one
may well suppose, disappeared in the ages following the fall of the
empire, and are now the fruit of modern research amongst the remains of
long-buried Italian and Grecian sites. Of this fact, the scarabei are a
proof, now so abundant, yet unknown to the mediaeval jeweller, or to
the earlier collectors after the Revival, almost in the same degree. In
fact, the whole domain of archaic Greek and Etruscan art may be said to
have lain in darkness until a century ago, as that of Assyrian did
until our own times.
Not
more than two engraved gems, both camei, with designs in the genuine
Gothic style, have come under my notice. Of these the first can easily
be accounted for, and adds no argument to either side of the question ;
not so the second, which set us as hard a problem in its class as the
ruby forming the first subject of this dissertation.
To
begin with the first cameo, formerly in the Uzielli collection. The
Madonna, a half-length and in front face, holds before her the Infant
supported on a cushion resting on the balustrade of a balcony
containing them. They are enshrined in a deep canopy sculptured "in the
latest Gothic or Flamboyant style. But, since this style lingered on in
France and Flanders late into the sixteenth century, in a sacred
subject like this (especially as it may have been the copy of some
ancient sculpture of peculiar sanctity), the introduction of Gothic
ornamentation does not necessarily prove that this piece was executed
before the year 1500. It may in fact have been done on this side of the
Alps long after the classic style had regained its ancient dominion in
Italy. The work is very smooth and rounded in its projections,
although in the flattest possible relief; and its whole manner reminds
one strongly of that characterising the cameo portraits of Henry VIII.
and his family, of which there are several known. In all likelihood it
was the work of some French or Flemish engraver in the reign of
Francois I. But the seal-engravers mentioned by Agricola in Germany and
Holland towards the end of the preceding century, had they attempted
cameo-cutting, would have adhered to the Gothic manner. The stone is a
black and white onyx, the relief in the dark layer, 1| x 1 inch.
The
second is an agate-onyx, 3 in. high by 2 wide. In the white layer, most
rudely carved, Christ Ascending, holding a long cross ; before him, a
kneeling figure, a subject
