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ORNAMENTS AND DECORATION
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each; the second of thirty-nine pearls averaging 34 grains, and
the third of forty-five pearls averaging 39 grains. There is also a
guard chain of 114 pearls, averaging 20 grains, making a total of 2280
grains for the chain. These pearls are also of irregular form.1
The
crown jewels of the Sultan Abdul-Aziz (1830-1876) were of immense
richness and value. At the exhibition in Vienna, 1873, many of these
were exhibited in a building created specially for the purposes of
display and protection. They were in five compartments, in what might
be termed five impregnable fire-proof safes of a peculiar
construction. Among other interesting objects was the armor of Sultan
Murad I (1319-1389), the founder of the Ottoman.empire in Europe. This
armor is of the most delicate oriental workmanship. Diamonds, pearls,
and rubies are worked broadcast over it with exquisite taste.2
In
Germany and Austro-Hungary there are many valuable ecclesiastical
ornaments, some of which possess great interest for the history of
early German art. They also serve to show the appreciation of the pearl
even in the Dark Ages and the Early Renaissance period.
One
of the most curious productions of early German art is a reliquary in
the form of a sack, which is from Enger near Herford, and is exhibited
in the Kunstgewerbe Museum in Berlin. It is set with cameos and pearls;
several of the latter have dropped out; a few, however, remain in
their setting. According to a very probable tradition, this reliquary
was given by Charlemagne to the Saxon duke, Witte-kind, on the occasion
of his baptism in 785. It is of very rude and primitive workmanship
and, if we accept the tradition, it is not unlikely that it was
executed at Aix-la-Chapelle.3
An
(interesting example of German art, from the time of Archbishop Egbert
of Treves (977-993), is a frame now in the Beuth-Schinkel Museum, at
Charlottenburg. This was probably the framework of a portable altar. It
is decorated with a simple geometrical design in the three primary
colors, and has four polished stones and four pearls on the outer
border of gold filigree. Another example of the art of Treves at the
time of Archbishop Egbert is the Echternacher Codex. The gold-plated
cover is a worthy product of the school: ivory, enamel, and mosaic are
combined in its decoration with rows of pearls. Among the
representations of many saints, appears the figure of the Empress
Theophariu, daughter of the Greek emperor, Romanos II, with the
inscription "Theophaniu imp." Opposite is a youthful figure,
1
Communicated by Prof. H. Schumacher * Otto von Falke and Heinrich
Frauberger, of Bonn and Johann Wagner & Sohn, Jewel- "Deutsche
Schmelzarbeiten des Mittelalters," ers of the German Court. Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1904, p. 2.
*W. Jones, "Crowns and Coronations," London, 1883, p. 425.
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