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#ENGRAVED GEMS#
ENGRAVED GEMS
BY
MAXWELL SOMMERVILLE
PROFESSOR OF GLYPTOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA; AUTHOR OF “SANDS
OF SAHARA,” “SIAM,” ETC.; CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE SOCIÉTÉ
ACADÉMIQUE DES SCIENCES, ARTS ET BELLES-LETTRES
DU DÉPARTEMENT DE L’AUBE,
FRANCE, ETC.
[Illustration]
DREXEL BIDDLE, PUBLISHER
PHILADELPHIA LONDON
SAN FRANCISCO TORONTO
1901
COPYRIGHT, 1901
BY
MAXWELL SOMMERVILLE
PRINTED BY
DREXEL BIDDLE
PHILADELPHIA LONDON
PREFACE.
My former treatise, “Engraved Gems, their Place in the History of Art,”
being largely illustrated and inconvenient in size, I have abridged the
work and with new material prepared this volume.
The various epochs of gem engraving from the earliest eras down to the
XVIII. century are briefly described.
Many people throughout the year cast passing glances at my glyptic
collection in the Free Museum of Science and Art of the University of
Pennsylvania.
They express great admiration of the beautiful objects in stones of
many colors and interesting designs.
It was never intended to make only an attractive display; what I have
always desired and hoped for was that a proportion of our visitors
would recognize in my life’s work a contribution to science.
It is a classified representation of the glyptic work of more than
forty centuries, so carefully arranged that those who care to learn
through the medium of those beautiful engraved stones, cylinders,
seals, and Gnostic tokens, may inform themselves intelligently on the
science which these gems of all epochs so thoroughly exemplify.
Men in this Western World during the last three hundred years have been
engrossed in the pursuit and acquisition of fortunes.
A fair proportion of the population now having secured competency, that
condition once assured, with increased opportunities for intellectual
culture and the enjoyment of art, the development of refined tastes
and pursuits in America has been marked by the formation of many
private collections. Amateurs have gradually become connoisseurs in
manuscripts, ceramics, enamels, engravings, ancient coins, armor,
and arms. Happily, each is engrossed in his particular branch of
antiquities.
It is to be hoped that we may all profit by their researches, and that
the antique objects acquired by them may be stored in the Archæological
Museums of the world, that all who will may view them and learn from
them.
MAXWELL SOMMERVILLE.
Presuming that the majority of my readers would understand the Latin
inscription from an engraved stone, which decorates the cover of this
book, I have not given any translation. By request I add the following
explanation:
NON SOLVM NO|BIS NATI SVMVS|ORTVSQVE NOSTRI|PARTEM
PATRIA SI|BI VENDICAT PARTEM|PARENTES PARTEM AMICI|
“Not alone for ourselves were we born, and of our
birth our country claims for itself a part, our parents
a part, our friends a part” (vendicat for vindicat).
On the reverse of the stone, which is not shown, is the inscription--
MORTIS MORES OMNIBUS ÆQUALES.
This is one of those peculiar maxims so often found in the Latin
language, as it is employed in epitaphs. The simplest manner in which
it can be translated is as follows:
{manners}
{customs} {are}
“The {usage } of Death {is } equal for all.”
{law }
Death is here personified, as was Peace, Justice, Concord, etc., by the
Romans.
MAXWELL SOMMERVILLE.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
ENGRAVED GEMS 11
EGYPT 16
PERSIA AND BABYLON 22
THE ETRUSCANS--ETRURIA 36
PHŒNICIA 43
GREECE 48
ROMAN 55
ABRAXAS 58
EARLY CHRISTIANS 65
BYZANTINE 68
MEDIÆVAL 76
RENAISSANCE 80
SUCCEEDING DECLINES AND REVIVALS 86
SOME TYPES OF REMARKABLE GEMS 89
RELIGION ON STONES 98
HISTORIC CAMEOS 104
ANIMALS AND BIRDS 112
ANTIQUE PASTES 116
MYTHOLOGICAL 121
CHINESE, BURMESE, AND SIAMESE 123
AZTEC OR MEXICAN 127
RETROSPECTIVE 129
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
Protogenis, a Comedian of the Second Century, with a Mask,
Playing the Character of Meleager, the “Wild Boar Hunter,”
Engraved in His Time 11
Vestal Virgins Guarding the Palladium, the Sacred Effigy of Minerva 15
Egyptian 17
Egyptian Scarabeus: The Barque of the Sun, Represented by the
Hieroglyph of the City of Heliopolis. The Obelisk below with
the God Ra--and the Deess Ma, together Ra-Men-Ma, the Prenomen
of King Set First, Second King of the XIX. Dynasty 21
Portrait of Sapor 22
Allegorical Sketch of Persia 23
Impressions of Babylonian Cylinders 27
Impressions of Assyrian, Persian, Hittite, Phœnician, and Cyprian
Cylinders 29
Allegorical Sketch of the Source of History 33
Persian Seals 35
Etruscan Sketch 37
Etruscan Scarabeus 40
Phœnician Scarabei and Intaglios 42
Phœnician Intaglios, Mask, etc. 45
Callimachus, the Greek Inventor of the Corinthian Capitol 48
Greek and Roman Intaglio Rings 50
Cameo, the Greek Pallas 52
Roman Gems 54
Cameo in High Relief, Roman Emperor Caracalla 57
Abraxas or Gnostic Gems 59
Abraxas Token 62
Abraxas or Gnostic Gems 63
Early Christian Token 67
Byzantine Gems 69
Byzantine Cabinet and Gems 73
The Annunciation 75
An Orgie of Silenus 78
Renaissance-Medici Period 81
Noah’s Ark 85
A very fine Intaglio by Giovanni Pickler--Ceres 87
Jupiter Ægiochus 91
The Triumph of Constantine 95
John the Baptist Preaching in the Wilderness 103
Historic Cameos: 1347, Trajan offering a Sacrifice to Mars
Vincitore; 1348, the Triumphant Entry of Titus Vespasianus
into Jerusalem 105
Coriolanus: His Mother and Wife Beseeching Him to Raise the
Siege of Rome 107
Historic Cameos: 1339, Trajan Pursuing a Wild Boar; 1350 and
1351, Prisoners; 1349, the Exit from Jerusalem of the
Victorious Army of Titus Vespasianus, the Golden Candlesticks,
etc. 109
Cock and Serpent: The Cock Intaglio, “Vigilance;” The Serpent
in Relief--Cameo; The Serpent’s Tail in its Mouth, “Eternity” 115
Antique Pastes 117
Fragment of Antique Paste, Basso-rilievo 120
A Chimera: Four Faces and the Horn of Jupiter Ammon 122
A Chinese Cameo 124
Aztec or Mexican 126
Aztec or Mexican 128
Odenatus and Zenobia 130
[Illustration]
ENGRAVED GEMS.
