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Argentum, Silver

Argentum, Silver Page of 453 Argentum, Silver Text size:minus plus Restore normal size   Mail page  Print this page
ARGENTUM.
weigh one hundred pounds each ; and of such, previous to the First Civil War in Sylla's time, there were known to have been a hundred and fifty and more in existence at Rome, possessions to which many a wealthy man owed his proscription. But these were far exceeded in magnitude by others produced by the ostentation of the imperial freedman. Pliny quotes the instance of Drusillanus, a slave of Claudius, and the treasurer of Hither Spain (the province containing the mines), who had a dish made in a forge built for the purpose, weighing 500 lbs., with eight plates to match it, weighing together 250 lbs. Whereupon Pliny asks how many of his fellow-slaves it took to carry in this dinner-service, or who were the guests it was set before ?
The Egyptians at some unknown time invented the art of Niellatura, in long-after ages carried to such astonishing per­fection by the Florentines of the Quattro-cento school. This may be deduced from Pliny's somewhat obscure statement (xxxiii. 4G) : " Egypt stains silver in order to see her darling Anubis upon the plate ; and paints the metal instead of chasing it." The pigment was made by adding one-third by weight of the finest copper, and as much of sulphur, to some silver (in filings probably) : this mixture was roasted in a pot with a luted cover until the cover opened of itself. It seems to have made a substitute for enamel, afterwards applied to the metal in the way described below.
The Niello of the Florentine goldsmiths, so justly celebrated, was a somewhat similar composition ; Cellini's recipe for it being to take one part silver, two copper, three lead, molt them together, and pour into an earthen pot half full of sulphur : the mass to be ground up when cool, and used like enamel. To apply it the design was first engraved in line upon a polished silver plate, precisely after the manner of a copper-plate (which style of engraving originated in this) ; the powdered niello was then laid on the plate and fused upon it by the application of heat. The superfluous mass being removed by polishing, the lines in the silver came out filled with a dark violet : the μελαν of the Byzantines, the negellum of the later Latins—whence the name given to the art. The delicacy of the best class of works in this style is beyond conception. They have also the weighty
Argentum, Silver Page of 453 Argentum, Silver
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