is known as the Cross of Zaccaria. It was secured in 1308 by Ticino
Zaccaria at the capture of the ancient Greek colonial city Phocæa, in
Asia Minor, and was donated to the Cathedral of San Lorenzo in Genoa.
This cross is of silver gilt, measuring 64 cm. in height and 40 cm. in
width, and within it behind a crystal is set a piece of the Holy Cross.
It is profusely adorned with precious and semi-precious stones, there
being 57 good-sized rubies, emeralds, sapphires, carnelians, malachites
and amethysts, besides 44 smaller stones and 299 of still lesser size.
The jewel is now preserved in the Palazzo Bianco, Genoa.
The greatest treasure in the Cathedral of Chartres was the “Sacred
Shrine.” It was made of cedar-wood covered with gold plates and was
adorned with an immense number of precious stones including diamonds,
rubies, emeralds, sapphires, jacinths, agates, turquoises, opals,
topazes, onyxes, chrysolites, amethysts, garnets, girasols, sardonyxes,
asterias, chalcedonies, heliotropes, etc. These had been presented by
many different donors during a long period of time. In front of this
shrine was a cross composed entirely of precious stones, comprising 56
rubies and garnets, 18 sapphires, 22 pearls, 8 emeralds, 8 onyxes and 4
jacinths. When this was first placed in the cathedral is not known, but
it was there in 1353, as it is noted in an inventory made at that time.
An uncut diamond weighing about 45 carats, and constituting one of the
adornments of the shrine in 1682, was said to have been the gift of a
marshal of France; another ornament, an oval agate engraved with the
Virgin and Child, may now be seen in the Louvre where it forms part of
the Sauvageot Collection.[528]
That all trace has been lost of an emerald engraved with the head of
Christ and given to Pope Innocent VIII by Sultan Bajazet II about the
year 1488, is greatly to be deplored, even though there be no truth in
the legend or report that it had been engraved in the time of Christ by
the order of Tiberius Cæsar. The evidence of two medals with Latin
legends and of certain old paintings with English inscriptions of the
sixteenth century seems to prove the existence of the gem in the Vatican
treasury about the time specified, and it has been conjectured, with
some probability, that the emerald had been engraved by a Byzantine
artist at some time before 1453, when Constantinople fell into the hands
of the Turks, and that this gem formed part of the booty they then
secured. A print, often copied photographically and otherwise,
purporting to be a representation of this emerald portrait of Christ,
has no evidential value, and has either been freely worked up from the
details of the spurious letter of Lentulus to Tiberius, giving a
personal description of the Saviour, or still more probably from a
Rafaelesque type of Christ’s head.[529]
The beads of rosaries, when blessed by the Supreme Pontiff, or by one of
the dignitaries of the Church, are considered to be endowed with a
certain special virtue in favor of the individual for whom the blessing
is imparted. However, should this person loan the beads to another with
the intention of making him a partaker of this special blessing, or
indulgencing, they lose their virtue. It is prescribed that these beads
should be made of stone, glass, or some other durable material not
easily broken, in order that the effects of the blessing should not be
lost, or perhaps that the object so blessed should be less liable to
injury. Various precious stones as well as pearls are used for this
purpose, there being generally groups of ten small spheres, each group
separated from the other by a larger sphere, the ten smaller beads
serving to numerate the paternosters while the large bead is passed
through the fingers when a credo has been recited.
