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GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
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Chemical Libiały
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Glass 22532
73332
In the Old World
Madeline
muj
BY
MA Wallace-Dunlop
Author of
"The Timely Retreat;" "Wanderings in Brittany," &c.
LONDON:
FIELD & TVER, ye LEADENHALLE PRESSE;
IMPKIN, MARSHALL & CO.; HAMILTON, ADAMS & CO.
NEW YORK:
SCRIBNER & WELFORD, 743 & 745, BROADWAY.
(ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)
1882
FIELD & TUer,
ye LEADENHALLE PRESSE,
50, Leadenhall street, E.C.
T 3,054.
THE AUTHOR DEDICATES
THIS BOOK TO
SIR WILLIAM DRAKE,
IN TESTIMONY OF HER APPRECIATION OF THE CULTIVATED TASTE
AND UNTIRING ENERGY SHOWN BY HIM IN HIS EFFORTS
TO BRING ABOUT THE MODERN REVIVAL
OF ARTISTIC GLASS-WORK.
?
*
PREFACE.
My reason for publishing this volume is that when, a few
years ago, I desired to learn something about ancient
glass, I found the required information scattered through
many books, some of them most difficult of access; the
idea then occurred to me of collecting my notes in a con-
venient form.
The want then felt has been in some degree supplied by
the publication of the South Kensington glass catalogue
and handbook, but many curious facts remain unnoticed,
which to the glass student are useful and interesting.
The subjects treated in these pages are by no means ex-
hausted, examples might be almost indefinitely multiplied;
but I forbear, remembering the French saying "Le secret
d'ennuyer est de tout dire." I have throughout striven to
avoid giving merely a dry useless catalogue, but have
tried to awaken in the minds especially of my younger
readers an intelligent interest in the subjects discussed,
which may perhaps induce them to examine more care-
fully those which most please them; thus, in "imitation
gems," or "mirrors," there are paths indicated which would
well repay more extended research. For the advanced
student this work will present little that is new; it only
attempts to recall half forgotten things, to enable busy and
ignorant people to realize subjects they have hitherto
scarcely thought about. Instead of crying out with fiery
-
vi
PREFACE.
St. Jerome, "Perish all those who have said that which we
have to say," I would rather repeat with kindly old Roger
Ascham, "If I have sayed amisse, I am content that any
man amende it, or if I have sayed too little, any man that
wyll to adde what hym pleaseth to it."
It only remains for me to express my great debt to
those authors whose works have so materially aided me,
and to those many friends for whose help I appealed. I in
common with many other students have to record my
sincere and grateful thanks, especially, to those ripe scholars
at the British Museum, Dr. Birch, Mr. Franks, Mr. Garnett,
and others, whose inexhaustible patience so often smoothed
away obstacles which seemed insurmountable.
ANCIENT EGYPTIAN
PHOENICIAN AND GREEK
ROMAN
ASSYRIAN
HEBREW GLASS
PERSIA
ETRURIAN, POMPEIIAN, AND CHRISTIAN
BYZANTINE AND ARAB
CHINESE, JAPANESE, AND INDIAN
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND
CONTENTS.
FRENCH, SPANISH, GERMAN, AND ITALIAN
IMITATION GEMS
WINDOWS
MOSAICS AND WALL DECORATION
•
•
INDEX.
CUPS
BEADS
MIRRORS
LAMPS
OF TRUE AND FALSE MURRHINE, AND FLEXIBLE Glass
ANALYSIS, Oxides, and Glazes
•
•
•
•
•
TRADE WITH INDIA
STATUE OF MEMNON
RECENT DISCOVERY AT THEBES.
NADIR SHAH'S TRAVELLING TENT
.
NOTES.
•
•
•
•
D
·
•
•
•
•
•
•
PAGE
17
o on wood
32
56
62
71
78
90
98
IIO
126
149
162
177
191
200
214
226
235
244
261
262
262
263
264
Glass in the Old World.
ANCIENT EGYPTIAN.
"I shall now speak of Egypt at greater length, as it contains more wonders
than any other land, and is pre-eminent above all the countries in the world
for works that one can hardly describe."—Herodotus.
W
HEN Bacon, struck by the extraordinary usefulness of
glass to civilized man, awarded a foremost place in the
"long and fair gallery" of his imaginary Temple of
Solomon to a statue of its inventor, he does not
attempt to suggest whose form the statue is to assume; and those
inquiring spirits who would try to rectify his omission find their
search baffled at every turn, behind each name or myth of
antiquity stands another, more shadowy and more mythical; and
while we try to fix our eyes on the few rays of light that illumine
these shadows, and strain our mental vision to pierce the thick
mists with which time and superstition have enveloped the whole
question, the only tangible figure we meet is that of the Egyptian
god “P'tah” (in later ages identified with Vulcan), who looks at
us with the slightly mocking gaze of inscrutable wisdom, more
immovable than the fabled Sphinx, common to many of these
old Egyptian faces. We hold fast by P'tah because in Egyptian
mythology he is the artisan of the universe; he hung the sun,
moon and stars; he is the visible world coming out of chaos by
the force of divine intelligence, the symbol of the soul freed from
earthly stains. He is the Roman Vulcan¹; he invented fire, of
which glass is the offspring; his priests were the first known
chemists, and from their secret laboratories came all the marvels
which the tombs of Memphis and Thebes have preserved to the
modern world. They stood on the vantage ground of knowledge,
the sole possessors of nature's mysteries at a time when the rest of
¹ Imouthés, or the Greek Esculapius, is the son of P'tah.
B
2
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
2
-
3
the earth was sunk in darkness. When we remember the time it
requires for a nation to emerge from infancy to manhood¹ and
reflect on the artistic skill shown in the sculptures, the science
displayed in the monuments, and the chemical knowledge in the
coloured glass and jewellery preserved in the tombs, and recollect
that Egypt was at the apex of her power and civilization between
three and four thousand years B. C., we may well feel lost in the en-
deavour to separate and reduce to order the mass of thoughts and
facts that rise before our minds, and feel inclined to believe in
Plato's assertion that the arts and sciences had been practised in
Egypt for ten thousand years before his visit to that country. For
us Egypt is the germ of all civilizations: there may have been older
ones, and some hold the Ethiopians ³ to have been the earliest; but
they have left us no bewildering monuments to study, no tangible
proofs of high cultivation, such as teem on Egyptian soil. Her
far-reaching commerce carried the products of her knowledge far
and wide; and China, India, and the uttermost parts of the earth
returned her their choicest treasures. In later times the Greeks
earnestly strove to be affiliated to her temples, hoping to be
initiated in their mysteries; and under changed names we see her
gods and her myths living again in Etruria and Greece. It is
among the ruins of Memphis we find the earliest traces of glass,
fragmentary indeed as they may well be. Memphis was built by
Menes, first king of all Egypt. The priests asserted that gods
reigned over Egypt for thirteen thousand years before Menes the
Stable mounted the throne. He turned the course of the Nile
aside to gain ground for his new city, and the bank of Cocheiche
may very possibly have been the one he built; so engineering must
have been understood in his day. Among the fragments of glass
found in the ruins are pieces of a solid turquoise blue, probably
4
1 Consider the years that must have elapsed for instance between the day
when some observing man first discovered a vitrified substance, such as ob-
sidian perhaps, near a volcano, and the invention of the blowpipe or the
discovery of materials for making glass, and the day when he was enabled to
imitate precious stones.
2 In the Khedive's museum at Boulak is a wooden statue of the fourth
dynasty, which is all but alive; and the creator of the statue of Chephren,
founder of the second pyramid, also at Boulak, had nothing more to learn, had
already reached a perfection we sigh after in vain.
8 They are said to have exposed their dead, painted au naturel, in glass coffins
for a year, gaining thereby offerings and sacrifices.
→ Menes was killed by a crocodile ; as in the infancy of religion people always
worshipped that which they feared, may not this incident have originated the
worship of the crocodile in Egypt?
ANCIENT EGYPTIAN.
3
در
used for glazing pottery figures; the brilliance of these blues is
unrivalled to this day. The mummies of those ancient tombs
wear necklaces of glass paste beads, giving incontestable proofs of
the antiquity of that mode of adornment. It must be remembered
that opaque coloured glass resembling stone, and called "paste,"
is a much easier and consequently earlier manufacture than trans-
parent glass, the discovery of which belongs to more modern times
than those we are now studying. At Memphis was placed the
great temple of P'tah, or Vulcan, and many other splendid build-
ings. Abd-el-Latif, an Arab doctor, A.D. 1300, gives a poetical
and enthusiastic description of the wonderful ruins he saw in
this town of which little is left in our day; the grand stones of
Memphis were taken to Cairo to build mosques and palaces for
the caliphs. The exact date of the town of Memphis is uncertain,
as is but natural, considering we are looking back through the
mists of some six thousand years. Mariette Bey, quoting Manetho,¹
fixes the reign of Menes 2 in 5004 B.C. Brugsch places it about five
hundred years later, and Boeckh some seven hundred years earlier.
It has been said there are two hundred systems of chronology for
Egypt; but as Mariette Bey, Dr. Birch, and other Egyptologists
consider Manetho on the whole the safest guide to follow, I think
it easier to keep to his arrangement of dynasties, as I am not
trying to settle the much disputed question of Egyptian chronology
but striving to trace back the history of glass. Everything leads
us to suppose that the priests of P'tah, always occupied with ex-
periments and much favoured by nature in the profusion of pure
sand and quantities of kali,³ (the cinders of which made glass,) not
only had factories for common glass, but, profiting by their discovery
of the property of oxides of metals which they got from India of
}
¹ Under Ptolemy Philadelphus, 270 B.C., Manetho wrote in Greek a history
of Egypt after the official archives preserved in the temples.
Like many
others, this history has disappeared, and we only possess fragments, and a list
of the kings which Manetho had placed at the end of his work, a list fortu-
nately preserved in the writings of some chronographers. By this list we
mount in effect to the time considered mythical among all other peoples, but
here we are already in history. The Bibliothèque Nationale of Paris lately
acquired a demotic papyrus which M. Révillout has deciphered. It contains
part of an ancient Egyptian chronicle compiled apparently under the Ptolemies.
This chronicle proves that the ancients were right in maintaining that Manetho's
history was based on earlier chronicles, and that the doubts cast on the existence
of these have no foundation.
2 In the Louvre is a scarabeus with the name of Menes traced in gold leaf.
Were this specimen authentic, it must be the oldest personal relic in the
world.
8 Arabic name for a plant which contains alkali.
4
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
2
3
vitrifying different colours, conceived the project of imitating all
the precious stones which commerce brought them from that
country.¹ These priests placed their glass factories at the very
gates of the Lakes of Nitre, in the midst of the desert. There
are found ruins of glassworks of the highest antiquity. They must
have existed at that far off period when the land now barren was
fruitful, or even, if one dares to think or say it, at that epoch more
distant still when the waters of some river must have flowed over
these parched and arid deserts and the trees we now see petrified
and buried in sand were living and growing. From these factories
or others like them proceeded probably the treasures lately dis-
covered in the tombs of Memphis, among the ruins of what the
French commissioners thought the labyrinth of Fayoum. Some
of these tombs are very old. One of the largest and best pre-
served found in the necropolis of Sakkara at Memphis is the
Mastaba ³ of Tih, belonging to the fifth dynasty. The walls are
covered with elaborate sculpture representing all the occupations
and arts of the time with marvellous skill, considering its date must
be about 3900 B.C. On the south side of the tomb are represented
all the then known trades, as carpentering, masonry, glass blowing,
chair making, and others. This is certainly the earliest represent-
ation yet discovered of the manufacture of glass. That the
Egyptians were acquainted with the art of making vitreous glaze
even before this is proved by the convex pieces of glazed green
pottery inlaid with stucco in a kind of mosaic in two chambers of
the Step Pyramid of Sakkara. Some greenish blue tiles, about
two inches long and one broad, may be seen in the British
Museum taken from the jambs of an inner door in this pyramid.
There is one black one from the same place. The green glazed
bricks from the doorposts were removed to Berlin by Lepsius in
1845. A passage in Manetho seems to say this pyramid was built
by a king of the first dynasty. If this be correct it must be
nearly the most ancient monument in the world. Some writers
say it belongs to the fifth dynasty, but give no more solid reasons
4
¹See Note A in Appendix, for ancient authorities concerning commerce with
India.
2 Si H. Rawlinson states that ruins of glass factories may still be seen at
the Nation lakes in Egypt.
3 A mortuary chapel as well as a tomb; it commonly distinguishes tombs
of the ancient empire.
4 The rock tombs of Beni Hassan date from the twelfth dynasty.
5 Mariette Bey says by Ouénephis, fourth king of Egypt; he places the first
dynasty at 5000 B. C., according to Manetho.
ANCIENT EGYPTIAN.
5
for their belief. Mariette Bey thinks from the unique form of the
chambers that they contained the tombs of the Apis, or sacred
bull, of the primeval monarchy. If, as is most probable, pottery
was the first art invented by prehistoric man, who possibly made
clay vessels and dried them in the sun, afterwards perhaps applying
artificial heat, he must very soon have observed the accidental
vitrification of clay in burning, and certainly whenever we find
glazed pottery we may feel sure the maker of it was acquainted
with glass. If the Sakkara pyramid dates from the first dynasty,
the next in age is that of Meydoum which contains the sculptured
name of Senefroo, supposed to be the last king of the third or the
first of the fourth dynasty, probably the oldest written name in
the world.¹ The tomb of Nefermat, a functionary at this king's
court, stands near the pyramid, and contains, besides his statue and
sculptures in low relief like those of Tih, some figures, perhaps
portraits of his family, incised in the stone and filled in with a
sort of enamel of great brilliance and beauty, the men's figures in
red and the women's in yellow; the latter colour being softer
than the red has been nearly all picked out by thoughtless
visitors. 2
In this same group of tombs were discovered the
statues of the beautiful Nefert and her husband Ra-hotep, supposed
to have been the son of Senefroo. Both these statues wear neck-
laces; and both, although the earliest specimens of portrait sculpture
known to exist, belong to a very high style of art; they are older
than the statues of Chephren.
The enormous pyramids of Cheops and Chephren, certainly the
best known among the many marvels of Egypt, were unfortunately
opened and rifled before modern history awoke. We can only
• piece together fragments from various sources respecting them. Of
contemporaneous history we have a stone inscription at Boulak³
'This king's name appears also at the mines of Wady Maghâra. It seems
that the Egyptians were acquainted with written characters and numerals.
4235 B. C.
2 Fresco painting as well as sculpture was highly advanced in those days.
It was from the tomb of the wife of Nefermat that was taken the wonderfully
truthful picture of geese pasturing, now at Boulak.
3 Another stone inscription in the same museum, discovered when removing
the sand from the Sphinx, tells us Cheops gave orders for the repair of the
image of the god Amarchis, known to us as the Sphinx (it must therefore be
older than Cheops), whom the Arabs still call Ever watchful Father of Terror.
The Sphinx was the reverse and antagonist of Typhon, the spirit of light
and principle of good overcoming the sterility of the desert, and victorious over
Typhon the principle of evil. Mariette Bey says, "the Sphinx has not yet
said his last word."
6
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
detailing the offerings made to a temple by Khoufou or Cheops,
founder of the first pyramid, consisting of divine images made
in wood, stone, gold, bronze and ivory. Cheops was the second
king of the fourth dynasty; he built the first pyramid 4200 B.C. (?)
The Arabs still call it the glorious or splendid throne of Khoufou¹1
Abd-el-Latif says that El-Mamoum, son of Haroun-al-Raschd,
A.D. 813-833, was the first who succeeded in penetrating into
the tomb of Cheops, but found nothing to reward his search,
except a sum in gold coin, just enough to pay the workmen em-
ployed, contained in a vessel formed of a single emerald, which
the caliph took back with him to Bagdad. Scoffers of the
time hinted that the money was placed there by the caliph him-
self to prevent people from accusing him of wasting the public
funds, and moderns are inclined to imagine the emerald vase
was made of glass. The Arab historian Ben Abd-er-Rahmân
says in 829 El-Mamoum entered the great pyramid and found.
the body of Cheops. "In a stone sarcophagus was a green stone
statue of a man, like an emerald, containing a human body,
covered with a sheet of fine gold ornamented with a great quantity
of precious stones, on the breast a priceless sword, on the head a
ruby as large as a hen's egg, brilliant as a flame. I have seen
the statue which contained the body, it was near the palace of
Fôstat." Ebub-abd-el-Holem, another Arab, says: "one saw
beneath the summit of the pyramid a chamber with a hollow
prison, in which was a statue of stone enclosing the body of a
man, who had on the breast a pectoral of gold enriched by fine
stones, and a sword of inestimable price, on the head a carbuncle
the size of an egg, brilliant as the sun, on which were characters
no man could read." Mariette Bey thinks these details are so
precise as to leave no doubt the mummy of Cheops was found by
Mamoum, the body covered with the gilt wrapper and enriched
with bright paintings and coloured pastes to imitate precious
stones; the ruby doubtless the "uræus," sacred asp, emblem of
royalty; the priceless sword may have been a sceptre or a poignard
such as are found in tombs of the eleventh dynasty and in that of
1
¹ It is said that one hundred thousand men, who were relieved every three
months, were compelled to labour during thirty years in the gigantic task of
crecting these monuments of the vanity of the Pharaohs. Herodotus, who
visited Egypt 450 B. C., says three thousand years had not sufficed to efface
these memories and the inhabitants yet recounted the maledictions of their un-
happy ancestors and refused even to pronounce the names of the constructors
of the two pyramids. Modern writers however count these as idle tales.
ANCIENT EGYPTIAN.
7
Queen Aah-Hotep; the statue of green serpentine is often repeated
in later tombs. All the discoveries of modern archæology are in
favour of the truth of the Arab historians and their account of the
discovery of El-Mamoum. If we could accept this testimony it
would refer the power of making imitation precious stones in
glass to a very remote age. The court poets of El-Mamoum drew
gorgeous pictures of the contents of the pyramids. All the
treasures of Sheddad Ben-Ad, the great antediluvian king of the
earth, with all his medicines and all his sciences, were there.
The report of Ibn-abd-Alkohm, as to what was put into them
originally by the great king Saurid, is as follows: "in the east
pyramid (that of Cheops) divers celebrated spheres and stars, and
what they severally operate in their aspects, and the perfumes that
are to be used with them, and the books which treat of these
matters. In the west pyramid (that of Chephren, built 4000
B.C. ?) thirty treasuries filled with store of riches and utensils, and
with signatures made of precious stones (signet rings ?), and in-
struments of iron, and vessels of earth, and with arms which rust
not, and with glass which might be bended and yet not broken,¹ with
strange spells and with several kinds of magical precious stones,
with deadly poisons and other things." Though the pyramid may
have been empty when El-Mamoum's workmen broke into it, we
have no means of learning what had happened in the long lapse
of centuries between that time and the age in which it was built.2
The collection of scarabei in the British Museum ranges from
the fourth dynasty down to the Roman empire; the glaze is
generally blue or green. The earliest scarab in the Boulak
museum bears the name of Senefroo, third dynasty. Boulak also
possesses a blue porcelain scarab inscribed with the name of
Mycerinus, builder of the third pyramid, a being venerated and
glorified in all ages. Scarabeis are found in all materials, porce-
lain, glazed stone, and glass paste; the oldest scarab in paste at
Boulak is of Necho, twenty-sixth dynasty, a magnificent repre-
sentation of the warrior king standing between Isis and Neith,
receiving gifts from them. Neith gives him the image of the god
1 This is surely the earliest attempt at describing flexible glass.
2 See Proctor's "Myths of Astronomy.
³ The scarabeus or sacred beetle was supposed to be the image of the
Creator, without commencement and without end; at the same time the
symbol of resurrection and the immortality reserved for the soul who has
merited this recompence. One at least was placed on each mummy, generally
containing the name of the deceased; sometimes many were thrown loosely
into the mummy case.
""
8
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
of battles, victory over all his enemies; this charm was not always
successful however, as we find him beaten at Carchemish by
Nebuchadnezzar. Plate I. 10 is a scarabeus in dark blue glass,
from the Rev. W. Loftie's collection; it represents the god Seth;
as the worship of this deity ceased in Egypt with the nineteenth
dynasty, this bit of glass is most probably at least to be dated
thirteen centuries B.C. The painting on the walls of the rock
tombs of Beni-Hassan representing the process of glass blowing,
so well known to us from engravings, dates from some time in the
twelfth¹ dynasty, 2851 B.C. This has long been considered the
earliest indication of the art; but the discovery of the sculptured
glass blowers in the more ancient tomb of Tih proves that the
knowledge of glass belongs to still earlier times. The oldest
piece of dated glass at present known is the lion's head amulet in
the Slade collection, British Museum (Plate I. 7).
It was
originally found at Thebes by Signor Drovetti, and is made of
opaque blue glass, with an external coating of dark olive green,
due to the lapse of time since it was made. The hieroglyphics on
the under side represent Sati (Juno) and Neith (Minerva),
symbolizing the crowns of upper and lower Egypt with the
prænomen of Nuantef, fourth of the eleventh dynasty, 3064 B.C.
This is the oldest glass in the British Museum. The town of
Thebes seems to have become important in the eleventh dynasty;
in the mummy of King Antefaa of that dynasty, found at Thebes,
the eyes are of enamelled glass.2 Eyes of flat glass paste, with
black pupils and blue or various coloured lids, are found in
numbers in mummy cases. This mystic eye designated "ut'a"
indicates a period of time achieved; placed on a mummy it ex-
presses the wish of the soul to arrive safe and whole at the end of
its journey. The dead rising from their graves are also repre-
sented as “ut'a,” Plate I. 9; many other forms of the eye, some
conventionalised, are found scattered in tombs.3 In the British
¹ Osirtasen I., of this dynasty, is sometimes spoken of as "Joseph's
Pharaoh," but it is more probable that Joseph entered Egypt during the ninth
or tenth dynasties of usurping Shepherds or Semitic kings, a fact that would
render the elevation of a Hebrew to the high office of prime minister more
easily explicable. Rhone says the Arabs still show Joseph's tomb at the
Serapeum, Memphis.
2 The glass eyes of the enamelled clay lion in the Louvre have all the light
and fire of life.
3 Emblematical of the eyes of Ra which illumine the world; right being
sun, left the moon, the former also symbolizing king, the latter queen. Athor,
the Egyptian Venus, is called the pupil of the sun's eye.
ANCIENT EGYPTIAN.
9
Museum are many eyes in the Egyptian room, both of men and
bulls, some all glass paste, some mixed paste and alabaster. The
treasures found in the old tombs of Thebes and Memphis have
enriched many European museums. Those more lately dis-
covered are collected in the Khedive's museum at Boulak, where
a rich store of ancient glass may be studied. Here are to be seen
figures in glass paste of two or three colours. A figure in paste of
Ma, goddess of truth and justice (which Egyptians thought
were the same thing), has a symbolical plume formed of several
pieces of glass and a collar made of a kind of mosaic, long threads
of glass joined by heat; also heads of vultures in green paste,
the red eye of one is curiously natural. Vulture is the symbol of
maternity, the goddess Souvan is the universal mother and has a
vulture's head. Some mummies have been rolled in a sort of
pasteboard wrapper, covered with a thick coat of fine cement; on
this while wet have been traced rich and varied designs, in the
style of our modern Southall and Doulton faience, and flat glass
paste figures applied to it, also some disks of red opaque glass,
with waved lines on them, symbol of the rising sun or arrival of
the soul at the happy abode. There are in the museum also some
remarkable figures, in paste of various colours, animals, monkeys,
and human faces, formed of morsels of coloured glass, each fixed
to the other probably by slight heat, a kind of embryo mosaic.
A strong magnifying glass is required to distinguish the details ;
whether any sort of magnifier was used in making them, remains
an open question. The pieces of glass are encrusted in a
species of cloisonné, not enamel, that being only known at a
later period; this is more an inlaid toreutic work, the pastes and
stones being cut to the required forms and placed in the cells of
gold prepared to receive them. These objects rival the best
productions of ancient Greece. Clenched hands with the thumb
protruding, in blue and green glazed or enamelled porcelain,¹are
very common, probably portions of figures of Ma.
The small blue and green statuettes, often of enamelled pottery,
sometimes of stone covered with a vitrified substance, found so
plentifully in tombs, are not images of the deceased; they are the
aids furnished to assist the soul, who when arrived at one portion
of its pilgrimage beyond the tomb had to cultivate the fields of
A'alu, to plough, sow, and reap corn; or they are amulets destined
1 Closely resembling the Italian charm against the evil eye.
1
10
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
to help magically and make more easy the task imposed on it,
for immortality was to be acquired not only by the soul but the
body; when the soul after being subjected to many proofs as-
serted its purity, the body received anew the principle of life
which had for a time quitted it; in other words, the Egyptians
believed in the resurrection of the body.¹ Flowers, seeds, and
fruits strewn over the mummies are symbols of life renovated and
renewed; many of these are found in glass pastes, and at a later
period in transparent glass, as the brilliant coloured lentiles found
in the tomb of the brothers T'aho, which dates from the early
Ptolemies. Nilometers, made of coloured glass or other materials,
and constantly found with mummies, are emblems of stability, of
eternal periods promised to the dead. The tau cross is the symbol
of life eternal to the soul, this sign is frequently found also in
mummy cases. It is very nearly impossible to determine dates
with any certainty in Egyptian history; but the eighteenth dynasty,
1703 B.C., so rich in treasures of artistic glassmaking, may be
broadly remembered as the period of the Jewish captivity. The
exodus took place in the nineteenth dynasty, under Menephtah,
son of the great Rameses II.; he is the Pharaoh who is some-
times represented as having perished in the Red Sea, though his
death is not mentioned in Exodus and his tomb is at Bab-el-
Molouk with those of his ancestors, and his portrait is now in
Boulak museum.
Among the many valuable glass treasures preserved at Boulak
the most beautiful are supposed to belong to the eighteenth dynasty,
and perhaps one of the most elaborate bracelets is one that was
found in the tomb of the mother of one of the kings of that
dynasty, formed of microscopic beads of gold and red and blue
paste strung on fine gold wire in a symmetrical design of triangles;
there are at least two thousand beads in this bracelet, which bears
on its gold clasp the name of Amosis. The magnificent jewels now
at Boulak, and found in the tomb of Queen Aah-Hotep, 1703 B.C.,
are alone sufficient to establish the claim of Egypt to a very high
civilization. This queen was buried in the reign of Amosis, but
her exact relationship to him is not known; she is supposed to
have been the wife of Kamés and mother of Amosis. Her
portrait at Boulak gives a very fine type of Egyptian face; she is
stated by the writing on her tomb to have received the honour of
1 Perhaps for a second life on earth.
ANCIENT EGYPTIAN.
11
the white crown,¹ and the extraordinary magnificence of her sur-
roundings proves her to have been a person of the greatest im-
portance; her tomb was discovered at Medinet Abou, near
Luxor. Among her ornaments is a bracelet in which gold figures
appear on a ground of blue paste imitating lapis, as compact and
almost as hard as stone. There is a magnificent gold scarabeus
suspended from a fine flexible gold chain; the feet, drawn up close
to the beetle, are so finely worked, they appear moulded from
nature; the body and outspread wings are in tender blue paste
rayed with gold lines. Also a cartouche in blue and red paste
mosaic, and the head of a sphinx in blue paste. These four are
figured on Plate I., 3, 4, 5, 8. A splendid pectoral or breast orna-
ment has the figure of Amosis in a boat with two gods pouring
the waters of purification on his head. The workmanship of this
object is wonderful, the ground is cut à jour, the figures are out-
lined by a border of gold cloisonné, in which are introduced hard
stones and coloured pastes giving the appearance of a rich
enamel. A vase is known, in enamelled porcelain, which has or-
naments and inscriptions in two colours, giving the name of Amen-
ophis and Queen Taia, eighteenth dynasty. A bracelet and scara-
beus of blue paste was found with the mummy of Queen Taia, and
a yellow scentbottle, with the name in blue glass of Amenophis.
This king could hardly have thought, when he had his name
placed on a fragile bottle, and also on the granite pedestal of that
Colossus of Thebes, afterwards known as Memnon, that the
delicate glass would reach us intact while the granite would bear
marks of age.
It is of this statue that Pausanias writes: "the
Thebans say it is not Memnon but Phanemoph; on one of
the legs of the statue, in Greek, is an inscription (with several
others) saying, I Publius Balbinus have heard Memnon or
Phanemoph giving his divine sounds." This musical statue, 2
after being the wonder of the civilized world for the first two cen-
turies of the Christian era, was silenced for ever by the attempt of
Septimius Severus to restore the upper part of the Colossus, de-
stroyed by an earthquake in 27 B.C. On the obelisk of St. John of
Lateran, Rome, brought from Thebes by Constantine, is the name
of Thoutmes III., eighteenth dynasty (about 1590 B.C.), brother
The white crown is supposed to be the hieroglyphic for light and truth,
such as Osiris wears, and denotes the royalty of Upper Egypt. The red crown
signified the sovereignty of Lower Egypt.
2 See Note B for the very curious history of this statue.
12
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
of Queen Hatasou; he is also represented, cartouche on head, in
the temple of Karnac in the table of kings, ranged with the long
dynasty of his ancestors. These two facts give a deeper interest
to a lovely little blue and orange glass bottle in the British
Museum 1 which also contains his name, and in this instance
again glass has borne the weight of centuries as well as granite,
though one is an emblem of fragility and the other of strength;
Londoners may now study this same name on Cleopatra's needle.
We have old authority for the name given to our obelisk, as Abd-
el-Latif, A.D. 1190, calls two obelisks Pharaoh's needles. The
beautiful glass jewellery now in the Salle Historique, Louvre,
Paris, must be familiar to many persons. It was all discovered
by Mariette Bey, when at Memphis in 1852 he was searching for
the lost Serapeum of Strabo; the account is more interesting than
a fairy tale. After overcoming many difficulties both from the
nature of the soil and the jealousy and avarice of the govern-
ment, he succeeded in penetrating into two as yet untouched
chambers where the sacred bull Apis had been entombed, and
found the finger marks of the old Egyptian workmen who had
built up the entrance still impressed on the mortar, and on the
thin carpet of sand impressions of the naked feet of the men who
3,200 years ago had laid the mummied divinity in his tomb; at
this moment of success he felt with an emotion never to be for-
gotten that he had not lived in vain. These two sacred bulls had
been buried in the reign of Rameses II., the great conqueror and
contemporary of Moses,² his colossal statue is still to be seen at
Memphis. The bones of the bulls seem to have been broken
into small pieces before burial, and encased in a (still) strongly
scented bituminous substance mixed up with a quantity of funeral
statuettes, and the beautiful jewellery now in the Louvre, among
them the splendid pectoral bearing the name of Rameses II. and
the kestrel (Plate I. 1) and vulture with a ram's head, all formed
of pieces of coloured glass cloisonné with gold, and all doubtless
the gift of the king laid on the tomb of the dead Apis. Apis
was the sacred bull worshipped by the ancient Egyptians.
3
1
Egyptian Room. See also the next bottle, called a lekythos, and many
others in same case.
2 He was that Pharaoh for whose death Moses waited to return to Egypt,
and father to the Pharaoh of the Exodus.
3 Abd-el-Latif says one of the colossal statues of Rameses he measured was
thirty cubits long without the pedestal, and formed of a single piece of red
granite and covered with a red glaze.
ANCIENT EGYPTIAN.
13
Serapis (identified with Pluto by the Greeks) seems to have been
a mingling of Osiris and Apis, worshipped by Greeks and
Egyptians under the Ptolemies. Hadrian writing to Servinias
from Alexandria says: "The Christians worship Serapis, men
who call themselves bishops of Christ are devoted to Serapis; all
are busy, no man's hands are idle, some making glass, some
paper, linen; even gouty and blind persons have some employ-
ment." The black glass amulet, so carefully described by Caylus,
with the name of Serapis on it in white letters, which pierced
through the whole thickness of the ground, would probably there-
fore not be older than the Ptolemies, when the god Serapis took
the place of the ancient Apis.¹ Doubtless among our treasures
are preserved many objects of great antiquity, of which it is now
impossible to fix the date precisely, in the absence of any know-
ledge as to where or how they were discovered.
In the temple of Rameses III., twentieth dynasty, at Tel el-
Yahoudeh, recently discovered near Cairo, was found a large hall
paved with alabaster slabs, the walls covered with encaustic tiles
and bricks of most beautiful workmanship, incised and inlaid with
hieroglyphics of glass, some of them containing the name of
Rameses III.; a pattern in mosaic formed the cornice, and the
capitals of the columns were also inlaid with brilliant mosaics.
