacinth. The latter people gave great attention to
details, representing hair by innumerable fine lines, all distinct
from one another, and never crossing, while the Romans, who
aimed at effect, expressed it by broad masses like paintings ;
short, curly hair was delineated by holes drilled close together,
similar to that seen in some archaic marble statues ; their
portraits exhibit a stiffness not observed in Greek workmanship.
The details of the early Roman engravings were executed by
the diamond point, but those of a later period were done entirely
by the wheel, which, it is thought, came into use in Rome
about the time of the Emperor Domitian, A. D. 81-96. The
most highly finished intagli display a brilliancy which has suggested the idea that they were cut and polished by the same
operation ; in modern times, this result is achieved by a complicated process, explained in another chapter.
The Cinque-cento engravers copied the Roman style, with
exaggerations. Their earliest productions, executed under the
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