E EAST AND

art I should prefer to use the term in its narrower sense, confining it within definite limits of time and space. With the minor arts, however-illuminated manuscripts, ivories, and metal ware-the case is different. Here the term By

Germanic tribes from the north upon Italy. But this last movement was only a side issue-the general progress was from East to West. We know now that for whatever culture these tribes brought with them at the time of their advance, they were at least as much indebted to the early civilisations of Western Asia as to that of Greece and Rome. It was only with the fringe of this latter civilisation, and that comparatively lately, that they had come into contact. In a measure we

, that we treat of in this chapter, it is this new wave of Oriental influence working upon the no

resenting nearly a thousand years, only sparingly filled up by a few rare examples, the immediate cause is to be found in the abandonment of the practice of cremation, and of the habit of burying objects of value with the deceased. Fortunately for us, however, there was at

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united by fusion. This is the principle of the decoration of the two bowls from Canosa that I have already described, and, indeed, in the technical difficulties overcome, and still more in artistic merit, these bowls far excel any later work of this class. As i

in the passages of the catacombs the corpses were deposited. There is also a class of smaller medallions or studs, covered with thick lenticular glass, which were inserted round the body of a glass cup; in a few rare examples, chiefly from Cologne,

se gilt glasses come almost exclusively from the catacombs of Rome. The Roman collections naturally contain the most numerous sp

me difference of opinion. The problem had already appealed to Heraclius, the writer of some barbarous hexameters treating De Coloribus et Artibus Romanorum. Heraclius was probably a monk living at Rome, perhaps about the end of the tenth century. The fifth of his little didactic poems is inscribed 'De fialis auro decoratis.' In this he tells us how he produced some small cups of pure glass, s

ir gold mosaics by sprinkling a layer of powdered glass over the gold leaf covering the surface of the tesser?; this coating was then fused on. But this was an enameller's proc

f was fixed upon a thickish sheet of glass, a thinner sheet was then placed over it, and the whole heated to the softening-point. A third method has been adopted in t

ondi d'oro there is a small class of portrait heads, highly finished by means of a sort of pointillé or stipple process, which are of a somewhat superior artistic merit. In these circular medallions-miniatures, we might call them[62]-the large eyes, the sma

ies.[63] In others the outlines, it would seem, were cut into the glass and filled up with coloured pa

he scrolls of the law lying on the aron, and the seven-branched candlestick. I have already pointed out that at this

me of the finer pieces may be a little older. The disasters of the fifth century and the rapid decline of Rom

. In these the treatment of the figures-the Virgin and Child and St. George (or possibly St. Theodore) are the favourite subjects-is quite Byzantine in character. In the Vatican Museum, among many other such medallions, are some cast from th

Cologne; the figures are roughly cut with the wheel, and the subjects from the Old and New Testaments are the same as those found on contemporary sarcophagi. The design on the Podgoriza bowl,[65] perhaps the finest example of early Christian engraving on glass, shows the

served in the churches of Italy, France, and Germany. Such objects represent but one aspect of the glass produced at the time: they reflect above all the skill now acquired in staining glass so as to imitate precious stones. We shall see later that there has been preserved an interesting literary record bearing espec

le term with which to correlate the art of the Copts in Egypt, of the Sassanians in Persia, and at a later time, in some measure, that of the early Saracen dynasties and even of the Anglo-Saxons and the Franks in the north. At two widely separated periods the influence of Constantinople has been more directly felt. The first centres round Justinian in the sixth century;

nd again that one of the gates of the capital was named after the adjacent glass-works, it is of this branch of the art that we must first think.[66] Byzantine artists travelled to Cordova on the one hand, and to Damascus

re were windows filled with stained glass, some of which may even now be in place. In the seventh century we hear of Greek workmen summoned to France for such work,

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he speaks of silver discs, hanging from chains and pierced to receive vessels of 'fire-wrough

rial-one which became before long, for a time, the dominant one. In the 'spear-butt' sha

d century: St. Jerome writes of 'the Lord's blood being borne in a vessel of glass,' and some early miracles have reference to the making good of glass that had been broken. Of a ninth-century saint

lden chalice inlaid with jewels which was formerly preserved at Monza. In fact, this form is especially characteristic of early Byzantine art; we see such vases represented over and over again on marble reliefs and mosaics. Now in the British Museum there are two vases, distinctly of this c

s of early glass to be found in the treasuri

aque glass, with ornaments in relief, mounted on a metal

inution in sanctity from a want of uniformity in the tradition as to its earlier history.[68] The sacro catino is a shallow hexagonal bowl with feet and handles; the slight ornaments on the surface are finished with a tool. It was carried off to Paris during the revoluti