Some of the tiles are of entirely novel character, resembling
Palissy ware and representing figures of Asiatic and negro
prisoners, a procession doubtless denoting the conquests of the
monarch. The figures are in relief, portions of the garments and
backgrounds are incised and inlaid with pieces of coloured glass
pastes fitted into the incised portions; the features and flesh
appropriately glazed, the hair and headdress of coloured pastes;
they are fine specimens of torteuric work in relief. Many
examples can be studied at Boulak, but a greater number in the
British Museum. They are unique specimens of this class of
work (Plate I. 11). Indications of embroidery on the draperies
of the Asiatic prisoners are shown by the inlaid glass patterns. In
the British Museum may be seen the inlaid top of a symbol of life,
and also the different blues of the glazing. One great use of glass
in Egypt was to form hieroglyphics for inlaying in stone, wood, or
II
1 See Baedeker and A. Rhone.
>>
2 For a more detailed account of this magnificent ruin see Professor H.
Lewis's paper in "Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archæology,'
vol. vii., page 177.
14
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
metal. Many stone figures of their deities are so treated. There
is a remarkable instance of this work in the Turin Museum, where
small glass figures are represented in their natural tints. Egyptian
statues were often inlaid with various substances; when with
vitreous pastes the portions so inlaid were the extremities, as the
fingers, toes, beard, and eyes, collar round neck, bracelets and
anklets. The British Museum possesses a great variety of objects
in glass for inlaying, such as figures of monkeys and other animals,
fingers and toes of men with long plugs at the end for keeping
them fixed in their places. Some were fixed with pins of glazed
ware. There are some beards of blue glass paste in the museum,
one in the coffin of a priest of Horus who has also blue inlaid eyes,
the beard and headdress of a king of Thebes a deep blue with
a fillet of red paste; so many blue beards and wigs are found that
it would seem to have been a fashionable colour, and must have
been produced by powder or dye.¹ It would be well to notice
some very beautiful figures of the twentieth dynasty that have been
used for inlaying, together with many charms and amulets, studs,
and medallions, inlaid heads and large bugles. These beads and
bugles were extensively used in Egypt. Some mummies, instead
of the gilt wrapper incised or ornamented with studs or flat glass
figures, were enclosed in a network formed of beads or bugles;
there are three mummies in the British Museum so treated; that
of Ataineb, besides the blue network, has a scarabeus with ex-
tended wings formed of beads. This network probably refers to
the recovery of the lost limbs of Osiris from the Nile. Rosellini
found in a Theban tomb a representation of three men hard at
work threading these beads.
There are many Egyptian specimens of beadwork in the
British Museum, some formed of very tiny beads. We possess
also two pectorals in gold cloisonné in glass, and in the gem room
two gold bracelets with the name of Nimrud, twenty-second dynasty,
and inlaid figures in pastes on them; besides these, many rings
and objects in blue or green glazed porcelain, with the sacred eye
and several small glazed objects used as amulets. Common
objects in Egypt, these articles were prized objects of luxury to
younger nations, and millions of them were made and exported
to Greece, Italy, Persepolis, and Nineveh; and Etruscans set
1 It is said Egyptians so hated red hair that they killed children born with it ;
so possibly a beard showing such a tint would be dyed. Among other
changes, modern taste has altered that idea and red hair is avenged.
ANCIENT EGYPTIAN.
15
them in their exquisite gold filagree work, and they are found in
tombs everywhere. One most remarkable of these objects is a
bracelet formed of small fish strung together and secured by a
clasp. Objects of a talcose schist, resembling Chinese soap-
stone, were covered with a vitreous glaze generally of an olive green
colour, very highly prized (see the vase of Thoutmes I., British
Museum). Subjects are sometimes carved on this substance in
intaglio, and the details inlaid with porcelain and vitrified substance
of various colours. A painter's palette is known, inlaid with
the figure of Osiris. Egyptians carried their love of decoration
even to ornamenting their animals. Herodotus says the sacred
crocodiles of Memphis wore in his time "earrings made of melted
stone," which must have been glass. Many animals show great
pride in wearing decorations, and doubtless the sacred crocodiles
bore their honours with dignity, and the coloured drops would
show well against their brown and horny skins.
Perhaps one of the earliest proofs of the domestic use of glass
may be found in the frescoes of Thebes, where glass bottles holding
wine are represented about 1500 B.C. A coloured glass bottle
has been found, bearing the name of a king 1900 B.C.¹ Wilkinson
tells us that large glass bottles holding two gallons were in Egypt
enclosed in wicker work; smaller ones were protected by papyrus
rushes like our oil bottles; and smaller ones still were encased
in leather, just such as we carry on our journeys. All these are
preserved in our museums, and prove to us that in this line at
least we moderns have invented nothing. Pottery in Egypt never
attained great excellence, but was regarded by contemporary
nations with the same admiration we bestow on china; the
honours of the discovery of true porcelain belong to China, where
was produced a ware compact as stone and brilliant as glass.
Still some of the cups of varied colours found at Thebes testify to
the great skill of the workmen in making what may be called
glass porcelain, as partaking the qualities of those two substances.
and not being unlike the porcelain glass invented by Reaumur, who
discovered the art of converting glass into a substance very
similar to porcelain. The ware of Egypt is generally either blue
or green in colour, and of one quality, transversed by lines and
devices of other colours which are not confined to the surface, but
frequently penetrate half or entirely through the fused substance,
1 See M. Deville.
16
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
a point in which they differ from china ware where the patterns
are applied to the surface only, and perhaps justify the term glass
porcelain. Moulding glass was equally practised in Egypt, as we
find figures and ornaments evidently cast in a mould. This art
was lost till re-invented by Lehmann of Prague (seventeenth
century A.D.), who obtained a patent for it from Rudolf II. In
reading of these late patents for old inventions one is reminded
of the man who cried: "A plague on these ancients! they are
always stealing one's good ideas." It is evident the art of cutting
glass and hard stones was known in Egypt at the most remote
period, as various devices are engraved on beads and vases of the
eighteenth dynasty. It may be impossible to settle the precise
method practised by the Egyptians in these works; but if nothing
remains to show the process they employed, there is abundant
evidence left of its effects. The well known bead with the name
of Queen Hatasou on it is one example. They must have in-
structed the Israelites.1 It is probable their early intercourse
with India led them to the knowledge of the properties of the
diamond. Pliny says: "lapidaries eagerly seek after diamonds,
and set them in iron handles, for they have the power of pene-
trating everything, however hard it may be, for all gems may be
engraved with the diamond." And though Pliny wrote many
centuries after the epoch we are now considering, his testimony
is valuable, seeing the Greeks and Romans kept alight for many
ages the torch of civilization handed down to them by the
Egyptians.
1 Exod. ii. 17 and xxxix. 6.
*
A
1
8
Plate 11.
?
3
5
Jo
52 $
10
&
HIDROKON
hey
7
11
IDIA'S
12
PHOENICIAN & GREEK GLASS.
PHOENICIAN AND GREEK.
"In a fragment of Sanchoniathon, a very ancient Phoenician author, it is
stated that one of the successors of the first high priest was Isiris, who
invented the three writings, who was brother to Chna, the first who was ever
called Phoenician."-"Monde Primitif": M. de Gebelin, 1773.
"As if any one was to cover ivory statues or white lilies with clear glass."-
Ovid. Metam., lib. v.
I
T is difficult to fix even approximately the date when
Egyptian products first made their way among Greeks and
Phoenicians. Some have held that Phoenicians being among
the earliest traders only drew their glass stores from Alex-
andria, "that rich city," says Hadrian, "in which no one is
idle, some making glass, some paper"; but unless there was
a more ancient city on that site, before Alexander founded the
present one (332 B.C.), that is much too late a date to fix on.
Long before then Egypt had established commercial relations
with India, and it is unlikely she would so long have neglected
to extend her dealings to the nations of the Mediterranean.
Herodotus says Pharaoh Necho sent Phoenicians down the
Red Sea, who returned in three years to the mouth of the Nile,
having sailed round the continent of Africa, 610 B.C. Herodotus
also tells us that "Scylax of Caryanda was sent by Darius
Hystaspes on a voyage of discovery down the Indus. He
sailed down the river to the east and the rising of the sun, till
they reached the sea, whence they sailed westward through the
Indian Ocean to the Red Sea." The account of this celebrated
voyage, known as the Periplus of the Erythrean Sea, is mentioned
by Strabo as written by "Scylax the ancient writer"; it contains
many allusions to glass as one of the articles exported to India.
"Among the Indians as soon as glass began to be known it was
preferred before all things, and was exchanged at an exceedingly
high rate." This does not bear out Pliny's statement, "that Indian
1 This is the monarch whom Nebuchadnezzar defeated at Carchemish;
he
wished to connect the Mediterranean and Red Sea by a canal, but was for-
bidden by the priests to attempt such a work.
17
с
18
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
glass being mixed with crystal was beyond compare.' No
mention is ever made of glass wares brought back from India;
but all the names of the merchandise, silk, spices, peacocks, etc.,
are Sanscrit. It is most probable that later voyages were added
to the history of the original Periplus, on account of the great
fame of the first voyage. It is somewhat confusing to attempt
to separate Judæa and Phoenicia; Sidon certainly never fell into
the hands of the Jews, but the Septuagint frequently renders the
Hebrew Canaan and Canaanites by Phoenicia and Phoenicians.
Sidonians to the north of Judæa and Philistines to the south
were equally called Phoenicians by the Greeks. The Phoenicians
were celebrated for their silver work; they brought silver in such
abundance from Tarshish that they used masses of it instead of
lead for anchors! The silver vase with which Achilles proposed
to reward the victor in the funeral games in honour of Patroclus
was of Phoenician work; so also was the bowl given by Menelaus
to Telemachus. Homer refers to every object of art or orna-
ment as the work of a god or a Sidonian. The Bible records
their skill in metal work and engraving when Solomon appealed
to Hiram, king of Tyre, for assistance in building his temple.2
It is unreasonable to suppose a people so versed in the art of
metal work should have been ignorant of the sister art of working
in glass. Professor Rawlinson considers the Canaanites as the
original inhabitants of their land, and Phoenicians as immigrants,
possibly from the Persian Gulf, as early as the thirteenth century
B.C. "This accords with the Greek tradition, which made Phoenicia
predominant in the Mediterranean at the time of the Trojan war,
and speaks of settlements in Boeotia still earlier, and is late
enough to harmonize with Scripture, which does not notice either
commercial or artistic Tyre and Sidon till the time of David and
-Solomon." It has been suggested that at the invasion of the
Hebrews the flying Canaanites gained an asylum in Sidon, who
thus was enabled to found settlements in Cyprus, Rhodes, and
Spain.
"> 1
1 Sir G. Birdwood has suggested that this may mean Chinese, as in Pliny's
time such geographical confusion was natural.
..
2 Lucan says in his "Pharsalia" that Phoenicians invented letters : Phoe-
nicians first, if ancient fame be true, The sacred mystery of letters knew." For
many years it was supposed that by a perverse fate all their ancient records
had perished, and they had been deprived of the credit of the benefits their
discovery bestowed on other nations who borrowed it. Modern students have
however unearthed some of these forgotten inscriptions and deciphered their
mysterious characters.
·
PHOENICIAN AND GREEK.
19
Ronyer thinks "the products of Egypt did not come among
the Greeks till the last Pharaohs" (400 B.C.). No exportations
took place during the time the Persians remained masters of the
country (they were finally expelled 410 B.C.), and they only went
to Rome under the Ptolemies (323 B.C.), "when the forgotten
recipes of the priests of P'tah were refound, and perfectly exe-
cuted by Grecian disciples of Egypt." It is most probable that
the Persian usurpers preferred enriching their own country with
the spoils of Egyptian art, but those envied treasures must have
filtered through Persian barriers, or been known long before in
Greece and the isles, as Thales, one of the seven sages (636
B.C. ?), and Pythagoras (540 B.C.), and other Grecian philosophers
transmitted the learning they brought from Egypt to their dis-
ciples, and thence it spread in ever widening circles.¹ To Egypt
belongs the merit of having invented these processes, a merit
the Greeks acknowledged in becoming her pupils. However this
may be, it is certain that to those early Phoenician traders are
due all the lovely Greek and other vases, and varied beads and
amulets, found in tombs or thickly scattered over every shore
"washed by the Mediterranean sea.” The glass treasures found
in tombs at Rhodes, Cyprus, and elsewhere, beginning perhaps
about 800 B.C., do not occur after the Christian era. There is
a great similarity in all the glass vases of this time; nearly all are
in the form of amphora, generally dark blue in colour, or pale
buff and white (imitating alabaster), seldom red or green, and
often ornamented with a rudimentary decoration of zigzag wavy
lines of white, yellow, or pale blue. These lines do not penetrate
the thickness of the vessel, but are incorporated with it. Being
all meant probably to preserve scents or cosmetics, they present
little variety in shape, but the difference of materials in various
countries, even in the colonies, would rarely fail to make a differ-
ence in products. Caylus, who spared neither time or labour in
his researches, strove to establish the exact distinction between
the manufactures of Egypt, Phoenicia, Greece, Etruria and Rome,
but only succeeded with certainty in recognising specimens of the
first and last countries. Our present more extended knowledge,
and the great care now generally taken in indicating the localities
1 "Thoutmes and Rameses chained to their cars all the then known races of
mankind; under Greece and Rome, Egypt reigned by ideas as before by force
of arms.
The philosophy of Alexandria conducted at a supreme crisis the
great movement from which grew the modern world.
In medieval ages
Arabic art created at Cairo incontestable wonders."-Mariette Bey.
20
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
from whence antiquities are brought, may enable us to speak
with a little more decision. The long pointed vases with one
or two handles may generally be considered Egyptian, while the
more bulbous shaped jars, often with a spout and one handle,
are probably Phoenician. From the great manufacturing cities
Phoenician traders spread the knowledge as well as specimens
of the art among the isles. It is believed that the island of
Lesbos was formerly celebrated for its glassworks. In the
British Museum we have bottles and vases from Cyprus and
Rhodes,2 moulded glass from the isle of Meros, and a moulded
goblet with oblong beads from the isle of Thera. M. Renan,
the great Phoenician scholar, was not fortunate in his late mission
to Phoenicia, the glass he discovered being chiefly Roman.
Explorers in Cyprus have been more richly rewarded, large
stores of glass and other buried treasures having been found
there. Phoenicians from Sidon are said to have conquered
Cyprus in 1600 B.C., so the art treasures of that island were most
probably created in the workshops of this powerful Phoenician
city, whose sailors manned the fleets of Solomon. Sidon, the
great "artifex vitri," was 200 stades distant from Tyre (where
stood the famous emerald columns of St. Paul), and gradually
absorbed the trade of the latter place. From the total absence
of glass, except as paste jewellery, among the treasures found
at Curium, Cyprus, it has been inferred that the Sidonians (at
least before the siege of that town, sixth century B.C.) had not
learned the art of making transparent glass then well known and
practised in Egypt. Had they been in the habit of manufacturing
glass vessels for domestic use, some specimens would probably
have been preserved with the other treasures in Curium, as such
numbers of bottles, vases, disks, and other glass articles have
been discovered in later Cyprian tombs. It would however be
unwise to fix any date from a single example such as Curium.
The introduction of glass vases in these tombs was thought to
date about 500 B.C.; but from the pottery found in them more
recent excavators are inclined to think they must be earlier ;
indeed Newton includes Cyprus vases in the arguments by which
he determines the date of the Mycenæ antiquities at 800 B.C.³
1 See Plate II. 4, 6, 7, from the British Museum.
2 The glass objects from Camirus, Rhodes, are so original in character that
it is probable they are due to local manufacture, not to importation.
3 Where coins are found the date is more easily fixed. Many coins of the
PHOENICIAN AND GREEK.
21
Phoenicians were celebrated for making a pure white glass much
valued in those days, and this seems confirmed by the fact that
very little coloured glass is found in Cyprus; there are a few
specimens of light green, pale rose, and some blue with spiral
lines on it, and in some cases vases are ornamented with blue
bosses; but the greater part of the glass found was colourless,
though it is now beautifully iridescent from age. Chemical
analysis of Cyprus glass gives results precisely similar to that
of Egypt and Rome, and the proportions are very nearly the
same as we use now. The art of Cyprus is a mixture of Egyptian,
Assyrian, Phoenician, and later Greek, the paste jewellery bears
the impress of the different conquerors who have left their various
traces in the island. Thoutmes III. conquered Cyprus, so the
Egyptian date may be given approximately; but it would be
impossible to assign priority to either Phoenician or Assyrian,
as though Sargon overran the island in 708 B.C. Assyrian in-
fluence there is probably older. An enormous quantity of Greek
and Phoenician glass, tear and ointment bottles, seals, beads,
and bracelets, jugs and vases of all the usual varied shapes, have
been found in tombs in different parts of Cyprus. Numbers
of these were discovered and sent to New York by General de
Cesnola,' but many choice specimens remain in England, some
lately bequeathed to the British Museum by Mr. Henderson.
Among these is the graceful bird shaped bottle, which may
have been an infant's feeding bottle, or used to drop liquids, and
the Phoenician vase with two handles, both on Plate II.; the
latter is beautifully coloured in zigzag lines of turquoise blue,
yellow, and black. Among the numerous bottles preserved in
the museum some have stoppers, and some pointed glass sticks
as if to stir up the snuff or scent in the bottle, or they may have
been used for applying pigments to the brows and eyelashes just
as the Arab women apply kohl with metal bodkin-shaped sticks.
A large variety of very beautiful Phoenician, Greek, and other
glass objects can now be studied with great ease at the British
Museum; among them is the flat bottle (Plate II. 2). A similar
bottle without handles was taken from a tomb at Sidon.
objects figured on Plate II. are from the Lawrence-Cesnola
collection, all found in Cyprus by Major de Cesnola. The small
Six
early Ptolemies are found with glass; but glass is also found in tombs of much
earlier date.
1 Plate II. 12.
22
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
feeding bottle, No. 1; a beautiful pale rose-coloured vase, No. 9;
a unique shaped bottle, with long neck and the body pinched in
a triangular shape, No. 10. Some of the glass in this fine collection
is of marvellous lightness; thus a bottle, No. 5, six inches high,
with a long neck and broad at the bottom, weighs one ounce and
one eighth; a glass vase, No. 8, five inches high, and measuring
ten round, weighs seven eighths of an ounce; a tumbler of the
common indented shape, five inches high, No. 11, weighs three
quarters of an ounce; and a cup, three inches high, weighs
very little over half an ounce. An ordinary English wineglass
weighs four ounces and a fraction, a light one weighs 1998
ounce; an ordinary tumbler weighs 8.5243 ounces, and a light
one weighs 4'041 ounces. Greek painted glass is extremely rare ;
this collection possesses a pointed bottle found at Paphos, with a
temple painted on it supposed to be the temple of that city; and
a glass disk, in the possession of Major de Cesnola, presents a
Venus painted in colours. Gilding is yet seen on some of the
glasses. Cyprus is still rich in these spoils of the tombs; a recent
traveller¹ relates seeing fourteen baskets full of glass lying at
the commissioner's house waiting the decision of the home
government as to their ultimate fate. It has been suggested that
a local museum might be formed, where these treasures could find
a final resting place. We see many of the forms of this Greek
glass reproduced in later tombs and in various countries; see a
square long necked bottle, Plate IV., which seems to have been a
favourite shape for many centuries.2 No doubt Greek glass is
often found in Roman tombs, just as much Roman glass has
been recovered from cemeteries in Britain and Gaul.
At the sale of Barbetti's collection of Phoenician antiquities, a
few years ago, some hollow rims of glass sepulchral urns filled
with water, which had doubtless penetrated either through their
substance or through imperceptible fissures in the soldering,
during the many centuries they had lain underground, were
bought at high prices by antiquarians who believed the wily
Italian's assertion that they contained a wonderful perfume with
which they had been filled when first made.3 All traditions, and
1 "Our Home in Cyprus": Mrs. Scott Stevenson.
2 Cyprus terracotta funeral vases are reproduced to this day with great
exactitude both in form and colour by Kabyle mountaineers in North Africa
(see South Kensington Museum). These tribes seem to have no knowledge
of glass; they use a vegetable glaze.
C. W. King. He also mentions having seen the hollow spherical
PHŒNICIAN AND GREEK.
23
nearly all ancient remains found, testify that glass was first used
in making personal ornaments; inlaid coloured pastes, beads, and
amulets appear for a long time before the idea seems to have
occurred to early workers of converting it into vessels for domestic
use. Thus the glass found at Mycenae was chiefly in the form of
ornaments, and though no inscription there was older than 600
B.C. some of the articles discovered by Dr. Schliemann must
belong to an earlier date. Among them were disks of vitrified
paste, which probably were the decorations of a door or a wall.
Disks very similar in character were found at Ialysos, Rhodes,
of various sizes and principally turquoise blue or greyish white in
colour; they are each ornamented with a rosette in relief, and
have all been cast in a mould. They are now in the British
Museum, where may also be seen some disks in glazed pottery
from Egypt,¹ bearing a great resemblance to those from Mycena
and Rhodes; it is sometimes very difficult to distinguish between
vitrified pottery and opaque glass. 2
Homer (950 B. C. ?) never mentions glass, and only puts golden
cups into his heroes' hands; but he distinguishes between those
thick earthenware vessels that could bear heat, and the finer more
delicate kinds called "apyrous" which broke if touched by hot
water; some authors see indicated in these the vitrified semi-
transparent drinking cups made at Coptos, Egypt. Herodotus,
484 B.C., had evidently never seen glass except as paste jewellery,
which he describes as fusible stone; but Democritus, 460 B.C.,
who spent five years at Memphis, must have learned something of
its nature and may have introduced his knowledge into Greece
before Aristophanes, who is the first author who uses the word
hyalus as applied to glass, wrote his play of the "Acharnians,"
425 B.C., in which he makes the Athenian ambassadors sent to
Ecbatana say "they were made to drink a generous wine out of
cups of gold and of glass"; and in a later play, the “Clouds,” he
portions of stems of Venetian glasses nearly filled with water which had
doubtless penetrated in the same way as in the urns; and curiously enough
the marks made by the successive deposits of rising liquid on the interior of
the glass exactly imitate the natural layers of an agate.
1 The Greek colony of Sais in Egypt was founded in the seventh century
B.C. This extended colonization may account for the similarity in the products
of Egypt and Greece.
2 Mr. Newton has described in the Academy the discovery of similar
articles at Spata in Greece. It is impossible to say if these articles are Greek
or Phoenician. The rosette ornamentation of the disks may be Egyptian, as
pottery disks similarly ornamented have been found in Egypt. Their date is
probably about tenth century B.C.
24
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
»
makes one of the characters suggest to Socrates (whose teaching
he derided) to efface an obligation to pay five talents, when in the
very hands of the bailiff, by melting the wax of the tablets on
which the debt was recorded by means of that brilliant trans-
parent stone with which chemists burn things by presenting it
to the sun. Crystal was never so common in Greece as to be
found in every chemist's shop. The Florentine scholiast notes
upon Aristophanes' "Clouds" that in Greece glass was made from
some plant, ("we give the name hyalus to the production of
a certain plant which, being burnt and liquefied by fire, is used
in the manufacture of vessels,") and compares "kyron" (crystal)
to it.1
Theophrastus, writing in the fourth century B.C., only
speaks of glass as made by fusion out of a particular stone, so it
would not seem as if the actual process of manufacture could have
been much known at that time; he does understand something
about colouring it however, as in his work on "Stones " he says:
"If too, glass, as some say, is formed from a vitreous earth, this
also takes place by condensation. But its greatest peculiarity is
that, when mixed with copper, besides aiding its fusion and
admixture, it has an extraordinary quality in giving a difference to
the beauty of the colour."
There is some reason to suppose that enamelling was practised
about this time. In a tumulus near Kertch, Crimea (ancient
Paneticapaum), were discovered the remains of a great chief and
his wife, probably the ruling potentate of that country; with them
had been interred servants, horses, and quantities of treasure in
the form of jewellery. Among the latter were found medallions
of green and blue enamel; also a mitre headdress with an
electrum plate, on which were four Greek women seated on gar-
lands of lotuses, the stalks of which were entwined to serve as
seats and backs; the bottom of the mitre was ornamented by
small enamel rosettes. The chief also wore a gold enamelled
necklace. From the form of letters found in this tomb and other
circumstances it has been supposed that the burial must have
taken place not later than the fourth century B.C.2 In the word
"hyalus" the Greeks seem to have included not only glass but
everything that was of a crystalline colour, all pellucid bodies
such as ice, and even gums, as Lucian uses the same word in
describing the Indians anointing their dead with balsamic gums.
1 Hesychius defines glass as cidos hyalou, a species of hyalus.
2 "Archæological Association,” vol. xiii.
PHOENICIAN AND GREEK.
25
Thus when Herodotus speaks of a fossil glass out of which the
Ethiopians dug coffins for their dead, we who understand by glass
only a composition made by fire think this must have been some
kind of bituminous varnish used perhaps to fasten the wrappers
round the corpse.
A fossil cannot be glass, but it may have
been some vitrified substance¹ found in the neighbourhood of
volcanoes and formed by subterranean fires. Diodorus, writing
about four centuries later, says: "In Ethiopia they make glass
so abundantly that it serves for all the tombs." When Augustus
saw the body of Alexander in a glass coffin it must have been
something transparent. Strabo, 54 B.C., says: “Alexander's body
was first placed in a golden coffin, but Seleucus, king of Syria, 358
B.C., his friend, had it removed and placed in the glass coffin which
Augustus saw." Yet glass must still have been very rare, as
Mnesiptolemus, the court annalist of King Seleucus, describes his
royal master as drinking out of a bowl of "molten gear," as if the
article were such a novelty as only befitted the use of a great and
wealthy monarch.3 Drinking cups must soon have become more
known, as Pausias of Sicyon, 360 B.C., painted "Drunkenness,"
with her face showing through the transparent glass from which she
drinks. That glass was used in architectural ornamentation at
a very early date seems proved by the coloured glass still seen in
the capitals of the portico of the temple of Athena Polias on the
Acropolis of Athens. This temple, the Erechtheium,5 was com-
menced by Pericles; it contained the sacred olivewood statue of
Athena Polias, the most ancient known; the building was suspended
in the Peloponnesian war, 409 B.C., according to an inscription now
in the British Museum. Herodotus does not allude to its unfinished
state, so the principal parts must have been completed before his
time; it was finally finished 393 B.C. This glass decoration of
capitals was probably directly derived from the Egyptian method
of inlaying hieroglyphics; and the next step, to glass panels and
¹ Obsidian or volcanic glass was extensively used in Mexico.
2 Ronyer thinks it may have been a salt gum, still found in Arabia, such as
was used for walls in Carhès, or that transparent stone still employed for
windows, or that alabaster brought from Cappadocia of which Nero built a
transparent temple; or it may have been obsidian, still abundant in Ethiopia,
and which Mayol says was used for sepulchres.
3 "Athenæus," x. 40.
Pausanias says the
4 There is a copy of this work still extant in Florence.
original was in the grove of Esculapius in Epidaurus.
5 This celebrated temple was dedicated to Erechtheus, one of Homer's
mythical heroes, said to have been an Egyptian.
*
26
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
mosaic pictures for walls, which the Greeks are supposed to have
invented, would have been an easy one. In the temple of Diana
at Ephesus were discovered (during the excavations) some small
gilt disks, which were covered with a thin layer of glass, to pre-
serve the gilding, possibly the germ of what we call "Christian
glass."
Phoenician decadence must have commenced before the seventh
century B.C., when rising Greece, following the law of nations,
was gradually seizing on the failing power of her older rival
and seating herself on the vacant throne of Phoenicia. Phoenicians
were more celebrated for making glass than pottery. Greeks
preferred working in clay to glass; the ease with which clay could
be made into the vases which remain for ever types of elegance
to us, the purity of form which could not be obtained so well in
glass as by the clay worker, appealed more to their sense of
beauty. So the traces of Greek art are not so much found in
the fabrication of glass objects for use, as in the mouldings of
opaque glass, fixed on coloured vases, where the artistic hand of
the Greek has left an impress not to be mistaken. All our gem
cameos we owe to their skill, with the thousands of paste intaglios,
which followed as a natural sequence, and which are now found
preserved in mummies in Egypt, dug up from buried temples in
Rome; for almost wherever a Greek has left the print of his
footsteps we find these proofs of his extraordinary artistic skill
and endless wealth of invention.
The hundreds of Greek vases found in nearly all museums
prove that they were acquainted with the art of glazing from the
earliest dawn of their civilization, as some glazed vessels found in
tombs date from the tenth century B.C. This glaze is fine, thin,
and lustrous; the recipe for making it is lost, but the black glaze
is supposed to be a volcanic substance, spread over the vase like
a varnish, and fused by baking; there is no lead in it, and it will
not yield to acids or to the blowpipe, but it is inferior to modern
glazes as it is permeable by water. Great numbers of bottles
containing ointments and perfumes were placed with the favourite
drinking cup of the deceased in his tomb. Many of these doubt-
less were employed for toilette purposes during lifetime; some of
various materials, and of very elegant form, were lachrymatories,
"tear bottles," such as are alluded to by Ovid; others possibly
received the blood of victims sacrificed to the manes of the
dead; and many were used for the purpose of anointing the
PHOENICIAN AND GREEK.
27
body after death; as Anacreon, 560 B.C., laments as useless all
the libations and ointments poured out to honour his corpse.
In the basrelief representing Meleager's funeral is seen a woman
approaching the pile, and from a large vase pouring balsam into
a smaller one with a tube. The immense importance attached
to these funeral rites by the Greeks induced them to lay their
best and rarest gifts beside the honoured dead. When Agrip-
pina, 158 B.C., brought to Rome the ashes of Germanicus in an
urn, it was received with royal ceremonies in its passage from
one country to another, the authorities ordering it to be crowned
with flowers and followed by crowds who accompanied it from
one post to another. Plutarch also attests the same thing in
speaking of the funeral urn of Demetrius, 325 B.C. It is this
ancient custom of placing the choicest treasures in the sacred
depositories of the tomb that has preserved such priceless and
fragile treasures of art to us, and enabled us step by step to
follow, and in a great measure trace out, the civilization of
antiquity. The question of whether Greeks used magnifying
glasses or not must be decided by the nature of the works they
have left us, as we find but little help from their authors. Demo-
critus, 460 B.C., is said to have recognised that the milky way was
an assemblage of numberless stars; could he have done this without
artificial aid to his eyes? Plautus, 254 B.C., seems to have seen
glasses of some kind used, as he makes a girl say, "My mother
conducts me to the circus, when I return to the house he (my
lover) follows me with his glasses, as it were by stealth, as long as
I remain in sight." It has also been suggested that Plautus alludes
to spectacles when he speaks of "Faber Ocularius"; the same
expression also occurs in an inscription by Aldus Manutius, in which
mention is made of a certain “Patrochus, faber ocularius." But
this term is supposed now only to indicate those craftsmen who
supplied glass eyes for statues. Modern spectacles were invented
(or re-invented) by Salvino d'Armati, of Florence, at least that
fact is engraved on his tombstone, dated 1317. A few years
1
There is still preserved in the Vatican a shroud of "linum asbestos," a
substance indestructible by fire, and considered equal in value to pearls, which
was used to keep the bones separate from the ashes of the funeral pile on great
occasions. Should cremation become general in England, doubtless "linum
asbestos" could be revived also. At the dispersal of the Hertz collection in
1859 two of these asbestos shrouds were sold, said to have been found near
Carthage; one was contained in a glass cinerary urn, and held the bones of a
human being, the other was supposed to preserve the mingled bones of a
warrior and a horse.
28
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
earlier Gui de Chauliac, after giving various recipes for eyesalve,
says, "If these are not successful, recourse must be had to
spectacles."
Workers in glass, as they became more numerous or perhaps
more ambitious, stamped the name of their native town, as well
as their own designation, on their productions. "Artas the
Sidonian,” in both Latin and Greek¹, is read on vases of the most
rich and beautiful colours. This name occurs in the British
Museum on a broken blue glass handle. Doubtless he was
a renowned artist, as sometimes he places on his work simply
"made by a Sidonian," as if he were too well known to require
a more distinctive title, at least the glass is precisely the same
in both instances. We have also "Victor of Sidon" on another
broken handle. These names were stamped on the poucier as
the French call it, the piece of glass placed at the handle of
cups, to enable the thumb to take hold easily; and as the handle
was the thickest part, many of them have survived the vases to
which they belonged. Lucian finds nothing to which he can
compare the brilliance of a young girl he is praising save the glass
of Sidon. In the British Museum we have a moulded glass cup,
having stamped on it, with the name of Ennion, these words,
"Remember this, O buyer"; it was found in Cyprus. This same
artist's name appears on a lovely vase found in the ruins of Panti-
cape, Kertch, which is now at St. Petersburg, and two smaller
ones from the same studio were found at Modena, so it is evident
his work was widely renowned and he may well have been proud
of his name. M. Deville, from whose untiring industry the history
of glass has gained so much, has found the names, or stamps, of
sixty workers in glass, against four thousand makers of pottery.
