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NATURAL HISTORY OF GEMS.
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use. And that he is opposing the old silver plate to the new-fangled gem-vases from Egypt is decided by his conclusion—
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Declaring that a drinking-cup of precious stone
was only befitting the debauchee that could melt down old chased plate
by the renowned Mentor to make a " chamber-service," in modern
parlance, for a present to his mistress.
There
is a great similarity in the elaborate designs of arabesque foliage
covering these bowls with those seen on the cameo-vases in glass of
known Alexandrian fabrique, such as the elegant amphora of the Museo
Borbonico, surrounded with a network of vine-branches. Indeed, Achilles
Tatius (ii. 3) has " a crater (deep vase), the entire work carved out
of one fossil Crystal (in contradistinction to glass), which
vine-branches encompass like a garland."
The
Arabs kept up the art they found flourishing there of working in
Crystal long after their conquest of Egypt. One of the most valued
ornaments of the treasury of S. Denys was : " Un vase de Cristal de
roche fait en façon de broc (pitcher) avec son anse, le tout d'un pièce
; le couvercle d'or, attaché à un chaisne d'or. Ce vase est orné de
feuillages et d'oiseaux perchez sur des branches sous lesquels on voit
force lettres Arabesques, le tout en relief. Il est fort estimé et admiré tant pour son antiquité (car il a servi au Temple de Salomon) que pour l'artifice avec lequel il est taillé. Il vient de l'empereur Charles le Chauve." (' T. de S. Denys,'p. 120.)
Under
the Lower Empire, Crystal seems to have been much in use for making
solid finger-rings, carved out of one single piece, the faco engraved
with some intaglio
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