A legend very popular in the Middle Ages has been conjectured to be the
source of the word “rosary” as applied to a chaplet of beads for
counting prayers. This legend tells of a pious youth, who on each and
every day wove a garland of roses for the statue of the Virgin in the
parish church. His religious zeal soon induced him to become a monk, and
as the restrictions and duties of monastic life forced him to
discontinue his floral offerings, he was much troubled in conscience,
and was only relieved when the abbot told him that by reciting 150 aves
at the close of each day, he would please the Virgin as much as by the
gift of flowers. The prayers were faithfully said and they eventually
became the occasion of a miracle. One evening, as the young monk was
traversing a dense forest, it suddenly occurred to him that he had
forgotten to recite his aves. He knelt down quickly and began to pray;
all at once he saw a radiant and beautiful figure standing before him,
and he immediately recognized in it the Blessed Virgin. Graciously she
bent over him and drew from his lips one rose after the other, until
fifty roses of supernatural beauty lay upon the ground. Of these she
then made a garland and placed it upon the head of her faithful
servant.[530]
The first literary allusion to rosaries in India is in a Jain treatise
written about the beginning of our era. The Prakrit name here employed,
_ganettiya_, is equivalent to the sanscrit _ganayitrika_, or “counter,”
and it is enumerated among the ten utensils of a Brahman ascetic. The
other nine are the tridanda-stick, the water jar, the Bramanical thread,
the earthen vessel named karotikâ, the bundle of straw used as a seat,
the clout, the six-knotted wood, the hook, and the finger-ring. It is
said that no mention of rosaries has been found in Indian Buddhist
literature.[531]
A splendid ecclesiastical ornament is described in the inventory of the
royal treasures in the Château de Fontainebleau made in 1560, on the
accession of Charles IX. This was of gold and composed of a crucifix
with the figures of the Virgin Mary and St. John. It was “enriched with
41 sapphires, 3 pointed diamonds and 12 balas-rubies,” which served to
mark the nails in the cross. The weight of the gold was 25 marks 5
ounces, and the value of the entire object, gold and precious stones, is
given as 2720 écus, or about $6120. The intrinsic value of the gold
alone would be about $4240.[532]
The most impressive of the ecclesiastical ornaments in the Spanish
churches was the _custodia_, or monstrance, in which the Holy Eucharist
was borne through the streets on Corpus Christi day; indeed, only at
this time was the custodia publicly shown. It was in fact a large
shrine, generally affecting the form of a church tower. The most ancient
example now in existence is in the Cathedral of Gerona. It is of gold,
is 1.85 m. (over 6 feet) high, and weighs nearly 66 pounds. This work,
in which the architectural style is an ornate Gothic, was completed in
1458 by the goldsmith Francisco de Asís Artau. One of the finest
specimens, however, was executed by Enrique d’Arphe for Charles V and is
in the Cathedral of Toledo. This _custodia_ measures no less than nine
feet in height and is three feet wide. Here also the form is that of a
Gothic tower; the cross at the apex was made by the goldsmith Lainez,
and is adorned with 86 pearls and 4 large emeralds.
The shrine itself contains 795 marks’ weight of silver (about 600
pounds), the gold in its composition weighing 57 marks, or about 38
pounds. The Venetian Navagero estimated its worth to be 30,000
ducats.[533]
The wife of Marshal Junot, the celebrated Duchesse d’Abrantès, seeks to
exonerate her husband and to refute the many charges of spoliation
brought against him during and after the French occupation of Spain in
1808 and the succeeding years. For her, Marshal Lannes was a much worse
offender, and she asserts that after the siege of Saragossa in 1809,
Lannes secured possession of the immensely valuable treasures of the
church of Nuestra Señora del Pilar, treasures valued at nearly
$1,000,000. On his arrival in Paris, Lannes informed Napoleon that he
had brought with him from Spain “a few colored stones of little value,”
and was graciously told that he could keep them for himself. The finest
jewel of this collection contained 1300 diamonds, nine of which were of
great magnitude and value; the jewel was heart-shaped, and had in the
centre a dove, typifying the Holy Spirit, with wings extended. It had
been given to the church by Doña Barbara de Portugal, Queen of
Spain.[534]
About the year 1630 there could be seen in Paris a crucifix a foot and a
half high, all of a single piece of yellow amber; on either side were
the figures of the Virgin Mary and of St. John respectively, each carved
in most excellent style. The writer who gives this information, a lineal
descendant of Lodowyk van Berghem, commonly regarded as the first
diamond-cutter, tells from hearsay evidence of a marvellous emerald
which six hundred years before his time, or about 1060, hung suspended
from the top of the nave of the Cathedral of Mainz. It was “as large as
half-a-melon,” and was of exceeding brilliance.[535]
The writer of a Bohemian poem on the legend of St. Catherine’s betrothal
to Christ, written about 1355, appears to have been, in one part,
inspired by the glowing adornment of the Wenceslaus chapel in the
cathedral of St. Veit. The poet gives an enthusiastic description of the
gorgeous ornamentation of the mystic, imaginary temple in which the
betrothal takes place. The pavement is of aquamarine beryl, the walls
