SCULPTURE IN GEMS.
The
art of carving was well known to the ancients, and those stones were
called gems, in the proper sense of the word, which had figures or
letters engraved on them in a very small compass, the workmanship of
which we, at this day, cannot help admiring.
Gem-sculpture, or the glyptic art (or lithoglyptics), is the art of representing designs upon precious
stones, either in raised work (cameos) or by figures cut into or below
the surface (intaglios). The first were most natural to the rising art,
and were used as seals ; whereas the latter were used as ornaments, for
which the most precious materials were employed, according to the state
„of the art. They did not understand engraving on diamonds, or many
other gems: they employed only the softer stones, the common precious
stones, such as carnelian, onyx, jasper, &c. ; they also
used paste, or artificial colored glass composition, for their
engravings. Their mode of working was very simple :' the polishers
prepared their stones on a plate, by means of the powder of harder
stones, either round, oval, flat, or in shield form, according to the
designed subject, and then left to the sculptors the subject of the
engraving, which was done by means of iron, or diamond splinters
mounted in iron. It was not until the year 1500 that Ambrosius
Caradossa first discovered the method of cutting the diamond. He
prepared the figure of a patriarch for Pope Julian II. He also
discovered the first traces of sculpture among the Jews, Persians, and
Egyptians. In the traditions of the holy Scriptures, Moses, for
instance, had the names of the twelve tribes of Israel engraved on the
gems used by the high-priest. Solomon possessed a seal : Alexander
presented his seal to Perdicas. Augustus had a sphinx engraved on his
seal ; but the Indians and
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