Sometimes the same name appears both on glass and pottery, as
though the artist worked equally in either substance. Among
these workers is the stamp of one glassmaker from Rhodes; but,
strange to say, not a single name positively known to be from
Alexandria, that busy centre of fabrication, has come down to us.
Carthage has been more fortunate; "Jules Alexander Africanus,
citizen of Carthage, artist in glass," says his tomb, established him-
self and his family at Lyons in Gaul, and died seventy-five years
¹ This blending of the two languages would seem to place the work as late
as the Antonines. Besides the name we sometimes find a beardless emperor's
head crowned with laurel like Augustus; this cannot be later than Hadrian,
the first emperor who allowed his beard to grow.
PHŒNICIAN AND GREEK.
29
old. The sack of Carthage by the Romans at the close of its final
siege, 146 B.C., was so complete that nearly every vestige of that
once famous city has disappeared, its only remains are ruined
walls and mosaic pavements. Having been founded by Phoni-
cians it would naturally excel in all their arts, and G. Rawlinson
attributes to the Carthaginian trade many of the glass objects found
on the north-west coast of Africa. The opulence and wealth of
the city may be inferred from the fact that its inhabitants dedi-
cated to Astarte a purple mantle embroidered with figures and
sacred emblems in gold, for which they had paid £26,000.
When it was brought among other spoils to Rome it eclipsed all
known precious objects. Athenæus says there were several such
robes in Carthage. The only glass found by M. Falbe during his
researches in Carthage was in a tomb at Thapsus, where a very
beautiful patera of glass was enclosed in a terracotta vase with
figures, lamps, and other objects, which are all now in the royal
collection in Denmark. The inscription on the vase was in both
Greek and Latin, and its conical form resembled those found at
Paphos. Tyrian Carthage was rased to the ground; the "artist in
glass" whose tomb is still preserved in Lyons probably emigrated
then from the later Roman Carthage, which after a time rose on
the site of the older city, from which also the tomb at Thapsus
most likely dates.
It is supposed that the Greeks learned divination by means
of victims, from the Egyptians; but they practised it also by
means of glasses. Potter¹ describes one method which was
performed by the help of water, thus: "They filled certain
round glasses with clear water, about which they placed light
torches, then invoked a demon, praying in a low murmuring
voice, and proposed the question to be asked. A child was
generally put to observe, with great care and exactness, all the
alterations in the glasses, at the same time desiring, beseeching,
and commanding an answer, which at length the demon gave by
reflection from the water, representing what should come to pass."
The same author says one variety of the game of “cottabus" was
played with a large vessel full of water. On the surface of the
water a number of empty phials were swimming; into this the
players flung wine out of cups, and he who succeeded in drowning
the greatest number of phials gained the prize. Greek dice were
originally the knuckle bones of sheep; sometimes they were made
1 (6 Antiquities of Greece." 1818.
30
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
in the same form as the bone, of stone, metal, ivory, or glass. Sir
G. Wilkinson had one of glass found in Athens, only two thirds of
an inch long. The game of dice is represented in a painting at
Herculaneum, and also in sculpture ; it came probably from Egypt.
The use of the hourglass¹ was well known to Greeks, and is many
times alluded to by their authors. In Athenian courts of justice,
the plaintiff being placed on the left and the defendant on the
right of the tribunal, both spoke on their own behalf; and lest
they should weary the court they were limited to certain spaces of
time, measured by an hourglass filled with water instead of sand.
To prevent fraud, an officer of the court when the proceedings
began distributed an equal share of water to each side. When
the glass ran out the speaker was silenced; if any interruption in-
tervened the glass was stopped for the time, and if any person had
finished his speech before the glass was empty he might make
over the remainder of his time to a friend. Some of these ancient
practices might surely be introduced with advantage in modern
assemblies. Lucian (A.D. 120) constantly refers to the use of the
hourglass. In the "Portrait" we read: "It is your turn. to
speak, now the water flows for you, so without delay begin imme-
diately"; "You have been very long, and much beyond your
glass already." Also in the dialogue of the "Fisherman," Socrates
says:
"What shall we say if this man is condemned without
giving him the chance of the hourglass ?" There are numerous
allusions to glass in Lucian's works. Thus, in his burlesque
history of the moon, he tells us: "The rich among them have
garments made of glass, but very soft. The poor have woven
brass (which, by pouring a little water over it, they so manage as
to card it like wool). The king made me a present of two glass
robes and two brass ones." In the Islands of the Blessed 3 we
read "the baths were large houses of glass, filled with warm dew,
and perfumed with cinnamon.”
An amusing passage is found in the works of Pausanias, the
1 It was called clepsydra, and was a glass vase filled with water which
escaped by a small hole at the bottom drop by drop. As the water subsided a
needle fastened to a cork indicated the hour by the numbers engraved on the
sides. Greeks used this timepiece at the theatre, the bar, and also in private
houses.
2 Our preachers used to measure their discourse by an hourglass with sand;
some of these yet remain, in country churches.
3 The voyages of the Phoenicians beyond the Straits of Hercules and their
discovery of the Azores seem to have given rise to the fiction of the Islands of
the Blessed, with which the Greeks combined the notion of the Elysian Fields.
PHOENICIAN AND GREEK.
31
great traveller, A.D. 125, in which he describes the Styx in
Arcadia as a "river which gave death to man or animal who
drank of it, dissolved metal and pottery, and broke by simple
contact glass, crystal, or murrhine," a true river of hell.¹ The
Styx was a waterfall at Nonacris, in Arcadia, afterwards trans-
ferred to the unseen world by poets; it was the highest waterfall in
Greece; the ancients swore by its waters, which they considered
poisonous, and they were supposed to destroy all vessels except
those made of the hoof of horse or ass. This belief continues to
the present day, as the villagers declare that no vessel can hold
the water.
There are various allusions to glass in the banquet of the
learned of Athenæus, who wrote early in the third century A.D., but
his books are a treasure house full of references to earlier writers.
He collected such a mass of material for his work that he con-
sulted eight hundred books of comedy alone. He refers to the
celebrity of the isle of Lesbos (the birthplace of Theophrastus) for
glass drinking cups, and also says that in the isle of Rhodes they
formed a paste of clay, with the ashes of reeds, and myrtle, flowers
of saffron, balm and cinnamon mixed together and burnt in an
oven, till it became a transparent vitrified material, but so delicate
that vessels formed of it could not hold hot water or be put near
the fire without breaking. This description resembles that
given by Homer of the "apyrous," so much more delicate than
earthenware. Athenæus also notices the use of glass for domestic
purposes when he writes : "After we had drunk, a glass
goblet of two cubits in diameter, placed on a silver stand, was
served up, full of roast fishes of every conceivable sort that could
be collected"; and again when he describes a wedding feast at
Macedon, where was produced a plateau of glass nearly one yard.
and three quarters in diameter. "Greece having been instructed
by the Phoenicians became in her turn the teacher of Rome."
¹ Pausanias adds: "The fountain of Caynathaenses is beneficial, and an
antidote as it were to he noxious qualities of the Styx."
ROMAN.
"It is no easy matter to give novelty to old subjects, authority to new, to
impart lustre to rusty things, light to the obscure and mysterious, to throw a
charm over what is distasteful, to command credence for doubtful matters, to
give nature to everything, and to arrange everything according to its nature.
Pliny.
HE great city of Rome, though her children love to call
her eternal, was not founded till 753 B.C.
The young
capital soon gave proofs of its vitality by absorbing the
neighbouring country of Etruria, whose arts and sciences it
adopted in a great degree, and doubtless among these new re-
finements the glass of Etruria would not be neglected. It is
supposed that 536 B.C. is the earliest date at which glass was
introduced into Rome. When we remember the immense stores
of glass preserved in Pompeii, that does not seem too early a date
to fix on. Before that time, however, Romans made pottery for
domestic use, which must have been glazed. Dr. Birch tells us
a corporation of potters made black ware in Rome in the time of
Numa, 700 B.C.¹ Juvenal alludes to its use when he says, "Who
dared then to ridicule the black saucer of Numa?" Persius calls
it Tuscan pottery, and Martial says that Porsena, 507 B.C.,
had a
dinner set of this ware. The first Roman embassy went to Greece²
in 228 B.C., and we may suppose before that time Phoenician
commerce would have brought Egyptian glass and Grecian fictile
wares to administer to the wants of rising Rome. Her armies
probably carried back spoils from the siege of Syracuse, after the
death of Archimedes, 212 B.C., who must have brought glass-
making to some perfection if the tales told of his celebrated
celestial sphere are to be credited. It is alluded to by Ovid, but
our knowledge of it chiefly rests on the epigram by Claudian,
T
1 It is said when Numa was entertaining some guests the plain food on the
earthenware dishes was turned on the appearance of his spouse, the nymph
Egeria, into a banquet fit for the gods, served on vessels of gold, in order that
her divinity might be made manifest to the most incredulous.
2 Greece finally became a Roman province, 146 B.C.
32
ŷ
12
1
7
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Q
5
Plate 111.
10
M
13
8
ROMAN
2
GLASS.
14
11
Vmzicz
3
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-mak
བང་
6
ROMAN.
33
،
written some five centuries later: "Jupiter, on seeing the heavens
enclosed in a little globe of glass, laughed, and thus addressed
the gods: The power of mortals, has it then arrived at trans-
ferring in play my work into a fragile sphere? Behold, an old
man of Syracuse arrogates to himself, by his art, the principles of
the heavens, the harmony of material, the laws of the gods. His
audacious industry already puts his world into motion; his mean
hand has succeeded in emulating nature.' Archimedes is also
said to have set fire to the Roman fleet by means of a burning
glass, though great doubts have been thrown on this story as well
as that of the sphere; concave mirrors, whether of glass or
metal, made by moderns, are not nearly so powerful as was said to
be this one constructed by Archimedes.¹ Another representation
of the heavens and starry bodies made of glass in Rome at a
somewhat later date is quoted by Mr. Nesbitt from the "Acts of
St. Sebastian," believed to be written by St. Ambrose, A.D. 397.
An astrologer is introduced, who says: "I have a chamber wholly
made of glass, in which the whole system of the stars, with the
calculation of their movements, is artificially constructed, and in
the making of which my father Tarquinius is known to have
expended more than two hundred pounds of gold." Egyptian
glass found its way to Rome plentifully under the Ptolemies,
and received its Latin name from the Coptic word "varos."
"2
Cicero, 106 B.C., is the first Latin author who refers to " vitro
as a common importation from Egypt, along with other mer-
chandise, such as linen, paper, etc. Lucretius, 95 B.C., (whose
works Cicero revised,) when trying to explain the transparency of
glass, says
"the pores are directed in straight lines," and also
"there are emanations which can penetrate stone, iron, silver,
and others which can open a way through the pores of glass."
Though the accounts of Virgil's mirror (70 B.C.) may require
confirmation, yet the beautiful lines in which he associates the
grove of Angitia with the glassy waters of the Fusian lake are
well known, and Horace, 64 B.C., pays no extravagant compliment
to his favourite Bandalusian fountain when he says it is "brighter
than glass," the art of the glassmaker of those days not having
acquired the power of producing the crystalline pureness we are
accustomed to expect. Horace frequently alludes to glass; he
در
¹ The burning mirror which Buffon composed of a number of pieces of glass
had no effect beyond two hundred feet.
2 This does not agree with Sir D. Brewster. See last chapter of this work.
D
34
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
adorned his room with pictures painted on glass, an example
doubtless followed by others, and when writing to his friend
Mecenas, wishing to show the extreme simplicity of his home,
says, "here you see only country made glasses." After this time
the material was distinguished as "vitrum" by Latin authors (who
gave analogous names to everything transparent, whether liquid
or solid), and became in great request and esteem in Rome, whose
inhabitants had till then been content with clay. Poets and
orators of the Augustan age constantly speak of it in such terms
as to prove it was an object with which every one must be familiar,
the word "vitreous" is used in every sense relating to the brilliance
and fragility of glass. We may judge how plentiful it had become
in Rome when Scaurus, who held the curule ædileship in 58 B.C.,
built his celebrated theatre in which he made a display of magni-
îcence such as had never been known before. The scena of this
gorgeous theatre was divided into three tiers, each tier containing
one hundred and twenty columns; the under row was formed
of marble, 38 ft. in height, the uppermost one of gilded wood,
and the middle row of glass; probably the columns were covered
with glass panels.1 Pliny says "such extravagance was unheard
of even in later times," and he seems to suggest would not have
been permitted even in the houses of the most exalted citizens.
In after days, when misfortune befel Scaurus, he vainly appealed
to the fickle populace by the memory of those splendid fetes he
had provided for their amusement.
Egypt was made a Roman province in 30 B.C. by Augustus,
who ordered that glass, linen, and wheat should form the tribute
sent from the conquered country. But this tax, far from being
oppressive, became the source of great wealth to Egypt, as the
taste for glass increased so quickly in Rome that the amount of
tribute soon became much too small to satisfy the enormous
demands made upon it. The quantity sent only excited among
the Romans so great a passion for greater varieties that all the
factories of Sidon and Memphis failed to satisfy their caprices.
The sudden development of luxury in imperial Rome gave an
extraordinary impetus to the Egyptian workmen, who strove to
satisfy the refined tastes of the conquerors of the world. Under
this pressure they produced real masterpieces, and the consumption
of glass became so enormous that at last the very workmen were
¹ Three thousand bronze statues placed between the columns completed the
ornaments of the scena. The theatre held eighty thousand persons.
ROMAN.
35
obliged to come and settle in Rome, to supply more easily the
thousand phantasies of that great market. When it is remembered
that porcelain, though made in the East, was at that time totally
unknown to the Romans, who were acquainted with nothing more
decorative than red Samian ware or the black and painted
earthen wares of Tuscany, we may imagine the delight with which
that luxurious and pleasure loving people, weary of the monotony
of gold and silver table services, would welcome the brilliant hues.
and myriad forms of this new addition to the splendours of their
banquets; no wonder they demanded novelties in such quick
succession that the factories themselves had to be removed to the
imperial city. For a long time the Romans were ignorant of the
means by which the beautiful effects they so much admired were
obtained; but they strove to imitate them, and at length succeeded
under Augustus in establishing in their city those factories which
in less than a century afterwards became perfect and celebrated.
At first probably only the foreign workmen practised their secret
processes to please their masters, but they would soon have made
pupils through whom the knowledge spread everywhere. As the
Romans, fired with envy at the success they saw, applied them-
selves earnestly to improve the materials they possessed, it was
soon discovered, partly by money, partly by experience, that
although the ingredients were so pure in Egypt they owed their
superiority to keeping the glass a long time in fusion, to remelting
the frit, and cooling it by slow degrees. This important point it
was which gave to the glass of Egypt a crystallization which
added much to its strength. It was the knowledge thus acquired
of complete fusion and perfect purity which raised the fame of
their factories till they rivalled those of Memphis, and the Romans
threw away their gold and silver to drink out of glass cups.
That
these factories were established' under Augustus we infer from
Strabo, 54 B.C., who says he "was told by a workman in Alexandria
that it was impossible to make glass so well in Rome as in Egypt,
on account of a peculiar earth which could only be found in the
latter country"; but afterwards he adds that so many ingredients
had "been discovered in Rome, and such improvements made in
the colouring and process of working, especially in making glass of
a crystalline appearance, that you might buy there a cup and a dish
for half an as.
Romans used glass for an infinity of purposes,
"1
1 In Cicero's time the as was worth three farthings of our money.
36
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
J
ľ
419
both for use and ornament, and also for their games. Ovid, 43 B.C.,
advises a lover "to allow his mistress to take his glass pawns of two
colours at the game of chess." Glass dice were also used, and
Caylus describes a female head in blue glass, with a headdress
of different material, and also a frog in blue glass, both beautifully
moulded and about two inches long, and evidently meant for some
game, perhaps draughts. Roman ladies used glass balls to cool and
whiten their hands; as the glass grew heated, they changed the ball.
The poet Propertius, 51 B.C., describes "Cynthia, demanding the
present of a peacock feather, fan, and cooling balls for her hands."
An alabaster urn, which was found in Rome, contained sixty glass
balls, which gave rise to many discussions as to their probable use;
they were most likely the cooling balls of a Roman belle. The
female figure painted on an amphora found at Nola, apparently
throwing coloured balls in the air, is most likely playing with her
own cooling balls, and not with worsted as has been suggested.
The poets of the Augustan age contain many references to the
use of glass at banquets. Wine, and also water, was placed on
the table in large caraffes,¹ or bottles much the same as ours, and
slaves poured it into the drinking cups of the guests. Horace
tells us some masters on rising from table made a small mark on
the bottle, to be sure the slaves did not touch the wine. Varro,
116 B.C.,
'wisest and most learned of Romans," says
"wine is
called water in the glass." Cicero tells us he only likes small
glasses; while the wealthy Roman, Nasidianus, who gave a supper
to Mecenas which Horace so unmercifully ridiculed, cries "that
wine demands the largest glasses." Horace himself calls for the
largest glasses, to drink to the victories of Augustus. These large
glasses, "calices majores," were reserved for the heat of summer,
and lumps of snow or ice put in to cool the wine. Snow was then
used for cooling water, and hawked about the streets of Rome in
summer much as it is to this day. We have accounts fifty years
before the time of Alexander, of snow preserved for use in hot
weather, but Greeks sometimes also cooled water by evaporation,
keeping boys all night employed in moistening jars for that pur-
pose. Most Eastern nations understand cooling water by evapora-
tion. The guests at a banquet might, if they chose, claim the
privilege of emptying a glass for each letter in the name of the
person whose health they drank. The habit of wishing good.
¹ One of these large decanters is preserved in the Musée of St. Germains.
ROMAN.
37
health to a friend by drinking wine yourself seems as old as the
manufacture of wine itself.
Seneca, born a few years B.C., had evidently seen imitation emeralds
made "from pebbles by means of fire"; he also observes the mag-
nifying effect of glass balls filled with water, saying, "letters though
of small size and obscurely written, when seen through a glass ball
filled with water, appear large and distinct. Apples floating in a
glass of water seem finer and larger than they really are." He
attributes this effect to the water. He thus describes a sort of
prism: “a rod of glass drawn out straight, and knotted after the
fashion of the staff used in drilling recruits, with many angles,
which, if it receives the sunlight transversely, reflects colours such
as we see in a rainbow." It is Seneca who contrasts the early
simplicity of baths in Scipio's time with the luxurious extravagance
then fashionable. "But who is there now, who will condescend
to take his bath after this fashion? He seems a poor mean
fellow in his own estimation, if his walls do not reflect him in
their large and costly mirrors, if the Alexandrian marbles are not
set off with¹ Numidian mosaics, if they are not bordered all round
with a highly artistic colouring after the manner of a painting, if
the chamber is not hidden with glass." After upbraiding the
modern luxury of Rome, he observes philosophically, "it sig-
nifies little to a man to drink from a brilliant glass, but much to be
good." When writing to his friend Posidonius, he wishes much
he "could show him a workman blowing glass, and making it
take by his breath all kinds of shapes which the cleverest hand
could not attain to." Surely his "testâ perlucente" may now be
allowed to mean glass!
During the excavations made by the French some years ago, at
the palace of the Cæsars, a great deal of fragmentary coloured
glass was found. Mr. Nesbitt describes some thick pieces of
opaque glass, which had evidently formed part of a pavement.
Among the quantities of scraps of various patterns disinterred
1 The marble of Numidia, giallo antico, golden yellow with reddish veins,
was the most highly prized at Rome for its colour. The pavement of the
Forum consisted of this beautiful marble.
2 It is probable a bubble of air imprisoned in a mass of glass may have
given the first idea of that simple instrument, the metal tube of the glass-
blower;
it is seen on Egyptian monuments 2000 B.C., and was possibly then
not a new invention. Glass blowing with the breath was practised from the
days of Egypt till 1824, when M. Robinet, of Baccarat factory, invented the
Robinet pump, by aid of which large cylinders may be manufactured ; he
received a gold medal and a pension from the directors of Baccarat.
38
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
were so many of one especial design in shades of green, that it
was supposed among the visitors to have been the favourite
domestic service of the imperial household, which we may well
imagine absorbed its full share of the Egyptian tribute. No doubt
Tiberius, A.D. 14, carried all the refinements of Rome with him
to his retreat in Capri, where the legends of his luxuries and
cruelties still hang round the many now ruined palaces he built
on the island.¹ Besides the fragments of glass always found
among Roman ruins, and the daily tribute of cubes of mosaic
which every tide washes up to the feet of Capri children (who
make a trade of selling handfuls of them, mixed with coral and
shells, to visitors), rare objects of art such as gem cameos, bas-
reliefs, are still unearthed by peasants from these almost untouched
ruins, and privately sold to tourists. In this way a beautiful
cameo vase, described to the writer as shaped like the Naples vase,
with two handles, and made of blue glass with white cupids on it,
has been lost to the Italian government. These ancient treasures
belong by law to the nation, and the finder of such an object is
rewarded; but no law can always prevent a peasant from dis-
posing of his spoils to the highest bidder, without the trouble of
reporting his discovery to the municipality and the certainty of
having to wait for his payment, while the tourist who carries off
such a treasure is probably quite ignorant of its real value, great
part of which is derived from the locality where it was found.
That Capri vase is possibly now lying forgotten in some dusty.
collection, whereas, had it been properly verified as coming from
a palace of Tiberius, it would have been the most ancient known
of its kind, and consequently highly interesting to the antiquarian
and to all glass students.
2
To the age of Caligula, A.D. 37, may be referred some of the
many cups embossed with figures of gladiators opposed to each
other, with their names written beside each figure. Fragments
of such cups have been found in widely differing localities, some
bearing the same names, some with different combatants opposed
to each other. Similar cups have been found at Chavagnes,
Vendée; at Chambery, and at Lillebonne, and also at Hartlip;
1
Among the many bad actions recorded against Tiberius it is well to cite
one good act; he sent back to Heliopolis the jet statue of Menelaus, which
had been brought to Rome by a governor of Egypt.
2 These gladiator cups are generally blown, and of common glass; possibly
they were prepared before the combat, and the victors' names added after-
wards.
ROMAN.
39
and a fragment at Vienna gives similar names.
It would seem
that these cups must have been much prized by their owners, and
carried with them far from Rome. These popular heroes were
probably well known favourites, and their names have been
immortalized by a more enduring "press" than ours. Possibly
these cups were prizes, or were made in memory of some specially
interesting combat. Among their fragmentary remains is found
the name of Columbus, of the faction of Mirmillous, who, having
been conqueror over a gladiator of the opposing faction of Thrace,
was slightly wounded. Caligula, who violently supported Thrace,
furious at this victory, had poured into the wounds of Columbus
a poison which with cynical barbarity he called by the name of
his victim, columbien. Caligula treated with the same cowardly
cruelty another gladiator named Proculus, whom he compelled to
descend into the arena to fight against the Thracian faction,
but when Proculus was proclaimed victor Caligula caused him to
be strangled, after exposing him covered with rags to the derision
of the women. Any notion of fair play had no place in the mind
of this despotic monster, who met a well merited fate at the hands
of his own soldiers. Many glass cups have chariot races engraved
on them, with the victors' names written above the figures. Our
custom of giving cups for racing prizes seems to be derived from
the ancient Roman sporting world. Glass must very soon have
become plentiful enough in Rome to be cheap and consequently
despicable; we read that Messalina, wife of Claudius, A.D. 41,
openly sold the right of citizenship in Rome with such shameless
indifference that report commonly said it could be purchased
for two cracked drinking cups. Dion Cassius, a century later,
repeats this accusation against the government of his day in nearly
the same words; "the right of being a Roman citizen, once held
so dear, has now fallen so low it is given to the first comer for a
few cracked glasses."
The climate of Rome, so much more rigorous than that of
Egypt, soon led to the invention of window glass.¹ Transparent
substances of various kinds were used for this purpose, but very
early in our era glass must have been applied to windows; of
this the ruins of Pompeii afford many proofs. Besides using glass
so much in their houses, it would seem the Romans understood
how to apply it with advantage in their gardens, as Columella, an
¹ See chapter on Windows.
40
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
agricultural writer, A.D. 50, says, "if you want early cucumbers,
you must put them during winter under glass, exposed to the
sun." He also tells us how he infused bad wine, mixed with
grapes, mustard seed, vinegar and salt, in a glass jar, besides
mixing also, in glass, honey with onions and vinegar, but neglects
to explain the use of these mixtures; he recommends, for the
preservation of fruit and vegetables, straight bottles with wide
mouths, and advises a number of small bottles rather than a few
of large size. Many examples of these are found in Pompeii.
Another writer, Vegetius, required a glass cask, to mix properly
the thirty different ingredients of a certain medicine for horses;
he gives the names of all the materials, and cites Chiron as the
original inventor of the compound, so even in the days of Chiron
horses must have been subject to ailments. Among these ancient
recipes we are told that oxydized iron nails were to be kept in
glass, for the cure of blear eyes. Roses were sometimes pounded
with oil and wine in a glass jar, and placed in the sun to give
them medicinal properties. Again we find that a certain plant
was to be steeped with vinegar in glass, and used for making
morose people gay; unfortunately the name of this useful plant is
not given. The large quantity of glass manufactured in Rome
may be inferred from the fact that many poor people made
a living by collecting broken pieces, and selling them to be mixed
with sulphur and used in soldering iron to stone. Deville says
that sulphur is still used for this purpose, and it would be inter-
esting to try a mixture of glass with the sulphur. Martial, Juvenal,
and Statius all allude to this practice in their poems, so it must
have been a well known habit among the "chiffonniers " of Rome.
Sometimes this debris of glass was utilized, as it still is, by being
melted up and re-made into common glass.
Nero, A.D. 54, who indulged in every luxurious taste that the
Roman world could procure for him,¹ was an enthusiastic collector,
and, passionately fond of glass, he encouraged the manufacture of
large pieces of enormous price. In his day were made glass cups
so light that they were called pterote, "winged," from their light-
ness, not from their having two handles. Nero gave £60 for
two of these glasses, but the price diminished as they grew more
common. Martial, A.D. 43, calls them "glass clouds"; many
1 The magnificent palace he built for himself after the great fire of Rome
had panelled ceilings and gilt walls, inlaid with gems and mother-o'-pearl,
and Ñero deigned to exclaim he was at last lodged like a man.
ROMAN.
4I
glasses are preserved in museums which are so light that, were the
handles removed, they would be really the "nimbus vitreus" of the
poet. Nero's example doubtless stimulated rich Romans to give
extravagant prices for glass, crystal, and murrhine vases, to place
on their tables at banquets. The bowl, supposed to be of
murrhine,¹ which Petronius broke into atoms before his death, to
prevent its falling into the hands of Nero, who would have in-
herited it, has been valued at £50,000. Nero placed the precious
fragments under glass, and exhibited them to the people to excite
their compassion, and to express his grievous complaint against
fortune. He afterwards gave a larger sum of money for a smaller
bowl. In a fit of childish rage on hearing of the revolt of Galba,
Nero himself smashed two crystal bowls, "scyphi," engraved with
subjects from Homer. This fact proves that the engraver's art
was still flourishing in Rome. We repeatedly read that Nero, being
short sighted, used to view the gladiators' combats through an
emerald ("smaragdo spectabat"); this must have been hollowed
out at the back, and thus have acted as a concave lens to assist
him in watching the distant combat below, from his seat in the
amphitheatre. There is little doubt his example would have
been at once followed by all who were desirous of distinction.
Seneca notices the use of a green beetle for the same purpose, as
old engravers used emeralds to refresh their eyes when fatigued.
Strabo had observed that at the end of a tube an object appears
larger. In the Naples museum is a convex glass, found in
Pompeii, of a pale green colour, one inch and three-quarters in
diameter, with the edges ground as if for setting; with this glass
were also found some engraved stones. Half of a similar glass was
found in London among Roman remains; it has been conjectured
that these glasses were employed in engraving the gems, and were
therefore part of the artist's stock in trade, but Mr. King suggests
they were meant to receive impressions themselves. Still it
appears impossible to imagine that the finer gem cameos have
ever been engraved without the aid of magnifying glasses, as it
requires the help of a strong one to decipher the tiny names on
some of them. Aristotle and Pliny both understood the faculty
The passion for collecting expensive objects of art was perhaps greater in
ancient Rome than it is even now; the murrhine vases accumulated by one
senator, and seized after his death by Nero, were sufficient, when arranged as a
spectacle for the people, to fill a large theatre in the palace gardens. The
subject of murrhine is too long to be discussed here, all notices connected with
it will be found in the chapter on murrhine and flexible glass.
42
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
possessed by both glass and crystal, when in the form of a sphere,
of lighting combustible things. On the lighthouse of Alexandria
one of the Ptolemies placed a telescope by means of which you
could see ships a great distance off. This famous telescope was
one of the seven wonders of the world. Arab writers assert that
this telescope was not made of glass, but was a concave mirror
3 ft. 9 in. large, composed of a mixture of metals; but when
we consider the extreme difficulty of translating with exactness
technical terms into living languages, we perceive how much greater
the task must be of rendering the dead ones correctly. Hipparchus
says Pliny had invented instruments by which he could see and
count the stars, and calculate their size, their distance, their
phases, and their movements in space. In the Sevres museum
is a small disk of pure white glass, cut convex; it has been judged
an optical glass by experts; it was found in the tomb of Queen
Berenice of Cyrene,¹ of the third century.
ઃઃ
Wine used in the luxurious feasts of the Romans was principally
kept in large clay amphora (of which hundreds have been pre-
served to this day). These amphora were carefully covered with
gypsum, on which was inscribed the age of the wine, the farm
where it was made, the name of the consul of that year; "O my
amphora," says Horace, "born with me under Consul Manlius."
That these amphora were sometimes made of glass we find from
the "Supper of Trimalchio," where Petronius2 writes; "then they
brought amphora of glass, carefully sealed with gypsum, on the top
of which was fixed the label with these words, 'Falerno of the
consulate of Opimus, of 100 years.'" Some amphora have only
"Dulce" stamped on them as if to define the quality. Bottles
which have contained wine are found, stamped "Misce," mixture;
the stamp "Mite Merum" is also known; sometimes only
"M. D." is found on bottles, which may mean
(C merum dulce."
Deville gives many of these stamps and suggests explanations;
"Ardite et R. M. D.," which may mean "Ardite, recondite
as
1 Celebrated for the beauty of her hair, which she dedicated in the temple
of Arsinoe, for the safe return of her husband from Syria, and which Conon
of Samos says was turned into a constellation.
2 Petronius Arbiter, though one of the dissolute companions of Nero, seems
to have been a man of letters and worthy of better things; he opened his veins
and died A.D. 66, and before his death sent a sealed paper to Nero, supposed
to be his "Supper of Trimalchio," in which Nero and his court are held up to
ridicule; one of the stories of flexible glass, in this work, is noticed in the
chapter on murrhine and flexible glass.
ROMAN.
43
merum dulce,” “Pay attention and close this good wine." The
immense extravagance displayed in the variety of perfume and
cosmetic bottles used by Roman ladies must have been extra-
ordinary. Juvenal describes a beauty of the day as so plastered
with ointments, pomades, perfumes, and essences of all sorts, that
you could scarcely tell if it was a face or a plaster you beheld;
do modern belles follow such an example, or take warning by it?
At the baths the Roman ladies took their own slaves and toilette
apparatus with them, and doubtless rival beauties vied with each
other in the profusion and variety of the perfume and ointment
bottles they displayed.¹ Not only women but men also required
quantities of these luxuries in their baths, where the rich surround-
ings were in accordance with any extravagance on the part of
the bathers. Seneca's description of a bath has been already
given. Statius, A.D. 61, in speaking of the bath of Etruscus (the
son of a freedman), shows that the love of splendour had not
diminished; "the chambers glitter, the ceilings of coloured glass
reflect the forms and very sensations of those who enter." The
large marble tazzi, about eight feet in diameter, called “labrum,”
such as the one now in the Quirinal, were originally the labra of
public or private baths, and Baccius says some labra existed
made of glass; they were probably used to throw cold water from
brass or silver tubes on to the head of the bather. To the
Romans the bath was a daily necessity; the sum it cost was so
small that many persons bathed seven times a day, and boys
under fourteen paid nothing. When shall we arrive at such a
state of civilization ?
These countless varieties of perfume and toilette bottles, after
serving their owners during life, were generally buried with them
in death, and it is to these funeral spoils we owe so much of our
knowledge of the ancient world. All our principal museums
display numerous examples of the singular wealth of fancy of
these old workmen, whose artistic sense must have been highly
cultivated. Besides the bottles which the mourners placed beside
the cinders of their friends, we also find the goblets and cups
with which they poured wine and milk on the funeral pile.