When specimens of any ancient art industry are brought together and
classified in a museum it is interesting to compare each piece and
trace the work from the hands of the different nationalities through
all the transitions and changing history of past centuries.
My collection exemplifies the progress in execution of engraved gems
from the most primitive eras through periods of varying excellence
and of inevitable decline. The quality of the execution approaches
perfection and degenerates as in a geometrical progression repeating
itself in reverse; advancing and improving in fineness up to nearly the
end of the first century, the century of Christ, and from the beginning
of the second century retrograding to the base of mediocrity at the end
of the fifth century.
The sixth and seventh centuries, the Byzantine period, yielded a group
of principally religious cameos, abundant, curious, and of great
interest.
This was succeeded by several hundred years not of repose in the
art, but of wretched ignorance, when man almost ceased to create
a connecting link in the history of the glyptic art. With rare
exceptions, the specimens of that time scarcely merit the designation
of gems: it was a period that may be reasonably identified as the night
of art, when, alas! in the darkness blows were stricken which destroyed
and reduced to fragments much that was precious and beautiful, and
vandalism, contributing nothing that was fair, robbed us of a large
part of our inheritance.
The progression alluded to is, in my estimation, only a question of
comparative beauty. If we seek for, or are capable of appreciating, the
most interesting, that which gives us history, we must find it at the
beginning of that progression--the era of the Babylonians--with its
messages handed down to us on their wonderful cylinders.
My path of research has led me where are gathered stones--engraved
stones, art-links in a carved chain reaching from the earliest
cylinders and seals of the Persians, centuries before and beyond those
wonderful stone books, the inscribed temples of Egypt.
Whilst considering and studying these specimens of the work of the
ancients we will walk upon the crumbled ruins of by-gone centuries;
our retrospective view shall be where changing elements, rust, and age
have spared but traces of palaces and temples; we will stroll beside
the pebbled course of a rapid stream until we reach a grove where I
oft have been, and found a rich repast; no shrines, no obelisks, no
statues, naught but these precious little stepping-stones, by which
we will follow the stream of thus revealed history, and in the vale
of antiquity, with these miniature monuments, study and enjoy the
indelible portraiture of ages.
Palaces, obelisks, statues, and the walls of ancient cities have rarely
been preserved to us, other than in decay, ruin, and fragments.
Yet engraved gems, those smaller monuments on hard stones, have been
spared in the very débris of these larger structures, and we are thus
enabled to secure examples of the handiwork of one branch of art,
covering many epochs and periods.
My earnest eyes have looked up to and gazed upon the silent monuments
and shrines of men, who during long centuries have rested from their
scientific labors. A wanderer in lands adapted to my researches, my
object has been to learn something of these mute monitors and to bring
back to my native land examples of the special branch of ancient art
which has been the pursuit of my life. Many discouraging moments, even
years, have been passed, yet always with the hope that my labor and its
results might some day be appreciated.
Years ago while rejoicing in the possession of the glyptic portraits of
the Emperors Tiberius, Caracalla, Constantine, and that of Faustina,
I thought with pleasant anticipation of the moment when on returning
from voyages of acquisition I might introduce them to intellectual
friends of “Science and Art.”
These gems are here being considered in their respective epochs. Those
who desire to inform themselves on the science of “Engraved Gems” will
find in these pages a brief view of that subject; it is in response to
many friendly demands, and shall be as concise as reasonably possible,
in keeping with ancient records on engraved stones, cylinders, and
seals. Your attention is asked to this general view of the subject,
with the hope that it may enlist some inquirers and admirers of this
glyptic question, so little esteemed or understood in these days; a
subject not only representing a branch of art covering a period of
forty odd centuries, but a science through whose engraved gems we have
been enabled to enrich our knowledge of the ancient history of the
world.