are studded with diamonds in golden settings, the framework of the
windows is alternately of emerald or of sapphire, and the window-panes
are not of stained glass, but of precious or semi-precious stones. Some
of these are not ill fitted for this use, the transparency of rubies,
amethysts, spinels, jacinths, garnets, and similar stones, admitting
quite sufficient light; but others mentioned here, such as turquoises,
chalcedonys and jaspers, would permit but a dim ray of light to traverse
their opaque or semi-opaque substance. It has been conjectured by some
that the poet drew his material from the account of the temple of the
Holy Grail in the old German legend, probably through a Bohemian
version; but as he omits in his enumeration twelve of the stones given
in the Grail legend, and adds a number of others, diamond, turquoise,
chalcedony, garnet, etc., this literary source is not fully
satisfactory. Rather might it be believed that the splendid decoration
of the Wenceslaus chapel and of the Karlstein Castle suggested the
vision wrought out by the Bohemian poet, especially as among the stones
he mentions which are not in the Grail legend, we have the garnet, so
eminently a product of Bohemia.[536]
A peculiar and very interesting facetted diamond of 6³⁄₃₂ carats
displays alternate black and white facets and presents the appearance of
a clearly defined Greek cross in black outline when viewed by
transmitted light. The original crystal, which came from Brazil and
weighed 10½ carats, was an octahedron and was of a jet black hue. The
expectation was that the result of its cutting would be the production
of a black brilliant, but when one of the points of the octahedron had
been removed to form the table, it became evident that the black tint
was only superficial, the body of the crystal being white. This
peculiarity was then utilized by leaving some of the natural black faces
of the crystal. This diamond was found to be of excessive hardness,
rendering the task of cutting it an exceedingly arduous one. It is now
in the possession of one of the Royal Household of Siam.[537]
Among the Buddhist legends current in India in the seventh century A.D.
is one referring to the vases offered by the “four kings of heaven” to
the Buddha. They first brought four gold vases, but the Buddha declared
that one who had renounced the world could not use such costly vases.
Silver vessels were then substituted, and were also refused, as were
successively vases made of rock-crystal, lapis lazuli, carnelian, amber,
ruby and other precious materials. Finally, four stone vases were
proffered. These were of violet color and transparent, but the fact that
they were not of precious material rendered them acceptable to the
Buddha.[538]
The images of Buddha usually bear as adornment a small gem. This is most
frequently a moonstone, but occasionally a ruby or some other gem will
be used. The reason for this religious use of gems must not be sought
only in the idea that precious and costly objects are most fitting as
decorations of the sacred images, but it also implies a certain belief
in the magic or quasi-sacred character of the gem itself.
The Saddharma-Pundarîka, one of the nine most sacred books of the
Buddhists, composed perhaps as early as the beginning of our era, gives
the following description of a celestial stûpra, a sort of shrine
containing a celestial being:[539]
It [the _stûpra_] consisted of seven precious substances, _viz._,
gold, silver, lapis lazuli, musaragalva, emerald, red coral, and
Karketana stone.
This _stûpra_ of precious substances once formed, the gods of paradise
strewed and covered it with _mandârava_ and great mandâra flowers. And
from that stûpra of precious substances there issued the voice:
“Excellent, excellent, Lord Sâkyamuni! thou hast well expounded the
Dharmapayârya of the Lotus of the True Law. So is it, Lord; so is it,
_sugata_.”
Some of the most valuable temple treasures in the Island of Ceylon were
preserved in a pagoda near the frontiers of the realm of Saula. The
report of the gold and jewels accumulated here excited the avidity of
the Portuguese, then in control of a considerable part of the island,
and finally an energetic attempt was made to gain possession of them.
Although the existence of the pagoda was well attested, the Portuguese
were ignorant of its exact location in the tract of forest land wherein
it stood. The expeditionary force consisted of 150 Portuguese and 2000
Lascars. On nearing the forest they placed themselves under the guidance
of a native captured in the neighborhood. He led them through the
woodland, traversing it hither and thither, but no pagoda appeared.
Suddenly the native exhibited signs of madness, which were at first
believed to be simulated, but were later regarded as genuine, on which
he was made away with and another native substituted, however, with the
same result. One after another five natives showed the same symptoms and
were successively put to death, and at last the Portuguese were
compelled to abandon this unsuccessful quest. We have here either a
remarkable example of fidelity to the temple, or else an instance of the
psychic influence of the terror inspired by the risk of violating it.
Undoubtedly the priests represented the result as due to supernatural
influence, and perhaps really felt justified in doing so.[540]
An official account of the embassy of the Cinghalese monarch Kirti Sri
to Siam, in 1750, offers a description of the magnificent pagoda erected
over the Sacred Footprint of Buddha, at Swarna Panchatha Maha Pahath.
