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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
CUP OF CHOSROES I.                         363
sents Chosroes I. seated upon a throne, the supports of which are winged horses. At the back of the throne is a large cushion, but thrown to the right by an error in the perspective, not to be wondered at in a work of this date. The monarch is crowned with a globular turban, sur­rounded with battlements and surmounted by a crescent, over which appears a second crescent supporting an orb, whence depend two streamers. By the form of the crown we identify this portrait as designed for Chosroes I., for it exactly coincides with that worn by him upon his gold medal in the Blacas Cabinet ; and it is a well-known rule that each Sassanian king modified the form of his head­dress, and the attributes decorating this venerated mark of sovereignty, upon his coinage. The monarch is shown in front-face ; his hair, divided in two huge curly clusters, falls upon his shoulders ; his beard, thick but short, and not curled. He is clothed in an embroidered robe or candys, and rests both his hands upon the pommel of his sword in its scabbard. From his shoulders float two large streamers, like those of the turban, and two still larger from his bust, spreading away towards the left, and two more from his feet. Both the border of the bowl and the mounting of the large medallion are inlaid with cubes of glass imitating Garnets. The medallions of the rows above mentioned are alternately white and violet : the former in rock-crystal, engraved on their outsides with a flower in relief ; the latter in glass, cast with a similar ornament. The interstices between the medallions are filled up with lozenge-shaped pieces of glass of a transparent green. Dimensions of the bowl, 28 cent, wide by 35 deep (or about lie inches by 14)."
The traditional celebrity of this splendid goblet, the pride of the most illustrious of their ancient sovereigns, may well be supposed to have furnished Oriental story-
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