Each nation which in ancient times practised the glyptic art, produced
a certain style or quality of execution.
After serious study of the general subject of glyptology, one finds
that the work of each epoch, and of each nationality, bears some
unmistakable trait. These features we can almost always recognize as
emanating from a certain people.
So completely have we acquired an acquaintance with the various
characteristics of each nation’s handiwork in engraving gems, that we
are enabled also to discern the epoch; not to a year, but within a
century or even a decade.
In proportion to the rudeness of the incisions we recognize the
barbaric condition of the people among whom they were incised; also in
proportion to the fineness of the incision, beauty of conception, and
execution of the design, do we estimate the civilization of the epoch
and of the people.
Some of the nations who have bequeathed us engraved gems were, in
two respects, the first sculptors. They were first, not only because
none of ability had preceded them, but rather were they first in art
rank, and in excellence of conception; their execution has never been
surpassed; their statues and high reliefs have never been equalled in
modern times.
Many of those colossal art works in stone have been transported to the
Vatican, to France, England, Austria, Germany, Russia, some even to
America; we are all conversant with them. Therefore, you can readily
imagine how we define and classify the work of each epoch and nation,
when a miscellaneous mass of engraved gems are placed before us for
classification.
[Illustration]
EGYPT.
Everyone in these days is familiar with those colossal stone figures
of Rameses, Osiris, Thotmes, and others in the sands of Egypt. Their
heavy, placid countenances, almost seeming to dream, while their inert
arms and hands hold forth the insignia of autocrats of Egypt under the
Pharaohs.
In Egypt, especially in the earlier or more remote dynasties, man seems
to have had the intention of handing down to posterity the records of
his power, his possessions, and of his own appearance, on great stone
statues, obelisks, and basso-rilievos, in the most indestructible
manner.
Besides the colossal stone bequests created for generations unborn,
happily they produced the same portraitures and cartouches in miniature
gems. The majority of the temple decorations in stone have crumbled,
while we can possess and enjoy the glyptic relics which have survived
the ravages of time uninjured.
SOMMERVILLE COLLECTION.
[Illustration: 467]
[Illustration: 480 obverse.]
[Illustration: 489 obverse.]
[Illustration: 458]
[Illustration: 480 reverse.]
[Illustration: 489 reverse.]
[Illustration: 456]
EGYPTIAN.
Among the Scarabei are especially interesting examples larger in size
termed funereal; No. 1476 in my University Collection is one of those
Scarabei which were buried with the dead, sometimes on the breast
underneath the wrappings, and sometimes within the body of the mummy
in the place of the heart. The heart was embalmed separately in a
vase, and placed under the protection of the genius Duaoumautew. This
doubtlessly was done because the heart was considered indispensable
for the resurrection, yet it could not be placed in the body until it
had been upon the scales and had passed the judgment of Osiris. When
the sentence was favorable it was promised that “his heart shall be
returned to its original cavity.” The heart, the principle of existence
and regeneration, was symbolized by the Scarabeus. This is why texts
relative to the heart were inscribed on funereal Scarabei. On this
Scarabeus the deceased speaks, saying: “I hope that my soul shall
speedily quit or rise from the regions infernal, and, reappearing on
earth, may do all that pleases it.”
Also No. 1479, a funereal Scarabeus, interesting from the fact that
the inscription contains part of the 30th chapter of the Book of the
Dead--that is, the chapter concerning the heart: “My heart, which comes
to me from my mother--my heart, necessary to my existence on earth--do
not raise thyself against me among or before the chief divinities.”
These were the superior gods, whom the Egyptians supposed to be in the
immediate surrounding or presence of Isis.
The remainder of the inscription is less legible. On the first line
is the name of Osiris Jam (all the dead had Osiris prefixed to
their names); on the last line is the name of his father, which is
indistinct; it was evidently the same as the name of a plant, and
ending with M, but cannot be defined; that is, it is inscribed “son of
----,” and then the unintelligible name alluded to.
Also No. 1457, a funereal Scarabeus, on which the deceased, speaking,
expresses hopes, continually repeated, that his soul may have a happy
voyage, happy relief, and transport from the inevitable transitory
domain to which all are consigned.
Also No. 1480, Egyptian Scarabeus, containing a vow or wish, a vase
representing a libation. The sum of the rendering of the inscription
is: “I dedicate my life to truth, and hope for cooling breezes and
libations.”
And No. 1461. The inscription expresses a vow or wish: “NEFER KHET
NEB”--“All things good (for thee)!”--a New Year’s wish.
There were artisans who engraved the larger funereal Scarabei and
kept them ready made on sale, so that in the event of a man dying
unexpectedly in youth or the prime of life who had not thought to
prepare for his sojourn in the tomb, his family repaired to these
shops, and, choosing a Scarabeus to their taste or liking, purchased
it; the engraver then added the name of the deceased, and they placed
it under the wrappings of the mummy.
These traffickers also did a thriving trade with the living: many
provided themselves in advance. There were always a variety from which
to choose; the engraver had them for every taste. They were inscribed
with just such vows or wishes for the future and the repose or the
enjoyment of the soul, or the commending of the soul to the patronage
and protection of some special god or deess, as the case might demand
for a man or a woman. Often selections were given from the poetic
devotional writings of their mentors, and frequently we meet with
selections from the Book of the Dead.