Among the quantity of phials rescued from tombs some still con-
tain a colourless liquid, possibly tears, as Ovid says, "the soft
white ashes drink up the ointments mixed with tears." Some of
1 See Plate III.
44
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
$
these are very small, hardly half an inch high. In the Louvre is
one of these funeral bottles, wrapped carefully round with dried
reeds, evidently to protect the precious balm within. Many of
them have the name of the maker or of the essence they con-
tained stamped on them; one bottle has a plant like a radish
on it, and we know that essence of radish was once highly es-
teemed as an eyewash; sometimes the stamp represents a sick
person in a chair, or a figure which may be the chemist distilling
the balm. On bottles supposed to be for presents a heart and
"Amor" is stamped; but whatever shape these essence bottles
assume, the sides are always very thick, so as to make a good
show while holding very little liquid, the mercantile spirit being
much the same in all ages. One bottle found in Italy bears the
stamp "Firmus Hilari Etyle," and on the sides the drawing of a
plant; a similar stamp has been found at Athens, which looks as if
the essence or the firm making it were well known. Deville gives
an ingenious interpretation; he thinks that Etyle was a well known
beauty, whose name was given to the essence, as we call scents after
the names of Ninon, Phryne, and translates the stamp, "Firmus to
the gay (amiable) Etyle"; there are numerous other stamps known,
which may be variously interpreted according to taste.
Romans drank hot or lukewarm water medicinally. Martial
says to an advocate exhausted with pleading in the Forum,
"Thou speakest much, and drinkest half turned away warm
water in glass phials."
In the Beugnot collection is a small glass phial stopped with
silver, and wrapped in a leaf of the same metal, and enclosed in
a case of gold; within this dainty receptacle a young patrician
Roman, following Nero's example, has deposited the first hairs
of his beard.¹ The brilliance of glass excited the admiration of
the old poets, “Candidior vitro!" they exclaim. The extent to
which it was used may be inferred from the constant allusions to it
in the poems of Martial, and Juvenal his contemporary. Every
kind of marble now known and many which exist no longer for
us, as well as every sort of precious stone, was successfully imitated
in glass and made into every conceivable shape and kind of cups
and vases at Rome, except those called "allasontes" with prismatic
¹ Lucian says at Hierapolis the young men, on the occasion of first shaving
their beards, place the hair in boxes of gold and silver, and leave them in the
temple, each with a name on it: "My hair and my name on it are still in
the temple."
ROMAN.
45
colours imitating the opal, which came from Egypt only. Among
the enormous variety of cups the Romans had at their command
were the myriad patterns of mosaic afterwards called “mille fiori,”
formed by cutting slices off prepared rods, and moulding them
with melted glass of a different or a transparent colour into any
shape required. As much ancient glass is a great deal harder
than modern, may not this have been done by making the slices
forming the pattern of very hard glass, and the transparent body
of the cup of glass that would fuse at a much lower heat.1
These cups were often afterwards fashioned on a wheel, to
finish and refine their shapes. Some were made in patterns like
madrepores, some successfully imitated the pulp of an orange,
others were made entirely of "vitro de trina," threads of opaque
white or yellow glass twisted in rods of clear glass, and the cup
formed by welding together the rods so made, as may be now
seen any day at Murano; but this kind never approached the
perfection of Venetian latticelli glass. Many particoloured
cups were edged with a border of vitro de trina, some were
moulded and afterwards very skilfully undercut, or blown and
then pinched into ribs as pillar-moulded glass, which was thought
quite a modern invention till fragments were dug up in London,
Boulogne, and many pieces found in Rome, thus affording another
instance of "ancients stealing our ideas." There was an entire
vase of this kind at the Polytechnic, and several in the British
Museum; masques and ornaments were added to the handles,
bearing the makers' names, as in the Sidon cups. Another com-
mon variety was transparent brown, and orange or violet glass,
mixed with opaque blue and white, in lines and waves to repre-
sent agate and onyx; these are imitated with marvellous fidelity ;
sometimes the last shade of yellow was put in with gold leaf
to heighten the effect. The modern reproductions do not equal
these in beauty. Mr. Dodwell was the first to form and bring
into notice a collection of glass fragments of cups found in Rome;
repolished, they seemed like rare and unknown agates. In the
hands of lapidaries in Rome, as well as in many private collec-
tions, may be seen necklaces and ornaments made from these
¹ A perfect reproduction of a vase in this style made at Murano is in
Sir W. Drake's collection; but the great expense, anxiety, and trouble con-
nected with its manufacture (when commenced it cannot be left for a moment,
however many hours its manipulation takes) would prevent articles of this kind
ever becoming common.
2 See chapter on Italy.
46
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
1
fragments that are indescribably beautiful; it was the extreme
richness of colour in these ornaments which first drew the at-
tention of the writer to the subject of ancient glass. These
wonderful combinations of hues were multiplied till the fickle
Romans began to weary of their very beauty, and prefer drinking
from plain glass so pure it was difficult to tell it from crystal.
The crystal glass brought from Egypt had a greater tendency
to crack when touched by hot water than the kind made in
Rome, a fact Martial notices in his Calices: we are no common
wrought specimens of mere glass, nor is our jewel work broken
by hot water." The same author tells us cups were made in
three ways in Rome: first, by blowing into a mould or otherwise;
second, smoothed and polished in a lathe inside and out; third,
cut in basrelief as a cameo. Romans complained that the foreign
glass "threw out a light growth of saltpetre," and preferred blue
glass as it was more free from bubbles and never threw out a
salt. The “diatreta” of Martial were glass cups cut or engraved
either by the wheel or the hand; these elaborately wrought cups
were so difficult to make, and accidents were so common,¹ that
jurists found it necessary to define accurately the circumstances
under which the workmen became liable for the value of the
vessel destroyed or left unfinished. "Here you see the skill of
old Nile, making cups so exquisite that the author in trying to
add a new beauty often spoils them." The fear of breaking these
expensive glasses took away from the pleasure of using them,
and poets, who are rarely ignorant of how to enjoy themselves,
preferred common ones: "Young slave, take away these chiselled
cups from burning Egypt, and give me, with a hand that has
nothing to fear, ordinary drinking glasses!" But though much
glass came from Egypt a great deal was made in Rome. Very
early in the Christian era glassmaking had become so important
an industry that an imperial edict assigned to the artisans a
special quarter near Mons Coelius, next to the carpenters.
Though the Nile boat brings you your glass cups, mine are
bought in the Flaminian Circus." It is Plutarch who tells us
that "tamarisk wood is the best for the glass furnace."
The
quantity of glass used in Rome must have been incalculable,
even the poor people had plain white glass which was very cheap ;
(6
¹ Dr. Pantohsck, of Hungary, sent to the exhibitions of Paris and Vienna
an imitation of a diatreta vase, the only one he succeeded in finishing, after
breaking thirty-four.
ROMAN.
47
Juvenal writes, "a slave will present to you these glasses of the
people, bought for a few as;" and Martial says, “it is of no
account, Flaccus, if you break this glass." Tacitus the historian,
A.D. 80, says that deformed or broken cups were called glasses
of the cobbler of Beneventum, in allusion to Vatinius, a deformed
and contemptible person who, from a cobbler's stall, passed at
once to court and the favour of Nero. Martial and Juvenal both
allude to this court favourite. "Receive these glasses, vile re-
membrance of Vatinius the cobbler, the beak being too long";
and, "Thou shalt empty this glass, being named the cobbler
of Beneventum, all broken, and already claiming its mixture of
sulphur." The four-lipped cup of Juvenal refers to the same
man. Some cups were encrusted with "specillata patinæ," to
take the place of the jewels with which Romans loved to decorate
all their surroundings. Some are found of the same form as those
now used to feed children and invalids with, and were probably
used for the same purpose. Some cups had serpents twisted
round them in such a manner that the head touched the lips of
those drinking from them. Martial alludes to these when he
says, "Serpents on thy glass! you think you are drinking wine,
you are drinking poison," which might be a motto for a temper-
ance lecturer. Nero himself never drank anything but iced water,
which had been previously boiled and congealed in glass; and it
is to this habit he alluded in his last words when, flying from
his pursuers, he saw himself reduced to drink the water of a
muddy pool, “This then is Nero's potion." The continual refer-
ences to glass in the poems of Martial and Juvenal are alone suf-
ficient to prove how general was its use in Rome early in our era,
as both these authors died in the first half of the second century.
But more unquestionable evidence, were such required, is furnished
by the testimony of the many thousand glass articles rescued
from Pompeii and Herculaneum.1 These cities were destroyed
by a great eruption of Vesuvius, A.D. 79, during the reign of
Titus, when Pliny the younger was eighteen years of age, and his
earliest writings describe his experience of the eruption. His
works are full of allusions to glass. In his "Natural History" he
explains the mixture of nitre and magnet stone in its manufacture
(Beckmann supposes this to be manganese), and adds: “In a
similar manner too, brilliant stones of various descriptions came
1 See chapter on Pompeii.
48
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
to be added in the melting, and then shells and fossil sand;
some authors tell us that the glass of India is made of broken
crystal, and that in consequence none can be compared to it.
It is fused with light dry wood, Cyprian copper¹ and nitre being
added to it. It is melted like copper in adjoining furnaces, and
the masses it forms are of a swarthy unctuous appearance. These
blocks are again fused in the furnaces, and there their colour
is given to them. The glass is now either blown into forms, or
turned in the lathe, or engraved as silver is. This was the
ancient mode of making glass. But now the white sand, which
is very soft, found at the mouth of the Volturnus in Italy, and
which extends for six miles along the shore between Cumæ
and Liturnum, is pounded with a pestle and mortar. Then it
is mixed with three parts by weight or measure of nitre,² and
when fused it is passed into other furnaces. There it forms a
mass called 'ammonitrum,' and this again is melted and becomes
pure white glass. And at the present day in Gaul and Spain
sand is treated by a similar process." It is to Pliny we owe a
recipe for mending broken glass which is still in use, "white of
egg mixed with quicklime is the best material for this purpose."
He had noticed that glass balls exposed to the sun's heat will set
your clothes on fire. Pliny speaks with admiration of a beautiful
opaque blood-red coloured glass 3 called "hematin," also of white,
murrhine, hyacinthine, and sapphire colours, besides some of the
very deepest black, like Ethiopian obsidian, which was used for
making dishes on which to serve food; black seems to have been
a favourite colour for dinner services since the days of Numa.
Rome made great strides in making large pieces of glass in imita-
tion of obsidian. Pliny, when alluding to the statue of Augustus
and the four elephants in the temple of Concord, made in this
material, says they were considered as miraculous. The glass
which approached the nearest to the purity of crystal was the most
esteemed, as to make glass quite free from bubbles and imper-
fections requires long fusion in large furnaces, and as the Romans
made it in small factories it was generally full of impurities.
Much glass was made in Rome by amateurs, which would account
¹ What Cyprian copper means has never been accurately settled.
2 There must be some mistake in this quantity; such a recipe would make
very defective glass.
3 The Louvre has lately acquired a small hematin vase, found at Constantine.
The Gauls used this colour to enamel bronze; we are not yet in possession of
the secret of this shade of red.
ROMAN.
49:
for a great deal of its imperfection; they did not hold with Cicero,
who echoed the old pure-blooded Romans in saying, "all work-
men exercise an ignoble profession." Still, with all the difficulties
of manufacture, crystal was so beautifully imitated that it was
astonishing the value of real crystal did not diminish but seemed
to augment. A crystal bowl sold for £1500. The imitation
almost expelled real crystal, however, from use at banquets,
as both host and guests were more at their ease with the less
expensive material. Pliny says in his time glass drinking cups
had quite superseded those of gold and silver, but he still, with
all this activity of glassmaking in Rome, calls Sidon "artifex
vitri"; he tells one of the many stories relating to flexible glass,
and also explains that there was a great difference in engraved
glass between the mechanical work of the wheel and the mani·
pulation of the skilled artist, a distinction we might expect from
a man of Pliny's quick observation. He speaks of filling in the
roof of the temples with glass, to give more light, and when
describing the theatre of Scaurus says: "in the baths which King
Agrippa built at Rome" (Agrippa also built the Pantheon about
60 B.C.) "he coloured the plaster work with encaustic, and
adorned the rest with stucco. Doubtless he would have lined
rooms with glass panels had they been then invented." Yet it is
Pliny who says, "we invent nothing new, we do not even attain
to the height of old inventions." After speaking so much of the
profusion of glass made he says: "still, with all this luxury of
glass, amid all this wealth, in sacrifices libations are not made
from murrhine or crystalline, but from earthenware 'simpuvia,'
the greater part of mankind use earthenware.” The Greeks
believed that the amethyst preserved its wearer from drunken-
ness (the Hebrews thought it caused dreams); Pliny says the
idea arose from the jewel approaching the colour of Falernian
wine without quite reaching it. Possibly it is to this superstition
we owe the many fragments of violet drinking cups found in
Rome. Violet or purple seems to have been the most favourite
colour for the ground of the "mille fiori" vases. Among the
various colours usually found in any collection of Roman glass
are generally eight or ten shades of blue, usually opaque, varying
from lapis to turquoise; there is one beautiful shade of transparent
sapphire, several different tints of green opaque, some violets,
very few reds and those not pure or brilliant in colour, and some
opaque yellows and oranges.
E
50
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
The art of the Roman workmen had now succeeded in giving
the greatest possible variety and richness to the form of their
cups in engraving, enamelling, and colouring their numerous
drinking vessels, which gave them great wealth from the exorbitant
prices they demanded for their wares. Opalescent glass seems
not to have been made in Rome, as Hadrian, A.D. 117, when he
visited the busy glassmaking city of Alexandria, sent home to his
brother-in-law Licinius two valuable drinking cups given to him
by an Egyptian priest, which he calls "calices versicolores," telling
him to give them to his sister, and only to use them on great feasts
and solemn occasions. Though the Romans may have been un-
acquainted with the art of making opalescent glass, they practised
all the other processes, they knew how to colour with oxides, to
make pure glass like crystal, to enamel by laying on colours with
a brush and applying just the right amount of heat to make them
adhere, without penetrating the body of the glass. Though few
examples of enamelling have been preserved, enough remains to
show that the Romans understood the art, and when we remember
that enamel colours corrode more easily than ordinary glass on
account of their containing more metallic oxides, and nearly all
Roman glass is found buried in damp ground, it is not surprising
that but few specimens still remain. Two cups found at Vaspelev
in Denmark are decisive examples.
Apuleius calls cameo glass "skilfully ornamented glass"; he is
probably the same person who in Hadrian's time used to place
large glass goblets on his festive board, mingled with those of
gold, silver, and crystal. The poet Lucian, A.D. 150, tells a singular
story of the death of Servianus; he was three times consul, and
married a sister of Hadrian's, but was put to death with his
grandson in his ninetieth year by Hadrian lest they should aspire
to the crown. (C
Though many have met their death from too close
acquaintance with the linings of their cups, the singular mode
pursued by Servianus may be worth notice. It happened that he
possessed very large goblets of the finest glass. Now when he
was assured that there was no hope of living left him, he broke the
largest of the bowls, and using one of the fragments made an
incision in his throat with the broken glass. So without dagger
or lancet his death was worthy of a man and a hero." The
emperor Verus, A.D. 161, had the singular taste of flinging large
pieces of money about in the wineshops of Rome, during his
nocturnal orgies, that he might have the amusement of hearing
ROMAN.
51
the glasses break; this imperial trait shows us that glass was used in
the small taverns of Rome. Verus is said to have admired very
thin glass, and always himself drank from a remarkably light
glass, calling it Bird, a name he also gave to his favourite horse
from its light swiftness. To this reign may be referred a singular
marble inscription found at Rome respecting the game of glass
balls. The great expertness of Romans at this game is alluded to
by Quintilian, A.D. 40, who says, "it is miraculous at the game of
ball to see the balls returning as of themselves to the hands which
have thrown them, and travelling as commanded." 1 The inscrip-
tion is as follows: "It is I, Ursus Togatus, who first played with
talent the game of balls of glass, to the applause and acclamations
of the people in the baths of Trajan, Agrippa and Titus, and often
in those of Nero. It is I; unite yourselves, players of the ball,
cover with flowers the statue of your friend, pour out the dark
Falernian, sing in chorus the old professor of the ball who has
vanquished so brilliantly his predecessors with a skill without rival.
But I must allow I have been beaten in my turn by Verus, three
times consul, my patron, not once but many times." 2 These
eccentricities of Verus must have scandalized the grave Marcus
Aurelius, his associate on the throne, who was so careful of the state
funds that he sold by public auction vases of the imperial service.
St. Clement of Alexandria, A.D. 180, is the first Christian bishop
who anathematises the growing luxuries of the day, especially in
glass work; he uses no unsparing hand. "This passion for all sorts
of glass only belongs to fools; yes, this pretentious useless vain
glory of engraving on glass, which tends to nothing but to break
them and cause to tremble those who carry them to their lips,
ought to be crushed by our institutions." This stinging anathema
made little impression on the studios of Alexandria, which
continued to make and send out richly worked glass. The earlier
poets compared their favourite fountains to the brilliance of glass;
somewhat later the simile was transferred to the eyes of a beauty ;
thus Philostratus, A.D. 200, writes to one whom he desired to
please: "Your cups are of glass, but in contact with your hands
they become silver; when you take them with three fingers, and
1 The maidens called arrephai who lived in the temple of Athena at
Athens had a space round their habitation for their "sphæraistra,
sphæraistra," or place
for playing at ball; the game was considered part of the education of old.
2 Ambrosius, A. D. 340, and Claudian, 395, both speak of glass balls used
for entrapping wild beasts. Can this have been a sort of lasso?
52
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
lift them to your face, the glass takes an inexpressible light but
cannot efface the brilliance of those eyes." Lampridius tells a
story of the emperor Heliogabalus, A.D. 218, who wishing to play
a joke on some of his parasites invited then to a great feast, (the
extravagant gluttony of these feasts was renowned in Rome,) and
placed them at a table covered with meats and fruits of the most
rare and beautiful kinds, but they were all formed of glass of the
most perfect imitation, which left them dying of hunger; to
complete the joke, they were invited to wash their hands after this
Barmecide's feast. The same tale is told in another form, in which
the imitations are of pottery.
The wise and moderate sovereign, Alexander Severus, A.D. 222,
always drank from plain glass himself, only exacting that it should
be pure and brilliant; he also used small glasses at his feasts, even
to drink the health of his hero Alexander the Great, unless the
guests expressly demanded large ones. The important guild of
glass workers were known under the name of Collegium Specu-
lariorum; the commonest things they made were utensils for the
table, and these glass vessels were placed in the inventories among
the most precious furniture, for Paullus, consul in this reign, tells us
"they used earthenware, wood, glass or brass, even as household
furniture. Glass dishes and drinking cups are included under
furniture, just as earthenware is, and not only those of the common
sort but those of high value also." The "vitriarii” ranked
with the guilds of carriers, coachmakers, gold and silver smiths,
and other artisans, whom Lampridius tells us A. Severus taxed
in order to raise money for his baths. This tax, which existed in
the time of Aurelius and long afterwards, was a sort of ancient
excise, highly injurious to industrial art, and was probably one of
the causes which led to the ultimate removal of the factories from
Rome. It was in the (supposed) tomb of A. Severus and his
mother, opened in 1644, that the well known Portland vase now in
the British Museum was discovered. The tomb was about three
miles out of Rome, and the vase was at first supposed to be formed
of a single sardonyx ; it was only on closer inspection it was found
to be made of dark blue glass, with exquisite cameo-like figures
carved out of a superimposed layer of opaque white. The
Portland vase is always referred to as the most beautiful known
specimen of the glass engraver's skill; a careful description of it
with its modern copies is given in the chapter on cups.
Though discovered near Rome there is little doubt the Portland
1
ROMAN.
53
vase is due to Greek and not Roman skill, and should be ascribed
to an earlier date than A. Severus. The Naples vase, of precisely
the same style of workmanship, was entombed in Pompeii in
A.D. 79, and we have no proof it was then a new vase; this style of
vase probably belongs to the best period of Greek art, and, costly
though they must always have been, they were by no means
uncommon, judging by the numerous fragments met with in the
hands of dealers, among the countless pieces of buried glass which
the yearly tillage of the ground around Rome yields to the peasant.
Though the crop, if we may so call it, is not so abundant as it once
was, the soil is still rich in treasures. A few years ago the writer
collected a quantity of fragments, principally from tobacconists
who exchanged their wares with the contadini for antiquities, and
the glass pieces were arranged in bowls according to size, and sold
at very moderate prices. The market women in the Navarino
also rarely failed to have a little store of "cosi antiqui," ready
for inquirers. What the original quantity must have been may
be guessed at, when ages of research have failed to exhaust that
teeming treasurehouse, the soil of Rome. Among the fragments
of cameo glass thus discovered, a few pieces are found in which
two or three layers of colour have been used; the most common
sculptured layer is however milk-white, and the ground usually
blue, either transparent or opaque; sometimes it is brown, and
in a few cases so dark as to appear black. Besides vases, larger
pieces are to be seen in museums which have aparently been slabs
used for decorative purposes. Gallienus, A.D. 260, though he him-
self only drank out of golden cups, refusing to use glass than
which he thought nothing could be more vulgar, yet found when he
wished to send a present to his friend Claudus nothing better than
ten Egyptian glasses worked in different manners. How little
the world has changed! do we not now select a dozen Venetian
glasses, all worked in various manners, for wedding or birthday
gifts? It was Salonica the wife of Gallienus, who was cheated into
buying a false pearl by a fradulent trader on whom her husband
took so whimsical a revenge. The ordinance of Aurelian, A.D. 270,
that glass should form part of the Egyptian tribute, shows con-
clusively that the Roman factories were unequal to the task of
supplying the demands made on them, and that the manufacture
of glass in Egypt and its importation into Rome still continued in
the latter half of the third century. The historian Vopiscus, who
wrote the life of Aurelian in A.D. 291, and also that of Firmus the
54
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
friend and general of Zenobia, says of Firmus that his extra-
vagance excelled all who went before him. "Many stories are
told of this man's wealth, for he is said to have covered the walls
of his rooms with squares of glass, fixing them by means of
bitumen and other plastering, and to have possessed so many
manuscripts that he often declared in public that he could
provision an army with his papyrus and glue." Vopiscus also
relates of the emperor Tacitus, A.D. 275, that he "vehemently
admired curious and delicately worked glass," and though an
instructed man of letters he had a passion for grotesque shaped
and much undercut glasses; to his age probably belong the vases
in the form of grimacing heads and those covered with large tears
found in tombs, also the very tiny ones in the shape of a bunch
of grapes,¹ dried dates, and analogous forms. This emperor of
eccentric tastes had the good sense to be proud of his descent
from the historian Tacitus, and was so anxious to preserve his
writings from oblivion that he had them all copied ten times
every year and placed in public libraries. In 354 St. Chrysostom
says that rich people put beautiful glass on their tables; and if
to conform to the extravagance of the time they used silver vases,
they took care the interior was lined with glass. They were not
content with plain glass, but had elegantly shaped handles with
spiral and serpentine ornaments. The impost laid on the glass
trade, or perhaps the little esteem in which the manufacture was
held under Gallienus, seems to have damaged the factories. It
was laid down in the Coda Theodosianus that "we enjoin that
the artificers of the trades comprehended in the annexed schedule,
tarrying in whatsoever city, be excused all public burdens; if
indeed their leisure be spent in thoroughly learning their crafts,
that they may be the more eager both to become themselves more
skilful and instruct their children." The glassmakers appear in
the number. Winckelmann thinks that far more glass was used in
the old than in the modern world, and when the quantity of
specimens left are considered this does not seem an exaggerated
assertion. The notices of pavement and wall panelling will be
found under mosaic; the fragments of cups and vases are
countless, and besides these an enormous quantity was required for
toilette and funeral purposes, for games, children's toys, rings and
ornaments, window panes, and water clocks and hourglasses. A
1 See Plate III. 12, 14.
ROMAN.
55
Į
Roman hourglass containing sand was found near Mayence in 1846
with fragments of the bronze capsula by it. It is certain that
larger prices were given for exquisite glass objects in those days
than in ours. The brilliant success of the Roman factories excited
the envy of the provinces in Gaul, Spain, and Britain; we find the
Romans carrying their accustomed luxuries with them¹ wherever
their victorious arms penetrated; and introducing the manufacture
of glass wherever the materials could be found to feed their
factories, they searched far and near for means to make them
flourish. It may be noted that those nations who to the possession
of materials added the greatest knowledge of chemistry were
those who rose most surely to eminence in the manufacture.
But in all cases the most recherché processes of the art appear to
have been transmitted by uninterrupted tradition from the earliest
workers till they were forced to take refuge from barbarian invasion
in Venice. The arts followed the fate of the empire, revolution
which enfeebled its splendour was fatal to them. Glassmaking
and enamelling, both born in Egypt and communicated to Greece
and Rome, were transplanted to Byzantium and then destroyed, or
hid themselves from the barbaric hordes who overran Europe, and
reappeared in later and more tranquil times.
1 Fragments of the same pattern both in moulds and colour are found at so
many places in Gaul and Britain, that it is difficult to imagine they were not all
made at the same factory.
ASSYRIAN.
"We need never indeed be startled at finding Aryan analogies in examining
the old Babylonian terms, for there is abundant proof of a primitive Aryanism
anterior probably to the development of the Sanscrit in the construction of the
cuneiform alphabet.-Prof. G. Rawlinson's notes to "Herodotus,” vol. i.
Twould be impossible to say when the art of glassmaking
was first introduced into Assyria. Millions of small glass
objects, ornaments, amulets, etc., were early exported from
Egypt to Nineveh, Persepolis, and other great cities. We
find traces of vitrified glazing, showing advanced knowledge of
the art, in very ancient buildings. Glazed and enamelled bricks,
or tiles, glazed on the narrow edge with small patterns, are found
in Nineveh; one now in the British Museum represents a
sandalled foot indicating a figure twelve inches high. Whole
walls at Nineveh were composed of enamelled tiles, forming a
mosaic pattern of considerable dimensions. Their flux and glazes
are made of silicate of soda with lead, coloured by metallic
oxides. Corbels of blue faience are found among the same
ruins, also glazed corbels like an extended hand, inscribed with
the name and titles of a king. Glazed architectural ornaments
were common to both Assyrians and Babylonians. Ctesias, 401 B.C.,
says: "three circular walls at Babylon were ornamented with
glazed ware, representing animals highly coloured, the hunting
and warlike exploits of Queen Semiramis and her son Ninyas."
Bricks still found there confirm this account. M. Oppert found
numerous fragments of glazed bricks, blue, white, yellow, black,
and a few red, the ground vitrified and very hard; these fragments
had evidently formed part of a large design, which seems to have
been slightly modelled in the clay before it was glazed, many
white letters on a blue ground appear to have formed a frieze
round the hunting scene; he gives an inscription from the
tower of Borsippa, in which Nebuchadnezzar says, "I have
written in the frieze of the porticos the glory of my name." In
an inscription now in London the same king says, "I have
ศ
"
56
ASSYRIAN.
57
ornamented the doors all round with writing, and drawing, made
in glazed stone." The palace doors were no doubt ornamented
with a garland of glazed bricks round the roof, in the same
manner as two doors in a palace at Khorsabad built by Sargon,
where M. Place found the roof of the gateway still decorated
with blue and white glazed bricks, on which were portrayed
bulls and lion killers. M. Thomas was fortunately able to copy
this design before the destruction of the roof. Another inscrip-
tion, in London, announces that "Nebuchadnezzar has restored
the pyramid, and the tower, with gold, silver, precious stones,
glazed bricks, and perfumed wood of rare kinds." M. Oppert
opened some tombs at Tell Amran, in which he found many
glass objects, chiefly small vases, jewels, and children's toys; he
thinks they belong to the Parthian age. In a temple at Warka
(ancient Ur of the Chaldees: Gen. xi. 31), Babylonia, Mr. Loftus
found glazed tiles, with stars having seven rays; their colours
were black, white, yellow, blue, and green; he also found there
a pavement of vitrified slabs, and many glazed terracotta lamps.
Warka would seem to have been the necropolis of Babylonia,
as whole mountains of coffins are still reposing there; these coffins
are of a curious slipper shape, and closed with a lid; they are
made of earthenware, glazed with a blueish green enamel, the sides
are ornamented with stamped figures of warriors (see British
Museum; case 62), Mr. Loftus assigns them to the Sassanian ¹
period. Mr. Layard brought from Nineveh many small glass
objects, now in the British Museum; among them a seal of Sen-
nacherib, portions of a glass statue, and some beautifully iridescent
bottles from Kouyunjik.
Bricks recently found at Hillah bear the name of Nebuchad-
nezzar, 600 B.C. Like all ancient conquerors it was the habit
of the Assyrians to carry off, besides captured treasures of art
and wealth, all the most skilful workmen from every country they
subdued, and they probably collected expert artisans from all parts
of Asia and Egypt. They must have been acquainted with the art
of inlaying, as blue glass, lapis lazuli, and other coloured substances
are found let into ivory tablets from Nineveh. The first glass
found in Nineveh by Mr. Layard had the name of a Khorsabad
king on it; this vase was unfortunately lost or stolen at Bombay.
It was not till his second visit in 1852 that he discovered the
¹ Word derived from Sasan, the father of Artaxerxes, a native of Persepolis,
about A. D. 229.
58
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
greenish glass bowl now in the British Museum bearing the name
of Sargon, king,¹ with a winged lion; this places the date 722 B.C.
and is the oldest known specimen of transparent glass as yet dis-
covered, none from Egypt being it is believed earlier than the
Psamettici, sixth or seventh century B.C. The Sargon vase has
been blown in one solid piece, and then shaped and hollowed
out by a turning machine, of which marks are still visible.
At the same time were found two larger vases, of alabaster, both
inscribed with Sargon's name; they were probably all used for
holding ointment or perfume. With the bowl was also discovered
a rock crystal lens, with opposite concave and plain faces; it seems
to have been ground on a lapidary's wheel, and has been con-
jectured to be an early specimen of a magnifying or burning
glass. The focus is small, only four and a half inches; but whether
this particular lens was a magnifying one or not, it appears certain
the Assyrians must have known and used some kind of magnifier
from the fact that several of the inscriptions found are too minute
to be read, so could not possibly have been formed without the
aid of some kind of magnifying medium. The lens was dis-
covered buried under a heap of fragments of beautiful blue paste,
apparently the enamel of an object that had perished. Blue
glazed pottery, and many glass bottles and vases of the usual
elegant shapes, were also discovered on the mound, some coloured,
some ribbed or otherwise ornamented. Analysis of this coloured
glass shows a knowledge of chemical science we might expect
from a people so closely connected with Egypt and Phoenicia as
were the Assyrians.2 Prof. G. Rawlinson thinks "the art of Assyria
has every appearance of entire nationality; the habit of borrowing
skilled workmen would introduce into the royal city fabrics from
every nation who owned her sway, but we may fairly assume
that the bronze vases, glass bottles, carved ivory, engraved gems,
jewellery, arms, etc., were the handiwork of Assyrians."
1 The antiquities lately sent from Lake Van, Armenia, to the British Museum
by Mr. Layard chiefly consist of the bronze architectural ornaments of a palace;
their value is enhanced by the fact that they are the only relics at present dis-
covered of the art of that kingdom. Among the inscriptions not as yet wholly
deciphered appears the name of a king given by Sargon as one of his op-
ponents. If this is the same Sargon whose name is on this vase, it would fix
the date about the same time. The city of Van, or Mennai, mounts to a very
high antiquity, having certainly been in existence in the tenth century B.C.
It
was the people of Van who in conjunction with the Medes overthrew Nineveh,
609 B.C., and put an end to the Assyrian empire.
2 Among those who traded with Tyre in blue cloth and broidered linen were
merchants of Asshur or Assyria. (Ezek. xxvii. 24.)
ASSYRIAN.
59
There is undoubtedly much Assyrian art among the Cyprus
treasures, but it is difficult to separate it precisely from Phoenician,
or to assign a priority to either, as both nations were from remote
times skilled in industrial art. In the ruins of the palace of
Babylon at Kars were lately discovered vases and bottles of
gilt glass, supposed to be of Assyrian origin. Among the ruins
of Nineveh M. Botta found a round glass bottle or phial, orna-
mented with oblong black spots melted into the glass; the same
kind of tear-sown bottles were afterwards made at Pompeii, and
many centuries later Venice gained renown by her celebrated
gaufres de Venise," which only reproduced the older work;
but as it was clearly impossible for the Venetian workmen ever
to have seen the Pompeiian or Assyrian glasses, it was probably
in all three cases a legitimate invention, only another instance of
"ancients stealing our idea." Modern travellers speak of the
ground for a mile round Hillah as a mass of broken pottery and
glass, and Mr. Layard says: "on all sides fragments of glass,
marble, pottery, and inscribed bricks, are mingled with that
peculiar nitrous and blanched soil which, bred from the remains
of ancient habitations, checks or destroys vegetation, and renders
the site of Babylon a naked and a hideous waste.”
