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Caelatura, Antique Plate

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82
CELATURA.
Of the vast patinas mentioned by Pliny, so difficult to conceal, so tempting to the spoiler, only four representatives survive, and those on a comparatively insignificant scale. At their head stands the circular dish of the Cabinet of France, long known as the " Shield of Scipio :" and according to the legend dredged up out of the Ehone by some fishermen in the year 1656. It is 28 inches (3 feet Roman) in diameter, and weighs 25 lbs. Troy (10 kilo.). The bas-relief upon it, the " Restoration of Briseis," was formerly understood of Scipio and the bride of Alucius, hence its popular name. The style of art marks the third century. Of the same date are that of Madrid, and the third at Geneva; but the reliefs on both are historical.
But the most interesting of these wrecks of imperial splendour is the Corbridge Lanx (at Alnwick Castle), so called from the place of its discovery. This differs in shape from the others, being an oblong, 19-1/2 x l5 inches in dimensions, and weighing 159 oz.8 The subject is the Pythia Herophile receiving the dictates of the Delphic god, attended by Themis, Pallas, and Diana; and the composition inclosed in a border of their various attributes. The spiral columns introduced in the architectural part prove this piece not earlier than the times of Severus.
Pliny observes it as a strange fact, that, though so many artists had got a high reputation for chasing in silver, not one was similarly famed for his working in gold. The reason may be, that at the time when these great artists flourished, gold was as yet too scarce to be so employed. But of gold plate chased in the later style, that above noticed as coming into use in Fliny's age, a vast, to us incredible, profusion, as will be noticed here­after, graced the sideboards (abaci) of the Roman nobles. A faint idea may be formed of its costliness from the only example left, the " Patere de Eennes," now in the Bibliotheque Imperiale. It is in form a shallow bowl, ten inches in diameter, and weighing
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