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Caelatura, Antique Plate

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CAELATURA.
81
Dubius Avitus, governor of Gaul, a pair of vases made by Ca-lamis, so exactly, that the difference between them was hardly perceptible : a proof that the repousse work had not gone out of fashion for want of artistic ability to execute it, but solely on account of its unsuitableness to the service of the table.
Rare indeed, if any, were the specimens of the plate of the Greek school that had escaped time and the melting-pot, until a fortunate discovery in 1830 enriched the French Bibliotheque with some pieces of the finest quality. A Norman peasant, one Tronchin, struck, in ploughing his field at Bernay, upon a large tile covering a hoard of silver articles weighing over 50 lb. (25 kilo.). It was the treasure of the temple of Mercurius Cannetonensis, the local god (as the dedicatory inscriptions on many of the articles attest), hastily buried in some time of trouble, and never reclaimed. Of these a pair of Canthari have emblemata in the purest Greek style, as early as Alexander's epoch, representing subjects connected with the Mysteries.7 Two pairs more have Bacchic scenes and symbols: some others bear decorations in the same style ; but the most important are the two cenochofe or tall flagons, " Cellini-shape," in modern phrase, embossed with scenes from the Iliad, whose style refers them to the epoch of Pasiteles. With them were found two admirable statuettes of the god in the same metal, and executed by the same process, one of them being the most important known in silver. The pieces of Roman workmanship declare the more practical character of their epoch. They are mostly large, flat dishes, having for ornament a chasing in the centre. But this chasing is solid and strong, being first cast, and then tooled up according to the modern practice.8
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