We find shreds and examples of the costumes of the occupants of
graves of other ancient nations. These garments were made, as now,
that the body might be decorously placed at rest. This we also find
in Egypt, the mummy-wrappings concealing and protecting the Scarabei
presenting this beautiful sentiment, indeed unique--a symbol that was
worn in life, emblematic of its ephemeral tenure and of the ultimate
resurrection from death and the grave; a symbol that accompanied its
owner to the narrow home, not to ornament it, but as a token of that
tenant’s belief that this would be only a brief occupancy; a symbol
ready to be worn when that tenant should enter on his resurrection into
an eternal lease of joy in a world beyond.
[Illustration]
PERSIA AND BABYLON.
We are particularly interested in the curious and elaborately engraved
cylinders and seals of the Assyrians, Persians, the Babylonians, the
Chaldeans, the Hittites, which not only give us their costumes, but
are laden with cuneiform inscriptions. In my collection there is a gem
of the same style of work as the stone slab in the University Museum
procured by Professor H. V. Hilprecht from the ancient palace of
Ashurna Sirbal, King of Assyria 884 to 860 B. C.
[Illustration]
This glyptic specimen is in miniature, engraved on a rich wine-colored
dark sard bearing a portrait of King Sapor I.; he was the second of the
Sassanians, who reigned in the third century. He was crowned in the
year 242 A. D. It is surrounded by an inscription in Sassanian. Sapor’s
invasion of Palmyra and his contests with the forces of Zenobia are
interesting incidents of that romantic episode in Oriental history.
[Illustration: PERSIAN AND SASSANIAN SEALS.]
Cylinders are evidently the oldest form of seals, though it is believed
that the art originated on sections of wooden reeds. We find Chaldean
cylinders now more than 4000 years old.
The signets of kings in the cylindric form were incised in the harder
and more precious materials, such as chalcedony in several hues,
the fairest those tinged with a sapphire tint (though not the most
ancient), sards, carnelians, and occasionally beautiful red jasper;
hematite in abundance; serpentine and many softer stones, alabaster,
steatite, etc.
It remains a question on what materials the impressions were made,
though scientists have learned that the figures in relief on patties
of pipe-clay found so plentifully in Babylon are the imprints of these
cylinders.
Though a large proportion of cylinders are rudely designed and more
coarsely executed, many of them are freely, vigorously, and well drawn,
evincing a high degree of talent.
Remark the anatomical drawings of man and beast; they are unsurpassed
in any age, especially the contest between men and lions, where
naturally the muscles are strongly developed and show prominently.
As bearers of messages from that remote period, they come more welcome
to us than the fairest Greek or Roman intaglios.
With an interesting pictured and lettered cylinder in hand one may have
before him one of the keys to the most ancient fountain-heads in which
history is locked up. My taste has grown and perhaps been influenced by
long association with such gems, until I now often find more pleasure
in regarding a rude fragment of Assyrian work than I did thirty years
ago when I sought only the beautiful.
The place of these Babylonian cylinders in the history of art cannot be
classed as decorative, for as they were originally used only as seals,
and mostly business or official signets, they were not at that time
used to decorate the person, though they were worn on necklaces and
bracelets by the ancient Greeks.
No. 499 in my collection is one of the most interesting because the
great and lamented François Lenormant examined it with me, wrote his
opinion, and expressed his admiration of it.
It is a Babylonian cylinder, 29 millimetres broad by 3 millimetres in
length. On it is represented a seated god with a two-horned head-dress
in a long flounced dress; before him an altar with four spreading legs,
an antelope, a small walking figure, a scorpion, two birds facing one
another; other human figures.
Lenormant wrote while attending a seance of l’Institut de France.
SOMMERVILLE COLLECTION.
[Illustration: 1403]
[Illustration: 1405]
[Illustration: 498]
[Illustration: 499]
[Illustration: 1374]
IMPRESSIONS OF BABYLONIAN CYLINDERS.
SOMMERVILLE COLLECTION.
[Illustration: ASSYRIAN. 1366]
[Illustration: PERSIAN. 1402]
[Illustration: HITTITE. 1401]
[Illustration: PHŒNICIAN. 495]
[Illustration: CYPRIAN. 1370]
IMPRESSIONS OF ASSYRIAN, PERSIAN, HITTITE, PHŒNICIAN, AND CYPRIAN
CYLINDERS.
“This cylinder which appears to be of serpentine belongs
incontestably to the most antique epoch of Chaldean art of the first
years of the ancient empire. It is at least contemporaneous with those
cylinders bearing the names of the oldest kings of d’Ous and like those
of the Dungi.”
Persia and Assyria furnish us also a beautiful series of seals; the
earlier conical, then a series of spherical seals, with one side
flattened, on which is the design and inscription, and then the later
Sassanian, also spherical, yet more flattened on the sides, which are
pierced, and whose circumferences are beautifully ornamented.
There exist a large series of subjects adopted by their owners on
account of their superstitious belief in their talismanic virtues;
and quite a series of rudely-drawn animals emblematic of vigilance,
fidelity, courage, strength, etc. Sometimes on seals as well as on
cylinders a full-length figure is given in whose costume there is a
marked peculiarity of drapery, the folds crossing the form diagonally,
like a Burmese Sarong.
