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PASTES.
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165
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glass; and we know that Adrian sent to his friend Servian, as a memento of his sojourn there, two precious glass cups (calices allasontes versicolores), which had been given him by the priest of the temple of Serapis, in Alexandria.*
After
the Antonines, the art of making glass continued to flourish in Rome.
This is proved by the sacred vases found in the catacombs, where, on
white and transparent glass, we see figures and inscriptions in gold,
all in the rough style of the period, i.e., from the fourth to the eighth century, f
The
dark barbarism of mediaeval times makes any research useless as to the
arts in glass in the Middle Ages ; but the ornaments in engraved
bronze, and in intaglio filled with enamel, also the stained glass in
some sanctuaries, prove that it continued to the fifteenth century.
At
this period, the ancient tradition of this art having perhaps been
preserved in Rome and Venice, we find that it already flourished there,
engraved pastes being made there of every description, in imitation of
gems and glass. Of this we have proof in the laboratory of Murano,
where probably the identical method of the Tyrrhenians was preserved.
In
1691, the Duke of Orleans, Eegent of France, established a great
laboratory of paste intagli in the Palais Royale at Paris, under the
direction of the chemist Homberg. In this factory beautiful works
* King, ' Antique Gems,' page 74. f Garucci, ' Vetri Ornati.'
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