in gold, of the finest period, and include some of the best work of this kind that has been discovered. Among them are: (44) a ring with a scene showing a boy milking a ewe held between the knees of a bearded rustic; (53) a very delicately executed female head; (57) a Victory nailing a shield to a tree to form a trophy; (42) a Victory driving a four-horse chariot; (49) a youth on horseback, charging, executed with great spirit.

The remainder of the third and the beginning of the fourth row have similar engravings of rougher execution and slighter character. The right hand portion of the fourth row contains rings with designs in relief.

The fifth row contains the earlier and later Etruscan rings. They illustrate the various methods in which the scarab could be mounted, either on a plain wire swivel, or in an ornate box setting on a swivel. The second and fourth rows also contain specimens of a particular class of rings found in Etruria. The devices, which are engraved or in relief on the elongated gold bezel of the ring, are Ionic in character, whence it is supposed that they were executed by Greek craftsmen resident among the Etruscans. Some of the later Etruscan rings have large engraved stones, set in coarse and florid mounts, corresponding in character to the other later Etruscan jewellery in Cases E, F.

The sixth, seventh, and eighth rows have a series of rings set with engraved stones. They are arranged in chronological order, starting from Greek rings of the fourth century B.C.

On the right of Case O are arranged the inscribed rings, together with a few others set with plain stones or pastes, or made entirely of precious stone.*

SILVER PLATE AND ORNAMENTS.

The objects in silver are for the most part grouped in the upright Case R, between two of the windows, and in the upper parts of the Cases J-L. See also the case in the corridor (p. 128).

From the perishable nature of silver, which readily oxidises when exposed to damp, extant works in this metal of the older period are comparatively rare, for although silver objects frequently occur in the tombs, they are usually in a state of advanced decay. The following objects in silver, which are in Case R, unless otherwise described, are deserving of notice:

Greek Silver Work. Among the Greek silver vases, which are distinguished by the simple refinement of their shapes, and the delicately chased ornaments, note a silver vase from Athens, and a cup from Chalkè, near Rhodes. A two-handled cup, with a finelychased internal pattern, is said to have been found at Boscoreale (near Pompeii), but it has the character of Greek work. A diminutive silver-gilt lion is worked with great spirit on a minute scale.

*For the Rings, see Catalogue of the Finger Rings, by F. H. Marshall, 1907 (23s.). A copy can be borrowed.

Roman Silver Work.-Roman silver services, numerous, substantial, and showing signs of long domestic use, have been found from time to time. The Roman vessels lack the delicate and graceful outlines of the Greek silver-ware; but they are well designed for their respective purposes and richly decorated with reliefs, embossed designs, niello (an inlaid black alloy) and gilding. The principal groups in the British Museum are:

1. (In Cases J and L.) A silver service found in 1883 at Chaourse, near Montcornet (Aisne), in France. It consists of thirty-six vases of various shapes. With them were found brass coins of Domitian, Trajan, Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius and Postumus, from which it is inferred that the date of the deposit is the latter part of the third century. The service includes a bucket-shaped vessel (situla), with a rich floral frieze in silver-gilt; three bowls with richly-adorned rims; a handsome ewer. Observe also a wine-strainer, pierced with holes in geometrical patterns, and a pepper-caster in the form of a negro slave, asleep, seated on his burden.

2. (In Case K.) Part of a service found at Caubiac, near Toulouse, in 1785, which included also a large circular dish, surrounded by masks and Bacchic emblems, in Case R.

3. Vases found at Chatuzange, near Romans (Drôme), one of them having a handle very beautifully chased with floral patterns. In the middle of the principal bowl is a medallion group of the three Graces.

4. Two vases, a ladle, and a strainer perforated with an elaborate geometrical pattern. The plate is inscribed with the names of Titus Utius and Utia. From Arcisate, near Como.

