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Onyx, Nicolo

Onyx, Nicolo Page of 453 Onyx, Nicolo Text size:minus plus Restore normal size   Mail page  Print this page
266
ONYX.
in honey, in order to purge away the earthy dross, the residuum is arranged, according to the fancy of the artist, in veins, lines, and spots of various colours, in the manner most likely to attract purchasers. Of such a size have these gems been produced as to serve for frontlets for the horses of Eastern kings, and for pendants to their trappings." What is meant by this description it is impossible even to conjecture. It may after all be merely a jeweller's story to account for the whimsical conformation of the veins and shades in the Agate ; or still more in the wonderfully beautiful pastes produced by the Alexandrian glass-workers. The name " Cochlides " indeed signifies " snail-shell stone ;" and such is the literal meaning of the Italian Lumacella, a black marble full of fragments of nautilus-shells, flame-coloured and glowing as if actually in a blaze. It is therefore possible that both terms, the ancient and the modern, apply to the same substance, which from its beauty as well as singularity must ever have been admired as soon as known.
It is true that certain species of the antique gems, such as their best Sards and examples of the Onyx and Sardonyx, are incom­parably superior to anything of the kind that is to be met with in nature at the present day ; but it would be presumptuous to ascribe this excellence to any artificial treatment of the subject-matter by the ancient lapidary. Much more reason is there to suppose it the result of their better and more abundant supply from a variety of sources now closed to us, such as Ethiopia, continually referred to by Pliny as producing the choicest gems. Such we know was the case with many of the ancient fine-coloured marbles, only known at present as existing in the remains of Roman magnificence : such as the Rosso, the Nero, and the Giallo Antico, all from Numidia ; the Paonazzo or Synnadic, from Phrygia, &c. Numidia and Ethiopia, perpe­tually quoted by Pliny as exporting marbles and gems of all kinds, are now completely lost to the trade, as are also the equally productive mines anciently skirting the Red Sea.
To return to the artificial colouring of gems, it is ascertained by experiment that those belonging to the species of translucent quartz, which have been rendered white and opaque by the action of fire, will in a great degree recover their original colours
Onyx, Nicolo Page of 453 Onyx, Nicolo
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