((
The Italian author Perrini and some others have attributed
the invention of glass to the vitrification of the bricks used in
building the tower of Babel, a fact which would not escape the
notice of the children of Noah, and scattered over the world they
would carry the knowledge without one nation more than another
being positively the inventor. Arts only grow up gradually.
Carrying on this idea it may perhaps be interesting to give a
glance at the accounts of that imposing ruin on the west bank of
the Euphrates which tradition and history alike unite in calling
the tower of Babel. In describing this ruin Sir R. Porter says:
"that the first stupendous work was suddenly arrested before
completion, we learn, not only from Scripture but from many
ancient authors; while heathen traditions support the facts, all
agree in stating that the primeval tower was not only stopped in
progress but partially overturned by thunder and lightning. To
Nimrod is ascribed the first foundation of the city with its mount-
ain tower, not two hundred years posterior to the deluge. After its
desertion by the son of Cush we hear no more till Semiramis,
widow of Ninus,¹ rebuilt the city; but the temple of Bel or Belus
¹ Mythical founders of the Assyrian empire, about 2182 B.C.
60
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
was not erected in its renowned state till Nebuchadnezzar, early in
the sixth century B.C. Probably Nimrod¹ has been worshipped on
the same spot ever since the deification of its first founder. The
cement holding the bricks of the ruin together has become so
hard that nothing can separate them. Masses of fine brickwork
of an immense size are lying on the ground, changed to a state of
the hardest vitrifaction. In many may be traced the gradual
effects of the consuming power which has produced so remark-
able an appearance, exhibiting parts burnt to that variegated
dark hue seen in the vitrified matter lying about in glass
factories; while through the whole of these awful testimonies.
of the fire (whatever it was) which doubtless hurled them from
their original elevation the regular lines of the cement are visible,
and are so hardened in common with the bricks that when the
masses are struck they ring like glass. The base of the ruin
near these masses is quite free from such changes, and in its
original state; whence I draw the inference the consuming power
acted from above; the heat from its amazing effects must have
burnt with the force of the strongest furnace; and from the
general appearance of the cleft in the wall, from which these
vitrified masses have fallen, I should be inclined to attribute the
catastrophe to lightning from heaven." It is singular that the
more modern brickwork of the temple of Belus is quite distinct
from that of the ruined tower. There must have been an ob-
servatory on this spot from very remote ages, as Prideaux says:
"when Alexander conquered Babylon, Callisthenes the philo-
sopher who had accompanied him found among its learned men
astronomical observations from 1903 years back, 2233 B.C., to that
very time.
This testimony Callisthenes is reported to have sent
to Aristotle. Berosus (contemporary with Alexander) says: 'a
great tower was erected there, and the winds assisted the gods in
overthrowing the city. The gods introduced a diversity of
tongues among men, and the place was called Babylon on that
account,' its name being a Greek form of the Hebrew word
'babel,' which means confusion." Herodotus, who visited.
Babylon, describes the tower of Belus as still existing. Many
other ancient authors describe Babylon as of immense size, and
Benjamin of Tudela, A.D. 1160, describes the ruined tower of
Babel struck as he says by lightning from heaven, and surrounded
¹ His name in Hebrew signifies "rebellion," and he was called Bel or Baal,
Supreme Lord, by the Chaldees.
ASSYRIAN.
61
by traces of buildings and streets for thirty miles. Emanuel de
St. Albert, about 1620, saw the tower of Babel and mentions the
fallen masses of brickwork, so vitrified that it was impossible to
separate a single brick from the mass. The extreme interest of
this subject will I think excuse the length of these extracts,
though some authors now are of opinion that Belus was not
Babel.
HEBREW GLASS.
"A knowledge of the law is difficult to acquire, and is as easily lost as
brittle glass."-Talmud, treatise Chagigah, fol. 15 a.
F
LAVIUS JOSEPHUS says the art of making glass
was discovered by some Israelites, who set fire to a
wood and soon found the heat became so great that it
melted the sand and made it pour down the mountain.
Thence arose the power of making artificially what had been done
accidentally.
Michaelis, writing in 1754, when those wonderful sealed books
of antiquity, Egyptian tombs, were little known, also attributes the
invention to the Hebrews and cites many passages of Scripture
to support his assertion. He says the word translated "crystal "
in Job xxviii. 171 is zechuckith, which all learned rabbis before
Christ interpreted as "glass," saying they never had another
word for it. St. Jerome translates it "vitrum." Syrian, Greek,
and Latin versions render the word as glass, and Scott considers
our version "crystal" as questionable. Some interpreters use
the word "diamond," thinking it means something very precious;
but though glass is now cheap and plentiful it was not so always, in
old times vases of glass and crystal were rare and costly; besides,
before people knew how to polish diamonds they were probably
not so much esteemed as they are now. It is on the shores of
Palestine, near Tyre and Sidon, that traditions older than history, all
relating to glass, cluster thickly. They especially cling round the
river Belus, whose fabled waters rising from mount Carmel flowed
in a deep and sluggish stream down to the sea near Ptolemais.
This sacred river, consecrated by many religious rites, was thickly
charged with pernicious mud, and poisoned man or beast who
drank of its turbid waters. The name Belus, 2 known to us
1 Job is supposed to have been anterior to Moses; some authorities place
him later, and say the name typifies "suffering Israel."
2 Belus, a son of Poseidon; he was the ancestral hero and national divinity
of many eastern nations, from whence his legends became transplanted and
mixed with Greek myths.
62
HEBREW GLASS.
63
through many classical authors, does not
it is Hebrew, and possibly derived its
together of its sand into glass.¹
""
If it was not nameless among the Hebrews it is probably
referred to as Sichor by Josephus, when he describes the
boundaries of the tribe of Asher. 2 Some think the name
Sichor (also given to the Nile) was applied to it from its abound-
ing with crocodiles, more probably from its turbid stream
(Jer. ii. 18). Shaw gives its modern native name as “Kar-Dana,”
perhaps "unhealthy river," from its muddy waters. Pliny says
"there is in Phoenicia near the foot of mount Carmel a marsh
called Cendivia, the river Belus takes its rise from this place."
Michaelis believes the Cendivia of Pliny to be identical with
the waters of Megiddo of Scripture. When Isaiah speaks of "the
seed of Sichor, the harvest of the river is her revenue
(Isa. xxiii.
3), and when Moses giving the blessing to Zebulun and Issachar
says, "they shall suck of the abundance of the seas and of trea-
sures hid in the sand" (Deut. xxxiii. 18, 19), do they not allude
to glass? Jacob promised Zebulun some profit from ships and
commerce (Gen. xlix. 13). Jonathan and Salaman ben Isaac
say: "the tarith (a fish) and the white glass, products of the
sea and the sands, these were in the lot of Issachar and Zebulun,
as has been said in the tract Mezillah." The passage is in fol.
6. 1, and there they say the Rabbi Joseph explained the "sands "
so extolled by Moses as referring to "white glass." By "the
hidden treasures of the sand" Jewish interpreters all understand
"glass," and regard the making of glass as one of the three
benedictions promised by Moses to Zebulun. This universal
tradition of Jews can only be explained by the announcement of
Moses to this tribe, and the glassworks which from time imme-
morial were established on their shores.
Old authors agree
that the sand of Belus traversing the land of Zebulun was the
best known for making glass. Moses must have been acquainted
with the invention when he instructed the Zebulunites in the
riches of their land; these knew of it also, as they comprehended
occur in the Bible, but
name from the running
1 For Belus, which would be Bel in Hebrew,, has evidently taken its
name from "pouring out." And this true and primary signification of the
verb, which afterwards gave us the word "confusion," is often found in
Hebrew Scriptures. Ps. lxxii. 12; Exod. xxix. 40; Lev. ii. 5, 7, ix. 4.—
Commentarii Soc. Göttingen, tom. iv., p. 302.
2 One of the Arabic names for glass is aser.
64
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
perfectly well in this sense the words of Moses, and established
large glassworks in their country (or carried on those already
working), the products of which were carried by the Phoenicians
into many lands. Tyre and Sidon (2750 B.C. ?) were flourishing
cities many centuries before the Hebrew invasion of Canaàn
(1450 B.C.).¹ Their glass factories were among the most cele-
brated of the age (some authors have regarded them as the first
established in the world), and they preserved their reputation
and their prices under many Roman emperors. The children
of Israel however, who had been more than three hundred years
in captivity in Egypt, would surely not require to learn glass-
making from the Phoenicians, as Moses who was learned in all
the wisdom of the Egyptians must certainly have acquired that
knowledge in their mysterious land. Pliny in his oft quoted
story of the invention of glass says that "some merchants having
landed at Belus, and making a fire on the strand to cook their
food, and as there might not be any stones convenient for raising
their cauldrons, they placed beneath them lumps of saltpetre
from their ship, and these being ignited, when the sand of the
shore mixed with them, there flowed from thence a transparent
liquid stream of a new and as yet unknown substance, and this
was the origin of glass." Merret as a practical worker ridicules
this story, and says no nation ever did, or ever will, make glass
by burning in the open air kali, or any other plant or material
proper to make it; however strong the fire may be, the extreme
heat of a furnace only can produce it, and he scoffs at the idea
that merchants trading in saltpetre should not have known better
than to take blocks of so inflammable a substance to support
their pots on, far more likely in the heat to melt and upset the
pots than to support them. Very likely they did take from thence
a quantity of sand and kali (glasswort, a plant which grows there,
used in making glass), and were possibly the first merchants in
glass, or more probably they were carrying saltpetre from Egypt
(where it abounded) to some of the already established factories.
Such an accidental fire must have been of frequent occurrence
in eastern countries, where sand and plants containing alkali
(as reeds, bamboos, or straw) are plentiful; so if it be possible to
1 St. Augustine was the first to point out the strong resemblance between
many Phoenician and Hebrew letters, and many scholars since have observed it;
a natural result when two nations lived close together, and probably interchanged
their arts as well as the produce of their industries.
HEBREW GLASS.
65
make glass in the open air it must often have happened. As
M. Sanzoy observes that a heat of 1000 to 1500 degrees is
required before the materials of which glass is composed can
enter into fusion, it might well be doubted whether the production
of glass in the open air is a possibility. On the other side
Mr. Nesbitt tells us that he has in his possession a lump of
impure weak glass formed by the burning of a stack of wheat in
Lincolnshire. 1 It is said that the large meteoric stone now in the
British Museum, which fell in South America, was found to have
melted the sand round it into glass, but then certainly that was
a fire never lit by mortal hands.
Strabo, a century before Pliny, and then Tacitus, speak of the
sands of Belus as being inexhaustible. "The sacred river
Belus, though it has only a beach of 500 paces, has always been
an inexhaustible mine for glassworkers; between Ptolemais and
Tyre the beach is covered with particles of sand, of which they
make white glass; they pretend this glass will not melt on the
river, but only turns into glass when it reaches Sidon." Chevalier
Jancourt writes: "in this ditch of sand if you throw metal it
instantly becomes glass, and the sands of Belus when thrown
into the furnace become glass, but taken back to the ditch
become sand again." Josephus writes: "at the mouth of Belus
near the tomb of Memnon is a singular thing, a circular ditch
full of vitrifiable sand; numbers of ships are always coming to
take away cargoes of this sand, but it never grows less, as the
winds, in intelligence with the sailors, bring back sand as fast as
it is carried away; the sand in this ditch is really changed into
glass, but when it is carried away it becomes sand again." The
sand being thrown by the sea on the beach, dried by the sun and
full of salt, becomes covered with crystals of salt, as may be seen
in Egypt in many places. Abbé Moriti, who visited Belus in
1767, said, "its narrow bed mixed its sand with abundant
particles of glass." The abbé was probably deceived by the
salt crystals. The sluggish waters of Belus brought down from
mount Carmel sand and clay which when tossed about and
purified by the action of the sea, sufficed to produce glass for
several centuries. Modern travellers still describe the white sands
of Belus heaped on each side of the stream. Sir J. Maundeville
says in 1322, "men comen fro fer watre by shippes and be londe
¹ See "Vitrified Forts": Scotland.
CIA
F
66
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
with cartes, to fetchen of that gravelle." It was long believed
that Belus gave the only sand proper for glassmaking, and this
belief probably restricted the manufacture and would account
for the rarity and value of the article. At all events this brilliant
sand was found close to Sidon, and the inhabitants used the gifts
which nature gave them, and their reputation spread over the
then known world, ages before Pliny called her "artifex vitri.”
It would be interesting to have the sand of Belus analysed, as
has been done by M. Balard in the salt 1 marshes of the
Mediterranean. One more legend concerning Belus is found in
Ælian (time of Hadrian), he says, "Xerxes son of Darius having
disinterred the monument of Belus belonging to fabulous times
found there a coffin of glass in which lay stretched his body,
bathed in olive oil."
When Solomon was building his temple, 969 B.C., he agreed to
furnish wheat and oil for the use of the household of Hiram, king
of Tyre, in return for workmen and materials for building the
temple. Hiram provided the pilots and mariners for Solomon's
fleet; these were the usual relations of a commercial with an
agricultural people. When Cyrus, 535 B.C., permitted the Jews
to rebuild their temple, Tyre and Sidon again assisted Ezra (iii.
7). It is only natural to suppose that among the workmen sent
from those great Phoenician cities (even then past the zenith of
their commercial prosperity) there would be some skilled in the
manufacture of the bottles, beads, and vases for which they had
a celebrity so widely spread. Prov. xxiii. 31 would seem to imply
that in Solomon's day people used glass drinking cups, and took
pleasure in seeing the colour of the wine through their transparency.
The ancient Hebrew ceremony of marriage was not complete
without breaking the glass cup out of which the couple had drank.
Bernard 2 says the remainder of the wine in the cup was thrown
on the ground in sign of joyfulness; then the empty glass was
given to the man, who threw it with all his force on the ground
breaking it in pieces, in order to signify an idea of death joining
with joy, which breaks us like a glass and so prevents any feeling
of pride in man; the assembly at the same time cry out "It is
well."
1 Some glassmakers at Valenciennes have collected the sand from the beach
at Dunkirk, to make into bottles; this sand contains forty-five parts of silica,
doubtless the Belus sands contain more.
• "Religious Customs of All Nations."
Amsterdam, 1723.
HEBREW GLASS.
67
All eastern nations took great delight in pavements of glass and
crystal. In chapter 27 of the Koran we read of the court before
the palace of Solomon, "the floor or pavement being of trans-
parent glass laid over running water, in which fish were swimming."
Again Mahommed and his imitators relate that "the throne of
Solomon was placed on such a pavement of glass, and when the
Queen of Sheba approached it she thought they were real waters
and consequently gathered up her robes." St. John in Rev. iv. 6
attributes a similar pavement to the throne of God, and Ezek.
i. 22 speaks of the terrible crystal or ice the throne rested on.
Moses (Exod. xxiv. 10) saw "under His feet a paved work of
sapphires," literally bricks of sapphires; perhaps a tesselated
pavement of glass, the colour of the stone.
name for heaven, does not signify the expanse or firmament, but
the pavement on which stands the throne of the Father. Moses
is not accountable for the error of those who have determined the
heaven to be solid, perhaps from hence has arisen the error of
the Pythagoreans concerning the solid globes of the crystalline
heaven. That Hebrew houses had windows we learn from
Jer. xxii. 14 and Ezek. xli. 16; but it does not appear that these
windows were glazed; St. Jerome writing of the temple of Ezekiel
says "the windows were made after the fashion of a net, like to
lattices," so that they were not closed by talc or glass, but by
shutters of wood worked in relief or inlaid.
רקיע The Hebrew
The mirrors of the Hebrews were of brass; the Israelitish
women had to appear in full dress at the tabernacle for Divine
service, so it was necessary for them to have their mirrors after the
Egyptian fashion, and in Exod. xxxviii. 8 we find Moses collect-
ing the brazen mirrors of these assembled women to make the
laver of brass. Job xxxvii. 18 speaks of the sky spread out which
is strong "as a molten looking glass." We find the Israelites
versed in all the arts of the Egyptians, and using them for the
fabrication of the many marvellous objects connected with their
worship imposed on them by Moses; among these arts we notice
engraving on stone (Exod. xxxix. 6); they wrought onyx stones
enclosed in ouches of gold graven as signets are graven with the
names of the children of Israel, to put on the shoulders of the
ephod, also each of the twelve stones of the breastplate was graven
with the name of a tribe of Israel and among these stones was a
diamond. The Egyptian commerce with India (whence these
precious stones were procured) seems to have been carried on also
68
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
by the Hebrews. Dr. Vincent¹ thinks prior to the siege of Tyre,
588 B.C., the whole commerce of India and those countries was
in the hands of Tyre except in the reign of Solomon who, though
he exacted a tax on the produce brought, had no fleet in the
Mediterranean,² a circumstance which gave Tyre a monopoly of
all the communication with the western world. That Solomon
had communication with India receives a curious traditional
confirmation from the fact that among the Indian troops lately
sent to Malta were some black Jews from the coast of Malabar,
who claim to be descended from those Jews whom Solomon sent
to India to collect gold and spices. I am indebted to the kind
researches of the Rev. A. Löwy for the following remarks on glass
in the Talmud. "It remains an open question whether ‘zechuch-
ith,' in Job xxviii. 17, means glass or another substance of high
value. In the post biblical Jewish works the term is invariably
applied to the signification of 'glass.' In the 'Mishna,' that
is the first collection of the rabbinical dicta and decisions as
compiled in the second century of the Christian era, the incidental
allusions to glass are mainly to be found in the treatise 'Kelim'
(vessels or instruments). From the references there made it is
evident that the rabbins were well acquainted with the manu-
facture of glass, and that the article was produced in the land
where the Mishnaic teachers of the Jews resided. It would
therefore not be too much to assume that glass was manufactured
in Palestine at an early period, that Jews were engaged in its
manufacture, and that they were skilled in giving it such shapes as
were suited to the taste and the requirements of the period. The
rabbins attached the greatest value to the production of white
glass, and according to their traditions the art of making white
glass ceased at the time of the destruction of the temple (see
Talmud, treatise ‘Sotah,' fol. 48. 6). The articles of glass were used
for ornamental and for domestic purposes, and seem to have been
regarded as precious things of which one ought to take great care.
In the Gemara, that is the ancient comment and discussion which
is appended to each paragraph of the Mishna (Mishna followed
¹ In his edition of the "Periplus," of the Erythræan Sea.
1
2 In Solomon's time the Phoenicians had already brought their trade from
India and Arabia through the Red Sea, and his offering them a more con-
venient route thence through the valley of Petra enabled him to enter into an
advantageous treaty with and to obtain a share of the trade from that jealous
merchant people (Prof. G. Rawlinson's "Herodotus," vol. ii.) This would
explain the discrepancy between "Solomon's fleet" and his having none.
HEBREW GLASS.
69
by the Gemara constitutes the Talmud) there are frequent
references to glass as an article of manufacture, of commerce, of
domestic use, and of ornament." In the twelfth century we read
of twelve Jewish glassmakers at Antioch and at New Sûr (the
Arabic name for ancient Tyre), four hundred Jew shipowners and
manufacturers of the celebrated Tyrian glasses. Tristram in his
"Land of Israel" says that in excavating at Tyre numberless
fragments of shapeless but variously coloured glass were found
which, by their solidity, suggested the idea that they were the
rejectamenta of ancient glassworkers. Eraclius especially directs
that Jewish glass is to be used for painting on glass, it was pro-
bably a glass which contained lead. In Christy's Museum, Victoria
St., may be seen some bangles and glass articles from Hebron
in Palestine; and in Burckhardt's "Travels in Nubia " (1814) he
states that though the better sort of glass beads sold in Abyssinia
are of Venetian manufacture, yet the greater part are made at
Hebron, near Jerusalem, which furnishes the whole of southern
Syria, the larger part of Egypt, and of Arabia, with glass ware.
Now as we know the Crusaders brought back from the wars and
re-established in Europe the making of glass, we may surely
imagine that glass manufacturing in Palestine has gone on in almost
an unbroken line since the days of great Sidon! Captain Warren
in his “Underground Jerusalem" says, "Glass has been manu-
factured in Hebron since very early times, and though there are so
few references to it in the Bible, our excavations attest it was in use
at a very early date and most common during the Roman period.
We found broken pieces of glass among pottery at many of the
old ruins of Gaza, Askalon, Tell Jema, Ashdod, and other places;
and though there was nothing to distinguish their age, they had
at least as much claim to be considered ancient as the pottery
itself. That glass need not have been unknown in the country
from the earliest date is apparent from the facility with which the
stone of the country will forge when subjected to heat. I have a
piece of stone found near the Dead Sea, with a drop of blue glass
clinging to it, apparently the effects of a fire lighted among the
rocks. The sand now used at the factory at Hebron is found
somewhere inland, it is not brought from the sea shore. A large
quantity of glass mixed up with pottery of the fourth century was
found in a drain which led from the southern end of the temple
enclosure." Bede's notice of the glass windows on Mount Olivet,
Jerusalem, is given in the chapter on Windows, and in the "Safar-
70
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
64
namah" Nasir, after describing the glass mosaics, goes on to speak
of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem, where there are
portraits of Jesus sitting on an ass, put up in several places, as
well as those of the other prophets, Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, and
Jacob and his children (on whom be peace!); they are anointed
with oil of Sindarus daily, each picture moreover is covered with
a large plate of transparent glass of the same size as itself, so that
the portraits may not be at all hidden, and this they place there to
prevent the dust from settling on the painting, the glasses being
cleaned each day by servants." There is nothing more surprising
in the writings of this Persian traveller of the eleventh century
than his extreme toleration for the religious beliefs of other people:
"where David offered up his contrition and it was accepted, I too,
Nasir, offered up my prayer at the same spot to the Almighty";
"also here is deposited the cradle of Jesus, I myself offered up my
devotions there." The coloured lamps Nasir describes are spoken
of by Mr. Conder¹ as still burning, and much of the glass mosaic
remains, though injured; and the hillocks round Gilgal are full
of broken pottery, glass, and tesseræ, the remains of the religious
establishments that once covered the plain.
2
Dr. Birch tells us that glazed vessels are found among the ruins
of Warka (ancient Erech ?) supposed to have been made by
Hebrews, as many of a precisely similar character have been
discovered in Jerusalem and other parts of Palestine; some of
these are referable to later times. It has been conjectured that
the Jews understood the process of glazing by litharge. The
Jews in the middle ages, especially in Italy, made clandestinely
quantities of false gems, probably from ancient glass. It is to
the Jews we owe this preservation of the glass industry of the
ancients.
1 "Tent Work in Palestine."
2 Jewish faces of the ninth century B.C. are depicted on the bronze gates
lately sent from Nineveh by Mr. Rassam, from the temple of the god Makkin.
PERSIA.
"Among the Persians, that man only uses an earthenware cup who is dis-
honoured by the king."—Ctesias, Persian historian, 401 B.C.
T
HE ancient Persians conquered and occupied Egypt for
many centuries, and, like other victorious nations of
old, took captive and carried away from their fallen
enemy's country all the most skilled workmen and
artists, and employed them in building their famous cities,
Persepolis and Susa. It is therefore to these ruined buildings we
look for the earliest indications of glass. Persepolis, for a long
time the capital of Persia, is said to have been founded by the
renowned Jemsheed. It is interesting to us as the scene of
Esther's history. On the overthrow of Egypt, Cambyses (529 B.C.)
brought from Thebes not only all its richest ornaments to adorn
his palaces of Persepolis and Susa, but is said to have carried
off captive no less than six thousand workmen of various kinds.
No wonder, as says Curtius, "Persepolis now became the
wonder of the East, no other city existed in the world that could
be compared to her." Here was situated the celebrated palace
built of cedar, which was certainly in existence in the time of
Darius, 521 B.C. Strabo speaks of the great beauty of this
palace, which was burnt by Alexander at the instigation of
Thais, or to avenge, some say, similar injuries inflicted by the
Persians on Greece. Among the ruins, which are still very ex-
tensive, Minutoli says one finds to this day numerous fragments
of glass mosaics, doubtless the work of those old Egyptian cap-
tives. On the central platform of Susa Mr. Loftus says, wherever
the ground was opened, fragments of baked clay and glass were
turned up.
The Persians made glass prior to Alexander's victories, as
Aristophanes, 400 B.C., describes the Athenian ambassadors to
Ecbatana as stating, "in Persia they were everywhere made to
drink a generous wine, out of glass and golden cups." In the
South Kensington Museum may be seen fragments of glass and old
71
72
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
pottery from the ruins of ancient Rhey or Rhages (Tobit i. 14),
which was first known in history as the place where the Jewish
exiles were sent, but it was in existence long before Cyrus; Strabo
says it was rebuilt by Greeks. Some idea of its ancient magni-
ficence may be gained from the Persian account which states that
fifteen thousand caravansaries were too few to accommodate all
the merchants and travellers who resorted to its bazaars. A
curious fact is mentioned by Sir H. Rawlinson concerning the rock
sculptures at Behistun, of the time of Darius, 516 B.C. It was
evident that after the engraving of the rock had been finished a
coating of siliceous varnish (in fact a glaze) had been laid over
it, to give a clearness of outline to each individual letter, and to
protect the surface against the action of the elements; this varnish
is of infinitely greater hardness than the limestone rock beneath
it, as it still adheres in portions to the broken surface, and shows
the characters with sufficient distinctness, though the rock beneath
is perfectly honeycombed and destroyed.
All lovers of ancient art are acquainted with that remarkable
specimen of Persian glass work preserved in the Paris Biblio-
thèque, the well known cup of Chosroes I. It is a shallow bowl
consisting of a central medallion, apparently of crystal, on which
is sculptured in relief the figure of Chosroes, king of Persia A.D.
532, the same effigy that appears on his coins; around it are three
rows of circular medallions, or disks of glass, red and white
alternately, the spaces between filled in with green; the whole of
the glass is ornamented in relief, and has evidently been cast in
moulds; the medallions are united like the parts of a painted
window, but by fillets of gold. There is no reason to doubt that
the cup itself was one out of which the monarch was accustomed
to drink. As late as 1638 it was believed that the disks were
garnets, jacinths, emeralds, crystal, and white sapphires. The
original owner of so rare a drinking cup could, it was supposed, be
only Solomon, and the figure at the bottom was believed to be
the Jewish king. It is of Sapor, A.D. 260, king of Persia, that we
are told "he had a celestial sphere made in glass, so large that
this king seated in the middle could observe the motions of the
stars,” which sounds like an echo of the sphere of Archimedes.
The city of Ctesiphon was taken by Arabs in the reign of caliph
Omar, A.D. 637, and the treasures collected there for four
hundred years fell into the hands of Sa'ad the general. The royal
palace had a portico of twelve marble pillars, 150 ft. high. In the
PERSIA.
73
spice magazine were found glass vases containing stores of musk,
camphor,¹ amber, gums, drugs and perfumes. In one room was
a carpet of white brocade, 450 ft. long and 90 ft. broad, which had
a border worked in precious stones to represent flowers, the leaves
of emeralds, the buds and blossoms of pearls, rubies, sapphires,
and other gems. The magnificent decorations of this palace have
excited the notice of many authors. Theophylact of Simocatta
says Greek materials and Greek workmen were employed in its
construction by Chosroes I. Ed. Thomas thinks Chosroes II.
brought Roman artists to complete the works, and Tabarie says
the whole was designed by a native artist, Ferbad.
3
We know very little of Persian medieval history; those fragments
of her art productions which have been preserved are of the very
highest class, and are eagerly bought up for museums and
collections. 2 It would appear the manufacture of glass continued
through the middle ages, as we hear that Sanjuk, shah of Persia,
1140, caused the body of the prophet Daniel to be placed in a
glass coffin at Susa. The beautiful enamels of Persia are well
known, and their delicate lace-like perforated porcelain, filled in
with a clear glaze, has been celebrated in England ever since the
days of Horace Walpole as Gambroon ware. The glazed pottery
of Persia is perhaps better known than her glass, it is distinguished
for its harmonious colouring and the extreme brilliance of its glaze.
Sir R. Porter describes the mosque at Tabreez, erected by Ali
Koja in the twelfth century, as covered inside and out with
lacquered tiles, adjusted in elaborate and intricate figures; the
colours were green, dark and light blue, with Arab letters in gold,
and a broad band of such letters in white, with flowers inter-
woven of green and gold, wound round the entire extent of the
building. In the royal palace of Tabreez every part not painted
was covered with mirrors, and the windows were filled with
variegated coloured glass. Porter also visited a superb mosque
1 The Arabs, mistaking this for salt, mixed it with their bread.
2 It is interesting to notice, as showing the advanced state of civilization in
early times in Persia, that the first record we have of a striking clock is of the
one presented by the then king of Persia to Charlemagne, A.D. 800.
It was
made of wood; a needle moved circularly, rudely dividing the hours and mark-
ing the four divisions of the day.
3 It is asserted by high authorities that this is the only true porcelain ever
made in Persia, all the rest being imported from China; the evidence is however
hardly conclusive, yet many well known patterns are called by the names of
great Persian families, and the presence of beds of kaolin signalized by a
recent traveller would seem to prove that no want of materials prevented a
local manufacture in Persia.
74
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
at Sultania, built in the fourteenth century, "in which the whole
interior was covered with various coloured tiles, with much
gilding; the whole Koran is said to be here written, but it
requires the practised eye of a Mussulman to distinguish the
letters midst the labyrinths of arabesques which surround them."
The so called Shah Abbas tiles, so dear to the hearts and purses
of modern collectors, are most probably referable to this date.
The glaze¹ on these tiles must have been of so thick a quality it
could scarcely flow over the surface, and large knobs of glass are
left at the edges and on the inequalities of the pattern. The
advantage of this system is obvious; these tiles are as fresh now
as they were six centuries ago, while our modern productions with
their poor thin glaze will hardly stand the wear of as many years
without deterioration.
The favourite mode of adorning buildings during the middle
ages in Persia must have been by means of mirrors, judging by
the specimens left at Tabreez, Ispahan, and other places; and it
seems still a Persian custom to fix plaques of glass to walls as a
decoration. Where the mirrors were made we have no means
of ascertaining; but Ibn Batoutah, 1332, talks of "clusters of
lamps made of glass from Irak."
Nearly all the best works of Persian art are attributed to the
time of the great Shah Abbas, 1585, and many dated objects
bear out that theory. His superb palace at Ispahan, with the
magnificent group of buildings attached to it, remains to attest
the splendour of his court and the encouragement he gave to
the arts. The celebrated Chabar Bagh (four gardens) belonging to
this palace, approached by a bridge of forty arches, is composed
¹ Sir G. Birdwood says the ancient art of glazing earthenware has come down
in Persia in an almost unbroken tradition from the period of the greatness of
Chaldæa and Assyria; the name "kasi" by which the art is known there
and also in India is the same Semitic word, "kas," glass, by which it is known
in Arabic and Hebrew.
2 Large quantities of tiles similar to these were wantonly destroyed at the
breaking up of the great mosque of Algiers, to make room for the modern
French cathedral, only those few which recorded texts from the Koran were
preserved from religious motives by an old Moor; for fear lest they should
be desecrated, he refused to part with them to me, though I promised to
preserve them under glass. The eagerness with which English people pur-
chase these relics amazes the French, who seem unable to appreciate them.
The disastrous wholesale destruction of works of Arab art in Algiers is a great
loss to the world, and a great stain on the French name, as also their conduct
as to the tablet on the Dog River. (See Trans. of Soc. Bib. Arch. vol. vii., p. 336.)
3 He is reported to have sent to China for workmen to instruct his subjects
in the art of making porcelain.
PERSIA.
75
of terraces filled with large plantain trees and marble tanks;
on each side are four paradises, with eight magnificent kiosks,
profusely adorned with paintings in gold and silver, and mirrors.
In front lies a fine square, 700 ft. long; it was till last century
the great market of Persia. On one side stands a large mosque,
with a splendid gateway and mosaic door, the ground azure, the
patterns in gold, silver, red, white, and green. Never was seen
anything so fine as these patterns, and copies of them would give
a thousand designs for embroidery. On the other side is the
entrance to a large bazaar, which was the finest in Persia; it is
now half ruined. The approach to the Chehel Setoor, or palace
of forty pillars, itself, is thus enthusiastically described by Sir R.