Among the miscellaneous silver objects are: A bucket-shaped vessel (situla) from Vienne (Isère, France), with a fine frieze of the Seasons in relief; a small amphora of very graceful shape, surrounded by wreaths of vines and ivy; two phialae, or libation dishes, with reliefs representing Heracles being driven in a chariot to Olympos. One of these is broken at the edge, but is much finer in style than the other. A terracotta phiale in the Fourth Vase Room has the same decorations, and shows how the types were disseminated, and used for various kinds of products with slight variations. The silver bowls are from France, and are said to have been found at Èze, near Nice.

A very fine portrait bust originally formed a projecting boss in a silver bowl, and was found in 1895 at Boscoreale, near Pompeii. A great treasure of silver vases, now in the Museum of the Louvre, was found soon afterwards at no great distance. The bowl from which this bust had been broken has not been found, but a bowl with a male head in its centre, which must have formed a pair with it, is now in the Louvre. The two heads are probably those of a husband and wife, and hence the attribution of the female bust to Antonia, the wife of Drusus, which was at first suggested, cannot be maintained.

Among the silver statuettes observe a finely modelled head of a dog.

106*. A figure wearing a mural crown, which marks her as the personification of a city, while the wings suggest Victory (Nikè), and, it has been suggested, the city of Nicopolis. This, however, is doubtful, as the figure may be merely the Genius of a city endowed with the attributes of Victory and Fortune (the cornucopia). Above her head is a row of deities, representing the seven days of the week, beginning on the left with Saturn (Saturday), followed by the Sun (Sunday), Moon (Monday), Mars (Tuesday), Mercury (Wednesday), Jupiter (Thursday), and Venus (Friday). The four divinities last named are remembered in the French and Italian words for their respective days. A similar series occurs on the shanks of a pair of barnacles in the Anglo-Roman collection. The figure is making a libation over an altar. Above her head are busts of the two Dioscuri, Castor and Pollux. In her left hand she has a cornucopia, from which issue busts of Apollo and Diana. This figure was found near Macon, on the Saone, in 1764. With it were found the following silver figures, which are shown beside it, and which may be distinguished by the similar form of their bases: four statuettes of Mercury; a figure of Jupiter with the thunderbolt, and accompanied by a goat, which would be more properly attached to a figure of Mercury; a figure of Diana, and one of a Genius with a bowl and a cornucopia.

107*. A figure of a boy, playing with a goose, was found at Alexandria, with silver coins of the earlier Ptolemies (third century B.C.).

ENGRAVED GEMS.

The gems exhibited in this room represent most of the known stages of the glyptic art (or art of engraving gems) as practised by the Greeks, Etruscans and Romans, from the beginning of civilisation in Greece, in the Mycenaean period, down to about the third century A.D., or even later.

[Gems of the Renaissance and of more recent times are also exhibited in adjoining cases, but these form a part of the collections of the British and Mediaeval Department, and are therefore passed over in this Guide.]

The principal classes of engraved gems are Intaglios, Cameos and Scarabs. Intaglios (Italian, intagliare, to cut in) have the design sunk below the surface, and are primarily intended to be used as seals. Cameos (derivation unknown) have the design. carved in relief, and are used as independent ornaments. Scarabs (scarabaei, beetles) combine the characteristics of both the cameo and intaglio. The back is carved in relief, in imitation of a beetle (see below, fig. 58), while the base bears a design sunk into it in intaglio. Scarabaeoids are of the general form of the scarab, but no attempt is made to indicate the beetle (fig. 58). Cylinders play a great part in the gem-engraving of Babylonia, Assyria and

the East. Except at an early period in Cyprus, they appear little in the gem engraving of Greek lands. A plaster impression is placed beside each intaglio, showing the design as it appears in relief. The intaglios having been intended for use as seals, this was the way in which the engraver intended his work to be seen, as is shown by the inscriptions, and by the fact that in intaglios the figures are usually right-handed in the impression.