The free use of sapphires and rubies is quite natural, when we consider
that some of the finest specimens of these stones are still found in
this region:[541]
Above the sacred footstep and made of solid gold was a pagoda
supported on suitable pillars, forming a shrine. At the four corners
were placed four golden _sésat_, and from above hung four bunches of
precious stones like bunches of ripe areca-nuts in size. On the edge
of the roof hung ropes of pearls, and on the point of the spire was
set a sapphire the size of a lime fruit. Within and overshadowing the
footprint like a canopy, there hung from the middle of the spire a
full-blown lotus of gold, in the middle of which was set a ruby of
similar size. Chariots, ships, elephants, and horses with their
riders, all made of gold, and of a suitable size, were placed on a
golden support above the silver pavement. This was hung on wires of
gold, to which were hung ornaments set with pearls the size of the
_nelli_ fruit, as well as other jewelled ornaments, rings and chains.
By some skilful device all this could be moved along the silver
pavement.
Recent excavations made by Dr. J. H. Marshall in the Punjab, India, on
the site of the ancient city of Taxila, captured by Alexander the Great
during his Indian campaign, have brought to light many valuable Buddhist
remains, dating from about 2000 years ago. One of the most striking of
these is a relic casket taken from a _tope_ of the type called _dagoba_,
this name designating that class of those Buddhist structures designed
especially for the reception of relics. This relic casket is of
steatite, and contained a golden box within which was a fragment of
bone, presumably regarded as a relic of the Buddha; around it were many
pearls as well as engraved carnelians and also a number of other
precious stones.
A carved sapphire, once in the collection of the Marquess of
Northampton, shows a representation of the Hindu divinity, Siva. It is
of Indian workmanship and the stone measures 1½ inches in length, 1½
inches in width and ¾ inch in thickness.[542]
One of the writers most familiar with Indian gem-lore recognizes that
while the rich and educated Hindus of our day wear diamonds and other
gems chiefly as ornaments, in ancient times these brilliant objects were
more largely employed in India to enrich the images of the gods, thus
rendering the idols more impressive and causing them to be worshipped
with more intense fervor. In ancient India gemmed ornaments were
believed to bring to the wearer “respect, fame, longevity, wealth,
happiness, strength, and fruition”; a list of benefits long enough to
satisfy the most exigent. However, as though this were not enough, we
are further assured that these gems “ward off evil astral influences,
make the body healthy, remove misery and ill-fortune, and wash away
sin.”[543]
[Illustration:
Ceremony annually observed in the Mogul Empire of weighing the
sovereign against precious metals, jewels and other valuable
objects, which were distributed as gifts. From “Histoire générale
des cérémonies religieuses de tous les peuples du monde,” by Abbé
Banier and Abbé Mascrier, Paris, 1741.
]
The oldest jewel offered to a shrine by an Indian potentate, of which we
have certain knowledge, was a magnificent pendant containing a number of
precious stones, the gift of Sundara Pandiyan, at a date prior to 1310
A.D. Another magnificent gift was a gorgeous jewelled turban adorned
with diamonds, rubies, emeralds and pearls, bestowed in 1623 by Trimal
Nayakkan.[544] These gifts or dedications show the prevailing tendency
to propitiate the higher powers and insure success in royal enterprises.
The English ambassador, Sir Thomas Roe, sent to the court of Shah
Jehangir by King James I, saw the Shah on the day of his great birthday
festival when he was weighed against a great variety of objects, jewels,
gold, silver, stuffs of gold and silver, silk, butter, rice, fruits,
etc. All these things, heaped up on the scale balancing the one in which
stood the Shah, were distributed as imperial gifts after the conclusion
of the ceremony. Sir Thomas Roe declares that on this occasion (he
missed seeing the actual weighing) the monarch was adorned with a great
array of jewels, and he adds: “I must confess I never saw at one time
such unspeakable wealth,” a testimony of considerable value, for the
English Court in the time of James I was one by no means poor in jewels,
that sovereign having a great fondness for them. After the ceremony of
weighing had been completed, Jehangir enjoyed the spectacle of a
procession of twelve troupes of his choicest elephants, each troupe led
by a “lord elephant of exceptional stature.” The finest of these had all
the plates on his head and breast set with rubies and emeralds, and all
the elephants as they neared the Shah saluted him with their
trunks.[545]
In Persia the pink and red coral was believed to have acquired its
beautiful color after removal from the water, and the odor of the
material was said to be a trustworthy means of discriminating between
genuine and imitation coral; genuine coral had the smell of sea-water.
