ORNAMENTS AND DECORATION 423
The
cross is decorated with plates of gold in filigree design, and has four
en cabochon cut sapphires and eighteen oriental pearls.
The
greatest treasure of the collection is known as the cross of Cor-vinus,
King of Hungary, and is decorated with a great number of pearls.1
It is a remarkable example of early Italian Renaissance art. The entire
structure is about twenty-eight inches high ; the pedestal is
triangular and ornamented with pearls and precious stones; three
sphinxes bearing shields with the arms of Corvinus support a disk from
which springs a triangular support sloping outward ; on the three sides
are mythological figures. Upon this base rests the chapel, a light
Gothic structure with the figure of the Saviour bound to a pillar in
the center, and the busts of three prophets in the niches outside.
Above all is the crucifix, on each side of which are figures of the
Blessed Virgin and of St. John. Around the base and about each division
of this elaborate design is a row of pearls ; the Gothic chapel is
surmounted by a close-set row, and each of its six pinnacles terminates
in an oval pearl. The cross itself has fifteen large pearls disposed in
twos and threes, and many smaller ones. There are at least two hundred
pearls on the whole structure.
Another
cross, with the arms of the primate, George Szolepchényi, and bearing
the date 1667, is of pure design and richly decorated with pearls and
precious stones.2 It is quite possible that this cross,
which seems to belong to a better period, was bought by the archbishop,
who afterward added his arms. There are thirteen oriental pearls, three
at the top, three at the end of each of the arms, and four at the
intersection. This cross was used as an "instrumentum pads," for the
kiss of peace, on solemn occasions such as coronations.
We
may also note the pendant with the image of the Virgin Mary as
patroness of Hungary, which is of gold enamel and has two pendant
pearls and a sapphire, and likewise the pectoral cross of the primate,
Emerich Losy; this is of gold, decorated with green, blue, and black
enamel, and has three pendant pear-shaped pearls, one quite large, as
well as thirty-four smaller round pearls.
Among the many valuable and interesting objects in the treasury of the house and chapel of Maria Loretto am Hradschin,3
at Prague, there is a monstrance of silver-gilt, thirty-seven and ä
half inches high and fifteen and three quarter inches wide. It dates
from the beginning of the eighteenth century, and is not a harmonious
whole, but only a combination of different ornaments of precious
stones, corals, and several hundred pearls of various sizes. All these
are the devo-