They are on a great variety of chalcedonies, sards, jaspers, and other
beautiful stones of color.
Those of the Assyrians, dating as far back as 1110 B. C., resemble in
form the bells herdsmen hang upon their grazing cattle that they may
hear them when they have strayed.
The location of the ancient Persians in proximity to India, whose
river-beds were rich in varieties of hard water-worn pebbles, enabled
them to procure from thence suitable stones for decoration and for
inscriptions. Thousands of these decorated and inscribed stones have
been unearthed and are to-day in our possession; glyptologists can and
have read them. Many examples of these cylinders, seals, and their
imprints are before you.
It is proven that the Assyrians knew of and practiced the art of
engraving on stone; we are not fully convinced that they were the first
to practice the art.
We are frequently able to corroborate glyptic inscriptions by
statements in Holy Writ, though we certainly find on ancient cylinders,
incisions many centuries anterior to the records to which we have here
alluded.
We know little of the Assyrian divinities through ancient manuscripts,
yet we have volumes about their deities written on the cylinders of
Babylon and Nineveh. They were seldom in metallic mountings, but, being
pierced with holes, were strung on cords and worn on the wrist and neck.
There is a host of occupants of the Assyrian heaven, with Asshur the
supreme god, Beltis Mylitta the great mother, etc.; and on the seals in
sard and chalcedony we have sacred doves, lions, horses, etc., and a
winged bull, Nin, the god of hunting, etc.
These intaglio seals were often used as locks; the doors of
wine-cellars were secured by placing a seal upon them. Cylinders have
also been made by several races of South American Indians, and are
still to be seen in Brazil.
[Illustration: BABYLONIAN CYLINDERS, THE SOURCE OF HISTORY.]
We have a most interesting and instructive illustration of the
value of modern research among the relics of antiquity in the fact
that in 1854, Sir Henry Rawlinson, in deciphering the inscriptions on
some cylinders found in the ruins of Um-Kir (the ancient Ur of the
Chaldees), made historical discoveries in regard to the last King of
Babylon that confirmed the truth of the book of Daniel, and harmonized
discrepancies between Holy Scripture and profane history which up to
that time had been hopelessly irreconcilable.
Among the bequests from Persia many gems are engraved on the hardest
and most precious stones; they present us with portraits of their
monarchs, deities, legends, religious creeds, and seals of office.
Though rude, they are exceedingly interesting from their antiquity
and as being the achievements of a people so remote from the European
centre of civilization.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
THE ETRUSCANS--ETRURIA.
The country of the ancient Etruscans was north from the Tiber to the
Ciminian Forest and the Tolfa Mountains.
They have bequeathed us a mass of gems, a large proportion in the
form of Scarabei, and many really fine intaglios, which were not only
used as seals, but served as decorations, both in finger-rings and
as brooches for women. The Etruscan tombs have yielded many Scarabei
in mountings of virgin gold, sometimes the precious metal twisted,
again corrugated; also some ornamental gold work as brooches. The sard
and chalcedony beetles usually had an engraved beaded margin, and
were revolvable, being set on a pivot which was attached to a frame
generally oval in form.
The Etruscans, unlike their predecessors, have left us few examples
other than the very gems and Scarabei by which to study their glyptic
work. We have the decorations of their sepulchral homes; we know of
their costumes by their mural paintings in those subterranean chambers.
Their glyptic style is unique; a series of deeply-drilled cavities,
afterward joined to one another, forming designs frequently contorted
by the artist in his endeavor to bring his subject into the very
limited space of the under face of the Scarabeus.
[Illustration: ETRUSCAN.]
The Etruscans probably borrowed the idea of the Scarabeus form of gem
from the Egyptians; they certainly shaped it more beautifully. They
seem to have adopted only the symbol.
There was a difference in the quality of their Scarabei corresponding
with the classes or stations in the life of the people; those cut for
royalty, nobility, or the wealthy naturally received more attention in
forming and finishing.
Those for the tradespeople, the well-to-do, we find quite a distinctive
order. In this group they are less graceful in shape, the beetles are
rounder, thicker, and shorter, not so carefully finished, as also
the simpler borders formed of two lines just within the edge, either
crossed with regular, straight, or oblique lines forming bars, with
some little variety of pattern.
The Etruscans called themselves the Rasenna; the early Italians knew
them as the Tusci or Etrusci. The Greeks denominated the race as
Turrhenoi or Tursenoi, and the ancient Latin name was Tursci.
The engraved records of the Etruscans have hitherto successfully defied
all attempts at interpretation. Now that the Assyrian and Egyptian
records have been read, these Etruscan inscriptions present the only
considerable philological problem that still remains unsolved. But that
it remains unsolved has not been for want of effort. A vast amount of
ingenuity and of erudition has been wasted in attempts to explain the
inscriptions by the aid of Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Phœnician, Arabic,
Ethiopic, Chinese, Coptic, and Basque have all been tried in vain.
It may be safely affirmed that few of these attempts have been regarded
as satisfactory by any person except their authors.
A comparison of the Etruscan inscriptions with the characters of the
Finno-Turkic language, a form of speech employed by those inhabiting
the region lying between the Ural and the Altai Mountains, has, I
believe, resulted with the first and only success that has ever
attended such investigations.
[Illustration]
SOMMERVILLE COLLECTION.
