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416 THE BOOK OF THE PEARL
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wide
band of solid gold, ten centimeters wide and twenty-one centimeters in
diameter (about four and eight inches respectively). This band, which
opens by means of a hinge, is surrounded by two borders of gold set
with the red stones of Caria, called "gemmae alaban-denses," and the
band itself is studded with thirty large oriental sapphires of the
greatest beauty. Thirty fine pearls of appropriate size alternate with
the sapphires on a ground incrusted with the red stones above
mentioned. From twenty-three small gold chains depend large letters in
cloisonné, and also incrusted, forming the sentence: REC-CESVINTHUS REX
OFFERET. Each letter has a gold pendant with a pearl from which hangs a
pear-shaped sapphire.
The
crown is suspended from four chains, converging to a double floral
ornament of solid gold, adorned with twelve sapphire pendants. This
ornament, the leaves of which are open, is surmounted by a capital of
rock crystal, then comes a ball of the same material, and the whole is
terminated by the gold center to which the four chains are attached.
The
cross, which is suspended underneath the crown by a gold chain, is
remarkable for its elegance and its richness. It is of solid gold and
is inlaid with six very fine sapphires and eight large pearls, each of
which is mounted in relief with claws. At the back, the cross still
bears the wire by which it was attached to the royal mantle. The inside
of the crown is quite smooth; the outside is composed of elegant
fleurettes in openwork, the leaves being filled with the same species
of red carnelian mentioned above. There are thirty sapphires, all of
the finest water, and a few of them show the natural facetted
crystallization ; the two principal ones, placed in the center of the
band, are thirty millimeters in diameter. The pearls are of an
exceptional size, and only a few of them have been injured by time. The
total number on the crown, cross, and top ornament, is seventy, thirty
of which are unusually large. The chains are each composed of five
openwork ornaments with an enamel paste inlaid in the gold edge. A
close examination of the crown shows that it had been worn before the
king presented it to some church.
The royal Hungarian crown given to St. Stephen by the pope in the year iooo a.D., when
Hungary became an empire, is one of the most ancient crowns in
existence. It contains 320 pearls and was procured in Byzantium. It was
pledged to the emperor, Frederick IV, by Queen Elizabeth of Hungary,
probably about 1440.
In
the cathedral of Prague (the metropolitan church of St. Vitus) there
may be seen the crown which was made by the order of Charles IV (1378)
out of four pounds, ten and a quarter ounces of gold. It is adorned
with twenty-nine pearls, forty-seven rubies, twenty sapphires,
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