Porter. "When we turned into the grand avenue, and the palace
broke on us, I thought description was put to silence, words can
give but a faint idea of the wonderful object in sight. I must
attempt some detail of this Persian Versailles; the exhaustless
profusion of its splendid materials reflected not merely their own
golden or crystal lights on each other, but all the variegated colours
of the garden; so the whole surface seemed formed of polished
silver or mother-o'-pearl, set with precious stones. The scene
appeared an eastern poet's dream, or vision of fairy tale. The
entire front of the building is open to the garden, the roof sup-
ported on a double row of twenty columns; a large tank in front
reflects these twenty, and gives the name of Forty Pillars to the
palace. These columns, about fifty feet high, are covered with
glass mirrors from top to bottom. Each column shoots up from
the united backs of four white marble lions; these shafts, rising
from their singular bases, are covered with arabesque patterns
and foliage, in gilding and painting, on the glass surface; some
twisting spirally, others winding in golden wreaths or running in
lozenges, stars, circles, and I know not what strange intricacies of
fancy and ingenious workmanship. The ceiling is equally iris-
hued with flowers, fruits, birds, butterflies, and even crouching
tigers in gold, silver, and painting, amid hundreds of intermingling
compartments of glittering mirrors. Within this open chamber
are two more pillars of similar taste to the range in front; from
their capitals springs a spacious arch forming the entrance to a
vast saloon, in which all the caprices and labours and cost of
oriental magnificence have been lavished to an incredible extent
of prodigality. The pillars, walls, and ceilings might be a study
for ages for designers in these gorgeous labyrinthine ornament-
76
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
ations. An odd addition has been made to the decoration of
the wall near the floor; little recesses spot its lower range,
taking the shapes of bottles, goblets, vases, flagons, and other
vessels, all equally indispensable in those days to a Persian feast."
The floors of both these apartments are laid with carpets some
sixty feet long, of a texture never made now, and though bearing
a date of five hundred years ago as fresh now (1870) as when
they were laid down.¹
Le Viel thinks the art of glassmaking, still practised in
Persia, dates from the remotest times; "at Shiraz they made the
best glass of all the East, and they knew how to unite broken
bits like porcelain." In 1753 Kerim Khan established glass works
at Shiraz, where bottles, goblets, and window panes are still made.
Chardin, who went to Persia in 1664, speaks of the very common
glass then made in that country, bad in colour and of imperfect
manufacture, which he attributes to the feeble fires they used with
insufficient fuel, and which were only maintained during three
or four days; the best glass, he also says, is that made at Shiraz;
the manufacture had only existed for eighty years, and had been
introduced by a needy Italian, in his day mirrors and beautiful
bottles for tobacco (probably snuff) were brought from Venice.
In the British Museum, besides the beautiful lamps described
elsewhere, there is a bottle richly diapered with coloured birds,
and another square one with a red and a white horse enamelled
on it; the Persians (unlike the Arabs) do not object to introduc-
ing animals and men into their ornamentations, as may be seen
in the Damascus work of to-day. The art of Damascus is still
Persian, and in the middle ages that city was looked on as a chief
seat of glass manufacture, as we find in many royal inventories,
among treasured objects, glass "en façon de Damas " particularly
mentioned.
In 1350 Charles V. had "three pots of red glass" and also
"a little glass worked outside with figures in façon de Damas "
and a glass in Damascus fashion without any ornament. Most
of these old glasses have coloured enamel inscriptions, and
arabesques oriental in character, though the letters cannot always
be read, being intended probably merely as ornament, or possibly
copied by some one ignorant of their sense, as has been done
in the later Hispano-Moorish pottery, where the letters are so
¹ As a specimen of the luxury displayed in the courts of Persian sovereigns,
read the description of the travelling tent of Nadir Shah, in Appendix, Note C.
PERSIA.
77
1
degraded as to have lost all meaning. An additional proof of
the celebrity of Damascus as a centre of manufacture, and a
curious instance of the way history repeats itself, may be found
in Clavijo's narrative of his embassy to the court of Timour Beg,
1403-6, where he relates how in 1402 that conqueror carried off
from Damascus to Samarcand "silk weavers and men who make
bows, glass, and earthenware, so that of these articles Samarcand
produces the best in the world,” also that, at Timour's banquets
in camp, meat was served in basins of gold, silver, glass, earthen-
ware and porcelain. His account is confirmed by Cherefeddin,
the historian of Timour, who says "these artisans were divided
among the emirs, to be immediately conveyed to Samarcand."
The manufactories of Damascus probably never recovered from
the ravages of Timour's army and the loss of the best workmen
little more is heard of their productions, which were probably
thrown out of the European markets by the superiority of the
productions of Venice, which soon attracted to herself the trade
of the greater part of the world in glass. The extreme fondness
displayed by Persians for mirrors has left its mark in their
literature in one of their fables we read of a cat "the mirror of
whose imagination had never conceived" the possibility of always
having enough to eat; and one of their poets in praising travellers
says, "whosoever has travelled shall be approved, his per-
fections shall be reflected as from a mirror of light."
"2 Persian
rosewater bottles, of delicate glass and very graceful and original
shapes, principally blue in colour, are shown both at South
Kensington and the British Museum. Some of these bottles are
modern, some older, and probably made in Venice for the Persian
market.
¹ It is the case all over the East at the present day. Even the Arabic in-
scriptions on Constantinople cloths, etc., and on the brass platters, are so
corrupt as to be illegible; they are the mere imitations of letters.
2 The same simile is common with us; in old lists of books registered at
Stationers' Hall we find such titles as "The Mirror of Man's Miseries," "The
Mirror of Princely Deedes," and so on.
ETRURIAN, POMPEIIAN, AND CHRISTIAN.
FULL many a monument is there
Of nations fallen to decay;
Though every trace they left is fair,
Not less for that they passed away.—MS.
ETRURIA.
W
HO the Etruscans really were is one of the many
disputed questions that may probably never be
satisfactorily settled. It would be useless here to
re-discuss the point as to whether they were a
civilizing band from Asia, or sprung originally from the Pelasgi,
or found their early cradle in the Rhætian Alps. They flourished
centuries before Rome was thought of. They would seem to
have always borrowed or imported their art from neighbouring
nations. In early times it is strikingly oriental (though in their
funeral paintings the women are never veiled); it then becomes
very Grecian, and like Greece the glory of Etruria lies more
in the glyptic art than in the making of glass. A commercial
people they traded with Phoenicia and Egypt, and nothing
indicates a close analogy between Egypt and Etruria so much
as the multitudes of scarabei found all round their cities. They
seem to have been worn as charms; and the Etruscans probably
adopted this relic of foreign superstition without attaching to
it a religious signification. At Chiusi these scarabei are found
in such numbers on a spot near the city that it is called the
"jeweller's field."1 Glass found in Etruscan tombs is supposed to
have been brought both from Phoenicia and Egypt. Various beau-
tiful specimens of coloured and variegated glass bottles for perfumes
and cosmetics, taken from Etruscan tombs, may be seen at Vulci,
¹ Scarabei found in the foldings of a mummy are thought to have been
placed there to pay the fees on some part of the soul's journey heavenward,
،، an obolus to Charon." In the Etruscan tombs at Chiusi a five sided crystal,
the matrix of the amethyst, was put into the mouth of each corpse, meant as
its fee to Charon; these stones are not found anywhere near Chiusi.
78
ETRURIAN, POMPEIIAN, AND CHRISTIAN.
79
Volterra, Naples, and Rome. They are generally dark blue in
colour; some are fluted. The patterns are chiefly zigzag lines in
yellow, white, and pale blue; nearly all are now iridescent; their
blues are due to cobalt. Elegant amphora-shaped bottles of
various colours are supported on circlets of gold.
These are
found alike in tombs in Egypt, Greece, Sicily, and Italy; the
estimation in which they were held is proved by their golden
settings. In Etruria they come principally from Vulci and Tos-
canello. Various kinds of glass, porcelain, and alabaster were
exported from Egypt and received by Greece, Etruria, and Rome
as luxuries which, being remarkable for beauty, were prized as
ornaments for the table and preserved as sacred relics in tombs.
Together with the bottles are found numerous small ornaments
in glass, such as rings, bugles and amulets, which, common objects
in Egypt, were valued as articles of great rarity in Etruria. Set
in their exquisite golden filagree work,¹ we may imagine them
adorning their fair Etruscan owners in life, and we know they
were buried with them in death. One remarkable object found
at Vulci is a bracelet formed of small fish strung together and
secured by a gold clasp. In many museums may be seen cups
and vases of opaque and clear glass, in rich colours and varied
designs; sometimes encrusted with plaques of gold finely worked
and of good taste in the Egyptian style; sometimes square bits
of gold foil are found inside the glass. Whether all these
things were imported or made in Etruria we cannot tell. King
thinks none of them were of native manufacture, and that
Etruscans, superior to Egypt in many arts, knew nothing of glass,
a fact singularly attested by the two wonderfully fine pastes in the
Basle collection, one aventurine with emerald ground, and a breccia
agate of beautiful colours, both honoured by the choicest and most
valuable performance in the way of ring setting ever achieved by
Etruscan goldsmiths in their own peculiar style, a proof that
they had mistaken these artificial productions for novel gems of
the highest rarity. In the age when the Etruscans burned their
dead the ashes were collected in terracotta and alabaster urns,
and afterwards in cinerary urns of glass. Romans, who borrowed
2
¹ In the Gem Room, British Museum, may be seen a very beautiful specimen
set as a pendant.
2 In Etruscan tombs are repeatedly found porcelain and alabaster bottles
with all the characteristics of Egyptian workmanship. The stone undoubtedly
comes from Egyptian quarries, and the form and style of the articles leave
no doubt as to their origin.
80
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
so much from the Etruscans, would certainly not have remained
indifferent to glass, and it is very possible that they owed their
first acquaintance with this product to their neighbours.
POMPEII.
"On the coast of Italy near Cumes is found a quantity of fine
white vitrifiable sand, which, fused with three parts of nitre, comes
out of the furnace a pure white glass." It is most probably
from this sand of Cumes that originally was manufactured the
splendid harvest of glass which the buried cities of Pompeii and
Herculaneum have yielded to their excavators. The Bourbon
Museum at Naples is enriched with the priceless treasures which
the ashes of Vesuvius have preserved for her. There are now
more than four thousand articles of glass, collected from buried
cities, stored in the museum; of these the most important, the
Naples vase, has been described with the Portland one. Perhaps
the objects that first strike a visitor to the Pompeiian remains are
the numbers of square glass bottles in which the ancient house-
keepers kept their wine, oil, vinegar, honey, preserved apples,
dried figs, prunes, beans, and barley. Some of these bottles are
a foot and a half high. There are hundreds of smaller bottles of
varied shapes; some enclosed in clay vases to prevent the wine
from being spilt; some intended for pouring out liquid drop by
drop, called "oxybafo"; some evidently meant for distillation.
Quantities of glass bottles for drugs were found in the doctor's
house; since the time of Galen glass has been the favourite
receptacle for drugs, "because from it cometh no smell or bad
qualities." The twisted bottles still used in Italy for oil and
vinegar were known in Pompeii. A painting on a wall gives a
festive table arranged with glasses and small ladles, which were
possibly used to lift perfumed wines out of small decanters on
special occasions. In the tragic poet's house ten bottles of
ointment were found, and the numerous well known antique
bottles for scents and cosmetics abound. Pero has described
all the ornaments with which the workers in metal are in the
habit of decorating scent bottles. In the Street of Fortune
alone were discovered no fewer than two hundred and fifty bottles
of common glass, forty of them nine inches high, and four decanters,
besides several cluster bottles, made of four bottles attached,
1 Pliny's recipe, which would not make good glass.
1
ETRURIAN, POMPEIIAN, AND CHRISTIAN.
SI
of the same kind precisely as those still made in pottery by
Kabyle mountaineers who no doubt learned from Romans the
art of making them. With these bottles were thirty cups of
green glass and four plates, also six tumblers eight inches high and
only two inches across, probably meant for effervescing liquids. In
this same street leading to the temple of Fortune was discovered
a terracotta jar in which, carefully packed in straw, were a
large number of cups of a beautiful blue colour, with drinking
glasses, plates, and other objects, all in glass; these may possibly
have been packed in this manner for the purpose of removal, and
so are fortunately preserved. In the house of Lucretia were
twenty-six glass objects; among them two ornamented cups, a
drinking glass with its foot in a stand, and some scent bottles;
also two bowls, one blue glass the other with a leaf ornamenta-
tion, a circular dish with the head of Medusa, a tube with a
masque of Silenus, and thirteen paste buttons. Some of the
glass plates are fourteen inches across. In the theatre were two
paste figures in basrelief, one of Abundance, the other without
any emblems.
Some of the gladiatorial cups have been already
described; the commonest names of these gladiators are found
scratched on a wall in Pompeii. An inscription preserved on
a wall announces that, a glass urn having been stolen from a
certain Varus, tavern keeper, he offers a reward of about eleven
shillings if it is brought back to him, and promises to double the
reward if the robber is also brought. Among the more refined
specimens of glass ware in Pompeii may be mentioned a fragment
of a patera with a handle; it is of blue glass splendid as a sapphire,
with milk white cameos on it representing a twig of ivy leaves
and the head of a ram enclosing the masque of a faun. The
exquisite beauty of this design and extraordinary delicacy of the
workmanship recall to the mind Pliny's words, "they sculptured
glass more delicately than silver." Among these articles of luxury
domestic things are not forgotten, as there is a glass drainpipe
to be seen.
Among the ruins were found two large pieces of
ammonitrum and also masses of dark brown and dark greenish
glass, formed of flint or shells with some particular kind of sand.
Apparently these masses differ little from the obsidian stone used
in Egypt, and may have been made for dishes for the service of
the table, as Pliny says was the fashion in his day.
Cinerary urns containing ashes were usually glass enclosed
in lead, and that again enclosed in clay; these probably contained
G
S2
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
the remains of rich people, the commoner ones are only clay.
The mosaic of Pompeii, the windows and lamps of her baths, have
been treated at length in their respective places. Gell describes
a fountain covered with glass mosaic, with a border entirely com-
posed of sea shells, which remain quite perfect after the lapse of
so many centuries. Philander mentions this mode of decoration,
which still holds its ground in many places. The fountains of
Pompeii were furnished wtth leaden pipes and brass cocks for
admitting and turning off the water, precisely the same as those
of the present day. Notwithstanding the enormous quantity of
glass found in the city, the common people seem to have used
drinking cups both of horn and wood.
Fosbrooke describes a curious toilette service exhibited at
Pompeii which consisted of a modern square looking glass; a
candelabrum behind the glass supported a lamp; on the table
were pins, jewel boxes, scentbottles, cosmetic and ointment pots,
and numerous objects connected with the toilette.
Pollux enu-
merates a long list of the various articles required for the toilette
of an ancient belle, but cynically adds that "no one is acquainted
with all of them." Niccolini describes a "cestino" formed of glass
beads threaded on bronze wire. The catalogue of the museum
at Naples gives the complete list of all glass (and other) articles
rescued from Pompeii and preserved there. A superb copy, of
sixteen vols. illustrated, may be consulted in the South Kensington
reading room.
CHRISTIAN GLASS.
Much interest has surrounded the cups and disks found in the
catacombs of Rome. They are generally ornamented with gold
figures enclosed between two layers of glass, and the whole fused
into one mass. Cups so treated are usually known as Christian
glass, because the greater number have been found imbedded in
the mortar of Christian graves; the middle part being thick has
generally resisted the action of time, but the thinner edge has
disappeared. This kind of glass has preserved many valuable
details of costume, but its invention seems to have been of
greater antiquity than the Christian era, as many pieces represent
pagan figures and inscriptions. Possibly the germ of this species
of decoration may be found in an Etruscan cup which has square
bits of gold foil fixed in the body of the glass, and also in the
ETRURIAN, POMPEIIAN, AND CHRISTIAN.
83
small pieces of gilt glass with a protecting layer of glass over the
gold, found at the temple of Diana. We constantly find on the
cups such sentiments inscribed as Return day of fête; Drink
and do not put me down; Drink and live many years; Give
drink; I thirst; Rejoice because thou art here. It would seem
the early Christians took many of these legends for their cups
preserved in the catacombs, as "Drink, live," connecting them
probably with the sacrament and life eternal. A glass cup of this
description was found in a tomb near Pesth, in 1845, with the
inscription "Bibe, Viva"; there were no Christian emblems in
this tomb, but all the signs pointed to pagan worship. The
peculiar character of this style of glass can be best appreciated
by examining some of the specimens preserved in the Vatican, or
the British and other museums. Among Christian designs the
most usual subjects are Jesus turning water into wine, also
desiring the sick man to walk, Jesus present with the three
children in Nebuchadnezzar's furnace. The good shepherd with.
sheep is a very favourite subject; so is Noah in a square box
meant for the ark; Adam and Eve; Tobit and the fish. The
only known representation of the crucifixion is supposed to be a
forgery. Sometimes the Virgin appears alone or with saints; by
far the most common figures are St. Peter and St. Paul, the latter
always represented with impressions of the sole of a shoe round
him, in allusion to his many wanderings. Among ecclesiastical
characters we have St. Agnes and St. Laurence. Sometimes two
busts of a married couple, with a figure of Christ placing rings or
crowns on their heads, and an inscription wishing them all happi-
Besides these, many miniatures with proper names, some
figures of children, not all real portraits, only conventional, with
scenes from domestic life and inscriptions of a convivial character
which preclude the idea that these cups were meant only for
chalices. A few are found with invocations to saints, and the
monogram of Christ sometimes appears; but there are many
pagan memorials, as allusions to Hercules, Cupid and Psyche,
and others; a judge with two wrestlers, a palm branch at the
feet of one seems to indicate that he is the victor; chariot races
with the names of the horses, a player on the double flute,
with other instances of the same kind. It is possible Christians
may have joined in these games, or people having once gained
distinctions in them, and afterwards becoming Christians, may
have taken their prized decorations with them to the tomb. In
ness.
84
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
{
some of these cups is still to be seen a dark crust, which has been
suggested to be the blood of martyrs buried there, indeed cups
are found with the word "sanguis" on them, but De Rossi and other
antiquarians suspect them to be forgeries. This does not how-
ever prove that the sediment found is in no case blood; the
analysis of De Broglia has shown that in vessels found in
Christian tombs at Milan blood can still be recognised. The
word "sanguis" or "sang." might possibly have been used in
allusion to the sacrament, but the whole question requires more
direct proof than we have at present acquired. Perret gives an
engraving of a long shaped drinking glass, round at the bottom,
incised with palm branches and a bird in a cage; some red sub-
stance still adheres to the bottom of the glass; doubtless it was
the favourite drinking glass of the occupant of the tomb. The
red sediment left by wine in a glass preserved in the dry air of a
tomb would last for many centuries; in the ruined marble wine-
vats well known to many visitors, on the Roman Campagna, the
red stains, where the grapejuice has trickled down into the lower
vats, are distinctly visible now on the white marble, after it has
been exposed to the storms and sunshine of many centuries.
Looking at the numerous convivial subjects depicted on these
vessels, many of them must have been used at marriages and
agapæ, or Christian feasts. St. Augustine mentions that his
mother Monica never took more than one cup to commemor-
ations of martyrs, which would imply that some took more,
bearing perhaps effigies of the particular martyr to be commemor
ated. Impressions of entire plates are found in the mortar of the
catacombs, where they would seem to have been fixed as were the
disks still found there, while the mortar closing the tomb was
moist, to mark the spot. The plates were probably used at the
same festivities as the cups. When Monica at Milan brought to
the commemoration of saints (as was the custom in Africa) pulse,
bread, and wine, it is reasonable to suppose these plates were for
the purpose of holding the pulse and bread, as the cups were
meant for the wine. Besides the gold decoration most commonly
used, many cups had varied and beautiful colours, in some the
drawing was incised and filled in with colours. Boldetti found in
the cemetery of Callisto a head of the Saviour, delicately painted
in various colours at the bottom of a cup. Buonarotti (A.D. 1475)
gives an engraving and the following careful description of a
glass vase discovered in the catacomb of St. Agnes, which must
ETRURIAN, POMPEIIAN, AND CHRISTIAN.
85
have been of a most elaborate character. "I congratulate myself
that I made the drawing at once, for a few days after the vase
burst into atoms, and there remained not the smallest piece. It
was of the most beautiful workmanship, ground blue; the are-
besque border, the young girl, the children, the tresses that one
held, the cornucopia, the urn and roses, all were in gold; the dress
of the woman in silver, the hair a light brown; the principal figure,
the man, in gold, also the drapery which hung from his shoulder,
that which covered his knees in silver with purple stripes; the
water falling from the urn seagreen; the fruit which the young
girl carried in the folds of her robe red and gold, those which
came out of the cornucopia were the natural colours; the garland
held by one of the winged cherubs was gold and green and red,
the vase of gold carried by one of the genii was marked out in
red, except a row of little circles in black, and the word 'Katteo'
which was red." Caylus pronounces the drawing as very well
done, he also says this kind of glass was successfully imitated in
Rome some years before his time (1752), to deceive strangers, but
the author died without revealing his secret. To this method of
manipulation may possibly be ascribed the beautiful miniature on
glass of a slave, inscribed "Sappho Iraccilla," now in the British
Museum, which Caylus describes with great enthusiasm and
perfect belief in its antiquity, but modern experts pronounce it a
forgery. It is at all events an exquisite work of art, and is inter-
esting especially from showing the crescent or half moon on the
forehead. Slaves were sometimes marked in this way as a
punishment for running away. Plautus calls a slave so marked
a lettered or literary slave; Pliny says soldiers were so branded
in the Lower Empire, which was one reason why the troops
became degraded. This mark on a child's forehead was pro-
bably in remembrance of a vow, and it is possible the imitator
had examples to copy from. Such a habit was common among
the ancients; Prudentius says, "they take fine pointed needles,
and mark on different parts of the body, the part so marked is
consecrated to the deity." The dress and details of the glass
miniature in question are so beautifully worked out it is a great
pity we are not allowed to believe in its authenticity; it is a
mode of preserving a friend's portrait that might well be revived.
There are many portraits of noble dames whose authenticity is
uncontested, and Garucci points out the singular fact that on none
of them do we find any earrings, though this would seem to be
85
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
by their inclination only, seeing the extraordinary richness of the
gold ornamentation introduced on their dresses, and remembering
that it was an age when it was specially the mode to pierce the
ears of Christian girls and hang from them gold and jewels.
Laonde Avito, in his poem praising his sister the virgin Fuscina,
notices that her beauty increased so much daily in lustre that her
parents would not allow her ears to be pierced for the introduc-
tion of gold and precious stones, which adornment would only
attract glances that wound.
All the authors who have written on the subject of Christian
glass agree that these cups with gold designs were used, not only
for the sacrament, but also for the mystical supper, the agapæ, for
marriage and funeral feasts, and also for the purposes of every
day life, favourite cups being no doubt buried with their owners.
The greater number of the plates have perished in the attempt to
remove them, and of the cups it is principally only the bottom or
thicker part which has been preserved. Boldetti found some
whole ones which are shaped like an Etruscan cylix, but without
a foot and with two handles. Regarding the probable date of
this catacomb glass, as usual, the authorities differ widely. Wise-
man considered them the work of Christian artists alone, but this
is highly improbable and does not accord with the numerous
pagan symbols existing on some specimens, which are wholly
incapable of any Christian interpretation or adaptation. It is
possible, even if artists embraced Christianity, they could not at
once forget all the teaching of their former lives, and they may
have continued to repeat pagan emblems much as we do, after
any real belief in them had passed away. Martigny observes
that all the best executed examples have Greek legends, and are
probably the work of Greek artists. The art may be Asiatic, as
well as European. One cup gives its own date, as it represents
gold coins on one of which the head of Caracalla, A.D. 211,
appears. Another cup bears the name of Marcellinus, bishop of
Rome, martyred A.D. 304. Garucci thinks none of this glass is
later than 380. De Rossi limits it to an earlier date. Marriot
considers that, as they all belong to a period of degraded art, they
must be as late as the fifth or sixth century. But if these glasses
were really found in the catacombs, it is hardly possible to place
them later than 410, as after that date no inscription appears in the
catacombs, though Pope Vigilius (537) and John (560) did their
best to restore inscriptions there, after the ravages of the Lom-
ETRURIAN, POMPEIIAN, AND CHRISTIAN.
87
bards and others; but they would scarcely have replaced glass
vessels which had been stuck into the cement closing the
graves.
Besides the coloured designs on these cups already mentioned,
may be noticed some with purple in the draperies, green sea
waves, pink colour in the faces, and silver is sometimes used for
white garments and the white bandages of a corpse, as in pictures
of Lazarus. Gold and silver figures are also found, on azure
grounds. The little disks or medallions so often found, of about
an inch in diameter, were supposed to be the bottoms of wine
glasses; but the discovery at Cologne of two flat plates, ten inches
wide, formed of clear glass, into which while in fusion have been
inserted many medallions of green glass similar to those found in
the catacombs, would show that these medallions, being thicker
than the rest of the plate, have resisted the action of time which
has destroyed the thinner part. One plate, in the possession of
Mr. Pepys of Cologne, has twenty medallions fused into it. That
in the middle represents the three children of Israel in the fiery
furnace, four give scenes from Jonah's life, one has Adam and
Eve; other subjects are not so distinct, and eight are only stars.
Peligot says that in the church of St. Ursula at Cologne they
have recently discovered a series of cups with biblical subjects,
made in the same style as this catacomb glass. At Cologne was
also found some years ago a very curious example, in which the
real cup, about three inches high, is ornamented with winged genii
and flowers in gold, and is enclosed in a network of threads of
glass, which join handles constructed in a like manner, the whole
standing on a foot, the threads of glass in this instance are not
cut. Some specimens have been found in which the gold leaf
seems to have been applied to the surface of the glass, and not
protected by a second layer of glass, either from inadvertence,
or perhaps from a desire to make the cups cheaper; such a
decoration would be very liable to be injured; there is a specimen
in the Slade collection, No. 120. In the Kensington Museum
are two specimens of the clever imitations of old glass, probably
the work of forgers of the renaissance, of a similar character to
the miniature of a slave in the British Museum.
1
M. Majault gives a careful description of how to make these
pictures enclosed in glass. They were often made by cutting
figures out of gold or silver leaf, and laying them on the glass,
but he advises the use of powdered gold and silver in preference,
88
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
to the leaf; the figures are sometimes marked out with a black
line to heighten their effect. The red, black, and purple colours
are iron, and the greatest care must be taken to avoid any
inferior kinds of material, as purity is essential to success. The
slightest bubble of air, or inequality, will ruin the work, and all
dust is hurtful. The design is to be placed on one plate of
glass, and the medium used in fixing the gold must be dissipated
before applying the second plate of glass, which must not be too
thick, or it will burst, the heat must be just sufficient to melt the
glass but not the gold. Extreme care and great experience are
requisite to ensure success in this kind of work, but the patient
artist is rewarded by a lasting and beautiful result. Eraclius, who
describes a method of ornamenting cups with gold designs
enclosed in the glass, does not speak of it as practised in his
time or even as known by tradition, but as having been dis-
covered by himself. Modern photograph portraits are sometimes
seen treated very much in this manner, enclosed in a thick piece
of glass and set as brooches. Modern science has discovered
that by placing two plates of glass in a vessel, and exhausting the
air, the glass will collapse together and so avoid all danger of
bubbles. In the Museum of Practical Geology may be seen a
mass of glass enclosing an inscription similar to the one placed
under the foundation stone of the Royal Exchange by the Prince
Consort, and which would be practically everlasting. We know
however so little of the methods of working in vogue among the
ancients, save by conjecture, that it is quite possible they had
some mode of exhausting the air and so avoiding bubbles.
There is some Christian glass referable to a later period than the
catacomb glass. Martigny gives a Nativity in green glass of
about the sixth century, Mary adoring the Saviour, an ox and an
ass look on; this is a semicircular plaque; there is a similar one
in the Vatican. De Rossi describes some fragments of plates,
which he refers to the fourth century; they were found at Porta,
and were engraved in shallow incavo, on the bottom only of the
plate, so that the upper part remained smooth, the figures had
the appearance of being in relief. One represents Christ standing
between two saints, another Christ giving a tablet inscribed "Lex
Domini” to a figure intended perhaps for St. Peter. De Rossi
thinks these were simply plates meant for domestic use, but it
seems improbable that sacred symbols should so early have been
taken for anything but church purposes that Mr. Nesbitt suggests
ETRURIAN, POMPEIIAN, AND CHRISTIAN.
89
they were the remains of patens, as Pope Zephyrinus (203) ordered
patens of glass to be carried before the celebrating priest. Some
vases incised with colours represent the seven-branched candle-
stick. Little crystal fish, possibly hospitable emblems, are also
found in the catacombs. A vase in the form of a fish, now in the
museum at Autun, found in a Christian tomb, is supposed to
have held holy oil. Christian artists also made use of glass pastes
to multiply their emblems; some exhibit varieties of the monogram
of Christ, a red jasper paste has "Bonus Pastor" on it, and a blue
glass plaque in the Slade collection brought from Constantinople,
with a bust of the Saviour, is supposed to date about the ninth
century. A white glass urn, of the same shape as the Portland
vase, was found in the last century at Pisa, which had chariot
races engraved on it in intaglio, with the words "Claudia zezes,"
which seem to be a Christian allusion and may belong to a later
period than the catacomb glass.
BYZANTINE AND ARAB.
"He set before us whatever is sweet in the mouth or fair to the eye. And
after this he brought forth a vase, which was as though it had been congealed
of air, or condensed of sunbeam motes, or moulded of the light of the open
plain, or peeled from the white pearl."-18th Assembly of Al-Harîri: Chenery's
translation.
A
S the hordes of barbarian invaders advanced upon
Rome, and succeeded in extinguishing the fading
glories of that once all-powerful empire, the glass-
making art with many others fell into decadence and
was almost lost in the West. Constantine in transplanting the
seat of empire to Byzantium in A.D. 330, not contented with
taking from Rome, Greece, and Asia, all the objects of art he
could collect (after the usual manner of despotic sovereigns), called
to his court artists of all kinds of industries and settled them in
his new city. From Rome he selected the most skilful of the
workmen accustomed to make those world-renowned vases in
glass, and gave them studios; they were most likely all placed in
one quarter of the town, and M. Labarte points out the fact that
one of the gates was called Glass-making; it opened on to the
port, so that the productions of the glassworks situated near it
might easily be transported on board the vessels waiting to carry
them all over Europe. Glassmakers were exempted from all
personal tax, and Byzantium in her turn sent presents of royal
onyx and glass vases to Italy. Roman artists fled from the
troubles in fallen Rome for refuge to Byzantium, and those mar-
vellous cups which for centuries had been the pride and delight
of the Roman people were made there no more; if some few
factories survived the fate of the empire, they confined themselves
to producing common glass only, meant for domestic use. Mean-
while the East furnished Europe with all the gilt and enamelled
“verre de luxe” required, until the time when the palm of superi-
ority passed to the Venetians, and they succeeded in creating
glass even more beautiful than the older workmen had dreamed
of. Ancient furnaces were re-lit in Greece, and glass factories
90
BYZANTINE AND ARAB.
91
were established in Macedonia, Thessalonica, Phoenicia, and Alex-
andria. After the Arab conquest they continued to flourish,
and during the middle ages these oriental factories, whether Arab
or Byzantine, were alone able to fabricate the finer and more
ornamental kinds of glass required by those parts of the world
where civilization was again awakening. During the middle ages
the seat of manufacture was supposed to be Damascus, and we
find Greek productions like those of Syria and Egypt all designated
under the generic name of "verre de Damas," the glass made
at the time in Europe being rude in manufacture and of a
greenish tint. We know very little of the early products of the
Byzantine workshops; Mr. Nesbitt is inclined to attribute to them
examples containing classical subjects in decline, such as a baccha-
nalian cup belonging to Baron L. Rothschild which is classical
but degenerating into feebleness. Byzantine artists seem to have
followed classic models with more or less bad taste, and this
would be a very natural result if we remember they probably only
copied patterns brought with them, and every copy would fall
short of the original by a greater distance. It was not till some
centuries later that a real Byzantine school arose, and powerfully
influenced European art in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.
The manufacture of glass would doubtless follow the example of
the other arts. Window glass and mosaic were no doubt early
industries of Byzantine workers, as the church of St. Sophia was
built in the first quarter of the sixth century. Mosaic seems to
have been a special branch of work in Constantinople; it is espe-
cially noticed in its place. Imitation stones, as suiting the eastern
taste, appear to have been successfully made there also. The
blue cup of Monza (A.D. 600), the famous table of emerald taken
at Toledo (A.D. 711), and the celebrated sacro catino of Genoa,
all came from Byzantine factories. M. Labarte quotes Con-
stantine Porphyrogenitus as enumerating vases of glass among
the objects sent by Emperor Lecapenus to Hugh, king of Italy,
926. Luitprand states that Greek bishops drank from glasses of
small dimensions, 968. St. Mark's, Venice, preserves among its
many treasures a thin crystal jug on feet, with a handle orna-
mented by two seated lions, with an inscription in Arabic letters
stating it belonged to Aziz Billah, who reigned in Egypt in the
second half of the tenth century. He married a Christian, and
had a son whom he named patriarch of Alexandria. A probably
Byzantine vessel of about the same date is a cup in the church
92
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
of St. Adalbert, Cracow, said to be the chalice of that saint, who
died 997; it is of variegated glass, very massive, with eagles and
lions carved in a very stiff style out of the thickness of the glass.