[Illustration: 548]
[Illustration: 546]
[Illustration: 553]
[Illustration: 558]
[Illustration: 555]
[Illustration: 554]
PHŒNICIAN SCARABEI AND INTAGLIOS.
PHŒNICIA.
Alas, we have to dig deep and toil to learn all we want to know so
much about these people who 2500 years ago inhabited that narrow
mountain-guarded strip of land looking westward on the same emerald sea
that to-day breaks on the shore of what is now Syria.
They have consigned us no books, no pamphlets, no journals, not a
page--only here and there do we unearth a graven stone, an inscribed
cylinder and Scarabeus; and with these stone fragments of that nation’s
literary bequests we will hope to obtain some idea of the history
of Phœnicia--Phœnicia, whose people, not content with mounting five
thousand feet to the temple of the Casian Jupiter, to see the sun
upon the morning horizon, floated away on their frail barks on the
deep waters, seeking light, knowledge, and gain. Mythology was their
religion, which, like the subjects and styles of their engraved stones
and gems of iridescent antique paste, was borrowed from Assyria,
Greece, and even somewhat from the myths of the people among whom many
of them settled.
Herodotus speaks of the Phœnicians as a branch of the Semitic or
Aramæan nations; they originally dwelt on the shores of the Erythrean
Sea. They also occupied islands in the Persian Gulf, among others
Aradus and Tylus, where temples in Phœnician architecture were found;
and it is known that the Phœnicians left these islands and colonized in
the Ægean and Mediterranean Seas before the time of Joshua, 1444 B. C.
Of the Romans and the Grecians, we have their history through the
writings of their own historians; and of the Egyptians, by their
monuments teeming with hieroglyphics, history, and theology. Of the
Phœnicians little is extant in writings from their own people; we
are dependent on what other nations have recorded--in fact, what we
know of them may be called tradition. The Phœnicians were termed
“the merchants of many isles.” We can hardly say they cultivated the
arts at home, for wherever they went, there they made their home; on
every island inhabited by them are found evidences of their industry
as gem-cutters--intaglios, scarabei, and seals. I remember how I was
impressed on going ashore at Syra and walking through its beautiful
amphitheatral city of to-day, whose site had once known those very
Phœnicians, examples of whose gems may be seen in my collection.
They emigrated as far west as Sardinia. Sardinia was originally called
Sandaleotis, from its form, which resembles a human foot or its
imprint, where during centuries a moderate harvest has been reaped of
gems emanating from their handiwork.
SOMMERVILLE COLLECTION.
[Illustration: 1810]
[Illustration: 1799]
[Illustration: 1805]
[Illustration: 1795]
[Illustration: 1796]
[Illustration: 519]
[Illustration: 1800]
PHŒNICIA.
To a practised eye their work is distinguishable from that of other
nations; the touch, drawing, execution, and the distinctive character
of their subjects render them readily recognizable. Yet the symbolic
characters are not entirely distinctive, for they often clearly
indicate imitation of Assyrian and Egyptian work and design. For that
reason it is often difficult to decide or classify gem-objects found in
many of the islands once colonized by them, from the very fact that in
design they at times lack originality.
They were a migratory people, and in this brief glance at the whole
range of our subject we shall be satisfied with mention of their colony
at Tharros, on the island at Sardinia, where the most unquestionably
authentic Phœnician Scarabei have been found in excavations made during
the last sixty years. They are principally cut on green jasper, and in
character resemble Persian designs.
In these times we write our history every day on millions of great
pages of white paper. In almost no contingency will future generations
have any difficulty of learning who we were, where we came from, how
we have formed the master metal--iron--into thousands of implements
and instruments, or how they have been employed; being supplied with
our ready inscribed history, they can begin where we have left off and
profit by our experience.
[Illustration]
GREECE.
The earliest specimens of Greek gems bore traces of Egyptian style;
they represented objects rather symbolically than by artistic
delineation of the beautiful in the human form or in nature. On the box
of Cypselus death was represented with crooked legs, beauty and youth
by long tresses of hair, power by long hands, swiftness and agility by
long feet. Many of the oldest Greek statues were accompanied with the
names of the subjects represented, which seems to imply that the artist
was conscious of his deficiency, both in character and expression.
Yet in time they created single figures and groups in fair marble,
whose symmetry and exquisite modelling of the human form command the
admiration of all. They are either at rest or displaying the muscles,
sinews, and even the passions of athletic men and adorable women.
Greece was the source of the finest and richest glyptic art-treasures
in a decorative sense. Grecian intaglios are of superb execution, of
exquisite fineness and finish. This superiority can in a measure be
accounted for by the encouragement the profession received from the
nation, both from rulers and from the people.
[Illustration: GREEK AND ROMAN INTAGLIO RINGS.]
In proportion to the extended cultivation of taste and the increased
demand, the ranks of the incisori were repleted. Among so many
contestants rivalry and emulation had a very happy effect in forming
and creating artists who were indeed eminent, and whose works even
to-day sparkle as jewel-gems in the diadem which crowns the history of
their place in art.
The perfect finish, polish, and detail of their choicest examples
render them superior to the gems of any other people, even to many that
come from Roman sources.
It is often almost impossible intelligently to explain the difference
between the gems of the Greeks and the Romans; such power of
distinguishing one from the other is only to be gained by long
observation and close study of the subject.
