SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM ART HANDBOOKS ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. RUSSIAN ART AND ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. A HANDBOOK TO THE REPRODUCTIONS OF GOLDSMITHS' WORK AND OTHER ART TREASURES FROM THAT COUNTRY IN THE SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM. EY ALFRED MASKELL. IN TWO PARTS. PART I. Published for the Committee of Council on Education, CHAPMAN AND HALL, Limited, ii, HENRIETTA STREET. 1884. LONDON : CLAY, SONS, AND TAYLOR, BREAD STREET HILL, E.C. PREFACE. In the year 1880 the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs {Earl Granville, K.G.), at the request of the Lord President of the Council, brought before his Excellency Prince Lobanojf, the Russian ambassador in London, the desire of the Lords of the Committee of Council on Educa- tion to secure for the South Kensington Museum copies of some of the numerous fine examples of English plate and other works of art in the imperial collections in Russia. Llis Excellency entered heartily into the proposal and undertook to bring it before Ins Imperial Majesty the Emperor of Russia, tvho graciously consented to allow the collections to be examined and selections to be made for electrotyping. Various ecclesiastical authorities and ozvners of private collections in St. Petersburg and Moscow followed the example of his Imperial Majesty, and also per- mitted selections to be made from their art treasures for reproduction. VI PREFACE. This Handbook — limited in extent as all handbooks necessarily must be — is intended not only as a guide to the special collection of reproductions now in the South Ken- sington Museum but to supply some information respecting also the chief among the art treasures which are preserved in the imperial palaces, the churches, and the monasteries of Russia ; of all of which it may be said that very little is known at present in this country. Among these treasures the mere mention of the Siberian and Kertch collections will be sufficient to show how important they are in relation generally to the history of European art. No notes or references to any authorities are given in the Handbook ; they ivould have crozvded on every leaf ; and the present writer has done little more than attempted to gather in a few pages so much of the materials which are spread over numerous books in Russian, German, and French as will enable the student of Russian art to form a fair judg- ment ipon the subject, or at least excite a desire to inquire further. There are some of these books with regard to which he would especially wish to express how greatly he has been indebted to their authors ; among them the learned zvorks of Mons. Charles de Linas, and particularly " Les Origines de I ' Orfevrerie Cloisonne { " ; and, scarcely less, the "Art Russe" of Mons. Viollet-le-Duc. These admirable books have been freely used, and the writer will be well satisfied if he has referred to them with sufficient judgment. PREFACE. vn The " Ccmpte Rendu " of the imperial archczological com- mission, the " Antiquites du Bosphor Cimmerieu" the " Voyage autour du Caucase " of Mons. Dubois de Mont- pereux, and the large work in chromolithography of the antiquities of the Russian empire, are books which abound in magnificent illustrations of the highest 'value to all who are interested in the antiquities and zvorks of art in Russia. X CONTENTS. CHAPTER VI. PAGH MOSCOW : THE TREASURIES OF THE KREMLIN AND THE SACRISTY OF THE PATRIARCH : THE ANCIENT REGALIA : THE ROMANOFF HOUSE 115 PART II. CHAPTER VII. RELIGIOUS ART IN RUSSIA I49 CHAPTER VIII. TROITSA MONASTERY. RELIGIOUS ART IN METAL 184 CHAPTER IX. ARMS AND ARMOUR 208 CHAPTER X. ENGLISH PLATE IN RUSSIA 227 CHAPTER XI. GOLD AND SILVERSMITHS' WORK OF FOREIGN ORIGIN: SCULPTURE: MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTS 249 APPENDIX 275 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. I.— The Nikopol vase To face 44 II. — Frieze of the Nikopol vase 46 III. — Scythian vase and details, from the Koul-Oba tomb 54 IV. — Scabbard from the Koul-Oba tomb. Plate or ornament of electrum representing a dying stag 58 V. — Bracelet andsection of flat cuporphiale from the Koul-Oba tomb 62 VI. — Group in electrum, two Scythians embracing. Gold helmet from the tomb of the seven brothers 66 VII. — Three gold bracteoe, and agrafe or clasp 68 VIII. — Gold mask from Kertch collection 70 IX. — Crown and collar from Novo Tcherkask 84 X. — Two gold flacons or perfume boxes from Novo Tcherkask ... 86 XI. — Gold drinking-cup from Novo Tcherkask, and plaque with group of men and horses ... ... ... ... ... 92 XII. — Sassanian silver bowls ... ... ... 10S X III. — Crowns of Monomachus and Peter Alexeivitch 126 XIV. — Sclavonic decorative lettering. Bratina from Sacristy of Patriarch of Moscow ... ... ... ... ... ... 136 XV. — Bratina of Peter Alexeivitch Tretiakoff ... ... ... ... 138 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE XVI. — Kovsh or bowl, and czarka or cup ... ... To face 140 XVII. — Facade of a Russian church 152 XVIII. — Ground plan of a Russian church 153 XIX. — Ornament from illuminated Russian manuscript, and two examples of old Russian embroidery XX — Panagia of the Patriarch Hermogenes ... ... XXI. — Pectoral crosses XXII. — Cross surmounting dome of a Russian church ... XXIII.— Gold censer, dated 1598 Figures in Text — Pectoral cross 172 188 19c 192 196 XXIV. — Silver wine cistern in the Winter Palace, English; hallmark for year 1734 : ... ... ... 244 Dagger sheath, Sassanian (?) ... ... ... ll2 Pectoral cross ... ... ... ... ... ... 2 o~ Tlie Department of Science and Art is indebted to Mr. John Murray for the loan of si, woodcuts representing pectoral crosses. HANDBOOK ON ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION. Russian art is a subject which has so little occupied public attention, at least in England, so little is known amongst us con- cerning it, and so scanty is the information to be gathered from the few notices which exist in our language, that the question whether or not there is a Russian art, distinct and national, has probably entered into the minds of very few persons to consider. Yet those who have given the inquiry the attention it deserves, who have patiently endeavoured to trace the influences which (from the geographical position of the country) have been brought to bear upon the various races roaming over or inhabiting, under one designation or another, the Russia of to-day, will probably have decided that there is an art, Russian and national ; and they may further have been enabled to define those characteristics which give it a distinct style, and also trace the various sources whence they may have sprung. In the imperial museums, in the churches and private collec- tions of the empire, magnificent collections have been gathered together. But beyond the confines of Russia little that is B 2 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. illustrative of Russian art exists, and the country itself is far dis- tant from us and out of the beaten track of the ordinary traveller. To these circumstances, added to the obstacle of a language rarely known outside the country, we must ascribe the indiffer- ence which has hitherto been shown to a knowledge of Russian treasures. In the whole range of catalogues and handbooks pub- lished in English treating of the arts of all countries and of all periods, the mention made of Russia might perhaps be summed up in a score or so of pages. Without attempting to trace in all their details the various sources which have influenced the arts of Russia and com- bined to give them from time to time a distinctly national character, we shall endeavour at least to bring before the reader some illustrative materials in a rapid review of the principal subjects and some account of the museums and palaces of the empire in which the chief collections are to be found. A systematic account of Russian art would be a task far beyond our limits. The beginning and growth of the immense empire itself is involved in obscurity ; and, more than this, without the accompanying light of a clear history of the people we must be content in describing art to rely often upon conjectures and upon inferences which are liable to be contradicted or at least modified. The main object of this handbook is to supply a guide to the reproductions of works of art in Russia, now belonging to the South Kensington Museum, for the collection of which a special expedition was made to that country in the year 1880. The examination of these objects leads to a general consideration of Russian art. Occasional remarks which may be made in endea- vouring to discover some of the links in the chain which binds together the arts of the east and the west will be forgiven if they excite an interest in a large number of beautiful objects hitherto little known in England and which have long deserved a closer and more systematic study. INTR OD UCTION. 3 Although the origin of the art of Russia is undoubtedly obscure, in the whole it is undeniably to a great extent oriental. Yet such a decided statement must not be made without a certain explana- tion. |Influenced from time to time by its position (sandwiched as it were between the east and west), by the restless spirit of the people, by foreign invasions, by the effect of expansion and the greed of conquest, and by the peaceful settlement and colonisa- tion of its southern shores in early ages by peoples of the highest civilisation, the art engendered and fostered in Russia has naturally preserved the elements of various eastern sources from which it could scarcely have avoided largely to borrow. ) Hence, evidence is to be found of the influence of Egypt and Assyria, of Persia and China, of India, of Greece and Asia minor, of Byzantium, and lastly of the frequent invasions of the Mongols and other devastating hordes which in the eighth and ninth centuries ravaged these lands as they did almost the whole of Europe. Yet western influences are not to be ignored ; and it is with regard to the importance of their share relatively to the purely eastern elements in the composition of the arts of Russia that archaeologists and writers have joined issue. In the course of this handbook frequent use will be made of the admirable Art Russe of M. Viollet le Due. The distinguished architect and writer upon art treats in his book, for the most part, of the architecture of Russia. Still, in his introduction he analyses in a masterly manner {he origins of its art in general and the elements of which it is made up ; and he arrives at the conclusion that Russian art maybe considered as "composed" (tin compose) of elements borrowed from the east to the almost complete exclusion of all others. It appears to him to be the product of three principal elements which constitute the base, viz., the local Scythian element, the Byzantine, and the Mongol; and that the east forms nine-tenths of these elements. On the other hand, the pere Martinoff, in his articles on Russian art, reviewing the work of M. Viollet le Due, is convinced that the 4 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. west and Scandinavia exercised a more marked influence on the art of Russia than is commonly supposed ; and he does not confine this opinion to periods later than the sixteenth century, since which time western influence is uncontested. This question is one of the most important that we shall have to consider, and there will be frequent occasions to revert to it. Russia in the formation of its national art has shown itself to be a constant and persistent borrower or, it should rather be said, adapter. But we shall find the trace of many of the in- fluences which have been exerted on it naturally exercised, and not merely imported through the arts of other nations who had first received them from a more ancient source. In the apparent predominance of the Byzantine element we must not lose sight of the fact that Russia went for inspiration to the same countries by which Byzantium itself had been inspired — to the extreme east, to Persia, and Asia minor. High states of civilisation existed in eastern Russia, and the arts flourished ; peoples who themselves were in constant relation with the empire of the east poured in in rapid succession. Early travellers, such as Marco Polo, de Piano Carpini, and Rubriquis, speak of them and their splendours. Great cities must have existed, though few ruins now remain. They are covered with sand and forgotten ; and they and their history remain wrapped up in as impenetrable mystery as the buried cities of South America. An objection has been raised against the possession by Russia of a national art because the immense empire is composed of so many different parts ; has been colonised (if we may so speak) by so many different peoples and borrowed its arts from so many sources ; and that originality is impossible. But the same would hold good of almost any country, and it is merely a question of degree and of the distinction between borrowing and engrafting upon or adapting. We must endeavour, therefore, to find such examples as may enable us to sift the various elements, to account for the different INTRODUCTION. 5 influences, and to fix those peculiarities which characterise Russian art, and which in so many cases give it that indubitable cachet which enables us to say— as we already say with one accord of its village architecture, of its peasant embroideries, of its niello-work, of its songs, its poetry, and its costume—" that is Russian." The obscurity which envelops the early history of almost every country is especially acknowledged in the case of Russia. Still more as regards the arts, we have to deal at once with an uncertainty extending to even later times than the early period which is almost prehistoric as to what we should call Russian, and the extent of the participation of the east and the west. All that we know for certain is that foreign workmen and artists abounded. They came from India, they came from Persia, they came from Byzantium; Lombard architects came to build the churches ; and not only Germans, Poles, and Hungarians poured in but, in a smaller proportion, French and English. There is always a distinct difference between the work which such imported labour produces from its own genius and that which it forms under the direction of native artists or to suit the tastes of their employers. There will always be also a certain give and take, and mutual appreciation and adoption of styles. The national character of foreign arts will alter and adapt itself to changed conditions in the course of a very few years. The artists them- selves will settle and become nationalised, and their children keeping much of the original characteristics of their race will, with new blood, become imbued with the spirit of their adopted country, and engrafting the types and elements of the one upon the other, form that national character which we shall endeavour to distinguish in Russia, and especially in the magnificent collec- tion preserved in the treasury of the Kremlin. We shall find in that collection much work of the period of the greatest activity of the arts in Russia — the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries^ And in noticing it there will not be, at times, much difficulty in 6 ART OBJE CTS IN R USSIA . discriminating. We shall not call a tall hanap Russian because it happens to be at Moscow, or even perhaps made there ; it may be German pure and simple. Neither shall we hesitate in ascribing to Persia or India many gorgeous examples of the splendours of the courts of the Tzars. But largely as the arts and taste of Persia and India have influenced Russian art, we shall not un- frequently come across a throne perhaps, or a splendid crown, or a magnificent dish, or embossed tankard, and we shall have to pause. In such a case, whilst acknowledging the inspiration, we must not begrudge to Russia what is its just due. It is unfortunate that the records and inventories to be found in the palaces and churches aid us but little. The compilers were not archaeologists, and the dates and what story is given are often not to be relied upon. It is but of late years that Russia has systematically undertaken archaeological research, and the work is now being done thoroughly and nobly. Reference will often be made to the magnificent publications which issue from its official press or private enterprise. Some slight knowledge of the history of Russia, so far as the many races which have settled in that country have left per- manent marks of their influence upon art and manufacture is concerned, is almost indispensable. The constantly disturbed state of this vast country, at least up to the period of the over- throw of the Mongol domination, the frequent inroads of invaders (who during their temporary settlements would have brought with them rich spoils from other countries which they had previously overrun), and the warlike excursions of the Russians themselves, must have left distinct traces upon the arts of the empire. At one period we find Russian art almost in its primitive character ; at another, tempered by influences arising from contact with Scandinavia or Byzantium ; -at another, so deeply imbued with Persian or Hindoo feelings as to have almost lost its own indi- viduality; and in later times in danger of succumbing to the inevitable result of increased intercourse with the west. But INTR OD UCTION. 7 throughout it all the oriental type is dominant and the spirit of the west is foreign. The rise and progress of the Slavs or Slavonians, and how far they are to be identified on the one hand with the Scythians of Herodotus or, on the other, with the Russians of the present day, are difficult questions to determine. Scythian art enters largely into our subject, and without further discussion on the matter must be treated as a portion of the earliest art of the Russian empire. In the sixth century the Slavs, still pagan, occupied a large part of the country stretching from the Baltic % to the Black Sea. More than the rudiments of art must have existed amongst them. Ornaments and images have been found in the numberless tumuli of Russia which may be attributed to them; and in the old chronicles we read of their great god Peroun, a colossal image of silver, gold, and iron, which they destroyed on the introduction of Christianity. We first hear of the invasion of the Avars in the sixth century, and their power rapidly extended. They were far removed from barbarism, and possibly the rich tombs in Siberia may be of their race. Byzantium itself treated with their Khan, and in the seventh century (sometimes in conflict with and sometimes in friendly relations with the courts of the eastern empire) they had estab- lished themselves in the neighbourhood of Constantinople, in Bulgaria, in the Peloponnese, in Bithynia, and even in Syria. . About the same time, the north of Russia from lake Ladoga to Perm was occupied by the Finns under various denominations. These were soon followed by the Varangians, and the period of Scandinavian influence began. In the seventh century was the invasion of the Khazars, a race of Huns issuing from the frontiers of China, and in the eighth they and the Petchenegues, Alans, and other hordes occupied the shores of the Black Sea and a considerable portion of the country inland. The Russians were in constant communication with Byzantium 8 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. from the seventh to the tenth century, when the introduction of Christianity still further increased their intercourse. At that time Byzantium sent to Russia monks who were architects, artists, and workmen of all kinds, and Russian artists went to Constantinople for instruction. This period of Russian art is essentially Byzan- tine, not, however, slavishly so but in spirit, and with a fondness for the same elements from which Byzantine art itself is formed. The influence perpetuated by the association with religious belief has ever since remained prominent amidst the various secondary m influences coming from the east and the west. In the twelfth century (the period of the Mongol invasions) the Russian empire, then in the third century of its national exist- ence, possessed a national art. From the travellers de Piano Carpini and Rubriquis (before alluded to) we learn that the Tartars of the Golden Horde employed Russian artists as well as others to make the rich ornaments and decorations which abounded in the courts of the Khans. A Russian workman made for the Khan a celebrated throne in ivory with precious stones, metal work, and reliefs. It is not easy to say whether the Tartars possessed any art of their own or what their influence might have been on the arts of Russia. The circumstance that during the Mongol domination the Russians had to send deputations to Kipshak for the nomination of their princes must have required frequent intercourse and its usual consequences. The Russian principalities, from various causes, formed a divided state up to the foundation of Moscow, in the twelfth century. To that time we may attribute the beginning of Russian art, which reached its best in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Then Moscow sent the productions of her workshops as far as Persia, Scandinavia, Poland and Hungary: coats of mail were sent to the Caucasus and fine damascened helmets, some of which from their resemblance have been erroneously supposed to be Persian or Caucasian. In Church architecture many influences must have been at INTR OD UCTION. 9 work. In the tenth century Byzantium sent its builders to Russia : in the twelfth architects came from Lombardy and introduced the Romanesque element. In the thirteenth century the Mongol in- vasion to a great extent obliged Russia to depend on its own resources ; and later, Indo-Tartarian influences produced a more complicated and elaborate decoration. Although it is not possible in the limits of this handbook to enter into the subject of every branch of Russian art, or to mention even a tithe of the various examples which illustrate its origins and progress, still, in the hasty glance that may be given at some of its principal monuments and smaller objects some general idea may be gained. Throughout, the Russians show themselves to be great borrowers or, rather (as already remarked), clever adapters or assimilators. They are quick at imitating, and ready learners ; and in this, perhaps, the Chinese- Tartar instinct asserts itself. Their predilection seems to be un- mistakably eastern. The fact, however, remains that from the heterogeneous elements which they assimilated, a distinct, original, and national art was formed j and the evidence of that distinct style, characteristically different from the various origins which may have produced it, will be sufficiently prominent in the examples that will be given. It has been well said, by M. Viollet le Due that Russia has been one of the laboratories in which the arts coming from all points of Asia and Europe have been united to form a com- bination intermediate between the eastern and the western worlds. The Byzantine element is mixed with the Persian, the Scandi- navian with the Mongol, the Romanesque with the Turanian. But the result is neither Byzantine, .Hindoo, nor Persian. It is Muscovite. ^ The same writei further remarks, and it may be well to quote his own words : " Amongst the divers origins of Russian art, Byzantine art holds certainly the principal place : but from a time already far distant, other elements belonging to Asia may be IO ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. perceived — principally in ornament. These Asiatic elements take a more important place when Constantinople is no longer the seat of the eastern empire, and when the Mongols dominate over Russia, without, however, altogether displacing the principle of Byzantine structure in architecture and the hieratism of religious painting. "Without speaking of the secondary elements which appear in Russian art, the two origins that have just been mentioned, the one purely Byzantine and the other Asiatic, dominate, in different proportions it is true, but constitute the base of this Russian art. These proportions may be modified, and have often been so, without destroying the unity, for the reason that has already been given, viz. that Byzantine art is itself a compound in which the Asiatic element strongly enters." We shall find the inhabitants of the Crimea and adjacent districts in contact from very early times with the highest civilisation of ancient Greece, and we shall see the effect of its art in these regions. We shall next notice the objects discovered in the tombs which abound in Siberia, and in the country of the Don ; whose origin we can only conjecture but may attribute to peoples very closely connected, if not identical, with the last named. We shall pass then to Christian Russia, and the first influences of Byzantium, while yet much paganism existed. This will carry us on to Russian art at its best time in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and the various commercial relations with its oriental neighbours ; with Persia and India especially and its condition during the Mongol invasion — all of which influences have left their mark. Intercourse with the west will have to be taken into account, and then — when the sovereigns of Russia begin to show a preference for western tastes and industries, when western workmen come in crowds and settle on its soil — comes also the period of the decadence of Russian art. The history of the formation of the Russian empire involves INTR OD UCTION. that of a large number of different races who have successively inhabited it. The bare enumeration would be sufficient to occupy several pages, but we must remember that in the history of the arts, they have nearly all an important place. There is always a difficulty in tracing the origin of nations. Our endeavours are met by hypotheses which are confusing, by enigmas whose solution seems hopeless, and by an obscurity which appears at times to be rendered more dense by the glimpses of light in its neighbourhood. With regard to Russia the diffi- culties are even greater than elsewhere. In order rightly to under- stand and appreciate the progress of the arts of this great empire, we are compelled to endeavour to follow them in conjunction with her history. But that history is so indefinite that it often serves but to increase our perplexities. In the interminable succession of innumerable peoples coming in shoals from upper Tartary of whom we find certain traces we strive with but little success to find the ancestors of the Slavs, and we are unable to fix any periods with much greater precision than within a lapse of time ranging perhaps from three or four hundred years before Christ to three or four hundred years after. The vast tribes and offshoots of the Scythians confront us ; they mingle with the invading hordes of Goths and Huns. From the north come the Scandinavians, and at last the terrible invasion of the Mongols. On every side the newly erected empire is beset with enemies and itself issues forth in greed of conquest or of plunder. Throughout the history there is distraction ; records and documents are wanting, or so conflicting as to cause greater perplexity. Although so much uncertainty exists there is still much to justify the acceptance of the opinion of those who see the ancestors of the Russian in certain peoples of southern Scythia, and in particular in that branch of one of the three great families of the human race who migrated westwards and gradually extended themselves over the continent of Europe. We know them under the name of Slavonians or Scythians. CHAPTER II. ST. PETERSBURG ! SOME OF ITS MUSEUMS AND INSTITUTIONS. St. Petersburg, like all other towns of the empire, has a con- siderable number of churches. Naturally they are of recent date, and are more remarkable for the richness and grandeur of the materials employed than for a pure and elevated taste. J Rome and Constantinople excepted, no capital possesses perhaps so many imperial palaces. They are twelve in number, but amongst them we are now more particularly interested in the Winter Palace and its annexe known as the Hermitage. The Winter Palace is the principal residence of the Russian emperors. Immense in extent (four hundred and fifty-five feet in length by three hundred and fifty in breadth, without the annexe of the Hermitage), and imperfect in many of its details, it pre- sents a certain severe elegance and grandeur. The building was begun in the reign of the empress Elizabeth in 1754 on the site of the house of count Apraxin, in which she had taken up her residence after her coronation, and completed by the Italian architect Rastrelli, in 1762, under the empress Catherine. In 1837 a conflagration destroyed the whole of the interior, but it was restored in 1839. Along the stately Neva stretches in almost interminable length one of its principal facades, and another faces the square of the Admiralty and is supplemented by the Hermitage. We must not attempt to describe the sumptuous interior, the oriental luxury tempered by western sobriety of taste, the gorgeous saloons heavy ST. PETERSBURG: MUSEUMS, ETC. 13 with gilding and with masses of amber, malachite, lapis lazuli and semi-precious stones applied as ornament, the immense halls of the different orders of chivalry, the marble staircases and ranges of corridors. ( The pictures in the principal apartments are mostly modern battle-pieces and portraits of military men. Here many of the crown jewels are kept, and amongst them the great Orloff diamond on the imperial sceptre, whose story is scarcely less interesting than that of the Kohinoor. Mention will be made of the ancient regalia of Russia when noticing the treasures of the Kremlin of Moscow. The Winter Palace of course contains in the saloons and private apartments many objects of art of great interest and value, but that part of its contents with which we are most particularly concerned includes the pieces of plate selected from the plate- room, used for the service of the emperor and on certain special occasions. Several pieces have been reproduced, and are more particularly described in their place. For the rest, although the plate-room is exceedingly rich in the number of pieces displayed (it is not open to the general public), there is not very much which calls for special notice or is of historical value. The antique plate and the historical pieces presented to the Russian sovereigns at various times find a fitting resting-place in the halls of the Orujenaia Palata at Moscow, and will be spoken of further on in the description of that city and of the pieces which have been reproduced from it. As unfortunately happens with regard to many objects of art in the Russian collections acquired in days when little attention was paid to preserving records of their origin, so also as to the silver and gold plate little is now known concerning it. The inventories are very precise about their weight and the details of the precious stones with which they may be set, but give no further information. There is no record, for instance, relating to the immense silver wine cistern of English work which has been reproduced, nor until lately does there seem to have been any suspicion that it is 14 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. English. Whether ordered in England by a Russian sovereign or sent to him as a present there is no means of ascertaining; but it is highly probable that it was made by the firm of Messrs. Garrard of the Haymarket in 1734. A fine engraving of this same piece may be seen in their establishment, which, however, fortunately throws a little further light on its history, but the firm is not able to give any information. The great toilet service of gold of the empress Anna Ivanovna is, if not of good style, at least of excessive richness. There is no certain indication of its origin, and it would seem to be certainly German work though it has been considered to be French. It is now used on the occasion of marriages in the imperial family. References will be made later on to this splendid service. The Imperial Hermitage, with its picture galleries and museum, owes its origin to Catherine the great who had a small pavilion built by Vallin de la Motte, a French architect, in 1765, and intending it as a refuge from the cares of state and the pomp of sovereignty named it the Hermitage. Later on it was enlarged, the theatre added, and a picture gallery constructed, joined to the pavilion by a covered bridge thrown across the adjacent canal. The Hermitage as it stands at present is, however, the work of the Bavarian architect Leopold von Klenze who reconstructed it between T840 and 1850. In extent it is 515 feet in length by 375 in width, and the general style of architecture is Greek. The entrance cannot be called imposing or magnificent, but it is remarkable on account of the ten figures of hard grey granite, each of a single piece twenty-two feet in height, which support the peristyle. Russia is indebted for its museums and picture galleries to Peter the great who, returning from his travels, did not forget to introduce into his own country the love of art and the means of fostering it which he had observed in the countries which he had visited. After his death the museums languished until a new impetus was given under Catherine II. In her reign the collection ST. PETERSBURG: MUSEUMS, ETC. 15 of statues of Mr. Lyde Browne of Wimbledon was acquired, the greater part of which is now brought together at the Hermitage, and includes the marble group of The Child and the Dolphin attributed to Raphael, which has been reproduced. For eighty years, during the time of the Polish insurrection, little or nothing was added. In 1850 the emperor Nicholas gathered together in the new wing of the Hermitage a large collection of objects from the different palaces and the statues from the Taurida palace, in the gardens of which the Raphael group just mentioned had remained neglected and unnoticed for many years; the Demidov and Laval collections were bought, and in the early part of the reign of the late emperor Alexander H. M. Guedonov, curator of the museum, made the important acquisition of a considerable number of the most valuable pieces of the Campana collection. Three celebrated collections are amongst the pictures: the Walpole, from Houghton hall, purchased in 1779 for 35,000/., and containing 89 works of the Italian school, 75 German, 7 Spanish, and 5 English ; the collection of M. Crozat ; and the Spanish gallery of M. Coesvelt of Amsterdam. The Barbarigo collection was also acquired. Altogether the galleries of the Hermitage contain about 1,740 works, of which 333 are Italian, 115 Spanish, 944 Flemish, Dutch, and German, 8 English, 172 French, and 65 Russian. Among them are 20 Murillos, 6 Velas- quez, 60 Rubens, 34 Vandycks, 40 Teniers, 41 Rembrandts, 50 Wouvermans, 9 Potters, and 6 attributed to Raphael. The Titians are chiefly from the Barbarigo collection, and the famous Danac came from the Crozat collection. The English school is repre- sented by three of Sir Joshua Reynolds, the Infant Hercules, painted for Catherine II., The Continence of Scipio, and Cupid unloosing the cestus of Venus ; Dido and Apneas by Thomas Jones j a portrait of Grinling Gibbons by Sir Godfrey Kneller, a portrait of Abraham Van der Dort by Dobson, and a portrait of Oliver Cromwell by Robert Walker: a large number, compared with other continental galleries. 1 6 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. The museum may be said to have been completed with the acquisition of the Campana collection ; the additions from year to year being chiefly to the already inestimable treasures of the Kertch collection. To say that the entire collection is magnifi- cent would be superfluous j on the other hand, to suppose that it contains nothing that is too highly estimated, and that all its antiques are of undoubted authenticity, would be beyond the truth. Better judgment might have been displayed from time to time by those who have been charged with the acquisitions. At the same time, even supposing that (the Kertch collection apart) there are but few pieces which may be classed as of the very first order, still it cannot be denied that as a whole the museum of the Hermitage is a collection worthy of the great empire of which it is one of the peaceful glories. Amongst the pieces of antique sculpture the most remarkable are — the Venus, known as The Venus of the Hermitage (found at Castle Gandolfo), which the Russians compare to the Venus de Medici ; a colossal Jupiter seated ; and the bas-relief of the Niobe. The last named, a bust of Venus, a draped female figure, and a head of Jupiter have been reproduced and are described in their place (pp. 265, 266). The series of Greek and Etruscan vases equals in quality, if not in quantity, that of any other museum. They are 1,300 in number, and at the head of them (putting aside the vases of the Kertch collection) stands the famous vase of Cumge from the Campana collection, called by Campana himself " il re dei vasi." Before passing to the Kertch and Scythian collection— which is undoubtedly the treasure of the Hermitage — we must notice briefly some other collections to be found in this palace. On the ground floor are the galleries of antique sculpture, the libraries and print-rooms, and the offices of the curators. Throughout these galleries one feels not so much in a public museum as in the palace of the sovereign. Everything is on a magnificent ST PETERSBURG: MUSEUMS, ETC. scale: the entrance hall, and the fine, broad, marble staircase, and the galleries surrounding it have immense monolithic columns of granite; the picture galleries are vast and highly decorated; the cases in which the objects are displayed are themselves ornamental ; the attendants are the servants of the palace in the imperial liveries. The walls and ceilings of one of the corridors are decorated with copies of the loggie of Raphael in the Vatican, made in the reign of Catherine II., and at a time when the originals were in a better state of preservation than now. Everywhere stand colossal candelabra, masses of porphyry and violet jasper, vases, tazze, and tables of lapis lazuli, malachite, and semi-precious stones. Beyond the picture galleries are other galleries lined with wall-cases literally crowded with objects of great intrinsic value— old German and other plate, jewelled cups and vases, watches and snuff-boxes in profusion. Here are massed together without order, and there is scarcely room to contain them, porcelain of rare quality, Japanese and Chinese work of various descriptions, and objects of historical interest, especially those of the time of Peter the great. The collection of gems is one of the finest and most complete known. It includes the famous collection of the due d'Orleans (Egalite) and the great cameo known as the Malmaison cameo. The numismatic collection comprises 200,000 specimens. The coinage of Russia is complete, from the rude lumps of metal which formed the earliest silver currency and gave a name to the rouble. The series of coins of the mints of foreign states is very complete, especially that of England. There are about a thousand of Ethelred II., Canute, Hardicanute, and other Anglo-saxon coins, many of which have been found in various parts of Russia. Especially interesting is the series of coins of the ancient Bosporian kingdom and of the khans of the Golden Horde, and these are naturally more complete and numerous than any other of the same series existing. Arabic and Anglo-saxon coins are by no means uncommon in the Baltic provinces. An important discovery was c iS ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. made at Mourom, a town a little to the south of Nijni-Novgorod and Vladimir. Here 11,000 Kufic coins in silver were found, mostly of the first half of the tenth century, some of the eighth and ninth, proving the important commercial relations which existed between the north-east of Europe and the empires of central Asia during that period. Other Kufic coins were found in 1847 at Soumy (government of Kharkov), where also were found in 1864 three bronze fibulae, similar to the French, Anglo- saxon, Burgundian, and German fibulae of the fifth to the eighth centuries. Many German and Arabic coins of the ninth and tenth centuries come from the government of Minsk. Silver coins of the dynasties of the khans of the Golden Horde are found in abund- ance from the Volga to the Desna where the latter falls into the Dnieper at Kiev. Krasnoyarsk — at the mouths of the Volga — Saratov, Astrakhan, Tambov, and Koursh, furnish considerable quantities. The library of the Hermitage is remarkable as containing the libraries of d'Alembert, Diderot, and Voltaire, the books which belonged to the latter bearing many of their former owner's manuscript notes. The greater part of the original library has been transferred to the public library of St. Petersburg; the volumes remaining being principally works of archaeological reference. In the library also is a fine collection of Etruscan objects, many of them from the Campana collection and some which were dug up in the presence of the late emperor when he visited Pompeii. The print department contains 200,000 engravings, and the collection of drawings numbers about 12,000. The finest are exhibited under glass and changed at regular intervals. The most interesting and the most important of all the collections of Russia and at the same time the most national, springing as it were from the cradles of the race, are unquestionably those of the antiquities of Scythia and Siberia. The artistic nature and rich- ness of material of the Scythian collection have doubtless rendered ST. PETERSBURG: MUSEUMS, ETC. it of more general interest, and it has in consequence received the lion's share of attention. But the Siberian collection is to the archaeologist, to the student of the development of peoples, and of the chain of the history of the arts, of equal importance. The very mysteries which it involves, the pleasure of unravelling them, of searching for clues, and of finding possibly some indications which may throw light on the beginnings of the Russian empire, give to it a peculiar fascination and charm ; and it is wonderful indeed that it has hitherto been comparatively neglected. Speaking of it in 1868, M. Odobesco (then on a visit to the Russian capital) says, in a letter published in Les Origines de T Orfevrerie cloisonne: " Nothing is more pregnant with information, more fertile in proofs and convincing arguments. I am at a loss to explain how these objects can have remained here now nearly a century without attracting the attention of the learned; above all, in days when so much importance has been attached to the study of the East. In central Asia the ruins of towns and palaces have been stirred up to their foundations, carefully described and illustrated over and over again ; the numismatic remains of the different dynasties of Persia and the adjacent states have been collected and debated upon ; inscriptions written in tongues and with characters almost totally unknown have been deciphered; attempts are made to explain the subjects figured on cylinders, engraved gems, and some isolated works of oriental goldsmiths' art : but in this great movement of Asiatic investigation, the imposing mass of jewels which Russia has continually extracted from the kourgans of Siberia, jewels in which Iranian art seems to reveal itself with all its finesses and under all the phases of its long career, has been neglected ! The Greco-scythic antiquities of the Crimea, disentombed scarcely forty years, caused a complete revolution in the learned world : yet the archaeological treasures which the accident of excavations has brought to the Hermitage from the regions situated between the "Volga and the Irtish have been left for an entire century almost unnoticed." c 2 20 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. The hall in which the Kertch collection is displayed is on the right as the Hermitage is entered— a vast hall of splendid pro- portions, the roof supported by twenty monolith columns of grey granite. Large as it is, it is too small to contain and exhibit to the best advantage the multitude of objects displayed in cases on the floor, against the walls, and in the embrasures of the windows; the immense quantity of gold and silver work and jewels, the terra-cottas, the hundreds of vases, the sarcophagi, the statues and figures, and the objects of domestic use— the last-named interesting rather from the sentimental associations attached to them, and the peep into the habits and customs of the ancient people to whom they belonged which we are enabled to gather from them, than from their intrinsic value. Here are terra-cotta figures ; dolls and toys from children's tombs, masks of pottery, vessels of glass, toilet ornaments, mirrors, ivory boxes containing rouge, strigils, astralagi (huckle-bones for the game played with them), dice, knives and stones for sharpening, buttons, pins, necklaces, and many ornaments of female adorn- ment. Here are fragments of dresses of embroidered wool, silk, and linen ; even a pair or two of boots, of one piece except the soles. Here, also, as in the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, we find cooking utensils still containing the remains of meat and bones, bread, fruit, walnuts, almonds, and roasted chestnuts. The honour of the first systematic excavations, which had already been commenced by M. Patiniotti, is principally due to a Frenchman, Paul Dubrux, formerly director of some works at Kertch. Dubrux was a man without pretension to archaeo- logical science but he had studied the nature of the ground during several years, and it was he who pointed out to the Russian authorities and archaeologists most of the spots where important' discoveries have since been made. His manuscript notes form the groundwork of the finely illustrated work, the Antiquities of the Cimmerian Bosphorus, published by order of the emperor. ST. PETERSBURG : MUSEUMS, ETC. 21 The most remarkable and important part of the Crimean collection is doubtless the immense quantity of objects in the precious metals. The jewels and ornaments in gold and enamel are especially remarkable, and from the large number which have been preserved give us an idea of the quantity that must once have existed. We have (it may almost be said in profusion) crowns, collars, necklaces, bracelets, ear-rings, finger-rings, and other orna- ments of dress ; many magnificent necklaces of the kind with which the discoveries of Etruria, Cyprus, and the Troad have made us so familiar, namely, those with the little hanging orna- ments and vases, and the goldsmith's work known as granulated work. Some of these are of such high artistic value that they could have belonged only to very high personages or monarchs, whose names however are absolutely unknown to us. Amongst the ornaments in gold found in the tumuli near Kertch and in the Taman peninsula are many necklaces of the vase-like pendant kind ; all are of great beauty and delicacy of workmanship. Perhaps no finer examples of work and design can be found in the collection than two large plaques made to cover the ears. The reasonable tenderness of the conservators of the museum with regard to these prevented unfortunately any reproduction. They were attached to a kind of diadem which surrounded the head of the skeleton found in the tomb, and are in the shape of large circular plaques with reliefs hammered in repousse representing Thetis, seated on a hippocampus, bringing the armour of Achilles. The subject on each is very slightly varied. Beneath the plaque is a network of little hanging bottles or vases connected by chains. Torques of gold or electrum are not uncommon. Some are comparatively simple, others more elaborate. Amongst the latter, a very beautiful one has for its open ends two figures of Scythians on horseback in their characteristic long full trousers, belted blouses, and pointed head-dresses, such as we see on the column of Trajan, on the Nikopol vase or similar pieces, and worn by the 22 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. moujik of our own day. The parts adjacent to the ends are enamelled in the same style as the sphinx bracelets described later on. Funeral crowns of elegantly wrought laurel and olive leaves, and ears of corn of beaten gold attached to a central stem are common. Of the twenty-one complete crowns of gold of Panticapaeum one is of olive, thirteen of laurel, and seven of parsley leaves. As a rule most funeral crowns which have been found were specially destined for that purpose only. They are not therefore all distinguished by careful workmanship. Some, however, are of extreme beauty. In a considerable number the foliage of the olive, laurel, ivy, vine and other plants, is imitated in leaves of gold of excessive thinness, stamped out, and some- times soldered on to a central stem or attached by fine wire. Many of those from the Koul-Oba tomb are of heavier work- manship and so elegant that we may imagine that they were made to serve not only for the day of interment, but for ceremonial purposes during lifetime also : or perhaps they had been sent from Athens as tokens of friendship to the princes of the Bosphorus. There are also masks of gold (one of which, later than the first century of Christianity, is of great beauty and interest), arms and armour, and bronzes. Amongst the silver work are many elegant rhytons, some of singularly fantastic forms ending in heads of animals. It would be impossible to enumerate a tithe of the collection. Few of the various pieces of goldsmith's work go back to a period earlier than the third century before Christ. Most are doubtless much later, and the whole embraces a period of perhaps six centuries or, inclusive of other objects starting from the very oldest, a lapse of time spread over at least a thousand years — a very long period indeed in the history of art. It might even be said that the series of the treasures of the Hermitage dates without interruption from the time of the highest civilisation of Greece to the time of the Mongol invasion. ST. PETERSBURG: MUSEUMS, ETC. 23 Many fine specimens of glass have been found in Russia, and a considerable number are exhibited in the Kertch collection. Amongst them one remarkable piece is entitled to special mention. It is a two-handled vase incrusted with silver in relief, and though of a different style of art may be compared with the Portland vase in the British Museum. Incrustations in metal form a frieze round the body of the vase and represent a stag and boar hunt. It was discovered in the Caucasus and is of the Roman period. The use of glass appears not to be very ancient in Russia. In a quaint poem, describing the places and manners of the country, written in the form of letters to his " especiall friend Master Edward Dancie by Master George Turberville" in 1568, we find : — " They have no English glass : of slices of a rock Called Sluda they their windows make, that English glass dolh mock : They cut it very thin, and sew it with a thread In pretty order, like to panes to serve their present need ; No other glass, good faith ! doth give a better light, And sure the rock is nothing rich, the cost is very slight." A few fragments of thin pieces or veneers of ivory which ornamented some domestic object, perhaps a couch or throne, or as some think a lyre, are very remarkable. They bear ex- quisite designs and groups of figures in outline. Until very recently these fragments were supposed to be of box-wood ; the ivory is partially decomposed and of a greyish colour. Stuffs and tissues of such high antiquity as to be of Greek and Etruscan origin are of great rarity, if indeed those of the Kertch collection are not unique. One piece is a tissue of violet-purple embroidered in yellows and greens. Another is of extremely fine texture, hand-painted with mythological scenes, and on another piece of the same kind are painted ducks flying. The tomb whence they come is presumed to be of the third or fourth 24 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. century b.c. Whether as regards material, tissue, or decoration, their value is high in the history of art. Their condition was naturally not good when found, but with infinite patience the multitude of fragments has been unravelled and cleverly restored, so that the patterns and even the stitches can be traced. Excel- lent fac-similes in colour are given in the Compte Rendu of the archaeological commission. Thick tissues of silk lined with fur have also been found ; others in linen and in material resembling our velvet. In the Pavloskoi kourgan, near Kertch, pieces of richly em- broidered clothing were found in the year 1879 together with other things. Amongst the ornaments are leaves and arabesques and a perfectly distinguishable figure of an amazon on horseback, one of several forming a border. Similar stuffs embroidered with simple designs had previously been found in the tombs of the Tauric peninsula, but this is the first time that an entire figure occurs in ancient embroidered work. The grave is probably as early as the fourth century B.C. The greater part of the dress which clothed the skeleton within it is of close woven violet- coloured wool, on which is sewn a green woollen stuff, and the embroidery is in yellow, red, black, and green. The amazon wears a green chiton. Other curious examples of stuffs were found with the funeral crown of a woman in a tomb on the hill of Mithridates at Kertch. The inside of the crown was a strip of bark. Over this was a dark green woollen stuff on which the thin gold leaves were fastened, and the whole was covered with a kind of very fine woollen crape. From another tomb at Kertch comes a pair of leather boots, one of which (of one piece, except the sole) is uninjured. Amongst the series of vases is an cenochoe painted in red with figures of animals, which was discovered in 1870 near Kertch. This is of the earliest time of the Greek colonies and the single example of such an early date. Of the fifth century b.c. there is ST. PETERSBURG: MUSEUMS, ETC. 25 nothing, and little of the fourth. Except, therefore, the vase just mentioned nearly all are of the period of Alexander the great, the greater number dating probably from 350 b.c. to 250 B.C. At that time the civilisation of the Bosporian kingdom, barbaric to a certain extent as it may have been, must have reached a high pitch, and the taste of the wealthy rulers of these Scythian tribes must have been anything but low to have induced them to take in exchange for the products they sent into Greece so many magnificent objects, so many vases of a very high style of Greek art, not to speak of those specially executed for them either in Athens or by some of its best workmen residing in the land. The vase known as the vase of Xenophantos is very famous. It is painted in red and decorated with reliefs coloured and gilt in the style of the vase of Cumse. On the long neck are bigse and groups of centaurs and Lapithse ; on the body of the vase a crowd of personages. What adds to its interest is the inscription on the neck : — Hevo^avTos iTroLrjcrev 'A^v(atos). " Xenophantos the Athenian made [this]." It would seem that we have here the mark of an Athenian potter working in a strange country, who proudly declares his nationality and stamps his goods as "from Athens," the city of elegant taste, in the same way that nowa- days a French milliner or hair-dresser writes up the announcement " from Paris." The very rare vases in terra-cotta in the shape of figures are represented by fifteen specimens of the fourth or third cen- tury B.C., and they are admirable in grace and delicacy. One of them is a bust of Venus rising from a half-opened shell ; another is a sphinx with a youthful female head. Both are coloured, and the colours remain fresh and almost unchanged in their delicate bloom after their long entombment of twenty centuries or more. The collection of Russian antiquities of the imperial Hermitage may be divided into two classes ; that coming from the Crimea 26 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. and adjacent districts, and that from Siberia and central Russia. They consist of the rich collection of gold objects found to the east of the Volga and in Siberia during the latter part of the reign of Peter the great; of those found in the enormous tumulus known as the Lougovaia Moguila, and supposed to contain the remains of a Scythian king ; of the treasures of Novo-Tcherkask and of the prehistoric remains and Tchoude antiquities. In the same gallery are also placed the cups and gold objects from old Serai ; a series of terra-cottas comprising statuettes, masks, lamps, etc. ; and the pieces of plate and other ornaments of Roman, Sassanian, Byzantine, and oriental origin generally, found in various parts of the empire, including Persian cylinders in chalcedony and sardonyx mounted in gold, Assyrian cylinders, Egyptian scarabsei of the Ptolemies, and amulets in opaque glass. Amongst the objects of Siberian art are several other solid plaques of gold of the same kind as those which have been copied and are elsewhere described. The representations are chiefly of combats of animals, and several are incrusted with turquoises and ruby pastes in cells champleve in the metal in the characteristic manner. There are also a pair of superb disks of gold, cast and chased with animals, and set with large turquoises. These formed probably harness ornaments similar to the phalerce which we see represented on the horse-trappings of the Sassanian plates and equestrian figures. Two torques of Assyrian type adapted to suit the style of the country are well worth notice. One is a heavy tubular ring with open ends finishing in figures of lionesses, the other terminates in leopards' heads. Both are symmetrically set with turquoises in cells champleves in the metal, and if of a rude are still of a vigorous style. In the centre of this room stands the grand Nikopol vase. The treasures of Russian art and objects of archaeological interest found in Russia are, for the most part, in the safe keeping of the public museums or in the hands of private col- lectors in the empire. Comparatively few have at present found ST PETERSBURG: MUSEUMS, ETC. 27 their way to other countries. Amongst the most important private collections in Russia are those of count Serge Stroganoff, count Gregory Stroganoff, and M. Savaitov ; of count A. Ouvarofif, and M. Sirotine of Moscow, of M. Likhatchev at Kasan, and of the late M. Boleslas Podczaszinski at Warsaw. The universities of Moscow and Helsingfors, and the towns of Tiflis, Kiev, Irkoutsk, Novgorod, Kertch, Odessa, Vilna, and Tver, amongst others, possess museums and have their learned societies. Amongst the latter may be especially cited the Imperial Archaeological Society, the Academy of Sciences, the Early Russian Text Society of St. Petersburg, and the archaeological societies of Moscow, Odessa, and Tiflis. The sacristies and treasuries of the principal monasteries and churches throughout Russia are very rich in precious objects, church utensils and ancient embroidered vestments used in the imposing ceremonies of the Greek Church. The only treasuries from which selections have been made for reproduction are those of the Chudov at Moscow, and the Lavra of Troitsa. Many of them possess not only objects of art of Russian work but large quantities of silver plate of various foreign countries (amongst which are fine English specimens), to be spoken of later on. CHAPTER III. THE KERTCH COLLECTION OF THE IMPERIAL HERMITAGE: SCYTHIAN AND GRECO-SCYTHIAN ART. The early Scythians were a people of pastoral and nomadic habit, of whom unfortunately history has left but little record. Our great authority is Herodotus, who gives us some details of the habits and occupations, of the arts and sciences, of the riches and power, and of the daily life of a people, who have as a nation long disappeared from the face of the earth and, but for him, almost from history. Their last great settlement, where indeed they appeared to have firmly established themselves, was in the country of the Don and the Dnieper, and on the shores of the Cimmerian Bosphorus which we know to-day as the Crimea. To these shores had come colonies of Greeks from Miletus, who introduced their civilisation, founding Kustendje and Istros near the Danube ; Odessa, Olbia, Khersonesus, Palakion (Balaclava), Theodosia (Kaffa), Panticapseum (Kertch), Phanagoria, and Tanai's at the mouth of the Don. With this Greek civilisation we shall presently be particularly concerned. Further inland than these colonies were swarms of tribes ; the agricultural Scythians on the Dnieper, the nomad Scythians fourteen days' journey to the eastward, and the royal Scythians (who looked on the others as slaves) around the sea of Azov. Herodotus speaks also of other tribes whom he distinguishes from the Scythians. Amongst them are the Agathyrsi, renowned for their gold and rich ornaments ; SCYTHIAN AND GRECO-SCYTHIAN ART. 29 the Melanchlainai, habited in black; the Sauromati, issue of Scythians and Amazons; the Budini and Massagetaj; the bald Argippi, and the one-eyed Arimaspians ; the Gryphons, guardians of gold treasure, and the Hyperboreans with their inhospitable climate. The name of Scythian in ancient times and in the middle ages was a vague term applied indifferently to peoples of Celtic origin, or of Thracian, Germanic, Finnish, Tartar, Mongol, Chinese, Magyar or Turkish extraction. It was a geographical expression whose signification varied as geographical knowledge became extended. A very large number of learned treatises have been written on the ancient history of the coasts of the Crimea ; but it remains involved in obscurity. Very little can be depended on as authentic; we can only hazard guesses and conjectures about the dates and genealogies of various dynasties and rulers, and almost our only light is afforded by the coins and other objects found in the tombs. Little more than the names remain of the several occupants of these lands, subsequent to the earliest period : to this extent we know something definite : but it is illustrated by no monu- ments, by no buried treasures. On the other hand, we have had preserved for us to the present day, securely hidden in numberless vast and solid sepulchres, an illustrated record of the Greco-Scythian period whereby we are enabled to trace out for ourselves a knowledge of the daily life, and manners, and customs of that time. Peace and quietness seem to have favoured most the peoples who dwelt on the shores of the Crimean peninsula. The restless tribes of the interior, nomadic and living in fear of their neighbours, were ever in danger of displacement. The study of the objects found in the tombs whether inland or on the shores is of great importance not only in relation to the art of Russia but to that of the whole world besides. 3° ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. Herodotus has supplied much information concerning the Scythians of his day. But a still more faithful and no less weighty, if unwritten, evidence has of late years been brought to light by the opening of the vast extent of tumuli in the neigh- bourhood of Kertch on the shores of the Euxine. Not only an enormous mass of treasure in the precious metals, artistically worked, has been discovered, but a great number of domestic objects of all descriptions which these ancient chieftains, as Herodotus tells us was their custom, had caused to be buried with them. These, preserved in the halls of the imperial Hermitage, form to-day one of the glories of modern Russia ; and in them we may trace the grandeur, power, and civilisation of its primitive an- cestors. Nor is it the least interesting that we are enabled to follow, as it were, with these objects in our hands the records of the old historian ; to note how his narrative is borne out by the practical illustrations here supplied, and even with a feeling of relief to assure ourselves that they give confirmation to many of his statements which, without them, had appeared more than doubtful. On the western arm of the Crimean peninsula, at the entrance of the straits which join the Black sea and the sea of Azov, stands the small town of Kertch, the name being a corruption of the Turkish name Gherseti, given to the fortress erected here by the Genoese in the fourteenth or fifteenth century, and which at that time was known as Bospro. In the sixth century B.C. the Greeks of Miletus, " the mother of colonies," established a settlement here which they called Panticapaeum. Doubtless on their arrival they found the district already occupied by the nomad Scythians. The Greeks by their influence raised it to a high degree of civilisa- tion and prosperity, the evidence of which we are now able to read in the spoil of the graves of their dead. The history of the Crimean peninsula has been full of incident, held, as it has been, succes- sively by the ancient Bosporians and ravaged by the wild tribes SCYTHIAN AND GRECO-SCYTHIAN ART. 31 which surrounded it ; now under the dominion of the Tartars, now of the eastern emperors ; inhabited by Kazars, Genoese, and Turks. Finally, in the Russo-Turkish wars of the end of the last century it was ceded to Russia. At present, we are chiefly con- cerned with that portion of its history which relates to Kertch. It is here and in the neighbourhood that the greater number of im- portant tumuli abounds, and in their contents we shall find ample evidences of the effects of the peaceful invasion by the Greek colonists. Many other tumuli exist in the surrounding districts, but it would not be possible to notice them all. The tumuli in the vicinity of Kertch may be taken altogether as typical of Scytho-Greek art in general ; and there will be sufficient examples to illustrate the purely indigenous art, the purely Greek art, and the result of the mixture of the two. Further, it will be advisable to confine our attention almost entirely to one tomb, the richest of them all, known as the Koul- Oba ; and, finally, although the Kertch collection of the Hermit- age at St. Petersburg is a vast museum of itself teeming with treasures, if not all of the highest at any rate of an excellent period of Greek art (from which many more beautiful objects might have been chosen for illustration), it will be as well to con- fine the selection to those which may be called rather Scythic than Greek. It will be necessary, of course, to notice all the objects, of whatever origin, which have been selected for reproduction. As to the others, whatever space can be allowed to them has been given when describing generally the museum of the Hermitage, in the chapter devoted to St. Petersburg and its collections. It will doubtless be questioned how far some of the most beautiful objects may be called of Scythian or for our present purpose Russian art. Those of primitive, rude, and inartistic workmanship are naturally aboriginal ; others are purely Greek and probably imported ; others were made in the country by Greek artists or by clever Greek-instructed natives. But in the same way that in our own day we speak of the productions of a London 32 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. silversmith's shop (for instance) as English, even if they are designed or made by a foreign workman, so in regard to these however good may be the style, if the influence of the country and its customs and tastes be apparent, they may reasonably be classed as Scythian, that is, Russian. The Greek colony from Miletus settled on the shores of the Bosphorus and founded Panticapaeum, as has been already stated, about the sixth century B.C., and in the second half of the fourth, or first of the third century b.c, constant relations were kept up between these colonists and the great cities of Greece. A large trade in corn, wool, and other products existed, and we know that the gold of the Ural and of the countries in the vicinity of the Altai was exported in immense quantities. Strabo tells us in his eleventh book that the Aorsi adorned themselves with gold, that the Massagetes had armour ornamented with belts of gold, circlets of gold on their heads, bridles and other ornaments of gold for their horses. The fable of Arimaspes and of the griffins guarding the treasure is well known ; Herodotus alludes to this and to the immense quantities of gold existing in these districts. It is not surprising therefore that such an enormous quantity of gold objects should have been discovered in the exploration of the tombs in this country, nor that at least a traditional knowledge of the treasures they contained should have excited the cupidity of spoilers of all ages down to the present century. For two thousand years or more they have been, from time to time, opened and pillaged. Vast quantities of the treasure obtained from them must have been dispersed, and it is but seldom that in our days a happy accident has permitted a tomb of importance to reveal itself untouched and unprofaned. Of late years greater care has been taken, and the results of more thorough search are preserved in the Kertch museum of the Hermitage. The modern town of Kertch presents few traces of its ancient splendour and prosperity; of the days when Greek civilisation crowned it with temples, or when Mithridates displayed there his SCYTHIAN AND GRECO-SCYTHIAN ART. 33. almost fabulous riches. As the city is approached the huge mounds of the tumuli, the great cemeteries of its former possessors, strike the traveller at once. It is in this respect another Pompeii, with this difference, that in the one the living city was buried, while here the tombs are raised above the surface, yet contain almost as much evidence of the daily life of those who lie beneath them. The Tartar city is undoubtedly the Pantica- pgeum of Strabo. It appears to have been always the capital of the Bosporian kingdom, and a long line of kings sat on its throne. In Guthrie's Tour in the Taurida a succinct account of the ancient history of this city and its kings (from Spartacus I., the first whose name is known) may be found. In Sabatier's Kertch and Vospor, in Raoul Rochette's Antiquites Grecques, in Dubois de Montpereux Voyage autour du Caucase, and in Kohler's- Remarques sur POuvrage, &c, details of all the known or specu- lative history may be gathered, together with descriptions of the coins upon which so much of it is founded. The importance of the discoveries in the tumuli of the Crimea with regard to the history of Russia and to the history of art generally soon became evident to the Russian government, which in consequence undertook systematic researches though it was- not until 1831 that discoveries of any great importance were made. In that year the opening of the Koul-Oba tomb threw a sudden light upon the history of the ancient civilisation of the Bosporian kingdom. The investigations conducted under the auspices of the government were made with extreme care. Every person employed had to give a strict account of the results of his researches as they proceeded, and with the exception of the spoliation of the Koul-Oba tomb most of the objects of interest appear to have found their way to the Hermitage. A very few are in the museum of the Louvre, but scarcely any came into the hands of the curiosity dealers of Paris and London. What was despoiled was very soon melted down. The careful researches of the Russians into the antiquities of D 34 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. their empire have not been without highly important results. Many magnificently illustrated works in Russian, French, or German have been published by direction or encouragement of the Tzar; notably the Antiquites du Bosphor Cimmerien, the Recueil dAntiquites Scythes, the Antiquites de la Russie of count Ouvaroff, and the Voyage autour du Caucase of Dubois de Mont- pereux, which last contains most interesting and authentic particulars gathered on the spot or collated from the manuscript of Paul Dubrux, and is profusely illustrated. Besides these the Archaeological Commission of St. Petersburg, specially appointed to conduct the researches, has published in German every year (edited by the learned Keeper of Antiquities of the Hermitage museum, M. Stefani) a large quarto volume giving an account of the work executed during the year, together with an atlas of large plates illustrative of the most important objects, very carefully drawn and executed, often in colours. While we speak of the energy so lavishly displayed by the Russian government relating to any discoveries of archaeological interest made in its dominions, it may be interesting to point out also the great activity that has for some years prevailed in regard to all kinds of archaeological research, and the publication by private persons and public societies of so many elaborate works on the subject, and fac-simile reproductions of ancient MSS., illuminations, and the like. Unfortunately for the western world the text of most of these publications (many of them of extreme im- portance) is in Russian. But while we regret that to the majority amongst us the Russian language is a sealed book, we may yet be thankful for the magnificent illustrations which accompany these works. It will be sufficient to mention the Antiquities of the Russian Empire, illustrated by more than six hundred gorgeously coloured plates, executed in a style which cannot but excite admiration, more especially when we consider that it was pub- lished as early as 1849-52. We shall have, later on, to make frequent reference to this work when we come to the treasures SCYTHIAN AND GRECO-SCYTHIAN ART. 35 of mediaeval art gathered together in the palaces of St. Petersburg and Moscow. Raoul Rochette, in his Journal des Savants, speaks of the whole district round Kertch and from the Black sea to the sea of Azov as strewn with tumuli. They abound in the vicinity of the Bosphorus and, above all, in the Taman peninsula (opposite Kertch). They are regularly built conical mounds, known now as Kourgans, raised some twenty-five to thirty feet or more above the plain. From time immemorial they have been ransacked for the treasure they were supposed to contain. By the Genoese and Turks, and by the Russians themselves when they became masters of the Crimea, indiscriminate and sordid pillage went on constantly. Finally, in the late Crimean war (to their shame be it said, whether they were Turkish, or French, or English troops), not only were the tombs not respected, but the museum itself of Kertch, in which so much of beauty and interest had been carefully arranged and kept, was barbarously plundered and large quantities of valuable objects wantonly destroyed. Mr. Russell, in his Crimea, has given a graphic account of the vandalism which took place at the sack of Kertch by the allies. Speaking of the museum he says : — " The doors have been forced open, and the ancient Greek marbles and tablets which stood against the walls have been overturned. It is impossible to convey an idea of the scene within this place. The museum was a single room with glass vessels along the walls, and niches for statuary. A ledge about thirty feet from the ground supported a great number of cinerary urns. One might well wonder how the fury of a few men could effect such a prodigious amount of ruin in so short a time. The floor of the museum is covered for several inches in depth with the debris of broken glass, of vases, urns, statuary — the precious dust of their contents. . . . Not a single thing that could be burnt or broken any smaller, had been exempt from reduction by hammer or fire. The cases and shelves were torn from the walls ; the glass was smashed to atoms and the d 2 3 6 ART OBJE CTS IN £ US SI A. statues pounded to pieces ... the work of destruction was complete." It is humiliating to record such a scene. Happily the valuable objects in the precious metals had been removed to a place of safety. Nevertheless, it is impossible to estimate the loss that has been sustained. Many objects wantonly destroyed were unique. Some were rare examples of Scythian workmanship; others, beautiful specimens of early and later Greek and Roman art. As in nearly all Greek tumuli, we find in these tombs objects more or less precious deposited by the affectionate care of the relatives of the dead. From these we are enabled to gather almost the entire story of the manner of life of the ancients. But besides domestic articles objects in gold abound. This custom of burying with the dead the ordinary things which men used during life is of very high antiquity : reaching back to the earliest ages of the Greeks, who themselves may have borrowed the custom from Egypt. Thanks to it, we find nearly all the details of social life of those days— manuscripts, paintings,, objects of worship, ex voto offerings, dresses, ornaments, money,, jewels, musical instruments, furniture, vases of all kinds, toilet necessaries, mirrors, lamps, domestic utensils, toys, arms, horse- trappings, even fruit and nuts and wine ; in fact, things of all! descriptions in gold, silver, bronze, iron, glass, stuffs, ivory, wood, &c. Some tumuli contain only one tomb ; most of them a large number. Many of them are solidly built chambers or vaults in which the bodies of distinguished personages reposed as in a hall of their palaces, surrounded by their wives, attendants, and horses, and with much of the pomp and display to which they had been accustomed. As to the remains of their bodies, what is left (as a rule) falls into dust on the opening of the tomb. Nearly all which belonged to the human frame has disappeared with, the lapse of centuries. Sometimes the teeth remain, the hair, the upper part of the skull, or the thigh-bones. Sometimes, on. SCYTHIAN AND GRECO-SCYTHIAN ART. 37 opening the tomb, a distinct impression of the skeleton is seen : a white outline that the chalky nature of the bones has traced upon the ground, and nothing more. Kourgans or tumuli are everywhere found in Russia ; not only on the shores of the Cimmerian Bosphorus, but also in the governments of Tchernigov, of Pskov, of Novgorod, and even of St. Petersburg. And this custom of entombment where the chief or warrior reposes in a vault or cavern, surrounded by his arms, his wives, slaves, and riches continued down to a period so late even as the tenth and eleventh centuries ; as is proved by the Byzantine coins to be found in many of them. The tumuli on the shores of the Bosphorus are essentially Milesian. The neighbourhood of the Milesian towns of Panti- capasum, Nymphseum, Myrmekum, and Porthmion abounds with them ; on the other hand, Kymmericum and Cherson, which were Doric colonies, have not a single example. The discovery in these tombs on the remote shores of the Cimmerian Bosphorus of large numbers of vases of the same description as those first found in Italy and (from the locality) named Etruscan is full of interest. They are of the same form and character, of the same materials, with the same decorations in black on a red ground ; designs of all kinds ; detached scenes of war or mythology, allegories, fruit, arabesques, &c. Wherever Greece carried its civilisation these vases seem to have been made, and there is ample proof that the distant shores of the Black sea and sea of Azov possessed also their own factories. Ermann, in the Archiv fur wissenschaftliche Kunde says : — " How few there are who know that that kind of ancient vase which is improperly termed Etruscan is also dug up in Russian ground — that Greek sculptures of the highest art are dug out amongst us — that we possess splendid monuments of Cyclopean architecture, and that far from both capitals, on the extreme edge of the southern steppes there exists another Herculaneum, another subterranean Etruria, rich in treasures, often unique of their kind, 3» ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. and which throw light upon the darkest periods of the past." And if this was true at the time he wrote (1844), how much more so is it now ; for at that time the most famous discoveries had not been made. The Etruscan vases of Panticapseum may be divided into two classes; vases for profane or domestic use or ornament, and funeral vases properly speaking. All, with few exceptions, are more or less ornamented. As to the so-called kados the form is nearly preserved among the Crimean Tartars and Georgians to this day : tall two-handled jars borne on the shoulders. The scenes represented on several of these vases are ethnographically most interesting. On some we see the Scythian on horseback in his costume spangled with golden embossed scales ; on another the story of the amazons, a story indigenous to the soil of Panti- capaeum. The amazons are dressed in complete Caucasian costume, wearing the bachelik (a pointed hood universal in Russia at the present day), the tight pantaloons, the Tcherkesse tunic, the boots of hide like those still worn, and their garments also spangled with the little golden scales of which we shall presently have to speak with reference to those found in the tombs. Not less interesting are the mural paintings which the opening of the earliest tombs brought to light. M. Aschik who succeeded de Blaramberg as director of the museum at Kertch (which was founded in 1828) published an important work in Russian on the discoveries. This consists for the most part of a description of the frescoes on the walls of the Kourgans opened by him up to that time. Most of these had already been pillaged ; still many fragments of vases and some gold ornaments were found. He describes the frescoes with enthusiasm, observing that the painting belongs to the Greek style, there being, however, the reflex of the art prevailing at Rome at the commencement of the Christian era. (Tombs, therefore, of the latest date seem to have been the first discovered.) Almost immediately upon the contact of the external air these mural paintings began to grow pale, and the SCYTHIAN AND GRECO-SCYTHIAN ART 39 plaster detached itself and fell in flakes. In a few days that which previous ages had spared disappeared, but happily not before fac-similes had been carefully made which may now be studied. The earliest discoveries of modern times in the Taurida were in the first years of the present century, and consisted of coins and objects in terra-cotta of Greek workmanship. From time to time small explorations continued to be made, the chief workers being M. de Blaramberg, and M. Dubrux ; and it became evident that important results were on the eve of being brought to light. At length in 1831 came the unexpected discovery of the royal tomb of Koul-Oba with all its riches hitherto unviolated. The Koul-Oba (a Tartar name signifying ash-heap) is an immense tumulus situated about four miles to the westward of Kertch. Interesting as is the story of its accidental discovery and of the progressive steps and difficulties of its exploration, we must be content to give no more than a rapid survey before passing to the description of its contents. Early in the autumn of the year 183 1 some soldiers were engaged in quarrying stone for building fortifications, and in the course of their work came across a passage leading to the interior of the tumulus. Continuing onwards they came to a vestibule, six feet square, covered by a roof of three rows of stones which they were obliged to remove, the supports, beams of wood, having been reduced to dust. At the end of the vestibule was a doorway closed by immense blocks of stone, sustaining the upper part, which threatened at every moment to fall in. In common with most of the tumuli, the subterranean chambers and galleries were built with great solidity : the roofs of the passages formed of hewn stones projecting inwards one over the other without any cement. The eagerness with which the work was proceeded with may well be imagined. A passage was soon made, and no signs of previous spoliation appearing there was every indication of a 40 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. rich harvest. By this time the work was conducted under the superintendence of M. Dubrux and Dr. Lang, and before long they managed to penetrate into the central vault which was nearly square (in dimensions about 15 ft. by 14 ft.), constructed of masonry of great strength with walls built of hewn stones each 3 ft. long and 2 ft. high. Quite close to the entrance alongside the wall, ranged with some other objects, was a large basin of silver-gilt : this has since been lost. Within it with other things were three vases of silver- gilt, repoussd and chased. In shape they resemble much the lotah of India, and it will be noticed later on that the same type seems to have continued and to have been reproduced, though modified, in the cups called bratina, which were favourite festive drinking- cups among the Russians in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. These are mostly without a foot and evidently intended to go the round of the guests, not placed on the table but perhaps standing easily on the carpets. In the tomb proper, which was a chamber paved and ceiled with heavy stones, lay the mouldering remains of its occupants, doubtless those of a king, his wife, his servants, and his horses, and surrounded by his treasures. The king himself, whose skeleton crumbled into dust at the contact of the external air, lay upon a splendid couch, formed of massive beams of carved and painted yew-wood and surmounted by a canopy. The side facing the centre of the chamber was open, and the interior of the couch was divided into two compartments. In one of the compartments lay the body of the king. In the other, by his side, were placed some of his arms and treasures. He appears to have been buried clothed in his richest robes and adorned with his most precious ornaments. On his head still remained the remnants of the felt lining of the conical- shaped diadem which had encircled it, and which was found close by. Around his neck was a massive gold tore, the ends formed of figures of Scythians on horseback, partly enamelled in blue SCYTHIAN AND GRECO-SCYTHIAN ART. 41 and green. On his wrists and arms were bracelets and armlets, two of which, of exquisite workmanship, are formed of a massive cable of gold, the open ends terminating in elegant figures of sphinxes. Near him lay his sword with its hilt of gold, a whip- handle of gold, and the golden covering of a scabbard of characteristic Scythian form. The case itself was represented by its exact form of wood crumbled into dust, upon which lay intact the broad thin plate of gold, beaten up with various subjects. Near the couch were disposed numerous vases in terra-cotta, bronze, silver, and electrum, and many more objects of various kinds, for the most part of solid gold and of fine Greek or Scytho-Greek workmanship. Amongst them was the flat circular cup of which an engraving is given ; this, with the others to which more special attention is drawn, will presently be described in detail. The couch, or sarcophagus, is preserved in the museum of the Hermitage, the colours as brilliant as they were on the day it was finished. Whatever may be the character of the majority of the objects found in this tomb, and although most of them bear the stamp of Scythian tastes and customs, the paintings on this sarcophagus are clearly not Scythian but purely Greek. These paintings cover the panels on the front side. They represent Victories mounted on chariots, and several figures of Greek men and women. Mixed with these figures are a goose and a swan, and following them appear two triumphal cars drawn by four white horses. On a frieze warriors with bows and arrows are represented. The whole is in perfect preser- vation, and enables us to examine paintings on wood which have survived twenty centuries or more, in a condition perhaps not to be found under any similar circumstances. The enduring character of yew-wood is remarkable in this tomb where human remains, other woods, and textiles have perished, and where even the ivory plaques already noticed have become fragile and have so changed their appearance and character that, until lately, they have been supposed to be of wood. 42 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. Near this wooden sarcophagus were the remains of a woman alike gorgeously adorned. There can be little doubt that she was the queen or favourite wife of the king who lay beside her. On her head was a mitre-shaped diadem similar to his own ; on her neck a tore with lion-ends, and another magnificent neck- lace in filagree . work, having medallions repousse with elegant subjects and little chains from which hung vase-shaped pendants, and an ornament in granulated work of similar style to the beautiful Etruscan necklaces so well known in the Castellani collection. At her feet was placed a vase in electrum, which is with reason considered of great artistic and ethnographical interest. It is lotah-shaped, with a small foot, and embossed with a frieze of charming and characteristic episodes of Scythian life. A detailed description will presently be given. Stretched in a corner of the apartment was the skeleton of a man of gigantic stature, and near him were the bones of a horse with its rich trappings still in their place upon it. To complete the picture of this silent vault, in which for upwards of two thousand years the bones of those once mighty in the land had lain in peace and undisturbed, — and as if to show in a striking manner the slow and gradual effect of the lapse of ages which utterly destroys some substances, while it leaves pure and undefiled, and absolutely unchanged, the king of metals— little heaps of hundreds of thin stamped gold ornaments mixed with masses of tangled gold thread, were found regularly arranged upon the ground close beneath the walls. These were the sole remnants of the garments and hangings of woven tissues which, as the nails in the walls testified, had once been suspended round the tomb. Here also were found five little statuettes in electrum of which, one, a group of two Scythians drinking, is reproduced. The other four were single figures dressed in costumes much like those of the Tartars of to-day, and by some are supposed to be Scythian gods. SCYTHIAN AND GRECO-SCYTHIAN ART. 43 In various parts of the vault were placed cooking utensils and food, and provision of wine in four amphorae of terra-cotta. There were also two large craters (one of them of silver containing rhytons) ; and other drinking cups of fine workmanship. The vase which stood at the feet of the queen retained, it is said, when found the lees of wine. Dubois, however, supposes it to have held perfumes. We know not who the great personage may have been here buried with such pomp. History is silent. We have no clue whatever, or at most but one of the slightest — an inscription of three letters on an ornament of strange form, in which some see the initials of the name of a Bosporian king, Pairisades, the son of Satyrus; which would fix the date about 310 b.c. In spite of the guard placed over the tumulus an impatient crowd whom the news of the treasure had attracted penetrated during the night. They searched and plundered on every side, finding a large number of the little gold scales and various other objects in gold. In one part the ground seeming to give forth a hollow sound a cavity was discovered, said to be richer in golden treasure than the principal chamber. All this was dispersed, and much of it must have been melted down, and for some time there was not a woman in the neighbourhood who did not wear some of the spoil as ornaments. The total weight of gold thus scattered abroad has been estimated at a hundred and twenty pounds, of which the government recovered about fifteen pounds. Before proceeding to review generally the art characteristics of the various beautiful objects found in the Koul-Oba tumulus (which tumulus, as has been before mentioned, is taken as a representative one), some reference must be made to a few other tombs in the vicinity in which objects have been found, of sufficient importance to demand special notice, either from their interesting character or because reproductions of them are in the South Kensington Museum. Foremost amongst these, perhaps the most interesting and 44 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. beautiful object which has yet been discovered in these tombs, is the magnificent silver vase known as the Nikopol vase. Worthily enshrined in the centre of one of the finest halls in the Hermitage museum the Nikopol vase is a remarkable object. It is said that when M. Thiers saw this vase he was so much struck by its beauty and importance that he declared that possession of it was almost sufficient to form a casus belli with the Russian empire. It is much to be regretted that the state of preservation of this vase precluded any idea of reproducing it. However carefully it has been excavated from the soil in which it had lain so long, some injury has been inflicted on it. Parts are broken away by the picks, and small portions are lost. Added to this the oxidation which has taken place has rendered it in parts extremely fragile, and it would have been impossible to have taken a mould from it without detaching portions. Not only this, but the oxidation has produced on its surface an exquisitely beautiful patina which could scarcely be touched without risk of injury. Happily there exist, and are here exhibited, a series of magnificent photographs of large size which faithfully represent the vase from various points of view. Near the third cataract of the Dnieper, about fifteen miles to the north-east of the town of Nikopol, an enormous tumulus exists called the Kourgan of Tchertomlyk. It is one of the largest known on the steppes, and is altogether a very rich tomb ; it contained a large number of gold ornaments of all descriptions. The Kourgan is raised on an elevated plain and within it are a number of tombs and galleries. An extensive view is open in all directions from the top: a vast steppe stretching away to the eastward, as level as the sea for many miles. In very many cases tumuli such as that of Tchertomlyk were surmounted by a kind of statue rudely carved in a rectangular block of stone. They are known in the country as " babas " and the peasants regard them with veneration. Sometimes they [Plate I. THE NIKOPOL VASE. SCYTHIAN AND GRECO-SCYTHIAN ART. 45 have been removed ; this has caused great commotion among the inhabitants who attributed all sorts of accidents to the removal and could not be satisfied until they were replaced. Even at the present day superstitious rites and ceremonies are used in connec- tion with them regarding which it is difficult to get correct accounts, for the peasants are very reticent on the subject. On exploring one of the galleries of the Kourgan, the pick of the excavator suddenly struck a hard object embedded in the clay. The work was immediately stopped and proceeded with with the greatest care by means of knives. It was soon discovered that the obstacle proceeded from a large vase in silver, blackened by and solidly fixed in the tenacious clayey soil. With every possible precaution, by excavating at a distance around it and carefully removing the earth, a vase of silver partly gilt was brought to light. It had served probably for containing wine, koumiss or other liquor, which was drawn off by three gargoyle-shaped taps. A curious circumstance in relation to the discovery of this vase is the proof of the previous pillaging of the tomb, and the arrest of the progress of the spoilers just before arriving at the spot where it was found. At a short distance was found the skeleton of a man, in a crouching position, who had evidently been over- whelmed and killed by the falling in of the roof of the gallery. Near him lay his pick and a broken lantern which he had used for lighting his way. Both these objects are now preserved in the Hermitage museum. The Nikopol vase (as it is now commonly called) is a silver amphora with two handles standing about two feet in height. As regards the general form and contours it would be difficult to imagine any thing more simply elegant. The whole of the surface with the exception of the neck and handles is covered with a repousse decoration consisting of boldly designed foliage, amongst which are placed on each side two large birds and two smaller ones. Both the fauna and flora are without 46 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. doubt those of the steppes, the larger birds seeming to be the woodcock which abound there and the smaller ones a kind of rook or crow. (Plate I.) A singularity of the whole of this repousse work is that while on the front of the vase it is in tolerably high relief, as we follow the designs towards the back the relief becomes less and less, accentuated until it finishes in what is scarcely more, in effect at least, than engraving. In no part is the relief so high as to- destroy the contour of the vase. On the upper part or shoulder of the vase the decoration con- sists of a group of two griffins devouring an animal of the deer kind. On the lower division, in a line from the handle on each side, is one of the three gargoyle-shaped spouts or taps ; two of which are formed of a lion's head with a spout in the mouth. In the centre of the front is the third opening which is concealed by a magnificent horse's head with extended wings. All three open- ings were furnished with fine sieves and were closed with taps attached by small silver chains. Probably the use of the vase was for drinks cooled by means of snow in the manner common among the Greeks. The whole of the foot, the neck, the repousse" work already described and the figures on the upper part were thickly gilt, as well as all the three heads or taps which are soldered on to- the piece. The most remarkable and original part of the decoration of this magnificent vase is the frieze which runs round the shoulder, below the handles and beneath the group of the stag and griffins. This is composed of a number of detached figures forming two distinct scenes : one in the front and one on the back of the vase. We have here a remarkable representation of a most important part of the daily occupation of the nomad Scythians; the breaking in and training of the wild horses of the steppes. Most curious is it to see here the lassoing and taming of wild horses as it is practised at the present day by the Guachos of South LATE SCYTHIAN AND GRECO-SCYTHIAN ART. 47 America, and not only so, but in the minuteness of the details we observe characteristic parts of the method of horsebreaking which but a few years ago was introduced into England by Mr. Rarey and excited so much wonder and curiosity. (Plate II.) In the centre of one side two wild horses are peaceably grazing on the plain, still in the enjoyment of their liberty. Next they are iassoed by the Scythians and finally brought to the ground. In the centre of the front of the vase is represented the method employed by Rarey. A Scythian is engaged in strapping up one of the forelegs of a horse which he will presently bring on its knees by another cord, and by wearing out its patience show that he is the master. (These cords were originally fine wires of silver which were found beside the vase when it was first dis- covered but have since been lost.) To the right of the last- mentioned group stands a horse already broken in and saddled and bridled. His master is engaged in attaching hobbles to its forelegs so that he may leave it partly at liberty while he joins the others in their work. Between the groups a Scythian appears to hold some object in his hands (now missing) which he is regarding with much attention ; but whether it is a bowl in which he has collected milk for the preparation of Koumiss or whether he is simply engaged in getting ready the necessary straps is uncertain. Each figure of the frieze just described has been separately cast and repousse, and then applied and soldered in its place, so that they are in quite high and almost perfect relief. All the figures, of which there are eight, five bearded men and three young men, are evidently Scythian ; the same Scythians that we find represented on the small electrum vase of the Koul-Oba tomb, dressed in their belted blouse and full trousers tucked into the boots, with their national bow-cases and implements, with their long flowing hair, and (in short) with the physiognomies and characteristics which we find amongst their descendants of the present day. Whoever the artist may have been who designed and executed these groups it is evident that he was thoroughly E 2 V 4 8 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. acquainted with the nation and must have lived among them for some considerable time. The Scythians are most accurately portrayed; the vegetation and the birds which form another part of the decoration are those of the steppes: the horse's head which covers the central opening is a true wild horse of the steppes, fine and muscular, with ears erect in an attitude of attention, dilated and quivering nostrils, eyes filled with alarm, and mouth open as in the act of neighing. The vase itself is unique in form and material, in the style of the diminishing repousse work, and in the applied groups and the manner of their execution. For his subject the artist has evidently seized upon the most important act of nomad Scythian life, and he has handled it with consummate art, placing his figures in the order in which the different operations would naturally follow each other. It is evident that this splendid vase was made for some great Scythian : and probably is of the fourth century B.C. That it should have been found in a tomb situated at so great a distance from the chief cities of the Bosphorus leads us to suppose that one of the principal resting places of a powerful nomad tribe must have existed there. Undoubtedly the artist was a Greek. The horses may be compared with those of the Parthenon ; at the same time they are not of the race from which Phidias drew his models. Such is this interesting vase, and together with the smaller one of the Koul-Oba tomb it may perhaps be accepted as evidence amongst so much that is vague and obscure of the origin of the great Russian people. What can be more striking than the types and costumes that we see represented on these two objects? Yet the controversy goes on and hypotheses springing from more trifling sources are twisted and turned in every conceivable way until at length the mystery, far from being in any way cleared up, seems to grow darker and more mysterious. The examination of the skulls found in these tumuli is not SCYTHIAN AND GRECO-SCYTHIAN ART. 49 without importance. We must be content with referring to five found in one tomb and engraved in the Antiquites de la Scythie. It is curious that two are of short form and i|hree of long, and it would appear that the short and broad and the long and narrow could not belong to the same race. It is most probable that the short skulls were Scythian. They were more numerous and all of men. Of the long form one is of a man and one of a woman, probably the wife of a chief. The same tumulus as that in which the Nikopol vase was discovered contained also, amongst other objects, the golden covering of a beautiful bow-case, similar to that found in the Koul-Oba tomb but of much finer character (described at P- 56). Another tumulus from which several beautiful reproductions have been made is that near Glinistche, a Tartar village in the environs of Kertch. Here, in a marble sarcophagus, was found the gold mask covering the face of a female skeleton. She was perhaps a queen, for she was robed in a rich dress which fell into dust at the contact of the air, but left as it were a shower of the gold thread and gold ornaments with which it was covered. A diadem and other rich ornaments were also found, some of which are reproduced. The mask is not perhaps unique, but neither here nor in any other excavations has such a magnificent specimen been discovered. As has been before stated, it would be impossible to devote more than passing attention to the treasures of pure Greek art in the precious metals to be found in these tumuli. Some of these, however, selected as typical of Scythian art, either in its narrowest or widest signification, deserve more particular notice from their bearing upon the general subject. Most of them are fiom the Koul-Oba tomb. Where not so their origin will be noted Before proceeding to examine the objects themselves it may be as well, perhaps, to make a few general remarks on their style and character and the probable date which may be assigned to them. ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. As to those of purely Greek workmanship which have been discovered, it is obvious that they were either imported from Athens or are the works of immigrant artists of great excellence. Some authorities attribute them without reserve to the best period of Greek art — to the age of Phidias. Others, less enthusiastic, are of opinion that none are earlier than the third century B.C., from which time a long decadence began. Many are doubtless characterised by a style more rich and loaded than pure, but these are perhaps of mixed workmanship, or possibly made to order, to suit the less cultivated taste of the purchaser. The influence of Greek tradition largely exists even in these, and if the taste for profusion is often prominent (as for instance in the gold phiale) the result is not without its own beauty or grandeur. No inscriptions have been found in the Koul-Oba tomb (except, if indeed it be of any value as a clue to a name, the three letters Ilat), no coins, no sculptures to guide us as to the time of its con- struction. Amongst the series of coins of the Bosporian kingdom which we possess there seems to be no analogy in the costume and attributes of rank which we find on them, compared with those of which we have examples here and in the scenes depicted on the vases. From the coins we are enabled to trace a distinct decline in art from about 225 a.d. (the date of the death of Rescuporis), after which time their execution is very rude until the fall of the Bosporian kingdom. We may rightly perhaps therefore give to this tomb an earlier date. The letters Ilat (thus, Tat) on the electrum vase or ornament (p. 60) are important, as from their form they seem to fix the date beyond a doubt as at least anterior to the reign of Mithridates. The II is written with one side shorter than the other, a form which disappeared before his time. In later years the costume and arms found on coins are all Roman. Here there is no trace of Roman influence. On the coins the characteristic Scythian bow-case never appears : here it is frequent. So is also the Scythian costume, wh'ch is worn by the figures on most vases SCYTHIAN AND GRECO-SCYTHIAN ART. 51 of the epoch of the dynasty of the Leuconides, of which dynasty was Pairisades L (349 B.C.), the first letters of whose name are the niak<] pearofjicfxiXos, which was found near the body of the king in the tomb of Koul-Oba is of considerable interest and import- ance. Before describing it we cannot help referring to the strange error into which so many learned archaeologists, including Dubois de Montpe'reux, the authors of the Antiquites du Bosphor Cim- merien, and such names as MM. Beule and de Linas, so long persisted. This cup, which is of a form common among the Greeks, being nearly flat with a boss in the centre of the inner side corresponding to a cavity on the exterior into which the fingers passed while the thumb rested on the edge, was until lately always described under the name of a boss for the king's shield. It is difficult to imagine in what way it could have been so applied. This magnificent cup is pure gold and of great weight. We are inclined to attribute it to Greek workmanship adapted to barbaric tastes and love of profusion and display. Possibly also it is of a period in which Greek art was at its best, but the amount of ornament is not characteristic of such a time. It could not satisfy a refined taste ; nevertheless the general effect is not wanting either in elegance or magnificence. The lotus flower forms the principal motive of the decoration, but it is covered with a profusion of other ornament dictated by the most exuberant fancy, completely covering every portion of the outside of the cup. (Section on Plate V.) Round the central boss is a zone on which are dolphins and other fishes great and small, from which spring, radiating to the circumference, the petals of the flowers in four rows of diminish- ing size. On the first and largest petals are Medusa heads of frightful aspect, their serpent locks prolonged into fantastic scroll- work and spirals. The next row is similar, on a smaller scale. On the third are heads of Scythians, bearded and menacing, 62 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. wearing the pointed caps of their nation. The fourth and smallest has a corresponding ornament of heads of strange animals resembling wild boars. All the intervening spaces are filled in the most elaborate manner with denticulated edgings and heads of lions or panthers. This phiale, weighing \\ lbs., is certainly one of the most characteristic objects of the style of Panticapaeum, a style which may be explained by the exigencies of the barbaric magnificence which was innate to the tastes of the rulers of the Bosphorus, however much evidence there may be testifying to a liking for a purer style in the selections which they made of objects of the best Greek art, and by the introduction of imported artists. The interesting lotah-shaped electrum vase with Scythian groups has already been described. In the same tomb two other vases were found of similar shape, one of which has been reproduced. These have no foot, and therefore as they do not stand firmly on the base they were probably used for handing round at festivals, or perhaps rested more easily placed on carpets. The vase which has been reproduced has unfortunately suffered somewhat from rough usage and oxidisation ; nevertheless as examples of so much merit are seldom met with it is still of great interest. The neck is somewhat spread out : beneath is a band of gadrooned ornament repousse, and under this a broader band on which are groups of figures repousse and gilt and detached with much effect from the dead ground of the vase. Next comes a band of ornament like that on the upper part, and, as the vase diminishes to the base, again scroll-work, and on the base itself the previous ornament repeated. On the broad band there are three groups of animals : a goat attacked by two griffins ; a stag brought down by a lion and a panther ; and a wild boar attacked by a lion. The subjects represented are those which we find so frequently used allegorically, not only at Panticapaeum but also throughout the great empires of Asia. The symbols consist almost invariably [Plate V. BRACELET AND SECTION OF FLAT CUP OR PHI ALE FROM THE KOUL-OBA TOMB. SCYTHIAN AND GRECO-SCYTHIAN ART. 63 of combats of two animals : a lion devouring a bull, griffins attacking and bringing to the ground a stag, a goat, or a roebuck ; panthers, lions, and lionesses ; hares, dogs, and other animals fighting or in other ways symbolically employed. There is always a meaning in these groups. We find the lion of Phanagoria and the griffin of Panticapaeum universally victorious, while the stag of the Chersonese, the wild boar of Kouban, and the goat of the Caucasus are invariably beaten by them. The griffin was the especial emblem of Panticapaeum, and where it is employed as ornament the drawing is essentially Greek, itself derived from the winged lion of the Assyrians. The second vase from the same tomb is- repousse with wild ducks and other birds and fishes (amongst which are a sturgeon, a carp, a lamprey, and a pike), and apart from the artistic value is of interest to naturalists. The bracelets and the armlet found upon the body of the royal personage who lay in the tomb of Koul-Oba are of great beauty and originality. The armlet encircled the king's arm above the elbow. It is composed of two plates of gold superposed and soldered together. The outer one is chased with a band of ornament between two narrow filigree borders with subjects five times repeated, and interspersed with the flower of the myosotis. The subjects represented are the graceful fables of Thetis and her transforma- tions in her struggles to escape from Peleus, and Aurora bearing away the body of her son Memnon, killed beneath the walls of Troy. The bracelet reproduced is one of a pair. The band of each is formed of a cable terminating at the open ends in two beautiful figures of sphinxes. The lower parts of the bodies of the latter enter into the collared ends of the band, which are ornamented with filigree and were at one time partly enamelled. They hold in their paws a serpent in thin wire which joins together the open ends. (Plate V.) 64 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. The workmanship of this fine and massive piece is undoubtedly Greek, and although found on the wrist of the Scythian king it could scarcely have been intended for other than the ornament of a woman. It is thick and somewhat too heavy perhaps, but the sphinx ends are unusually fine. Two other gold bracelets from the Kertch collection are cable-patterned with open ends, terminat- ing in finely-chased lions' heads with slight traces of enamel. They are from the tomb of the priestess of Ceres at Taman, a peninsula on the opposite side of the straits to Kertch, which was first explored in the year 1864. The tomb formed one among others which were evidently the burial-places of a Greek family of high distinction. The result of the exploration was the discovery of some of the greatest artistic treasures which now enrich the Hermitage. There are other bracelets of the same kind, but finer and with more enamel. Unfortunately the best have suffered from previous carelessness in moulding. They have an inner core of bronze, and the moisture had caused galvanic action to set in. Two two-handled silver tazzas or paterae of Greek workmanship have been reproduced. The first is slightly ornamented, and in addition has a movable disc which fits the bottom, embossed, engraved, and partly gilt with a group of Apollo as the sun in his car. The car rises from a plain dotted with flowers. Such a cup is of the kind made for libations, the disc being removed or replaced as required. Both these tazzas are from a tomb known as that of the Chaussee de la Quarantaine, one of the many tumuli scattered over the plain to the north of Kertch. It was opened between the years 1838-41, and contained the skeleton of a woman, At her feet lay the silver tazza just described. The place of discovery of the second cup is not known, but probably it came from the same tomb. It was found at any rate in the neighbour- hood of Kertch, and was acquired from count Peroffsky in 1853. SCYTHIAN AND GRECO-SCYTHIAN ART 65 A very interesting little piece in electrum still remains to be noticed : a small kind of statuette formed of two thin plates soldered together so as to leave the interior hollow. The upper one shows the figures repousse" in relief, the lower is flat and has a kind of sheath as if for introducing the head of a staff or peg to which it was attached. It resembles in these respects five , other single figures of Scythians or Scythian deities which were also found in the Koul-Oba tomb. (Plate VI.) The group consists of two Scythians embracing and holding each with one hand the same drinking-horn. Some people see in it nothing more than two drunken Scythians; but it does not at all bear this character, and little groups and figures of this kind were more probably regarded with veneration. The two men have the pointed caps and other characteristic clothing of their nation. The full trousers tuck into their boots and are covered with the little spangles almost invariably to be seen in representations of Scythians. The immense number of small ornaments in stamped gold which have been found (several are reproduced) shows that such a method of beautifying the dress was very common. The horn from which the men drink seems to be an ordinary ox-horn; or perhaps a rhyton of which some beautiful examples were found in the same tomb. As to the meaning of this little group nothing perhaps could be more significant than a passage from Herodotus which it will be sufficient to quote. He has been describing many of the customs, and especially the funeral ceremonies of the royal Scythians, and the Narrative continues : — " Whenever the Scythians form alliances they observe these ceremonies : a large earthen vessel is filled with wine ; into this is poured some of the blood of the contracting parties, obtained by a slight incision of a knife or a sword ; in this cup they dip a scimetar, arrows, a hatchet, and a spear. After this they pronounce some solemn prayers, and the parties who form the contract, with such of their friends who are of superior 66 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. dignity, finally drink the contents of the vessel." (Melpomene, Cap. 70.) A very rare helmet of pure gold of the kind called " pilos " comes from the tomb of the " seven brothers," a group of tumuli on the coasts of the gulf of Kertch in the province of Kourban, at a spot known as Ak Burun. From this group a rich and large collection of precious objects was brought to light. They may be referred to the second half of the fourth century B.C. The term "pilos "is from "pileus" or "pileum," a piece of felt, and more especially a skull-cap of felt. It was a common head-dress amongst the Greeks and Romans ; usually a conical shaped felt cap. The present example is a helmet or head-dress of pure gold of the finest style of the fourth century B.C., nearly egg-shaped, ornamented with a beaten-up fantastic design, three times re- peated, of shell, spiral volute, and conventional leaf and flower- work, the grounds cut out, leaving it open-worked. The head was formerly protected by a leather or felt cap but no trace of this was found, as the objects in the tomb had all suffered from fire. The large voluted ornament springing from the shells is of the Ionic order. It is the only known pilos of gold. The weight of pure gold is nearly two pounds avoirdupois. (Plate VI.) The tumulus of Alexandropol is situated in the district of Ekaterinoslav near the village of Alexandropol, and is better known under the name of Lougova'ia Moguila, " the tomb of the plains." Chance discoveries in the autumn of 1851 led to its regular exploration. The small portion of open -worked ornament in gold, forming probably part of the bordering of a dress or the housings of a horse, is from this tumulus, and was found with a quantity of other similar objects at the time of the second exploration undertaken in 1856. With them was the perfect skeleton of a horse. The reproduced piece is a thin sheet of beaten gold, stamped and pierced like paper lace-work. The subject is two griffins [Plate VI. GOLD HELMET FROM THE TOMB OF THE SEVEN BROTHERS. SCYTHIAN AND GRECO-SCYTHIAN ART. 67 affrontes within a dentellated border. Similar ornaments were found in the treasure of Novo-Tcherkask or in the other un-iden- tified Siberian treasures, and the recurrence in different localities may therefore assist in throwing some light upon the question of their origins. A considerable number of "tores " are in the Kertch collection of the Hermitage. One has been reproduced from a tomb in the vicinity of Olbia. It is a large twisted ring of gold, open at both ends, and finishing in a pear-shaped bulb with a slight filagree ornament. Olbia was one of the most important towns of the Taurida and occupied with its colonies the right bank of the entrance of the Bug, opposite the modern Odessa. Here a temple was built to Demeter, on cape Hyppolaus. Herodotus speaks of the dwelling-place of Borysthenes and of the temple erected there. It was a town of great magnificence, of which the ruins may yet be seen. The small dress ornaments or bradece of gold or electrum which we often see on the dresses of Scythians represented on terra-cotta vases or on such objects as the electrum vase and group of the Koul-Oba tomb have been alluded to more than once, and mention has been made of the numbers which lay in heaps in the tomb of the Scythian king and which had fallen from the garments suspended round the walls. It is believed that no other examples of precisely this description of dress decoration have been found elsewhere. Many hundreds are now preserved in the museum of the Hermitage, coming from various tombs. These bractese consist for the most part of small round thin plates of gold or electrum, pierced with holes for sewing on to the garments. They are repousse or stamped with dies, for of some of them many have been found precisely similar. It is not a little surprising that so much care should have been taken in the design of ornaments for this purpose. Many are of great beauty and originality ; others present various points of interest. The best are from the royal tomb of Koul-Oba ; many 68 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. others aie from the second kourgan of the tumuli of the seven brothers. The delicate condition in which some of the best of these bracteae now are has precluded their being moulded. A small collection of twenty-one examples has, however, been reproduced. The use of ornaments of thin beaten gold is of high antiquity. They were used for furniture, horse-trappings, objects of domestic use, and even for the decoration of statues. Amongst the Greeks and Romans the custom was common of ornamenting robes with thin plaques of metal sewn on ; something like the ornaments of the orphreys of chasubles and copes. The marble Pallas of the Dresden museum is a remarkable example of this decoration, known amongst the ancients as vestes auratas or sigillatae. The term bractea has been more especially applied to that kind which we are now considering. In his work on Mycenae Mr. Schliemann describes several ornaments of this description which he found there. The simi- larity of these to other gold ornaments found at Kertch and even in the Siberian treasures is worth notice, and the accounts of the discoveries both of Schliemann in the Troad and of General di Cesnola at Cyprus should be read in connection with this subject. The bracteae of the Russian tombs are of various sizes and shapes ; some very small, others as large as a crown piece, round, square, oval, triangular, and oblong ; stamped with simple designs or flowers, or with figure subjects ; with animals, such as winged dragons, hippocampi, panthers, stags, bulls, wild boars, hares, dogs, or winged horses ; with gorgons, with sphinxes or sirens, with groups of dancing women or domestic subjects, or martial or hunting details of Scythian life. Some are of the finest design and execution ; others more archaic and rude. It is evident that some were meant to be worn as single ornaments ; others sewn on in lines formed regular borders or designs on the robes. The entire collection at the Hermitage is one of extraordinary interest, not only from the artistic quality of the examples, but from their [Tlate VII. THREE GOLD BRACTEA:, AND AGRAFE OR CLASP. G SCYTHIAN AND GRECO SCYTHIAN ART 69 connection with the usages of the people and often symbolical meanings. In the small collection which has been reproduced we have a gorgon or head of Medusa of a type frequent on the coins of Olbia, a winged horse or Pegasus of the finest style (Plate VII.), a stag sleeping, the head and forepart of a cow lying down, several heads (amongst them a head of Minerva joined back to back to a lion's head), sphinxes, sirens with four wings, and animals of various kinds. A beautiful little square plaque is embossed with two women dancing and playing the crotals (a kind of Castanet made of a split reed, and later of wood or brass). They are partly veiled, and the flow of their garments and their quick movement are most admirably expressed. Possibly these dancing-girls were Scythian and not Greek women. (Plate VII.) Another square plaque represents a Scythian on horseback. His head is bare and locks flowing as he gallops at full speed, at the same time throwing his javelin. He wears a full beard, and his costume consists of a kind of short close-fitting tunic, belted at the waist, and full trousers, evidently embroidered with these same bracteae. The plaque has a simple pearled border. Another very delicately executed example is completely cut out without any background, and represents two Scythians standing back to back and drawing their bows in opposite directions. An agrafe or clasp, one of several found in one of the kourgans of the rich tumulus of the seven brothers, is of a peculiar and elegant form. It is of gold, a double oval ring or coil, the ends terminating in a pyramid ornamented with granulated work, and having beneath a collar of filagree. The example reproduced is not so fine as some of the others which could not be copied, but the fashion is the same. (Plate VII.) These clasps were found on the breasts of the skeletons and evidently served to attach the folds of the upper garment, and were not, therefore, shoulder clasps as some have supposed. G 2 7 o ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. Lying in all cases in about the same position, it is not likely that they have fallen from their original position. In the Odyssey (xix. 227) the fastening of the mantle of Ulysses is described as made "with double pipes." Similar agrafes have also been found by General di Cesnola in the treasures of Curium. We may conclude our account of the reproductions from the Kertch collection with a highly interesting object found in a tomb of a much later date than of most of those we have been con- sidering. It is a funeral mask of solid gold, which covered the face of°a skeleton in a sarcophagus, called on that account "the tomb of the queen with the golden mask," which dates in all probability from the third century of our era. (Plate VIII.) The tomb of the queen of the golden mask was discovered in 1837 while excavating in the neighbourhood of Glinistche, a Tartar village close to the gates of Kertch. It contained a marble sarcophagus buried in the earth which contained a skeleton of a woman clothed in a rich garment, and with many fine ornaments and jewels. The description given of the opening of this tomb by M. Paul Dubrux, the discoverer, is full of interest. It would appear that on the opening of the tomb the body was covered with a rich robe spangled with gold bractea? ; the stuff which covered the head fell down to the waist and had preserved its colour. It was a woollen tissue embroidered with designs in gold. On the contact of the air the greater part of all the materials fell into dust, leaving only the gold ornaments ; for a few moments, how- ever, the eyes of the first observers were able to seize the impression that the sight of the body conveyed, almost in the condition in which it was when first laid in the tomb. By the side of the skeleton was a distaff, a little sachet or purse of reddish-coloured leather, with a figure of a bird cut out m black leather and applied to it, a spoon and a silver dish, a flacon set with stones of the form and style of those found in the SCYTHIAN AND GRECO-SCYTHIAN ART. 71 treasure of Novo Tcherkask, a little box of rouge, and many other objects and ornaments in gold and bronze. On the face of the skeleton was placed the gold mask. Such funeral masks are not uncommon, and the custom was without doubt borrowed from the eagt, for in Egypt, Assyria, and Phenicia we have evidences of it. At Mycenae seven gold masks have been found. Another in the Kertch collection comes from Olbia. But none are so evidently modelled from life and so well preserved as the present one. The others are for the most part thin plates of beaten gold. The features are those of a woman of the age of thirty years or thereabouts. The calmness of expression would appear to indicate that the model was made immediately after death ; the mask was forged with a hammer out of a thick plaque of pure gold (for the marks of the hammer are apparent) after a cast had been made from perhaps a wax mould taken directly from the face of the deceased. The hair is not shown nor the height of the forehead, which, in the mask, has been cut off somewhat abruptly. We can only guess at the name of the woman buried with such pomp and care. A clue exists perhaps in the name Rhescuporis, written in dotted Greek letters on a dish which lay near the body. The name is common to several princes of the Bosphorus up to the time of Constantine (a.d. 14-337). O n tne spoon also in the same tomb an inscription was found which may aid us. It bears first the word OYAAE ( Vale), and next some letters which have been deciphered as indicating the sixth century of the Bosporian period, corresponding to 202-303 of our era. In this century four kings reigned of the name of Rhescuporis and, if we may hazard the conclusion that the queen of the golden mask was the queen of one of these, the weight of evidence would seem to point to the name of Rhescuporis IV., who reigned a.d. 212-229. The finding in this tomb of a flacon so very similar in style to the jewels of the treasure of Novo Tcherkask is of some import- 7 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. ance in relation to the history of these and of the discoveries in those regions generally. Considerable intercourse between the inhabitants of the coast and the tribes of the interior up the Don, as far at least as Novo Tcherkask which is but seventy miles from the mouth, probably went on for centuries, and this solitary object of the kind is scarcely likely to have had its direct origin amongst the more highly cultivated people of the coast towns. Acceptance, however, of the date assigned to the tomb of the queen of the golden mask would show that the peculiar style of the Novo Tcherkask jewellery is at least as early. It may be as well to call attention to the interesting discoveries made by our countryman Dr. Macpherson in the neighbourhood of Kertch in the year 1857, an account of which with valuable plates has been given by himself. CHAPTER IV. SIBERIA : SIBERIAN ANTIQUITIES AND THE TREASURE OF NOVO TCHERKASK. Rich and extensive as it is, Siberia is perhaps less known than any other part of the Russian empire. Very little that is authentic remains of its early history, before its conquest and annexation. Siberia played, however, an important part as the route by which many of the invading hordes passed, and has been inhabited by numerous races ; of whom we have evidence in the immense quantity of tumuli which are to be found there. The extent of Siberia covers an area of more than five million square miles— being the entire tract of land from the Ural mountains to Japan, and from the Arctic ocean to Tartary. From the central parts of West Siberia came, perhaps, the peoples who first colon- ised northern Europe. Issuing from China, the Huns passed over these regions on their way to the west. The Tartars succeeded them, and from time to time vast numbers of different peoples have left traces of their occupation, some remaining behind and becoming the inhabitants which we now find there, such as the Kirghiz, the Kalmucks, the Bashkirs, the Ostiaks, Samoyedes, and ethers. In the district of Minoussinsk, in the country of the Tartars of the government of Jenissei, are to be found numerous remains of early inhabitants altogether different from those of the present days. They were the Tchonds, of whom we know so little. The sculpture and inscriptions on the enormous blocks of stone which 74 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. abound show that they possessed a certain amount of culture. The carvings represent men, animals, and birds, but the inscriptions remain undeciphered. The enormous wealth of the Russian empire in minerals and precious stones is well known. The greater part of this comes from Siberia. The auriferous nature of the soil in the vicinity of the Ural and the Altai" was known to the ancients, and has already been referred to. In the Altai' the chief town in the mining district is Barnaoul. All the gold found in Siberia comes here to be smelted. There are also silver smelting works on a large scale. Amethysts are found near Mursinsk, beryl and chrysoberyl in various parts of the Ural, some exceedingly fine, of a blue, yellow, and rose colour. Very large and magnificent specimens of topaz come from Alaska. Pink topaz and rose tourmaline are rare, and smoke topaz is found in the Ural. Emeralds are found in the neighbourhood of Ekaterinenberg. The malachite of Russia is famous. The principal mines are on the estate of prince Demidoff in the copper mines of Tagilsk. Sir Roderick Murchison mentions having seen an enormous mass calculated to contain half a million pounds of pure and solid malachite. The great manufactory, where are worked up the immense pillars, tables, and vases of malachite, jasper, lapis-lazuli and porphyry which are to be seen in the Hermitage of St. Peters- burg, and in the St. Isaac's church, is at Ekaterinenburg. There also large quantities of smaller objects are made in the same minerals and in aventurine, which is found in the mountains in the neighbourhood of the Tour. Other large carving and polishing works are at Kolyvan. The collection of minerals of the imperial school of mines at St. Petersburg is perhaps the richest in Europe. Specimens of all the gold from the Siberian gold-fields are preserved here, and some very large nuggets. There is a mass of platinum weighing ten pounds, another of the rare mineral petzite (composed of SIBERIA: SIBERIAN ANTIQUITIES, ETC. 75 silver and