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Vitrum Annulare, Pastes

Vitrum Annulare, Pastes Page of 453 Vitrum Annulare, Pastes Text size:minus plus Restore normal size   Mail page  Print this page
V1TRUM ANNULARE.
359
but in their material they differ from all before described, being not glass but porcelain. This substance is far superior to paste in hardness, even striking fire with the steel. There are two kinds, one imitating black Jasper, the other Lapis-lazuli. Their subjects are cast from antique originals, their impressions are remarkably sharp and clear, although wanting the polish of the Italian glass-pastes. It is therefore impossible to mistake them for true gems, although they rival the hardness and durability of the latter. But his chief excellence lies in his camei, many of which are from Flaxman's designs : others are reduced copies of the antique. The figures stand out in opaque white upon a blue ground, of a charming shade, which the numerous imitations now-a-days in the market are totally unable to reproduce. In his genuine works it will be discovered that all the reliefs have been elaborately worked over with the wheel, thus imitating the antique mode of proceeding in their best camei in paste. The finest specimen of such, the Portland Vase, he copied with extra­ordinary success, though somewhat failing in the dark-blue of the ground. Of this he produced fifty facsimiles, at fifty guineas each ; a price, however, that did not cover the expense of the workmanship, so great an amount of skilled labour did it en gross. His other camei appear in as many varieties as their ancient prototypes : some in the form of small medallions for setting in brooches or bracelets ; others decorating the exterior of vases and tea-services; and a third kind, the most important, large plaques for hanging up as pictures. Imitations of all the above are now brought out to a vast extent ; but they are miserable parodies upon Wedgwood's originals, manufactured merely to sell, after the fashion of our days, the ground a cold pale blue : the reliefs, full of cracks and flaws, are merely stuck on, without any attempt at a finishing polish.
I shall conclude this notice with an observation which will be extremely unpalatable to most amateurs ; that, amongst the myriads of pastes that pass current as antique, hardly one in a hundred is really genuine. This opinion is, based upon the following grounds, suggested to me by experience : in the handfuls of gems perpetually brought in for sale to the Roman antiquari by the peasants, just as they find them in turning over
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