MEDIAEVAL GEM ENGRAVING. 19
frequently
seen in sculptures upon tombs. It is not possible to describe the rough
chipped-out execution of the relief, the stone appearing as if cut away
with a chisel. Neither work nor design bear resemblance to Byzantine
camei, even the rudest of the class. The only plausible explanation is
to suppose it the first essay of some German carver, who had acquired
some slight notion of the mechanical process from the Italian
inventors, and had attempted a novelty as to material, following his
own national taste in everything else. The stone seems to be a true
agate-onyx, perhaps of the German species, not the softer
alabaster-onyx often used for camei at a later date. This curious piece
is supposed to have been found in Suffolk. The outline of the stone
being irregular, it is difficult to conjecture the purpose it was
intended to fulfil, perhaps to be set in a cross, or some object of
sacred use. Even in this case, bearing in mind that a work in this
mediaeval style would have been consistent with the state of art in
England long after 1500 (the Gothic type was for many years retained by
Henry VIII. in his coinage), this monument does not necessarily carry
us back to the first period mentioned by Vasari, still less to the
times preceding it.8
After
all, upon consideration of these data, the only conÂclusion that they
justify seems to be one not very dissimilar to that generally adopted
by archaeologists, that the purely Gothic artists, down to the early
Revival (this is until after 1400), never attempted gem-engraving.
Vasari, in his remark that " something continued still to be done,"
must refer to the feeble productions of the Byzantine cameo-cutters ;
but his "improvement in 1417" may apply to Italy, and be the source of
the singular intagli in precious stones, whose peculiar character is
only to be explained upon this supposition; whilst the Gothic camei may
be ascribed to Teutonic apprentices in the new art, and so be in
reality much posterior to the early period properly the subject of our
investigation.