tellurium) of about the same weight from Barnaoul, and unique specimens of Siberian topaz, green beryl, aquamarine, tourmaline, amethyst and other gems. There is besides a mass of malachite weighing twenty-nine hundred weight. Erman in his Travels in Siberia mentions an interesting collec- tion of Siberian antiquities which he saw at Krasnoyarsk. It consisted principally of objects in bronze found in the kourgans in the circle of Minoussinsk. In addition to the fragments of weapons, mining tools and trinkets (already described by Spasskyi and others), there were many circular metallic discs, of four or six inches diameter, one surface polished for a mirror, while the opposite side was uniformly furnished with a sort of button, having a hole drilled through it, and evidently intended for a handle. The exterior rim surrounding this button was ornamented with elegant figures in relief, which as well as on the other articles were almost always representations of animals. " The most important consideration " says M. Erman "is that these mirrors are found in graves which, as the present Tartar inhabitants of the circle maintain, belong to a race now extinct, and totally different from theirs. Now we know that mirrors precisely similar to these are still in use among the Buriats in their religious ceremonies, and that they are peculiar to the ritual of the Buddhists: and they thereby furnish another argument for the antiquity and extended influence of this remarkable creed. It might at the same time admit of debate, whether these primitive tribes whose existence is now only attested by the peculiarity of their burying-places and their enterprise in search of ores, were really a race so distinct from the modern inhabitants of Siberia, as might be presumed from the name of Tschoudes or strangers, given them by their Russian successors. If any weight could be attached to an appellation so variously applied, might it not be maintained that the Tschoudes were the ancestors of the modern Ostiaks, a designation indisputably derived from the Tartar word Ushtyak, a stranger ? " 7 6 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. Strahlenberg also mentions plates of metal, or mirrors, found amongst the Ostiaks on the rivers Irtish and Obi, and which he conceives to have been objects of worship. But the information to be gathered from early travellers and those who have followed their descriptions concerning the objects of antiquity found in the tumuli is so little precise that it is difficult to form arr idea of what they refer to. In Strahlenberg's time (late in the last century) attention to archaeological discoveries had only just been aroused. He speaks generally of idols, rune-stones, what he calls " mino- taurs," and ancient manuscripts, brought from the deserts of the Kalmuks, on each side of the river Irtish, out of pagan temples and tombs ; of many thousand of bracteae and other cast idols of metal from the Siberian and Tartarian tombs, some of which he had seen of the finest gold three inches long "in form of minotaurs, harts, old men, and such like strange figures." In his " histori-geographical " description, under the heading " Graves or Sepulchres," he tells us that " numbers are found in Siberia and in the deserts which border on that government southwards. In these tombs are found all sorts of vessels, urns, wearing apparel, ornaments and trinkets, cimeters, daggers, horse-trappings, knives, all sorts of little idols, medals of gold and silver, chess-boards, and chessmen of gold, as also large golden plates upon which the dead bodies have been laid. Likewise cloths folded up, of the same sort as those the corps was dressed in. The graves of the poorer sort have likewise such things in them of copper and brass, arrows of copper and iron, stirrups, large and small polished plates of metal or mirrours, with characters upon them, earthen urns of different sizes. . . . About twenty or thirty years ago, before the Tzars of Russia were acquainted with this matter, the governors of the cities of Tara, Tomskoi, Krasnoyar, Batamski, Isetskoe, and others, used to give leave to the inhabitants to go in voluntary caravans to these tombs in order to ransack them, on condition that of whatever they should find of gold, silver, copper, jewels, and other things of value, the governor should have an SIBERIA: SIBERIAN ANTIQUITIES, ETC. 77 allowance, generally the tenths. These caravans, whenever they found anything of value, used, for the easier dividing of their booty to knock to pieces these choice antiquities and give to each person his share by weight." It is certain that very much of all this has been lost, and the objects which Strahlenberg saw were the spoil of sepulchres of different dates from very early times until the custom of thus burying the dead died out, which was not until a comparatively late period. With regard to Siberia, we are now more particularly interested in the discovery of a number of objects, principally gold, whose origin is attributed although in a somewhat vague manner to some of the many tumuli scattered throughout these regions. To whom we may assign their original possession is still a question full of doubts and uncertainties. To attempt to clear up such uncer- tainties would be a matter involving the consideration of so much archaeological research that it is far beyond our scope. Little more can be done here than to refer generally to such scanty information as is at hand relative to the circumstances owing to which they are now deposited in the museum of the Hermitage. With these antiquities a few objects will be noticed also whose origin is likewise somewhat obscure but which, in all probability, come from the ruins of Astrakhan and Serai, the great cities of the Khanate of the Golden Horde. In the department of Siberian antiquities in the museum of the imperial Hermitage a large collection of objects exists of very great interest, not only in relation to the history of Russia and the neighbouring eastern countries, but also as regards the history of art generally and its filtration from the east to the west through the vast empire which saw so many changes of peoples and governments during the first fifteen hundred years of the Christian era. Unhappily, the history of these objects is full of obscurity. Even the story of their acquisition by the imperial government 73 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. has been lost sight of for the most part, with the exception of the treasure recently discovered in the neighbourhood of Novo- Tcherkask, the capital of the country of the Don Cossacks. We are therefore reduced to making the best use we can of the scanty information at our disposal, and to supplying by conjecture some possible history of the origin of a series of objects which present many features of very high archaeological and artistic interest. The Hermitage collection, from which a certain number of objects has been selected for reproduction in electrotype and of which others are illustrated in these pages, is of varied character, ranging from objects of the rudest aboriginal art (the work probably of the Finno-Ougrian iron age) to those of fine execu- tion in the precious metals. In the same collection also we find silver bowls of the epoch of the Persian dynasty of the Sassanians, and vases and other vessels of silver— Greco- Roman of the last days of Byzantine art. Before noticing in detail some of the most interesting of these objects we may briefly say what little is officially known as to how they came into the Hermitage museum. In a report made to the Imperial Academy of Science, M. Stephani (a member of the academy and now keeper of anti- quities at the Hermitage) relates that on the occasion of the discovery of some objects similar in character to the antiquities preserved in the numismatic department of the Imperial Academy — discoveries made in a sepulchral tumulus of the district of Ekaterinoslav— he was desired to give some information which might throw a light on the probable locality in which these objects had been discovered. After having made every possible research, and in the absence of any official documents relating to the subject, he could only arrive at the following conclusions. The ukase dated ist September, 1720 refers to the acquisition of certain objects in gold which it was proposed to melt down. The governor of Siberia having desired to know whether the senate author'sed the acquisition for the emperor of all the "old SIBERIA: SIBERIAN ANTIQUITIES, ETC. 79 found in the tumuli, the answer given was that all objects of curiosity were to be forwarded intact to the " Berg und Manu- factur Collegium." In 1726, in obedience to this order, two collections were sent to St. Petersburg, one of which was com- posed of objects found in the neighbourhood of Astrakhan (this collection is referred to by Backmeister, Essai sur la Bibliotheque et le Cab. de Curiosites, &c. St. Petersburg, 1776). In 1728 all the objects were transferred, together with a list of them, to the Academy of Science. The list unfortunately is very meagre and gives no indication whatever concerning the places of discovery, with the exception of a ring which is said to have been found near Azov (" sous Azov"). In 1741 the Academy published a description of the cabinet of curiosities under the title of Museum imperiale Petropolitanum. An enumeration of the objects referred to appeared in this, but the place of discovery of one only is men- tioned. With regard to the rest all that is said is in the following note : — " Qitce enumeravinms pleraque prater ea qua facile e descrip- tione dignoscuntur, in Siberia atque in regione intra Camam et Volgam inter ruinas vicorum et in tumulis sepulchralibus reperta sunt, qua sedes dim pago fuit qui aurea orda dicebatur." Little more can be learnt from the manuscript of M. Schumacher from which this enumeration was made. It is true that speaking of a few isolated objects he says that they were taken " e tumulis sepulchralibus Sibiria," or found " in ruderibus oppidi quod ad Tar- taros horda aurea perthiebat^ or as coming " e ruderibus predicti oppidi Tartarici prope Ast?-akanum." Some little lime after the appearance of the Museum Petro- politanum the Academy undertook the publication of a series of engravings of these objects. Judging from two specimens still pre- served in the department of numismatics, these engravings, considering the date, were extremely well executed. Unfortun- ately the greater part of them were destroyed in the fire which took place in 1747 in the building in which the collection was kept. The collection itself suffered, happily, to no great extent ; So ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. but in removing it to a place of safety several pieces appear to have been lost. Some time previous to the fire, in 1744, M. Miiller presented to the Academy a list of objects of similar character in his possession which he proposed that the Academy should purchase ; an acquisition which that body hastened to make. From this list it appears that a small figure in gold of a man on horseback and two ear-rings were found in tumuli situated between the rivers Irtish and Obi, and that some other objects in bronze and iron were taken from tombs on the banks of the Jenissei. In 1764 the empress Catherine added considerably to the collection. In the preceding year some objects in gold, silver, and bronze had been found in sepulchral tumuli situated in New Russia, about twenty miles from the St. Elizabeth fortress, and two hundred miles from Otchakoff, between the Great and Little Ingoule. By order of the empress these objects were handed over to the " Kunstkammer," and M. Muller was charged to supply a description of them. This he did by the publication of an article in the Travaux Metisuels (torn. ii. 1 7 64). Very little relating to the objects in gold found in Siberia in 1770 and supposed to be of Tchoudish origin can be gleaned. Falk, in his work Beitrage zur geographisclien Kenntniss des Russ. Retches, and Pallas also in his Travels in the Russian Empire, speak of the traces left by the ancient industry of the Tchouds. Pallas is of opinion that the principal country of the Tchouds — that problematical race about whom we have so little information (in Russian, tschoudakirydaku, aborigines) — was in the fine and fertile mountain chain situated on the river Jenissei. All the implements and ornaments (he says) found on the Jenissei have a character of art and magnificence. Those on the Irtish, on the contrary, are of a ruder kind without ornament, and rich tombs are rare. Nowhere are stone buildings still existing which can be attributed to this people. We must conclude therefore that they led a nomad life which furnished them with opportunities SIBERIA: SIBERIAN ANTIQUITIES, ETC. 81 for discovering the minerals in their neighbourhood. What then was this nation of miners ? Were they perhaps the Par- thians, that people which disappeared from history ? Are not the Germans, miners par excellence, their descendants? But perceiving that these suppositions lead him too far he adds, immediately after, "these hypotheses are perhaps too poetical." M. Miiller, in his memoir Versuche iiber die BibliotKeque tmd das Naturalien und Kunstkabinet der Kais. Akad. der Wissenschaften zu St. P. 1770, says : — "Our rich collection of antiquities found in the tombs of Siberia is specially worthy of attention. The richest Tartar tombs are found in the deserts beyond the Irtish, where in the thirteenth century was probably the principal residence of the Grand Khan of all the Tartar hordes. The most remarkable objects in pure gold found in the tombs consist of cups (one of which bears an inscription dating from the year 617, and has therefore been named the ' hijrah '), of diadems, military decorations, arms ornamented with precious stones, shields, ornaments of various kinds, rings, bracelets, little boxes (of which some contain leaves inscribed with verses from the Koran), idols, figures of various animals, and jewels. " The taste and beauty which distinguish some of these pieces lead us to suppose that they were made by foreign workmen in the service of Genghis-Khan, and of his successors. During his stay, in 1253, at the court of Mangou-Khan, Rubriquis, the French envoy, came across a Parisian goldsmith named Boucher,, who, he says, had received from the Khan a large quantity of silver, to be worked up into ornaments. It would appear probable that most of the more artistic of these objects were made at the time of the Mongol empire. The rude and inartistic objects found on the Irtish would be, on the contrary, more likely of Tschoudish origin." The second volume of the Archceologia (1767) contains an ac- count of certain Tartarian antiquities found in tumuli in southern Siberia. The plates which accompany the text are for the most H 82 ART OBJE CTS IN R USSIA. part very rudely executed, but it is not difficult to recognise in them several objects from the collections which have just been referred to. Strahlenberg in his history of Russia and Tartary relates that in the year 1720 some Russian regiments being sent from Tobolsk, the capital of Siberia, up the river Irtish to the great plains and deserts, found in the tumuli there many antiquities, as they likewise did on the western boundary of the desert between the rivers Tobol and Ischim. He further mentions that Scythian antiquities were annually brought from the pagan tombs which lie on each side of the river Irtish. The account above referred to, which was read before the Society of Antiquaries on February 5th, 1763, gives details of the opening of one of the tombs, in which the body of a chieftain was found who lay in a reclining posture upon a sheet of pure gold extending from head to foot ; and another sheet of gold of the like dimensions was spread over him. Near him lay his arms and his horse, bridle, saddle, and stirrups. In a lesser vault was the body of his wife, distinguished by her female ornaments She was placed reclining against the wall, with a gold chain of many links set with rubies round her neck, and was laid on one sheet of fine gold covered over with another. The four sheets of gold weighed forty pounds. Many more of the tumuli were opened, but this was the most remarkable. The others contained a great variety of curious articles. We recognise in the illustrations given in the Archczologia some resemblance at least, amongst others, to the golden oblong perfume-box, the crowns or collars, and the ornament in the form of a bird with outstretched wings devouring an animal, noticed at p. 89. Many of the other objects figured appear to have been interesting but the drawing is bad, and probably some of them are no longer in existence. The conclusion of the writer of the paper is that " as the Calmuc Tartars bordering on this desert, the Walgusian Tartars on the river Zawaga, and the Kommitun- gusians on the river Angara practise the same method of interment SIBERIA: SIBERIAN ANTIQUITIES, ETC. 83 as is seen observed in these tumuli, it is very probable that the tumuli in which the above articles were found, as well as the rest dispersed over the desert, contained the remains of the ancestors of those several hordes of Tartars." Another collection somewhat similar in character is known as the treasure of Novo-Tcherkask. The objects in this collection have but lately come to light, and the history of their discovery is known. The town of Novo-Tcherkask, the capital of the country of the Cossacks of the Don, is situated about seventy miles from the mouth of the Don on a slight eminence, round three sides of which the small streams Aksai and Tursova flow. The country was well known to the ancients, the Greeks having founded colonies on the sea of Azov and along the course of the Don. Later, it was held successively by the Scythians, Huns, and other hordes, and by the Tartars. The roving communities known as Cossacks date from the sixteenth century and were more or less powerful and independent until about 17 18, when they were gradually brought under the dominion of the Tzars. In the year 1864 a small tumulus was opened in the neighbour- hood of Novo-Tcherkask. A considerable quantity of gold ornaments was found in it, some of rude character, others more artistic, and all showing a lavish profusion of the precious metal. All the objects were found in four heaps, placed immediately on the level of the ground and covered with a layer of clay. Evidently they formed part of the treasure buried with some person of distinction. Later on, a few bones were found, and the con- dition of the whole showed that the tomb was not in its primitive state but had probably been pillaged at some remote time. The treasure discovered comprised ornaments of various kinds, cups, perfume-boxes or cases for some other undetermined use, crowns or collars, and a magnificent crown of rude design which is especially interesting. Most of the objects are of pure and very massive gold. h 2 84 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. • It has been argued that we should recognise in these objects Scythian handicraft, but of what date it is difficult to say. The large crown bears some resemblance to the crown of Recesvinthus in the treasure of Guarrazar. Portions of the work- manship and of the ornaments are evidently of the time of the Roman empire. It has not been reproduced in electrotype but an illustration is here given. (Plate IX.) The crown is of pure gold ornamented with pearls, uncut stones, and a fine bust in amethyst, the lower edge of the crown having a quantity of little ornaments hanging from it. It can scarcely be doubted that the amethyst bust, the pendent orna- ment, and the workmanship of several minor parts, which are almost as finely executed as in any antique work, belong to western art. The other ornaments placed here and there are extremely curious; and equally so the upper edge surmounted by a row of little figures of animals, of rude execution, similar in character to those we find upon most of the objects in this treasure. These, and the denticulated ornament added to the head of the bust, are clearly the rude handiwork of the barbarian. From the rings in the throats of the goats and stags, and the rough manner in which the animals are attached, it seems likely that these figures were at first made for some other purpose. The whole is a strange mixture of different workmanship; an adaptation of the spoil of a civilised country to barbaric orna- ment of local manufacture. In the figures also, borrowed from the fauna and flora of the north, we trace the same hands or same traditions which characterise the adornment of nearly every object in gold which we find not only in this treasure but in the entire collection which is attributed in general terms to Siberia. If we examine rather more in detail some of the most im- portant objects, we may see what conclusions it is possible to draw. The great crown is composed of a circlet . of gold, wider in some parts than in others, and opening on one side on a hinge. [Plate IX. CROWN AND COLLAR FROM NOVO TCHERKASK. SIBERIA: SIBERIAN ANTIQUITIES, ETC. 85 In the centre has been placed a superb female bust in amethyst, to the head of which a stone of a description of garnet has been added uncut and mounted in a denticulated setting. The work of this gem appears to be Greco-Roman. To the right and left were two large egg-shaped garnets, one of which is now missing. Next are applied two little figures of a bird of prey, the wings opened, and the bodies ornamented with almond-shaped tur- quoises set in the metal in the manner that we shall find used on most of the other objects. Then come more precious stones of various sizes at different distances. The upper and lower edges of the band are decorated with a corded ornament, on which are little disks in pairs. From the lower edge is a pendent ornament which surrounded the whole crown, consisting of small rosettes bearing long spindle-shaped drops. From the upper edge stand up, here and there, bouquets of flowering plants of a kind of bind- weed, separated by figures of stags and goats. Several of these animals are missing. Their bodies are incrusted with gems in the manner which we shall often notice. The workmanship of the whole is repousse, the hollows for the reception of the gems champleve in the solid metal. A very small bird stands behind the last stag, the wings, tail, and beak ornamented with 'turquoises and garnets mounted in very delicately executed cloisonne" settings. Both in the treasure of Novo-Tcherkask and in those dis- covered in Siberia, of which the locality is undetermined, massive ornaments were found about which some doubts exist whether they should be called crowns or collars. One of these (from the treasure of Novo-Tcherkask) is of solid gold, formed of three plain conjoined rings, about a fifth part of which is hinged to open. The fastening is in the style of a pin and staples, the pin secured by a short chain. On the upper and lower parts of the collar, for about half the circumference, is an open-worked ornamentation, consisting of fabulous animals. The bodies of these are mostly alike, having enormous four-clawed paws and long twisted tails, 36 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. but the heads differ considerably. Some have the pricked ears and curved beak of the griffin, others are more like dogs • these latter seem to seize the tails of the animals preceding them. All the necks are ornamented with single and triple collars ; the thighs, shoulders, and ears are set with turquoises and ruby-coloured stones in the typical manner, and the eyes are of topaz. The workmanship is evidently the same as that of the greater part of the crown previously described. (Plate IX.) Some have supposed that this and similar objects are crowns or head-dresses rather than collars ; basing their opinion on the supposition that from the nature of what may be termed the imbricated ornament of the upper part they would be most incon- venient to wear round the neck beneath the chin. But as head-dresses they would be insupportably heavy, and from actual experiment it has been found that they may easily and comfortably be worn as collars. Perhaps they may have been thus used as gorgeous badges of official servitude. We will next take from the same treasure the three objects which, for want of more precise data, we must imagine to be perfume-boxes or fiacons for containing ointment or similar sub- stances. Three of these are reproduced in electrotype. They are all of pure and massive gold, the ornamentation, alike in character, consisting of representations of various animals in rather high relief. The first of these boxes is in form almost hemispherical ; a smaller box of plain gold, having a little open- ing, fits within the outer casing and is hinged to it ; possibly for containing a sponge and odours like a pomander-box. There are two small rings or staples for suspension. On the lower part of the box an eagle and an animal of the cat tribe are represented both occupied in devouring an elk ; on the cover three animals are symmetrically disposed, their feet resting on the filagree mount- ing of a stone or gem which is now missing. As to these three animals it is not easy to determine what to call them. From various indications, however, we are perhaps justified in supposing Plate X.] TWO GOLD FLACONS OR PERFUME BOXES FROM NOVO TCHERKASK. SIBERIA: SIBERIAN ANTIQUITIES, ETC. 87 them to represent the wild ass or onager which still inhabits the deserts of Asia. The incrustations of gems on this box are of the usual character. (Plate X.) A second perfume-box is shaped as a flacon, having a nearly globular body and a rather long plain neck. The cover fits on the latter like a cap quite down to the shoulder of the piece, and is fastened to it by a short chain passing through four rings or staples, two each on the lid and body respectively. Seed pearls are on the ends of the chain. The whole of the outer surface is chased in a similar manner to the preceding, and the subject is identical, namely, an elk being torn to pieces by an eagle and some sort of wild cat In this case, however, the latter animal is spotted, while in the former the body is striped. Doubtless this difference is more than accidental and probably has an allegorical meaning. We might, at first sight, take the animals represented on this cover to be of the same species as the onager on the box previously described. But, on closer examination, it is seen that they have no manes ; their foreheads are more prominent, the muzzles shorter, the tails scarcely visible. (Plate X.) It is remarkable that amongst the ornaments found in the tomb of the queen with the golden mask, nearer Kertch (already referred to), an ampulla of almost identical description was dis- covered. The tomb of the queen is probably of a date not far removed from the commencement of the Christian era. Such a coincidence is important, and we shall have to consider it in relation to the probable origin of the objects which we are now describing. The third object of like character which has been reproduced is of similar workmanship, but of very different form. It is an oblong baton-shaped box, opening in a curious manner on a hinge at one end, thus exposing an inner box of plain gold with a small opening near one of the ends. The ornament of the outer case is cast and chased with representations of elks lying down, the prominent parts of their bodies set with turquoises in the usual 88 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. manner. Judging from the rings and chains attached it was probably carried as a personal ornament, and possibly served also as a pomander-box. Amongst the various small ornaments discovered in this treasure are a large number of figures of animals in thin gold, stamped by dies and pierced with holes for sewing on to the garments. They are not fiat, and a kind of relief is produced by the stamping. Many of them, of which one is reproduced, represent animals of the elk tribe, of the same type as the stags on the large crown but of much ruder execution. The joints of the thighs, knees, and shoulders are invariably marked by depressions corresponding to those ornamented with turquoises in the more solid repre- sentations of animals. Two drinking-cups of gold come from the treasure of Novo- Tcherkask. They are very similar in shape, though they differ slightly in dimensions. The form is somewhat that of our modern teacup, the base rounded, and with one handle only. One of them stands on a small, almost imperceptible, rim or foot. The handle is made of a broken ring, the two ends roughly riveted to the body of the cup. The ring was at one time set with three stones and is altogether of more delicate workmanship than we should expect to see. A second cup has for a handle an animal of singular form, executed in a manner very similar to the animals on the large crown and on several other of the pieces in this collection. What this animal may be is a question which has excited some discussion amongst naturalists. It resembles very much a rhinoceros and some see in it the tapir of India. However this may be, it is not improbable that the workman who executed it had but a very vague idea of the animal he intended to represent. The question of its identity is of no small importance, in the same way as is also the identity of the fauna and flora which we see repre- sented on other objects in the collection. Where all is so vague and undetermined touching the origin of these treasures, the smallest indications are not lightly to be thrown aside. (Plate XI.) SIBERIA: SIBERIAN ANTIQUITIES, ETC. 89 The place of discovery of all the objects which have just been described is known. Very happily it is so, for they will on that account furnish us with some ground to rest upon in endeavouring to trace the origin of other objects of very similar character — the work probably of identical peoples, but of the discovery of which no record for the most part remains. Mention has already been made of the acquisition of various artistic objects found in Astrakhan, to which was added the collection of M. Midler. Other pieces are supposed to have come from Serai, the capital' of the Golden Horde. Backmeister gives a simple list, with little more indications of any value, of the treasures in gold extracted from the Siberian tombs. M. Gille, formerly Keeper of the Antiquities of the Hermitage, in a small work which he never completed and which was not published for sale, mentions the rich collection of objects in gold found for the most part to the eastward of the Volga and in Siberia, in the latter part of the reign of Peter the great. Little more is known concerning these immense quantities of treasures in the precious metals, of the ornaments of all kinds, the crowns, the necklets, the vases, the flacons, the massive open-worked plaques of gold. They are ranged under the vague denomination of " objects from Siberia," and the field in which we are left to trace their origin is immense, limited only perhaps by the territory embraced by the Volga, the Irtish, the Obi, and the Jenissei. One of the most remarkable amongst these things deserves great attention, because more than any other it is calculated to throw a ray of light on the question which we are now considering. This is a jewel or ornament in the form of a strange and fabulous bird, with outstretched wings, in the act of devouring the carcass of a deer or animal of the roebuck kind. In the second volume of the Archceologia, already referred to, a figure is given of this piece ; at least it is probable that it is meant to represent it, the engraving 9 o ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. being very badly executed. It is, however, important to note its occurrence in a publication of that date. M. Gille, in his unpub- lished work, thus describes the piece : — " An eagle of fantastical form ; the bird's wings are spread and lowered, as it appears in the act of falling on its prey, which it holds beneath its powerful claws. The animal thus held is a quadruped with a horse-like head, which is surmounted by an ornament, the character of which it is difficult to determine. The bird, bending downwards its head towards its prey, presents a long, crested neck. The tail is spread out in a fan shape." The ornament may perhaps better be described as a kind of flat plaque, the head of the bird bent downwards towards the breast, standing out from the otherwise flat surface. The tail and wings have spaces constructed, as in cloisonne enamel, for the reception of gems but no traces of the latter remain. These spaces were doubtless ruby-coloured, for the cells containing turquoises on objects of this description are always of a different form. Little tubes in short lengths are placed along the divisions between the feathers of the tail, through which chains or perhaps cords passed. The outer edges of the wings, the claws, and the body of the deer have cells, champleve' in the metal, which serve as settings for turquoises, and the peacock's eye at the top of each feather held perhaps a blue uncut stone. The animal lies contorted in agony, but it is easy to recognise in the ornament above its head the curved horns of some kind of deer. As to the bird, we must be content to believe it to be a type of the fabulous griffin that we find allegorically employed by the Greeks, and very often in the Scythian treasures of the tombs of the Cimmerian Bosphorus. The character of the execution of this object and the setting of the turquoises champleve' in the metal are identical with the work which has been noticed in the treasure of Novo- Tcherkask — work which is distinctly characteristic of the farthest east. The general design, however, recalls us more westward. The regularly disposed imbrications of the cresting of the neck SIBERIA: SIBERIAN ANTIQUITIES, ETC. 91 have an analogy with the Egypto-Assyrian school, and as Hellenic art replaced the feathered cresting of the Persian hippalectryon by the dorsal fin of a fish, so here we find on the crested neck of this bird identically the character of a spiny fin. The form of the head is Hellenic. Oriental in workmanship, half Greek in form, this ornament is a hybrid work. As to the use to which such a splendid jewel was adapted, we may conjecture that it was worn as a kind of aigrette, a species of ornament common amongst oriental peoples. It is interesting to compare the cloisonne work on this bird with that found on Egyptian jewellery, for instance on the pectoral of Rameses II. in the Louvre, in which the arrangement of the plumage is identical. We see also such eagles or birds of prey frequently figured in the same way on Egyptian or Assyrian monuments, whether cloisonne jewellery or enamelled brick as at Khorsabad. If followed, this system of imbricated ornament will be observed existing in many different ways and among different nations : we trace it in Anglo-saxon jewellery. Amongst the treasures of unknown origin is a very beautiful circlet or collar similar to that already described in the treasure of Novo-Tcherkask. It is composed of three plain rings of solid gold, hinged and fastened in the same way, the whole diminishing in a conical manner from the base to the upper part. Between the rings and surrounding the whole piece are two ornamental bands of turquoises, set alternately in small lozenge-shaped and circular compartments. On the upper edge are four solid figures, two by two, crouching and facing each other. We must probably ascribe the same origin to this circlet and to those of the treasure of Novo-Tcherkask. To the next series of objects, three of which (from among many others) are reproduced, it is difficult to assign an absolute signification or use. They are plaques of massive gold, very thick and heavy, and for the most part are found in pairs 9 2 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. representing the same subjects, the design of each one of a pair facing in a contrary direction to the other. It is evident from this that they are ornaments intended to be applied on either side of some article of domestic use. But whether, as some think, they formed the decoration of harness, or whether they were not rather ornaments of thrones or other magnificent pieces of furniture, is uncertain. For the former purpose they would appear, from their weight at least, to be unsuited. Two of the three pieces which have been reproduced are of a similar design. They are thick plaques of solid gold, cast and open-worked, on one of which is represented a lion struggling with some fabulous monster, on the other a wild beast entwined with a serpent. The contour of the first is cut out in relation to the design ; the second is inclosed in a rectangular border. Many plaques of a like description in the collection are, or have been, incrusted with stones in the manner typical of these objects. The two just spoken of are quite plain. The third of these plaques deserves a more detailed description. As before, it is one of a pair, the same subject on each, and turned in a contrary direction. The plaques of gold are of the same massive character, the contours cut out to follow the design, and open-worked according to the outlines of the figures. Here we have an entire episode in the history of a great personage or some traditional story represented: what it may be must be left to conjecture, as there is no clue among the legends which exist. The scene of the occurrence appears to be some part of the steppes. Three persons have halted beneath a tree on which one of them has suspended his bow-case and bow, the oriental form of which is distinctly to be recognised. Another, seated on the ground, holds the bridles of two caparisoned mules Or horses of the steppes. A second is stretched at full length, his head resting on the lap of a woman who sits up against the trunk of a tree. One only of the three is seen at full length — the warrior who lies on the ground ; of the others we see merely the busts or [Plate XI. GOLD DRINKING CUP FROM NOVO TCHERKASK. GOLD PLAQUE WITH GROUP OF MEN AND HORSES. I SIBERIA: SIBERIAN ANTIQUITIES, ETC. half-lengths. The principal figure appears to be dressed in a short close-fitting tunic with leggings, and shoes which seem to be sandalled. His hair is short and he wears a long straight moustache. The physiognomy of the figure seated or kneeling behind him is identical. The woman wears an open long-sleeved robe, and her head-dress is high and of curious form. The horses resemble the race of the steppes, and the tree seems also to be of a kind peculiar to those regions. (Plate XI.) What are the types and costumes that we see here represented, and what may be the story that it is sought to convey ? The principal question amongst archseologists seems to be whether we should recognise the Mongol or the Iranian type. At first sight the almond-shaped eyes of the central figure would appear to be distinctly Mongol, but on the other hand there is much to be said leading to a contrary opinion. As to the subject, some interpret it as a simple scene of repose, and this indeed appears to be natural. It is a mid-day halt beneath the shelter of a tree ; the arms are hung up, the horses held by an attendant ; the chief reposes in sleep, and his attitude, especially the left hand placed under the head, is natural. Other learned archaeologists are convinced that we have the death of a great warrior represented here ; that he is not resting but wounded, fainting, dead, or in the act of expiring. In the attitudes of the attendants they see expressions of grief and compassion, and from such indices have endeavoured to connect the subject with one or other of several episodes which Persian or Greek history has handed down to us. However this may be, it is certain that there is nothing sufficiently tangible to remove the story from the field of conjecture, and the most important point is the technique of the piece in relation to art. Amongst the numerous other treasures in gold, of disputed origin, six vases or bowls have been selected for reproduction. The locality where four of these were found is attributed, in general terms, to Astrakhan or the Pruth. The other two are supposed to have come from the excavations of the site of ancient Serai. I 2 94 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. The name of the modern town of Tzare'vo situated to the eastward of Tzaritzin on the eastern bank of the Aktouba (a tributary of the Volga) recalls the ancient and splendid capital of the Mongol Khans. Ravaged by Tamerlane and destroyed by a voi'vode of Moscow in 1480, all that now remains to identify it (if such identification be correct) are some scattered mounds and heaps of rubbish, fragments of pottery and glazed tiles. Astrakhan, also, is a city fallen from its former greatness. It is situated on the left bank of the Volga and was a chief town of the Mongol empire until the middle of the sixteenth century, when Ivan the terrible took it and added to his titles that of Tzar of Astrakhan. Possessing at one time the monopoly of Russian commerce with the countries beyond the Caspian, and having been the entrepot for the precious merchandise of India and Persia, Astrakhan has fallen now into comparative insignificance. One of the bowls first mentioned is extremely interesting : in form as nearly as possible half a hollow sphere. A narrow and slightly raised band, chased with a varying pattern in divisions, runs round the lip. The rest of the surface is ornamented in a very characteristic manner. Portions of the metal are dug out or champleve, in the shape of conventional flowers, leaves, and buds, nearly all of which are arranged so as to consist of two or three divisions or cells. The spaces so described were probably at one time filled with garnets or ruby-coloured stones which, ground down to the surface of the bowl, would give it an appearance of translucent enamel. No traces of the gems, however, remain. The stalks and leaves of these flowers are on the contrary chased in relief. There appears to be a short inscription in dotted letters round the rim. A second bowl, it is said from TsareVo, is somewhat patera shaped without handles. It is quite plain, except a narrow band of engraved ornament running round the lip. A third is much larger, nearly globular, with a band forming a plain upright lip. The body is entirely corrugated or fluted in concentric horizontal SIBERIA: SIBERIAN ANTIQUITIES, ETC. 95 rings. Just beneath the lip or neck runs a double beading. The handles are formed of two lions attached to the bowl by their feet, their bent and long backs being convenient for the purpose. Schliemann in his Mycence illustrates (p. 232) a gold goblet with precisely similar corrugation to this bowl, of the pattern called by the Greeks. avXaKwrd (furrowed). The fourth bowl which has been selected is of a like character to the last ; of nearly cylindrical shape with a slightly rounded base. It is perfectly plain except the two handles, each of which is formed of a dolphin, cast and chased. The other two pieces are more of the cup or vase form, the first being chalice-shaped and plain with the exception of a narrow border round the lip, slightly engraved with a scroll and leaf pattern. The foot, to which it is simply soldered, is almost a cylinder, broadened a little at the lower end to form a base. The last is a vase recalling the lotah -shaped vases of Kertch ; but the lip, which expands somewhat, is rather longer. The whole of the surface is repousse and chased in low relief with con- ventional flower ornament and with some kind of water-bird or wader, perhaps a crane. The handles are simply small flattened rings rudely attached with rivets. We have yet to speak of several other objects, the locality of whose discovery is uncertain ; but as they are of widely different character to those just described, and will lead us to the con- sideration of the workmanship of a people so distinct as the Persians of the dynasty of the Sassanians, it will be as well first to offer some brief remarks upon the treasures in gold exhibited in the gallery of Siberian antiquities at the Hermitage, which have a common character. > • , M. Gille in the unfinished work already referred to gives an enumeration, with some general remarks, of all these objects. There are six different collections: — 1st. The 1 rich collection of gold objects found to the east of the Volga and in Siberia in the last years of the reign of Peter the great. 2nd. The objects found in 9 6 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. the tomb of a Scythian king. 3rd. Objects from Serai. 4th. Tchoude antiquities. 5th. Roman, Greco-Roman, Byzantine, Sassanian, and other antiquities found in Russia. 6th. Terra- cottas. The jewels, and principally those in gold, appear to run back to very different origins and epochs although they all belong with two or three exceptions to Siberian, central Asiatic, or Caucasian territories. The gold is of a quality of 21 to 2\\ carats, which seems to show an indigenous metal extracted perhaps from the auriferous sands of Siberia. After quoting the passages in Strabo concerning the magnificence of the Massageta? and Aorsi, M. Gille concludes that it is not probable that these objects are Scythian but that they come from the nomad peoples who inhabited the country east of the Caspian, and whose manners and customs were perhaps the same as the other nomadic tribes, of whom Herodotus has left us such a vigorous sketch. The earliest intercourse established between the west of Europe and the hordes who dwelt about the Tanai's can scarcely go back to an earlier period than the expeditions of Alexander the great. His relations with them were those of war, but war has always opened a path for commerce to succeed it, and the armies of the Macedonians were doubtless followed by Greek colonists. As a whole, no very high antiquity can be claimed for the series of objects with which we are now interested. A part of them found in some of the tombs spread over Russia may, it is true, go back to the ages of stone and bronze, but for the remainder we are brought close to the Christian era, and even within it. About the time of the discovery of the treasure of Novo- Tcherkask other tumuli were opened and explored in the neigh- bourhood of Rostov, near the sources of the Bystraia, near Migoulinsk, and in the environs of Taganrog — all in the country of the Cossacks of the Don. In the first of these tumuli objects were found belonging to the three ages of stone, of bronze, and of iron ; in the last were many ornaments of gold, chains, ear-rings, and a bracelet on which is a Latin inscription in dotted SIBERIA: SIBERIAN ANTIQUITIES, ETC. 97 letters. From this inscription and other indications it appears probable that the date of these objects is about the third century of our era, and that they belonged to a half Greek half barbarous people. It is unfortunate that no inscription of any kind exists amongst the treasures in gold found at Novo-Tcherkask. But there is an inscription on a cup in the collection of count Ouvarofif at Moscow. This cup bears so much resemblance to the cup already described, which has the figure of an animal of the tapir kind for a handle, that it is of great importance. It was discovered in 1864 by an accidental landslip near a tumulus situated on the right bank of the Don, and not far from Novo-Tcherkask. The form of the cup is precisely similar to the tapir cup but somewhat larger. The handle is a feline animal, the body spotted with turquoises and red pastes, set in the usual manner. Instead of being perfectly plain, this cup is ornamented just beneath the lip by a band consisting of lozenge and triangular-shaped compart- ments, champleve in the metal, and at one time probably filled with garnets or other gems. Between this ornament and the lip is the inscription which is of so much interest. It is engraved in dotted letters, and is as follows: — ZHBANOKOYTAPOYAAC SnOI8'fMH. The evident general sense of this inscription is that the cup was made by a certain workman whose name we should read in the first word. The difficulty lies in the division of the letters. About en-oL€L there is no difficulty. For the symbol and the two following letters there are different interpretations. Taking first the question of the proper name, the inscription has been read in these two ways, either : — H??/?avo KovTapovXas zttomi -^p{va-ov) p.rj Ksiban Koutaroulas made it, of gold, weighing 48 ... . or : — 'ErjfiavoKov TapovXa? Ztvolu [the cup] of Zebanokos Taroulas made [it]. In either case we have the same termination of a proper name ; 93 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. and it would seem that the workman belonged to one of those tribes of Indo-European race spread over the territories stretching from the Danube to the Asiatic steppes, who were in frequent intercourse with Greek colonists. The sign which follows the word htoiu and the two succeeding letters have given rise to great diversity of opinion. The learned author of the Origines de 1' Email cloisonne, M. de Linas, tells us that he forwarded a drawing of this cup together with a description of it to the librarian of the Vatican, cardinal Pitra, with a view of ascertaining whether in this sign and letters there was any indication of a Christian symbol. The opinions expressed at a meeting of the Academy at Rome varied. Some referred the manufacture of the cup so far back as three or four hundred years before Christ. Others, considering the inartistic nature of the workmanship of the piece, believed it to be of Byzantine origin, of the fourth or fifth century of our era. Some thought that the name of the workman should be read in two words, and the sign explained as a symbol of good wishes, such as is met with frequently on Christian monuments. Others, again, agreeing with the savants of Moscow, read the name' as one word, and the sign as declaring the weight of the cup ypvaov 48 (grammata or drachmas). The guess that the sign might be interpreted xpiarov [laT-rjp, was unanimously rejected by the Academy. ' ' Russian archaeologists are of opinion that the date of the treasure of Novo-Tcherkask is about the first century. There appears to be nothing positive against such a supposition or extending it two or three centuries later. In endeavouring to assign their origin, the smallest indications may be of importance and not the least are those relating to the fauna and flora which are represented. In this treasure, sixteen distinct animals may be recognised — twelve mammals, two birds, and a reptile. The flora is represented by one plant, a species of woodbine. The mammals comprise the lion, striped and spotted, and tail-less felines, the onager, the tapir, the rhinoceros, the stag, the goat, and the elk. The birds SIBERIA: SIBERIAN ANTIQUITIES, ETC. 99 are the eagle and a species of owl ; and finally the griffin-headed fabulous bird. What conclusions may be drawn from the recogni- tion of the habitat of these animals is a study in natural history, which it would be impossible to enter into here. It should not be forgotten that the artist may in many cases have drawn from hear- say or imagination. But it is probable that he was acquainted with a considerable number of animals, indigenous to the territories in the vicinity of the Ural mountains, the Irtisch, the Jenissei, and the Altai, and that he had at the same time a vague knowledge of the Hindoo fauna. The earliest examples of works of art were found in the treasure of Novo-Tcherkask, in the tombs in the neighbourhood of the Don and Tauric peninsula, and in those of Siberia, about the upper Jenissei. The resemblance between certain of these objects and others in the treasure of Petrossa deserves special attention. In the month of March of the year 1837, two Roumanian peasants engaged in quarrying in a mountain of Wallachia situated in the commune of Petrossa discovered a rich collection of vases and gold ornaments. In order to conceal their discovery nearly all the objects were broken up with an axe and the jewels taken out and dispersed, but some remain in the Roumanian museum at Bucharest (in which they are now preserved) in a state sufficiently good to enable us to form an accurate judgment upon them. Reproductions of this treasure may be seen in the South Kensington museum. The treasure consists of twelve pieces, principally of gold, some of which are massive and decorated with chasing ; others still retain some of the ornaments in crystal or , precious stones in- crusted in the metal or mounted a jour. There are large rings, disks, vases, collars, fibulae, and an ornament in the form of a bird of prey. The hypotheses touching the origin of this treasure are various. Probably they are the work of a Germanic people who inhabited Dac.ia from the second to the fifth century. For a more systematic IOO ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. study of the difficulty the reader must be referred, amongst others, to the following works : Notice sur les Antiquites de la Roumanie, from the report published by the Roumanian commission of the Paris Exhibition of 1867; Die Kleniodien des heil. roem. Reichs, etc., by Dr. Bock ; Orfivrerie Merovingienne, by Charles de Linas ; and the notices by M. de Lasteyrie and Mr. Soden Smith. The last-named is illustrated with photographs of all the objects. In this treasure a remarkable analogy exists between the orna- ment in the form of a bird of prey and that of a bird of the same kind in the act of devouring an animal like a roebuck, which has already been described as coming from Siberia. Returning to the question of the origin of these ornaments, it is evident that a great part of them may be attributed generally to those nomad tribes who from time immemorial spread from central Asia into Europe. To assign the probable race of their original owners, the degree of civilisation which they had attained, the intercourse they had with other tribes or hordes, such as the Huns and Goths, and the date at which they were fabricated, are questions of extreme difficulty. If we had more aid of history to tell us at what periods such and such peoples occupied accurately defined limits comprised in the immense expanse of Siberia, or in the countries in the neighbourhood of Novo-Tcher- kask, or if we were more cognisant of the relations between the Mongols of the Golden Horde and the various peoples with whom they came in contact, we should be in possession of valu- able facts. But it seems more likely that the study of these objects will rather themselves assist in enlightening us on some of the points where history fails. The whole collection is made up of objects of whose discovery nothing more is known than that they come " from Siberia ; " of others which we know were found near Novo-Tcherkask ; and of gold vases and bowls attributed to the chief cities of the empire of the Khanates. The style and workmanship of the first two series of objects SIBERIA: SIBERIAN ANTIQUITIES, ETC. 101 have sufficient in common to warrant us in considering many of them as the handicraft of identical peoples. With our present limited knowledge, the arguments relating to their origins and dates can scarcely extend beyond the bringing forward of a number of hypotheses and probabilities. It cannot be repeated too often that we are unfortunately kept in the dark by the want of authentic documents concerning the precise history of their discovery and acquisition. Probably much information exists in the archives of the Hermitage museum, but up to the present time it has not been examined and made available. No doubt when this is done a new light will be thrown on the subject. From a general point of view we may consider that we are here in presence of the works of some or other of those numerous hordes of barbarians issuing originally from the interior of Asia, who, living in a condition of nomadic and warlike camp-life, spread over and despoiled a great part of the western world. They must have been intimately connected with the Scythian tribes, and it -was perhaps by their contact with men whose traditions of art came directly from the Cimmerian Bosphorus that the peculiar style of ornament originated which later on was destined to exercise important influences. It might be thought that such barbarians, living an unsettled life and appearing to find their greatest delight in destroying rather than in producing, would be little likely to be the originators of the art we see exemplified in these treasures. But when we consider that wherever we find traces of their passage we find also the same description of ornaments, we are forced to conclude that the origins are in all cases identical. * The general characteristics of this kind of jewellery are a lavish use of the precious metal and a greater proportional employment of gems and stones, which in many cases almost form the orna- ment, the gold, however massive, seeming merely to give the necessary solidity. 102 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. The manner of setting the gems and stones is also character- istic ; and the stones are distinguished by the table-cut. form usual in the case of the garnets and other common red stones, and by the manner in which the turquoises and ccibochon cut stones are set in cells dug out (as it were) of the solid metal. It is not proposed to follow in detail the peculiarities of this jewellery, or to show how it preserves its general style of workmanship, tracing from these earlier Russian specimens down to the treasures of Petrossa and Guarazzar, of Ravenna, or Monza, or the tomb of Chilperic. Such considerations would lead us on to the origin and development of the art of cloisonne enamel, which would appear to have its beginning in this cloisonne jewellery. Few will deny that the discovery of these objects forms a link of extreme importance in the chain which binds together the arts of the east and the west. The Greeks of the Bosphorus were the first teachers of the Scythians. By them knowledge would have been transmitted to the warlike tribes passing on their way westward, who would have tempered it with divers Asiatic ideas ; later on, the influence of Byzantium would have been added and as the ever-advancing invaders carried with them a kind of patronage of the ornamental arts in their love of display and adornment, so, as a rolling snowball would, they have received here an addition, there a modification, till a system of decorative art in the precious metals and jewels had been established, of which the traces subsist in the art even of our own day. CHAPTER V. PERM : PREHISTORIC ANTIQUITIES : OBJECTS OF FOREIGN ORIGIN FOUND IN RUSSIA. If the objects described in the previous chapter present the double difficulty of uncertainty both of workmanship and of the place where they were discovered, we happily have to meet with one only of these difficulties in the next class which we shall consider. The place of their discovery is uncertain ; but we know them to be, with one exception, either of Sassanian origin or to be attributed to the silversmiths of the Greco-Roman period. Avery large and interesting series of objects may be classed under the general denomination of Permian antiquities from the name of the district in which they have been principally found. In this series are some examples which may be referred to the most ancient inhabitants of Russia. With these we need not delay. But a far larger and more important portion consists principally of cups and vases in silver, either of Persian origin of the dynasty of the Sassanians or Greco-Roman of the last days of classic art ; others are of a nationality which cannot be pre- cisely determined. Some pieces of Sassanian and Greco-Roman origin in the collection of the Hermitage have been reproduced in electrotype, and will therefore be more particularly referred to. Others from other collections of similar character may be incidentally noticed. The districts whence these objects come are in the government ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. of which Perm forms the central part; districts which in the earlier days of Russian history were the field of many important actions. The valleys of the Irtisch and of the Kama, with the chain of the Ural mountains as a connecting link, have been from time immemorial the natural route open to the Asiatic migrations whose starting point was to the east of lake Baikal, and which gradually spread widely and more wide on their way towards the Baltic. Thus it is not surprising that the soil of these regions should contain hidden treasures in greater abundance than any of the central provinces of European Russia. Antiquities of the stone age have been found up to the present time only in Finland, in the Baltic provinces, and in the plains of northern Russia as far towards the east as the Kama. The examples are numerous but offer no features of special interest in relation to our subject. Among the antiquities of the age of bronze which succeeded it, and which are characterised by more artistic qualities, there is naturally much which claims examination and comparative study. The discoveries made to the west of the Ural present in general less ancient types derived from Siberian forms, and show the highest degree of technical skill which was attained during the bronze age. This region was probably the latest peopled. If the dis- coveries made in the necropolis of Annanino on the western bank of the Kama, and which belong to a transition time between those of bronze and of iron, are compared with the antiquities found in the Scythian tombs, it would seem probable that the end of the bronze age in this part of Europe corresponds nearly with the third century B.C. Passing on to the iron age it is observable that no traces of iron objects are found in the tombs of the steppes of Minnoussinsk, while in the soil of these plains swords and iron knives of the type of those of the bronze age not unfrequently occur. This would seem to indicate that the civilisation of the iron age was not suddenly introduced into Siberia by an immigrant people but PERM: PREHISTORIC ANTIQUITIES. 