Many of them, however, seem to say to us whenever we meet them in
exile, “We are of Ancient Greece, Grecians of the epoch and home of
Pericles the patron, and Phidias the practitioner.” We are reminded
of these classic, silent monuments when we meet and recognize the
strictly glyptic work of the incisori of the land of the Parthenon.
It is by comparison and contrast that we study and classify their
gems. Beautiful stones have recently been discovered at Mycenæ, among
which are engraved gems bearing effigies of animals curiously and
artistically drawn, and which, by their Oriental style, prove that
the ancient Greeks, who bequeathed so much to their successors, also
inherited art-models from a people 1000 years B. C.
At first the colonists incised what was known as the Hellenic style,
and then, as they fraternized with the Romans, and as the Romans
made incisions under the Greek teaching, their glyptic works showed
the Greek influence, and such works constituted the gems of the
Græco-Romano. Many of the intaglios by Romans, of this school, were
signed in Greek characters, and can be seen in my collection. This act
of a Roman signing his name in characters other than the Latin letters
peculiar to his own country shows how Grecian art was appreciated in
the Græco-Roman epoch.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: GRÆCO-ROMAN.]
ROMAN.
The classic multitudinous gems of the Roman period: their emperors,
statesmen, warriors, and poets--in fact, some of their gems have given
to us the only perfect portraits in miniature that have been preserved
from ancient time; incidents of their conflicts, their sports, games,
and apparel--with the mass of chimeras and at times mysteries. The
endless grand historical cameos, some of which in my collection
represent nineteen and even twenty-two figures in good relief carefully
engraved on a single stone. We know that gem-engraving in Rome in the
prolific period was celebrated for the greatest diversity of subjects
both in cameos and intaglios. Rome, the patroness of the ancient world.
Rome did not achieve this phenomenal position unaided, though in its
palmiest days it was the art shrine of the nations. To attain this
position it drew from comparatively distant sources, and borrowed
talent wherever it was available.
When Rome’s reputation as the glyptic school was heralded and
established throughout the nations as the art centre of the world, it
became as we have inferred, the vortex into which hosts of artisans
were attracted, and who, when once there, established themselves.
They were well received; were elated with plenty of occupation,
emolument, and good prices; in their new life they identified
themselves with their fellow incisori, and became Romans, or, at least,
Græco-Romans.
In fact, the variety in styles and designs produced by all the ancient
peoples of Italy was due to emigration. Profiting by the culture and
art experience of Etruria, Rome learned from the Etruscan architects,
potters, die-sinkers, and gem-engravers.
They learned from these more ancient incisori many useful lessons which
enabled them to accomplish wonders. Within the limited space available
on those little gem stones, they depicted with complicated minuteness
details of events in actual history, and displayed remarkable tact
and astonishing powers of composition in their rendering of groups of
figures and mythological deities in scenes of quasi historical events.
Though we have seen the work of the Græco-Romans bearing evidence of
combined influence and instruction, there was even at that very epoch
a school, or powerful class of artists, in Rome, who retained their
own individuality, who were Romans of Rome, and from whose hands, and
from their successors, we have inherited grand cameos and intaglios,
portraying their emperors, statesmen, philosophers, mythological
subjects, and occasionally groups recording important events in Roman
history.
Considering we find Roman glyptic work of merit until nearly the
close of the second century A. D., there was in all a period of good
gem-engraving covering about eight hundred years.
Throughout all this time the glyptic art flourished under the
protection of kings and emperors, who for the general encouragement of
the civilizing arts, served their own interests and gratified their
tastes for luxury and the beautiful by their constant patronage of
gem-engraving.
[Illustration]
ABRAXAS.
The unique mystic gems of the Gnostics, known as the Abraxas, are a
series by themselves; they had no prototype.
Their strangely decorated and inscribed stone tokens are so
characteristic of the sect that they also are easily recognized.
The task of explaining the meaning of these incisions is the more
difficult, as the veil is almost impenetrable which obscures the
history of everything that pertains to these little stone fetiches of
the Gnostics.
The very disciples who carried those amuletic gems did so without
understanding the meaning of the marks and symbols engraved upon them.
They evidently were sacred types of their superstitious creed, invented
and placed there by their mentors or priests.
They were Pagans, Jews, and nominal Christians, and we find in their
inexhaustible inscriptions a series of emblems, Hebrew and Syriac,
which dimly show forth Christ the Son, and Sun of Righteousness with
ΑΔΟΝΑΙ, and the seven Greek vowels symbolic of the seven heavens. These
Greek vowels have often amused me when I have shown an Abraxas talisman
with long inscription to some Greek scholar not acquainted with
their gems, who would stumble when he reached the other characters.
SOMMERVILLE COLLECTION.
[Illustration: 574 obverse.]
[Illustration: 574 reverse.]
[Illustration: 562 obverse.]
[Illustration: 562 reverse.]
[Illustration: 564 obverse.]
[Illustration: 569]
[Illustration: 564 reverse.]
[Illustration: 573 obverse.]
[Illustration: 573 reverse.]
ABRAXAS OR GNOSTIC GEMS.
The religion of Jesus Christ was by no means established peaceably and
immediately in the days following his crucifixion and resurrection.