The Chinese and the Hindus prized this substance very highly, because
among them it was used to adorn the images of the gods.[546]
The perforated jade disk called _ts’ang pi_ is still used as the symbol
of the deity Heaven (T’ien) in the temple of that divinity at Peking. By
a regulation of Emperor K’ien-lung, the proper dimensions of this
ceremonial disk were rigidly established; the diameter of the disk
proper was set at 6.1 inches, and its thickness at ⁷⁄₁₀ of an inch; the
perforation was to have a diameter of ⁴⁄₁₀ of an inch. While the quality
of the jade to be employed is not especially determined, the name
_ts’ang_ implies jade of a bluish shade. The veined type of stone is
regarded as peculiarly adapted for this purpose.[547]
[Illustration:
PERFORATED JADE DISK CALLED _TS’ANG PI_, A CHINESE SYMBOL OF THE DEITY
HEAVEN (T’IEN)
From Berthold Laufer, “Jade, a Study in Chinese Archæology and
Religion,” Chicago, 1912, p. 157.
By courtesy of the Author and Field Museum of Natural History,
Chicago.
]
We are apt to regard Tibet as the land least accessible to modern
influence of any kind, and that least in touch with any aspect of
European civilization. It seems, therefore, not a little strange that at
the chief altar of the Royal Chapel in the Dalai Lama’s palace on Potala
Hill, Lhasa, the elaborate _tse-boum_ (incense vase or vessel), used by
the Buddhist priests in their services, is a product of modern Parisian
art, having been made in Paris about ten years ago. The vessel proper,
which is carved from several exceptionally large pieces of coral, rests
upon a flat, silver-gilt base, ornamented with two dragons, and is
crowned with an oval framework of lapis lazuli leaves; upon this
framework is a coral statuette of Amitabha, the “Lord of Boundless
Light,” revered as the emanation of Adi-Buddha, supported by a lotus
flower of white chalcedony. At the apex of the leafy oval rests a
representation in white chalcedony of a crescent moon, above is a sun in
yellow stone from which springs a coral flame, symbolizing the radiance
of wisdom (_nada_). Although the Dalai Lama was anxious to avail himself
of the aid of French art for the embellishment of his altar, he took due
precautions that the religious character of the vessel should be
properly conceived and maintained, and therefore sent one of his
high-priests to Europe to choose the artists best fitted for the
execution of the vessel, and this priest took the pains to make a
special trip to Leghorn in order to select the coral appropriate for the
sacred utensil. As will be noted, this material, so greatly prized by
the Tibetans, is that most prominent in this temple incense vase. The
dragons attached to the silver-gilt platter have been placed there to
honor the Chinese, and are so affixed that they can be removed when no
Chinese representatives are present at the ceremonies. In the older
_tse-boum_, to take the place of which this Paris product was executed,
the red-tinted ivory was used where coral appears in the newer vessel.
The employment of this color is due to the fact that it is the sacred
color of Amitabha.[548]
Within the sacred precincts of the temple of Cho Kang, in Tibet, is a
splendid, life-size image of the Buddha formed of solid gold. The
priests teach that it is of supernatural origin, and ascribe its
execution to the creative energy of Visvakarma, a personification of the
formative energy in the cosmos. The gold in this image is, however, not
absolutely pure, but is alloyed with silver, copper, zinc and iron, the
choice of these four metal alloys being dictated by the significance of
the five metals in union as symbols of the world. The precious-stone
adornment of this wonderful idol consists of magnificent diamonds,
rubies, emeralds and _indranila_ or Indian sapphires. Pearl, turquoise
and coral necklaces are twined around the figure’s neck and crossed over
its breast; on its head rests a golden coronet with a setting of
turquoises, and rising from the rim of this coronet are five upright
leaves within each of which is a small golden image of the Buddha; from
one of these hangs as a pendant a remarkably fine, large and flawless
piece of turquoise, measuring six inches in length and four inches in
width. All these splendors lavished upon the image of the great apostle
of the simple life show but a poor comprehension of the deep meanings
and tendencies of his early career.
Treating of the religious associations of turquoise among the Tibetans,
Dr. Berthold Laufer writes:[549]