105 that the knowledge of iron simply added a new development to the former civilisation. The ornaments found in the necropolis of Annanino on the left bank of the Kama, near the town of Elabuga, are all of bronze. Silver and gold are entirely wanting. These ornaments furnish important materials for the study of the end of the Alto-Uralian bronze age, and the beginning of the iron age on the banks of the Kama. Certain types are found which seem to fix approximately the date of the necropolis, and which offer important elements of comparison with the Scythian tombs of Alexandropol and Tchertomlyk, and in this connection the absence of gold and silver is very noteworthy. When we carefully examine the antiquities of the iron age of the countries of northern Russia inhabited by Finnish tribes in early historic times, and the antiquities of the same age of the Permian district, two groups are easily distinguished amongst the latter ; the first having a distinct relation to the other northern Finnish groups, the second bearing more resemblance to the forms found generally on the banks of the Kama, of the Vytchegda and of the Petchora, and in the countries bordering on the Ural. Discussion about objects of pre-historic and early historic origin would require more space than we can afford. The questions which arise could still end only in conjecture ; and it is probable that, on account of the hap-hazard way in which the earliest researches were made, and the want at that time of classification, no definite conclusions can be arrived at. Without also the aid of numerous illustrations it would be a matter of difficulty to convey any distinct idea of the bearings on our general subject to which a study of these antiquities may give rise. A mention of them has not, however, been introduced without reason, and we must be content with a general reference to a work by M. Aspelin, the Antiquites du Nord Finno-Ougrien. He gives a large number of plates containing illustrations of many hundred objects, progressively, stone, bronze, and iron. The accompanying io6 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. explanatory text is slight; and much must be left to the per- sonal observation of the student. In the course of the remarks which may follow on other objects of antiquity a reference will be made to these plates where instances of comparison may occur. The objects of distinctly foreign origin found in the government of Perm, or the adjacent governments, are for the most part of silver. A considerable number have been found since the first discoveries on the banks of the Volga and the Kama, about a hundred years ago. They come chiefly from the large estates of the Stroganoff family, in whose collections many pieces are preserved ; but without any note as to date or place where they were found. The most ancient of these things go back perhaps to the third century ; but these were doubtless brought into the country. The proof of this is furnished by the Byzantine marks on the backs of the greater number of them ; marks which were certainly placed upon them either in Constantinople or in some part of the empire. Unfortunately these marks are always difficult to decipher, and at times unintelligible. Some, however, have been partially read. The bowls and vases of Sassanian origin are usually without marks ; but a judgment of their probable date may be formed from a comparison of the costumes of the persons represented and other indications, and from the information which we may gather from the extant coins of the several dynasties. Amongst the objects in silver of foreign origin but found in Russia eight pieces have been reproduced. Three are of Greco- Roman date ; the remainder are to be referred to some period of the Persian empire under Sassanian rule. This dynasty began with Artaxerxes, son of Sassan, a man of low extraction, who had raised himself to supreme power in the year a.d. 226, and it continued for upwards of three hundred years until the time of Yezdijird, the last monarch of the line, who was murdered after PERM: PREHISTORIC ANTIQUITIES. the disastrous battle which brought Persia under the dominion of the Arabian Khalifs in 651. A few examples of plate of Sassanian origin besides those in the Hermitage museum are to be found in other collections, and on account of their rarity, a brief reference to some of them may be made before describing those which have been selected for reproduction. It is well known that Persian art, under the dominion of the Sassanians, had considerable relation with that of the Greco- Roman. In essentials that art was engrafted, as it were, on Persian habits of thought and customs. The style and execution of several of the bowls and vases which will presently be described offer many points which will bear this out : and they may be compared with the silver pail and silver dish of Greco-Roman origin of about the second century, found also probably in Perm (although according to some coming from Moldavia on the banks of the Pruth), which have been reproduced in electrotype and form part of the present collection. Most of the pieces of Sassanian origin which are known are now preserved in museums or private collections in Russia ; the richest in this respect being the museum of the imperial Hermitage and the collection of count Stroganoff, from whose family estates or in their neighbourhood the large proportion comes. The Cabinet des Medailles at Paris possesses a very remarkable vase and two bowls. A few others are in private hands in St. Petersburg and Moscow. From the number of pieces found in the government of Perm it seems likely that most of the Persian silversmiths' work existing at present in public or private collections must be referred to the same district. At the time of the conquest by the Arabs there was probably a general destruction of precious objects belonging to the dethroned dynasty. Much would have been melted down for coin or worked up in other ways, and the iconoclastic prejudices of the Mohammedan conquerors would certainly have led them to K io8 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. destroy or efface anything bearing the representation of human or animal life. Objects which had previously passed into foreign countries would alone have escaped. The majority of the -pieces of silver plate of Sassanian workman- ship consists of bowls or somewhat concave dishes having upon them subjects chased in relief, representing in many cases the sovereigns of the country engaged in hunting, or other hunting scenes. Three of those selected from the museum of the Hermitage are of this kind. One of them bears an inscription in Pehlvi characters (the ancient writing used in Persia under the dynasty of the Sassanians) which has not been deciphered. The collection of count Stroganoff possesses several similar speci- mens, and the Cabinet des Me'dailles at Paris has one. The costumes and accessories of the royal huntsmen aid us considerably in fixing the dates of the manufacture of these important pieces. We are chiefly enabled to do this from a comparison with a monument known under the name of Takt-i-Bostan, situated near the modern town of Kermanschah. This consists of the sculp- tures in relief on the rocks forming the entrance to a cave, or rock temple, executed during the reign of Bahrain Kermanschah (a.d. 389—399). The first and second of the four bowls of this description which have been reproduced have a common character, the subject being that of a royal personage hunting. They are circular con- cave dishes or plateaux, somewhat shallow, standing on a low foot or rim. On the first the subject is chased in rather high relief on a plain gilt ground. The figures are also partly gilt. The king is represented on horseback, at full gallop, looking back- wards in the manner of the Parthians as he draws his bow to shoot at a lion which rears up close behind him. Beneath is a wild boar caught in a thicket, and already with an arrow in his side. Under this, again, water is conventionally represented, in which swim a goose and two fishes. The other dish is of similar form and style. The relief is however somewhat less PERM: PREHISTORIC ANTIQUITIES. high and there is no trace of gilding on the figures, though the ground is gilt in the same manner. The subject is the same— a hunting scene. In this the horse is standing still, and the hunter holds in both hands a pennoned lance prepared to strike an enraged lion which is in the act of springing upon him, while a second lion lies wounded beneath him. (Plate XII.) On a similar dish in the Stroganoff collection the scene is much the same, though the costume and physiognomy of the king are different. From a comparison with those represented on the Takt-i-Bostan sculptures we may reasonably suppose that this bowl dates from about the same period. The bowl with the hunter with the lance might be about a century earlier (of the time of Bahram I. or II., 2 73— 2 9 6 )> and there appears to be a notable conformity in the work- manship and the type of the animals with the vase of the Paris collection. In the bowl representing a king shooting with a bow, a comparison with a wild boar-chase of the Takt-i-Bostan sculptures seems to show a marked identity. The costumes, the types, and the general character of the men and animals are alike. The Pehlvi inscription already mentioned is on this bowl. It is un- fortunate that it has not been deciphered, for it would possibly reveal the personality of the royal hunter represented. Unlike the others he is without a beard, but with a long moustache ; his hair, carefully curled, is bound with a fillet or diadem. He wears a kind of embroidered tunic or coat of mail, and by his side hang a straight sword, a bow-case, and a case of arrows ; all, as well as the accoutrements of the horse, richly ornamented. Ker-Porter, in his travels in Georgia, Persia, etc. (Vol. II., p. 170), describes at length the bas-reliefs of Takt-i-Bostan, and gives details in the plates. Amongst them we find a boar-hunt in which large numbers of boars are driven along by hunters on elephants. The boars and the thickets are identical in manner with those on our bowl. Information of the kind that we gather from the costumes on such plates and monuments are of value, and assist our researches k 2 I IO ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. in the history of jewellery. From such indications we are able for instance to establish that cloisonne jewellery flourished among these races about the third and fourth centuries, and was on its way to the west where it developed later. A plate of the same kind found in 1841 in Badakshan is mentioned in a communication to the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. This has also an inscription in dotted Pehlvi characters. Speaking of this plate Mr. Alexander Cunningham, the writer of the notice, refers to the analogy which exists between the subject and that of some Sassanian coins in the cabinet of Mr. Prinsep. On one of these the king's crescent head-dress is the same as that on the silver plate, and the position of the right arm seems to indicate that it must have pointed a spear towards the indistinct object which is seen between the horse's four legs, and which is probably the lion of the plate. A third bowl, reproduced, presents in relief on a burnished gilt- ground the figure of a winged and bearded dragon with a plumed tail and two-clawed feet. The figure is in a circle with a tressed or plaited border. Under the body and in front of the breast of the monster are two flower-buds, of which the stalks touch the circumference. The head and neck of the animal resemble some- what those of a horse ; the hind-quarters those of a bird. The scales on the body are indicated by dotted outlines. This bowl is known to have been dug up by a peasant in the village of Kychmennof (government of Viatka) in 1874. It was acquired by the Hermitage museum for £20. A piece of woven textile from the church of St. Merry at Paris, is figured in Cahier and Martin's Melanges d'Archeologie. It formerly covered the relics of St. Helena. The subject consists of a series of winged monsters, with boars' heads and peacocks' tails within beaded borders, very similar to the monster on the bowl just described. It is also undoubtedly Sassanian. A similar bird figure or monstrous animal occurs also on a magnificent silver ewer in the Stroganoff collection, which was found in the govern- PERM: PREHISTORIC ANTIQUITIES. in ment of Perm in 1878. The ewer bears a Pehlvi inscription and is of late Persian origin. The fourth bowl is of widely different character, and the origin of its manufacture is less easy to determine. It is deeper than the preceding, with a flat lip or edge, and originally possessed a long, straight handle, of which the portion joining it to the bowl is all that remains. On the flat rim, which is about an inch wide, is a hunting scene ; small figures or groups in rather low relief and at regular distances, the ground being gilt. The interior of the bowl was originally perfectly plain, but some artist of a later time has enriched it after his fashion with a grotesque decoration. This consists of figures of men and animals scratched in outline on the surface in the way in which an uncultivated draughtsman usually tries to represent the human figure. In the centre is a large naked figure crowned, brandishing two swords. On other portions are seven similar figures, but of smaller dimensions. All the figures are carefully drawn, to the best ability at least, of the artist. The style of the crown or head ornament is the same as that on many Permian bronzes, and establishes the nationality of the later addition. As to the original part of the decoration of the piece, the style is analogous to that of the figures on the handle of the sword found in the Nikopol tumulus already described. This is not Greek, though the gold scabbard belonging to it is ; both workmen seem to have been inspired, though the inspiration produced different degrees of perfection, by the same influence of Persian models. A fifth object, commonly said to be of Sassanian origin, is the covering of a dagger sheath. This is composed of a thin sheet of gold, repousse and chased. Near the hilt is the same figure repeated of a man in a garden (?) represented by cypress trees set in boxes. Down the length of the sheath, divided by four borders of an interlaced or corded pattern are on each side, three times repeated, two-winged creatures of Assyrian type with a woman's and a lion's head respectively, drawing a bow. They appear to do this with a third arm issuing from the chest. Their I I 2 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. wings are shaped like fishes. On the rounded end are two lions affrontes. The sheath is now in bad condition though one side is nearly intact. ^ This important object is doubtless of Assyrian origin and much anterior to the date usually given to it. The existence of objects of foreign workman- ship testifying to the commercial intercourse which the early inhabitants had with the east must be added to the antiquities of the Permian district which mark the state of local civilisation. These are principally the silver vases of Greek, Bactrian, and Byzantine origin, and coins of the same and other oriental countries. As similar things have never been found on the banks of the Volga, but seem on the contrary characteristic of the terri- tories situated to the east and west of the northern Ural, it is probable that it was rather by the Irtisch than by the Volga that these riches came to the north, where they were doubtless exchanged for furs. The extent of the region here designated as Permian cannot at present be strictly defined. The most ancient things appear to have been found from the Obi on the east to the Mesen and Dvina on the west : the more recent are not rare in the ruins of towns of ancient Bolgary, particularly of Bilarsk and Bolgary. Three pieces of silver plate of Greco-Roman origin, of the first to the third centuries, have been reproduced. They are a pail or situla, a large vase, and a circular plate. The vase was found about the year 1834 in a village in Mol- davia in the district of Dorshoe' on the right bank of the Pruth. It is of one piece of metal, with the exception of the narrow cylindrical neck and the centaur handles. The repousse' Dagger-sheath Sassanian (?). PERM: PREHISTORIC ANTIQUITIES. work is therefore the more surprising. The form is oval or egg-shaped, flattened at the larger end or shoulder from which the cylindrical neck rises, and expands slightly at the smaller end to form a small circular foot. The handles are in the shape of figures of centaurs, cast in solid metal. They are, however, not attached to the vase (except temporarily) but rest on the shoulder and on the boss of the neck. The neck is chased with leaves in alternately arranged tiers ; the base is beaded. The upper part of the vase is repousse with two groups of hunting subjects ; on the lower part the relief repre- sents a combat of Greeks and amazons, and on the foot are three marine monsters, each bearing a nereid. As a work of art this vase cannot call for great admiration ; it is rather an evidence of the decay of western art. The arrangement and execution are heavy and forced ; the neck is without boldness and grace and the centaur handles are added without reason. Possibly they are a later addition. The two other pieces are much finer in style. The first is a rather shallow bowl or plate on a low foot, chased in low relief with a hunting scene, relating probably to the history of Atalanta and Meleager. The form of this bowl or plate is circular, rather shallow and on a low foot. In the centre a young man and a girl are resting and talking. The first has a single garment almost thrown off, and is nearly nude. Round his head is a fillet, and he wears high sandals. In the left hand he holds a lance. The girl wears high sandals and a short chiton, leaving the right breast free. In the left hand she also holds a lance, in the right the bridle of her horse. An attendant, clothed in a sheep-skin round his loins, brings to her a small dead animal, the result of the ch ase. Another attendant, dressed in a short chiton with leggings and shoes, holds in the left hand a lance and in the right the bridle of a richly caparisoned horse. The locality is indicated by a tree and a castellated building in the distance. In a com- H4 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. partment below the artist has introduced two hounds, one seeking, the other giving tongue. Near them is a bundle of nets. The subject is interesting from its relation to the chase, the manner of hunting, and the accoutrements used. Beneath the plate three marks, each twice repeated, have been stamped at some later time : they are Byzantine but have not been deciphered. The silver situla has a scene upon which three scenes from Greek mythology are represented, chased in low relief ; Hylas and the nymphs, Daphne and Apollo, and Leda and the swan. Above and below are two borders of flower scroll-work, partly chased and partly engraved, each between two beaded edges. The handle is beaded, the size of the headings diminishing slightly and regularly towards either end. Both these pieces were probably found in Perm, but nothing is definitely known. There is a plate of similar style in the Stroganoff collection ; so similar that we are probably justified in attributing it to the same workman. CHAPTER VI. MOSCOW : THE TREASURIES OF THE KREMLIN AND THE SACRISTY OF THE PATRIARCH : THE ANCIENT REGALIA : THE ROMANOFF HOUSE. Moscow is the second capital of the empire but by ancient right the first, although now surpassed both in commerce and population by the modern city of Peter the great. Moscow occupies almost exactly the geographical centre of European Russia. Artistically it is of far greater interest to us than its northern rival. It has preserved the old oriental type whose traces we are occupied in following ; in its palaces has been displayed the barbaric pomp of the Muscovite Tzars of which much yet remains, not only in their renovated halls but also in what is left of the plate, jewels, and ornaments with which they once abounded. The general plan resembles somewhat that of Paris ; the different quarters have gradually developed around a centre, and the river Moskva meanders through them as the Seine. The centre is the Kremlin ; in shape an irregular triangle surrounded by high walls, outside which is the first walled-in quarter — the Kitai-Gorod, that is the Chinese city, about the meaning of which term there is some dispute. It is not, nor ever has been, in any way Chinese. The name of Moscow appears first in the chronicles in 1147, when Youri a son of Vladimir Monomachus built the first n6 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. houses of a town on the hill where the Kremlin now stands, but it was not until at least a century later that the city became of any importance. In 1237 it was burned by the Tartars and the real founder was Daniel, a son of Alexander Nevski. He was the first prince buried in the church of St. Michael where, until the time of Peter the great, all the sovereigns of Russia have been buried : as in die metropolitan cathedral of the Assumption, but a few steps distant, they have all been crowned up to the present day. From the fifteenth to the seventeenth centuries, at the time when the arts flourished in Russia in the greatest profusion and magnifi- cence, Moscow was endowed with her richest monuments. It was then the numerous churches arose, the Kremlin, and the palaces of the boyars. At that time the city consisted of the Kremlin and the three walled-in inclosures which encircle it and each other as the several skins and shell inclose the kernel of a walnut. It appears to have been built in a haphazard fashion, though the old plans, with the houses sketched in rows, exhibit an uniformity of streets and buildings. They show us also that the houses were for the most part of wood, having each a covered outside staircase leading to the upper stories. Built so much of wood it was exposed to frequent conflagrations, the last being the great burning at the time of the French invasion in 181 2. But so quickly was it always rebuilt and on the same lines that it has ever retained its original and irregular aspect. The Kremlin was at first of wood, but under the two Ivans it was surrounded by the solid stone walls of white stone cut in facets, which have given to the city the name " White Mother " or " Holy Mother Moscow with the white walls." The Kremlin is at the same time a fortress and a city contained within itself, with its streets and palaces, churches, monasteries and barracks. Eighteen towers and five gateways garnish the long extent of the inclosing wall ; two of the gateways are interesting ; that of the Saviour built by Pietro Solario in 149 1, and that of the Trinity by Christopher Galloway in the seventeenth century. Here, among the many MOSCOW: TREASURIES, ETC. 117 churches are those of the Assumption and of St. Michael ; here are the new palace of the Tzar, the restored Terem (what is left of the old palace), the sacristy and library of the patriarchs, the treasure and regalia, the great tower of Ivan Veliki in which hangs the largest bell in the world that will ring, and beneath it the " Tzar Kolokol " the king of bells, which it is supposed has never been rung, and the king of cannons, which has never been fired. The general character of Russian art in metal work as regards objects both for religious and profane use has so much that is common to both, that it will be unnecessary to divide the subject. What there is to be said of one will, in a general way, be applicable to the other. This is not surprising when we remember how intimately religious sentiment is bound up. with art of all kinds in Russia, and the source from whence such a large proportion of that art springs. The greater proportion of the examples which we shall speak of is to be found in the treasury of the Kremlin of Moscow. Some others come from the sacristy of the cathedral of the Assumption at the same place, from the monastery at Troitsa, and from one or two private collections. The ancient " Kazna " or treasury of the Kremlin, where the riches of the Tzars have been preserved from time immemorial, was in the reign of Ivan III. situated within the walls of the Kremlin, between the cathedrals of St. Michael and of the An- nunciation. Here it remained until the great fire of 1737. The treasure had already suffered a heavy loss : in the early part of the seventeenth century, at the time of the war Avith Poland, a large quantity of plate was melted down to provide for the payment of the' troops. The fire of 1737 caused a further and greater loss and destroyed also a large part of the armoury. At the time of the French invasion in 181 2 the whole of the treasure, together with the regalia, was removed to Novgorod, and thus escaped destruction or seizure. On its return to Moscow in 18 14 systematic arrangements were made for its preservation, and for n8 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. the formation and arrangement of the museum in which it is now exhibited. In the year 1850 the new building of the Oruje'naia Palata which forms part of the modern palace of the Kremlin was completed, and to this the entire collection was transferred. The treasury of Moscow has been almost from the time of the establishment of the Russian empire the place where the riches of the Tzars have been kept ; consisting of the regalia, of the state costumes, of the plate and vases used in the service of their table, of their most magnificent armour and horse-trappings, of their state carriages and sledges, and of the presents which from time to time the sovereigns of other countries sent through their ambassadors, of whose embassies so many interesting accounts have come down to us. The treasury or museum as it now exists finds to some extent a counterpart in the Tower of London or (formerly) in the Muse'e des Souverains of Paris. But from the number and historical completeness of the contents it is certainly of greater interest. Here are preserved the six magnificent thrones, the ancient crowns, diadems, orbs and sceptres, the imperial robes, including some of those of the early Tzars, the sailor's dress of Peter the great, and the coronation robes of the later emperors ; a fine collection of ancient arms and armour, for the most part Russian, with their standards and the banners of the empire; trophies taken from the enemy and the keys of fortresses ; carriages and sledges of which some are of high historical interest (amongst them a state carriage presented by queen Elizabeth to Ivan the terrible : a remarkable work in fine preservation), and the immense collection of gold- and silver-smiths' work, amongst which may be found, besides the examples of Russian work, specimens of the art of nearly every European country. The collection of plate is exposed on open stands arranged in tiers round the pillars, or otherwise displayed in a vast hall of the new building of the Oruje'naia Palata. The riches thus brought together have suffered many changes. MOSCOW: TREASURIES, ETC. 119 The court was frequently moved, the state of the empire was continually disturbed, fires were of frequent occurrence, and necessity at times caused much treasure to be melted down. The Tzar's favourites received no doubt from time to time acceptable marks of his approbation in the shape of rich presents, and many specimens of plate found their way probably in a similar manner to the churches and monasteries. But notwithstanding all this there still remains permanently installed and carefully guarded in the treasury of the Kremlin a collection of plate which, for extent, variety, and interest, may rival that in any other palace in the world. It appears to have been customary during the last two centuries at least to make a grand display of this treasure on the occasion of the visit of the sovereign, and especially during the ceremonies of the coronation. Then, in the centre of the hall in the ancient Terem known as the gold room, where the Tzar dines in solitary state, a kind of buffet is arranged and other stands disposed, loaded and groaning with this rich accumulation. The magnificence of the courts of the Tzars and the riches of their treasury have been alluded to by travellers from very early times. A few extracts from among many books of travel will not be without interest. Burhard, ambassador of the emperor Henry IV. at the court of Sviatoslaf in 1075, speaks with astonishment of the incalcul- able treasures which he saw there. Margeret, the Burgundian captain of the time of Boris Godounoff, gives us a contemporary account and a striking picture of the splendour of the court and of the rich collection of plate which was used in the daily service of the Tzar {Estat de V empire de Russie, 1649). He tells us that the Raschodnoy Kazna (the treasury) " est plein de toutes sortes de joyaux en grand nombre, principalement des perles ; car il s'en porte plus en Russie qu'en tout le reste de l'Europe. J'ay veu au tresor pour le moins cinquante robes des empereurs de rechange, a l'entour desquelles estoient des joyaux 1 20 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. au lieu de passement et les robes tout entierement borde'es de perles, et autres bordees tout a l'entour d'un pied, d'un demipied, de quatre doigts de perles. J'ay veu demi douzaines de cou- vertures de lict toutes bordees de perles et diverses autres choses. II y a aussi de riches joyaux, car ils en achetent tous les ans ; lesquels demeurent au tresor, outre ceux qu'il regoit des ambas- sadeurs. ... 11 y a quatre couronnes . . . deux sceptres et deux pommes d'or pour le moins. II y a grand nombres de plats d'or grands et petits, et tasses h. boire ; outre ce un nombre infiny de vaisselle d'argent doree et non doree, comme I'on pourra juger par ce discours : qu' apres 1' election de Boris Federvits, lorsqu'il fit assembler l'armee a Serpo, il fit festin par l'espace de six semaines presques journellement a dix mil hommes chacune fois, lesquels estaient tous traitez en vaisselle d'argent. J'y ay veu uns demy douzaine de tonneaux faits d'argent, lesquels Joannes Basilius fit faire de la vaisselle d'argent qu'il trouva en Livonie lorsqu'il la conquist : Fun des dits tonneaux presque de la grandeur d'un demy muid, et d'autres de moindre grandeur ; un grand nombre de bassins d'argent fort grands et creux, avec une boucle de chaque coste pour les porter, lesquels quatres hommes apportent coustumierement sur chaque table pleins de Medon, et selon la longueur d'icelles tables trois ou quatre bassins plus on moins, et avec un chacun de grandes tasses d'argent pour puiser dans iceux bassins : toutes les dites vaisselles sont ouvrages de Russie : outre icelles il y a un grand nombre de vaisselle d'argent d'Allemagne, d'Angleterre, de Pologne qui sont, on pre'sens de Princes envoyez par ambassadeurs, ou qui ont ete achetez pour la rarete de l'ouvrage." Samuel Maskievitch (1594-1621) speaks also of the "grande quantite de vaisselle d'or, sans parler de celle en argent, des pierres precieuses, des trones entierement recouverts des pier- reries " Olearius, in his first visit to the Tzar's court, enumerates a large number of the presents which he brought with him, amongst which MOSCOW: TREASURIES, ETC 121 were harness of silver set with rubies, turquoises, and other stones, cabinets of ebony, gold vases set with stones, vases of rock crystal, etc. He describes the throne upon which the Tzar sat to receive the embassy, " having four pillars of silver-gilt, each one having an imperial eagle in silver," etc. The design of this throne, he says, was by a German, native of Nuremberg, Esaie' Zinckgraf by name. He describes the dress of the Tzar, his crown and ornaments, and his sceptre of gold set with diamonds, which was so heavy that he had from time to time to change it from one hand to another. Heberstein, relating the embassy to which he was secretary in 1517, informs us that " they say that each and every vessel that we looked upon, in which were placed meat, the drinks, the vinegar, the pepper, the salt, and all the other things which were set upon the table, were of pure gold, and from their weight this would seem to be true ; " and he speaks of the costume of the Tzar, and how "he had on his head a cap, called « kolpack,' with jewelled ornaments hanging on each side, from back to front, from which rose plates of gold in the form of feathers moving up and down with his motion." Many of the reports sent home by ambassadors to the Musco- vite court in former days contain interesting descriptions of the regalia and objects in the precious metals which the writers saw there : in these descriptions we may often recognise pieces of plate which are now in the treasury of the Kremlin. Other reports contain enumerations of the presents brought by the ambassadors for the Tzar. We shall have more especially to notice the account of one of these embassies (that of Lord Carlisle in 1 663) and the presents of English plate. A considerable number of pieces of plate of English origin is also to be found in the churches and palaces of the empire. Many specimens are finer, or at least of larger dimensions, than any of the same early period known in England. From the treasure of the Kremlin, the patriarchal sacristy and the monastery of Troitsa twenty- L 122 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. three pieces have been reproduced : the earliest dating from The archives of the treasury contain inventories of the objects preserved there. The records date back as far as the sixteenth century, the earliest being written in Sclavonic. In some cases the list of objects offered by the different embassies is given, but as a rule the information to be gathered from them is of little historical value and is confined to a precise description of the different pieces, their weight, and the number of jewels with which they are set. We may see, however, by these inventories that the different imperial workshops daily enriched the treasury with a large quantity of richly worked arms, with embroidered robes, plate of gold and silver, and ornaments of all kinds in the precious metals, in enamel, niello, and jewelled work. Maskievitch in his annals (1610) tells us that the Russian work- men left nothing to be desired. He describes them as being very clever, making with ease works for which they had no previous teaching, and that they could seize in a moment the idea which it was desired they should carry out. This (it is said) they did in such a manner that it would be imagined that they had been accustomed never to do anything else. It was not only in their own country that the art of the Rus- sian workman was appreciated. John de Piano Carpini describes the ivory throne of Russian work which he saw in Tartary- Russians were also renowned for their skill in making steel armour damascened with gold, coats of mail, saddles, and sabres, all of which were much sought after by the warriors of the Caucasus, large quantities also being exported even into Persia. Olearius testifies to their skill. He tells us that they imitate, easily, what- ever they see, although they may not be so rich in invention as the Germans or other nations of Europe ; and that he had seen chased and engraved work of theirs which was as well or even better done than the finest that was made in Germany. It is important to note these evidences of the artistic talent MOSCOW: TREASURIES, ETC. 123 of Russian workmen, in order that we may not be tempted to attribute many beautiful works too easily to the art of other nations. Certainly their great talent of imitating is a reason why much of their work bears such great resemblance to that of other eastern countries and even of the west : but still, although their inspiration may be drawn from elsewhere and the work may not in its entirety always bear the stamp of originality, we shall very often find the national ideas and taste of the workmen so strongly marked as to justify us in giving the credit to a Russian workshop. The gold- and silver-smiths' work of Russia and the other decorative arts connected with it are not as a whole less distinctly oriental than the rest of her art which has already been noticed. In these she borrowed quite as freely and by preference from Persia and Constantinople. But we shall find besides very marked traces of the influence, or rather downright imitation of the ornament and technique of western art. This (we must repeat) is not surprising when we remember the large influx of foreign workmen both from the east and the west during the period of Russia's greatest artistic vitality in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Great splendour and richness of material, the lavish use of jewels in the decoration, and the brilliant colour derived from the employment of enamels are characteristics of eastern art in the precious metals. But while we are struck by the delicacy and refinement with which these are employed by many eastern countries, and while we admire the taste and harmony of colour displayed by the workmen of India or of Persia, it must be con- fessed that the Russian, tempted by the glitter and display which are so much in accordance with his own taste, has been unable to use the same judgment as those whom he has taken as his models. Few would deny that there reigns throughout his work that quality which is best expressed by the term — barbaric magnificence. This is not vulgarity : such a term is not applicable ; it is the outcome of the desire which is to be found amongst all nations who have l 2 124 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. attained a certain degree of civilisation and riches to impose respect and awe by a lavish display of material wealth or by the use of gorgeous colour, which always calls forth the admiration of the multitude. In the plate and jewelled ornament which we find in the treasury of the Kremlin, and in the other objects which have been selected for illustration, we shall find that Russian taste was fond of solid material and ornament, enriched with many and large precious stones of value. All oriental nations have ever loved to accumulate riches of this description which, at the same time that they are of use as ornament, are also of intrinsic value. The crowns, and thrones, and sceptres, the ornaments of the imperial costume, the gold and silver plate and vases and other precious objects of the court of the Tzars have, there- fore, a character of solid splendour, a want of refinement and delicacy, which is almost uniformly characteristic. Still they are not deficient in a certain grandeur and even elegance, and in details there is much that is admirable, much that is strikingly original. By far the greater number of pieces that we shall find in the Kremlin and elsewhere belong to the seventeenth century. In the treasury of the Kremlin we have but one piece ot the twelfth century, and some few of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. All the rest are later. The entire number of pieces in the Kremlin amounts to sixteen hundred. After the disasters of 1612 all the ancient plate for the service of the Tzar's table was melted down and converted into money; many objects in gold and silver and jewelled work being at the same time given in pledge to the troops of Vladislas IV. There are therefore few examples earlier than the dynasty of the Romanoffs. The treasure contains also some of the most highly venerated icons, crosses, and reliquaries in Russia. As regards many ,of these it is difficult to assign a date or a place of production. MOSCOW: TREASURIES, ETC. 125 Many of them have histories more or less legendary, but while some may appear to belong absolutely to the Greek school, we must not forget that Russia sent its workmen to mount Athos to be instructed and to work there, and on their return the traditions and models of the school were scrupulously observed in the workshops of Moscow. The regalia of the ancient Tzars scarcely yield in interest to that of any other country. They consist of a large number of crowns or jewelled caps of peculiar form, of orbs and sceptres, of the imperial costume, and especially of that peculiar part of the latter, a kind of collar or shoulder ornament, known as the barmi. The most ancient of the imperial crowns is the crown of Vladimir, with which all the emperors have been crowned. Since the time of Ivan IV. this has been known also under the title of the crown or cap of Monomachus. It is of very peculiar and charac- teristically Russian form, a form which comes evidently from the camelaucium of the Byzantine empire. The annexed woodcut will give a good idea of the shape. It is further thus described in the registers of ,the treasury of the seventeenth century, and the description is exact at the present time : — " The gold cap in filagree work, called Monomachus, is surmounted by a plain cross, having at the extremities four pearls; above the dome, between these pearls, are a topaz, a sapphire, and a ruby; upon the crown itself are four emeralds, four rubies set in gold, and twenty-five pearls of Ormuz in gold settings. The cap is bordered with sable fur and lined with red satin." Tradition attributes it to a gift from Byzantium to Saint Vladimir in 988 ; but the epithet added in the reign of Ivan IV. is at least consonant with the greater probability that it was (in its original state) a work of the twelfth or thirteenth century. The character of the crown is simple but imposing. (Plate XIII.) Another crown is the crown of Kazan. When the Tzar Ivan IV. conquered the kingdom of Kazan in 1553, he conferred on its Khan the title of Tzar of Kazan and sent him this crown. It is i26 ART OBJECTS IN R USSIA. of gold, of a somewhat egg-shape or tiara-form, and completely covered with nielloed arabesques. The forms of the cut-out ornament and the entire decoration are certainly oriental, and the elegant arabesques of a decidedly Persian character ; but it is nevertheless almost as certainly the production of a Russian workshop, and a good specimen of work of the middle of the sixteenth century. The jewels with which it is set are many and large, and the top is surmounted by an enormous topaz. The crown of Michael Theodorovitch was evidently made upon the same model, though the decoration is enamelled. Another crown is that of Peter Alexeivitch. This is remark- able for the rubies and emeralds which surround it (curiously fixed upon the tops of pliant and nodding stems), and the large number of precious stones, amongst which is an immense uncut ruby which supports the cross. The form is still the elevated shape of the Kazan tiara. (Plate XIII.) Another, of the Tzar Ivan Alexeivitch is somewhat similar but lower ; and one more called the Siberian, of the end of the seventeenth century, goes back in shape to the primitive form of that of Vladimir. These crowns may be examined in the fine plates of the Antiquities of the" Russian Empire, and are worth studying in detail. In the same publication, eleven crowns with their details are reproduced in coloured plates, Nos. 1-19, vol. ii. The Byzantine emperors were accustomed to wear as part of the imperial costume a kind of embroidered collar decorated with plaques of enamelled and jewelled metal. The ancient name was //.avians, and it was adopted by the Russians who gave it the name of barmi. It was worn by their sovereigns up to the time of Peter the great. There are two barmi in the imperial treasury of the Kremlin. The first is generally supposed to be Greek work and is attributed to a goldsmith called Ivan Jouriev, in the reign of Alexis Michailovitch (1665). The collar itself is of brocaded yellow silk, and bears seven enamelled plaques with settings of [Plate XIII. MOSCOW: TREASURIES, ETC. 127 gold enriched with precious stones. The enamelled plaques represent religious subjects with inscriptions in Greek characters, and there can be little question of their Byzantine origin. As to the mountings of the plaques, there seems to be no particular reason why we should not attribute them to a Russian workman who is known in the registers as Ivan Jouriev. The mountings are mostly of one character, the five smaller ones consisting of a circle of green enamel upon which are set quatrefoils of gold with diamond centres. Surrounding this is a dentellated border set with large uncut rubies, and at the top and bottom of each medallion the cresting or dentellation takes the form of birds' heads. The style is thoroughly oriental, and at the same time has much of the gaudy brilliancy which would please the Russian taste. The second barmi was found with a number of other magnifi- cently jewelled objects in 1822 in the ruins of the ancient town of Riazan, where they had probably been hidden during some invasion of the Tartars. It consists of eleven jewelled plaques enamelled with figures and is incontestably of Byzantine workmanship. To attempt even to give a list of the whole of the Russian regalia is far beyond the limits of our space. We have also no further means of illustrating our remarks than by referring to the coloured lithographs of the work on the antiquities of Russia mentioned just above. The most important of these plates are included in the exhibition at South Kensington of works of art reproduced in Russia ; the description of them is in the Russian language, and confined too much to details of the ornament and extracts from the ancient inventories. Other important pieces of the regalia of Alexis Michailovitch are the orbs and sceptres, and the bow and arrow case of the same description of workmanship. These are gorgeous specimens of jewelled and enamelled work attributed to Constantinople. The sceptre of the Tzar Michailovitch is of similar enamelled work, and is probably a good specimen of the effect of western 128 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. influence on the goldsmiths of Moscow. The figures especially appear to be of the Italian renaissance. Another sceptre is unmistakably Russian work, and if not of pure taste is at least of fine workmanship and imposing magnificence. The thrones are of high interest from more than one point of view. We must content ourselves with choosing two from amongst them, viz. the ivory throne of Ivan III. {Antiquities of the Russian Empire, ii. 84-100), and the throne known as the Persian throne {Ibid. ii. 62-66). The first was brought from Constantinople in 1472 by the Tzarina Sophia Paleologus, who, by her marriage with Ivan III., united the coats of arms of Byzantium and Russia. There is a certain resemblance between this throne and that known as the chair of St. Peter at Rome. The general form is the same, as is the manner in which the ivory plaques and their borderings are placed. In a kind of way also many of the plaques recall those on the chair of St. Peter, and similar works of the class such as the Veroli casket in the South Kensington Museum. But here the identity ends. The figures are very poor, as if copied by an inexperienced artist from good models. Some of the plaques are additions of the sixteenth or seventeenth century ; of quite a different character and very bad work. The second throne is a magnificent work, which, according to a register known as the Book of Embassies, was sent from Persia in the year 1660 to the Tzar Alexis by a certain Ichto Modevlet, of the Shah's court. M. Weltman, in his enumeration of the treasury of the Kremlin, says : " It was therefore probably made in the workshops of Ispahan about the same time that the globe, sceptre, and barmi were ordered^ from Constantinople." We have already alluded to the doubt attached to the origin of the regalia just referred to, and to the possibility, at least, that they are the work of Moscow goldsmiths ; in regard to the throne the doubt is even stronger, and the probabilities greater that it may be claimed as Russian work. When we examine work which MOSCOW: TREASURIES, ETC. 129 is undeniably that of the Moscow jewellers of the same time, there is ample evidence that they were quite capable of making such a piece as this splendid throne. Both M. de Linas, in his work on the origin of cloisonne" enamel, and M. Viollet le Due in his Art Russe, hold the decided opinion that it is more likely to be Russian than Persian work. We will therefore follow the last-named writer in his remarks upon the subject. Very excellent coloured plates of this throne may be studied in the A?itiquities of the Russian Empire, ii. 62-66. M. Viollet le Due describes the throne as completely covered with gold ornament set with stones, of charming workmanship, having on the front, on the sides and back, below the seat, plaques of ivory, the work evidently of Hindoo artists (the plaque on the front representing, amongst interlaced work, an elephant hunt). The ornamentation of these plaques is in slight relief, on a coloured ground. Their Hindoo origin is not doubtful ; but the metallic work and also the paintings which decorate certain parts of the piece are from Russian workshops and in complete harmony with these added portions. The composition of the ornament, its form, the roses and flower-work on the bands of the supports are rather Hindoo than Persian ; nevertheless the inter- laced work is nearer the art of Persia than of Hindostan. The same may be said of the general form of the piece, of the paintings and of the feet. Thus far we have followed M. Viollet le Due, who concludes by saying that he chooses this piece as a complete specimen of Russian art applied to objects other than those for the service of religion. M. de Linas admits that an oriental throne or piece of furniture decorated with ivory plaques and paintings may have been sent to the Tzar Alexis ; but he imagines further that this throne, being found of too simple style for the greatness of the monarch for whom it was destined, was sent to the goldsmiths of Moscow who were ordered to enrich it. The artists of the imperial workshops, i3° ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. with their aptitude for assimilation and influenced by their own style, made additions which are clearly to be distinguished. A Latin inscription (of no particular value in the argument) is embroidered on the back of the throne : " Potentissimo et in- victissimo Moscovitarum imperatori Alexio, in terris feliciter regnante, hie thronus, summa arte et industria fabrefactus, sit futuri in caelis et perennis faustum felixque omen anno Domini, 1659." Of the western character of this embroidery with the angels who uphold the crown there can, of course, be little question. The figures also on each side of the top of the back and the Russian eagle speak for themselves. The turquoise ornament on the back of the upper bar, immediately below the double-headed eagle, is also to be noticed. This is of the same technique as the rest of the turquoise ornament, but in design it is in nowise oriental. The character of the angels who uphold the crown is in the manner which prevailed in the lower empire on the triumphal arches of Rome. We may also compare them with the angels sculptured on each side of the archway or grotto cut in the rock at Takt-i-Bostan near Kermanshah, which has already been alluded to when describing the objects of Sassanian origin. Mr. Ferguson in his history of architecture considers that these sculptured angels are evident copies of those adorning the tri- umphal arches of the Romans and appears to think that they must have been the work of Byzantine artists. We have noticed this elegant throne at some length, because the credit of the goldsmiths' work of Moscow of the seventeenth century is involved in it. It is a magnificent piece of delicate taste and workmanship ; and if we can satisfy ourselves that it is due to the talent of Russian workmen we may also more readily give them the credit of other fine pieces, and amongst them the regalia of the Tzar Alexis. The Kremlin contains a large number of pieces of decorative plate of all kinds made for the service of the table of the Tzars, or MOSCOW: TREASURIES, ETC. displayed on buffets on state occasions. Much of it is the production of other countries, presented by their ambassadors or purchased for the Tzar. From amongst the latter pieces those which have been reproduced will be referred to and described in their proper place. For the present we must speak of examples of Russian art. The frequent fires and the melting down of treasure during the Polish disturbances have much diminished this collection, and possibly also many of the finest pieces have disappeared. Of the large service of gold plate of the Tzar Alexis, which consisted of 1 20 covers, two plates are all that remain. These are, however, sufficient evidence of the skill and taste of the Moscow goldsmiths of the period and of their dexterity in the use of enamel. Russian enamel work of the finest kind dates from the sixteenth century, at which time it was introduced perhaps from Persia. It is at any rate after the eastern fashion. It is mostly cloisonne, the enamel being incrusted in cavities in such a way that it is not brought to the surface and to the same polished level. The ornament consists generally of diapers and arabesques of flowers, and it has a character of its own which is easily to be recognised. The colours are often sober and always harmonious ; certain com- binations, such as the dark greens and dead whites, with a peculiar pink, being of frequent use. Without a number of original pieces to refer to it would be most difficult to give an idea of the characteristics of Russian enamelled goldsmiths' work, and such pieces are almost entirely wanting in our collections. One of the few pieces in the South Kensington Museum is the medallion set in the cover of the nielloed bowl, lent by Mr. Matheson. We must therefore be contented chiefly with the coloured illustrations within our reach. In the splendid collection in the British Museum, bequeathed to the nation by Mr. Henderson, we have however a number of fine specimens of Russian work, and amongst them some 132 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. examples of enamelled czarki and other objects which are probably unsurpassed in any collection out of Russia. Advantage may be taken briefly to notice these pieces, and they will there- fore be included presently in the description of the different kinds of cups or objects to which they belong. The same collection illustrates very fairly the two kinds of enamel — the painted and that incrusted in cavities formed by the smooth or filagreed bands which constitute the designs. These designs are usually formed of symmetrically-arranged sharp-pointed leaves and pearled borders, the colours sober, and the enamel which is fired in them not polished up to an even surface. Such designs, it would appear, were first completed and then applied to the piece to be decorated. In some cases we find both incrusted and painted enamels on the same small piece. Those of the latter description appear to have been most in vogue in the seventeenth century. The flower designs in which tulips predominate have their origin, we may suppose, in Persia, and they are mingled sometimes with groups, scenes, figures, or portraits, the general effect recalling somewhat Dutch or Flemish pottery or delft: at the same time the technique has not a little analogy with that of Limoges. A fine but coarsely-painted bowl chiefly in yellows and blues is seventeenth-century work, having subjects and groups in scrolled medallions. Another of the same period is larger, very handsome, and painted with flowers, animals, and portraits. It is said to be of a kind used for washing the beards of high ecclesiastics. In another, painted with flowers, the enamelling gives the character of glazed pottery : almost indeed of porcelain, so fine and smooth is the surface. A pair of seventeenth century candlesticks are curious, formed of balls of crystal diminishing in size one above the other, and connected with coarsely-enamelled bands and mounts in dark colours and yellows. A knife-case with enamelled mounts is of similar character to an example given in the Martinoff drawings, MOSCOW: TREASURIES, ETC. 133 and chosen for illustration in the South Kensington Museum series of chromolithographs of the arts of various countries. Among the smaller objects is a flacon, painted partly in enamel of the usual flower pattern and partly in cloisonne enamel. The execution is rather coarse and the surface uneven. On the bottom of the piece a former Chinese owner, for some reason difficult to conjecture, has engraved the date of the period — King-tae (1450-1457). The character of the flowery design in painted enamel of a metal casket of the seventeenth century is in general tone very- suggestive of Persian enamel work, but differing, as is generally the case, in delicacy of work and refined treatment. A brass crucifix illustrates the ordinary cast and enamelled work of the seventeenth century in devotional objects for the use of the people, and it further shows in its archaic Byzantine character that in assigning a date we cannot be guided by the designs of such objects, which so faithfully preserve the traditional types. The two gold plates of the Tzar Alexis {Antiquities of the Russian Empire, v. 41, 42), are of the middle of the seventeenth century. The style of the ornament is distinctly Persian. The border of one of the plates is cut out in a kind of festoon, in each of the angles of which is a ruby. In the centre is the imperial double-headed eagle, and the whole of the remainder is enamelled with flowers in translucent enamel, leaving the gold as a ground-work. The effect is charming ; the design though inspired by Persia is still national, and the work is excellent. The other plate is less elegant perhaps though richer. The arms of various towns of the empire are enamelled round the edge, mixed with birds and fruit. Another characteristic piece of enamelled and jewelled work of a different kind is the tankard {Antiquities of the Russian Empire, v. .31). Persian in idea, the harmonious mixture of the styles of the east and west make it a remarkable instance of Russian work of the sixteenth century or beginning of the seventeenth. *34 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. A bowl of a later period, of the time of Peter the great, shows that Russian art still existed. The handles are Italian in style ; possibly they were made in Italy. The rest is Russian. The enamelled pieces figured in the Antiquities of the Russian Empire, v. 70, are good examples of that kind of enamel work. Russian enamel is a subject to which justice cannot be done by the incidental mention to which we are obliged to confine our remarks ; the fact also that on account of the impossibility of reproducing specimens it is totally unrepresented in the collection is another reason for not discussing it. It must, how- ever, be insisted on that enamel is one of the most characteristic parts of Russian decorative art. The treasury of the Kremlin contains a large number of cups or vases of silver-gilt, for table use, of Russian work. There is no great variety in the cups, but some forms are peculiar to the country. These are especially the cups called bratini (loving cups, from brat, a brother), the bowls or ladles termed kovsh, and the small cups with one flat handle for strong liquors. Tall beakers expanding at the lip and contracted in the middle are also favourite forms, but the bulbous shape is the most frequent. Indeed, that form of bulb or cupola which we see upon the churches is peculiarly characteristic. We find it with more or less resemblance, in the ancient crowns, in the mitres of the popes, in the bowls of chalices and in vases and bowls for drink- ing. In the bratina and kovsh the bulging form of ornament, the coving up of the bottoms of the bowls, and the use of twisted lobes are very common. Probably the earliest specimen of plate in the treasury of the Kremlin is the cup known as that of Vladimir Davidovitch {Antiquities of the Russian Empire, v. 1). This was exhibited at the Paris Exhibition of 1867, an d is a large vessel of silver said to be of the twelfth century. It is quite without ornament, with the exception of a Sclavonic inscription round the lip. The design is purely oriental, and exactly like the shallow vessels covered with MOSCOW: TREASURIES, ETC. *35 rich arabesques commonly used in the east. This cup was found near Sera'i, the ancient Tartar town on the Volga. An important cup and specimen of Russian work of the sixteenth century is the gold and enamelled stopa, as it is termed, of the Tzar Michael Theodorovitch {Antiquities of the Russian Empire, v. i). The bowl is eight-sided, and recalls in a striking manner the an- cient crowns of the Tzars (for instance, that of Vladimir or the Siberian crown already mentioned). It is of the same polygonal- sided form, and is richly set with fine sapphires, rubies, and emeralds, and decorated with enamel. Round the lip is an in- scription in Sclavonic interlaced letters. It is a harmonious mixture of form and ornament, and certainly an effective example of a successful application of the peculiarities of Russian art. The name of bratina was given to a peculiar sort of bowl or loving cup which was passed round the table at the beginning of a feast. These cups are nearly always of a globular form, the lip formed like a band contracting inward, which as a rule bears an inscription in interlaced Sclavonic characters. The peculiar form has a striking resemblance to the Indian lotah, which is worth noticing, and to such vases as those which have been already de- scribed from the Koul-Oba tomb. Some bratini are found with handles and covers, but rarely. Two in the treasury of the Kremlin are of ivory. Illustrations of them are in the Antiquities of the Russian Empire (v. 5, 6). The first is an exceedingly fine specimen of enamel work of the end of the seventeenth century, mounted after the manner of cocoa-nut cups in bands of silver-gilt which are enamelled with delicate floral-work and set with turquoises. The second ivory bratina is Novgorod work carved with five subjects from the book of Esther. Bratini are usually of silver gilt, of the same characteristic form, and standing on a low rim or foot or on three lion-feet. The drum is generally repousse with an arabesque flower ornament or foliage on a matted ground, or with fruit and strap-work with medallions in which are hunting scenes or animals of the chase. M 136 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. These are the common ornaments, but we find other fanciful designs. Sometimes the bowls are embossed in the manner of the German pine-apple cups, and a favourite shape is a kind of succession of bulging lobes, as if the metal itself was composed of an elastic substance escaping from the network which confines it. In nearly every case at the bottom of the bowl is found a convex and nearly hemispherical medallion, chased or engraved, and sometimes, as in the bratina of Tretiakoff which will presently be described, forming a kind of surprise to the drinker on draining the cup. An almost invariable ornament is the inscription which runs round the band or lip. This is engraved or nielloed in the inter- laced Sclavonic lettering which supplies so often a distinctive feature of Russian decorative art. Opportunity may be taken here to refer to this elegant kind of decoration. It may be regarded as almost a constant accompaniment of Russian silversmiths' work. Arabic and other oriental letters are employed in the same manner by eastern countries, but none lend themselves more readily to decoration than these curious characters invented so late as the ninth century by SS. Cyril and Methodius. Two examples are given here, one to show the cursive style adapted for running round the lips of cups or bowls, and the other for the mono- grammatic kind which is often inclosed in medallions. (Plate XIV.) The inscription sometimes records the name of the owner, but more frequently it is a toast or sentiment such as " Drink to our healths :" or, "True love is a golden cup: it can never be broken : the soul alone can influence it." A similar motto to the last is inscribed on the magnificent silver bratini in the Hender- son collection, formerly in the possession of prince Soltikoff. Most persons of rank seem to have possessed their own particular bratina, and we would expect, therefore, that much care would be bestowed upon ornamentation, and that these cups would furnish us with good examples of the best Russian work- manship. At the same time the form and ornament were no [Plate XIV, TWO EXAMPLES OF SCLAVONIC DECORATIVE LETTERING. BRATINA FROM SACRISTY OF THE PATRIARCH OF MOSCOW. MOSCOW: TREASURIES, ETC. 137 doubt confined within certain conventional limits. A collection, therefore, of bratini would be historically and artistically in- teresting. All those which have been reproduced for the collection at South Kensington are probably work of the seventeenth century, and some perhaps later ; and we have not the material at our command which would enable us to give any history of the rise and continuance of the custom, or of the variation in the styles. Two reproductions of bratini may be selected for description. The first is, in many respects, of peculiar form ; the second is a fine example of the more usual shape. Both are excellent specimens of Russian art. The bratina of Peter Alexeivitch Tretiakoff {Antiquities of the Russian Empire, v. 9) who was a clerk of the council under Michael Theodorovitch about 1 618 is, as regards the bowl itself, of the ordi- nary form ; but round the foot is a kind of open gallery, the balusters of which are figures of men in doublet and hose, who appear to up- hold the bowl in their upstretched hands. The cover is coved, and finishes in a flower in silver on a rather long stem. The greater part of the surface of the bowl and cover is embossed with an arabesque of foliage and flowers, and four plaques are applied on which amongst similar repousse ornament are shields, supported respectively by the lion and the unicorn of the family of Romanoff, two fishes, two pages, and two eagles. Beneath each plaque (if detached) the same design is engraved on the plain surface. Not, however, that these plaques are meant to. be detached ; they were perhaps added as an afterthought The form of these plaques is curiously like the barmi or collars in metal hanging on the necks of icons, and the floral repousse ornament is of much the same character. On the bottom of the bowl is the usual convex medallion with an inscrip- tion. The flower which springs from the lid is the same flower that one sees on the Persian or Chinese perfume-sprinklers (see Nos. 297, 298 j 1875 j in the South Kensington museum) i 3 8 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. and the floral repousse work on the lid reproduces the same plant. The figures supporting the bowl are certainly not in Russian costume. They represent perhaps travellers or visitors of distinction from some other country, and with the aid of the costume it would be interesting to endeavour to make out the allusion. The plaques, figures, inscriptions, and some other parts are gilt : the remainder is in plain silver. The inscription round the rim runs thus : " As arms are necessary to a warrior in the day of battle, as rain in time of drought, as drink to the thirsty, and as a sincere friend for a consoler in time of misfortune and sorrow, so concord and friendship are indispensable to all those who would drink from this cup. The bratina of Peter Alexeivitch Tretiakoff." And round the medallion inside is the following quaint interroga- tion : " Man, who art thou who lookest at me as if thou wouldst swallow me?" (Plate XV.) The other bratina is from the sacristy of the patriarch. It is of the usual form on a low foot, repousse' and chased with an elegant and finely-executed foliage diaper on a matted ground, with a gadrooned border above the foot. Inside, at the bottom, the convex medallion is chased with a griffin. The inscription round the lip runs : " Cup for going the round : pour into it that which refreshes the mind, corrupts the morals, and divulges all secrets." This is indeed a highly appropriate device, and a salutary admo- nition placed in the very stronghold of the enemy's country. (Plate XIV.) Some other inscriptions may be quoted. For example : "Bratina of the good man" (on all bratini on which the Tzar's name is inscribed), " drink from it for thy health — pray to God and praise the Tzar " ; " pray for the Tzar's health of many years " ; "drink from the cup — enjoy good health — drink to your friend — drink much and go away senseless " ; " try it first, it might harm you, and drink in moderation — not strong liquors — no accursed drunkenness " ; "I am the slippery path of truth " ; " the cup of an honest man — use it for drinking healths." [Plate XV. BRATINA OF PETER ALEXEIVITCH TRETIAKOFF MOSCOW; TREASURIES, ETC. i39 Heberstein, writing in 1549, evidently refers to this description of cup when he speaks of the drinking customs of the Russians and their manner of proposing toasts. He says, " He who pro- poses the toast takes his cup and goes into the middle of the room, and standing with his head uncovered pronounces in a festive speech the name of him whose health he wishes to drink and what he has to say in his behalf. Then after emptying the cup he turns it upside down over his head so that all may see that he has emptied it and that he sincerely gave the health of the person in honour of whom the toast was drunk." The silver bratina in the Henderson collection is a splendid specimen of ornament and execution, and a better one could scarcely be desired to illustrate the flowery arabesque chased work which has been so frequently referred to. It is probably late sixteenth century work. A peculiar kind of cup is the small cup called czarka pro- bably used for strong liquors. These are usually hemispherical, sometimes on three small animal feet, and always with one flat handle. The handles are generally of the same character of outline, and sometimes open-worked. A similar kind of single handle may be seen in English plate of the seventeenth century. Another peculiarity is the double repousse style ; that is, they are made of two shells, the inner showing the repousse work in the same manner as the outer one. Sometimes, however, the bowl is of a different material, for instance of jasper or other semi- precious stone mounted with bands of metal. The embossed work is most frequently high and rather rude in character, consisting of repre- sentations of lobsters, sea-horses, fish swallowing men, mermaids or other fabulous creatures, horses, griffins, cocks crowing, &c. In the centre is the convex medallion usual in drinking-cups, and the lip is engraved with Sclavonic inscriptions or mottoes similar to those on bratini. Fifty-eight of these cups in silver-gilt are in the treasure of the Kremlin, on the most ancient of which (repro- duced)' is in the centre a swan with this inscription : " Drink, if it 140 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. does not harm you : drink with moderation. It is not wine but drunkenness which is to be blamed." All the others are inscribed with the names of Tzars from Ivan IV. to the Tzarevitch Alexis Petrovitch. Thirteen are of rock crystal mounted in gold and set with stones; one is of white coral, dated 1609; another in cornelian, and thirteen others are of chalcedony, jasper, ivory, and other materials. Three of these cups have been reproduced, and copies of others had already been placed in the South Kensington Museum. In the Antiquities of the Russian Empire two of