A fragment of a very massive turquoise blue glass vessel, which
has been ornamented with enamel painting in red and gold lines,
is in the British Museum and is probably Byzantine; Nos. 320
and 321 may also be attributed to the same manufactory or
school. The curious cups or bowls preserved in the treasury
of St. Mark's, Venice, are always referred to as almost the only
certain specimens we are acquainted with of Byzantine make ;
they formed, with many other objects in the same treasury, part of
the plunder of the crusaders, taken from Constantinople in 1204.
There are five cups and two bowls, all of greenish glass of inferior
quality, and all have been cut with the wheel; they are supposed
to date from 800 to 1200; they have been most carefully described
by Mr. Nesbitt as follows:1 "one of a somewhat elegant form
has two handles, and is twelve inches wide and six high, it is
without ornament; another cup has the surface so cut away that
small cones are left standing up; another is cut into circles in a
similar manner; another has outlines and spots left in a like
fashion, with the addition of the figure of a lion couchant. The
basins are shallow, about eleven inches wide; one has a setting of
gems in silver gilt, and a long handle; the other has circles and
cones in projecting lines on its under side, and a setting in silver
gilt with a Greek inscription, 'Saint Panteleon protect thy servant
Zacharius, Archbishop of Iberia. Amen.' The most remarkable
however among these glass vessels is a small vase, three and a
half inches high by four wide, of a very dark brown glass almost
opaque, somewhat globular in form, with a wide mouth and two
handles. The body is decorated with seven circles enclosing
figures, which are painted on the surface in a pale flesh coloured
enamel, with ornaments in gold and red. These figures are
evidently free copies of antique originals, and are closely allied
in style to the ivory boxes of Byzantine origin with mythological
subjects, which may be seen in various collections and church
treasuries; some of the figures are clothed and some are nude,
one seems to represent Jupiter seated on a throne addressed by
a figure with wings, probably Mercury, another figure holds a
trident. The circles are composed of rosettes of blue, green, and
red enamel, each surrounded by lines of gold. Above and below
1 (6 Catalogue of Glass Vessels in the South Kensington Museum."
BYZANTINE AND ARAB.
93
the points of junction of the circles are smaller circles of gold,
enclosing busts of men with bands of gold in their hair. On the
outer side of the mouth are rosettes in groups of four, with scroll-
like flourishes in gold between the groups. An inscription in
Kufic characters runs around the inside of the mouth, and another
round the lower part of the vase. No reading of these inscrip-
tions has as yet been obtained, and it seems probable they are
merely ornamental and without sense. In the character of the
figures and the manner in which they are drawn, and the rosettes,
there is so close a similarity to the ivory boxes before mentioned
that we may assume them all to have had a common origin, and
this must have been at some place where works of antique art
were familiar objects. The only point of dissimilarity is the
presence of Kufic inscriptions, which have never been met with
on the boxes in question, and which may perhaps point to Sicily,
one of the countries where antique Byzantine and Arab art met.
The ivory boxes in question with mythological subjects were
made chiefly in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the best period
of Byzantine post iconoclastic art." A very beautiful ivory coffret
of Hispano Moresque work was exhibited at the Burlington Club
in 1879. It was signed with the artist's name Khalef, and had a
Kufic inscription on it stating that it was meant to contain precious
spices, and its execution was so admirable that the sight of it in-
spired the artist with fortitude to support the troubles of his house.
St. Mark's possesses also another very remarkable glass vessel
which is probably of early date. It is of oriental make, of a tur-
quoise green colour, nearly opaque; on the bottom are four Arabic
characters signifying "God the Maker." The bowl is eight and
a half inches wide and four inches deep; it is five sided, and has
on each side a rude figure of a hare. The inscription and figures
are all in low relief, probably cut with the wheel. The setting
is of filagree, with stones and ornaments of cloisonné enamel.
Tradition says it was a present from a Persian king, in 1470, but
the style is not Persian and the character of the setting is earlier.
Mr. Winston insists very strongly on the great influence of Byzan-
tine art in Europe during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, "the
wider the experience the more positive the belief," especially is
this influence traced in glass painting. The churches round
Limoges, where a Venetian colony settled in 979, all resemble St.
Mark's (the only real specimen of Byzantine architecture in the
western empire); he considers all the glass painting of the time
94
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
tinged with Byzantine influence, indeed the glass used was pro-
bably prepared from Greek and Byzantine receipts.
The orna-
mental details of early glass painting are very Greek in character,
the foliaged decorations closely follow the examples employed by
Greeks, and the same feeling may be observed in figures and
draperies. Theophilus,¹ writing in the eleventh century, gives
many minute details as to the methods followed by Greeks in
ornamenting cups and flasks with various coloured glasses ground
very fine, and placed again in the furnace; this method is more
like enamelling than the gold ornamentation of Christian glass,
though the Greeks seem also to have used gold leaf, but many
instances are known in which both processes appear used in the
same cup; they will be found more detailed in Christian glass.
With the exception of the Arabs, Byzantine Greeks, and a few
of the clergy, all Europe during the tenth century was plunged in
a profound ignorance; one cause of the general prostration of
knowledge at this time was the prevailing superstition that at the
end of a thousand years from the birth of Christ the last day
would arrive. The only rays of light that pierced through this
mental darkness are found in Arab² and eastern writings. That the
Arabs of the twelfth century made and appreciated delicate glass
vessels, the lines descriptive of a wedding feast at Sinjar, by Al-
Harîri, which are quoted at the head of this chapter, distinctly
prove. The travels of Benjamin Tudela (1163) mention the
manufacture of glass in Syria. There is little difference of cha-
racter in the glass made about this time by Greeks, Syrians, or
Egyptians; all show they were expert blowers of glass, but the
material is bad in colour and fuli of imperfections; the Byzantine
mode of gilding and enamelling glass seemed the favourite style
of ornament. Inscriptions in large characters, very often in dark
blue, are common; figures of birds, animals, sphinxes, and other
monsters abound, the outlines generally put on in red enamel ;
sometimes the spaces between are gilt, the decoration is in various
colours and silver. A cup preserved in the museum of Breslau
is of this manufacture; it is a drinking cup without a foot, with
ornaments on it in red enamel forming arabesque patterns. It is
said to have belonged to St. Elizabeth, Queen of Hungary, who
1 "Diversarium Artium Schedula."
2 In the Asiatic Journal for 1819 is a curious translation from an Arabian
author writing A.D. 850, who gives a careful and elaborate account of the
trade carried on between India and China.
BYZANTINE AND ARAB,
95
died in 1231.
In the Cluny museum is an Arab vase of glass,
with medallions painted in gold and an inscription in blue enamel.
It bears the name of one of the Malek Adel dynasty, who reigned
in Egypt between 1279 and 1294, followed by the words, "Honour
to our master the Sultan, powerful, wise, and just." To the same
age and possibly factory belong the basin and large bottle belong-
ing to Baron L. Rothschild; the latter has an Arabic inscription
with the name of El-Melek-el-Ashraf, a name borne by several
sultans of Syria and Egypt in the thirteenth century. In the
Slade collection, British Museum, may be seen a bottle of elegant
shape diapered with birds, and a covered bowl, Nos. 334 and 335,
both probably of Egyptian origin. The Arab lamps both in the
British and South Kensington museums have been noticed in
another chapter, they all date about the fourteenth century. The
so-called verre de Charlemagne, in the museum of Chartres, has
Arabic inscriptions; and the well known "Luck of Edenhall," still
preserved in the Musgrave family, is an oriental cup elegantly
enamelled but with no inscription. Another similar specimen is
in the museum at Douai, and two good examples have been
preserved since the fourteenth century in the cathedral at Vienna.
The taking of Constantinople by the Turks, in 1453, drove many
artists to emigrate ; some went to Venice, where the art of glass-
making was rapidly rising into importance.
The enamelled glass vessels once so highly esteemed in western
Europe, as well as the rough enamelling on incised brass, are being
now imitated with some success in Damascus. Captain Burton in
his two books on Midian continually refers to the fragments of
glass found, showing that it must have been in common use and
made in the country. "On the ground at the ruins of El-Knu-
raybah are scattered fragments of sea coloured glass, varying in
tint, like the Roman, from blue to green according to thickness;
these fragments found principally on the coast where the wealthy
inhabitants enjoyed sea bathing, never, as far as our researches
extended, in inland settlements. Rare sherds of pottery found
composed of almost pure kaolin. At Jebel el-Safra traces of
ancient buildings, and down the stream the bank is a vast strew
of broken pottery; one place covered with glass fragments was
named the tavern, or hotel, by our sailors. At El-Haura, south of
Yembin, the sailors dug and found shapeless fragments of corroded
brass and copper, opaque coloured glass, and broken earthenware.
At the mounds and tumuli, sole remains of ancient Elath, once
96
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
the port of Petra, we found large heaps strewn with scoriæ. I
decided it was the smiths' quarter; between it and the sea the
surface is scattered with glass, sherds, and slag. At El-Kantara a
strew of scattered fragments and specimens of glass and pottery
were gathered, and the same experience at Shaghab." Lady Anne
Blunt¹ says near Shargát, Bagdad, "made a discovery of refuse
glass, showing that at some period of history there must have been
a glass foundry here." Dr. Birch points out that the Arabs soon
substituted faience for glass, as may be seen in the Alhambra and
many Moorish buildings.
The glass medallions, pressed with a stamp and used as test
weights for money, which have attracted a good deal of attention
lately in Egypt, were probably first made at Byzantium, as there
is one in the British Museum with the monogram of Constantine,
and one at Paris with Theodore's name on it. For a long time
they were supposed to have been issued as coins, and were
alluded to variously as "vitrei nummi," or monnaies de verre and
monnaies fictives, but Mr. E. Rogers has successfully proved they
were primarily designed as standard weights for coins, and
never intended to be used as current coins or representative
pieces of money." M. de Goeje points out that the use of glass
weights throughout the whole large estates of the Fatimite princes
(who only re-established an ancient custom) explains at once the
frequent occurrence of these objects both in Egypt and Sicily.
The kit'a's spoken of were fragments of money that had currency.
Ibrahim the Aghlabite prince abolished their use in Africa,
which led to a fearful riot in Kairwan, A.D. 888. The Fatimite
dynasty ended 1171. Mr. Rogers thinks weights of a similar
kind to these so called Kufic² coins were in use among the Greeks
and even amongst Mahommedans. The striking of purely
Mahommedan coins only begun in A.D. 698 by Caliph Abd ul-
Malik, who it is possible was induced to copy the Greek custom
of making glass weights for the purpose of testing the weight of
the current coin. The first Arabic allusion to glass weights is in
a work of Demîri written about seven hundred years after, but
giving an account of the Byzantine emperor having in 698 threat-
ened to coin "dinârs which should contain insulting allusions to
Mahommed. Ul-Malik was advised to circumvent the Greek
1 “Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates."
Kufic letters were the ancient letters of the Arabic language, so called
from Kufa on the Euphrates.
BYZANTINE AND ARAB.
97
""
emperor by striking coins of purely Mahommedan type, "and
you shall cast weights of glass, which cannot alter either by
increase or decrease." As each caliph altered the weight of his
current coinage, these glass weights were stamped with the name
and sometimes date of the reigning prince, in order that shop-
keepers might not test a coin by an obsolete weight. A large
collection may be seen in the coin room of the British Museum;
they are of all colours, though the larger number present different
shades of green. Some larger disks or blocks of glass were cast
by Mahommedans, and possibly used for weighing articles in
shops; one such disk has the words "half ounce on it in very
bold Kufic characters, this would be two hundred and twenty-
eight grains in English. Another interesting species of stamp is
one giving the measure of capacity. These seem to have been
broken off from some vessel; one in the Slade collection, British
Museum, is the measure of a quarter kist, or rather over half an
English pint; this bears date A.D. 733; the earliest coin weight
described by Mr. Rogers is dated 712. Many of these weights
have rosettes and ornaments on them.1 Mr. Nesbitt thinks the
practice was originated by Byzantines, continued by Egypt, and
copied by Venice, where glass weights were made 1279.
Modern Arab families sometimes possess among their house-
hold treasures very handsome glass objects of some age; they
are principally gilt covered bowls, chiefly used for preserving
sweetmeats on public occasions such as marriages. They refer all
these articles to Tunis, but no vestige of a local glass manufactory
has yet been found there. They are probably due to Venetian
and Bohemian enterprise, and Tunis was only a central market for
the wares made to suit the Arab taste. The long-necked blue rose-
water bottles sometimes brought for sale in Arab towns are most
likely Persian in origin. The large quaint glass drums (darbouka),
so much in fashion and so highly valued in Tunis during the reigns
of former beys, but which are now superseded by a more European
style of musical instrument, were chiefly made in the factory at
Baccarat, France. They are very strong and richly gilt, in the Arab
taste, and in the hands of a real native artist produce soft wailing
strains which exercise the most extraordinary effect on their Arab
hearers, throwing them with great apparent ease into a state of
ecstatic trance incomprehensible to the European mind.
¹ See Mr. Rogers' paper to the Numismatic Society, 1873, and one to the
Royal Asiatic Society, 1877, for more details.
H
CHINESE, JAPANESE, AND INDIAN.
"The king says, O Fung, I have no pleasure in making you this long
announcement, but the ancients have said, 'Let not men look only into water;
let them look into the glass of other people.""-From the Charge against
Drunkenness, "Chinese Classics": Dr. Legge's translation.
CHINA AND JAPAN.
T
""
HE extreme antiquity of civilization in China is proved
(if proof be wanted) by the fact that parts of the Shoo-
King¹ were undoubtedly written more than two thousand
years B.C., when the Chinese were already acquainted with
writing. In these books are allusions to glass, one of which is
quoted at the head of this chapter. Then we find it stated that the
Emperor Shun, on receiving the crown from Yaou, who abdicated
2145 B.C., "examined the gem-adorned turning-sphere and the
gem transverse tube, that he might regulate the seven directors,
or regularly governed bodies." The writer of this must have had
some constructed instrument connected with astronomy in his
mind's eye. It is acknowledged the "seven bodies mean sun,
moon, and five planets. The existence of instruments is in accord-
ance with the astronomical knowledge we know Yaou possessed.
In the introduction of the late J. Williams' work on Chinese
Comets it appears that certain astronomical phenomena recorded
by the Chinese, even at an earlier date than the Emperor Yaou,
have since been tested and found correct. It being supposed that
human eyes have always had much the same circumscribed power
of vision, could these phenomena have become known to the
Chinese sages without the help of astronomical instruments ?
Yaou reigned 2300 years B.C., and left the kingdom to Shun.
Surely the power of making a telescope would argue some know-
ledge of glass! It is doubtless to the telescope of the Emperor
Shun that P. Gaubil alludes in his Chinese chronology, giving the
1 "Chinese Classics," translated by J. Legge, D.D.
98
CHINESE, JAPANESE, AND INDIAN.
99
1
date as 2283 B.C. The Shoo-King is full of evidences of a very
high state of civilization in China; thus in one book we are
told the wild tribes brought tribute of oyster pearls, and strings
of pearls not quite round, to Yu, 2004 B.C. This emperor wore
tassels of pearls hanging down before and behind from his crown,
and all his chief officers wore pendants of the same kind (in time
of mourning they were made of black gems). If the Chinese
understood glassmaking they would soon begin to copy these
pearls; and we find under Ou-ti, about 140 B.C., a manufactory
where false pearls were made of lieou-li, a species of glass made
from a herb, probably fern. Our great ignorance of ancient
Chinese literature makes it difficult to collect true information
on many points. We know they understood the art of glazing
pottery at a very early date, and on this account were possibly
more careless about glassmaking. Porcelain was invented it is
supposed about 185 B.C.; the writing on the bottles found in
tombs was used in the century before our era. The martyr god
of porcelain was a potter who threw himself into the furnace one
day, when for want of fuel the failing fire would have spoiled
the contents of the kiln, an unexampled instance of devotion to
his art. Another writer says the emperor having ordered some
"phantasie," the execution of which was deemed impossible,
the potter, Pu, in despair at his non-success, flung himself into
the flames, and the ware then in the oven proving to the emperor's
liking the hero was deified and became the idol presiding over
all porcelain works. The Jesuit missionaries, from whom most of
our knowledge of ancient China is derived, describe the process of
extracting the oil of stone for glazing pottery. It is made from a
powdered stone, white, with spots in it, then mixed with the oil
made from ashes of fern and lime, and kept at the consistence
of cream for varnishing pottery. Julian Stanislaus says: "Glass
has never been seriously studied in China, and the few pieces
fabricated ought not to be considered but as specimens isolated
and exceptional. Ancient Chinese knew how to produce, with
a mixture of lead, sulphur, and potash and powdered 'alumi-
neuses' stones, a transparent substance which they modelled into
various shapes by means of the blowpipe, but were never ad-
vanced in the art. They do make glass mirrors, applying thin
sheets of tin at the back; but they are not so esteemed as those
¹ In sign of mourning for this emperor the eight different kinds of musical
instruments throughout the kingdom were hushed.
Uor M
100
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
14
made of metal, the glass not being completely smooth gives a
distorted and unnatural reflection.”1
The celebrated patra or alms bowl of Buddha is alluded to by
a Chinese writer of 1350, quoted by Mr. Nesbitt: "in front of
the image of Buddha is a sacred bowl, which is made neither of
copper or iron; it is of a purple colour and glossy, and when
struck it sounds like glass." This bowl may have been brought
from the west to Ceylon, but it proves an acquaintance with glass
on the part of the Chinese writer.
A Portuguese traveller in China, G. da Cruz, writing to Sebas-
tian, king of Portugal, about 1560, says at a banquet given by
a very rich merchant "the house was built with a loft and very
faire, with many faire windows and casements, and all of it was a
mirror"; what the mirrors were made of he does not explain,
nor if the casements were filled with glass, but this is one of
the earliest notices concerning life in China, as the Arab El-
Edrisi, 1154, does not seem to have been himself in China ;
he says "Djan-kou is a celebrated city, the Chinese glass is
made there." Djan-kou has not been satisfactorily identified
with any existing city, but the passage shows that Chinese
glass was supposed to exist. M. Labarte thinks it probable
that fine porcelain and not glass is really meant by El-Edrisi,
but an Arab of the twelfth century is unlikely to have made.
any confusion between the two substances, with which he must
have been perfectly familiar. Mr. Nesbitt, who has collected to-
gether many allusions to glass in the writings of the early Jesuit
missionaries, says the words "po-li" were in use for a glass at
a very early time. One missionary quotes from the Chinese
annals that in the beginning of the third century the king of
Ta-tsin sent to Tai-tsou of the Wei dynasty very considerable
presents of glasses, of all colours, and some years afterwards a
glassmaker, who by means of fire could change pebbles into
crystal and who taught the art to disciples. The Wei dynasty
reigned in northern China, and the manufacture of glass in Shan-
tung, extensively practised to this day, possibly owes its origin
to the glassmaker of the third century. Pere Duhalde in his
description of China, 1735, says the kind of glass called lieou-li
was made at Yen-tching, near Shan-tung, that it was more brittle
than that of Europe, and broke when exposed to the inclemencies
1 “Industries Anciennes et Modernes de l'Empire Chinois.”
{
C
( ¿
¿
CHINESE, JAPANESE, AND INDIAN.
IOI
of the weather (vol. i., p. 213, French ed.). In Purchas' Pil-
grimmes another writer gives a curious account of the manufacture
of lieou-li in his time; it was so thin as to be elastic, and all sorts
of toys were made of it for children, also trumpets and grapes,
these last so natural as to deceive the eye; all these objects were
extremely cheap. This writer seems to have been perfectly
acquainted with the nature of glass, so we must conclude the
Chinese had then a knowledge of some process by which the
elasticity of glass or its toughness could be much increased, a
knowledge which however no modern traveller seems to have
noticed. The missionary first mentioned says he could furnish
many proofs of the antiquity of glass in China, but he will only
mention a vase of glass presented in A.D. 627 to the Emperor
Tai-tsou, which was so large that a mule could have been put
inside it, and it was brought to the palace in a net suspended
between four carriages. The writers who mention glass however
speak with contemptuous pity of the false pearls, the mirrors,
the celestial globes, the windows, screens, and great vases made
under the Han dynasty. The ancient books state that mirrors
were made from pebbles and a material obtained from the sea
reduced to ashes, evidently soda made from seaweed. Nearly
all French writers on glass allude to the tale of a piece of
crystal being taken in China for the real material of which
heaven is made. The original narrator of this account is Father
Ricci, who left Europe 1583 and spent some years in China;
he states that he gave a prism of glass to a native convert,
one Chuitaso, who put it into a silver case with gold chains, and
"adorned it further with a writing that it was a fragment of that
matter whereof the heavens consist. One was said to offer
him five hundred pieces of gold soon after for it, which till Father
Matthew had presented his to the king, he would not sell; after
that he set a higher price and sold it." We may suppose from
this that colourless brilliant glass was unknown to the Chinese;
in another passage Ricci says, "they make glasse but therein
are short of the Europeans." He also tells us "the first new and
full moon of the year is a great festival, each man having then
ingeniously devised lights or lamps made of paper, glasse, or
other matter, the house seeming by the diversified lights to be
one great fire." The same feast of lanterns we find practised
by many ancient nations in honour of fire. The Russian am-
bassador, E. Ides, who went to China 1693, says he was taken
1
102
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
by command of the emperor to see various sights, among them
some "jugglers, who, after many other diverting tricks, played
with round balls of glass as large as a man's head at the point of
a sharp stick, tossing them several ways without breaking them
or letting fall, so it was really surprising." He was also taken
through the markets and to various shops, especially a toy shop;
the owner had a fine garden, and among other things showed him
"a large globe full of fish about a finger long, whose scales ap-
peared as if made of gold, but when the scales fell off they were
a beautiful crimson."
One of the French missionaries says in his time there was a
glasshouse at Pekin where every year a good number of vases
were made, some requiring great labour because nothing was
blown, but it was only considered an appanage to the imperial
magnificence, and the emperors paid so little attention to the
manufacture that they had not thought it worth while to place
learners with the European glassmakers sent out or even to bring
them up from Canton. One writer, in 1774, advises the importa-
tion of glass vessels into China, and says they should be coloured
and wrought, and suggests the French workers should copy
Chinese forms, such as the little bottles for holding snuff. Some
years ago a collection of smelling bottles was exhibited at South
Kensington; among them were several Chinese double bottles in
various materials, some carved in glass imitations of stone. There
are many beautiful specimens of these kinds of modern Chinese
glass works, carved beads, bowls, and bottles, imitating agate,
chalcedony, and other stones, in very harmonious colours, well
worth studying, to be seen in the British and South Kensington
museums. Mr. Nesbitt states that two bottles or vases, said to
be of a very early date and to have been long preserved in the
imperial family, have lately been given by Prince Kung to the
Austrian minister in China, Chevalier Von Schäffer. It is evident
the Chinese, having such beautiful porcelain at command, only
used glass to indulge their taste for rarities, possibly also for
colour. The Rev. A. Williamson gives an interesting account of
the present activity of the ancient factory in Shan-tung. The
glass is made of the pulverized rocks of Po-shan, probably quartz
and nitrate of potass; of this they make excellent window glass,
bottles of all sizes, cups, lanterns, beads, and ornaments of endless
variety. Many of these articles are very finely finished.
Japan has so long been a sealed book to us that it is nearly im-
CHINESE, JAPANESE, AND INDIAN.
103
possible to find any information as to glass made there. Captain
John Saris, who sailed 1605 (Purchas' Pilgrimmes), advises that
merchants should take to Japan "drinking glasses of all sorts, cans,
and cups, beere glasses, gilt beakers, and looking glasses of the
largest sorts." This would lead us to infer that those articles were
not made in the country. Kaempfer, who published his history of
Japan in 1727, does not mention glass beyond that required for
glazing the porcelain, which he describes as most prized when
nearly transparent. The labour required to achieve this trans-
parence was so great as to give birth to the old saying "that human
bones are kneaded into China ware." He gives a singular account
of some very curious ancient tea-bottles called "maatsubo " (best
of vessels); they are shaped like small barrels with a short neck,
are transparent, very thin, and of a white colour tinged with green.
The Japanese believe they give a higher flavour to tea kept in
them, and assert that old tea recovers its virtue if put into a
maatsubo bottle. They are found by divers sticking to the rocks
of the submerged island of Mauri, near Formosa. The bottles
must be taken off with great care for fear of breaking them; they
are much disfigured by shells, coral, and submarine substances
growing on them, which are never quite scraped off, as proof of
the genuineness of the article. Merchants give high prices for
broken ones, which they mend beautifully. No one dares to pur-
chase the whole bottles found; they are reserved for the emperor's
treasury, who has inherited from ancestors so many as would
amount to a large sum of money if sold. The island of Mauri
is supposed to have been submerged by the anger of the gods;
some scoffers having painted the faces of the idols red, no one
escaped save the Prince Peiruun and his family who reached China,
where the day of their arrival is still kept as a festival, the people
row about in boats and call on "Peiruun." Much interest was
excited a few years ago by an account of the exhibition of many
antique articles at Nara, the ancient capital of the mikados of
Japan, near Kioto the present capital. Mr. Campbell 2 describes
this exhibition. It is supposed that each mikado had put aside
some important treasure and dated it, before the removal of the
government at the end of the eighth century to Kioto where it
has remained ever since. Among these treasures is a glass ewer
¹ It is singular to trace this feeling repeated in the Scotch song of "Caller
Herrin'" and Hood's "Song of a Shirt."
2" Circular Notes," vol. ii.
104
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
about a foot high, which is entered in the original list of the
articles deposited in the sort of barn where they have been pre-
served. As no certain knowledge of glassmaking in Japan exists,
it has been suggested that this ewer was imported either from
China or by Arabs before the eighth century, and being considered
a curiosity was deposited among the treasures. It is possible that
before long some Japanese writer may be enabled to throw some
light on the whole subject of glass in his native country. A
recent traveller¹ describes a very curious vitreous sponge with
threads which seem as if composed of spun glass, found on the
eastern coast of Japan.
The Rev. J. Edkins in his "Chinese Buddhism" makes the
following remarks on the origin of the word "glass," which may
interest some.
"I here place some remarks on 'glass' (po-li). In Buddhist
glossaries the Chinese 'po-li' is derived from the Sanscrit word
'spatika,' crystal. Many Hindoo Buddhists who came to China
spoke dialects of Sanscrit but not Sanscrit itself; the 's' was
dropped and the final 'ka'; the 't' in 'ti' became 'l,' as in the
Turkish 'belur.' The rock crystal of China comes from Turkestan,
and would bring its own name with it from that country. Budd-
hist makers of glossaries would prefer to derive the word from
Sanscrit as the mother of all knowledge. They have passed over
without remark the possibility that the Chinese word may come
from the Turkish. The word 'po-li' for glass, formerly pronounced
'pa-li,' has been in common use in China since the Tang dynasty.
It came in with Buddhism and the international trade with Turk-
estan. I believe the initial 's' in 'spatika' might be an accretion.
and not original, as most probably 'smelt' is later than 'melt.'
Curiously we find in the Mongol vocabulary 'bolor,' crystal,
glass; 'bolor daboso,' rock salt; 'bolo ch'ilagon,' a polishing stone.
Compare Turkish 'bileghi,' whetstone. Let it be noticed that
glass dust is used by polishers and grinders. Whether the 'bôli,'
or 'bali,' is of Turanian origin and has originated the Sanscrit
'spatika,' it would be interesting to know; 'ballur' is Arabic for
crystal, 'spashta' is Sanscrit for clear, borrak' is Turkish for
clear, limpid. Probably here is the root, but who shall decide ?”
1 Capt. St. John: "Wild Coast of Nipon."
،
CHINESE, JAPANESE, AND INDIAN.
105
INDIA.
We can collect very little information concerning ancient glass
in India, it is only by placing together bits of information from
various sources that any conclusion is possible. Many authors
insist on the close trading communication between India and
Egypt, which would lead to the supposition that the manufactures
of one country would be familiar to the other. One of the
earliest notices of such a commerce is found in Gen. xxxvii. 25,
when the Arab caravan which carried Joseph (1729 B.C.) into
captivity was at the time engaged in transporting to Egypt
balsam, myrrh, and spices, Indian products. In the days of
Solomon and Hiram the trade with India flourished to a great
extent. The religions of Brahmins and Egyptians are in so many
points identical it is difficult to believe they had not a common
origin.1 One singular corroboration of this idea is given by
Captain Light in describing the ruins of Dendyrah, Egypt. "It
was here that our sepoys, in their march from Keenah to join the
army of Lord Hutchinson, imagined they found their own temples
and were very angry with the Egyptians for their neglect of their
deities; I have understood from English officers who accompanied
the Indian army that the sepoys performed their devotions in
these temples with all the ceremonies practised in India. This
fact affords a strong proof of that connection in remote antiquity
which the researches of the Calcutta Society have led the learned
there to suppose anciently existed between Egypt and India.”
2
Royle says: "the similarity between the arts practised in
Egypt and India is so great that it is hardly an exaggeration to
say the pictures painted on the walls of Egyptian tombs might
be introduced into a book of modern travels as represent-
ations of Hindoo artisans." No glass of positively Egyptian
origin has been found in India. That exhibited in the British
Museum found in a tope at Braminabad, some found in the
tope of Manikyala, Punjaub, by General Cunningham, and
fragments found in ruins in Thibet, and vessels and fragments
found in other topes which are supposed to date from about the
Christian era, are all similar in make to Greek or Roman glass.
..
1 For the extraordinary resemblance between the two mythologies read
History of Hindostan," by T. Maurice, also the works of Sir W. Jones.
2 "Travels in Egypt ": 1818.
3. Arts of India.'
тоб
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
1
We know that glass is one of the articles of export mentioned in
the Periplus as sent by the Red Sea to India. Many writers
have pointed out the numerous Sanscrit names which occur in
Greek mythology. Mr. Stone 2 mentions a singular fact that in
the catacomb of St. Proetextatius, Rome, there is a picture.
representing the judgment of two Christian women; one of the
judges is Jupiter, the other is "Abracura," a Sanscrit word
signifying Queen of Heaven, the spouse of the Indian Jupiter.
Many of the Indian "vedas," 1500 B.C., are translated word for
word into Greek. Eusebius, A.D. 340, mentions a Hindoo visitor
at Athens. Mr. Fergusson when describing the Amravati
sculptures (river Kistnah, north of Madras) says: "the study
of these sculptures has convinced me that there was much more
intercommunication between the east and west during the period
from Alexander to Justinian than is generally supposed, and that
the intercourse was especially frequent and influential in the
middle period between Augustus and Constantine." This was
just the busiest time for glassmaking in Rome, and her cheap
and common wares would doubtless have been exported to India ;
after this probably for some centuries the export ceased, and as
the Indians would seem never to have made much glass them-
selves we only find the remains of classical glass preserved in topes.
Sir G. Birdwood has suggested that when Pliny speaks of Indian
glass being beyond compare because it is mixed with crystal he
probably meant Chinese; a confusion very likely to be made at
that time in Rome, especially as the Chinese still use quartz rock
at the present day for making glass, and Royle tells us enamellers
in India still use cakes of glass imported from China. Mr. Nesbitt
quotes from the Mahawanso (chronicle of the Singhalese kings,
306 B.C.) "that mirrors of glittering glass were carried in proces-
sion, and festoons of beads like gems," probably glass; about the
same date the chronicle mentions "windows with ornaments
which were bright as eyes," which would seem to refer to those
windows (still in use among Arabs) in which small pieces of
coloured glass are set in perforated marble or stucco.
The
Hindoos seem to have been long aware that glass is a non-
conductor of electricity, and placed lumps of it on the tops of
1 It would perhaps be unwise to attach too much belief to the works of Scylax,
as the writer on India of that name asserts that there dwelt in that country
men with feet so large that they were in the habit of using them as parasols,
others had ears like a winnowing fan so large that they slept in them!
2" Cradle Land of Arts and Creeds."
CHINESE, JAPANESE, AND INDIAN.
