Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 19.djvu/196

Rh 18(5 PLATE early examples of this form of chalice have the bowl mounted in bands, set with jewels, and enriched with minute filigree work, a design which appears to have been taken from those cups, such as the four magnificent examples in the treasury of St Mark s at Venice, which have their bowl cut out of crystal, onyx, or some other precious stone. 1 The finest examples of this class are the Ardagh chalice, now in the Dublin Museum, and the chalice of St Remigius, in Kheims cathedral ; both are most magnificent specimens of the taste and skill of 11th-century goldsmiths. C shows the next form (12th and 13th centuries). The design is simpler ; there is a distinct shaft, extending above and below the knop ; and on the foot is marked a cross, not found in the earlier ones, to show which side the priest is to hold towards himself at celebration. The next alteration in the form of chalice, on a large scale, such as toilet services, wine-coolers, and even fire-dogs and tables. These are very florid in their ornament, and mostly have lost the beautiful forms of the century before (fig. 17). In the early part of the FIG. 16. Various shapes of Chalices, showing development from the earliest form. which occurred in the 14th century, was to make the foot not circular in plan but polygonal or lobed, so that the cup might not roll when laid on its side to drain, after it had been rinsed out. It thus took the shape D, and this form lasted in most countries till about 1500, and in England till the Reformation. In countries which did not adopt the Reformed faith the shape was altered, by the general growth of the Renaissance, into a form frequently like E. But in England the change was more complete ; the bowl, which in the previous two or three centuries had been slowly reduced in size, owing to the gradually introduced practice of re fusing the wine to the laity, was suddenly made more capacious, and the form was altered to the shape F, in order that the Pro testant &quot;communion cup&quot; might bear no resemblance to the old Catholic &quot; massing chalice.&quot; This was ordered to be done in 1562, {see Arch. Jour. xxv. 44-53). The last form, G, shows the usual shape of sepulchral chalices, which, before the Reformation, were enclosed in the coffins of all ecclesiastics who had received priest s orders. These are without the knop, and were frequently made of pewter, tin, or even wax, as they were not meant for use. In some few cases a real chalice was buried with some ecclesiastic of rank, but this was exceptional. Secular plate during the 15th and 16th centuries was very similar in style to that made in Germany, though the English silversmiths of the latter century never quite equalled the skill or artistic talent of the great Nurem berg and Augsburg silver-workers. In the 17th century, during the reigns of James I. and Charles I., many fine pieces of plate, especially tall hanaps and tankards, were made of very graceful form and decoration. The greater part of this, and all earlier plate, especially the fine collections belonging to the universities, were melted down during the Civil War. In Charles II. s reign returning prosperity and the increase of luxury in England caused the production of many magnificent pieces of plate, often 1 See De Fleury, La Messe, Paris, ] 882, in progress. FIG. 17. Covered Cup of solid gold. f&amp;gt; inches Inch, circa lfifiO-70. Given to Exeter College, Oxford, by George Hall, Bishop of Chester. 18th century the designs are mostly poor, and the decora tion rather coarse, till tho time of the classical revival which was brought about mainly by the discovery of the buried cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. A quite different style of plate then came into vogue semi- classical both in form and decoration, and often worked with great delicacy of treatment. A good deal of plate in this style was made under the influence of the brothers Adam (fig. 18), distinguished architects in the second half of the 18th century. Of modern plate from the art point of view there is nothing to say; it is nearly always poor in design and feeble in execution. The Assay of Gold and Silver Plate. Ihc primitive method of testing the purity of tin metal was by marking a streak with it on the touch-stone, and comparing the colour of the mark with that made by various pieces of gold or silver of known degrees of purity. Assay by cupellation is now employed for silver : a piece of the silver to be tested is melted with some lead in a cupel or bone-ash crucible ; the lead is oxidized, and rapidly sinks into the bone-ash, carrying with it any other im purities which are present. The residue of pure silver is then weighed, and by its loss FIG. is. silver Vase. 11 shows how much alloy it contained. Gold is inches hich, dated 1772. now tested by an elaborate chemical process ^^&quot;&quot;(s^K^M*) 0111618 by which the trial bit is dissolved in acid, and then thrown down in the form of precipitate, which can be ex amined by a careful quantitative analysis. See ASSAYIXG, GOLD, and SII.VEII. The standard of purity required in the time of Edward T. was, for gold, that it should be of the &quot; Paris touch,&quot; i.e., 191 carats out of 24. Before then 22 carats was the standard. Silver was to be &quot;of the sterling alloy,&quot; viz., 11 oz. 2 dwts. to the pound. Kxcept for a time during the 16th century, this standard of silver has been kept up, and is still required by law. Hall-marks on Silver. In the 13th century the English Guild of Gold- and Silver-smiths had grown into great importance, and had acquired monopolies and many special privileges. In order to keep the standard up to the required purity the system of requir ing each article to be stamped with certain marks was introduced by royal command. The first of these was the Kind s mark a leopard s or lion s head crowned. This was introduced in 1300 by Edward I. (29 Edw. I. stat. 3. c. 30). The second, the Makers mark, was added in 1363 (37 Edw. III. c, 7). This might be any badge or initial chosen by tho master silversmith himself. The third was the Year letter or Assayer s mark ; this was an alphabet, one letter being used for a year, counting from the day of the annual election of the warden of the Goldsmiths Company. When one alphabet was exhausted, another with differently shaped letters was begun. The first of these series of year-letters commences in 1438. The earliest existing piece of plate which has the three marks