By a close reading of several of the Epistles of the New Testament
you will see that during the first and second centuries many were the
beliefs and even schisms among those who thought that they believed in
Christ. In the second Epistle to the Corinthians there is evidence that
the learned doctors raised altar in opposition to altar. None of them
were avowedly reared by the Gnostics, yet the Apostle Paul recognized
their opposition to the orthodox growing faith and combated them,
knowing that Christianity at that critical moment was constantly losing
adherents who, through the sophistries of the Abraxas, were daily
relinquishing their ardent hold on the new hope in Christ.
Undoubtedly this Abraxas sect, who made so many cabalistic talismans,
which were so blindly accepted and worn by their disciples, had among
them many who knew of our Saviour. It appears from history, and from
their mystic characters, that they had a clearer appreciation of Christ
than a just or reasonable fear of the prince of the region of darkness,
as Zoroaster termed the chief of inferno. They derived their idea of
Satan, the arch tempter, from the appellation given him by certain
sects in Central Asia, where, to better deceive their victims, they
spoke of him as an angel of light. In modern times the lives of many
men have proved that they had no desire to repulse Satan, but rather
lived harmoniously in fellowship with him as their guide.
St. Paul besought the Christians to guard well the precious truths
revealed and confided to them, and to fear and fly from the profane
novelties that were threatening the welfare of their souls (I. Timothy,
vi).
In a word, these great pagan monuments were the forerunners and the
models of many of the small and portable talismans that were freely
disseminated by the priests of the Abraxas to their disciples and their
followers.
One important fact must be understood. The signs, symbols, the
unintelligible hieroglyphs of the Gnostics, the Basilidians, which
we find on the Abraxas gems--almost all talismans--are the mystic
representations of a sect thus made up of people of several nations,
all of whom in their aspirations sought for knowledge of the invisible
power, that unquestionably had created and who governed all things,
whom, though unseen, they served and feared.
[Illustration]
SOMMERVILLE COLLECTION.
[Illustration: 561 obverse.]
[Illustration: 561 reverse.]
[Illustration: 1431]
[Illustration: 568 obverse.]
[Illustration: 568 reverse.]
[Illustration: 565]
ABRAXAS OR GNOSTIC GEMS.
EARLY CHRISTIANS.
The events narrated in the New Testament of our Lord Jesus Christ
resulted in the drawing together of his followers, who daily sought to
worship their risen Redeemer, notwithstanding the terrible opposition
of the heathen autocrats of Rome.
Very naturally in proportion to the imperial opposition the faithful
became more fervent. As they could not publicly meet for worship and
prayer, they were compelled to do so clandestinely.
Now in order that only the faithful should enter, and that the enemies
might be detected, a system of tesseræ was invented, and soon these
were made in the form of engraved pietradura; the designs always
were of the simplest character--a dove, two or three fish, two palms
crossed, etc., and other religious gem-tokens; this formed the glyptic
epoch known as the Early Christian gems.
Be it understood, there was no representation of “God,” the “Father,”
or of “Christ;” only simple symbols of the class already described;
symbols of their simple faith.
This was a period of glyptic work in which a series of gems were
engraved by a people who pursued their avocation under peculiarly
trying circumstances; they were the “Early Christians.”
The children born of those who had already espoused the new doctrine
were taught with the first lessons of life to know, to revere, and
to trust in the Saviour; with their earliest lisping words, from the
cradle they learned to plead in prayer for divine protection.
The earliest Christians, the first converts, born in paganism, had
not the opportunities with which their offspring and descendants were
favored; they had to renounce the superstitions in which they had been
reared, and were often obliged to sever the friendly ties of youth.
These first enrolled with the followers of Christ, pagans, whose
convictions impelled them to accept the Redeemer, offered to their
inquiring hearts, commenced anew lives with many pagan prejudices and
customs clinging to them.
Some of them were incisori, and it is interesting to observe among the
comparatively few gems of this epoch the evidence of transition. Many
of these gems unquestionably bearing some of the simpler Christian
decoration were still adorned with pagan designs. On one we find
Astarte; on others, Serapis, Mercury, Venus, or Apollo. The divinity,
the loveliness of expression sometimes given to these transition
portraits seem to have been the work of artists whose souls were imbued
with the singular beauty of that Divine Man whom Publius Lentulus
announced to the Senate as “the prophet of truth,” a man whose
personal beauty excelled all human creatures--and yet the effigy really
was of some pagan deity. These gems, however, which were characterized
by remnants of pagan decoration, were only of the epoch immediately
succeeding the institution of the sect of “followers of Christ,” and
preceding the dawning struggle of the “Early Christians,” to establish
their belief and to retain their rights as citizens. They renounced the
idolatrous religion of the nation, and their glyptic work was generally
typical of the purity and simplicity of their faith and their devotion
to its observance.
[Illustration]
BYZANTINE.
One might naturally suppose that the gems of the early Christians would
abound in representations of scriptural events and incidents of the
life of Christ. Such was not the case; these subjects were abundantly
produced by the Byzantines about the fifth century A. D. This can
be accounted for from the fact that most of these subject-gems were
engraved to decorate the sacred vessels and paraphernalia of the church
altars in Byzantium.
With Constantine we find the Byzantine epoch in its maturity. With the
simplicity of the early Christians we have remarked that everything
like representation of the Godhead was eliminated or rather forbidden.