the kind which are mounted with metal bands and jewelled, may be seen [vi. 59]. The Henderson collection possesses several remarkable speci- mens of czarki. The ornament of two of the best is of the usual flower design, in sober tints of dead whites and dark greens in filagreed compartments and with pearlings : one of them has also medallions in painted enamels. Another czarka is of rock-crystal mounted in gold, the fiat handle set with emeralds, and the crystal itself having small table-cut emeralds in gold mounts set in it and connected with each other by delicate wires of gold also damascened (as it may be said) in the crystal. Such a description of setting gems may be seen in the porcelain bowls in the possession of Sir Henry Layard, at present in the South Kensington Museum. It is not uncommon in Indian work, and may frequently be seen employed with jade and other semi-precious stones. A two-handled czarka of the sixteenth century, of silver-gilt, stands on three ball-and-claw feet, and is slightly decorated with niello tracery of the usual character. The handles are scrolled and beaded, of a western type. An alabaster czarka is mounted in silver-gilt filagree and set with jewels. Others are of silver-gilt embossed and engraved with the usual subjects of fishes, fabulous beasts, &c. (Plate XVI.) Another very remarkable specimen is cut out of a large block of dark-coloured opaque amber mounted in silver-gilt. Amber of such a kind and size is probably extremely rare and valuable. [Plate XVI. KOVSH OR BOWL, AND C2A.RKA OR CUP. MOSCOW: TREASURIES, ETC. 141 One more also, of the boat-shape, which is peculiar to the vessels called kovsh, which will presently be described, has in the centre of the bowl a small figure of a stag lying down, the head of which is moveable, turning round on a pivot. Such figures in cups are of frequent occurrence, and another may be seen on a small Circassian silver bowl, also in the Henderson collection. We have no information as to the meaning or origin. The bratini may be compared with the mazer bowls which we find in English plate. The latter also had often somewhat decorative inscriptions round the rim or lip. A silver-gilt mazer belonging to the duke of Hamilton reminds one of the most usual form of bratini at the same time that the single small handle which mazers had recalls the small cups called tasters, and these also have their counterpart in the cups which have been described as czarki. The kovsh was a kind of boat-shaped bowl with a long handle, which we might term a ladle. It was used for ladling out the ordinary drinks, such as kwass or beer, which were placed on the table. They are mentioned in the extract from Margeret already given, where he speaks of the "grandes tasses d'argent pour puiser dans iceux bassins, car deux ou trois cens hommes ne fourniroient pas a verser a boire aux conviez du festin." The kovsh were of different sizes, some very large, others, like that of archbishop Joassoff in the patriarchal sacristy (reproduced), smaller and rounder. But they are usually of an elongated form, the front turned up in a point. The kovsh of archbishop Joassoff, afterwards patriarch (1628 — 1634), is ga- drooned with lobes and has in the centre a convex medallion chased with strapwork on a matted ground. The handle is engraved on the under side with a flower pattern. The inscription on four labels on the outside of the lip runs : — " Kovsh of Joassoff, archbishop of Pskov and Izborsk." The other repro- duced kovsh is repousse in shallow lobes radiating from the 142 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. centre, where is a small circular plaque or boss chased with a double-headed eagle. An open-worked and gilt plaque runs up the handle. Amongst the peasantry, and in monasteries and other places, kwass is still ladled out by means of a bowl of this kind, which is probably from time immemorial the peculiar form of the kovsh. Examples are found from the fourteenth century and faithfully imitated down to comparatively modern times. A favourite form of cup was the tall beaker with spreading lip of a kind analogous to those which we meet with in German work. An example has been reproduced elegantly shaped, con- tracting from the lip towards the base, where it again spreads out and rests on three lion-feet. The surface besides other ornament is engraved with scriptural subjects: Susannah and the elders, Joseph and Potiphar's wife, Samson and Delilah, &c. Round the most contracted part is a chain on which are four heads of cupids. It is inscribed on the lip, " Cup of the great lord, his holiness Pitirim, patriarch of Moscow and of all the Russias. Made in the year 7181 (a.d. 1673), the first day of January." Another beautifully engraved parcel gilt-silver cup of the same character is figured in the Antiquities of the Russian Empire, v. 35. A bell-mouthed cup is in the South Kensington Museum embossed from top to bottom with imbricated scales. (Nos. 144—65.) A tall octagonal cup of silver from the collection of count Chere'meteff is of a kind frequently met with. On each of the eight sides is an engraving of one of the sibyls, beneath which is a long legend in Sclavonic characters. Russia has always been famous for its niello-work, which was probably introduced from Persia. It is well known that the designs in niello are produced by being lightly incised in the metal and afterwards filled up by an easily fusible black sub- stance. From the nature of this kind of work, which forms an almost imperceptible relief above the surface, it has not MOSCOW: TREASURIES, ETC. 143 been possible to make many copies in electrotype. Two pieces have, however, been reproduced. One is a kind of bowl, or box and cover of a low cylindrical form contracting somewhat towards the base in the shape of a truncated cone. The cover is cupola- shaped beaten up to a point, on which is a pine-cone knob. Both cup and cover are covered with niello tracery except where the engraved ornaments consisting of leaves, cypress trees, birds and animals, men hunting and the Russian eagle, are interspersed ; these are all gilt. The knob is set with a few coarse rubies and a diamond. Round the lip is the following Sclavonic inscription : " Bowl of our lord the Tzarevitch and grand duke Alexis Alexeivitch." (The Tzarevitch Alexis was the son of the emperor Alexis Michailovitch by his first wife Maria Miloslovska ; elder brother therefore of Peter the great). It is altogether a good specimen of its kind. An original piece with similar designs is in the South Kensington Museum, lent by Mr. Matheson and has already been alluded to on account of its enamelled medallion. A tall beaker of silver parcel gilt, nielloed work of the sixteenth century, comes from the treasure of the Kremlin. The whole of the drum is decorated with birds and foliage, gilt, on a ground of niello tracery. A small gold bowl of considerable weight is from the treasury of the Kremlin. It is in the shape of a fruit, probably half a peach, the stalk forming the handle, and round the lip are Chinese or imitation Chinese characters. In the Henderson collection are four small cups of silver-gilt of similar form. They are nielloed with coats of arms, the stalks and leaves in cast-work applied on the outside and set with jewels. Such cups are evidently copied from Chinese models. All the plate and other gold- and silver-smiths' work in the Kremlin bear certain stamped marks in Sclavonic indicating whence the pieces came, the weight, and year. Up to the seven- teenth century the weight is designated by the word grivenki ; from the time of the Tzar Michael Theodorovitch, the grivenki 144 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. was replaced by the word funi (pound). The year is calculated according to the old Russian fashion, dating from the creation of the world, to reduce which according to our system we have to add 1492 ; or when the 7000 has already been added then to subtract 5509 when the date is between September 1st and December 31st, and 5508 in the contrary case. Before leaving the earlier work in metal for secular use other than in the treasury of the Kremlin and the sacristy of the patriarch, a few reproduced pieces remain to be noted from private Collections, and amongst them one or two which will bring us down to comparatively modern times. A cocoa-nut elegantly mounted in bands of silver-gilt filagree as a cup and cover is in the collection of count Chereme'teff. The nut is very large and nearly round. From the small circular foot spring four bands inclosing the nut and attached to the broader band which encircles the upper part. The cover rises almost to a point, and shows signs of having formerly terminated in a jewel or other ornament. The work is probably of the seventeenth century. A small mirror case of silver-gilt of the sixteenth century in the collection of count Bobrinsky has been copied. Within a floriated border of extremely good design two folding-doors cover the mirror. The back is simply engraved ; amongst the ornaments are the lion and unicorn of the house of the Romanoffs. A silver-gilt pepper-castor from the Botkine collection is interesting, not only from its form but also from the in- scription which shows it to have been the property of the founder of the reigning imperial dynasty. This pepper-castor is in shape six-sided with flattened lobes contracting to the neck, engraved with an arabesque pattern. The cover is a six-sided pyramid, pierced with holes. On a band is inscribed in Sclavonic characters :— " Belongs to the father " (that is to say, the first) "of the Russian emperors of the family of Romanoff, 1610." MOSCOW: TREASURIES, ETC. 145 From plate of the eighteenth century may be noticed a large and finely embossed salver from the Winter Palace, the subject being a battle scene with some of the figures in very high relief, and the accessories (such as spears) standing out from the piece. It is St. Petersburg work, dated 1736. This is one of a large number of dishes preserved in the Winter Palace and at Moscow used for the presentation of bread and salt to the Tzar, a ceremony which takes place when the emperor makes official visits to towns in the empire and on some other occasions. Special salt-boxes are also used, but there do not appear to be any which call for particular notice. In the relation of the fourth voyage of the " Russian company" (1557) the writer tells us that on being presented to the Tzar "all the tables were covered only with salt and bread, and after we had sat a while the emperor sent to every one of us a piece of bread, the messenger using these words, ' The emperor and great duke gives thee bread this day."' The ceremonial presentation of bread and salt to the Tzar is still the custom. The mounting of a tall salt from the Che'remeteff collection recalls the Flaxman designs, of which a carved ivory cup at Windsor Castle is an example (copy in South Kensington Museum, '68-96). The drum is of ivory, German or Flemish work. The mounting bears the St. Petersburg mark and date 1800. A candelabrum of silver from the Winter Palace is in the French style of the period. It is five-branched, a baluster stem on a circular foot with ornament of beaten work of leaves and branches. A silver tankard from count Brobrinsky's col- lection, repousse with two scripture subjects within floral borders and standing on three ball feet is a very good specimen of Moscow eighteenth century work. The marking of objects in gold and silver was introduced in Russia by an ukase of Peter the great, dated 13th February, 1700. The manufacture of such objects was confined exclusively to Moscow under the jurisdiction of three officers elected from the merchants, N 146 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. who were to be the keepers of the stamps. These stamps marked the degree of alloy and the date of the year. Besides this, every manufacturer was obliged to stamp each object which he made with his own name. By an ukase of the reign of Anna Ivanovna, dated the 10th of January, 1733, the shield of arms of the province or town in which the pieces were manufactured was added. An ukase of the 26th of February, 1733, limited the regulations to the chief towns of governments. By the code of 1833 the stamps used for marking were to be issued from the ministry of mines and salt. By the code of 1842 impressions of the stamps were ordered to be deposited in the Bureau des Garanties. They were to consist of the degree of alloy, the date of manufacture, the arms of the town, and the initial letters of the names of the assayer ; the manufacturer previously to present- ing his goods to be assayed, having stamped them with his private mark and the initial letter of his family name. These regulations, with unimportant variations, subsist up to the present time. The marks of provinces which we most frequently meet with are the sceptre and crossed anchors of St. Petersburg, and the St. George and dragon of Moscow. SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM ART HANDBOOKS. ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA: PART II. RUSSIAN ART AND ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. A HANDBOOK TO THE REPRODUCTIONS OF GOLDSMITHS' WORK AND OTHER ART TREASURES FROM THAT COUNTRY IN THE SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM. ALFRED MASKELL IN TWO PARTS. PART II. Published for the Committee of Council on Education, BY CHAPMAN AND HALL, Limited, ii, HENRIETTA STREET. 1884. LONDON : R. CLAY, SONS, AND TAYLOR, BREAD STREET HILL, E.C. SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM ART HANDBOOKS. ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. CHAPTER VII. RELIGIOUS ART IN RUSSIA. The number of objects in the precious metals used in the services of the church is extremely extensive. The different forms will be noticed and the general style of decoration ; the employment of enamels, niello, and gems differs very little from that of the things for secular use already described. The pieces which have been reproduced have been selected from the sacristies of the cathedrals of the Assumption and St. Michael the archangel of Moscow, and from the monastery of Troitsa. At the same time to enable us to give a somewhat more extensive view of the subject than the reproductions alone would permit, some reference to other important pieces will be made, and the description of objects for the service of the church will include works in ivory and materials other than gold and silver. The history of the introduction and early progress of Christ- ianity in Russia is involved in obscurity and overlaid with legendary stories. There is little doubt that it came from Constantinople, and was not only rapidly spread but firmly established in the country within a short space of time. Christianity was not the slow result of missionary labour, but rather the whole nation whether influenced by argument, by force, or in obedience to their prince cast aside the pagan worship which they had received from their fathers, demolished the temples and idols, and embraced that faith whose history in their land has i5° ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. since been less interrupted and more true to its original principles and practice than any other important portion in the east. The change from paganism to Christianity was immediate and striking. In the zeal of the new converts the great wooden idol, Peroun, was thrown from its pedestal, dragged at the tails of horses, scourged in derision and cast into the river, in whose waters the people, headed by their chiefs, are said to have been baptised in thousands at a time, some standing, some swimming, whilst the priests read the prayers. There had been previous efforts perhaps to introduce Christian- ity in Russia but they had left little permanent impression. In 955, Olga, widow of prince Igor went to Constantinople and received baptism. Missionaries at the same time preached and made converts. Nestor the earliest Russian chronicler (1056- 11 14) testifies to this, and Photius, patriarch of Constantinople and the originator of the Greek schism, in a letter to the bishops of the east, speaks of the Russians having renounced their errors and of their having received a bishop and a priest. But the date most generally accepted is that of the reign of Vladimir the great prince of Kiev, grandson of Olga. As dean Stanley remarks in his Lectures on the Eastern Church, " It coincides with a great epoch in Europe, the close of the tenth century. When through- out the west the end of the world was fearfully expected, when the Latin church was overclouded with the deepest despondency, when the Papal see had become the prey of ruffians and profligates, then it was that the eastern Church, silently and almost uncon- sciously, bore into the world her mightiest offspring." The eastern Church was then at the zenith of its splendour. The envoys sent by Vladimir to Constantinople to examine and report upon the religion which he had almost decided to adopt were dazzled with the magnificence of the ceremonial. They were wavering in their choice and weighing the merits of the different systems which had been brought before them. Rome they had not seen ; Mohammedanism was foreign to their tastes ; RELIGIOUS ART. Judaism had been found wanting; but the eastern Church appealed strongly to their imaginations and barbaric love of splendour. Hers was St. Sophia, magnificent now, but how much more gorgeous then ! Every effort was made to win them, and the victory was easy. "The Russians" says a Byzantine chronicler " were struck by the multitude of the lights and the chanting of the hymns : but what most filled them with astonish- ment was the appearance of the deacons and sub-deacons issuing from the sacristy with torches in their hands, at whose presence the people fell on their knees and cried ' Kyrie eleison.' The Russians took their guides by the hand and said : ' All that we have seen is awful and majestic, but this is supernatural. We have seen young men with wings, in dazzling robes, who without touching the ground chanted in the air, Holy, Holy, Holy ! and this is what has most surprised us.' The guides replied : ' What ! do you not know that angels come down from heaven to mingle in our services ? ' < You are right,' said the Russians, ' we want no further proof : send us home again.' " Such was the simple faith of the Russian envoys ; such is said to have been the origin of Christianity in Russia. The story itself may or may not in its details be true, but it has the basis of truth in it. The intercourse of the newly formed empire of Russia with Byzantium was at that time great. The change of religion had been very sudden and it was necessary to build at once new edifices for the new order of things. It was naturally to Byzan- tium that they turned for their form and ornament. "Very quickly churches arose. Novgorod, the cradle of the empire and the capital until the removal to Kiev, was the metropolitan see, and the first cathedral is said to have been built there as early as a.d. 989. In sketching here the characteristics of church architecture in Russia it would not be possible to enter into particulars. The subject will well repay a more elaborate study. It must suffice to 152 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. give some general facts and to refer shortly to some of the prin- cipal edifices, which both as to the exteriors and interiors may be taken as typical. What concerns the adornment and style of the objects used in the services of the church does not considerably differ from similar works of art for profane use described else- where in this handbook, and the few remarks now offered on the subject must be taken in connection with them. Manuscripts and illuminations particularly appertain to religious art, and the gorgeous vestments used in the ceremonial of the Greek church are closely connected with embroideries and needlework. Some few pieces of church work have been reproduced in electrotype and will be more particularly noticed. For the rest, the student must refer to some of the many elaborate volumes of coloured plates, and to original drawings which are in the Art Library. On the introduction of Christianity the earliest churches such as those of St. Nicholas and St. Elias at Kiev were built of wood, and scarcely therefore followed the style of Byzantine architecture in which we find little which retains the primitive elements of wooden construction. The first church built of masonry was (according to tradition) that known as the Tithe church {dessia- tinnaya) built by Vladimir at Kiev (989). This was built of stone and brick and ornamented in the interior with paintings and mosaic. It was consecrated in 996 and existed until 1240, the time of the Tartar invasion. From the ruins it appears to have been vaulted with the system of hollow pots such as is still in use; the walls were of large blocks of granite and bricks ; the pave- ment of slates of a deep red colour, probably from the Carpa- thians. That of the side chapels was in small glazed flags something like Dutch tiles, and perhaps the beginning of the description of faience known as tse'nina which is noticed at page 182. The sanctuary walls were of mosaic in different coloured marbles, jasper, and glass ; the rest frescoed with pictures. The church was restored in 1635, and demolished and rebuilt in 1842. [Plate XVII. FACADE OF A RUSSIAN CHURCH. Plate XVIII]. GROUND PLAN OF A RUSSIAN CHURCH. RELIGIOUS ART. !53 At Kiev and Tchernigov specimens of early constructions exist in which and in others of the same period built in the south of Russia the Byzantine element is marked. They may indeed be said to be purely Byzantine. As we progress towards the north- east the influence of Byzantium is no longer so marked ; the west steps in. Lombard architects came to build the still exist- ing church of the Assumption at Vladimir (twelfth century). It is believed that Lombard architects were brought to Russia by the first of the grand dukes of Vladimir, and the Lombardic element once introduced left indelible traces in the edifices of that date. The same system was followed later on in the churches of Moscow. The church of the Intercession near Vladimir was built at the same time as the church of the Assumption (1138- 1161), and served as a type to the church of St. Demetrius at Vladimir ; the latter was however entirely the work of Russian architects and was restored in 1S48 by the emperor Nicholas. We find the same type in the churches of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries at Souzdal, Rostov, Jaroslav and other places, and it is evident that the principles of Byzantine con- struction did not long exist in their purity. In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries the Mongol invasions isolated Russia from direct communications both with the east and with the west and threw it on its own resources. Up to the middle of the fifteenth century the churches were still Byzantine in style with modifications, producing a Russo- Byzantine mixture. The general disposition of the buildings was in the form of a Greek cross, containing three apses arranged in a hemicycle and separated by a transverse wall with three openings ; the central hemicycle higher than the others and in the form of a turret, and all of them surmounted by cupolas. Small and narrow windows were placed just beneath the springing of the dome. Russian churches if small are on the other hand very numer- ous. Many of the finest are rather chapels than cathedrals 154 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. according to our ideas. In adopting the arrangements of Byzan- tine structure, though the general character is preserved, the Russians did not adhere to it strictly. Their churches resemble more the plans of the Christian Greek churches of the Pelopon- nese, of Attica and Thrace. A Byzantine religious edifice is more nearly related to the free and open construction of Roman character. The others are more confined, and are characterised by a multiplicity of pillars relative to the empty spaces. Besides this, Russian religious architecture is characterised by a system of higher construction in elevation than the Byzantine type, which is low. The style is common to the peoples of central Asia whence perhaps the tradition came to Russia. Races of Asiatic origin are fond of towering proportions in their archi- tecture ; tall minarets and high-placed domes, showing from afar the sites of populated districts. The form of a Russian church underwent little change up to the seventeenth century. The annexed figures will give a general idea of its arrangement. (Plates XVII., XVIII.) In the thirteenth century the architects imported from Lombardy brought to bear on the exterior the style of the Lombardic or Romanesque* architecture which had so long prevailed in their own country. The gilded dome or cupola, of peculiar onion- shaped form which is so especially Russian, was added soon afterwards. The central cupola, which was adopted from the first, was afterwards surrounded by others ; their number reached even to twenty or thirty, and it was not until the sixteenth century at the time of the establishment of the patriarchate (1589) that these were authoritatively restricted to five, which is now the orthodox and obligatory number. The practice of having two, three, five, seven, nine and thirteen cupolas or spires is as early as the eleventh century. The numbers were figurative : two signifying the two natures of Jesus Christ, three a symbol of the Trinity, five our Lord and the four evangelists or the five wounds, seven the seven sacraments, the RELIGIOUS ART. *55 seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, or the seven oecumenical councils, nine the nine celestial hierarchies, and thirteen our Lord and the twelve apostles. The characteristics of Russian religious edifices are as far removed from those of an antique basilica as from a Gothic cathedral. We find in them a general disposition borrowed from Byzantine, Georgian or Armenian structures, but of a pronounced Asiatic type. Often the series of superimposed arches tier upon tier, one above the other diminishing to the apex, recall, even in their juxtaposition with the Lombardic style, a marked Hindoo influence to which the rounded forms of the bulbous domes give an extra prominence. These metal domes, overlaid with thickly gilded plates or painted in colours and surmounted by tall open-worked crosses from which chains are suspended, and the exterior walls covered with stone elaborately wrought, with coloured bricks, with tiles and pottery or frescoes, present an aspect of great brilliancy. In the interior the light is dim, the windows being small and few, the walls and pillars painted with frescoes, and with groups and figures in endless profusion, and the screens covered with gorgeous icons. The general effect is one of mystery and of much magnificence, singularly appropriate to the ceremonial of the Greek rite which inspires holy contemplation, mixed with reverential awe in the hearts of the worshippers. We find the oriental taste strongly developed in the sculptured ornament of the exterior of Russian churches : in the doorways for example. This influence was strongly felt throughout the twelfth century. India and Persia contributed to form the architecture and ornament of that period. Byzantium herself had been to the same sources, but Russia, inspired by her, searched also on her own account and produced a mixture of Byzantine and purely Asiatic ornament. Those elements of oriental ornament were chosen which Russian genius preferred without a servile following of Byzantine likings. p 156 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. The Russians loved to cover every part of the surface, rarely leaving unornamented grounds or intervals. There is a superabundance of mouldings and fanciful detail. One ex- ample may be given to illustrate this : the holy door of the church of St. John at Rostov. The whole of this fine door is Indo-Persian work of great delicacy ; the work, however, entirely of Russian artists. The holy door of the church of St Isidore at the same place (fourteenth century) is also remarkable, and in this a marked difference in style is observ- able. The form of the doorway is in no way Byzantine ; the general effect recalls the Persian and Hindoo; the latter especially in the outlines of the niches in which are sculptured representations of the Passion. The arches of these niches are formed of arcs of circles with a pointed apex ; a style of the north of India. The sculptured subjects have a Byzantine character, with a singular leaning to western types. Every part of the rest of the door is covered with floriated arabesque, leaving no portion unornamented. Gothic ideas and architecture have always been foreign to Russian taste. It may be that oriental proclivities fixed the style to which Russia has since adhered at a time when the Mongol invasions cut it off from the west, and when Gothic architecture was at its best. But it is curious that the tower of the most famous of the five gates of the Kremlin is Gothic. It was built by an Englishman, Christopher Galloway, in 1626. This is the Redeemer gateway, through which no one, emperor or peasant, Muscovite or foreigner, passes to this day with covered head. Churches of high interest in the ancient cities and environs of Moscow, Novgorod, Vladimir and in the precincts of the great monasteries which abound in Russia, are innumerable. We can speak of one alone of the most celebrated; the metropolitan church of the Assumption (Uspenski Sobor) at Moscow. The cathedral of the Assumption is one of the many churches situated within the precincts of the Kremlin. It was reconstructed RELIGIOUS ART. 157 by Fioraventi in 1475 af ter the model of the cathedral at Vladimir and in spite of the frequent calamities and fires which have half ruined Moscow still preserves in great measure its primitive character. The introduction of Italian architects in the reign of the grand duke Vladimir has already been referred to, and the result in the Romanesque construction of the edifice is marked. The Lombards were great builders. Their style is distinguished by a profusion of ornament, often grotesque, and by the high towering campaniles with round-headed windows in the different tiers. To these the Russians added their characteristic bulbous-shaped golden domes. The church of the Assumption has five domes resting in the centre of the building on four massive circular pillars, and the sanctuary is composed of five hemicycles. The cathedral of the archangel Michael is close by and was built in 1507 in imitation of it. Near this again 'is the cathedral of the Annunciation. This, which was built in 141 6, is more original in style and recalls the churches of mount Athos or that of Kertch, which dates from the tenth century. A ground plan of a Russian church has already been given. It is a type which varies little in essentials. Nearly all are crowned with one large centre dome, flanked by smaller domes. These are usually covered with thickly gilt plates, but sometimes painted green, or a deep blue, powdered with gold stars. The effect of the hundreds of gold cupolas gleaming in the clear winter air of Moscow is intensely striking; the gold is so thick and pure and there is so little dirt floating in the air that they retain their brilliant and almost new appearance for very many years. Within (as has already been stated with regard to all Russian churches), the dimensions are small and the light obscure. Still, the simple, nearly square disposition of the building, the enormous plain-shafted pillars which support the domes, the mass of gilding, the multitude of lamps, produce an undoubtedly grand effect. It is strikingly oriental ; and as in Russian churches there p 2 i 5 8 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. are no seats, but the people stand in a mingled throng, now and then prostrating themselves and beating their foreheads on the ground, each as his own devotion may dictate, the resemblance is still more marked. All the interior is covered with fresco pictures; even the pillars have gigantic figures of the saints and doctors of the church painted upon them. From the high roof hang immense brass chandeliers of a peculiar form with many- branches, capable of holding hundreds of candles. In the dim distance, seemingly a wall of gold, is the iconostas, the solid screen which in every Greek church divides the sanctuary from the rest of the sacred edifice. So it was in the early days of the Christian church in the west, and a comparison with an ancient basilica, such for example as St. Clement's at Rome, is not without interest. That too had its apse, dedicated to the holy mysteries, with a seat for the bishop immediately in front of which stood the altar. There also the holy place was separated from the rest of the church by a screen or curtains, a remnant of which remains in the curtains which often hang at each side of the altar in modern Catholic churches. The iconostas is in all cases decorated with a large number of holy pictures or icons, arranged in formal rows one above the other. It is a solid erection extending from side to side, from floor to roof, and in the centre are the royal doors, through which none may pass but the consecrating priest, or the emperor : and the last once only, at the time of his coronation. At no time is any woman permitted to enter the sanctuary. The most ancient forms of the iconostas date from the fifteenth century. They are for the most part covered with fine sculptures, painted and gorgeously gilt and with little tabernacles surmounted by cupolas and crosses. In earlier times the iconostas was lower : the small columns of the doors still keep the form of the ancient type. The high form of iconostas with complicated ranges of icons are all later than the fifteenth century. Before that period the iconostas was a simple railing or balustrade. It supported RELIGIOUS ART. l 59 columns to which curtains were attached, to be drawn at the time of consecration. The question is important as regards Christian art and usages, not only of the east but of the west. The iconostas contains sometimes as many as seven rows of images : that of the Uspenski Sobor has five. Their arrangement is guided by certain rules and restrictions. Our Lord and the blessed Virgin must be represented on each side of the royal doors, and on the doors themselves the Annunciation and the four evangelists. On the side doors angels must be represented. Above must be the usual symbol of the Trinity figured by Abraham entertaining the three angels. The whole of the space behind the screen is known as the altar. The altar itself is square, or rather a double cube. Above it four small columns with a canopy form a baldachino; and the cross is laid fiat upon it. Here also is placed the tabernacle or zion which is often an architectural structure in pure gold, with figures. There are fine zions of this kind in the cathedrals of St. Sophia at Novgorod and at the Troitsa monastery. In the apse behind the altar and facing it is the thronos, the. seat of the archbishop, with seats for priests on either side. Besides the icons and holy pictures on the screen (and in the cathedral of the Assumption the latter contains the most highly venerated in Russia) other smaller icons are set apart in various parts of the church. As is now the custom, though it is com- paratively a recent one, the greater part of the picture, with the exception of the faces, hands and feet, is covered with an embossed and chased plaque in gold or silver-gilt representing the form and garments. Glories or nimbuses in high relief set thick with gems surround the faces, and sparkle as they reflect the light from the multitude of candles burnt in their honour. Some are covered to overloading with jewels, necklets, and bracelets ; pearls, diamonds, and rubies of large size and value adorning them in profusion. The ceremonial of the Greek church is excessively complex, 160 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. and the symbolical meanings by which it represents the dogmas of religion are everywhere made the subjects of minute observ- ance. During the greater part of the mass the royal doors are closed : the deacons remain for the most part without, now and again entering for a short time. From time to time a pope or popes pass throughout the church, amongst the crowds, incensing all the holy pictures in turn ; the voice of the officiating priest is raised within, and is answered in deep tones by the deacons without. Now from one corner comes a chant of many voices, now from another a single one intones (it may be), the epistle or gospel of the day. Now the doors fly open and a fleeting glimpse is gained of the celebrant through the thick rolling clouds of incense. Then they are closed again suddenly. To a stranger, unable to follow and in ignorance of the meaning, the effect is bewildering. In writing, even generally, of the arts in Russia some reference to religious music is excusable. That of Russia has a peculiar charm of its own, far above the barbarous discords that are to be heard in Greek and other churches of the east at the present day. There is a sweetness and attractiveness in the unaccompanied chanting of the choir, in the deep bass tones of the men mingling with the plaintive trebles of younger voices, which is indescribable in its harmony. It is unlike any other ; yet underneath lies the original tinge of orientalism, the wailing semitones of all barbaric music. No accompaniment, no instrumental music of any kind is permitted. Bass voices of extraordinary depth and power are the most desired. It is said that the tones now used in the Russian church are comparatively modern. They have long been written in the modern style with five lines in the treble clef, not as in the Gregorian, on four lines in the tenor or bass clef. Richter's Monuments d architecture russe ancienne is an excellent guide to Russian church architecture. The plates give various details, and there is a short descriptive text in Russian and French. Engravings are given of the ancient church of St. George at RELIGIOUS ART. 161 Iouriev in the government of Vladimir which dates from the second half of the twelfth century. The different systems may be followed in the plates of this work i the forms of the domes or cupolas, the elaborate carvings and frescoes and the open- worked metal crosses surmounting the domes. Excellent plates may also be found in the Antiquities of Russia and in Snegireff s Russian ancient architectural Monuments (text in Russian). For a general idea of Russian architecture, however, no better book could be recommended than L'art Russe of Viollet le Due. The Russian churches cannot be left without an allusion to a remarkable monument, which though erected by an Italian architect in the sixteenth century, is nevertheless an extraordinary and original specimen of Russian taste. The church of Vassili Blagennoi stands at the end of the great square which stretches along one side of the walls of the Kremlin. Unique of its kind, this eccentric structure, built in the reign of Ivan the terrible, is an instance of the Muscovite pride and love of display, and the desire to construct edifices or monuments, striking for their immense proportions or elaborate splendour,, which led to the making of the tower of Ivan Veliki and the casting of the great cannon and the great bell. Byzantine in style, the church is still essentially Muscovite. In the details of its architecture, in the form and numbers of its cupolas, in the superimposed arches, in the colours and gilding, there is an unmistakeable Asiatic influence. The' Italian element is per- ceptible, but the architect kept in mind the orthodox love of symbolical forms and subordinated his own taste in order to please those from whom he had received his instructions. The whole of the exterior is strangely original. Belfrys and cupolas abound in every part, starting upwards from masses of sculpture resembling imbricated foliage, the scales of the pine- cone or the opening buds of flowers. Here are bulbous cupolas in every variety of form, size and colour, some cut in salient points, others gorgeous with arabesques or facetted as precious 1 62 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. stones, imitating the form of scaly-coated fruits or twisted and folded as a turban. Above all is the great tower, rearing itself upwards from a crowd of little cupolas ornamented with tiers of arches, decorated with highly-coloured pottery, and terminat- ing in a pine-'cone cupola. The mass of varied form and eccentric colouring seemingly without arrangement, and in which symmetry is defied, affords to the eye a picture upon which one gazes with amazement. That it can be a church seems to be an impossibility. It seems rather to be some monstrous vegetable production, a fantastic dream, a Chinese puzzle. Yet the capriciousness of its very eccentricity is to some extent pleasing. One marvels if one does not admire. There is a method in the madness, and if as a whole the production is monstrous, taking in detail isolated portions of the architecture, the educated eye sees that it does not deserve to be dismissed with contempt. Of such an edifice no one could give a more brilliant description than the highly imaginative French writer The'ophile Gautier. His impressions are worth quoting in his own words. He describes it as " without doubt the most original monument in the world ; it recalls nothing that one has ever seen, and belongs to no known style. One would imagine it to be a gigantic madrepore, a crystallised colossus, a stalactite grotto turned upside-down; a thing which has neither prototype nor similitude. It might be taken for a Hindoo, Chinese, or Thibetan pagoda. In looking at this impossible church one is tempted to ask if it is not a whimsical will-o'-the-wisp, an edifice formed of clouds fantastically coloured by the sun, which the movement of the air will presently cause to change in form, or vanish into nothingness." ^ A story is told of this building (as has been often told of similar cases) that the architect had his eyes put out by his royal master in order that he might for ever after be incapable of designing such another wonder. Many of the Russian churches possess very remarkable gates or RELIGIOUS ART. doorways, either for the principal entrance or for the royal doors of the iconostas. Some are of bronze, and amongst them are those known as the Khorsoun gates of the cathedral of Novgorod. These are exceptionally fine and interesting. They have been supposed to come from the Chersonese but are undoubtedly western work, the production of Magdeburg artists of the twelfth century. A full and elaborate description of them is given in Adelung's Die Korschiinschen Thiiren in Novogorod, and fine plates showing the details may be seen in the Antiquities of Russia. Other brazen gates are those of the cathedral of the Nativity at Souzdal, those at Novgorod, manufactured by order of the archbishop Basil, and of the Assumption at Moscow. These are completely covered with subjects damascened in gold. The first are attributed by tradition to the Chersonese and to the tenth century, but they are probably northern work of a much later period ; those of Novgorod were made in 1336. Other gates, such as those of the Savvin monastery at Twer (1561) are of wood completely covered with arabesques and with architec- tural domed plaques carved upon red, blue, or green grounds, of a decidedly Asiatic character. The fine doors of St. Isidore at Rostov have been already referred to. Before quitting the subject of architecture in Russia, mention must be made of an ancient building from which several objects have been reproduced. This is the house known as the Romanoff House, in Moscow. It was the birthplace of the Tzar Michael Theodorovitch, founder of the now reigning family, and also of his father Theodore Nikitisch, who became patriarch under the name of Philaret. In its restored state the Romanoff House is still perhaps the most remarkable ancient building existing in Russia as a perfect specimen of the old dwelling-houses of the boyards. It is built of stone, and the solid exterior walls are as they orginally stood. The interior restoration completed by the emperor Alexander in 1859, has been carried out with great care in the exact style of the 164 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. time, the furniture and ornaments being authentic and placed as they would have been. Several pieces of old plate are preserved here : and from amongst them a flagon and salt of English work, and the silver-gilt statuette of Charles the first have been selected for reproduction, together with a few others. The architectural sculpture in many churches of the twelfth century is very rich and elaborate. The ornamentation is a mixture of pure Byzantine art and Asiatic. A fine example is the principal doorway of the cathedral church of St. Demetrius at Vladimir. The archivolt is completely covered with ornament of foliage and fantastic animals interlaced with knotted cordage. Sometimes (as in the same church) the Syriac character of certain details of ornament leads to the supposition that at the time of the crusades the intercourse of Russia with Syria through the Scandinavian populations on their way to the Holy Land was very frequent. In considering religious art in Russia there are three subjects of importance, besides the construction and ornament of the churches and the sacred vessels arid adornments of the altar. These are religious iconography, illuminated manuscripts, and em- broideries, falling more properly under the head of pictorial art. The first of these has peculiarities of its own, both as regards the eastern church generally and the national church of Russia, and we cannot altogether dissociate it from the art of working in metal. The second is workmanship in which he who runs may read many elements which have influenced the arts of Russia, and if handwriting is characteristic of the nature and tastes of man we can find evidences here. The third is closely connected with the gorgeous ritual and adornments of the Russian church. As regards religious iconography we are chiefly concerned with that form of devotional representation usually termed in relation to such Russian pictures an image, and known as an icon. Icons are religious pictures painted in the archaic Byzantine style, RELIGIOUS ART. 165 usually on a gold ground and of various dimensions, from a few- inches to life-size or greater. The Greek church rejects all images as contrary to the commandment ; but what is represented on a flat surface is not held to be inconsistent with the divine law. In religious iconography Byzantine art is essentially conventional and conservative. In its representation of human types and nature it goes back to the true elements of decorative art which spring from conventionalised forms. The Russians are intensely attached to their holy pictures. In the churches each and all are the subjects of visits and pilgrimages. In public and in private they are everywhere to be seen. At the corners of the streets, in the numerous little chapels or oratories, over gateways, in railway carriages and steamers, in every shop, and in the lowest tavern, there is the holy picture with the lamp ever burning before it. Thus in entering a shop or other public place one always removes the hat, not on account of the usual polite- ness but in deference to the picture. This is invariably placed high up in the angle of the walls, in one corner. In eastern countries the corner is the place of honour. In the churches the corners are occupied by the most illustrious tombs. At the coro- nation banquet the emperor dines in solitary state in one of the angles of the room. It will be remembered that the kings of France held their " beds of justice " sitting on a seat in the left hand corner of the apartment. These pictures are the chief source of the religious instruction of the Russian peasant. They are his illuminated catechism. He reads them and understands them as the hieroglyphics of Egypt were read. To him the preservation of the old archaic form is a matter of immense importance. His learning on this- subject is really great, and he discusses it through the long winter evenings. There is a large pictorial literature reproduced from ancient manuscripts, and of a kind analogous to the coloured block-books of the early days of printing. In religious iconography Russia frankly adopted Byzantine i66 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. hieratism. The monks who disseminated Christianity carried with them also the arts across the country. In course of time modifica- tions in detail were introduced, but the immobility of type has been so much preserved that it is extremely difficult to assign a date to an object of religious veneration. Byzantine religious art seems to exist under quite exceptional circumstances. It is altogether of a different nature from that of the west. It is an art governed by religious laws. Little seems to be left to the fancy or. invention of the artist. The formulas under which he works are as precise as dogmas. There is but one school and one epoch. Centuries have not changed it ; it is ever the same. It borrows nothing and is inspired only by itself. The artist does not create, but reproduces. He works by a kind of instinct as the swallow builds her nest and the bee her honey- comb. The painter of this school knows but one costume, and for all places and for all times this varies not. It is the same in form, in colour, and in the disposition of the folds. Certain Greek saints are invariably recognised by a small fold of par- ticular form, or an opening in the robe above and below the knee. Tradition fixes the form of the head, the proportions, the attitudes and the attributes ; and the same indications over and over again are faithfully represented. A Byzantine manuscript is preserved at the monastery of mount Athos, the work of a certain monk named Dionysius. It is a manual of Christian iconography, and according to the tradi- tion of the monastery dates from the tenth century and is of strict technical authority. It is in four parts. The first treats of the materials, colours, tools, etc., to be employed: the second, with great precision of detail, gives the subjects of the symbolism and the historical occurrences that should be represented : the third determines the proper places for and positions of certain subjects or holy persons : the fourth fixes the symbolisms peculiar to our Lord and the blessed Virgin and treats of inscriptions. This manuscript was lately discovered and excellently translated RELIGIOUS ART. 167 by M. Didron : to whose other interesting works on Christian iconography the student will do well to refer. The Russian iconographists possess also their "manual of painting." This is on the same plan, varying slightly in the attributes of certain saints and subjects. In the Vatican library is an illustrated calendar illuminated by Russian painters of the seventeenth century. It was long supposed to be a work of the thirteenth or even of the tenth century. A characteristic of Russian iconography is the exaggerated austere aspect of the principal persons. The faces are lean, wild, and even savage ; their limbs emaciated, their garments few ; the same small, thin-cut eyes, long lank hair, and scanty though long beard, are constantly repeated ; the same sinewy limbs, emaciated by rigorous fasts, the abnormally rounded skull, the recurring upraised bony hand with fingers symbolically divided. In the Russian church the peculiarity of this last symbolical division is of supreme importance — a sign more cherished and more adhered to as the outward testimony of a great dogmatic distinction than the sign of the cross as the mark of a Christian. Icons from being at first only used in the churches were after a time introduced into private dwellings. Portable metal crosses and diptychs or polyptychs for private devotion were made and were known amongst the people as "churches." The Muscovite school of icon painting of the seventeenth century had several branches, such as the imperial, monastic, village, and Strogonoff school (from the family name of the founder). The Novgorod school followed special rules for the proportions and attributes of the figures. The faces were to be yellow. For the Strogonoff painter the rules even enforced dark green for the face. In what is called the second epoch of this school the colouring was clear ; the features still long and thin. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the painters of Icons, although having the highest ideal conception of their i68 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. subject, were still far behind in execution. The colouring, per- spective, and drawing are very defective. They seemed to dread anything like reality 'in their .works or anything natural in the position of the hands, feet, and figures. Portraiture was allowed, as may be seen on an icon of the Novgorod school of the end of the fifteenth century. A characteristic is the careful avoidance of the nude in the human figure, naturally resulting in a lifelessness and awkwardness. This is especially to be seen when nude or semi-nude figures were necessarily introduced, for instance, in representing Adam and Eve and angels or evil spirits. Another characteristic was the inclination to paint male rather than female types, serious and ascetic expression rather than a more amiable sentiment. The infant Jesus Himself looks more like a small grown-up person with decided features, conveying the idea that even as a child He was divested of the natural expression of infantile weakness. The blessed Virgin has generally, especially in western Russia, a serious countenance, and is scarcely ever made to look upon the Holy Child in her arms. An inclination of the head is the utmost. She is altogether too masculine and stern-looking, as if she must not even know the tenderness of a mother's heart. Exceptions there are, however, full of tender grace and beauty. The early name in Russia for all work in the Byzantine manner was " Khorsounsky " style, probably from Cherson, where Chris- tianity first appeared. The Khorsounsky style in painting is a mix- ture of Byzantine and Russian, or rather the engrafting of Russian ideas and likings on the Byzantine model. In the Byzantine school the faces are long, the eyes almond-shaped, the nose thin and aquiline, the moustache thin, and the features in general refined. In the Korsounsky school the eyes are rather rounder, the nose straight, a large thickish moustache, and the painting more glazy and highly coloured. The first icons were painted on a yellow ground, produced by yolk of egg and such like mixtures RELIGIOUS ART. and not oil-paints. Oils were used later, when the Church took painting into her hands. As a rule, the conception of ideas was diametrically opposed to the sentiment of the Italian school, nor was there any room for the genius of a Raphael. His beautiful faces would have amounted to little short of rank heresy. Female figures by Russian artists are all more or less alike, and age is depicted in preference to youth. A cause of all this may be found perhaps in the state of litera- ture of the time, in which there were no romances, no sacred dramas, no chivalric poetry. And as has been said before the Russian clings to the preservation of certain fixed types which have become, as it were, almost as binding in regard to their unchangeableness as the dogmas of his religion. The inscriptions on icons and similar devotional objects are in Greek or Sclavonic. In Greek we find almost invariably the monogram of our Lord (IC and XC), and of the blessed Virgin (MP ©y)- Most of the others are in Sclavonic; generally the names of the saints or of the subjects, contracted in an arbitrary manner. The black Virgins of the eastern church are well known. In all probability the peculiarity of colour was at first simply the effect of time on the painting : a type afterwards perpetuated. On many pictures of the Virgin three scratches are represented on the cheek from which blood flows. These are copies of a cele- brated image concerning which the legend runs that a certain priest having struck the picture on the face, blood immediately flowed from it. It is one of the most highly venerated and most commonly reproduced of the many miraculous pictures of the Russian church. In architecture and other ornamental work, Russia allowed it- seif a certain freedom, but for its religious iconography it followed rigidly in principle the Byzantine school of mount Athos. Still, while accepting the principles, it did not confine itself absolutely ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. to the Greek school. There are many types and subjects which are proper to Russian religious art but which are quite unknown to the Greeks. Such are the images of St. Nicholas the warrior, SS. Cyrillus and Methodius and others. Russian religious iconography includes, of course, the imagery of illuminated books and the frescoes of religious edifices. These are interesting from the general point of view of Christian pic- torial representation. In the frescoes which adorn the walls of churches and monasteries, the frequent representation of Old Testament types and stories is remarkable ; and equally, the grotesque horrors representing the punishments of hell, by which the minds of the vulgar are kept in religious awe. The icon, understood as a holy picture gorgeously decorated, is of more especial interest, combining as it does, the arts of metal work, enamel, and jewelled decoration. An icon of this description, has no little resemblance to the gorgeously decorated mediseval book-covers in the precious metals that we find used in all Christian countries. In religious painting the Khorsoun image (or rather, the Khor- soun school) has ever been that to which Russian religious feeling has been attached. It has never been tempted by the Italian school of the renaissance. The custom (thoroughly oriental) of enriching the painting with gold and jewels, and of forming thus a magnificent and dazzling piece of decorated metal work, is one from which the western style of painting has been averse. In a richly decorated icon the heads of the holy persons are adorned with crowns or nimbuses, and their necks with peculiarly shaped collars (or barmi) of gold or silver-gilt in relief. These are elaborately repousse, or enamelled in colours on a gold ground, or engraved with arabesques, and loaded with precious stones and pearls. Of such paintings little more remains visible than the faces and hands. But it was not until a recent period (the middle of the eighteenth century) that the practice came in of almost entirely covering the picture with a plate of metal simulating the RELIGIOUS ART. contours of the human figure and the robes, and allowing only the faces and hands to appear through openings. Such a practice testifies to a decadence in art almost equal to the dressed up dolls of Spanish and French churches, and in most of the ornament of such images the arabesque repousse work is no longer of a delicate character but is a bastard and lifeless imitation of Italian orna- ment. May it not be that the custom is the result of a yearning towards sculptured images, pure and simple, and that the step from one to the other is easy? Two celebrated icons may be noticed as types. One is that of the patriarch Joassof (sixteenth century) in the cathedral of St. Michael at Moscow. The painting (Greek of course in style) is set in a background and frame of gold repousse with elegant arabesques and adorned with jewels. The frame is bordered with strings of pearls and set with medallions having figures of saints in niello-work. Another is that known as the Virgin of Vladimir. The painting is of the twelfth century, but most of the adornment is of much more recent date. The crown, nimbus, and barmi sparkle with a multitude of precious stones and strings of pearls, and in the rectangular frame are set twelve sacred subjects repousse in metal. Of late years it must be confessed that the inevitable influence of intercourse with the west has somewhat modified the steadfast adherence to the ancient type of iconography. Modern churches, such as St. Isaac's at St. Petersburg, have introduced stained glass windows from Munich of the most approved western fashion. Many of the paintings of saints are imbued with western feeling, and even sculptured figures and groups are tolerated. For the study of Russian illuminated manuscripts we have almost all necessary matter at hand in a single volume consisting of one hundred magnificent coloured plates in fac-simile. This is the Ornement Russe of M. Boutoffsky. Although the accom- panying text is slight, and not explanatory in detail, still by following the chronologically arranged plates an excellent idea of Q ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. this branch of Russian art may easily be gained. The most re- markable manuscripts are preserved in the patriarchal library of the sacristy of the metropolitan church of Moscow, in the libraries of the Rumiantsoff museum, the Tchoudoff monastery and the church of St. Michael at the same place, and in the monasteries at Troitsa, and of the Resurrection (New Jerusalem). In religious iconography, as has already been mentioned, Russian art adhered rigidly to the principles of Byzantine hieratism. In the ornamentation of manuscripts such a servility is absent. While it appropriated the principal elements of the Byzantine style an independent originality was shown, borrowing and adapt- ing from many sources and yet neither an imitation nor a copy. The study of manuscripts shows the different influences to which the empire was from time to time subjected, and they are important because the dates are known. From the eighth to the eleventh century Russia was in immediate and constant communication with the empire of the east, and the introduction of Christianity in the tenth century has already been spoken of. The most ancient MSS. of which fac-similes are given in M. Boutoffsky's work are of the tenth century. The earliest are Greek, and the purely Byzantine ornament continues through- out this century and for a great part in the next. Its influence remains constant, as it does throughout the range of Russian art, down to the sixteenth century. France also, Italy, Germany and England, came to Byzantium for instruction in art for three cen- turies at least. At the end of the eleventh century these began to give it up. Russia remained firm, but mingled it with the elements of her own Sclavonic genius, which was again much influenced by India and Persia. When we leave the purely Byzantine manuscripts and come to the earliest Sclavonic, the same types with variations are re- produced. The ornament is characterised by arabesques of pointed ivy-shaped leaves with curled-in edges, in greens, blues and reds on a gold ground, heightened with white for the reds RELIGIOUS ART. i73 and blues, and with yellow for the greens, and combined with thin stalks in blue, forming a flowery geometrical combination. The ornaments consist of initial letters, head and tail-pieces, and fantastic architectural borders, often bearing on the upper part figures of birds affrontes. There is not seldom a characteristic resemblance to enamel and the incrustations in coloured glass of barbaric work. The manuscript of the tenth century known under the name of the Pearl, in the patriarchal library of Moscow, is quite Byzantine. Another, the homilies of St. John Chrysostom, has a Sclavonic character and recalls the incrustations. The Ostromir, the earliest Sclavonic manuscript, is thoroughly Byzantine. In less rich MSS. of Byzantine type the effect is more sombre; the gold is replaced by the white of the parchment. The ornament resembles inlaid work and is not heightened. In the eleventh century the ornament is still Greek but the gold ground entirely disappears. The art of central Asia makes its appearance. In this and the succeeding centuries we begin already to trace the tendency to the complicated interlaced work and fantastic heads and figures prominent in the fourteenth century. The character of the ornament is altogether different in the twelfth century. The style is analogous to architectural forms and sculptured ornament ; the grounds are completely covered, leaving few intervals. It is Indian or Persian, and there is little which is Byzantine. Other styles, sometimes even western, begin to appear. In the architectural forms we find that of the Russian cupolas. Instead of leafwork we have interlacements and complicated network, and fantastic prolongations of animal life, human-headed monsters, dragons and griffins. In the succeeding century there seem at first to be decided Chinese characteristics. This appears in a gospel-book in the cathedral of the archangel Michael. The ornament of the fourteenth century is completely eastern ; 174 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. that is, of India. There is nothing like it in Byzantium. The Tartars are now masters of Russia. The interlaced work begun in the thirteenth century has become exaggerated. It is now characterised by many complicated and grotesque interlacings of monstrous birds and animals, and geometrical and knotted arrangements of double lines. It is oriental, of a kind which perhaps has some affinity with the firmly traced written or painted characters of oriental alphabets. A menologium in the Pogodine collection at St. Petersburg is very like some western MSS. of the twelfth century. We find the same Scandinavian system in Anglo-saxon MSS. of the tenth and eleventh centuries. The question is interesting whether this style came to Russia through Scandinavia, or direct from its eastern source. Or perhaps some German MSS. had found their way to Russia. (Plate XIX.) Until the fifteenth century we see in Russian manuscripts the Byzantine type mixed with Asiatic Sclavonic elements or purely Asiatic; such as the gospel of the thirteenth century in the cathedral of the Archangel at Moscow. The eastern empire had now fallen, and the Tartar domination was at an end. The close of this century and the sixteenth are the most brilliant periods of Russian illuminated manuscripts. They show a freedom, an originality, and a diversity of ornament. The Asiatic feeling is prominent, and the geometrical combinations and harmonies of colour are deeply imbued with Hindoo influence. The purely geometrical character of the interlacings recalls mosaic or inlaid tile pavements. Interlaced circular forms characterise the geomet- rical combinations. In this century we find a marked return to Byzantine systems with their leafwork in blues, reds and greens, heightened with white, on a gold ground. Persian, Arabic, Indian, all the eastern