290 THE MAGIC OF JEWELS AND CHARMS
cross, a very une specimen of the goldsmith's art of the
twelfth century. This with the other treasures was taken by the Duke of
Cumberland to Vienna for safe-keeping, at the time he gave up, in 1884,
his title as Duke of Brunswick, rather than acknowledge Prussian
supremacy. The cross, which has the form of a so-called "crutch-cross,"
with rectangular projecting plates at the ends of the arms, was
designed to serve as a reliquary, the relic shrine being in a cruciform
capsule behind a small, round-edged golden cross set in the midst of
the cross proper. The precious relics reposing here were said to be
bones of John the Baptist, St. Peter, St. Mark the Evangelist, and St.
Sebastian. On the reverse side of the cross are set four large and
beautiful sapphires and in the centre is a remarkably brilliant topaz.
While
nothing definite is known as to the goldsmith who executed this work,
its style and general character suggest the conjecture that it may have
been produced by the artist who made the "Crown of Charlemagne" in
Vienna, really a crown executed for Conrad III, King of the Germans
(1093-1152), the first Hohenstaufen, and also several regal ornaments
for the latter's consort, Queen Gisela. In addition to the jewelled
decoration of its reverse, the front of the cross is set with many
pearls, and the form of these settings is one of the chief arguments
adduced in favor of attributing it to the maker of the so-called "
Crown of Charlemagne."ieb
An
ecclesiastical jewel of great beauty and remarkable historic interest
is known as the Cross of Zaccaria. It was secured in 1308 by Ticino
Zaccaria at the capture of the ancient Greek colonial city Phocaea, in
Asia Minor, and was donated to the Cathedral of San Lorenzo in Genoa.
This
"►The Jewellers' Circular, Wednesday, December 16, 1914, τοί. lxix, No. 20, p. 43.
