copy
representations of the like objects upon gems. Antiques of the class
being so highly esteemed from the supposed mystic virtues of both
substance and sigil, doubtless, had it been within the mediaeval
engraver's power, a gem would have been preferred by him for the
purpose when about to execute the signet of a wealthy patron : on this
consideration our second argument is founded. The great number of
antique gems set in mediaeval privy seals sufficiently proves how much
such works were in request. The legends added upon the metal settings
enchasing them show how the subjects were interpreted to suit the
spirit of the times, often in a sense so forced as must have tried the
faith of even their simple-minded owners. Certainly, had it been
possible to execute in such valued materials designs better assimilated
to the notions they desired to embody, such would have been attempted
in a manner more or less barbarous, but still bearing unmistakeably the
stamp of Gothic art) This remark applies exactly to the latest intagli
of antiquity, or rather to the earliest of mediaeval times, the date of
which can be accurately ascertained, the signets of the Emperor
Lotharius. One is set in the cross that he presented to the Cathedral
of Aix-la-Chapelle, an oval crystal, I.75 x 1.5 inch in dimensions,
engraved with his head in profile covered with the closely fitting
Roman helmet seen upon the contemporary coinage. Around runs this
legend cut in the stone, in imitation of a favorite Byzantine
invocation which is found upon the aurei of the same epoch—
+ XPE ADIVVA HLOTHARIVM REG.
—" Christe adjuva Hlotharium Regem."—Both the style of the portrait and the lettering agree with those seen on the Carlovingian sous d'or.
Still more curious, because betraying more of a national character, is the other seal of Lotharius,2
of which an impression only exists attached to a document, dated 877,
preserved in the archives of the department of the Haute-Marne, a bust
in full face, the hair long and parted, with seemingly a nimbus over
the head, having the hand upon his breast, and in the field something
like an arrow, perhaps intended for a palm-branch. The entire design
shows the taste of the age, retaining no reminiscence of the antique
even in its lowest
5 Figured in the Revue Arche'ologique for 1858.