styles mingled with much derived from western sources, combine to form a richness and (if we may say so) an originality of its own. In the sixteenth century the introduction of German taste brings about a decadence in art. Western art cannot engraft RELIGIOUS ART. *75 itself on that of the east without being accompanied by a deterioration of the character of the whole. From all that Russia borrowed from Persia, India, and Byzantium, it gathered force. From the west, on the contrary, came the inevitable weakness and want of harmony which has always characterised the endeavour to assimilate western art and forms with eastern methods. In the Russian manuscripts of this period we find the German ornament in the curly leaf in white upon black grounds, but it harmonises ill with the oriental surroundings. As in the west, part of the daily work of the Russian monk in the middle ages was (and perhaps still is, to a less extent) the production of illuminated manuscripts and miniatures ; at the present day a large quantity of holy pictures or icons of a superior class, carved in wood or painted and embossed with metal, comes from their hands. Many of the manuscripts in the libraries of the patriarchal sacristy at Moscow, of the monastery at Troitsa, and in other parts of the empire, are enriched with splendid miniatures which are interesting under many aspects, although at present almost entirely unknown to the west. A great number are of the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eight- eenth centuries, that is, of a time when in France, Italy, and Germany engraving had rapidly substituted itself in the place of the illuminations in the earlier art. In the miniatures of the best period the art of the Russian illuminator is distinguished by an originality and sense of humour which is most striking. It is above all Russian art distinctly national. A comparison of the illustra- tions of the Bible or of the lives of the saints with similar German or French miniatures or engravings reveals scarcely any point of resemblance. Nothing is more interesting than the study of these works of that branch of the eastern church, which has been more continuously national in its history than any other of the same stock. Sufficient materials are now not wanting in the Art Library of the South Kensington Museum, amongst the principal being 176 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. the Orfiement Russe, and the large and valuable collection of fac-similes presented by the Early Russian Text Society of St. Petersburg. The Early Russian Text Society was founded in 1880 for the purpose of reproducing exact fac-similes of the literary treasures of Russia. Since that time it has produced upwards of fifty publications, many of which are of considerable importance and contain a large number of elaborately-coloured miniatures and ornaments. They consist principally of ancient Sclavonic and Russian manuscripts of the Holy Scriptures, lives of the saints, homilies of the fathers, &c. : the attention of the Society being also turned to other ancient works of importance relating to sciences and arts, history, geography, music, and annals and chronicles of various kinds. One of the first published was the life of St. Alexis from the imperial library, a manuscript of three hundred and eight pages, of the seventeenth century, ornamented with two hundred and twenty-five illustrations, of which a hundred and twenty-six are illuminated. The most important, perhaps, is the life of St. Nicholas the miracle-worker. The original is in the Rumiantsov Museum of Moscow, a folio manuscript of four hundred leaves written in demiuncial letters of the sixteenth century. It contains more than four hundred miniatures, many of their, very richly adorned with gold. Thirty of these are completely reproduced as specimens : the remainder are in outline. Amongst the first works of the Society is a collection of very early representations of the blessed Virgin; one that of the Virgin of Lydda (the most anciently venerated in Russia), the Virgin with three hands {rpL X ^p), the Madonnas attributed to St. Luke, and others which are remarkable for their naive simplicity and the affinity which exists between them and similar productions of the Greco-Italian school. The obituaries, called in Russia synodicon, have much analogy with the "ars moreindi " of the west. An example is the RELIGIOUS ART. 177 synodicon of Dedovsk ; the agony of the dying person in all its phases and the moments immediately preceding and following death are depicted in coloured drawings. Works of this kind are in great variety, from the gorgeously illuminated manuscripts made by order of great princes to those more especially for the use of the people. For centuries they have continued to speak to the latter as they do even at the present day. With regard to the origin of the style of the illustrations and ornaments, analogous though they may be to what we may find in Persian and Indian, Chinese, Italian, German, French, or Anglo-saxon illustration, we have in them another example of what is characteristic of Russian art, that is, an originality which, though perhaps inspired from a foreign source, is not to be called a copy from any one which they may appear to resemble. The traditional model has perhaps to be sought farther back. Although the general state of education in Russia in the seventeenth century was low, yet illuminators of manuscripts and painters of icons, or as they were called, "Good Masters" (Mastera dobravo), were obliged to have a certain amount of learning, especially of the Holy Scriptures, the fathers, and the lives of the saints. Each master had his own speciality. One made the drawings, another painted figures or faces and so on, and each taught his pupils his particular branch only. The following is extracted from a quaint account of the precepts instilled into those whose business it was to make works of art for religious purposes : A painter was to be godly, steady, not given to laughing ; not a thief or a murderer ; pure in body and soul. He must frequently visit the fathers (the clergy), fast and pray. He may then paint the pictures of our Lord on the model of the old painters. If he so live, the Tzar will take him and have him instructed. He will send him to the fathers and see that he lives in purity. And if God give him the grace to be clever in his work and if he live purely, then he shall become equal to his master. And if a disciple paint badly, then the i 7 8 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. master shall be reprimanded as a warning to others, and the pupil shall be told not to meddle any more with painting. And if any teacher shall hide his art from his disciples he shall be tortured in hell-fire, as was done to him who hid the talent. And whoever shall paint badly or not according to the given model, or shall live impurely, shall be expelled, there being other trades besides icon painting. The study of embroideries and needlework in Russia embraces a wide field and presents many examples of national charac- teristics, from the gorgeous fabrics made for the use of palaces and churches to those in common domestic use, and the sampler Avork of the peasant population. (The latter kind of work has always been especially characteristic in Russia, and the designs embroidered or woven in the fabric of the borders of household linen, and some articles of costume, especially head-dresses and chemises, mark in an especial manner the artistic tastes and originality of the people. This class of work is, for the most part, embroidered (the pattern on one side only) in red cotton, in simple lines or cross-stitches ; or in white with threads drawn out • or in cottons, silks and wools of different colours, mingled or alone. Sometimes the designs are woven, and again embroidered upon. We find geometrical mosaics, lozenges and crosses with denticulated edges, floral motives borrowed from Persia, men, animals, trees and monsters. Often the figures are affrontes, or are back to back, having between them a tree or a flower. It is only necessary to allude to the frequency of this figure in the stuffs and ornaments of Persia, and the worship of Mithras. The museums of the Academy of Science and of the Imperial Geographical Society possess curious collections of this work. (Plate XIX.) Besides their normal use, objects embroidered in this way serve to ornament the peasant's dwelling on fete days, suspended along the walls and decorating the holy images. They are for him a primitive picture gallery. The habit of embroidery has always been constant ; old pieces descend in families, and the same RELIGIOUS ART. 179 designs with slight variations are perpetuated from generation to generation, forming a science full of technicalities perfectly understood. The origin of the ancient style of ornament and design is quite uncertain. If a worker is questioned the only answer would be that they work from memory and tradition transmitted from one generation to another. It is equally a matter of uncertainty to fix dates or localities. The figures and ornaments are not pecu- liarly national, for they are to be found amongst many other peoples. A comparison, however, of the figures (such as the double-headed eagle and fantastic quadrupeds) with similar figures in illuminated manuscripts will lead to some conclusions from which it would appear that the designs of this kind of needlework go back to the earliest times of the Russia of history. They are also distinctly oriental. They are Asiatic. Again, though the peasant is absolutely unaware of it, every line, every form has its signification. In designs which are composed simply of geometri- cal lines, where the figures are conventionalized to the last degree, religious signs and religious emblems, signs of good wishes and good augury, common to the east, are to be traced. As already, in the case of manuscripts, the reader must be referred to a work containing plates illustrative of this class of work. The Ornement Russe of M. Stassov contains a large number of well-selected examples preceded by a short text from which the following may be quoted : " The finest, the most in- teresting and as it would appear, the most ancient specimens are generally found in the greatest profusion in the governments of the northern zone (Novgorod, Pskov, Tver, Archangel, Vologda, Olonetz and St. Petersburg). Here are found the majority of embroideries executed almost exclusively in red cotton, with designs of trees, animals, and human figures. The Persian in- fluence is here dominant ; the Finnish in a less degree. In the governments of Vladimir, Jaroslav, Nijni-Novgorod, Penza, Simbirsk, Tambov, Woronej, Saratov, &c, the Finnish element is 8o ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. predominant. As to material, wools and silks play an important part ; geometrical figures are prominent ; trees, men, and animals less frequent and less characteristic. In the provinces to the south of the centre (such as that of Orel) a marked place is occupied by little flowers and garlands ; trees and figures of men and animals are absolutely wanting." The work of M. Stassov does not illustrate this class alone of needlework. Other specimens of a richer character are shown to which attention is directed. But embroideries and needlework, as a class, do not enter sufficiently into our present plan further than to speak of them in general terms. Connected with the subject, however, are the vestments and textile ornaments of the Greek church in Russia. The principal churches and monasteries in Russia possess rich stores of vestments ; some of comparatively high antiquity which are preserved with scrupulous care and still used on occasions of great ceremony. In more modern vestments the ancient ornament is to a great extent strictly copied. The saccos, formerly the principal vestment of the patriarchs and an emblem of sovereign power, is now common to all Russian bishops. It is in the shape of a dalmatic, formed of two square pieces of stuff joined together at the neck and open at the sides, having wide short sleeves. Many of the finest of these vestments are elaborately embroidered in gold and silver and ornamented with figures of saints ; and in the stuffs themselves sacred subjects are often woven. They are also thickly sewn with rows of seed pearls which follow the lines and edgings of the vestment and border the sacred images. They are besides set with enamelled, nielloed, or jewelled plaques of gold or silver. Texts in Greek or Sclavonic often border the whole of the edges of the garment. These are elaborately worked in gold or silver, or the letters formed com- pletely of seed pearls. The saccos of the metropolitan Peter (made in 1322), of Alexis (1364), of Photius (1414), and of Dionysius (made in 1583), are remarkable vestments of this RELIGIOUS ART. iSi character, to be found in the patriarchal sacristy at Moscow. The stoles, which usually correspond, are long, narrow, and nearly straight-sided to the bottom. A peculiar episcopal ornament is the epigonation. It is a large lozenge-shaped ornament embroidered and worked in a similar manner to the other vestments, and by bishops is worn hanging from the right side. The usual form of mitre of a pope of the Russian church is well known. The earlier kind was a sort of low cap with a border of fur, something like the cap of a royal crown, and probably not different in type from the head' dresses of bishops of the west. Some are sewn thick with pearls bordering and heightening the lines of the figures of saints, and forming the outlines of the Sclavonic inscriptions. Such is that of Joassof, first patriarch of the Russian church (1558). This is illustrated in the Martinoff drawings in the Art Library. Those of later times are often of metal richly set with precious stones. Sometimes they assume a more conical form, surmounted by a cross, like an imperial crown, as that which is termed the Constantinople mitre, said to have been made in the time of Ivan the terrible. The mitre of the celebrated Nicon (1655), who aspired to papal prerogatives, is diadem-shaped and remarkable for the richness of the precious stones with which it is set. The most usual shape recalls to some extent the favourite cupola, spreading out from the base to the top. Some very curious embroideries which, though it is difficult to assign a date, are certainly Russian are in the monastery of St. Antony at Novgorod. One represents two griffins passant before a kind of horn : another, two bears in a like position. They are embroidered in gold on a red ground. Many early travellers give ample evidence that rich stuffs and embroideries were common in the courts of the Tzars. Amongst them, Jacques Margeret, the Burgundian in the service of Boris Godounoff, speaks of all kinds : " d'estoffe, a scavoir drap d'or, et d'argent, de Perse, de Turquie ; toute sorte de velours, satin 182 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. damas, taffetas et autres estoffes de soye." Samuel Maskiewitch, a contemporary of Margeret, mentions : " des tapis brodes en perles fines et d'autres objets de ce genre." In many of the old houses, palaces, and monasteries in Russia, peculiar stoves are to be found made of pottery, painted in colours in an original and striking style. The description of faience, of which the tiles are made, is known as tsenina, and the industry was largely developed in the sixteenth century, after which time it became common. Under the denomination of tsenina were comprised all descrip- tions of enamelled and glazed pottery, and it is not possible to say exactly what the term signified ; it probably meant the actual enamel or glaze and the processes of applying it. The earliest production of this faience was due to Byzantine workmen, and appeared in Russia as early as the tenth century ; but it was not until the twelfth or thirteenth century that Russian workmen began to decorate with it the walls and pavements of the churches and objects of domestic use. From tradition and the study of ancient buildings and works in which it is used we gather that at one time every town in which a factory of this faience existed had its favourite colours. Thus Rostoff was remarkable for its preference for blue and green ; Moscow for green and light-blue ; Vladimir for its painting of figures and plants. The manufacture originally acquired from the Greeks soon became adapted to Russian tastes and likings, and underwent also a Mongol influence. The sixteenth and seven- teenth centuries were the periods of the greatest development in Russia of the manufacture of tsenina, as they were also of enamels. A favourite application of the faience was the decoration of stoves, and there are several fine examples existing in collections and in the halls of the ancient Terem (palace of the Tzar at Moscow), in the church known as the palace of Yaroslav at Novgorod, and in monasteries such as Troitsa. The town of Yaroslav, especially, possesses the largest collection of these ancient RELIGIOUS ART. stoves. They were formerly covered with blue and green tiles, either plain or figured, and decorated with designs in colour, some- times even with figures in relief produced by impressed stamps and with inscriptions. Sometimes they were circular, or in the form of a cupboard with* columns, and sometimes imitated from the Tartar stoves. In the eighteenth century, tiles after the Dutch fashion were made in the towns of southern Russia. These are distinguished by the originality of the designs and the figures of birds and animals with which they are covered. Tiles were made in fine and well-purified clay, covered with a glaze of which the composition and preparation did not consider- ably differ from that of enamel, except that the substances of which it was composed were coarser and consequently less costly, and that it was applied in a semi-liquid state, while for enamel the paste was thick. Little of the nature of the composition is known, certain secrets being jealously guarded. It appears to have been composed of tin and lead melted and mixed with powdered glass and potash, the colours being produced by the addition of metallic oxides. CHAPTER VIII. TROITSA MONASTERY. RELIGIOUS ART IN METAL. There are a large number of famous monasteries in Russia, and some of their treasuries as well as those of the great cathedrals, such as at Novgorod, contain rich accumulations of objects of art, both Russian and foreign. Besides St. Petersburg and Moscow, the only other place visited for the purpose of making reproductions for the South Kensington Museum has been the monastery or lavra of Troitsa. A brief description of this monastery may therefore be interesting. The monks of the Russian Church are all of the same order and entirely distinct from secular ecclesiastics. The rule which they follow, and from which in principle they have never deviated, is the rule of St. Basil, a rule of asceticism, prayer, and contem- plation. Amongst them we must not look for learning, or preaching, or teaching, or the arts, to a high degree. The monks of the east have never shown the spirit, the vigour and life, so remarkable in the west. Dean Stanley, in his Lectures on the Eastern Church, says: "As a general rule there has arisen in the east no society like the Benedictines, held in honour wherever literature or civilisation has spread ; no charitable orders like the Sisters of Mercy, carrying light and peace into the darkest haunts of suffering humanity. Active life is, on the strict eastern theory, an abuse of the system." As a class, the monks represent the highest grade in the hierarchy of the church. In them is centred ECCLESIASTICAL METAL WORK. 185 whatever there is of learning, and socially their status is beyond comparison of higher consideration than that of the parish priests. The secular clergy are of a different class : coarse, dirty, and in social distinction little above the peasants from whom their ranks are recruited. From the large donations and bequests of the Tzars and private individuals, the monasteries became rich in lands, in treasures, and in serfs. Troitsa alone at one time, it is said, possessed 120,000 serfs, and it has been computed that in the early part of the last century nearly a fourth of the whole population of the empire was under the jurisdiction of the church. Then came the secularisation of their property and their decline. Their wealth and splendour are not now as of old. Some, as for instance the great monastery of Troitsa, still retain a considerable amount of property and distinction. For the most part they are not now rich, although sufficiently endowed for all purposes of an ascetic life. The monastery, or lavra, as it is called, of Troitsa is the great place of pilgrimage of Russia, which every good Russian, if he is able, thinks it incumbent upon him to visit once at least in his lifetime. It is situated about sixty miles to the S.E. of Moscow, in a wild, little-cultivated region, but in the midst of woods and forests which at one time were immense. Sergius, the founder of Troitsa, died on the 25th of September 1382. Thirty years afterwards his body, said to be incorrupt, was solemnly transported to the cathedral church of the monastery, where in the shrine or coffin, which is always open, it may be seen to this day visited with profound veneration by thousands of pilgrims. After his death the monastery continued to increase in extent and importance, at one time containing three hundred monks. From time to time it suffered from invasion and was several times besieged, which its vast strength enabled it to resist. The fortifications with which it is surrounded were completed in the R i86 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. sixteenth century in the reign of Ivan the terrible, one of its great patrons and benefactors. The walls, divided by four fortified gates, are no less than 4,500 feet in length, their height being from thirty to fifty feet with a thickness of twenty feet. At the angles are eight towers, some square, some hexagonal, each of a different architecture. The walls form a solid rampart, on the thickness of which is a covered gallery, paved with red brick arranged in herring-bone pattern, and forming a magnificent promenade corresponding to the cloisters of a western monastic building. Within the monastery are eleven churches, of which the principal one is the cathedral church of the Trinity containing the shrine of the founder. Within the walls this famous monastery presents rather the aspect of a fortified town, with its blocks of detached houses, its churches, shrines, workshops — even a palace for the accommoda- tion of the Tzars — its paved alleys and courts, its clumps of trees and masses of foliage. In the centre rises an immense tower or belfry, 290 feet in height, which was designed by Rastrelli and completed in 1769. This splendid campanile contains forty bells hung in several tiers, one of which, named the Tzar, is one of the largest in the world, weighing no less than sixty-five tons, or nearly five times as much as Great Paul. . The principal church at Troitsa is famous, and in general characteristics it differs little from others. It is small and dark ; open, and free from seats of any kind. But in the distance, visible between the plain and solid stone pillars, is upreared the iconostas, covered with pictures, with the ascetic images clothed in their glittering metallic robes, crowned with gorgeous crowns, and hung with necklaces and sparkling collars. Many lamps hang before each, and in the centre of the screen the royal doors are closed. The sacristy consists of four rooms, of which the principal one is a kind of museum in which is exhibited an astonishing quantity of rich vessels in gold and silver, some of them set with very remarkable jewels. Amongst them it is interesting to find ECCLESIASTICAL METAL WORK. 187 several specimens of English plate, three of which will be described further on. Within the precincts of the monastery is a small shop, kept by two of the monks, where are sold all kinds of icons, crosses, and other religious objects, painted or carved in wood, besides the water from the holy well, oil for burning in the lamps at the shrines, incense, and other things, of which most pilgrims lay in a good store. The icons, both painted and carved, are remark- ably good, and sold at exceedingly low prices. Some of the former are painted on thick blocks of wood in miniature style, and heavily gilt, and for eight or ten shillings a very good specimen can be got. The carved pictures are cut with a knife in soft wood, and though all made by hand, they scarcely vary in a small detail. For centuries, perhaps, the same rigid archaism has been preserved, the artist following in the most accurate manner, as has been before noticed, the traditions that have been handed down to him. In a chapel near the principal church lie, in coffins above the ground or beneath catafalques as is the oriental fashion, the remains of former abbots and priors of Troitsa. His tau- shaped crozier stands near each, and numerous lights burn around. Night and day without ceasing priests, who relieve each other, read prayers and passages from the Holy Scriptures. Religious art in metal work forms a large part of the general subject with which we are engaged : and, in fact, religious feeling ■ is bound up so intimately with all the arts of Russia that we must expect to find in the objects devoted to the service of the church and those for secular use, little difference in style or workmanship. Amongst the objects selected in Russia for reproduction we have not a very large number of specimens of church work. Still, there are few things in the whole collection which are likely to give a clearer idea of the best artistic work. Some of the principal pieces will therefore be described, and a reference made to some others illustrated in the Antiquities of the Russian Empire, and R 2 i88 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. framed for exhibition, or to the series of coloured drawings made expressly for the Art Library which are referred to as " Martinoff drawings." M. Martinoff of Moscow has already executed for the Russian government a series of nearly two thousand drawings in colour of objects of art to be found in various museums and churches in Russia. They are admirably done, in a style peculiarly his own. It would be difficult, short of absolute reproduction, to give a bet- ter idea of such objects, their materials and textures. The same artist was especially commissioned to make sixty drawings for the South Kensington Museum. The form of the chalice used in the Russian church varies con- siderably, as it does also in that of the Latin church. In general characteristics the two have much in common. Among the pieces reproduced we have no examples of chalices, nor are there any plates of interest to which we can refer. It is true that one of the reproductions from the Troitsa monastery is termed a chalice, but it is more probably an ordinary drinking-cup. In the church of St. Michael at Moscow there is a very magnificent gold chalice with its paten, elaborately enamelled with figures of saints and other ornament, set with precious stones; a fine specimen of the work of the last century. Chalices of any considerable antiquity would seem to be uncommon. At least we have little information concerning them. In early times chalices were made of wood or crystal as well as of gold and silver. An ancient chalice of crystal is preserved in the cathedral of the Assumption at Moscow, and the wooden ones of SS. Sergius and Nikon are in the sacristy at Troitsa. On some old icons our Lord is represented as giving the holy communion to the apostles out of narrow-necked vessels which appear to be made of alabaster. The Greek rite for the celebration of the holy eucharist requires three things which are not used in the western church. These are the knife or spear, the star or asterisk, and the spoon [Plate XX. PANAGIA OF THE PATRIARCH HERMOGENES. ECCLESIASTICAL METAL WORK. 189 for the administration of the chalice, as the sacrament is received by the laity under both kinds. It may naturally be supposed that such sacred objects would be the subjects of high artistic workmanship. The paten itself is often elaborately enamelled and otherwise decorated, whereas in the western church the rubrics require it to be plain. The ceremonial of the preparation of the bread (which is leavened and in the form of a small loaf) is exceedingly complex. Portions are cut out for consecration, and for this purpose a knife called a "spear" is used. These portions, placed on the paten, are covered with a veil, and in order to prevent the latter from touching the elements a piece of metal is placed over them : two strips crossed, and bent so as to have four feet. The tabernacle, or perhaps more properly ciborium, is sometimes in the form of a hill or mount of gold or silver-gilt, or of a temple, and there are many remarkable examples. One at Troitsa is of solid gold with a representation of the Last Supper ■ the figures are also gold with the exception of that of Judas, which is of brass. Another (of which there is a reproduction) is in the sacristy of the church of the Assumption at Moscow. From the inscription we learn that it was made for the grand duke Ivan Vassilievitch in i486, and it is a character- istic specimen of Russian art of the period. Another of which the museum has also a reproduction is in the monastery of Novo- Spasski near Novgorod, and is extremely interesting as an ex- ample of such an early period as the twelfth or thirteenth century. This last is of silver-gilt in the form of a small shrine with a low dome or cupola of late Byzantine character surmounted by a cross. It is square with the corners cut into four smaller sides having columns and arches and figures of an emperor and empress. Down the narrow spaces run borders of rolling leaf moulding. The top is an irregular dome or roof in eight curved compartments. A peculiar ornament or sacred vessel of the Russo-Greek ipo ART OBJE CTS IN R USSIA. church is known under the name of panagia, and of this there are two kinds. One is a jewel or pectoral worn suspended from the neck by bishops, and is an object on which much care and rich decoration are lavished. In a somewhat altered form it is worn by priests in the same way for carrying the holy sacrament on a journey or to the sick, and it is not surprising therefore that we should find amongst such sacred vessels some fine specimens of workmanship. The portable pyx or panagia is usually in the form of a circular locket, made of two concave or saucer-shaped pieces opening upon a hinge. Many of the panagias in the sacristy of the cathedral of Moscow are enamelled and set with precious stones, and in some instances with remarkable cameos. One, that of the patriarch Job (1586-1605) has a fine onyx engraved with a crucifix, on each side of which are figures of Constantine and St. Helena. The work is Byzantine of the twelfth century, and the enamelled and nielloed gold mounting is Russian of the sixteenth century. A very ancient one is preserved in the monastery of Solotchinsk at Riazan. It is rectangular, of gold repousse' with a border of flower scrolls and cable-work of filagree set with pearls. In the centre is the double-armed cross from the base of which spring characteristic flower-scrolls. The inspiration is Byzantine, but the work is Russian of the twelfth century. The enamelled and jewelled character of almost all the best of these panagias has rendered it impossible to reproduce them, but a copy has been made of one which may be taken as a good example of design and work. (Plate XX.) This is the portable pyx of the patriarch Hermogenes (1606- 16 1 2). It is of silver-gilt, of the usual double saucer-shape. The back is nearly flat. The greater part of the centre of the front is beaten up almost to a hemisphere on which is set a circular medallion of facetted topaz, covering a painting on silk of the Virgin and Child. Round the central beaten-up portion of the front is a border chased with scroll flower-work. The boss ECCLESIASTICAL METAL WORK. 191 itself is of plain silver overlaid with an arabesque cutwork enamelled, principally in dark green, and having also two cherubs, not enamelled. The centre of the back of the case is engraved with the emblems of the Passion surrounded by an inscription, and on the border running round the extreme edge an inscription is engraved in larger characters ; the sections are divided by con- ventional floriated ornaments. Inside, the case is entirely engraved, inscriptions running round the extreme borders. On the one side are the Virgin and Child; on the other (on the concave side of the coving of the front) is a representation of three angels sitting at a table on which are three chalices. The Virgin painted beneath the topaz is the Virgin of Tikhvine. The inscriptions are many and long, principally invocations : one inscription is: "Made in 711 (a.d. 1603) by Hermogenes, first metropolitan of Kazan." Some panagias of the portable kind are of wood, and some of ivory, to which we shall presently again refer. The carved ones of this kind are mostly of the same character, and seem invariably to have on the inside of the case the representation of the three angels. There is a curious panagia in the sacristy of the monastery of Troitsa formed of a moss agate set with diamonds. In the stone may very plainly be distinguished the form of a monk praying before a crucifix ; and if this is genuine and natural it is certainly one of the most remarkable of its kind. Many fine examples are amongst the reliquaries and crosses. In the treasury of the Kremlin is a magnificent reliquary of Vladimir II., made for the reception of a piece of the true cross. It is a kind of oblong frame of gold repousse with figures of Constantine Monomachus and his mother on each side of the cross, set with jewels and the figures edged with strings of pearls. We learn from the inscription that it was sent to Vladimir together with the crown, hat, and goblet, which are also preserved in the Kremlin. IQ2 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. Another in the cathedral of St. Sophia of Novgorod is of gold, set with precious stones and small cloisonne enamels. The cross is trefoil-shaped with a movable clasp on a hinge. An inscription is on the back dating from the sixteenth century. The enamels are in Persian style ; the piece may be from mount Athos but is in all likelihood Russian. An ancient reliquary for the true cross is in the treasury of the Kremlin and is said to have been brought by the metropolitan Alexis on his return from Constantinople in 1354. It is set in a rectangular frame of silver-gilt, engraved with arabesques and with figures of saints repouss'e. Although brought from Constanti- nople the style of the mounting would appear to be Russian work. The form of the Russian cross with its double arms is characteristic and remarkable. The upper added cross-piece is evidently a development of the titulus, and the lower that of the rest for the feet. It is a Latin cross on which the Saviour is represented dead. The development of the rest for the feet into an additional cross-piece is usually inclined at an angle, either on account of an idea of perspective or, as has been imagined, as the representation of the effect of the earthquake. Sometimes however, as in the reliquary last described, we find the cross to be simply double armed, the arms of almost equal length and placed the one immediately below the other. Whether the cross be either a part of a reliquary or a small ornamental cross it is usually placed in a field engraved with inscriptions or accessories, or bordered with another cross of different and perhaps more elaborate form. From the method of thus framing the cross probably came the additional arms; a development which was likely to extend and vary itself. Pectoral crosses for the dignitaries of the church are of course not uncommon ; not only priests, however, but every Russian man, woman, or child, carries a small cross more or less ornamental. There is perhaps no object of religious art in other countries of [Plate XXII. CROSS SURMOUNTING DOME OF A RUSSIAN CHURCH. ECCLESIASTICAL METAL WORK. which we have fewer beautiful examples than we should be inclined to expect than small crosses. The universal habit, however, of wearing them in Russia may be a reason why we there find more success in producing elegant examples than elsewhere, and few things are more unmistakeably Russian in their character than these small crosses. They are various in form and richness of decoration ; from the simple bronze cross, rudely stamped, of the peasant to the enamelled and jewelled one of the metropolitan or noble. Nearly always the plain three-armed cross is set in the centre of another more elaborate or conventional. Almost in- variably also the sacred monograms and invocations in Sclavonic characters are engraved on the field. In some cases it is more a medallion than a cross, the form of the cross being indicated by cutting out four segments in the manner of the ancient stone crosses to be seen in many parts of England. Besides the in- scriptions, emblems such as the spear and nails and crown of thorns are often to be distinguished though conventionally indi- cated. There is a good example in the museum (No. 4710 — '59), of a wooden cross covered with little pictures of the Passion ; the figures very minute and in relief. Crosses on church-tops are made of silver, wood, lead, and even gold. The open-worked designs of many of them, although intended to be placed at a great height, are extremely elegant. They were occasionally ornamented with coins, and those on churches erected by the Tzar are surmounted by an imperial crown. So various are the descriptions of crosses, both great and small, that a collection of illustrations of the many types would be artistically and archasologically most interesting. (Plate XXII.) A crescent as a symbol beneath the cross *s very frequent. Various explanations of this symbol have been given. According to some it is in remembrance of the victory of the cross over the crescent on the deliverance from the Mongol yoke. Others think it to have originated simply in the freak of some goldsmith, after- wards copied by others until it came to be accepted as a necessity. i94 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. It is certain that the use of the crescent is anterior to the Mongol invasion, and was an old symbol in Byzantium, as appears from coins. A proof of its use in Russia previously to the invasion is a cross with a crescent on the cathedral of St. Demetrius at Vladimir of the twelfth century. In the Menologium Grecorum (eleventh century) and in miniatures in Greco-Slav MSS. we find also the same symbol. The idea was no doubt imported from Greece, and, according to Maxim the Greek (who wrote towards the middle of the six- teenth century) the crescent represented the Greek upsilon, as the initial of m//os, the " lifting up of the cross." A processional cross of the seventeenth century (reproduced) of which the mountings are of silver gilt is western in character, though of good Russian workmanship. The original is in the sacristy of the patriarch. An altar cross or reliquary, which has been reproduced, is a characteristic specimen of the simple form ; an eight-armed cross of wood covered with silver-gilt plates. On the front are repousse' and chased the Saviour crucified, ministering angels, saints and flower-work. The back and sides are engraved with a diaper and with five Sclavonic inscriptions, four of which are on small square plates applique. They describe the relics enclosed, and also that the cross was made for the Tzar Alexis Michailovitch and given to the cathedral church on the 19th of March, 7128 (a.d. 1620). Very splendid specimens of book-binding for the large gospel or other service books are to be found in the monasteries and treasuries. At Troitsa the large copy of the gospels given by the Tzar Michael in 1632 has covers of gold elaborately repousse with magnificent enamel work, and set with a large number of fine precious stones. Another of the same character at the church of St. Michael in Moscow is the cover of one of the earliest copies of the gospel in Russia (a.d. 1125). From the Troitsa monastery a reproduction has been made of the covers of a gospel which are of later date (a.d. 1742). The ECCLESIASTICAL METAL WORK. upper cover is of silver-gilt having four angle pieces applied, the inner edges of which are scrolled and raised about an inch from the surface. These pieces are repousse with figures of the four evangelists, in rather high relief. The plaque beneath, forming the greater part of the cover, is entirely covered with an elegant repousse floriated scroll pattern, and in the centre is applied a nearly oval floriated scrolled-edge medallion, the border repousse with floral scrolls, fruit, and cherubs' heads and an imperial crown, with two angels holding up an oval laurel wreath, within which is the raising of Lazarus. The book has the imprint of Moscow, 1735, and was the gift of Pikazno'i Nikita Kameneff in 1742. The silver mark is that of Moscow, dated 1742. A pair of beautiful small book covers, which have been repro- duced, come from the collection of the early Russian Text Society of St. Petersburg. They are of silver-gilt engraved with a diaper of flowers and, in sunk compartments, with subjects from the life of Christ. The shrine which contains the incorruptible body of St. Sergius at Troitsa is a remarkable piece of metal work. It was the gift of Ivan the terrible (1533-1584), and is of silver weighing more than a thousand pounds. In 1757 the empress Elizabeth added to it a canopy and pillars of silver of great weight and elaborate workmanship. The pastoral staff of Russian bishops is tau-shaped ; and there are many good old examples, a few in ivory but for the most part in silver-gilt. Processional crosses are also used, and repro- ductions of both have been made. One of the former, that of the patriarch Philaret Nikivitch (1619 — 1633), is °f silver-gilt, hexagonal, diminishing slightly to the foot. It is embossed on the entire surface with vertical bands of floral arabesques of the character which we find so frequently on Russian metal work, and is enriched with three bosses set alternately with rubies and turquoises, and having above and below each a loose string of seed pearls. On the ends of the tau which is nearly semi-circular s 196 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. (the usual form) are two large sapphires ; on the top are inscrip- tions deeply engraved, and on the sides, in the same manner, the emblems of the Passion. Another of the same patriarch has for the head of the staff a curved tau-shaped piece of walrus ivory set in silver-gilt chased and nielloed at the extremities with representations of cherubim. On the top is the inscription in Sclavonic : " Philaret, patriarch of Moscow and of all the Russias." The upper boss is enriched with green enamel. On the second boss is engraved : " In the year 7201 (a.d. 1693), made by Adrian, patriarch of all the Russias," and above, " Government." On the third, " Punish- ment." On the fourth, " Confirmation." On the fifth, " Expiation." This also was originally the pastoral staff of Philaret and was not made for but repaired by Adrian. The tau of the pastoral staff of the patriarch Nikon (1652 — 1658) is more elaborate; a curved rams-horn shape, oriental in character, and of the Indo-Tartar type. The same form of ornament is to be found in the decoration springing from the base of the carved wood cross of the same patriarch. This cross is evidently copied from one which is described by M. Viollet le Due as Russian work, and although the latter is said to have come from mount Athos his opinion may be correct. It is a very fine piece of work with minute carvings of the Passion, the ornament just alluded to, which is so evidently inspired from an oriental source containing also similar minute representations. The so-called mount Athos cross is doubtless much earlier work than the time of Nikon. A tau of the patriarch Philaret in the treasury of the Kremlin is entirely of carved amber. The censer is a piece of church furniture in constant use in the Russo-Greek church, and we find several fine examples very characteristic of Russian art. As in the west, the application of architectural forms is very frequent, and it is not surprising that the peculiarities of Russian ecclesiastical ornament should be [Plate XXIII. GOLD CENSER, RUSSIAN, DATED 1598. S 2 ECCLESIASTICAL METAL WORK. 197 prominent and especially the dome which naturally suggests itself. A curious example is of late fourteenth or early fifteenth century, for the Sclavonic inscription says that it was made in the reign of the grand duke Wassili Dimitrivitch (1389-1425). This is in the sacristy of the monastery of Troitsa, and has been reproduced. The material is silver gilt in the shape of a square box on a small circular foot, having a lantern-shaped turreted cover. Representations of saints and of our Saviour on a throne are round the sides of the principal part in niches, repousse and chased. The thumb-piece is pyramid- shaped, beaten up in a corresponding manner to the cover. A silver-gilt censer in the monastery of St. Antony at Novgorod has its cover surmounted by five imbricated cupolas. The base is embossed with twisted gadroons alternately plain and repousse with floral work. Another has a single imbricated cupola, and a lobed base. Both are original with a marked character of Persian influence. Two very magnificent censers (both of which are reproduced) are in many respects identical. One comes from the church of the archangel Michael at Moscow, the other from the Troitsa monastery. Both are of pure gold and of large size. That from the Troitsa monastery has a square-shaped body with turreted cover terminating in a dome and cross, and with openings as windows, standing on an eight-lobed chalice-shaped stem and foot. The work is repousse and chased with the flower arabesque of the period, enriched with niello tracery. The foot is entirely ornamented with niello tracery, and with decorative inscriptions of interlaced Sclavonic letters in medallions. The chain is of simple oval links, with now and then a small cross ; the thumb-piece pyramid-shaped, beaten up in a corresponding manner to the cover and nielloed. The whole is profusely set with uncut precious stones in variously shaped settings. It is inscribed: "In the year 7124 (a.d. 1616) the 19th of May, by 198 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. order of the great sovereign Tzar and grand duke Michael Theodorovitch, autocrat of all the Russias in the fourth year of his reign was made this censer for the house of the livin°- Trinity and of our holy father Sergius and his disciple Nikon Thaumaturgus of Radonegus." The other censer differs only in that the lower part which holds the pan for the charcoal is engraved and nielloed with figures of saints and scriptural subjects. But it is of earlier date, the inscriptions stating that it was made for the Tzarina Alexandra Theodorovna (in religion Irene) in the year 1598. The figures on the lower part represent the archangel Michael at the head of the church and the celestial hierarchy amongst which, and chief of all, are the Tzar Theodore Ivanovitch and the Tzarina Irene. (Plate XXIII.) These two censers are excellent specimens of Russian work of about the end of the" sixteenth century. There is much in the decoration which indicates the oriental proclivities of Russian art. At the same time signs of western influence are not wantins. The employment of architectural form and of the cupola is striking. The interlaced Sclavonic inscriptions illustrate the highly decorative character that can be given to them. We find the hieratism of Byzantine iconography with its Russian distinc- tiveness preserved in the figures of saints and groups ; and the niello work is good. The chain is original in style, and the manner of inserting crosses in it is also curious. An oblong incense box of silver-gilt with roof-shaped hinged lid (reproduced) from the cathedral of the Assumption is a good specimen of the foliage work on a matted ground so often met with. From the long Sclavonic inscription on the base we learn that it was made for the patriarch Philaret in 1633. Two very elegant censers of the sixteenth century are represented in the Antiquities of the Russian Empire (I. 39). They are of silver, parcel-gilt with domes, and lobed or gadrooned in the usual manner. The whole surface is entirely covered with fine ECCLESIASTICAL METAL WORK. 199 embossed arabesque work, except where two bands of ornamental Sclavonic inscriptions run round the edges of the bowl and cover. Amongst the objects kept in the sacristy of the patriarchs is one which is held in especial veneration. This is the vase in which is preserved the deposit of holy chrism used in the annual preparation of holy oils for distribution to the various churches of the empire. The preparation of this oil is an occasion of great ceremony in Holy Week. From the fourth week in Lent the preliminary mixings of oil, wine, herbs, and a variety of different ingredients begin. In the Holy Week these ingredients are prepared in a public ceremony ; two large boilers, several bowls and sixteen vases together with other vessels, being used. All these are of great size of massive silver, and, presented by Catherine II. in 1767, are specimens of silver work of the time. The most important of these vessels is that named the alabastrofi, which is always kept on the altar of the sacristy. According to tradition this vase was sent to Kiev from Constan- tinople in the first years of Christianity in Russia. Each year a small quantity of the chrism is taken from it to mix with the newly made, from which an equal quantity is restored, so that the mixture shall always preserve a portion of the old ingredients. The vase is a kind of long-necked flacon with bulbous body, of the Persian type. It is of mother-of-pearl cloisonne' in gold, the neck having a collar set with turquoises, and surmounted by a cross set with rubies. It has been supposed that it is Persian work and that it came into Russia sometime in the seventeenth century. But in the absence of any proof of its origin there seems to be really no reason why the credit of the manufacture should not be attributed to a Russian workshop. Again, though the general aspect of the piece and its ornament of turquoises may suggest Persia, yet if we examine the form it would appear to be distinctly Russian. The bulbous body with the long neck is a striking adaptation of the Russian onion-shaped cupola. It may 200 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. be compared for instance not only for its form but also for its reticulated ornament to the cupola of the church of Our Lady of Georgia at Moscow. The reticulations on the neck are a common ornament in Russian work; and others on the body recall also those of a well-known capital of a Sassanian column at Bi-Sutoun. The jewelled cross would appear to be distinctly Sclavonic, of which we have many examples. The effect of the varying colours of the mother-of-pearl in the delicate gold setting with which the piece is entirely covered is very beautiful. There seems to be no reason why the Moscow artists of the seventeenth century should not have produced such a piece, or why they should have adapted (against their well-known prejudices) an article of profane use and infidel origin to such a sacred purpose. The uncertainty as to where it was made and our disposition to attribute it to a comparatively recent period supply, however, an instance of the difficulties which we have to contend with from want of records in dealing with examples of art in Russia. If any object should have a known history we might expect that this should have. But it has not. During the marriage ceremonies of the Greek Church it is the custom to hold crowns over the heads of the bride and bride- groom. These are kept in readiness in the churches. One of them has been reproduced. It is of silver-gilt, work of the seventeenth century, composed of a broad plain band widening and pointed with three points towards the centre ; the top edge is a Gothic pierced floriated cresting. The plain band is engraved in the centre with the Virgin and Child, St. Joachim and St. Anne. The original crown, which has the name of " the bridal diadem of the queens," is in the church of the Assumption at Moscow, together with a similar one called the marriage diadem of the kings. In shape these crowns resemble the ancient wooden or iron crowns used in the earliest times. The ceremony of the corona- tion preceded the giving of the rings and formed the preparatory ECCLESIASTICAL METAL WORK. 201 portion of the service. It was called the union of God with His church. The husband's ring was of gold and the wife's of iron or silver to mark the inferior position of the latter. In old ritual books we find a ceremony called " veiling " previous to the holding of the crowns over the heads of the couple to be wedded ; the crowns in the meanwhile lying on the altar. After the wedding the newly-married pair were called Prince and Princess. The custom is supposed to have originated from the fact that in the first century of Christianity in Russia only princes and boyards submitted to the marriage ceremony. This we find confirmed by the contemporary statements of the historian Nestor, and Jacob, chaplain to the metropolitan John, to the effect that the marriage ceremony be performed for simple folk as well as princes and boyards. Formerly the crowns were worn for seven days, but this and other ceremonies have long fallen into disuse, and the holding of the crowns over the heads during a part of the marriage service is alone retained. A very large bowl on a foot, with two handles, used in the service of the church for holy water or as a font has been reproduced. It is of silver parcel-gilt, seventeenth century work, the foot gadrooned in eight lobes repousse and coved up high. At the bottom of the bowl, inside, is a circular boss chased with the emblems of the Passion. Round the lip outside is a band with a long inscription in interlaced Sclavonic characters, telling us that the bowl was made by order of the patriarch Philaret, in the reign of the Tzar Michael Theodorovitch. The boss is inscribed with a prayer for the Tzar. A very tall standing candlestick of silver has been reproduced from the treasure of the patriarch. It is formed of a baluster- shaped stem on a circular foot. The socket is an acanthus bloom, the grease-pan bowl-shaped, embossed beneath with acanthus foliage and with pendant acanthus leaves. The knops are ornamented with applied cut-work bosses and collars engraved with strap-work and plain cartouches, and embossed with cherubs' 202 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. heads and garlands. A long inscription in Russian shows it to have been made in 1725 and presented to the synod by Catherine II. It is one of a pair, such candlesticks being made to stand on the steps of the altar. Paschal candlesticks are also used in the Greek church. Copies of illuminated paschal candles of enormous size may be found in the Antiquities of the Russian Empire. Vestments are often adorned with plaques of silver, gilt and nielloed with figures of saints and sacred subjects. That of the metropolitan Dionysius has twelve such plates. They are reproduced in detail in the Martinoff drawings and are good examples of Russian niello work, the minute character of which is somewhat similar in effect to an etching in pen and ink. In reviewing what specimens of Russian gold and silversmiths' work we have been able to select, and the objects which have been reproduced, it is impossible to help especially regretting the absence of information concerning them due to the want of authentic records. It is right here to repeat what has been more fully spoken of already. In other countries we often have the names of artists and of schools, and are able to distinguish styles and dates. Here we have little such information. We know that foreign artists from Persia, India, and the west must have abounded. We know that Russian artists must have gone to Constantinople and mount Athos for instruction ; but we know little more. Possibly records may exist in .the archives of the Kremlin with other details, but the information which we have been able to gather from the ancient inventories preserved there or in the monasteries and churches, is almost entirely confined to an account of weight or value, and to a minute enumeration of jewels and ornaments. Sometimes we find a note that an object was brought from such and such a place, but it is a question whether such information is to be more depended on than mere hearsay. From old inventories and registers a list of many names could ECCLESIASTICAL METAL WORK. no doubt be compiled, but we are unaware what precise information exists concerning most of them. A famous artist of the seventeenth century, however, was Simon Ouschakoff. His real name was Pimen. He was educated at the cost of the Tzar and became a master at the age of twenty- two, having entered the Tzar's service in 1648 at a salary of ten roubles in money and a certain allowance of wheat, oats, and rye. Besides being a painter, Ouschakoff was an artist in many branches of work. His chief employment in the Serebranny Palace was making designs for church vessels to be executed in gold. Records of the time describe him as a gold and silver worker, designer, and iconographist, and although very few of his works in metal can now be absolutely identified, no doubt many of them exist in the treasuries of the Kremlin and the patriarchal sacristy. Ouschakoff was one of the most active and diligent artists of the seventeenth century. Besides the painting of icons he painted also in fresco and designed all kinds of cups in metal, arms, and even sledges, charts, coins, &c. He is supposed to have been the maker of the mitre of the patriarch Nikon, already described, in which the enamelled work, especially at the upper part, is ex- tremely fine. Of icons painted by him the earliest now known is a polyptych in eight folds with life-sized figures. As a rule, iconographists were not allowed to sign their works. All thoughts of personality were excluded, the church ascribing to itself the entire honour. But towards the end of the seven- teenth century, besides the imperial artists, workshops were maintained by the nobles and even by some rich merchants. Competition became greater and signatures are more frequent. Ouschakoff not only signed some of his works, but marked also the place and date. This famous Russian artist, from his celebrity, the multiplicity of his work, and his favour at court and with the great, may be compared to Cellini. The archives of the arsenal of the ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. Kremlin contain frequent mention of him and of the salaries and allowances which he received. In 1670 the Tzar gave him a horse out of his own stables with an allowance of oats for it. An account of the life and works of Ouschakoff has been given by the learned Russian archseologist M. Filimonov, at the present time one of the keepers of the treasury and arsenal of the Kremlin. Other Moscow gold and silversmiths of renown were Paraschin, Schischka, and Makar. The Tzar Ivan the terrible was especially fond of enamel work. The inventory of the arsenal of 1584 gives the names of all the workmen who made the several pieces described. There were special masters for various branches : for instance, for lamps and censers. A recognised branch was that of " smith to the church," and each department of work had its own special name. Thus, Basmoiou (from the Tartar word Basma) indicated a man who worked the thin gold plates out of which the nimbuses of saints were made. In the sacristy of the church of the Assumption several objects are preserved concerning which the story is that they were sent from Rome by a certain St. Antony the Roman, inclosed in a cask which was picked up at Volkov, whither St. Antony himself followed, sailing from Rome upon a stone slab ; this slab has been built into the church-porch of the monastery which he founded there in the year 1106. A chalice and paten, which are among these traditionary things, are probably Russian of the sixteenth or seventeenth century. On another of the patens is enamelled the infant Saviour lying in a cradle, and above Him is a curious representation of the metal stand (spoken of a little before) which supports the veil covering the paten at the consecration of the Eucharist. Six enamelled plaques which are in the monastery of St. Antony at Novgorod are also said to have been brought over by St. Antony. Three of them have a seated figure of Christ with a glory in which are the symbols of the evangelists; on the other three is the Crucifixion. The enamel is champleve', the figures engraved, and the heads in ECCLESIASTICAL METAL WORK. 205 relief; the backgrounds enamelled in blue and white, and green and yellow. These are probably Limoges work of the fourteenth century, and their presence is interesting as a* proof of intercourse with the west which could not have been without influence on Russian art. Fine pieces of enamel in colour on a gold ground (the Cruci- fixion and the Resurrection), work of the Rhenish school of the twelfth century, are in the treasure of the cathedral of Vladimir. They are attributed to the grand duke Andrew Bogoliubsky (1154-1175), and in the chronicle of Ipatiev (1175) mention is made of the works in enamel that the prince of Souzdal gave to the churches. We learn also from other chronicles that he brought to his court artists of all countries. Carvings in ivory form a considerable part of the religious art of most Christian countries. Byzantine ivories are well known and it is somewhat surprising that we should find in Russian art only few examples. That we do not find them commonly in the religious art of the country prepares us not to expect a frequent use of ivory in secular work ; the two are so closely connected. Mr. Westwood {Fictile Ivories, p. 491) says that he found no ivories of importance either as regards antiquity or excellence of workmanship in the museums of St. Petersburg or Moscow. Two remarkable pieces may, however, be described, as good of their kind as if they had been picked out of a large number of others which would have proved that the art was so much cultivated as to lead to great excellence. The first of these is a plaque or tablet in the Soane museum, Lincoln's Inn Fields. The subject is the glorification of the Virgin Mary. She is seated on a throne holding the infant Saviour on her lap. Around her are angels, and beneath a vast concourse of saints. In the background is a Russian church with five cupolas, flanked by very conventional trees. The little figures, three-quarters of an inch high, are sculptured with the greatest care, so that even the distinctions in their 2o6 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. ecclesiastical robes can be clearly made out, and there are also most minute Sclavonic inscriptions in various parts of the piece. It is of about the sixteenth century ; and in the Vatican there is an ivory so similar as to be almost a duplicate. Another wonderful carving in ivory is a panagia of about the seventeenth century in the museum of the Vatican. It is of the double-saucer-shaped kind already mentioned. In the centre of one half is the usual representation of the Trinity, and round it are ten small circles containing passages in the life of Christ. In the open spaces are Sclavonic inscriptions and a very long one runs round the rim. It is not easy to assign a date to such objects or to distinguish Russian from Greek work. There are certain indications, how- ever, that will help us, such as the peculiar distinctions of the iconography of the Russian church; for instance, the repre- sentation of the Trinity, or the attributes of saints. We may distinguish also the forms of cupolas, and we know that the number of five of these is a comparatively late observance. Sclavonic instead of Greek inscriptions would also probably indicate Russian work. Casts of the two pieces just described are in the South Kensington Museum. There are few original pieces of Russian metal work of im- portance in the South Kensington Museum. Amongst them are several small crosses illustrating some of the many decorative forms and enamel work. A polyptych of the seventeenth century in a silver-gilt case with enamels in filagree imbrications (434.73) is an illustration of that description of religious iconography and of enamel work : and there are three small triptychs, one with leaves carved in wood with figures of saints, another of brass with paintings on wood, and another also of brass, with coarse enamel of the common kind used by peasants. A tall cup or beaker of silver, parcel-gilt, is of a not un- common character, covered with imbricated scales and with a Sclavonic inscription round the lip. A small silver cup is ECCLESIASTICAL METAL WORK. 207 dish-shaped in the bowl, with a star of ten points in the middle, incrusted with enamel in black, white, and blue. Another is Tula niello work dated 1792. Other pieces are quite modern specimens. Two small repousse silver bowls (Nos. 96 and 97, 1882) are worth notice. The subject on one of them is Orpheus charming the -beasts, within a border of foliage, birds, and animals. On the other is a figure of St. John the Baptist. They are called sixteenth-century Italian work, but are Russian work not improbably of the seventeenth century. Amongst the reproductions we have several examples of bratini and czarki and copies of the tabernacles or zions already mentioned. PECTORAL CROSS- CHAPTER IX. ARMS AND ARMOUR. The history of Russia for the first centuries of its existence as a nation is a record of almost perpetual feud and dissension. From its position the empire was exposed to attacks, and its own efforts at aggrandisement kept it in a constant state of warfare. We should therefore expect to find the military profession to be almost universal, and that the arms themselves should be ob- jects upon which much care for excellence and great profusion of ornament would be lavished. There are two great public collections of arms in Russia. The first, that of the special museum of arms attached to the palace of Tzarskoe-Selo near St. Petersburg, is scarcely rivalled by any similar collection, if indeed as regards oriental arms there are any that approach it. The second, the armoury of the Kremlin at Moscow, is more particularly of national interest. There are but few specimens of Russian armour amongst the objects reproduced in Russia and now at South Kensington ; but from both the collections just mentioned several fine pieces of European armour of the middle ages have been reproduced. From the arsenal of Tzarskoe-Selo we have a considerable number of remarkable specimens of Italian and German arms ; and one or two Russian from that of the Kremlin. The imperial palace of Tzarskoe-Selo is a favourite resi- dence of the emperors, situated about fifteen miles from St. ARMS AND ARMOUR. Petersburg. It dates from the time of Catherine the second and is of great size and magnificence. A small and unpretending building which stands within its precincts half-hidden in the woods which surround it was built by the emperor Nicholas for the reception of the collection of arms begun by his predecessors and greatly added to by himself. The building itself, of a hybrid kind of architecture without the least merit, was erected by an English architect. It is not large, consisting of a central part flanked by four towers, and contains fifteen rooms in which are systematically arranged the arms of various countries. The emperor Nicholas I. was ex- tremely fond of fine arms : and was accustomed to call a sabre taken from a Turkish pasha on the Danube "the ancestor of his arsenal." The campaigns in Persia and Turkey in the early part of this century and the war in the Caucasus contributed largely to form the oriental collection, to which were added in 1843 important acquisitions from Delhi and Calcutta. In 1852 the fine collec- tion of oriental harness embroidered and studded with precious stones from the museum of the imperial stables, and the many magnificent arms collected by Peter the great, together with those of the grand duke Michael, were divided; the oriental arms and those of the middle ages in Europe going to Tzarskoe- Selo, the others to another palace. Many fine acquisitions had been made previously to 1830, amongst them the Russian collec- tion of the painter Orloffsky, Polish arms after the wars in Poland, and several other private collections rich in superb specimens of Italian, German, and Spanish armour of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. In 1861 the whole of the oriental collection of prince Soltikoff was acquired by private treaty. In the year 1842 the emperor Nicholas gave a memorable fete, the principal attraction of which was a grand tournament, at which he and the members of his court wore some of the fine suits of armour. The emperor himself wore a splendid suit of 2IO ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. fluted armour of the time of Maximilian. Nothing, however, could induce the horses to bear patiently the suits of iron armour which in the middle ages they were accustomed to wear, and at last the attempt had to be abandoned and caparisons of flowing stuffs substituted. The arsenal at Tzarskoe-Selb is now divided into the following principal apartments. On the ground-floor is the hall of modern fire-arms, containing the finest and rarest specimens. The " Cabinet " contains the chefs cCceuvres of the arms of the middle ages, and the " Empress' Room " is also principally moyen-dge. The library has a miscellaneous collection of arms, Russian historical objects, and small objects (other than arms), together with a fine library of works relating to arms and armour. Next there are the Albanian room ; the staircase, with trophies of various kinds and objects requiring close inspection ; the " Knights' Hall " in which are trophies and figures on horseback and on foot ; the Russian room, devoted to Russian and Polish arms ; the Turkish room, with the arms of European and Asiatic Turkey ; the Hindoo-Mussulman room, with the arms of Khorassan, India, and the extreme east. In 1840 a first catalogue (a limited number of copies) was printed. It was rather an inventory and included 2,747 numbers. Soon afterwards, the publication of the fine work known as the Musk de Tzarskoe-Selb was begun. This consists of 180 litho- graphed plates with a short text, the plates after the beautiful water-colour drawings by Rockstuhl which are preserved in the arsenal. The book was published by Velten in 1853-55. Another edition appeared in 1869, some plates in chromo- lithography being added. The arsenal is exceedingly rich in suits of the fluted armour known as Maximilian armour, and in the finely repousse Italian helmets and shields of the sixteenth century, but it is above all remarkable for the elaborately decorated specimens of oriental arms and armour, of Persia, Hindostan, the Caucasus, Albania, ARMS AND ARMOUR. 