With the exception of the early gems in steatite- --a very soft material the engraved stones are harder than a metal tool, and the different kinds of gem engraving depend on the various methods adopted for applying minute fragments of a very hard material, in order to produce the desired effect on the gem to be engraved. This might be done either by setting splinters of diamond in a metal pencil, or by rubbing in minute dust of diamonds, or of emery mixed with oil, by means of a hand-worked tool, or a revolving drill or wheel. In the earliest and the latest gems the marks of the tool are conspicuous. In the early gems much of the work is done with a tubular drill, which leaves a circular ring-like depression. In the late Roman work the rough cuts of the wheel are unconcealed. Table-case U 7. Earliest examples of gem engraving in intaglio.

Fig. 58. Shapes of Gems.

1. Lenticular Gem.

2. Glandular Gem.

3. Scarab.

4. Scarabaeoid,

The gems shown in this case belong to the earlier stages of the Minoan' or Mycenaean' period in Greece. They are for the most part in two forms, either Lenticular, i.e. of the shape of a broad bean, or Glandular, i.e. shaped like a sling bolt. The materials used are comparatively hard stones, such as sard, amethyst, crystal and the like. The subjects include decorative designs, animals, human figures, and monstrous combinations. The four upper rows principally contain examples of early gems from Crete. In row c are specimens of the Cretan hieroglyphic symbols, recently discovered. The lower rows contain examples from Mycenaean sites, such as Mycenae and Ialysos in Rhodes. Among the noteworthy gems of this class are :—

Case U 7, row d. (53.) Sard, with a group of goats. An example of unusually spirited design and careful engraving.

Row f. (106.) Two lions (sard) heraldically grouped, with a column between them. The composition recalls that of the famous Lion-gate at Mycenae (see p. 98). Found at Ialysos in Rhodes, and presented by Mr. John Ruskin.

Row i Lioness and two deer, on a lenticular gem of remarkable size.

Row 1. Two men leading a bull (haematite). The artist has only been able to express the man on the other side of the bull by placing him as if performing an acrobatic feat above it. The same arrangement occurs on a fresco of the Mycenaean period found by Dr. Schliemann at Tiryns.

These

Horse-headed monster (sard) standing between two men. grotesque combinations frequently occur in Mycenaean art, particularly in this class of gems. Several examples may be found in the two compartments.

Case U 8. Examples of gem engraving in soft materials (usually steatite) from Melos, and other Greek islands.

These gems have the same 'glandular' and 'lenticular' forms which mark the gems of the Mycenaean period. They are engraved however in soft substances, and have been found in company with early Greek inscriptions, vases, and terracottas of the historical period, say between the seventh and fifth centuries B.C. The range of subjects is also different. Instead of the monstrous combinations peculiar to the earlier Mycenaean art, we have the forms adopted by Greek mythology, such as Pegasus, the Chimaera, the Gryphon, and the Centaur. As a rare example of a definite mythological subject see in row h (82) Heracles wrestling with Nereus, the Old Man of the Sea.

The class of Melian gems is of importance, since it preserves a continuity of form with the stones of the Mycenaean period, and thus supplies an undoubted link between the arts of the Mycenaean period and those of historical Greece.

Case U 9-12. The next oldest stage of gem engraving is to be seen in the Scarabs or stones which have one side carved in the form of a beetle, and the Scarabaeoids, which are approximately of beetle form. The origin of the use of the scarab must be sought in Egyptian theology, in which the Egyptian beetle rolling a ball of mud containing its eggs was emblematic of Kheper, the principle of creative power, and so the scarab became a sacred emblem and amulet. As a rule, the base of the Egyptian scarab had some simple hieroglyphic or other design, and hence it was adopted as a convenient form for an engraved stone by nations to whom the beetle had no religious significance. The Phoenicians employed both the scarab and its simplified form the scarabaeoid. The Etruscans used the scarab constantly, but not the scarabaeoid. The Greeks, on the other hand, made no great use of the scarab, while they favoured the scarabaeoid at the finest period.

Among the scarabs and scarabaeoids two classes are to be distinguished. The one bears designs in which the Egyptian and the Assyrian elements prevail over the Greek (Compartments 9, 10 a-c). These have been found for the most part in Phoenician colonies, and in regions where Phoenician commerce extended. The other (Compartments 10 d-12) has designs obtained from Greek