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Vitrum Annulare, Pastes

Vitrum Annulare, Pastes Page of 384 Vitrum Annulare, Pastes Text size:minus plus Restore normal size   Mail page  Print this page
VITRUM ANNULARE.
327
from the jeweller's at Sardis or Clusium, they displayed more than the polish and the beauty of the Emeralds, Sapphires, and Rubies, whose unattainable rarity they were intended to replace. This notice of early Pastes Fortune has put it in my power to illustrate most strikingly by the description of two extraordinary speci­mens now adorning the choice collection of Mr. Bale, and acquired from that of L. Fould. The first, an ellipse about an inch in length, is translucent, and streaked with wavy clouds of green, like the Venetian schmelze, through which layers of gold aventurine are disseminated in undulations, presenting the most charming contrasts ever achieved in this art. A perforation through its axis shows it was designed to form the centre ornament of a necklace. The other is on many accounts yet more re­markable. The Paste, of the same form as the preceding, is opaque, and composed of wavy patterns in very brilliant colours, arranged as in the mille-fiore glass of Venice. But the most interesting circumstance is its retaining the original setting, being encased in a gold collet overlaid with a cable plait in the usual Etruscan taste, and furnished with a massy three-sided shank, affixed to the side with pins, so that the jewel is mounted like a scarabeoid. The weight and elaborateness of the setting manifests the high value set upon the Paste by its original Etruscan owner. Could he have taken it for some rare and unique production of nature ; or was it merely prized as an example of the skill of the Egyptian glass-worker, brought for a precious gift to some wealthy Lucumo?* The examination of this skilful combination of numerous patterns, much resembling the old Italian mosaic a tapete, seems to throw light upon the obscure allusion to some
* The well-known Egyptian idols in blue porcelain have been dis­covered in the tombs of Valci, mounted in Etruscan necklaces, &c.
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