211 Georgia, Afghanistan, Asia minor, and the rest of the east. In Mongol and Russian arms (as might be expected) the collection is as complete as possible. It may readily be imagined that in a nation so persistently engaged as Russia has been in warfare, and imbued with oriental ideas, a great magnificence of ornament should be applied to the decoration of arms and armour. Hence in the varied forms and ornaments of helmets, coats of mail, swords, shields, spears, maces, saddlery and harness, we find a variety of taste for rich arms ; and as fine specimens of the decorative work of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries as we should meet with on objects of domestic use. Engraving in niello, damascening, enamelling, inlaying with gold and silver, and charging with jewels, were called in to enrich in every way the arms of parade for the use of the Tzars and the boyards of their courts. There are in England and in the great continental armouries magnificent collections of oriental arms. Those of Russia are not, however, largely represented ; but they do not differ very greatly, and more particularly as regards decorations, from the Indian and especially the Persian arms. The forms are very similar, and there is a like use of enamel and a lavish profusion of colour produced by the setting of large numbers of precious stones of various colours in the oriental manner. The earliest Russian arms preserved in the armoury of the Kremlin go back to the thirteenth century, but they are few in number nor are there many specimens until we come to com- paratively modern times. At the time of the Tartar invasion under Timour the arms of both contending armies were probably much alike. It is possible that the use of gunpowder was known, but we do not find in the chronicles of the time any allusion to matchlocks. The soldiers were armed with bows and arrows and swords, with maces and clubs, and they wore helmets and coats of mail. There was then no plate armour, properly speaking, amongst T 2 212 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. Russian equipments. The defence consisted principally of the low hemispherical or conical helmet with back and ear-pieces and a nasal more or less damascened with gold, of a type common in Persia and a great part of the east, and of coats of mail or tunics thickly quilted with cotton. Richard Chancellor in the account of his voyages (1553) speaks of the army of the Tzar, of which he says " all the men are horsemen. The horsemen are all archers with such bows as the Turks have, and they ride short, as do the Turks. Their armour is a coat of plate, with a skull on their heads. Some of their coats are covered with velvet or cloth of gold; their desire is to be sumptuous in the field, and especially the nobles and gentlemen ; as I have heard their trimming is very costly, but the duke himself is richly attired above all measure : his pavilion is covered either with cloth of gold or silver, and so set with stones that it is wonderful to see it." As in India and Persia, the swords, helmets, maces and arms of the Tzars and principal chiefs were elaborately fashioned and adorned with gold and jewels, with jade and enamel, and the arms themselves coming in considerable quantities from those countries or being copied in the workshops of Moscow and other centres changed little in fashion for centuries, and preserved their peculiar character. We may imagine this to have been the case previously to the sixteenth century, for we have few specimens of Russian armour before that time. The Russian armourers excelled in their art. They were renowned for the preparation of steel, for the damascening and nielloing, for enamelling and the incrustation of precious stones. Moscow was celebrated for the excellence of its blades, and they were of many different forms, for we find mention in the registers of the Kremlin of blades made in the Muscovite, Circassian, Hungarian, Turkish, Lithuanian, Persian and German styles. The workshops of Moscow which sent out even as far as Persia, ARMS AND ARMOUR. 213 Scandinavia, Poland and Hungary, specimens of their skill in goldsmiths' work, sent also arms, and supplied the Caucasus with coats of mail and with fine steel damascened helmets of a kind similar to that of Alexander Nevski, and to that of which a re- production has been made. The coats of mail and the helmets of the Moscow armourers were of very fine workmanship, and greatly valued. Boris Godounoff sent as a present to the Shah of Persia " the magnificent coat of mail with plaques damascened in gold, called 'mirror armour.'" This is now in the armoury of the Kremlin and bears the name of the maker, Konovaloff, and the date 1604. Coats of mail did not admit of decoration in enamel or jewels. Their excellence lay in the fineness and strength of the interlaced ringwork of which they were composed. The armoury of Tzarskoe-Selo possesses fine specimens of Russian arms : in general character like the rich arms of India and Persia. Sabres and their mountings of the seventeenth century are often etched or otherwise engraved with inscriptions in Russian and sometimes with figures of saints. Amongst the arms of the fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, we often find damascened blades of oriental work afterwards deco- rated by Russian artists with figures, inscriptions, enamel, and other ornament. Some of the armourers at the court of the Tzar were famous ; such as Michael Wassiliev and Ivan Michailov in the time, so remarkable for magnificence, of Alexis Michailovitch. Besides arms, the handles of hunting-knives and smaller knives were enamelled with flowers in brilliant colours in a very characteristic manner, as in the specimen reproduced in chromo- lithography for the series of portfolios of national arts in the South Kensington Museum. Some — as those of the boyard Nikita Ivanovitch Romanoff (1655), or the sabre of prince Dimitri Pojarski (1578-1642), on the blade of which is incrusted the figure of an angel in gold, enamelled in colours — give an idea of the high character of the Russian enamellers of the period. ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. A common form of helmet was the dome-shaped, more or less pointed, with ear and neck pieces and with a guard for the face in the form of a movable arrow-shaped piece or nasal. Fine specimens, such as that called the helmet of Alexander Nevski, were most richly damascened in gold with arabesques and Arabic inscriptions and jewelled. The helmet of Alexander Nevski is attributed by tradition to that monarch, who reigned in the middle of the thirteenth century. In the inventory of 1687 it is, however, referred to as the " Mikitina, the work of Davidoff," who was a famous armourer of the time of the Tzar Michael Theodorovitch. The workman- ship is decidedly oriental, the Arabic inscription being from the Koran : " Help from God, the revelation is drawing nigh, which is announced to the faithful." It appears that in the reign of Michael Theodorovitch this helmet was ornamented with jewels, and a medallion enamelled with a figure of St. Michael the arch- angel (the work of Davidoff) was added above the nasal. At that time, probably, the crowns surmounted with crosses were also added. Helmets of the same style, such as the one which has been reproduced, and without the Arabic lettering, may be attributed to the Moscow workshops. A cone or half egg-shaped helmet {Antiquities of the Russian Empire, III. Plate 14), is decorated with figures of saints and other ornaments in silver-gilt repousse, and has a half-mask of steel covering exactly the nose and cheeks, the sides and back of the head being protected by chain-mail. Such masks, either whole or in part and often imitating the human face in a grotesque manner, appear to have been not uncommon. The coat of mail of the Tzar Michael Theodorovitch, already spoken of as having been sent to the Shah of Persia by Boris Godounoff, is of peculiar and characteristic form. It is composed of several plaques of steel arranged in zigzag parallel lines united by iron chain work. The surfaces of the plaques are corrugated, polished, and richly damascened with gold. In the centre of the ARMS AND ARMOUR. back and front are two large plaques on which are the arms of Russia, with interlaced Sclavonic characters. It would be impossible to follow here the different arms to be found in the Russian collections, nor is it necessary to allude to them, further than as they may be remarkable for their decorative character. When we come to the reign of Alexis Michailovitch, of whose time we have so many works most richly ornamented, we find also the arms partaking of the general magnificence. A bow- case and a quiver are of the same character and workmanship as the barmt, sceptre and globe, the work of Ivan Iouriev, which have already been described ; and there are several other state bow and arrow cases, recalling the ancient Scythian form, of various precious materials and elaborately enamelled and jewelled. Maces or masses darmcs appear to have been used in all coun- tries in the middle ages. They came probably from Asia, and several specimens are in the Russian armouries, either adapted for use in war or more properly speaking as sceptres. One of these has been reproduced. It is of silver-gilt, the knob repousse' with strap and scroll patterns on matted grounds, inclosed in diamond- shaped compartments, with a plain cabochon-shaped boss in the centre of each. The staff is in five divisions, alternately of plain silver and silver-gilt, chased with scroll flower- work on a matted ground. Other examples of various forms, and some of a highly decorative character, are illustrated in the Antiquities of the Russian Empire. Amongst them are those of the kind of which the heads are provided with wings or projections ; others have the handles richly damascened, nielloed, or enamelled, or thickly studded with jewels. Maces are the most ancient form of arms. In a savage state the aboriginal naturally uses some kind of club. Nails and pieces of iron are afterwards added. After a time it is wholly in metal. Soon it becomes ornamental also ; and for greater offence the rounded head is divided into cutting edges or wings, from two to six or eight or more. Battle-axes were of various forms, some being for the use of the 2l6 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. state guards of the Tzars on official occasions. We see these represented in the illustrations to the accounts of the embassies from various foreign countries, such as that of Olearius. One of them has been reproduced. It is of silver-gilt, the crescent- shaped steel blade damascened with gold ; the handle of the usual arabesque design. A head of a spear of the fifteenth century (reproduced) is very curious. It is a plain blade set in a shaft of silver-gilt ; the latter is engraved with figures in outline on a matted or file-marked ground ; and there are two bands of inscription in Sclavonic stating it to be the " rogatina " of the grand duke Boris Alexeivitch. Two powder-flasks in horn in the armoury of Tzarskoe Selb are good specimens of the work of the goldsmiths and enamellers of Moscow. Their form is the same as that still used in the Cau- casus and the greater part of the east. They are mounted in silver-gilt overlaid with filagree flower-work, enamelled mostly in blue, white, and green of the quiet tone and harmony character- istic of much Russian work of the kind ; the style and design being probably of the middle of the seventeenth century. Another pair of powder-flasks or priming-horns of the seven- teenth century have been reproduced from the armoury of the Kremlin. One is a circular box repousse' and chased in high relief on both sides, the design on one side having St. George and the dragon, and a border of foliage; the other side (which is convex) is chased in the centre with an eagle attacking a dragon ; round these is a border of leaves interspersed with birds and animals, all on a matted ground. An inscription in Russian running round the edge between the two plaques records that the flask belonged to Athanasius Ivanovitch Nesteroff. The second powder-flask is a circular box within which is also a watch. One side is convex, the centre chased with a coat of arms with a border of scroll leaf-work, squirrels and a bird, on a matted ground. Outside, forming the border, is a band of ara- besque, nielloed, and the same ornament on the edge. The ARMS AND ARMOUR. 217 thumb-piece is a group of a dragon on a lion. The lid of the watch-case is engraved and nielloed with a coat of arms, and a border as on the other side. Banners richly embroidered and decorated with holy pictures were employed in Russia from a very early period. Many of these are religiously preserved in the Kremlin. An excellent idea of their character may be gathered from the Antiquities of the Russian Empire (Plates III., 1, 2, 3), and they deserve attention in connection with iconographic art and miniatures. Referring to the arms and accoutrements of the Russians, Herberstein in his Notes on Russia (1549) tells us: "They have small horses, unshod and with very light bridles, and their saddles are so adapted that they may turn round in any direction without impediment and draw the bow. They sit on horseback with the feet so drawn up that they cannot sustain any more than a com- monly severe shock from a spear or javelin. "Very few use spurs, but most use the whip, which always hangs from the little finger of the right hand so that they may lay hold of it and use it as often as they need ; and if they have occasion to use their arms they let it fall again so as to hang from the hand. Their ordinary arms are a bow, a javelin and a hatchet, and a stick like a cestus, which is called in Russian kesteni. The more noble and wealthy men use a lance. They have also suspended from their arm oblong poniards like knives, which are so buried in the scabbard that they can scarcely touch the tip of the hilt or lay hold of them in the moment of necessity. They have also a long bridle perforated at the end, which they attach to a finger of the left hand so that they may hold it at the same time that they use the bow. . . . Some of the higher classes use a coat of mail beauti- fully worked on the breast with a sort of scales, and with rings ; some few use a helmet of a peaked form like a pyramid. Some use a dress made of silk stuffed with wool to enable them to sustain any blows. They also use pikes." It may be observed as an illustration of the conservatism of 2l8 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. Russia that the whip of which he speaks is doubtless the nogaik that we find in the Koul-Oba tomb, the whip of the Cossacks and of the modern sledge-driver ; and that the oblong poniard was perhaps also the a/ava/o/s derived from their Scythian ancestors. Herberstein further mentions in the equipment of the Tzar "From his girdle hung small knives, after the fashion of the country, as well as a dagger ; behind him hung below his girdle a kind of weapon like a cestus, such as they commonly use in war. The handle is somewhat more than a cubit long with a thong of two palms length attached to it, at the end of which is a knob or kind of block of brass or iron which is gilt all over. At the right side of the prince was the banished king of Kazan named Scheale and on the left two young knesi (princes) one of whom carried an ivory hatchet which they call tofiar, very like what we see stamped on Hungarian coins. The other carried a club also like an Hungarian club, which they call schest-pero, which means six-winged." Besides the great collection of oriental arms, the arsenal of Tzarskoe Selo is rich in the possession of numerous specimens of western mediaeval armour ; and especially of the gorgeously decorated Italian and German arms of the sixteenth and seven- teenth centuries. Reproductions of several fine pieces have been made from this collection. So much has been written on the subject of the fine arms of this period that there is no reason to refer to it at any length. They may be studied with great completeness in the famous arsenals and great collections of Paris, Vienna, Dresden, Madrid and in our own country, and illustrated volumes descriptive of their contents are within our reach in most public libraries. We are now enabled to examine careful reproductions of a few ex- amples from the collection at Tzarskoe Selo, a collection which, if not without a rival, at least holds its own amongst the other great armouries and can boast of some very remarkable pieces. From the end of the fifteenth century the fashion of richly ARMS AND ARMOUR. 219 decorated armour grew to be more and more prevalent until it became almost exaggerated. Plate armour at the time of its in- troduction in the beginning of the fourteenth century was valued arid used chiefly for its defensive qualities. In the fifteenth century there were already signs of a more highly decorative style than had hitherto prevailed, At that time the ornament was chiefly due to hammered work and to the graceful lines produced by corrugating or fluting the polished steel surface. The arsenal of Tsarskoe Selo abounds in armour of this kind. One of the suits was worn by the emperor Nicholas I. at the tournament in 1842, already referred to. In all European countries the sixteenth century brought with it an application to armour of the general magnificence in the arts which prevailed at that time. The style of the plate armour lent itself easily to decoration, and the goldsmith and jeweller, the engraver, the worker in enamel and niello and damascening were called in to execute designs which the most renowned artists furnished. Helmets, breast-plates and other parts of the body armour, and the large round shields or bucklers were covered with arabesques or with elaborately wrought out histories executed in repousse' work. The wildest fancy and the most exuberant imagi- nation had ample scope to display themselves over the broad fields on which they could work, and to which effects of colour could be given by the gold inlay of damascening. Niello and enamel work heightened the richness, and even jewels were em- ployed. In the handles of the swords and in the massive sheaths of smaller weapons (for instance daggers) goldsmiths, such as Cellini himself, could display their highest art. Of work attributed to the great Italian (which means little more than that it would not be unworthy of him) we have from this collection a finely embossed dagger-sheath in silver-gilt, and the handle of a sword. Such sword handles in iron were often chased with figures and groups in relief, and the complicated form of the guard added to the effect. 220 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. Of all countries Italy excelled. The artists and workmen of Milan were celebrated not only for their elegant designs but for excellence of workmanship and wonderful work in relief. Nor can we be surprised when we find engaged the talent of a Michael Angelo or a Cellini and others scarcely less celebrated as designers of arms. Most great collections possess specimens of such arms made for royal houses — for Charles V., Henry II., or for Francis L, or Alfonso d' Este, all of whom were passionately fond of fine arms. The armourers of Germany were not less famous. Celebrated workmen lived at Augsburg, Nuremberg and other great cities. It is only within the last few years that the credit of the design of the most famous suits in the great French armoury, long attributed to Italy has been restored to Germany, by the discovery at Munich of the original designs. When fire-arms became more common they were equally with other arms the objects of elaborate decoration. The barrels and every portion of long pistols were covered with chasings and with ornaments damascened in gold and silver ; and if of wood were inlaid with groups and scenes in engraved ivory. Often, as in an example of a long German pistol which has been reproduced from the collection of Tzarskoe Selb, the entire surface was chased with arabesques and figures in high relief. The powder- flasks and other accessories also lent themselves naturally to the skill of the sculptor and chaser in wood, ivory, or the metals, or to workers in embossed leather. The number of pieces selected for reproduction from the arsenal at Tzarskoe Selb amounts to twenty-nine. They are principally Italian armour of the sixteenth century with five pieces of German armour of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The suit of armour of Sforza Pallavicino is unfortunately not complete; all that now remains being the helmet, shield and right arm-piece, with a gauntlet. Of these the helmet and shield ARMS AND ARMOUR. 221 have been reproduced. Both pieces are of admirable design and execution. They give some idea of what must have been the extraordinary beauty of the entire suit to which they belonged. The helmet is of peculiar and unusual form ; a pointed oval. It is open, without a vizard but with large cheek guards. The shield is circular. Both are of iron repousse', the entire surfaces richly damascened with gold in the finest style of the renaissance. In the centre of the shield and on each side of the helmet, in relief, on a ground strewn with arabesques of the most delicate design is the device of the family of Pallavicino. The crest is a hydra passant, the heads raised and hissing; and holding in its claws a bandelette with the motto " VT CVMQVE." This is repeated eight times in the oval medallions round the edge of the shield. The whole of the ground of the two pieces (and probably of the entire suit) is covered with the arabesque damascening before mentioned. Three other repousse and gold-damascened circular shields have been reproduced. The first presents a series of biblical subjects ; the victory of Saul over the Ammonites, the combat of David and Goliath, the history of Judith and Holofernes, etc. The figures and in general all the parts repousse', except the flesh, are damascened in gold. With this shield is the helmet, in the same style, and both pieces are said to have belonged to Charles V. They were taken in Spain during the Peninsular war, and bought in Paris in 1836. Another circular shield is repousse with five medallions ; having in the centre Mars, in the four outer ones the personifications of "Prudentia," " Fortitudo," "Fama," " Invidia." The other ornament consists of birds, trophies, flowers, fruit, grotesque figures, and the bird-emblem of the family of Cosmo I. grand duke of Tuscany, whence the shield is known as the shield of the Medici. The third shield is repousse with a rich classical composition of several figures, amongst which there appears to be a vestal carrying water. A circular shield (reproduced), also Italian of the sixteenth 222 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. century, is repousse and chased with a battle scene. Two camps are situated opposite one another ; there are attacks and sorties, and in one part a fire rages. The soldiers on both sides are in Roman armour, and on the tents on the one side banners fly with St. Andrew's cross, on the other with crescents. The boss which is pointed represents a mountain shaded with trees, on one of which are an owl and two crows. The execution is extremely good, and the manner in which the boss is beaten up out of the same metal as the shield without being in any way attached or soldered is an artistic peculiarity to be remarked on most fine pieces of the kind and period. A Milanese bourguignote of the sixteenth century is a good specimen of the remarkable hammered work of which helmets of this period were made. Great authorities say that they are beaten out of one piece of metal. Even the high crest, in this case formed of a sphinx, is said to have been of the same piece as the remainder without any join. The secret of such work has been long entirely lost, and if the assertion be correct it is a test of the authenticity of pieces of the period. Very many clever forgeries have been made, but the imitation has never been carried so far. In some cases a genuine plain helmet has been used and repousse, but it has been done in two halves, afterwards soldered together. The ornament of this piece consists of flower-work, masks, and figures in black detached on a gilt ground. In the centre is an episode in the history of David and Goliath. This bourguignote is known, though without authority beyond its having been so named in the collection of a French amateur from whence it came, as the helmet of the chevalier Bayard. The remaining Italian helmet of the sixteenth century reproduced is of the class known as a morion. It is of iron with a high crest and turned up brim, repousse in one piece of metal, the ornament consisting of masks, figures of women, &c. ARMS AND ARMOUR. 223 Two fragments of the front and back pieces of an Italian cuirass in iron of the sixteenth century are admirable speci- mens of design and repousse work. The ornament consists of two griffins affrontes with very elegant scroll flower-work and masks. Pikes and halberts are represented by a halbert or partisan of the time of Louis XIV. and another of one of the dukes of Savoy. The pike introduced into France by the Switzers in the reign of Louis XI. was the old lance or spear of cavalry adapted to infantry, and soon became general in Europe. A partisan was commonly a blade with lateral projections, but the derivation and exact meaning of the term are uncertain. It was an arm which partook somewhat both of the pike and the halbert, having only two wings usually of crescent form, and was often engraved with arms and devices. Partisans of the guard of Louis XIV. bore generally an image of the sun with the device " Nec pluribus impar." The partisan of the guard of the dukes of Savoy (reproduced) is an Italian arm of the sixteenth century, of iron, open-worked and decorated with two coats of arms, the croix potencee of Jerusalem and the collar of the Annonciada. An Italian stirrup of the second half of the sixteenth century is one of a pair of parade stirrups in iron, chased with a rich design of flowers and interlaced work, and with trophies of arms on a ground worked in pointille. A long Italian sixteenth-century sword is remarkable for the very elegant disposition of the guards. These are of iron and are chased with small battle subjects. The blade is from Toledo, open-worked for some distance from the hilt and of extraordinary length. The small chasings have unfortunately suffered from the effect of repeated cleanings but the great elegancy of the form of the guards remains. Every one knows that it is a common practice to attribute the origin of any exceptionally fine Italian piece of goldsmiths' or silversmiths' work of the middle of the sixteenth century, to 224 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. Benvenuto Cellini. This is done without any evidence beyond the piece itself, and often admits of contradiction. Take for instance, an elaborately chased silver-gilt dagger sheath which has been reproduced from the collection at Tzarskoe Selb, with the usual attribution to the great artist. Proof there is absolutely none, and although all will allow it to be a remarkable piece of very skilful workmanship, still, good judges may be disinclined to admit that it bears on the face of it evidence of the absolute purity of taste which is bound to characterise the work of Cellini. The sheath and guard and ornaments of the hilt of the dagger are of massive silver-gilt, chased with an elaborate composition comprising very many minute figures of which a number are in full relief. The handle, which is of agate with a band of metal down each side enriched with turquoises, is surmounted by a heavy knob. The guard is an elegant and fanciful scroll leaf work, terminating in monsters' heads and curving inwards towards the blade ; the upper part of the latter is ornamented with an arabesque damascening. The sheath ends with a knob of the same kind as that on the top of the hilt. The entire surface is covered with chased work in high relief. On the knob of the hilt is represented the judgment of Paris. The story on the sheath is the rape of Helen, occupying the long centre panel of one side. On the other side, and filling up also the remaining spaces on both sides, the ornament consists of masks, flowers and fruit, a chimsera, caryatides, figures and arabesques. Within the sheath are a knife and single pronged fork, the bronze handles damascened with an arabesque pattern in gold. There can be no question that the fine modelling of the small figures, the groups, the horses, and the perfection of the chasing warrant the high reputation that this splendid dagger has attained. It must have been made for some great prince of the time, for a Julian de Medicis or a Francis I., and we have to ARMS AND ARMOUR. 225 regret that it has no authentic history, or any inscription, coat of arms, or other indication to show us who was its first owner. It formed part of the collection of Peter the great, and was for some time kept in the museum of the Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg. Possibly the Tzar brought it back with him from one of his journeys in Europe. In German armour of the sixteenth century reproductions have been made of the chanfrin or headpiece of a suit of horse armour, a shield, and a manteau d'armes or shoulder shield ; and, of the seventeenth century, a hunting sword and a long pistol. The chanfrin is of steel with bands of ornament engraved and gilt, and with the coat of arms of Ferdinand -I. as king of Hungary and Bohemia. The shield is circular engraved in aquafortis with the celestial signs and attributes and is a remarkable specimen of the peculiar style, and possibly the work of Heinrich Aldegrever. Manteaux d'armes were a kind of shoulder shield affixed to the armour by screwing on to the left shoulder. The present example is engraved in aquafortis and divided into lozenge-shaped compartments by raised bands crossing each other worked in repousse. Meyrick (Plate ix. vol. I.) describes a shield of this kind. " It bears on it the arms of Bavaria which are checquy expressed by raised lines about half a finger thick. On this account and as it came from the arsenal of Munich it may have belonged to Albert V. duke of Bavaria from 1550 to 1.579." An iron pistol is a very magnificent arm of great length, chased on the entire surface with an immense variety of hunting subjects and figures. On the barrel are seven of the muses, and on the knob forming the butt six compartments with masks and the cipher H. T., crowned. We conclude the notice of the arms which have been reproduced with a small French powder-flask of the seventeenth century. It is of iron and was a powder-flask of one of the musqueteers of u 226 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. Louis XIV. The form is a flattened pear-shape, damascened with gold and silver. On a matted ground are trophies of arms and wreaths, within which is the eagle of Jupiter with the device Quo jussa Jovis. There is a key for a wheel-lock and a small screw-driver. The emblem and device were those adopted by Maxunilien de Bethune due de Sully when made grand master of artillery in France in 1601. CHAPTER X. ENGLISH PLATE IN RUSSIA. One of the most interesting results of the visit to Russia, as shown in the collection of reproductions, has been the procuring copies of a large number of important pieces of English plate. These are for the most part in the treasury of the Kremlin : and it is scarcely too much to say that they were previously almost unknown. In the days of the early Tzars it seemed necessary to conciliate them in accordance with oriental fashion by presents and inter- change of valuable objects ; magnificence and profusion reigned in their court and surroundings. To this custom we may certainly attribute the presence of the many pieces of English silver plate which we find in Russia, and though records con- cerning many of them are now wanting, still we are able to identify some at least as presented by different ambassadors ; and especially by the earl of Carlisle in his famous embassy to the Muscovite court in the year 1663. Besides the treasury of the winter palace of the Kremlin and the patriarchal sacristy, the only important treasury visited has been that of Troitsa, where also some plate of English manufac- ture is preserved. Very possibly many more examples may exist in the treasuries of other great monasteries and churches or even, perhaps, in the houses of families of distinction. The favourites of a Tzar received from him from time to time marks of his u 2 228 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. approbation in the shape of valuable presents, and some fine specimens of plate found their way probably in a similar manner to the churches and monasteries. It is well known that examples of Old English plate are, even in England, of great rarity. We must not expect to find in Russia specimens of the rarest of all, namely, pre-reformation church plate ; for there could be scarcely any reason why it should have been sent there. But from the time of Elizabeth downwards we are more fortunate ; and the reproductions which have been made, if they do not actually fill up gaps in the history of English goldsmiths' art, at least furnish us with examples of great import- ance and with some of which we possess at home no absolutely similar specimens. The earliest piece reproduced is a flagon dated 157 1, and of 1594 we have a very elegant and characteristic Elizabethan square standing salt. There are some immense and elaborately embossed jugs, and one of a very large and massive pair of silver- gilt leopards. Nearly every piece that has been copied supplies to some ex- tent a want. If we refer to the catalogue of the loan exhibition at the South Kensington museum in 1862, at which such a large number of pieces were brought together from various city guilds and corporations, from palaces and from the collections of private individuals, we shall find few, if any, of the spherical-bodied flagons, no salver of the fashion of that from Troitsa, no such massive figures as the leopards, no huge embossed flagons, no quaint candle-sticks like those presented by lord Carlisle ; and, in short (to come to comparatively recent times) no piece either in design or weight like the great wine cistern, nor any finer specimen of the work of Paul Lamerie than the centre-piece from the collection of count Bobrinsky. As to early dated pieces if we refer to the appendix to Mr. Cripps's Old English Plate, which gives a list of most known examples, we shall find but eight pieces of the fourteenth century ENGLISH PLATE. 229 and scarcely more than fifty before 157 1. The present additions are, therefore, of not inconsiderable importance. The reign of Elizabeth was a time of great excellence in gold- smiths' work ; and all the pieces of English plate of the sixteenth century in the South Kensington museum must be referred to the second half of it. Of the silver plate now reproduced from Russia we have six pieces of the time of queen Elizabeth, thirteen of James the second, three of Charles the second, and two of George the second. Charles the first sent a silver-gilt statuette of him- self to the Tzar. It is of Augsburg work, but very probably other presents of plate accompanied it, which are possibly still in Russia and would add to the few examples existing of that reign. It is not surprising that we find none of the Common- wealth ; even in England, plate of that date is rare. We must also remember the frequent melting down of treasure which occurred in Russia, as it did also in France and England. Accounts of embassies from foreign countries to Russia and of the journeys of special envoys to procure facilities for trade are numerous. They are all interesting and (as has been before re- marked) especially so in Russia, where manners and customs change so little that we may read accounts of journeys made many hundred years ago with as much instruction and with as much truth regarding present manners as the latest that have been written. Nearly all early travellers, and the ambassadors who were admitted to the table of the Tzar, have the same tale to tell of the exhibition of rich plate with which their eyes were dazzled and which they saw exposed on the great cupboard. They mean by this title the staged platform in the centre of the banqueting- room of the ancient palace or " Terem " which has been already spoken of. Upon this were arrayed the vases of gold and silver for the daily use of the Tzar, and amongst them the huge flagons in which we may perhaps recognise those of English make now 23° ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. reproduced, and which stand to-day on state occasions on that great central buffet, as they have stood for nearly three centuries. Richard Chancellor, a famous traveller though of an earlier date than the flagons just mentioned, speaks of this banqueting- room. He says : " In the midst of the chamber stood a table or cupboard to set plate upon, which stood full of cups of gold, and amongst all the rest there stood four marvellous great pottes, or ciudences as they call them, of gold and silver. I think they were a good yard and a half high. The number that dined there that day was two hundred persons, and all were served in golden vessels." Clement Adams in his account of the voyage of Richard Chancellor describes the dinner given to the envoys by the emperor "in the golden court, in the midst of which stood a mighty cupboard upon a square foot, and the immense quantity of plate that was placed round it on stages." He mentions also the four great " pottes " which he imagines to be at least five feet high. Sir Henry Willoughby, speaking of a dinner given by the Tzar, says : " In the middle of the dining-room was a table covered with cups of gold. The number of persons that dined was about two hundred, all served in vessels of gold, and the gentlemen that waited were all in cloth of gold." Many more extracts might be quoted with reference to the pro- fusion of plate on the great buffet of the golden banqueting-room, amongst which the great pieces of English manufacture no doubt had their place ; but we must pass on to the more particular account of some English embassies and of the presents brought by them. A famous embassy came from Russia to the court of Mary, queen of England, in 1556. In the relations given of it we find an account of the presents which the ambassador took back to the Tzar, and amongst other things " several pieces of cloth and tissue, a pair of brigandines with a murrain covered with crimson velvet and gilt nails, a chain of gold of ;£ioo value, a large bason ENGLISH PLATE. 231 and ewer of silver gilt, a pair of pottle potts gilt and a pair of flagons gilt." In 1568 Thomas Randolf, ambassador to the Russian court, presents the Tzar with "her majesties present, which was a notable great cup of silver with verses engraven on it, explaining the histories engraven on the same." Amongst the archives in the Record office at Moscow is the following paper recounting presents of plate from James I. of England. It is not dated and there are no accompanying remarks, but it is probably of about the year 1605-6. " A preasent to the greate Emperor and greate Duke Borris Pheodorow ch of all Russia and to the Empriss Marya Gryoryevna from James the Greate, Kinge of all England. A charyott, Two greate fiaggons, A christall cuppe, A bason and ewre, Two haunche pottes, One standinge cuppe, One peece of scarlett and fowre peeces of other fine cloathe. A Preasent to the greate L° and Prince Duke Feodor Borysow ch of all Russia and to the virtuous Princes Thekleenya Borysovna from James y e Greate, Kinge of all England. One standinge cuppe, Two tankerds, Two livery pottes, One peece of scarlette and three peeces of other fine cloathe. A Preasent to y e greate Empero 1 and greate Duke Borris Pheo- dorow ch of all Russia from the L° Embassador of England. A chayne of pearle. 2 3 2 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. A Preasent to f greate L° and Prince Duke Feodor Borysow ch of all Russia fro the L° Embassador. Two cluster of cuppes. One peece of crimson velvet, One case of pistolles." We have an account of the presents brought to the Tzar by lord Carlisle in 1663 in the Relation of the Three Embassies, written by one of the suite in 1669. The plate of the date of this embassy in the treasure of the Kremlin bears an inscription on the foot of each piece in Sclavonic, stating that it was brought to the Tzar by lord Carlisle from the king of England. We find also in the Record office at Moscow a particular account in Russian of the embassy of lord Carlisle. Attached to it are notes on an embassy from James I. in 1620, the ambassador being named Ivan Ouiliamoff Merrick (John William Meyrick). The instructions given to those who are to have the care of the ambassadors are very minute, and relate to their entertainment and the answers which should be given to questions. The etiquette is rigorously laid down and the prerogatives of the Tzar carefully guarded. Questions relating to the precedence in which the healths of the respective sovereigns are to be drunk are settled, and instructions are given that if the English ambassador shall offer valuable presents to the chief officers of the Tzar they shall be accepted, but if mean and cf small account they shall be answered that their sovereign lord sufficiently provides for their wants. The following list of presents is given as having been brought by the ambassador Meyrick in 1620 : — A salt of crystal mounted in gold and garnished with stones and pearls. An ostrich in silver-gilt. Five flagons in silver-gilt. ENGLISH PLATE. 233 Two plates in silver-gilt. An ewer and salver in silver-gilt. A vase of [precious] stone, mounted in gold. Different stuffs of silk and wool, and several animals. For the patriarch : — ■ A crystal vase mounted in gold. Four silver-gilt flagons with covers. An ewer and salver in silver-gilt. Velvet and satin. Arm-chairs covered with crimson velvet embroidered in gold. The presents brought by the earl of Carlisle are enumerated. We give those relating to gold and silversmiths' work, the re- mainder consisting of divers stuffs, cannons, tin, lead, etc. These were : — An arquebuse. A pair of pistols inlaid with ivory. Two beakers in silver-gilt. Two cups with covers in silver-gilt. Two candlesticks in silver-gilt. Two plates in silver-gilt. A rechaud and a bowl with cover in silver-gilt. A set of knives with handles of agate. Six plateaux on low feet. For the Tzarewitch and princes :— An arquebuse. A pair of pistols. An ewer and salver in silver-gilt. And from Catherine queen of king Charles the second as a present to the Tzarevna : — An ewer and salver in silver-gilt. 234 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. The Russian description of these objects and the translation of the terms may possibly be incorrect. We cannot therefore identify them from the list with certainty. It may be added that in the public Record office in London an account is to be found " of monies received and disbursed by the earl of Carlisle for his embassy charges," from which it appears that ^1,000 was paid for "plate, rings, jewels, cloath, coach and horses, which were for presents given in those three dominions" (Russia, Sweden and Denmark), and ,£77 $s. in fees at the jewel-house for the plate. After the restoration of king Charles the second, embassies came from all parts to offer their congratulations. Amongst them was one from the Tzar of Russia, Alexis Michailovitch. It was re- ceived in great state (Pepys alludes to it in his diary, November, 1662), and it was resolved to send a return embassy, which was accordingly done ; the earl of Carlisle being ambassador. An account of this embassy was printed in 1669, A Relation of the Three Embassies of Charles Howard, Earl of Carlisle, by M. G. The author was one of the secretaries attached to the suite. This Relation describes the setting out of the ambassador in great pomp with a train of nearly eighty persons ; then his arrival at Moscow, with an amusing account of his state entry. Delays followed, which seemed interminable and were purposely prolonged, in obtaining an audience. " At length, on the eleventh February, audience is granted. The presents, the greatest part of which was designed for the Tzar, the rest for the young princes, and some from the ambassador himself, consisted in vessels of gold and silver, in cloth, velvets, satin, and damaske of various colours ; there was also great quantities of stufs and table linnen, two gold watches, three clocks, two pair of pistols, one gun and two carabins, besides six pieces of cast cannon, a great quantity of Cornish tin, and a hundred piggs of lead. "At length we began to sett out, about ten a clock in the ENGLISH PLATE. 235 morning, the gentlemen on horseback two and two all richly habited, their hats covered with fair plumes of feathers. His Excellency was this day in black, having on his hat a rich band of diamonds. . . ." The procession passes on through the Tzar's guard to the hall of audience, " and here it was that we saw the guards of the Tzar's body in a most splended equipage, their vests of velvet being lined with sables, their caps richly adorned with pearls and precious stones, and their very partesans covered with gold and silver. And here it was that we were like those coming suddainly out of the dark are dazled with the brightnes of the sun ■ the splendor of their jewels seeming to contend for priority with that of the clay, so that we were lost as it were in this confusion of glory. The Tzar like a sparkling sun (to speak in the Russian dialect) darted forth most sumptuous rays, being most magnifi- cently placed upon his throne with his sceptre in his hand and having his crown on his head. His throne was of massy silver gilt, wrought curiously on the top with several works and pyramids. His crown (which he wore upon a cap lined with black sables) was covered quite over with precious stones ; it terminated towards the top in the form of a pyramid with a golden cross at the spire. The scepter glistered all over with jewels, his vest was sett with the like from the top to the bottom down the opening before, and his collar was answerable to the same. By his side he had four of the tallest of his Lords standing below his throne, each of them with his battle-ax upon hjs shoulder." After the ambassador had delivered his speech, the presents were brought in by a hundred and thirty men and the delivery of each of them prefaced by a short speech. " The first thing that came in was a gun of Charles the first and therefore his Excellencie presented it with this compliment : 'This gun was delivered to me by His Majestie's own hand, being excellent in its kind, the same which his royal father of blessed and glorious memorie used to shoot with. . . .' Next to the gun 236 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. came a pair of pistolets, whereupon my Lord spoke again : ' That paire of pistolets (said he) his Majestie delivered me also with his own hand commanding me to excuse their oldness, which he thought would not make them less acceptable when you knew they were those with which after so long adversity he rid in his triumphant entry into his metropolitan city of London.' " " The plate came next to those pistolets, and in the first place a great silver guilt basin, supported upon two men's arms, so all the rest passed by without stopping, next to the Tzar's the presents allowed for the two princes, then the queene's present to the dutchess, and at last my Lord ambassador's." England and Russia have kept up frequent intercourse with each other from time to time since the earliest period of the empire. In the year 1070 Wulfgytha, daughter of Harold II., married Vladimir, duke of Kiev. The first embassies appear to have been exchanged in the fifteenth century, and no doubt from time to time English workmen settled in Russia. In 1626 one of the principal gateways of the Kremlin was erected by Christopher Galloway, an English clock-maker, who also placed a clock in it. In the sixteenth century great efforts were made to extend our commerce in Russia, and the old records and reports of the embassies are full of details of the struggles made on behalf of the merchants. In the middle of this century the famous company of merchant adventurers was formed by Sebastian Cabot, and a year or two later the Russian company. In 1581 the Tzar, Ivan the terrible, made overtures for the hand of queen Elizabeth. Her letter declining the offer is still to be seen, preserved in a casket in one of the rooms of the old palace. Lastly, in 17 16 the British Factory which attained important dimensions was established. Such facts, briefly narrated, are not altogether without import- ance even in a superficial glance at Russian art ; for it is necessary to take into consideration all the influences which may have been brought to bear upon it ENGLISH PLATE. 237 The pieces of English plate, of which reproductions have been made, consist of a large figure of a leopard, six flagons, four cups, three salts, two great jugs, three tankards, one of a set of salvers, a large rosewater salver, a candlestick, a flask or bottle, a wine- cistern, and a centre-piece or e'pergne, ranging in date from 1571 to 1734- The figure of a leopard is a most important piece of massive cast and chased work. It is one of a pair, silver-gilt, the thick- ness of metal being considerable ; as much for each figure as 1029 ounces avoirdupois, if we can rely on the record of the weight engraved in Slavonic beneath them. (This is 7 1 lbs., 24 zolotniks.) The animal, which almost approaches life size, is sejant, on a pe- destal, supporting a scroll-shaped shield. The latter is long and narrow, engraved with strap work, and has in the upper corner a bust of a man. The pedestal is square, with bold and deep gad- rooning. Of the pair, each leopard looks a different way, upholding the shield with opposite paws. The heads screw off and a heavy curb-chain hangs from each. The original is in the treasure of the Kremlin and bears the following hall marks : lion passant, leopard's head crowned, date letter C (1 600-1), and a maker's mark (not identified). We have no information concerning these splendid figures beyond the note in the contemporary register of the treasure house, which states that they were presented to the Tzar by the king of Denmark, It would be interesting to know more concerning them. Figures of animals in silver-gilt were common in Europe at that period as ornaments for the table. They were usually small and the heads could be removed to form drinking cups, and we have a specimen of a very large cup (if it may be so called) of the kind in the figure of an eagle which will presently be noticed, when describing the plate of origin other than English. There are some very large figures and cups of English make in lord Londesborough's collection, but there ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. seem to be none in any collection like this large eagle or the two great leopards. About the middle of the sixteenth century spherical-bodied flagons replaced the earlier small cruets for altar use, and were the form generally adopted in the reign of Elizabeth. They were no doubt adapted from similar ones to the six flagons for secular use preserved in Russia j but made more plain and without the ornament which we find on these, which has about it nothing of a sacred character. Such flagons are now uncommon in England ; at least we do not find them described in the catalogues of exhibitions or accounts of corporation plate. A few church flagons are known, probably about a dozen : an example is at Cirencester bearing the date letter of 15 76. These six flagons vary in date from 1571 to 1612 (the hall marks of all the English plate are described in an appendix), the smallest one being the earliest dated piece reproduced. This is a spherical-bodied flagon on a low foot, with a coved lid and a plain S handle, slightly engraved at the back. The drum is engraved with fanciful borders of scroll flower-work. The next (1596) is larger and of similar form, engraved with strap-work and foliage ; the collars and edgings egg-and-tongue moulded. The third (1604) is almost exactly identical in every detail with the last described, except that on the centre of the drum is placed a cherub's head standing out in high relief. The fourth (1606)- is of large size, of similar character of engraving and mouldings, with a cast piece of masks and scrolls for a purchase. The fifth (16 10) is embossed and engraved with strap-work, fruit and flowers, and in addition are marine monsters in cartouches, characteristic of the period. In other respects it is similar to the last. The sixth (16 12) is embossed with strap and leaf work, fruit, scallop shells, and the usual marine monsters. The borders and ENGLISH PLATE. 239 edgings are of gadroon and egg-and-tongue moulding, and the purchase is a roughly cast piece with a winged half-figure with extended arms. Of these flagons four are from the sacristy of the patriarch, one from the treasure of the Kremlin, and one from the Romanoff house. They are probably part of the presents brought for the Tzar and the patriarch by Meyrick in 1620 : one of them, how- ever, engraved with marine monsters, was, it would appear, a present from Charles the first. Tall cylindrical tankards are much allied to flagons ; and of these there are three examples. One (1613) is of kind common in the seventeenth century, highly ornamented with repousse work of scallop-shells, fruit and flowers, cupids' heads, sirens and marine monsters in medallions, with a cast piece of cherubs' heads for the purchase of the lid. It is from the treasure of the patriarch. These tankards, despite the ornament, were sometimes used in England as church flagons ; specimens exist at Kenil- worth, and at Kensington parish church. Another is a very fine tankard (1663) which formed part of the presents of the Carlisle embassy. It has a plain handle and a broad spreading base, and is embossed over the whole surface with boldly designed tulip flowers and leaves, and with cattle and other animals. The salvers and candlesticks of the same origin which are noticed later on bear the same clever and characteristic decoration. A third tankard, from the sacristy of the patriarch, although it has no mark is probably English. It is tall and narrow, the greater part of the drum plain, embossed at the top and bottom with a pattern. A short baluster ornament surmounts the lid and the purchase is a siren. The nearly plain handle terminates in a lion mask, and is engraved on the back with two figures in outline. Cups are represented by four specimens, ranging in date from 1585 to 1 61 7. Two of these are of the gourd-shape which 240 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. became popular before the end of the reign of Elizabeth. They are dated respectively 1585 and 1601. In such cups the stems are usually formed as stalks or tendrils, single or entwined. They are very like the German cups of the same period, which have for stems a tree-trunk and a woodman • and the two cups under notice further resemble the German cups in also having the silver cut-work ornament, sometimes known as cut card work, which is seldom found in English work. The earliest of these specimens has a bowl in the form of a gourd contracted in the centre ; the stem is a gnarled tree-trunk on a circular foot coved up and repousse' with fruit and strap- work, and with the egg-and-tongue moulding characteristic of Elizabethan work. It has a cover which makes the upper part very nearly spherical, and the whole of the bowl and cover is engraved with a pattern of strap-work and leaf scrolls. . Leaves in thin silver cut-work spring round and clasp the lower part of the bowl and beneath the twisted tree-trunk. The original is in the monastery at Troitsa. The second cup of this kind, from the sacristy of the patriarch, is almost identical, but the cover is wanting. The foot is coarsely embossed. Beneath it is engraved in Sclavonic " From the treasure of the patriarch Joassof." A cup much resembling these was given in 1628 to the Broderers' company by Edmund Harrison, embroderer to the kings James the first and Charles the first. The two other cups, dated 1610 and 1617, are both chalice- shaped ; one on a plain baluster stem having on the knop three coarse scrolls, the other with a stem of cast-work consisting of bosses and neckings of mask and leaf-work. The bowl of the first is repousse with vertical gadrooned bands, and the foot with acanthus leaves on a matted ground. Of the other, the bowl and foot are almost plain except that on the former an embossed acanthus ornament, springing from the base upwards, encircles the more plain part, and on the latter is a slight ornament of ENGLISH PLATE. 241 the same character. One is from Troitsa, the other from the sacristy of the patriarch. It is well known that in former times the standing salt occupied an important position at the table in all houses of any pretension and formed the barrier of social distinction, marking those who sat below or above it. We have in this collection three examples of the standing salt, one of the reign of Elizabeth, and two of the time of James the first. Mr. Cripps describes four patterns of old English salts and illustrates them in his work. They are the hour-glass, the cylin- drical standing salt with its cover ornamented with repousse and engraved work, and the square salts of the same type ; the bell shape ; and lastly the simple low salt-cellar with projections over which a napkin was thrown to keep the salt clean. The reproductions illustrate the second of these kinds of salts. The first example (1594) is a fine specimen of the square standing salt, and is of considerable interest not only from its general fashion and workmanship but from the figures which decorate it, in the well-known costume of the time. Such salts came in about the middle of the sixteenth century, and a remarkable specimen is in the possession of the Vintners' company (1559). They were often decorated with cartouches and arabesques and the covers surmounted by figures. The present example has a square-shaped body standing on four ball feet. The whole of the surface is embossed with groups and figures with the exception of the horizontal parts which (as in that of the Vintners' company) are engraved. On the cover is a figure of an armed man bearing a shield. On the four sides of the body of the piece are four figures representing probably mythological personages, as Venus, Diana, and Mercury. Beneath are hunting scenes, one of which is an unicorn hunt. This is from the treasure of the Kremlin. The other two salts are of the cylindrical kind, of the same date (1613) and workmanship. One is from the Romanoff house, the 242 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. other which has either lost or never had a cover is from the treasure of the Kremlin. The first is a cylindrical pedestal with expanding base, resting on three ball and claw feet. The pool to hold the salt has a dome-shaped cover, supported by four flower scroll supports and surmounted by a triangular steeple supported on three caryatid scrolls with a finial of similar work. The decoration, of which there is little, is plain, consisting of the egg-and-tongue moulding. About this date the pyramidal or steeple covers were common, both for standing salts and cups. The Painter-stainers' company have a similar salt, dated 1635, also plain with gadroon mouldings and with a like dome-shaped cover raised on six scroll brackets and surmounted by a pinnacle. The two great jugs from the treasure of the Kremlin are not handsome but remarkable specimens of English plate of the early part of the seventeenth century. They are remarkable not only for their unusual size and weight but for the elaborateness. of the repousse ornament and the original and fanciful style of the figures which are applied to them, and which in both cases are used to form the spout and handle. The first is an immense jug, dated 1604, standing two feet high and large in proportion. The spout is formed by a dragon with extended wings which rest on the shoulder of the vase-shaped body ; the handle by a snake with the extremity of the tail coiled round beneath the head. The high vertical neck and the greater part of the surface of the drum are engraved with bands of roses and thistles alternately ; the collars and base of the foot ornamented with bands of egg-and-tongue moulding. A rugged ornamentation beaten up high, resembling flames, runs round the shoulder and the foot, and the same ornament is on the coved lid, the purchase of which is a small lion. The other great jug is of even larger dimensions, standing upwards of thirty inches in height. The handle is formed by a dolphin or serpent with its tail coiled round its neck. The spout ENGLISH PLATE. 