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Oriental Onyx.
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Amongst
the most celebrated of these cameos is the " Schaffhausen Onyx " — one
of the most cherished, treasures of the Canton of Schaffhausen. The
figure engraved on it is a female wearing a crown of honour, holding in
one hand a horn of plenty, in the other a Mercury's staff. The figure
Dr. Oeri identifies as " Pax," and the Cameo was cut between A.D. 68
and 82. It is of great historical interest, and is supposed to have
been brought from Constantinople by Ortleib von Frohberg, who was a
trusted friend of Konrad III. and Friedrich I, and took part in the
Second Crusade.
One
of the most famous of the Antique Cameos is the Mantuan Vase ; the base
is brown, and on it, in relief, are groups of white and yellow figures,
representing Ceres and Triptolemus in search of Proserpine. The Vase is
formed from a single stone, and is seven inches high and two-and-a-half
broad. In the Museo Nazionale, at Naples, there are many Cameos in Onyx
; one (eleven inches by nine) representing the apotheosis of Augustus ;
and another with the head of Medusa carved on one side, and the
apotheosis of Ptolemy on the other.
Onyx
has been found in such large masses that small pillars have been made
of it : there are six such in the Basilica of St. Peter, at Rome. At
Cologne, in the Temple of the Three Magi, there is one broader than the
palm of the hand. Appianas says that Mithridates, King of Pontus, had
2,000 cups of this gem ; it is scarcely possible, however, to believe
that they could have been of true Onyx ; probably they were simply
Onyx-marble.
By
modern mineralogists the term Onyx is restricted to an Agate-like
substance, formed of alternating white and brown or black layers of
Chalcedony. When the
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