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examined it, failed to discover any air-bubbles. If, however, as is probable, this cup is of glass, it gives evidence of the technical skill of the craftsman who made it. In the same treasury are a number of little flasks in which were preserved the oil exuding from the bodies of martyrs-whether the

e by the combined forces of the Venetians and the Franks, is doubtless in the main true. But long before this the Venetians had been in close commercial relations with the Greek capital. The nucleus of the Pala D'Oro, undoubtedly a Byzantine work, dates from the last years of the tenth century. On the o

hemispherical cup of common glass, some 5 inches in height, studded with conical points, and another of clear glass with an arcading in low re

gree and jewels (l. 116). 2nd, A bowl of plain glass, some 6 inches in height; at the base is a series of circular button-like projections with a stud in the centre of each (xlii. 87). 3rd, A cup of clear gla

f milky-white semi-transparent glass with shaped margin (9 in. diam.); not illustrated. 3rd, An unmounted shallow dish or bowl of plain glass (14 in. diam.) shaped like the pan of a balance; eight ringed discs, standing out in reli

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maybe rendered: '? Saint Pantaleone, help your slave Zachariah, Archbishop of Iberia! Amen!' This connection with Iberia (Georgia) is of the greatest interest as bearing upon the origin of this family of glass (Plate XI. 1). 2nd, A bucket-shaped lamp of plain glass hanging from three chains (hgt. 6 in.) (liv. 124). 3rd, An ellipsoid han

is of Oriental character. The glass is carved with a design containing two long-horned rams among a conventional leaf pattern (the glass alone 4 in. high) (li. 115) (Plate XIII.). 3rd, An unmounted vase of common glass, wi

on is similar in style to the engraved work found on some late Roman glass from the Rhine district (hgt. 8 in.) (liii. 121). 2nd, The famous situla that I have already described when treating of the diatretu

lled glass of the Romans (p. 66). Although, as I have said, the figures are purely classical in style, yet the

edication in Arabic to Allah. As to the material of this vase, all I can say is that it is carved; this is seen by the light reflected on the somewhat unctuous surface; it is therefore not porcelain or other ceramic ware, as some have thought. The slightly waxy lustre is in favour of it

lass at St. Mark's, for it is, as a group, of unique interes

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vangelist who on the opening page is represented seated at his desk engaged in writing his gospel, dips his pen into a little flask of clear glass, of cylindrical body and straight neck. This is a simpl

Euphrates, there were at this time many flourishing centres of industry. It was probably in some of these lands, rather than in Constantinople itself, that we may look for the home of the school of carving in rock crystal and in glass that we associate vaguely with the Lower Empire.[72] Nor did the Arab conquests of the seventh and eighth centuries make at once any great changes in the arts of these districts. It was through these lands probably that so many Oriental motives filtered through to the west, not only to Constantin

t till quite lately little attention has been paid to objects of so comparatively late a date. In the Louvre are some fragments of glass lately brought from Susa. One piece calls for mention here. This is a large fragment of thick clear glass which has formed the half of a shallow circular dish, about fourteen inches in diamete

amework of gold, the openings of which are filled with rosettes of rock crystal and glass. The central medallion of rock crystal is carved to represent a king seated on his throne; for this reason the vessel was formerly known as the 'Cup of Solomon.' The seated king has, however, now been identified as Khosroes II. (Kosrou Parviz), one of the last of the Sassanian

liant jewel-like enamels of the Saracens, seems to have been much in vogue in Egypt at this time. What has been found is not very accessible so far, nor has much been done in the way of classification. A small collection, derived chiefly, I think, from the excavations at Achmin in Upper Egypt, has lately been purchased by the Victoria and Albert Museum (from M. Richard). The little bottles of various simple shapes call to mind those preserved in the treasuries of certain European churches (see above, p. 99). One slim spindle-shaped vessel reminds one a little of the vase with Greek inscription found in the South-Saxon cemetery near Worthing (p. 107). Among the fragments is one del

of Zakook fragments have been found that point to the existence of glass-works in former days-this is indeed probably the site of the town of Nitria. A French traveller of the eighteenth century speaks of seeing near here 'trois verreries abandonnées' (Voyages en égypte par le Sieur Granger, 1745). Indeed the ruins of three conical buildings are still to be seen; the stones are fused on the edges, and plentiful scori? of common green glass lie aroun