243 is a dragon with extended wings which lie on the shoulder of the vase. The dragon holds a short spout in its mouth and is braced to the neck by a figure of a dog which curls its very long tail in folds round the dragon, and rests its fore-paws on the lip of the jug. The whole surface is embossed with leaf-work and orna- mented with two female heads standing up from the shoulder of the jug, having large spreading wings embossed on the surface : there are also two demi-figures on the neck, winged. The base is open-worked with a band of quatrefoil ornament. The cover is almost hemispherical, embossed in the same manner, and with three demi-figures, winged, standing out from the surface. The purchase of the lid is a winged and scrolled figure from which a toad-like animal lies out on the snake handle. The date is 1615. It will be seen that these two pieces are important specimens of a style of art which if somewhat florid and crowded is at least highly original and characteristic. Such design and work may be compared with an ewer of Portuguese origin in the collection of M. Spitzer, which was exhibited at the exhibition of Spanish and Portuguese art at South Kensington in 1881. This is de- scribed in the catalogue as " of silver-gilt, the body, foot and cover ornamented with zones of foliated ornamentation, grotesque monsters, etc., in high relief, the spout in the form of a dragon. Transitional Gothic style. Circa 1500." We know that in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the silver- smiths' art in Portugal had attained great excellence and the pro- ductions of its workshops were eagerly sought by other countries. In an inventory of English crown plate sold by Charles I., we find mention of a large number of " Portingal silver cups " ; and it is highly probable that in the early part of the seventeenth century a considerable quantity of Portuguese plate found its way to England and naturally inspired our own gold and silversmiths with ideas which they would not be slow to adopt. Amongst the plate reproduced from the treasure of the Uspenski Sobor, Moscow, is another very large jug, a dragon x 2 244 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. passing through it forming the spout and handle. It is unmarked, and therefore of uncertain manufacture ; but we seem to recognise in it the same taste. The next three objects have been selected from the presents brought by the Carlisle embassy. They consist of one of a set of six salvers or plateaux, one of a pair of candlesticks, and a large flask or flagon with a stopper and chain. The salvers and candlesticks are both ornamented with the same decoration as the tall tankard previously described, namely tulips and leaves, cattle and other animals, all boldly designed and repousse. The salvers are small circular plateaux standing on a plain low foot, and as well as the candlesticks are of the date of the embassy (1663). The candlesticks are of remarkable form which cannot be re- garded as elegant although possibly unique. They are very large with broad-spreading trumpet-shaped bases. In the place of the knop is a broad plateau, from which rises the pillar, surmounted by a plain socket and flat grease-pan. Such a form is at least favourable to the display of the beaten-up work on the broad flat surfaces. A beaker (dated 1664) in the South Kensington Museum (No. 51 '69) is embossed with the same flower-work as these pieces, and a salver of the same date (No. 549 '74) has also the figures of cattle and other animals in the same style. It may be noted that the workman's mark on the salvers, tank- ard, and candlesticks differs in each case, although the design and workmanship are similar, and the date letter the same. On the first is the letter H in a heart, on the second HG, three pellets above and a star between pellets below on a plain shield ; on the third a star above a scallop-shell between six pellets on a plain shield. The large flask (which is dated 1619) is a vase-shaped flagon on a short stem and foot with a stopper and a chain like what are called " pilgrim's bottles." It is beaten up and chased with strap [Plate XXIV. I ENGLISH PLATE. 245 and flower work, and has on either side a medallion or cartouche within which are the sea monsters so commonly met with. This flask is one of a set of three slightly differing. Such flagons were formerly used in England to bring the wine to the communion table. To this day at All Souls' college, Oxford, there are in use two such " pilgrim bottles " of large size, suspended by chains attached to the stoppers. They are of foreign make and of a date earlier than the reformation. Ewers and basins were very important objects for table use in days when knives and forks were not so common as they are now, and when therefore it was necessary to hand round the water, which was often perfumed, so that the guests might wash their hands. Such a custom easily led to a display of fine plate in this respect. The most ancient known rose-water salvers are only of the middle or latter part of the sixteenth century, and they are rare. The ewer and salver given by archbishop Parker, to Corpus Christi college, Cambridge, dated 1545 are the earliest mentioned in Mr. Cripps's appendix to " Old English Plate" and there are only four more of earlier date than 1614, which is the date of the salver from Troitsa now reproduced. This is a very fine speci- men and of unusual form : a deep quatrefoiled basin having four lobes. In the centre is a circular raised support or boss, for the foot of the ewer. The whole of the surface is repousse in the following manner. Round the centre, on a circular medallion beaten up into slightly convex form, is a frieze representing subjects of the chase, treses, a bear, a wild boar, three foxes and two hounds. On each lobe is an oval medallion, having a marine deity or a sea monster, and between them is the same double-dolphin-tailed winged demi-figure or siren repeated. Round the edge is strap-work and a conventional representation of the sea, with fishes, shells etc., and on the extreme edge is the usual leaf-and-tongue moulded border. We come now to a period of English silversmiths' work which 246 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. is comparatively modern, and of this time we have two remarkable specimens, both of the year 1734. The policy of Peter the great in Europeanising Russia and im- porting western manners and manufactures made itself felt early in the eighteenth century, and we are not surprised therefore to find at the court of the empress Anna Ivanovna such specimens of solid magnificence in plate as the great English wine-cooler, and the splendid gold toilet-service, or (a few years later) examples of the finest productions of French artists in table-plate and candelabra. The dominant feature of English plate of the eighteenth cen- tury up to the time of Flaxman at least is a certain solidity and lavish use of the raw material. The work is well and conscien- tiously executed, but as a rule heavy and inelegant. The taste of the time no doubt was in favour of stiffness in decoration, and the artists seemed incapable of that freedom, that fearlessness and boldness, which alone can produce the charm which we find in the plate of neighbouring countries. The large silver wine-cistern in the plate-room of the Winter Palace as regards size and weight is probably unequalled by any similar piece of English manufacture. Without pretending that it can claim to be a model of grace or style, it must be admitted to be an exceptional specimen of English silversmiths' work of the time of George the second. (Plate XXIV.) 1 - We have no information how the cistern found its way to Russia. There is nothing to show whether it was purchased here for the Russian government, or whether it was sent as a present to the empress. More than once we have had occasion to remark that records concerning such matters have been until lately very imperfectly kept. This great silver cistern for many years has been kept in the plate-room of the Winter Palace. The room is not open to the public and the piece has therefore not attracted attention. It has usually been considered to be of French manufacture, but the ENGLISH PLATE. 247 style is too heavy even for a time which was marked for inelegant tendencies almost as exaggerated as our own. The question has however been set at rest by the discovery of the hall-marks of the year 1734, and of a well-known maker's mark being the initials K A, of one Charles Kandler, a silversmith living in Jermyn street. The cistern is oval supported on four leopards or panthers, the handles formed of two nude half-figures, a man and woman, with scroll terminals. Most of the ornament is cast-work and the motive of the entire decoration is Bacchanalian. On each side is a panel with groups of boys and young satyrs playing ; holding bunches of grapes and drinking. The panels are separated by a deep fluting. Round the rim and hanging over both inside and out are applied festoons of vines and bunches of grapes, lizards, flies, frogs, etc., all of which might have been better omitted. The terminal figures hold bunches of grapes over their heads. The leopards are carefully modelled, crouching under the vase and savagely snarling. They wear collars and are chained together with massive chains. The piece is lined with an inner skin, engraved with a pattern. The weight is as much as eight thousand ounces, or more than a quarter of a ton. Although executed, as we have said, by Charles Kandler, this piece was designed by a more considerable (though not a working) gold- smith, named Henry Jernegan, and made for him by Kandler. Jernegan's name occurs on the contemporary engraving of the cistern which has already been spoken of. A friend has kindly referred the writer to Knight's " London," where there is a curious account taken from the journals of the House of Commons of the petition to the House in 1735 by this very Jernegan to take off his hands a magnificent cistern upon the design and manufacture of which he had been occupied many years, and which was pronounced by every one to be the greatest work of the kind ever produced. The occasion of this petition was that a lottery was at that time being authorised for providing 248 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. funds for building a new bridge over the Thames at Westminster : and, to make a long story short, it was ordered that the piece should be taken and put as a prize into the lottery. This is almost certainly the identical cistern, but whether it was won as a prize in the lottery or how it afterwards got to Russia is unknown. The engraving was possibly made in anticipation of the lottery. Paul Lamerie was the best known and cleverest English silver- smith of the first half of the eighteenth century. We have a good specimen of the beautiful work which he executed in the ewer and in the covered two-handled cup at Goldsmiths' Hall. There are other well known specimens, but perhaps no finer example exists than the centre-piece in the possession of count Bobrinsky of Moscow. This is an e'pergne for the dinner-table consisting of a bowl-shaped plateau on feet, which supports a dish and holds in sockets (the positions of which may be varied) trays for sweet- meats, candlesticks, and cruet-frames, pepper and sugar-casters, etc. The date letter is 1734. Paul Lamerie is sometimes called Lemaire, but his name is never found thus in the records of Goldsmiths' Hall, where his various marks are entered by himself. In all these it occurs as simply Paul Lamerie. In his will, which is dated 1751, he is styled de Lamerie. CHAPTER XI. GOLD AND SILVERSMITHS' WORK OF FOREIGN ORIGIN : SCULPTURE : MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTS. Some account must be given of a large number of examples of plate of foreign origin other than English, and of miscellaneous objects of which reproductions have been made in Russia. So far as the plate is concerned a brief description of the principal pieces will be sufficient. There are three pieces of Amsterdam seventeenth-century work. Two of these, a silver-gilt ewer and basin, are inscribed on the backs in Sclavonic, "Sent to the Tzar by the king of England in 1664," and they doubtless formed a portion of the presents brought by the Carlisle embassy. The ewer is decagonal on a rather broad and flattened foot. The ornament is in relief, repeating in panels round the drum ten female figures playing musical instruments. The basin is circular, the border scalloped and gadrooned, with plain gadroons and caryatid figures alternately. The hall-marks are, on the ewer a D crowned and a fleur-de-lis crowned ; on the basin a D crowned and a lion rampant crowned. The other piece is a silver-gilt tazza, the inside of the bowl embossed and chased with flowers, leaves, and tendrils. There is a short inscription in Russian underneath : " Gregory Dimitrievitch Stroganoff." The hall-mark is an L and three stars. A large bratina-shaped bowl of silver from the Uspenski Sobor 250 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. is Danish work of the seventeenth century. It is engraved on the upper part with festoons of flowers and with two heads which are perhaps portraits. The silver mark is $ in a circle ; and three castles and the date 1660 in a circle indicate Copenhagen. In German work a number of fine pieces have been reproduced from which the following may be selected : — The collection of count Chereme'teff contributes two magnifi- cent examples of Nuremberg work of the sixteenth century. The richness of decoration, excellence of workmanship, and fine preservation of one of these, a cup and cover of silver-gilt, is perhaps unequalled. This beautiful cup is chalice-shaped, the lip cusped in six lobes which are partly engraved each with the same interlaced pattern. The bowl then contracts very much, to spread out again in a flattened sphere until it joins the upper part of the stem. This is divided by a number of elaborately- chased and beaten-up bosses and collars and the foot is trefoil- shaped. The cover is nearly fiat ; that is to say, the embossed work does not make it very convex. The apex on the cover is a flat pearl. Beneath this is a construction composed of three concave-sided arches (within which are caryatid figures) resting above a band of enamel on six figures of sphinxes lying out between the six divisions of the lid. The latter is beaten up and chased with six cartouches of elaborate design. Next comes a hexafoil border with a Latin motto, and the edge is beaten up into a most beautiful and minute design in which cupids' heads alternate with minute groups of flowers or fruit. Beneath the engraved ornament on the lip of the cup is (corresponding to each division) also a cupid's head, next strap-work and charming masks embossed, all differing ; then, on the more spherical part, are strap-work and minute repousse" work and six plain bosses on each of which is set a ruby. Formerly, also, six pearls or perhaps some other gems decorated this portion. The Gothic cresting beaten up from the broader part of the lobes is very remarkable and unusual. The decoration of the stem is exceedingly varied MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTS. 251 with elaborate embossing and chasing, comprising wreaths, masses of fruit or flowers, strap-work, basket-work, etc. ; indeed, it may be said to be jewelled with gold ornament, all minute and delicate. Then come a band (formerly enamelled) and three sphinxes corresponding to those on the cover and, in this case, with the trefoil-formed foot. The ornament on the foot itself is similar to that on the rest of the cup and enriched with three loose pearls. There are traces of enamel in numerous parts, unfortunately scarcely more than traces, but in other respects the cup is in sur- prisingly good condition and the mottoes especially sharp and well preserved. The mark is the Nuremberg N and three stars, but we have no clue to the name of the maker. A magnificent nautilus cup mounted in silver-gilt is also from the Chere'meteff collection. It is of the usual character of fine pieces of this kind, engraved and embossed and enriched with loose pearls. The figure on the cover is Neptune with his trident, mounted on a dolphin and driving three marine monsters with silver reins. The stem is formed of a kneeling negro clad in Roman armour. The mark is the Nuremberg N and TS con- joined. A well-known nautilus of a similar character is in the possession of her Majesty the Queen, and for a long time has been attributed to Benvenuto Cellini. A very fine silver-gilt salver in the treasure of the Kremlin is elaborately chased with a variety of ornament and set with six plaques of mother-of-pearl in each of which is a ruby. This is ascribed to Cellini, and such an ascription will sufficiently illustrate its character j but it is undoubtedly German and probably Nuremberg work. Another piece of sixteenth-century Nuremberg work from the treasure of the Kremlin may be noticed. It is of that description of vessel or table ornament in the form of a bird in which the head takes off to form a drinking cup. The figure is that of a life-sized eagle with expanded wings standing on a high circular base representing a mound, on which are small detached figures ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. of insects, reptiles, shells, etc., in the manner which we frequently find on such pieces. The work, which is principally chased and repousse', is partly conventional, partly very realistic and life-like. As a figure it resembles and is large enough to form a lectern. The base bears a plaque with the following inscription : " Der Kon. May. zu Denmarcke und Norwege Christians dem 4 etc. Ihrem allergnedigsten Konig und Herrn hat die Landschafft aut Ozel dis Trinkgeschir aus schuldigen Treuen unterthenigst vereh- ret in dem 1595 jare und wunchem Ihrem Kon. Mayt. langes gesundes Lebe und gluckseligs Regi." Beneath the pedestal is in Slavonic, "An eagle sent by the king of Denmark Christian." The mark is the Nuremberg N and a lion's head in a shield. In Augsburg work there are several interesting examples. An oval sixteenth-century salver from the treasure of the patriarch is chased with flowers and fruit. It bears two inscrip- tions in Sclavonic ; (1) " Dish of the Lord Boyar Dimitri Ivano- vitch Godounoff, given to the church of the Holy Living Trinity in the convent of Ipatieff." (2) " Dish, etc., to be given to my wife Stephanie Andrevna." A handsome silver parcel-gilt cup is in the form of a lion rampant on a high base representing a mound, on which are the usual lizards. The lion holds a shell in his paws, and his head takes off to form the drinking cup. Two very large salvers of silver-gilt Augsburg work of the seventeenth century are from the treasure of the Kremlin. They form part of the numberless collection of dishes used for the presentation of bread and salt. Both are finely repousse' ; one with a very spirited battle scene, the other with a triumphal march of David carrying the head of Goliath, in which are a large number of figures and an elaborate decoration of trophies, etc. on the border. An extremely interesting piece of Augsburg work from the Romanoff house at Moscow is the silver-gilt equestrian statuette of Charles the first, presented by that sovereign to the Tzar. The king is represented in armour, in a hat and feathers, holding MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTS. 253 a staff in his hand. The prancing horse is supported upon the high mound-shaped base of the piece on his hind feet only. A very large silver-gilt jug or ewer with a cover is somewhat of the kind already noticed in the description of the English plate- The drum is beaten up with acanthus foliage and with a band of tressed or interlaced ornament round the neck and foot. Cut work foliage is applied on the otherwise plain cover and round the base of the drum. A glass tankard mounted in silver-gilt from the treasure of the Kremlin is almost identical with that known as the ''poison cup" at Clare college, Cambridge, which Mr. Cripps describes as probably German work of the latter part of the sixteenth century. The glass drum is inclosed in similar filagree work, to which the upper and lower mounts are hinged. On the cover is a vase with scroll handles, probably for cut leaf work now wanting. The mark is a double cross and something like a rose. A silver-gilt tankard from the museum of the Hermitage is remarkable for the richness of the repousse' and chased work. It has on the drum an arcade of five arches in each of which is a female figure playing a musical instrument or singing. The knob on the cover is decorated with a ring of rubies and emeralds alternately, after which comes a ring of coral, then one of diamonds, and a cone-shaped pearl as an apex. The objects selected from the magnificent gold toilet service of the empress Anna Ivanovna may be taken here, although the evidence of their origin is scanty, and, according to some, the workmanship is French. Nine pieces have been reproduced. The entire service, which is fitted into an immense chest, consists of a very large number of objects comprising every possible requisite for the toilet, and including a complete breakfast service with saucepans, rechauds, etc. All are of gold. The general character of the ornamentation on almost every piece consists of a chasing of very elaborate strap-work and flower decoration on a matted ground, with hanging festoons of fruit and flowers, scrolls, shells, and diapers, 254 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. and with scenes of animal life and of the chase inclosed in cartouches. Those which have been reproduced are a mirror, an ewer and salver, a jewel-casket, a toilet-box, a candlestick, a tea-pot, a coffee-pot, and a cup and cover. The mirror, which is fitted into the lid of the chest, is of large dimensions, measuring three feet in height by two feet six inches wide. The frame is composed of scrolls on which are various figures and ornaments, vases with cupids, elegant female half- figures, draped, with butterfly wings, helmets, arms, and leaf- work. At the top is a shield with mantle bearing the imperial cipher in enamel surmounted by a large imperial crown, the base of which is covered with red translucent enamel and supported by two draped winged female figures holding palm-branches and blowing trumpets. On the lower angles of the mirror two couchant sphinxes serve for feet. At the first glance the character of the service is no doubt sug- gestive of French work, but there are also many circumstances and details which would lead to the conclusion that it is of German origin. The female figures on the mirror, the sphinxes, and some other details have a French look, and remind one of the work of certain artists of the early part of the eighteenth century ; but the crowns and enamelled pieces and the vases of flowers on the same piece are incontestably not French ; it might be said, perhaps, that they are additions. No records of the history of this service exist in the records of the Winter Palace. The ciphers show it to have been made for the empress Anna who reigned between 1730 and 1740. On taking the mirror to pieces for the purpose of moulding it the following inscription (which may be taken for what it is worth as applying to the portion on which it is, to the whole mirror, or to the entire service) was found rudely scratched behind the drapery which is beneath the imperial crown ; " Johann Ludwig Biller fecit in Augspourg gold * * * hartogit (?) Carl II., * * *." In Trautmann's Kunst und Kunstgewerbe we find the MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTS. ? 55 name of A. Lorenz Bihler as a goldsmith at Augsburg between 1730 and 1740. A bottle or flask of silver-gilt with a screwed stopper and heavy curb-chain, somewhat of the shape of the German bock-beutel, comes from the collection of count Bobrinsky. The sides are engraved with two drinking scenes in the style of Teniers. There are six pieces of Dantzic work. The general character of the ornament of this kind of work seems to be an embossing or stamping of patterns of flower and leaf work, often in diagonal flutings or tubes. Two tankards from the Cheremeteff collection are of peculiar shape. One of them resembles the double ring-shaped cruches in gres de Elandres, and has in the centre of the open space formed by the four tube-like divisions a figure of a cupid drawing a bow. The other is quatrefoiled, formed of four gadrooned lobes, on three of which are cupids' heads projecting in full relief. The mark of Dantzic is the double cross which appears in the arms of that city, and also on those of the Che'reme'teff family which came from Dantzic. A silver-gilt statuette of Dantzic work of the seventeenth cen- tury is from the treasure of the Kremlin. This is a camel ridden by an Indian. The base represents the ground, with stumps of trees, lizards, etc., applied in the manner usual in this kind of work. Amongst the German work are several fine hanaps and tankards, and bossed and other cups. A silver-gilt rose-water ewer and basin of the seventeenth century is in the form of the Persian ewers, repousse in ten lobes, and decorated with bold leaf-work, shells, and roses. The ewer stands on a pierced tray which fits the circular bowl. On one of the lobes a double-headed eagle is beaten up, holding a sceptre and a sword and surmounted by a princely coronet ; on the eagle's body are a dove with a cross in its beak, and, above, the sun and moon. These are the arms of a hospodar of Moldavia. y 256 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. In Hamburg work there is a silver-gilt pail, one of a set of three, differing slightly, from the treasure of the Kremlin. It is eight- sided, on a corresponding foot or base. In the centre of each side is a long-shaped plain boss, the remainder being repousse with strap-work and scroll flower-work, and panels with groups. The mark is the Hamburg castle and an eagle. A Spanish fifteenth or sixteenth century silver-gilt and enamelled bowl is of the same kind as some of which there are already ex- amples in the South Kensington Museum. It is almost completely covered with two elaborate friezes repousse and chased in a rather high relief with grotesque and fabulous animals, wild men, vine and tendril work, all on a matted ground with a narrow border of feathers regularly laid. The centre is enamelled with a shield, on which is a tree in fruit, growing from waves. The bowl is from Troitsa monastery and inscribed on the edge in Sclavonic : "In the year 7137 (a.d. 1629) this bowl was given to be placed, filled with rice, on the tomb of the boyar prince Dmitri Timophevitch Troubetzkoi." A silver-gilt cup of a cocoa-nut form is probably Portuguese work. The lip is etched, the bowl cast in four sections, all alike, with strap-work and a figure of a man, nude, holding in each outstretched hand a bird by the neck. The original is in the treasure of the patriarch. Two fine hanaps or standing cups and covers of large size, from the treasure of the Kremlin, are good specimens of Polish work. The drum of one of these is very finely worked and chased with strap-work and cartouches having cupids, winged demi-figures, hunting scenes, etc. The decoration of the cover, which is surmounted by an armed figure bearing a shield and spear, is altogether of different character, and seems not only not to be the original cover of the piece, but to be also made up of pieces of diverse and rather incongruous character. The cup is inscribed beneath in Sclavonic : " Respectful homage of the burgesses of Wiatka to the Tzar in 16 — ." MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTS. In a collection of plate like that of the Kremlin it is extremely likely that several pieces may be not in their original form. They were formerly often used, and when taken to pieces to be cleaned portions perhaps were abstracted, and some of them wrongly put together again. A silver-gilt Persian perfume sprinkler from the treasure of the patriarch is of the usual form— globular, with a long tapering neck on a plain, truncated cone-foot, and with a perforated stopper. It bears a Persian seal mark. From the Romanoff house come six chessmen, a portion of a set in silver-gilt partly coloured. They are probably German. French silversmiths' art of the last century is very well repre- sented by a selection of two tureens or vegetable-dishes and covers from the magnificent set of twelve in the plate-room of the Winter Palace, two candelabra from the same place, and a salt-cellar from the collection of count Bobrinsky. The decline of the gold and silversmiths' art at the end of the reign of Louis XIV. was very notable, and was increased by the sumptuary edicts issued by that monarch. Added to these, taxes out of all proportion were imposed on the industry itself. Sub- sequently, also, the state of the finances of the kingdom required great sacrifices, and (the king himself giving the example) im- mense quantities of plate found their way to the melting-pot : indeed so much that it may be said that French plate of the seventeenth century has almost disappeared. The eighteenth century scarcely recovered the reputation of an art which had suffered from such severe blows. We are familiar with the semi-classical style in vogue, the draped figures and cherubs and clouds, and the false taste affecting forms in which regularity of lines was proscribed, and in which rock-work and shells producing that description of ornament which we call rocaille, prevailed almost exclusively. Great names are not however wanting ; amongst them Ballin, Caille, Thomire, Odiot, Roettiers, Charton, Meissonier, Germain and Auguste, are well known. ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. We can ascribe no artists' names to the set of dishes or the flambeaux which have been reproduced from the Winter Palace. The tureens are marked with the hall mark of 1769; but soon afterwards the state of the finances again led to a wholesale reduction into coin of works in the precious metals. As a consequence the taste ran in the direction of sham productions to simulate an appearance of riches which there were not funds to, support. What the silversmith's art lost was a gain to that of the artist in ormolu, and we owe to these circumstances, perhaps, such works as those of the Caffieri and of Gouthiere, which are now so much admired. J. R. Auguste was one of the ablest of the great silversmiths of the latter half of the eighteenth century. To him is due the fine salt-cellar in the possession of count Bobrinsky. Pieces marked with his name, as is this one, are much esteemed. All the dishes and tureens and covers in the set of twelve from which the selection has been made are of like character though differing in details. One of them rests on four couchant lions, on a plateau gadrooned in panels, standing on eight small feet, in pairs, in shape like custard melons. The handles are figures of a merman and mermaid respectively ; around the body of the piece are wreaths of laurel caught up with masks and quivers of arrows. On the cover is a group of amorini drinking from a helmet, with emblems of arms around them. The modelling of all the figures is extremely fine, and the gilding of the pieces very rich and thick. In a second tureen the handles are formed of winged cupids bearing" up wreaths of laurels which run round the body of the piece. The plateau is scrolled, on four scroll feet, and on the cover is a group of cupids holding a bird-cage and birds. Two other covers have been reproduced. On one is a group of cupids playing ; on the other they are amusing themselves with a gun, and blowing a horn, beneath them being birds and MISCELLANE O US OBJE CTS. 259 emblems of the chase. With different variations, the same subjects form the groups on all the covers of the set. For such a grand set the name of Germain might almost have been hazarded. It is true that his style is principally the rocaille, but he made also tureens and dishes with the elaborately modelled groups of vegetables, fish and shells, and other objects on the covers, of which some fine examples exist. The stem of a five-branched candelabrum of silver-gilt is formed of the trunk of a tree, near which two cupids are playing. The branches and leaves spread out to form the five branches for the lights. These are of hammered work, in many pieces twisted and turned in every possible direction. (By Ballin?) In another silver-gilt candelabrum a boy with a flambeau and eagle surmounts the stem, which stands on four low feet. It bears the date mark of 1732-1738. The salt-cellar by Auguste is an extremely elegant piece formed of a shell- shaped receptacle with a hinged lid on a base supported by two kneeling figures of cupids. It is signed "J. R. Auguste." The sculpture galleries of the Hermitage, at St. Petersburg, have been already spoken of. Four fine antiques have been selected from them, and two remarkable pieces of Italian work : one has been attributed to Michael Angelo and the other to Raphael. The unfinished statue said to be by Michael Angelo is simply prepared in the marble block, but enough has been completed to show a wonderful and powerful imagination ; the shape moreover of the block gives the impression that the figure has been roughly hewn from it without other preparation, having itself suggested the idea. The figure is that of a man in a crouching position, the head bent down on the knees, and the hands grasping the right foot. We can distinguish without difficulty that the idea is that of an individual overwhelmed with some great grief and cast down in profound sadness and self-abandonment. In attributing 260 ART OBJECTS TN RUSSIA. this fine piece to Michael Angelo it must be remembered that there is no positive evidence whatever to support the attribution, and that none of the accounts of his life and works make any mention of it. The marble group of a dead child borne by a dolphin has many points of interest. It is singularly beautiful and is attributed to Raphael ; the history of it is curious. The group is that of a dead child borne to the shore by a dolphin which has inadvertently killed it and now carries it tenderly on its back. The child lies as if asleep, but on one breast is the fatal stab. It is of Carrara marble, a little less than life-size, polished as was the custom in Italy from the time of the renaissance to the beginning of the nineteenth century. Some portions have been restored : the earliest (by Cavaceppi) being part of the left wrist, the thumb of the left hand, and the middle toe of the right foot. Recent restorations have also been made of the lower half of the left foot, the big toe of the right foot ; four fingers of the left hand, and the thumb of the right hand. Without presuming to settle the question relative to the handi- work of Raphael, it will be useful to give a r'esum'e of the history of the group so far as it is known. At the time of the acquisition by the imperial Hermitage in 1 86 1 of eighty pieces of sculpture from the Campana collection, and of the consequent rearrangement of the Hermitage galleries, a number of antiques were transferred from the Taurida palace. Nearly all of these were from the collection purchased by Catherine the second from Mr. Lyde Browne of Wimbledon, and they were distributed amongst the nine sculpture galleries of the Hermitage. The remainder (including the group of the child and dolphin) was provisionally relegated to the store-rooms in the basement. About the year 1872, M. Stefani (keeper of the antiquities of the Hermitage) recognised this group of the dolphin and child as that described under the number 40 of the catalogue of the Lyde-Brov\ne collection. MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTS. There are two catalogues of the Lyde-Browne collection in the library of the British Museum. The first is in Latin, dated 1768: Catalogus veteris aevi varii generis monumentorum quae Cimelliarchio Lyde Broivtie Arm. Ant. soc. soc. apud. Wimbledon asservanticr. The second, dated 1779, is in Italian: Catalogo dei piii scelti e preziosi marmi, che si conservano nella galleria del Signer Lyde Browne Cavaliere Lnglese a Wimbledon nella Contea di Surry : racolti con gran spesa nel corso di trenf anni, molti dei quali si ammiravano prima nelle piii celebri gallerie di Roma. L11 Londra. Presso Carlo Rivington. The earliest catalogue has no mention of the group : but in the later one occurs this entry: " Un gruppo d'un putto annegato sopra il dorso d'un delfino, che gli tiene la chioma nella bocca, opera di Lorenzetto Bolognese, secondo il clesegno di Rafaele da Urbino ; questa sta nella prima classe fra le sculture moderne, essendo d'una bellezza maravigliosa, gia nel possesso del Barone di Breteuil, ambasciatore di Malta a Roma. Quel gruppo rappresenta un fatto ricordato da Plinio il giovane nelle sue opere." In the volume of engravings illustrating the works of sculpture restored by Cavaceppi (Raccolta dantiche statue, busfi, bassirilievi ci altre sculture, resiaurate da Bartolomeo Cavaceppi scultore romano Roma, 1768, vol. i. pi. 44), is a plate representing this group, and the following notice : " Delfino che riconduce al Lido il fanciullo da lui involontariamente ucciso con una delle sue spine nel condurlo a solazzo per mare. Opera di Raffaello esseguita da Lorenzetto e presentemente posseduta da Sua Eccellenza il Signor Bali de Breteuil Ambasciatore della Sacra Religione gerosolimitana presso la Santa Sede." Passavant in his life of Raphael discusses the question whether Raphael ever executed any work of sculpture. In his general catalogue, under works of sculpture, he cites the following pieces which have been attributed to the great painter, viz., two designs for plates to be executed in bronze, a design for a medal, the 262 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. statues of Jonas and Elias in the Chigi chapel at Santa Maria del Popolo, a design for a perfume vase, a model for a fountain, a design for a die for a coin, and the group for the child and dolphin,' concerning which last he was in ignorance of the discovery at St. Petersburg. In the first volume he quotes a letter written by count Castiglione. It is dated from Mantua, May 8th, 1523, and addressed to Messer Andrea Pifferario his intendant at Rome. The letter says : « I should much like to know if he (Giulio Romano) has still the child in marble by the hand of Raphael and for what price he would cede it." Referring to the same subject, in the second volume Passavant remarks that after the letter just quoted it can scarcely be doubted that Raphael had at- tempted the art of sculpture in marble, and refers to the engraving and description of Cavaceppi. He further says: "The very natural pose of the child, the style of the head and the hair, the shape of the dolphin's head which absolutely recalls the dolphins in the painting of Galatea— everything induces the belief that this child is that of which Castiglione speaks. Perhaps the count himself suggested the subject to Raphael, a subject taken from the book of ^Elian (on the nature of animals) where one reads that dolphins are devoted to man, and that one of these creatures carried to land a dead child. " The plaster cast of this group is to be found amongst the casts of the collection of Mengs at Dresden (No. 82) and from it we can clearly establish that it is the group cited in the letter of count Castiglione. In the descriptive inventory of the casts acquired from the heirs of R. Mengs " (the earliest is dated 1783) " the group is described as ' putto morto sul delfino di S.A.R. di Parma: From this inventory the original group should be at Naples, where, however, we have not come across it. It has been said also, without any foundation, to be at Turin. One would suppose that this group was the first essay of Raphael in sculpture, for all parts of the figure are not equal in execution, amongst MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTS. 263 others the extremities : in some parts also the tool, badly directed, has taken away too much of the marble ; for instance, on the breast of the child, which is otherwise very well modelled, but the right side is smaller than the left. It is doubtful whether the dolphin, which is exaggerated in its movement, was executed exactly according to Raphael's design ; perhaps this accessory part was given over by him to Lorenzetto who treated it in his own way, but not with the purity and taste of the great master. Another circumstance seems to confirm this supposition ; that is, that the execution of the dolphin is equal in all particulars, while as regards the child the extremities as we have said have been neglected. Possibly Lorenzetto did not dare to touch those portions of the work which were due to Raphael. " A repetition in marble of this group was acquired by the late earl of Bristol, bishop of Derry, who had it placed in his collection at Down Hill in Ireland. The Penny Magazine has published an engraving of it with the name of Raphael. But this group having been exhibited at the Manchester Exhibition in 1857 by its present owner Sir Henry Bruce, Professor Hettner, keeper of the Mengs collection of casts, has proved that it is only a copy. Not only does the marble not show the damaged parts which exist in the original (as -may be gathered from the Dresden cast) but the latter is also of greater dimensions than that which we have seen at Manchester." It may be added that the measurements of the plaster cast at Dresden are exactly those of the original of the Hermitage : the lines also and the number and disposition of the scales of the dolphin are identical. There is another plaster cast of this group in Rome, the history of which is said to be that it belonged to Angelica Kauffmann, who not knowing whence it came, bequeathed it to M. Kestner who was afterwards Hanoverian ambassador at the Holy See. After his death it was lost sight of, and later on acquired by Lotsch, a German sculptor, who made from it a copy in marble which is 264 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. now in the palace of Oranienbaura. Finally the mould from which the Mengs cast was made was lately acquired by the museum of the Hermitage. We may therefore conclude that both Cavaceppi and the Lyde-Browne catalogue of 1779 allude to the same group, and that the latter attributes the work to Lorenzetto from a design by Raphael ; that it was restored by Cavaceppi ; that between 1 7 68 and 1779 (the dates of the Lyde-Browne catalogues) Mr. Lvde Browne acquired it from the baron de Breteuil, and that about the year 1787 it passed over to Russia with the rest of the Lyde-Browne collection. With regard to Passavant's criticism of the negligence of the extremities we must bear in mind the restoration by Cavaceppi, and that the judgment of Passavant was probably formed from the Dresden cast. This cast may also have reproduced earlier restorations, or additions in plaster may have been made by the moulder. Clarac in his Musee de Sculpture gives an outline of the group, taken probably from Cavaceppi's work. He calls it an "amour sur un dauphin," but gives no other description or reference except " Cavaceppi, t. i. No. 44." The Lyde-Browne catalogue (1779) further mentions the group as "un putto montato sopra un delfino, bel gruppo ben conservato, e comprato del duca di Colombrano a Napoli." Burger in his Trtsors d' Art, speaking of the Manchester repetition, describes it as not even a very fine work : " le dessin en est court, l'execution en est ronde et molle." The opinion of M. Gue'donow, formerly director of the imperial Hermitage, is that the " pre-eminently Raphaelesque style of the composition, the almost antique beauty of the lines, the morbidezza of the flesh, the fineness of modelling in the details, make this work a worthy companion to the Jonas." Perhaps the most telling argument against the ascription of the group to Raphael is that it was unknown for two centuries and a half. During all that time the genius of Raphael was everywhere MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTS 265 exalted ; and it is surprising that if he had executed this group it should have been mentioned only in the letter of Castiglione. At the same time we must not forget that a group of a dead child is so mentioned, and that no one claimed to have found ii until the one now at the Hermitage appeared. The piece, however, must be left to speak for itself, and while some may be inclined with M. Gue'donow to see in it a pre- eminently Raphaelesque style, others will deny not only that it is by Raphael, but maintain that it is not even of his time but Italian work of the eighteenth century. An important fragment of antique sculpture of which a copy has been made was acquired by the Russian government amongst other objects from the Campana collection, and is now in the museum of the Hermitage. It is a bas-relief in white marble which formed no doubt part of the frieze of a small Greek temple. The extreme ends are missing : they bore probably the figures of Apollo and Diana which complete the history. The subject represented is the story of Niobe and her children. A young girl in a despairing attitude appears to be supplicating Diana. Near her is one of her sisters who has hastened with the greatest anxiety to the assistance of her brother, who is on the point of expiring. Next is a group of two other daughters, one of whom appears to be completely overwhelmed with grief. A youth lies close by prostrate on the ground, and by his side his brother staggers in agony as he is on the point of falling. Last comes the unfortunate mother, Niobe herself, bearing up the youngest of her children whom she presses to her breast with an expression of the tenderest motherly solicitude, while the child raises its face towards its parent and throws its arms round her neck. The group is inspired by a most pathetic and tragic feeling, and treated with admirable purity of style. The figure of the first young girl is full of vigour and movement as she raises the folds of her garment with one hand, as if to cover her face 2 66 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. and patiently wait her impending doom. At the same time to the grief of her own despair is added that which she experiences at the sight of her brother on the point of expiring beside her. This figure is the most striking perhaps in the group. The position is one of the greatest difficulty and has been overcome with astonishing ease and grace. The entire group is incontestably a masterpiece, in which we have nothing to regret but the absence of the two important figures of Apollo and Diana — figures which in such circumstances must have offered to the sculptor a worthy object for the highest efforts of his genius. A fine bust in white marble comes also from the Campana collection. It is Greek, and according to some a Venus, to others a Niobe. The expression which we associate with Niobe does not appear to be wanting, and we may compare it with interest to the figure in the frieze just described. The nose, neck, and breast are modern restorations, and the opinion may perhaps be hazarded whether the bust is not a fragment of a complete figure. A third work in marble was also formerly in the Campana collection : a Greek statue representing a young girl draped in the Doric chiton and over it a loose upper garment confined at the waist by a belt : on her feet are sandals. The mouth is slightly open, as of a person singing. As the figure now stands, the arms are extended and holding flambeaux; they are un- doubtedly modern additions and have not been reproduced in the copy made for the South Kensington Museum. This statue, the drapery of which is very fine, is said to have been found at Cumse. A bust of Jupiter, crowned with laurel, completes the number of reproductions of sculpture. The head only is original. Amongst the miscellaneous objects of which reproductions have been made, and which have not already been described in any special section, are the following : A drinking horn of ox-horn from the arsenal at Tzarskoe-Selo is Danish of the thirteenth century. The whole of the surface of MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTS. 267 this horn is carved, or rather deeply engraved with interlaced flower-work, figures of ravens, hunting groups, dragons, and chimsera, and with the following inscription: "SIGVALVR : HREIDAR . SON . A . L : g_ . HORN . M " (Sigvalur, son of Hreidar gave this horn?) On the lip is "Annoxii6o : x : 6 : 1VNI." The mixture of Arabic and Roman numerals is curious. It would appear also that the former were not in use in the north until the fourteenth century. The date inscription is therefore much later than the rest. An ivory walking staff is from the regalia room of the Kremlin. It is an irregular-shaped, crutch-handled staff of Russian work, carved with a slight ornament in relief. An elaborately ornamented door-lock of brass is English ; inscribed "Richard Bickford Londini fecit 1675." The original is in the Golitzin collection at Moscow. Another door or cabinet lock from the same collection is a richly decorated work in steel; Italian, dated 1617. It is chased with caryatid figures in arched recesses in high relief and other ornament. On account of the intricate nature of the work, parts only have been reproduced. A vase and cover in wood from the collection of M. Botkine of Moscow is a fine specimen of Italian sixteenth-century work. The vase is oval, of classical shape on a foot. A frieze runs round the body, carved with a combat of amazons and centaurs in high relief. A specimen of German work in cuir bouilli comes from the arsenal at Tzarskoe Selb. It is a knife-and-fork case of the usual form and style of the end of the sixteenth century. The ornament consists of scroll leaf work/and there is a shield bearing a bull rampant and a star. The famous cameo known as the Malmaison cameo, now in the museum of the Hermitage, is well known. It is an oriental sardonyx of three layers of very large dimensions. The subject represented takes us to that ancient country, the mother of 2 6S ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. the arts, to whom even Greece owes so much — to Egypt. After the subjugation of Egypt by Alexander, it was governed during three centuries by a great family, that of the Lagides. Ptolemy, the second of that name, and Arsinoe, his first wife, are represented in this piece. Many medals are known which give a sufficiently exact idea of the physiognomy of this prince to enable us to identify as his this portrait which, after the great Vienna cameo, is one of the finest and largest known works of the kind. The lowest layer is of dark smoke-colour and transparent; the next is white, and on it the heads are cut in relief; the third of a sardonyx colour has been used for the helmet and armour of the prince. The cameo is set in an oval frame in the style of the first French empire ; extremely good Russian silver-gilt work. It may be as well to notice here amongst the objects copied of a miscellaneous character, three fine specimens of French ormolu work of the last century. A table or gueridon formed of a slab of agate mounted and supported on a tripod in gilt bronze or ormolu is modelled after the Pompeian three-legged braziers, the top reversed to form the table top. It appears to be to a great extent a copy or adaptation of the well-known tripod in the Museo Borbonico, except that the animal-leg supports are more elaborately ornamented. It is nearly always difficult to give the name of the maker of these famous French works in ormolu, but when we call to mind the splendid workmanship of Gouthiere, and especially if we take notice of the style and execution of the delicate hammered leaf- work which connects the legs of the tripod, we may reasonably ascribe this piece to him, from a design perhaps by Dugourc. The original is in the gem-room of the museum of the Hermitage. A very tall, ten-light candelabrum of gilt bronze, is one of a pair in the collection of count Che'remeteff in St. Petersburg. Probably no finer piece of the kind is in existence. A candel- abrum in the Mobilier National at Paris is almost identical and MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTS. 269 has always been considered a chefimtvre ; but there its companion is wanting, while in Russia we have a pair. The three-sided concave base rests on a rosso-antico stand. Rising from it are three standards ending in goat-hoofs, and inclined towards each other. In the space between is a tall vase of iron lacquered blue supporting the branches for the lights; between the latter is drapery, and on the apex a vase of flowers. In each side of the base is a female head framed in a circular concave medallion, from which spring falling garlands of flowers. M. Williamson in his Meubles i Art du Mobilier National, speak- ing of the similar candelabrum in that collection, claims for it the supremacy over all those that the end of the eighteenth century has bequeathed to us, whatever may be the beauty and importance, not only of the pieces of the same kind contained in the Mobilier National, but also of those for which the most famous collections are remarkable. Tradition ascribes this piece to Gouthiere, and it certainly appears to unite much of the style of ornament which charac- terises his work. We have here a lavish use of the pearled or beaded borders, a profusion of bunches of grapes in the festoons and garlands, the twisted cords which form the branches, the terminals of narcissus, the elegant curves of leaf-work, and the flowering sockets for the candles. The Che'remeteff candelabra differ from the example in the Mobilier National almost solely in the form of the animal-leg standards. In the former they are straight. In the latter they are bent into a lyre form. The straight form will suggest itself to many as more regular and noble. The central vase in the first- named collection is plain, while in the other it is powdered with stars, but both bear the same bas-reliefs of children on the encircling frieze. A rather tall Louis XVI. candlestick, the stem formed of four female caryatid figures with hanging festoons and leaf-work ornament, is also from the collection of count Cheremeteff. ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. The reproductions include a considerable number of bronzes of various kinds and dates. Amongst the antiques we have a Roman bronze bowl, a Prenestine cist or toilet casket, a fragment formerly in the Campana collection, and an Etruscan vase. The bowl is deep with a straight handle terminating in a ram's head. In the centre is a figure of an armed man in low relief. The prominent parts of this relief and parts of the ram's head are damascened in silver and nielloed. The bronze fragment shows the head, shoulders, and one paw of a lion. The original is in the museum of the Hermitage. The Etruscan vase from the Hermitage museum is amphora-shaped, the neck expanding from immediately below the lip, and contracting again to a circular base. The handles are rather flattened from the round, and beginning from a little below the lip terminate on the broadest part of the body of the vase in female masks. They are otherwise almost unorna- mented, and the remainder of the piece is absolutely so. It is covered with a variegated rugged patina. The term cist in a general sense signifies any kind of casket or basket. Originally it meant a kind of cylindrical basket of osier used for carrying vegetables and fruit. Cists for holding articles of the toilet are often represented on Greek monuments. They were generally cylindrical baskets or wooden boxes. We have no evidence that the bronze cists of which such a large number have been found in the necropolis at Preneste were in use in Greece or southern Italy. Elsewhere they are rare, although at Bologna they have been found quite plain and not ornamented with the usual engraved design. The Prenestine cists are all cylindrical or oval. Sometimes they are lined with wood. The handle of the cover, when not hinged as in the oval cists, is almost invariably formed by a group consisting generally of two athletes or nude men and women, their outstretched arms resting on each other's shoulders. The use of this description of cist is not certain. They were probably intended for toilet purposes, to hold the mirrors, strigils, MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTS. m combs and cosmetics of Roman ladies. Sometimes there are evidences that they were used for worship and mystical purposes, and now and then as cinerary urns, although this would not prove that they were made with such an object. The cist reproduced is of the usual cylindrical form standing on three griffin's claws surmounted by lions. Round the sides is engraved a scene with eleven figures amongst which are Hercules carrying off a quadruped, Iolaus, Minerva, three naked figures at a fountain, and Mercury. On the cover is an engraved figure too indistinct to be identified. The lid is slightly concave, the handle formed by two nude figures in the usual position. The condi- tion is fairly good but it has been, and not skilfully, repaired. The whole surface is covered with a beautiful malachite-like smooth patina. This cist was found at Palestrina and was at one time in the Campana collection, from which it passed to the imperial Hermitage. Reproductions of several examples of mediaeval bronze work have been made, most of the originals being in the collection of Mons. Botkine of St. Petersburg. Monsieur Michel Botkine is well known as a connoisseur and collector. He has passed many years in Italy, and it is not surprising therefore that his collection is mainly comprised of objects of mediaeval Italian art. It is a veritable museum, and as such, through the kindness of the owner, is open on certain days to the public. Though not extensive it may be said that its contents have been chosen with the greatest judgment. There is scarcely an object which is not a fine example of its kind. The pieces which have been chosen from this collection for reproduction are principally of one type— Italian bronze work of the sixteenth century, and these again are almost entirely confined to door-knockers. It is scarcely necessary here to do more than allude to the magnificent bronze productions of that period, and to notice 272 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. the care and talent bestowed on the most ordinary objects of domestic use. In the middle ages art forced itself everywhere. It was not content with enriching precious objects only, but as much care was bestowed on those which served almost every purpose of domestic life. No matter how humble the object, or how little generally exposed to view, the artists of those days were not content to scamp the work or to be satisfied with reiterated productions of the same designs. They had also the supreme advantage, which is now so rare, arising from the fact that in most of the branches of art the designer executed at least in the principal parts his own work and disdained mechanical reproduc- tions. He worked also with a bold and fearless hand and was not afraid of curious conceits. Thus it was that in Rome, Florence, Venice, and the great cities, the adornments of the chief houses received every possible care. The gates, the doors and their knockers, the fountains — in short, the whole decoration of a rich house, show that in those days what was worth doing was worth doing well, and that a sham was an abhorrence. The patrons of art fostered it by their generous commands, and artists were not wanting whose ambition was to make a great name and a permanent renown. How seldom indeed do we meet with any object of the great period of Italian art, with any pretension to more than the most simple form, whose design is not good and studied in grace. Even if of the simplest kind, then it aims at being no more than simple, graceful, and natural, and perfectly adapted to the purpose. The selection of door-knockers from the Botkine collection has been made as a complement to the already fairly representa- tive collection in the South Kensington Museum. Not many years ago we could admire in their original places these interesting and artistic objects. If now few remain there, it is for the benefit of the many that we are enabled to give them a closer and more attentive inspection, and few probably will regret that the taste and MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTS. knowledge of collectors have rescued them from the fate to which the decay of the ancient splendour of the country would have consigned them. A fine door-knocker of a not uncommon kind is one formed of a female figure issuing from a shell, her outstretched arms resting on the heads of lions on each side ; the extended limbs of these are prolonged into scrolls which unite in the upper part. The original is from the Guazzi palace at Venice. Another is composed of two dolphins suspended by their tails ; between them is a cupid, and beneath a female mask. A third is complete, with the ornament for the other of the pair of folding doors. The knocker is composed of a female figure seated on a lion between winged female figures. Above is a shield, and beneath a horned mask. The ornament or handle of the other door is a fine head of a boy laughing. This splendid piece is from the Castel del Piove at Padua, and is attributed to Sansovino who built the castle. A fourth is of different form ; a winged lion or griffin, and the square-headed anvil is surrounded by a circular ornament. A fifth is composed of a satyr with protruding tongue between two dolphins, above is a sphinx, and beneath a ram's head. The original is from the villa of Sixtus V. at Perugia. A sixth from Florence is formed of a shield of arms supported by two cupids. A seventh from Venice has a cherub with crossed arms between two dolphins. A small bronze hand-bell comes from the same collection; also Italian sixteenth-century work. The handle of the bell is plain baluster-shaped. The upper part is decorated with a band of leaf ornament in relief ; next, a frieze alternately of medallions and recumbent nude figures ; on the sides a coat of arms twice repeated, masks, scrolls, and cornucopias. A bronze figure for a fountain, a boy blowing a horn, is from the museum of the Hermitage. It is nearly life-size and in the Z 2 274 ART OBJECTS IN RUSSIA. style of John of Bologna to whom it may be attributed, or at least to one of his numerous pupils. A large equestrian statuette of Louis XIV. is also from the same museum. The king is in flowing wig and Roman costume. A similar statuette by Girardon (162 8-17 15) is in the Louvre. Another, known as the elector Max Emanuel, is in the Bavarian National Museum at Munich. APPENDIX. A List of the Hall Marks to be found on the English Plate in Russia which has been copied. Flagon, 1571. . . Lion passant, leopard's head crowned, O (black letter, small), and maker's mark BT in linked letters on a shaped shield. Cup, 1585 . . , . The two first as before, H (Roman letter, capital), and maker's mark SB on a shaped shield. Salt, 1594. . . . The two first as before, R (Roman capital), and maker's mark a rose and AS. Flagon, 1596 . . . The two first as before, T (Roman capital), and maker's mark a hooped barrel with an animal on it being a rebus for New- ton (Newt-tun). Leopard, 1600 . . The two first as before, C (Lombardic, external cusps), and maker's mark (?). Cup, 1 60 1 . . . . The two first as before, D (Lombardic, external cusps), and maker's mark a triangle. Flagon, 1604. . . The two first as before, G (Lombardic, external cusps), and maker's mark IH and a bear in plain circular stamp. Great Jug, 1604 . The first three as before, and maker's mark an animal's head erased, between pellets, on a shaped shield. Flagon, 1606. . . The two first as before, I (Lombardic, external cusps), and maker's mark (?). Cup, 1 610 (?) . . . The two first as before, H or N (Lom- bardic, external cusps), maker's mark TF in inked letters (a very celebrated mark). 276 APPENDIX. Flagon, 161 2 . . . The two first as before, P (Lombardic, external cusps), and maker's mark TC with two pellets above and a pellet below, on a shaped shield. Tankard, 1613 . . The two first as before, Q (Lombardic, external cusps), and maker's mark WR with a rainbow below. Salts, 16 13 . . . The three first as before, and maker's mark RB in shaped shield. Salver, 1614 . . . The two first as before, R (Lombardic, external cusps), and maker's mark (?). Great Jug, 16 15. . The two first- as before, S (Lombardic, external cusps). Maker's mark RB as above. Cup, 1 61 7 . . . . The two first as before, V (Lombardic, external cusps), and maker's mark IP and beneath a bell in a shaped shield. Flagon, 161 9. . . The two first as before, B (Italic, small), and maker's mark IS, a crescent below on a shaped shield. Salver, 1663 . . . The two first as before, F (black letter capital), and maker's mark H, in a heart. Flagon, 1663 . . . The three first as before, and maker's mark HG, three pellets above and star between pellets below on a shaped shield. Candlestick, 1663 . The three first as before, and maker's mark a star above a scallop-shell between six pellets, on a plain shield. Wine Cistern, 1734. Lion's head erased, figure of Britannia, T (Roman capital), and maker's mark KA and mitre for Charles Kandler. Centrepiece, 1734 . Lion passant, leopard's head crowned, T (Roman capital,) and maker's mark PL under a crown (the old sterling mark) for Paul Lamerie. APPENDIX. 277 Hall Marks 071 the Plate of Foreign Manufacture. ( Ewer. Silver-gilt. Amsterdam. Seventeenth century. D J crowned and a fleur-de-lis crowned. 1 Salver. Silver-gilt. Amsterdam. Seventeenth century. [ D crowned and a lion rampant crowned. 98. Tazza. Silver-gilt. Amsterdam, Seventeenth century. L and three stars. 99. Bowl. Silver. Copenhagen. 1660. $ in a circle and three castles and 1660 in a circle. 126. 7, 8, 9. Tureens and Covers. Silver-gilt. French. 1769. Date mark of 1769. 130. Candelabrum. Silver-gilt. French. Eighteenth century. 131. Candelabrum. Silver-gilt. French. Date marks of 1732-1738. 133. Nautilus Cup. Silver-gilt. Nuremberg. Sixteenth cen- tury. N and TS conjoined. 134. Cup and Cover. Silver-gilt. Nuremberg. Sixteenth century. N and three stars. 135. Cup. Silver-gilt. Nuremberg. Sixteenth century. Nand a lion's head in a shield. 140. Tankard. Silver-gilt. Nuremberg. Sixteenth century. N and CK. 142. Beaker. Silver-gilt. Dantzic. Seventeenth century. Double cross of Dantzic. 143. Cup. Silver parcel-gilt. Augsburg. Seventeenth century. Pine-apple and HL. 146. Flagon. Silver-gilt. Dantzic. Seventeenth century. Double cross of Dantzic and IR. 147. Wine-cradle. Silver-gilt. Dantzic. Seventeenth century. Double cross of Dantzic. 149. Tankard. Silver-gilt. Dantzic. Seventeenth century. Double cross of Dantzic. 278 APPENDIX. 150. Tankard. Silver-gilt. Dantzic. Seventeenth century. Double cross of Dantzic and SO. 153. Plateau. Silver-gilt. Augsburg. Seventeenth century. Pine-apple and HB in a circle. 154. Plateau. Silver-gilt. Augsburg. Seventeenth century. Pine-apple and HN conjoined. 155. Figure of a Camel. Silver-gilt. Dantzic. Seventeenth century. Double cross of Dantzic. 156. Statuette of Charles I. Silver-gilt. Augsburg. Seventeenth century. Pine-apple. 166. Flask. Silver-gilt. Augsburg. Eighteenth century. Pine- apple. 167. Bowl. Silver-gilt. Nuremberg. N and HR and HF conjoined in circles. 168. Cup and Cover. Silver-gilt. Nuremberg. N and H. 169. Cup. Silver-gilt. Nuremberg. N. 170. Cup (figure of a wild man). Silver-gilt. Nuremberg. N. 172. Cup and Cover. Silver-gilt. Nuremberg. N. 173. Standing Cup. Silver-gilt. Augsburg. Pine-apple and CH. 175. Great Jug. Silver-gilt. Augsburg. Pine-apple and MH conjoined. 176. Table Fountain. Silver-gilt. Augsburg. Pine-apple. 177. Tankard. Silver-gilt. German (?). A cross in a square. 178. Tankard. Silver-gilt. Augsburg (?). A double cross and rose (?). 179. Tankard. Silver-gilt. Augsburg. Pine-apple and HB conjoined. 180. Tankard. Silver parcel-gilt. German (?). W and GH. 182. Tazza. Silver parcel-gilt. Augsburg. Pine-apple and (?). 183. Tazza. Silver-gilt. Augsburg. Pine-apple and a stork in a circle. 277. Pail. Silver-gilt. Hamburg. Seventeenth century. Castle and an eagle. 278. Cup. Silver. Hamburg. Seventeenth century. Castle. LONDON: R. CLAY, SONS, AND TAYLOR, PRINTERS. GETTY CENTER LIBRARY