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Vitrum Annulare, Pastes

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VITRUM ANNULARE.
373
smith, glass-worker, and gem-engraver of the 6th century, " This transparent cup is composed of a sort of frame in massy gold, and of throe circular rows of eighteen medallions in rock-crystal and coloured glass,1 serving as a frame to the principal subject, a round medallion of rock-crystal, filling the bottom or ' umbril ' of the bowl. This is engraved in relief, but set with the plane surface inwards, and represents Chosroes I. seated upon a throne, the supports of which are winged horses. At the back of the throne is a large cushion, but thrown to the right by an error in the perspective, not to be wondered at in a work of this date. The monarch is crowned with a globular turban, sur­rounded by battlements and surmounted by a crescent, over which appears a second crescent supporting an orb, whence de­pend two streamers. By the form of the crown we identify this portrait as designed for Chosroes I., for it exactly coincides with that worn by him upon his gold piece in the Blacas Cabinet ; and it is a rule that each Sassanian king modified the form of his head-dress, and the attributes decorating this venerated mark of sovereignty, upon his coinage. The monarch is shown in front-face ; his hair, divided in two huge curly clusters, falls upon his shoulders ; his beard, thick but short, and not curled. He is clothed in an embroidered robe or candys, and rests both his hands upon the pommel of his sword in its scabbard. From his shoulders float two large streamers, like those of the turban, and two still larger from his bust, floating away towards the left, and two more from his feet. Both the border of the bowl and the frame of the large medallion are inlaid with cubes of glass imitating Garnets. The medallions of the rows above mentioned are alternately white and violet : the former in rock-crystal, en­graved on the outsides with a flower in relief ; the latter in glass, cast with a similar ornament. The interstices between the me-
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