Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 19.djvu/192

Rh 182 PLATE The British Museum possesses good specimens of Roman silver work in its last stage of decline. These are two large caskets or toilet boxes, with silver unguent vases, oblong Unices, paterae, ewers, spoons, and other objects, all found in Rome in 1793. The caskets are decorated in low relief with somewhat blunt repousst^ figures and orna ments. The rim of one casket is incised with the follow ing words SECUNBE ET PROIECTA VIVATIS IN CHRISTO. One of the silver vases has the words PELEGRINA VTERE FELIX. The legend on the casket, and the %. which appears among the ornaments, show that it was made for a Roman lady, named Projecta, who was a Christian ; her portrait, together with that of her husband Secundus, is on the centre of the lid in a medallion supported by two cupids. With the exception of a pair of small silver two- handled vases, undecorated, but of the purest Greek-like form, these various pieces of silver work probably date from the 5th century. 1 Plate from the Crimea. The finest collection of early gold and silver plate is that in the Musee de 1 Ermitage at St Petersburg, the result of many years excavation in the tombs of the Cimmerian Bosphorus. 2 Most of these magnificent pieces of plate, both in style of workmanship and the character of their decoration, resemble the work of Greek artists ; in some cases nothing but the costume of the figures embossed upon them shows that they were not produced in Athens. The earliest in style is a massive gold phiale (&amp;lt;^&amp;gt;iaA^ /txecro/A(/&amp;gt;aAos) covered with the richest and most minute surface ornament. The motive of the design is taken from an open lotus flower ; the petals form radiating lobes, and these petals are entirely covered with delicate scroll-work, surrounding Greek-like gorgons heads, and other smaller heads, savage-looking and bearded. Though perhaps rather overloaded with ornament, this beautiful phiale, which shows strong traces of Phoenician or Assyrian influence, is a real masterpiece of decorative design. Of later date, probably 4th century B.C., is a small gold bottle, Hellenic in form, but ornamented with a band of non- Hellenic figures in relief Scythian bowmen, as their dress clearly shows. The grandest piece of all is a large silver amphora, of about the same date, shaped like the Greek fictile amphorae, and ornamented with a beautiful flowing pattern, of pure Hellenic honeysuckle form, mingled with birds and very highly projecting animals heads. On the shoulder of the vase there is a band of Scythians and horses, executed with great spirit and refinement. 3 It is difficult to believe that this splendid vase, so graceful in outline, and so pure in its decoration, was not produced by some famous Athenian toreutes. Oriental Plate. Some very curious pieces of plate both in gold and silver have been found in northern India; these appear to be of native workmanship, but the subjects with which they are embossed, and the modelling of the figures, show that they were produced under late Roman influence, or in some cases possibly even Greek influence in a highly degraded state, handed down from the time of Alexander s Indian conquests. Under the Sasanian kings of Persia (from the 3rd to 6th centuries) very massive and richly decorated gold vases, bowls, and bottles were made (fig. 8). Those which still exist show a curious mingling of ancient Assyrian art with that of Rome in its decline. Reliefs representing winged lions, or the sacred tree between its attendant beasts, alternate with subjects from Roman mythology, 1 Vise onti, Una SupeUettile d Argento, Rome, 1825. 2 See Stephani, Antiquites du Jiosphore Cimmerien, 1854, and t omjite-rendu de la Commission Imperiale, St Petersburg, 1859, and still in progress. 3 Goz. des li. Arts, xxv. 19-39, 1882. such as the rape of Ganymede ; but all are treated alike with much originality, and in a highly decorative manner. The Paris Bibliotheque and the Vienna Museum contain some fine specimens. The gold and silver work of Russia resembles in style that of Byzantium at an early period. Shrines and other magnificent pieces of plate in the treasury of the cathedral at Moscow (see Weltmann, Le trcsor de Mosam, 1861), though executed at the end of the 15th century, are exactly similar in design to Byzantine work of the llth or 12th century, and even since then but little change or development of style has taken place. The caliphs of Baghdad, the sultans of Egypt, and other Moslem rulers were onco famed for their rich stores of plate, which was probably of extreme beauty both in design and workmanship. Little or nothing of this Muslem plate now remains, and it is only possible to judge of its style and magnificence from the fine works in brass and other less valuable metals which have survived to our time. Early Medieval Plate. The Gothic, Gaulish, and other semi-barbarian peoples, who in the 6th century were Fig. 8. Fig. 9. FIG. 8. Sasanian Gold Bottle, about 10 inches high. Intlie Vienna Museum FIG. 9. -Gold Ewer, 15 inches high, from the Petrossa treasure. masters of Spain, France, and parts of central Europe, produced great quantities of work in the precious metals, especially gold, often of great magnificence of design and not without some skill in workmanship. In 1837 a large number of pieces of very massive gold plate were found at Petrossa in Roumania ; much of this find was unfortun ately broken up and melted, but a considerable portion was saved, and is now in the museum at Bucharest. These magnificent objects are all of solid gold, and consist of large dishes, vases, ewers, baskets of open work, and personal ornaments (fig. 9). Some of them show a strong Roman influence in their design, others are more purely barbaric in style. To the first of these classes belongs a very fine phiale or patera, 10 inches in diameter. In the centre is a seated statuette of a goddess, holding a cup, while all round, in high relief, are standing figures of various male and female deities, purely Roman in style. Though the execution is somewhat clumsy, there is much reminiscence of classical grace in the attitudes and drapery of these figures. A large basket and other pieces, made of square bars of gold arranged so as to form an open pattern of stiff geometrical design, have nothing in common with the vessels in which Roman influence is