Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 11.djvu/45

Rh Kemble, who considers it to be a mixture of Saxon Runes and uncial letters. The interpretation of the inscription does not seem wholly satisfactory: it greatly resembles au archaic Sclavonic inscription, but it has not been decyphered by any of those conversant with the languages of that class.

The additions made to the Medieval Collection have been of considerable interest. Among those connected with England, either by the place of their discovery or by their workmanship, one of the most remarkable is the enamelled bowl found near Sudbury, Suffolk, and presented to the Museum by the Hon. Mrs. Upcher, It appears to be the lower part of a ciborium or receptacle for the host, and greatly resembles one of these vessels preserved in the Museum of the Louvre at Paris. The body of the bowl is ornamented with enamelled lozenges, separated by bands of gilt metal, enriched with pastes. In each lozenge is a half-length figure of an angel bearing a wafer or some sacred emblem. The figures are of metal and the details engraved in outline. The rim is enriched with a band, engraved in imitation of an Arabic inscription. The bowl is supported by a foot of pierced metal-work, representing four figures interlaced with stiff scrolls of foliage. It is not so elaborate as the specimen preserved in the Louvre, but the extraordinary similarity in the details of both would lead us to believe that they are not only the productions of the same locality, but of the same hand. The Paris ciborium furnishes us with evidence on both of these points, as it bears an inscription recording the name of its maker, Magister G. Alpais, and the place, Limoges. The date should seem to be the middle of the fourteenth century.

I should next mention a brass ewer 13 inches in height, in the form of a knight on horseback, found in the river Tyne, near Hexham. It has been engraved in the "Archæologia Æliana," vol. iv. p. 76, and in "Antiquarian Gleanings in the North of England," pl. xxii.; in the former work will be found a most interesting paper by Dr. Charlton of Newcastle on these quaintly-formed ewers.

Three medallions, found in Bedfordshire, also claim our attention from their connection with an English Abbey, and