St.
Denys, it was thenceforward used, according to the tradition preserved
by its historian, Dom Doublet, to hold the consecrated wine at the
coronation of the queens of France. Its gold mounting bore a legend,
added at the time of its dedication :
" Hoc vas Christo tibi dcvota mente sacravit Tertius in Franco sublimis regmine Carlua."
The
chalice was stolen in 1804 from the Musée, and its gold mounting
enriched with gems melted down by the thieves: fortunately they were
arrested in Holland, and the vase recovered undamaged ; and it has been
elegantly remounted by Delafontaine. One fact shows the high value
formerly set upon this relic : Henri II. pawned it to the Jews of Metz
for a million of livres tournois (50,000/.), equivalent to five times
that amount in modern currency.
Next in importance amongst these relics of imperial splendour comes the Farnese Tazza, a patera, or
flat bowl, cut out of a single piece, eight inches wide by two deep,
and carved with a subject in the Egyptian taste, allusive to the
influence of the Nile. The land, personified by Isis reclining on her
sphinx, holding aloft her wheat-sheaf, reposes under the protection of
Father Nilus, and his two daughters of the Delta : the winds, authors
of his rise, hover overhead. It is said to have been discovered in the penetralia of
Hadrian's Mausoleum, when explored in the 10th century. It was
purchased for 10,000 ducats, and has long adorned the Museum at
Naples—a memento of the Farnese Princes of Parma, ancestors of the
Neapolitan Bourbons.
Still more famous from its history is the Mantuan, or Brunswick Vase, an alabastron, or
tall perfume jar, with narrow neck, five inches high by two in the
greatest diameter. The relief upon it refers to the Eleusinian
Mysteries, representing Ceres with Triptolemus in her
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