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Vitrum Annulare, Pastes

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VITRUM ANNULARE.
333
" Cheap vulgar chasings wo in glass alone That dares to counterfeit the precious stone ; Yet far superior to the crystal rare, Not boiling water flaws our substance clear."
" See the sweet groupa which on the goblet smile— Fruits of the taste that drinks the tepid Nile. Ah ! whilst he strives to add another grace, How oft the artist spoils the finished vase."
The glass-workers of the Lower Empire, stimulated by the patronage of the luxurious (like the Emperor Tacitus who, records Vopiscus, was an enthusiastic admirer of their productions),* invented novelties in the art as far surpassing the last-noticed pieces in technical skill as they fall short of them in artistic merit. Of such, the most elaborate example is the one now in the possession of Baron Lionel Rothschild. It is ascribed to the third or fourth century : the substance is of a pale ruby colour by transmitted light, . and of a pale opaque green by reflected light. It is semi-oviform in shape, and decorated with figures, vines, &c, in full relief, in some cases completely detached from the glass itself. The mass of the bodies of the four principal figures is hollowed out from the inside ; the other decora­tions are fixed on, and are all of them hollow so as not to interfere with the colour of the glass. The whole has been carefully cut and polished with a tool, like cameo-work. One of the figures represents an aged man whose limbs are entangled with vine-branches ; perhaps Lycurgus king of the Edones in Thrace, who was driven mad for persecuting Bacchus and his followers. To his right is a woman prostrate, behind her a Faun dancing, and holding in his left hand a pedum, in his right a stone which he seems about to throw. To the left of Lycurgus is Pan, followed
* "Vitreorum diversitate atque operositate vehementer est delec-tatus."
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