107
their temples as a protection against lightning. Admiral Fitzroy
states that in Japan, China, Siam, Ceylon, and other eastern
countries a system has prevailed from time immemorial of placing
lumps of glass on the pinnacles or other high points of buildings
to avert lightning. An obscure passage in the Mahawanso,
A.D. 241, seems to refer to this practice; it runs thus: "having
placed a large gem on the top, he fixed below it for the purpose of
averting lightning a 'vajira chumbata' like a ring." Turner has
translated ‘vajira' glass, but it may mean a loadstone or iron
magnet. These passages from the chronicle appear to prove that
the making of glass has been earlier in date and more important
in practice than has been usually supposed, and the whole
matter deserves more consideration than it has yet received. A
very curious passage in the life of Hionen-Thsang, a Chinese
Buddhist, A.D. 629, who undertook a journey to India, describes
his passing through Thibet, and near the Ganges arriving at a con-
vent where was placed a diamond throne of one hundred paces
round, on which the disciples of Buddha sat, that is to say it was
firm, solid, and indestructible; and he adds naively "if it had not
been made of a diamond, how could the disciples of Buddha ever
have gone into the ecstasy of the diamond?" What could it have
been the Chinese monk saw?
Mr. R. Tyler, in describing the temple of the idol Neel Kauta
(blue throat) near the fort of Kallingur, says the principal idol is
of black stone, column shape, cut out of solid rock, with a large
human head adorned with projecting triangular-shaped silver eyes,
each nearly the size of a teacup, decorated with glass eyeballs, in
substance and shape resembling a bull'seye lantern, and per-
forated in the middle of the glass with a hole the size of a pea
to represent the pupil of the eye. A female idol in the temple
has similar eyes. In 1023 Prince Mahmoud marched against
Kallingur; the fortress was a great object of attack among
Mahommedans, and this idol is certainly older than their era.
Indian enamellers have always been celebrated, and the art
appears to have been very ancient. In the fortress of Gwalior,
taken by the British in 1780, are two remarkable pyramidical
buildings of red stone, in the most ancient style of Hindoo archi-
tecture; they are said to have been built as residences for the
mother and sister of a rajah who lived at a very remote period,
when this fortress was the capital of a large and extensive em-
pire. Along the east side of these buildings runs a line of blue
108
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
(6
enamel, still very fresh and brilliant; a proof that this manufac-
ture attained great perfection in Hindostan at an ancient date.
Near the fort is the tomb of a very learned man, Mahommed
Ghous, who lived in Akbar's time. The cupola of the tomb is
covered with blue enamel. Mr. Royle observes we have the
curious fact of uneducated natives being found in almost every
bazaar, who can make alloys, colour glass, and work enamels by
methods which are unknown in Europe, with the most simple
means and apparently rudest processes." Dr. Tennant is of
opinion that before the arrival of Europeans in Hindostan
not a house in all India was furnished with glass windows;
the Hindoos made trinkets and ornaments of glass, but were
unable to build furnaces of sufficient power to make useful
things. This cannot have been true of north India, as the
emperor Jehangir planted the beautiful gardens of Shalimar,
Lahore, and in these gardens he is said to have built a palace
of glass for the peerless Nourmahal. Where he got his glass
from is not known; the system of canals and the magnificent
buildings left by him attest a high degree of civilization. There
is a small glass manufactory still carried on in Kashmir, which
may have originated in this palace, as the mosaic industry of Agra
originated in the Taj. Mr. Prinsep¹ says that at a wedding at
Sreenugger, Kashmir, among the couplets sung by various mem-
bers of the families the mother of the groom asks the bride,
"Didst thou suffer any inconvenience in thy glass jampan ?”
Mr. Prinsep describes the ceiling of the Rajput palace of Jodh-
pore as an elaborate gold carved pattern over glass, which no
doubt lights up well at night, and says the Oodeypore palace had
numerous rooms highly decorated with elaborate patterns made of
coloured glass all over wall and ceiling; several apartments had
pigeonholes of looking glass, in each of which was placed some
small glass box, jug, or vase; the effect was savage, but somehow
very rich; these palaces are comparatively modern. Buchanan,
who was sent in 1800 by the Marquis Wellesley, then Governor-
General of India, to collect information through Mysore, describes
glassmaking at Chinapatam. They manufactured there principally
coloured glass, which they made of powdered quartz and cakes of
fossil alkali, adding copper or iron as they required blue, green,
or red.
They make anklets and armlets, principally for women,
of coloured glass. A good workman makes ten of these glass
(
1 Imperial India.”
CHINESE, JAPANESE, AND INDIAN.
109
rings a minute; a great many are used, as each woman wears
several, and as they must fit close they are rarely got on without
drawing blood and are often broken; as Indian habits do not
alter, the process described has most likely been going on for ages.
Rings of glass also form part of their warping reels, and small
greenish bottles are common; but it is probable the diffusion of
oxide of iron in Indian soil has prevented the making of both
good glass and pottery. The native shapes both for clay and
metal are very good, and their enamelling is well known for
singular brilliance and beauty of colour. Heeren seems justly to
have ascribed the flourishing state of many of the cities of Egypt,
Babylon, Palmyra, and Petra to their ancient trade with India.
Quantities of glass must have been sent to India by the Venetians,
from the notices of it in the travels of Hawkins, Sir J. Roe, and
others; and the annals of the East India Company show what
numbers of chests of glass a year were imported into India; but
the native manufacture, never very large, appears declining, as
even in Buchanan's time the natives of Muteodu told him they
used to make a great deal of blue glass with a substance called
runga, but the manufacturer having died no one else knew how
to make it. It has always unfortunately been an eastern habit to
keep trade secrets inviolable.
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.
"Who, when he saw the first sand or ashes by a casual intenseness of heat
melted into a metallic form, rugged with excrescences and crowded with
impurities, would have imagined that in this shapeless lump lay concealed so
many conveniences of life as would in time constitute a great part of the
happiness of the world? Thus was the first artificer in glass occupied, though
without his own knowledge or expectation. He was facilitating and prolonging
the enjoyment of light, enlarging the avenues of science, and conferring the
highest and most lasting pleasures; he was enabling the student to contemplate
nature and the beauty to behold herself."-Johnson's "Rambler."
ENGLAND.
W
E are too much accustomed to look on all civilization
in Britain as dating from the Roman invasion, whereas
in Cæsar's time, 55 B.C., Britain had a considerable
commerce, indeed must have then been a naval power,
as the assistance she sent to the Veneti in Gaul was made the
pretext for the Roman invasion 42 A.D. Tacitus, nineteen years
afterwards, speaks of London as a city of the greatest importance
from its commerce and its crowd of merchants, a result which
could not have been achieved in so short a time and during a state
of warfare. Strabo, who wrote twenty years before the first
settlement of the Romans in Britain under Plautius, says the
inhabitants exported various metals, cattle, slaves and hounds to
the Rhine, Seine, Loire, and Garonne, and imported earthenware,
copper vessels, necklaces, glass, and salt. These exports would
come down the Thames, so there must have been a commercial
port on that river just such as we find London described by
Tacitus. Long before that date the Phoenicians had traded with
Britain, "Tinland," for tin; Sir Cornewall Lewis admits that this
trade was carried on between 1500 and 1200 B.C. Some moulds
for casting tin have been discovered, and one pig of tin which,
as it differs from any made by Romans or Normans, has been
considered Phoenician; it is preserved in the Truro Museum, and
a cast can be seen in the Museum of Geology, London. This
would indicate a knowledge of smelting which would soon lead to
110
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Plate IV
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GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.
III
a more advanced civilization.¹ Lewin says that when the workmen
were excavating the foundations of the Royal Exchange they
first discovered the usual debris of houses, then a stratum of gravel
two feet thick, and below that a pit nineteen feet deep, filled with
pottery, broken glass, lamps, old shoes, and coins of Vespasian,
Domitian, and others. This spot must have for a length of time
been outside a well peopled city. Penmarch is of opinion that
glassmaking in Britain dates prior to the Roman invasion. Druids
were accustomed to impose upon their more ignorant followers
by means of coloured glass, clumsily formed, beads, which they
pretended were endowed with the quality of preserving their
possessors from all evil. It is not improbable that the long trade
with the Phoenicians must have introduced many of the manufac-
tures of the south into Britain; and among an uncivilized popu-
lation anything like personal ornament, especially if supposed
to possess supernatural qualities, would naturally be highly prized.
If the manufacture of any glass in Britain can be assigned to pre-
Roman times ³ it would probably be confined to those opaque
imperfectly vitrified amulets or beads with wide holes, commonly
called glain neidyr or holy snake beads, of which a more detailed
account is given in the chapter on beads; specimens have been
found all over the country, from Cornwall to the Orkneys, there
are several examples in the British Museum. Glass however,
both Greek and Celtic, has been found among the Druidic menhirs
of Carnac, principally ornamented with striped lines straight or
bent in chevrons. Similar glass has been found in other parts of
2
¹ The Carthaginians came to Britain for tin, as the Tyrians had done. The
quantity of tin required for bronze in the old world was enormous; bronze
was known in Egypt 2000 B.C. Tin is mentioned in the Periplus as one of the
exports from Egypt to India, and it must have been brought by commerce to
Egypt. The Phoenicians, very anxious to preserve the monopoly of a lucrative
trade, jealously guarded the secret of the Tin Islands. Strabo tells a story of a
Phoenician captain who, when chased by a Roman ship, steered on to a shoal
of rocks and deliberately caused the wreck of his own and his pursuer's ship
rather than betray the secret of his destination, for which he was rewarded out
of the public treasury. Afterwards the Romans unravelled the mystery and
shared in the trade.
2 Those who have seen in the museum of Scarborough the figure of the
ancient Briton (pre-Roman) whose oak-tree coffin was found in the neigh-
bourhood will remember that it is not the semblance of a savage which the peat
moss and oak bark have preserved. The remains are those of a man over
six feet high, with a well developed forehead and style of face; the figure looks
like an ebony statue; some bronze was found in the coffin.
3 According to Strabo the Britons made glass vessels of a blue green colour,
and a piece of ancient glass of such a colour has been found at Stockton
Works.
112
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
France, and also at Hallstadt in Austria; and if, as authors say,
the Druidic religion was the same from India to Thule, the same
amount of knowledge was probably common to all.¹ A curious
passage in Diodorus Siculus (lib. vi.) says that in an island
west of the Celta the Druids brought the sun and moon near
them, whence some have suggested that telescopes were known
to them. The expression in one of the "Triads," of the moon
appearing to be near the earth, is also worth attention. These
"Triads" existed long prior to the modern discovery of telescopes;
one of them gives "cibddar, the speculum of the son of pervading
glance or the searcher of mystery," as one of the secrets of the
island of Britain. The knowledge, if it ever existed, must have
been lost, and probably never was known save to a few of the
priests and kept by them with the usual habit of their order all
over the world as a profound secret, for the use only of those
initiated in the higher mysteries. We know the Chinese were
very early acquainted with the use of telescopes, and among the
Persians we find traditions of many astronomical facts which
could scarcely have been learned without some magnifying aid to
the eyes; so, if as some say the Celts came originally from the
East, there is nothing impossible in their having brought the
learning of the East with them. As soon as the Romans gained
a settlement in Britain, they doubtless introduced all the luxuries
they were accustomed to use at home, and to their skill must be
attributed the quantities of glass found buried in tombs or dis-
interred in London and other cities. One of the earliest specimens
to which a date can be attached is a bowl of ribbed bluish green
glass, placed within a vase of red glazed pottery, that was found
in a grave near Takeley, Essex (now in the possession of Mr. J.
Clarke), together with three coins of Vespasian, A.D. 69, which as
they were not defaced by circulation may give an approximate
date to the interment and prove that even at that early period
choice works in glass were imported into Britain.2 A similar bowl
was found among the extraordinary sepulchral remains excavated
by the late Mr. Tastrip, Shefford, Bedfordshire, with other elegant
¹ A melon-shaped bead found in a British tomb is formed of the pressed
scented composition common in the East. This bead still retained its scent
and must have been imported from the East.
2 In recent excavations for rebuilding Messrs. Tylors' premises, in Newgate
Street, a rich collection of Roman antiquities was found; among them three
leaden situlæ, each enclosing a beautiful glass urn of large size. From the
presence of coins of Nero and Claudius, these urns may be approximately
dated.
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.
113
and rare glass vessels, among them a blue glass bottle with narrow
neck and a handle ornamented with ribs, and an amber coloured
vase, with ribbed globular body and wide mouth. Fragments of
glass and bottles found in graves at Faversham, when compared
with those found in the south of France and Germany, seem to be
identical in shape and quality, and it is difficult to believe that the
Anglo-Saxon glass was not all imported. Among these are bowls of
a dark copper colour, but which, when held up to the light, appear
to be deep blue; others are opaque, variegated with lines and shades
of various colours light or dark in shade. Pieces of glass found in
London are precisely of the same makc and pattern as those
brought from Rome, Nismes, and other places; there is one especial
kind formed of shades of green, similating leaves, a very common
pattern in Rome and equally common in London. It is scarcely
possible to believe that all this glass was not manufactured at the
same place, as even when the same process is used or the same
workmen transplanted to another place, some unknown difference
in the materials used produces unexpectedly differing results in
the making of glass and glazing of pottery. Very marked speci-
mens are the shallow glass cast bowls, with the figures and names
of gladiators pourtrayed on them, found in London and Hartlip,
evidently from the same mould as those found in Pompeii. The
British Museum contains numbers of very beautiful beads from
English tombs, with specimens of mosaic and other glass, much
of it found in London.¹ Among these are undoubted fragments
of window glass, also one piece made for a mirror and several
specimens of mosaic; these are all noticed more at length under
those heads. The number of vessels interred with the dead were
meant to hold blood, milk, wine, pulse of various kinds, and
honey cakes, for libations, and water, balms and oils for purifica-
tion. Virgil in the "Eneid" mentions blood and milk; and
Servius, in explaining the custom, says that the soul delighted
in milk, being the natural nourishment of the body, and in blood,
the union of body and soul; the saucer shaped bowls are those
used for the libations. Though we owe so much of our knowledge
of ancient life to the explorers of tombs, it is impossible to read
of the continual spoliation of sepulchres without remembering the
story of Nitocris, queen of Babylon, whose tomb (reported to
enclose great riches) was broken open by Darius, 516 B. C., in search
1 See Plate IV.
I
114
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
of her treasures, but he found nothing save her body and a scroll
on which was written, "If thou hadst not been insatiate of pelf,
and a sordid and avaricious soul, thou wouldst never have violated
the repose of the dead." Mr. Gough¹ thinks that one kind of
barrow, of circular form, raised in the middle like a cone, and which
is generally found to contain blue glass and amber beads together
with metal trinkets, is to be ascribed to the Firbolgs or Belgæ
who, long before the Roman invasion, had crossed over to Britain;
those barrows which contain lamps, vases, and urns, may be
considered Roman. In the shifting sands of Westram, Orkneys,
some ancient barrows were laid open containing beads, and in one
a metal spoon and a very neatly made opalised glass cup holding
about half a pint. In some of the Orkney tombs at the links of
Skail beads are found, stone and glass, together with bodies that
have been burnt and that in a very fierce fire, so that they are
nearly vitrified and look something like the clumps thrown out
by forges. The bodies were sometimes only buried in woollen
shrouds fastened with bone or wooden pins, which are found with
bones, and it is supposed that these pins were made in a few cases
of glass, like pins without heads. Mr. Douglas, who opened some
tombs at Chatham, found beads of glass, amber, and clay, glass
vases, and crystal balls; these latter he thinks were used for
magical experiments, and he thinks beads were only found in
the graves of women; this is however a mistake, many men's
skeletons still wear their necklaces of glass beads. At Ash
Richborough in 1762 several wooden coffins were found, the
skeletons in each having a sword and a spear beside them, and a
necklace of glass and amber beads; from the coins buried with
them they are concluded to have been Roman soldiers. The
skeletons of men sometimes wear bracelets as well as necklaces. In
the island of Ely was discovered with a skeleton a curiously shaped
glass vase like a pipe; and at Chesterton in 1754 a stone coffin
contained, besides a man's skeleton, three glass lachrymatories;
the only perfect one of them contained a fungus-like substance,
mixed with water of an aromatic smell and a coin of Faustina
and Gordian. On Winstre common, Derbyshire, from a barrow
which also contained silver ornaments and red glass beads, were
2
1 66
Sepulchral Monuments of Great Britain": 1786.
"Such was the glassy globe that Merlin made,
And gave unto King Rymer for his garde."
-Spenser's "Fairy Queen."
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.
115
taken two glass vessels, eight or ten inches high, with wide mouths,
each containing a pint of greenish water. Stow relates that in
1576, on the field now called Spitalfields being broken up to make
bricks, among numerous Roman remains discovered there were
"divers phials and other fashioned glasses, some curiously
wrought, some made of crystal; a few had water in them, others
oyle." Such instances are not uncommonly found to this day;
one bottle half full of liquid is in the Rouen museum and others
have been found in Pompeii.¹ In Dr. Mortimer's account of
tumuli opened near Canterbury, 1730, he speaks of one of the
greenish tumblers or urns often found in tombs, with a spiral
cord round it, which when first found had a fragrant smell as
sweet gums had been in it; no bones were found in the urn, but a
white powder with shining particles like talc and a thin iridescent
skin inside the glass. Bryan Faussett describes opening three
graves at Gilton, Kent, and finding in each one green and yellow
glass, beads, rings, and at the foot of each an urn of greenish
glass; in one of these were coins of Justinian, which, being worn,
would fix the date late in the sixth century; in one grave was
an urn ten inches high, with a coin of Nero.³ At Kingston and
Sibertswold similar urns were found, always in the graves of women
and children, though they have been found but rarely in the graves
of men.
In these graves were discovered beautiful long drop
earrings of dark blue glass, and also some fibule of Frankish design,
which would give a date of sixth or seventh century to the graves.
In Weaver's "Funeral Monuments," published in 1631, is de-
scribed a lead coffin, containing a woman's skeleton and several
great phials of glass, six and eight inches square, having whitish
liquid within them, and on either side two sceptres of ivory, and
on the breast a white stone figure of Cupid. Many tombs were
found at Stepney, which was one of the cemeteries of London.
In the Roman tumuli at Bartlow hills, Essex, several large square
glass vases were found, some containing ashes and some a dark
coloured fluid. Douglas thinks the vases or cups found in
Christian graves contained holy water to scare away evil spirits,
and in pagan graves an aqua magica was placed for the same
1 In the tomb of Childeric II., who died 673, was found a glass vessel filled
with perfume which still retained its scent.
? See Plate VI. 5, a flat shaped bead, green with yellow lines.
3 See Plate IV.; 11 is probably a Roman vase; 12 an Anglo-Saxon vase ;
13 is the long necked bottle found in Greek tombs, and constantly reproduced
in Roman and British graves.
116
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
purpose. Lucan makes the witch Erichtho bestow on a dead body
she had raised to life a charm to secure it against any future incant-
ation; "no words or no herbs shall disturb its sleep." Douglas
engraves two very delicate pendants found at Sibertswold, formed
of mosaic glass, one with light green chequers, blue and crimson
stripes, and the other dark and light green chequers with a border
of carnation. Mr. Akerman describes some gold ornaments set
with vitrified pastes found in a tomb near Devizes; one round
ornament with gold chains had a cruciform decoration from which
the tomb was supposed to be that of a Christianized Anglo-Saxon
lady. A fibula found near Abingdon, and another in a grave at
Wingham Sandwith, are remarkable for the minute delicacy of the
patterns formed by small pieces of garnet coloured glass, divided
by threads of gold; the colour of the glass is heightened by the
insertion of gold leaf at the back; bits of blue paste are mingled
with the red glass. The most beautiful fibula of this class ever
discovered is one found at Kingston by Bryan Faussett and figured
in his work "Inventorum Sepulchrale"; from the same work I
have taken the fibula (Plate VI. 3) found at Sibertswold. A
very
beautiful fibula found at Milton is now in the Ashmolean
Museum, Oxford; another is in the collection of Earl Amhurst.
There are two imperfect specimens in the gem room, British
Museum. In a woman's tomb at Chatham Mr. Douglas dis-
covered a silver spoon with the handle ornamented in the same
style as these fibulæ, with square bits of red glass set on hatched
gold; it was pierced at the top and worn very smooth, showing
it had long been pendent from the dress, the bowl thin and
pierced with many holes like a sieve; he suggests it may have
been such a sieve as Hudibras alludes to, canto ii. :
"In magic he was deeply read,
But far more skilful in the spheres
Than he was at the sieve and shears.'
Personal ornaments with incrustations of coloured glass are fre-
quently found in graves of the Teutonic race in England and the
continent. A knife with the handle thus decorated was found at
Selzun; the Abbé Cochet gives several examples in his works.
The genuine fibulæ so often alluded to during the decline of the
Roman empire were very probably these incrusted glasses.
Fragments of bowls with projecting ribs on the outside and
sunk inside are now often found among Roman remains, both
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.
117
in England and elsewhere. Mr. A. Pellatt gives an interesting
account of the patent which was taken out in London for pillar
moulding glass, which was considered a triumph of modern skill;
it was a legitimate and true invention doubtless, and the patent
had been worked for some years, when Mr. Pellatt recognised in
some of these fragments evidence of the antiquity of the invention,
another proof, were one required, of the assertion that there is
nothing new under the sun. In renewing the excavations at
Silchester, 1861, in the ruins of a Roman room were found among
some remains one of these pillar moulded vases and bits of
pottery, another example of an ancient habit we have copied ; one
amphora had been carefully mended, and retained a leaden rivet
in drilled hole. The extreme antiquity of this thrifty practice
may be imagined from one of the Sybarite fables quoted by
Aristophanes. A woman of Sybaris broke an earthenware pot,
which began screaming out and calling for witnesses to show how
badly it had been treated. "By Proserpine," said the dame,
were you to leave off bawling for witnesses, and make haste to
buy a copper ring to rivet yourself with, you would act more
wisely."
((
Fosbrooke describes some peculiar glasses found at Machynlleth,
Montgomery, the use of which could not be divined. They were
formed like hoops curiously twisted of various colours; some were
twenty inches 'in circumference, others were of smaller dimensions.
In some of the broken pieces parcels of sand of the same colours
appeared to be enclosed in several cells within the glass. It is
difficult to conceive any use for these hoops, unless they were
the stock in trade of a magician. Glass urns similar to those de-
scribed by Bryan Faussett have been found in many other tombs;
one was dug up at Castle Eden, Durham, one at Fairford, Oxford,
and in other places; these vases, though suitable for drinking
cups, are very fragile and seem unfitted for the daily use of a half
civilized people; they may perhaps be regarded as objects of an
unusual and sacred character, consecrated perhaps on occasions
of interment by some rite of which we are ignorant. A very
elegant greenish vase with cornucopia ornamentation is in the
Canterbury museum, it was found near the Reculvers; a round
shaped drinking cup, also found at the Reculvers, is in the British
Museum. The use of glass must have been common in Saxon
¹ There is a beautiful specimen among the Assyrian remains in the British
Museum, probably from the Roman colony, Claudiopolis.
118
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
times, judging from the quantity still preserved. Two beautiful
pale blue vases were found in 1847, in front of the bishop's
palace at Cuddesden, ornamented with cords or threads of glass
fixed on in a molten state, probably for strength as well as
ornament. Two drinking cups of peculiar form were found near
Sandwich, one rich brown in colour and very light, the other
green, with a spiral thread round the lip and ribs down the sides,
it holds exactly a pint of liquid; these cups are finished with a
knob at the base, and could not be set down until empty, possibly
the origin of our name "tumbler." Similar cups are found in
Frankish graves in France and Germany. Mr. Roach Smith
considers that a greater number and more varieties of these
drinking glasses have been found in English graves than in those
on the continent, which gives greater reason for supposing that they
were home made. Many of these are elongated tumblers, either
rounded at the base or terminating in such small feet they cannot
be made to stand. Some of them have a hornlike shape, and are
made of glass without lead and blown very thin. Sometimes
they are ornamented by having lobes or knobs of glass attached
to the exterior or by threads of glass wound round them or
disposed in wavy lines, which Mr. Nesbitt thinks is the origin
of the expression in Beowulf (line 983). At the hero's funeral
"the thane observed his office, he that in his hand bore the
twisted alecup." (Anglo-Saxon Poem.) In a drawing on an Anglo-
Saxon calendar in the British Museum may be seen seated
figures drinking out of these same shaped cups.1 Some drinking
cups are found protected by wooden buckets bound with metal.
So many of these so called tumblers were found near Wodens-
borough, Kent, that they were used in a neighbouring farmhouse
as beer glasses.
Remnants of Roman civilization in the shape of potters'
kilns have been found in numbers in Northamptonshire, near
Peterborough, Wandsford, and other places; they are especially
to be seen in the marshes below Upchurch, where no doubt the
dark blue-black ware called Upchurch was made. These kilns
are interesting, as the pottery found in them, being stamped with
Latin names, proves that much of the so called Roman pottery
discovered, and supposed to be imported into the island, was
actually fabricated in Britain. Some was no doubt brought from
¹ See Plate IV.; three Anglo-Saxon imitations of horns.
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.
119
abroad, as in potters' kilns in Germany and France pottery has
been found stamped with the names of makers identical with
those found in England. It has often been said that no glass
kilns have been found in Britain, but in 1860 a glass furnace was
discovered at Buckholt, near the Roman road between Winchester
and Salisbury; if these remains are Roman it would prove that
both ornamental and coloured glass was made in Britain. The
following extract describing the furnace is from the Queenswood
Observer, and is written by Mr. Roper. "The furnace was brick,
nine feet in diameter, with four spurs of brick and flint ten feet
long, the bricks were cubic lumps of clay one foot each way.
Many pieces of pots were found glazed on both sides, some fluted.
Lumps of glass nearly as large as an egg, with scores of drops
of glass and many pieces looking like necks of bottles, were
discovered, also tops of vases with a peculiar hollow rim of bottle-
green glass, handles of various shapes, one of a beautiful form
and a fine purple colour, many bits of window glass, a green
handle with threads of white glass twisted like a cord, pieces of
green glass inlaid with white spots, one flat piece with a scarlet
pattern painted on it, some bits of prussian blue, purple, and
green, and a few pieces of pure white glass." Mr. Cuming sug-
gests that the furnace was mediæval and the old pieces had been
brought to be remelted, which hardly seems a probable solution
of the affair. A lapidary in Brighton in 1848 had several lumps
of bright coloured glass, found on the sea beach, amethyst, amber,
emerald green, and maroon; Dr. Guest found pieces on the shore.
Mr. Wright thinks these remains were massæ," made at some
Roman glass factories in the neighbourhood; one piece picked up
was as big as a child's head, it was of an amber colour and much
encrusted by marine animals; it is suggested a landslip may
have carried away the remains of a Romano-British glasswork.
When the tomb of Edward I., who died 1307, was opened and
examined in the last century it was found to contain some very
beautiful glass jewellery, but whether it was imported or of native
manufacture is not recorded; the body of the king was found
beautifully dressed; over his robe was laid a stole of thick white
tissue, ornamented at every six inches with quatrefoils made of
filagree work, with five pieces of transparent glass in each, imitating
precious stones of various kinds, deep and rich in colour; the
ground of the stole was thickly powdered with very small mock
pearls, tacked closely together, forming a beautiful embroidery;
120
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
many of the gentlemen present thought they were real pearls.
The mantle of crimson satin was fastened by a magnificent fibula
of gilt metal, set with four pieces of blue and four of red glass,
and twenty-two beads of mock pearl and a piece of uncut blue
paste, shaped like an acorn. On the back of each hand had been
laid a quatrefoil set with deep blue glass. In repairing the road
near Walnsford, Northamptonshire, the labourers struck on a glass
coffin about two feet long, containing the bones of a child; it
was of fine transparent glass of a beautiful aquamarine colour,
ornamented with five concentric raised circles; some bones were
found near, but no coffins. It is conjectured that the interment
might have taken place in Henry VI.'s time, when an idea prevailed
that bodies might be preserved in some kind of liquid; Mr. Wells
gave the Society of Antiquaries a piece of the glass containing the
five circles.
Mr. Nesbitt gives two quotations from Welsh poets of the sixth
century: Wine out of the bright glass, "Llywarch Hen," and
“Bright wine out of glass vessels," "Aneuren." In the British
Museum are some specimens of late Celtic bronze and enamel
work, an armlet found at Castle Drummond, Perthshire, and
a horse's bit found at Hull, Yorkshire, both ornamented with red
and blue enamel. There is also in the same case a bronze
mirror of the same date, found at St. Keverne, Cornwall, with two
large glass beads which must have been used for suspending the
mirror.
It was in A.D. 669 that French workmen were brought over to
glaze the windows of St. Peter's, York.¹ Benedict is said to have
established foreign glassmakers at Wearmouth, 675. An attempt
was made to establish a glass factory at Newcastle-on-Tyne in 670,
but it proved a failure and the furnaces remained extinguished for
eight hundred years. As showing a more modern view of glassmak-
ing in Newcastle the following extract from the Daily Chronicle may
be interesting. "On 28th January, 1867, a reform demonstration
took place in Newcastle, in which some three or four hundred
glass workers took part. The glass workers formed the most
peculiar, if not most attractive, part of the procession. As they
approached they appeared to be a complete rainbow of colours;
glass of the richest and most varied hues had been worked up for
the occasion into the most strange and singular forms, and hun-
¹ See chapter on Windows.
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.
121
dreds of persons followed them as they marched along, to see the
curious designs the men had wrought. There were glass hats of
all colours and shapes, glass goblets, crowns, swords, and batons,
and almost every man carried a tricoloured glass rod." For some
centuries glassmaking seems to have languished in Britain, even
window glass was only used by a few of the richest people ; yet
that the art was to some extent practised is proved by a curious
passage in a French description of the famous Field of the
Cloth of Gold which took place near Calais, 1520. The English
king, Henry VIII., had constructed for himself a vast palace of
wood and glass, which glittered in the sunlight like a prototype of
a Crystal Palace. It was divided into four compartments, and
bound with cloth painted to represent freestone. In a spacious
court two fountains flowed with wine, water, and hippocras. The
entire edifice was brought from England in pieces, and joined
together by pegs, no stone or mortar being employed.
Notwithstanding this royal patronage however, glass manu-
factories were not encouraged by the English public, as in the
"Breviary of Philosophy" written by Thomas Charnock, 1557, he
seems to lament this dearth of factories:
"As for glassmakers they be scant in the land,
Yet one there is, as I do understand;
And in Sussex is now his habitation,
At Chiddingsfold he works of his occupation."
Henry III. had but one glass drinking cup, presented to him by
Guy de Roussillon. The king sent it to Edward of Westminster,
the famous goldsmith, with directions to take off the glass foot
and mount it on one of silver-gilt, and to surround it with silver-
gilt hoops, showing what value he attached to its preservation.
Henry IV. is said to have had a silver-gilt cup with glass of Alex-
andria. The rarer kinds of glass seem to have been imported
into England, but some attempts at native glassmaking 2 must
have been attempted from a curious letter written 1589 from
George Long to Lord Burgheim, which contains a petition to
have a patent for glassmaking in England, stating that various
people erected glasshouses in different parts, and having wasted
the woods there went elsewhere, paying no customs and defrauding
¹ Bourne states that in the reign of Queen Elizabeth some persecuted
Protestants from France came to Newcastle and worked at their trade of glass-
making at the Close Gate, and afterwards went to Tyne.
122
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
the queen. Should his petition be granted he undertakes to keep
only two glasshouses in England (there being now fifteen) and
the rest in Ireland, whereby the wood here would be saved and
the superfluous wood in Ireland wasted, "than which in tyme of
rebellion her majestie has no greater enemy." He also suggests
that his houses will give poor people work, and civilize and quiet
the country, as each of his houses will be like a garrison of twenty
It was not till 1677 that the Duke of Buckingham brought
Venetian workmen over to Lambeth, "where they made huge
vases of metal, as clear, thick, and pondrous as crystal, also look-
ing-glasses far finer and larger than any that come from Venice."
(Evelyn.)
men.
-
SCOTLAND.
Very little trace of ancient glass can be found in Scotland, her
bleak shores do not seem to have tempted Roman or other old
world settlers; even the paste beads so common in British tombs
become few and scanty in more northern graves, and doubtless
owe their presence in them at all to the Druid priesthood, whose
courage no climate seems to have daunted. The nearest approach
to glassmaking which ancient Scotland can show is to be found in
her vitrified forts, which are interesting at this point as bearing on
the question of whether or not glass can be made in the open air.
These so called forts are among the most remarkable antiquities
of Scotland.¹ Their walls consist of stones piled rudely one on
the other, and firmly cemented with a substance that has been
vitrified by means of fire, which forms a kind of artificial rock that
resists the action of weather and time perhaps better than any
other artificial cement that has been made. It is singular that
a rude people should have been capable of discovering such a
cement. Throughout the north of Scotland a kind of earthy iron
ore, of peculiarly vitrescible nature, abounds. This ore might
have been accidentally mixed with stones at some place where
a fire was kindled, and the solid mass thus formed would suggest
a hint of the use to which it could be applied. This knowledge
once attained, it would have been easy to raise a wall of dry stones,
and filling in the interstices with iron ore, build a fire round it
¹ They are supposed to be peculiar to Scotland; about fifty have been dis-
covered, none south of the Tweed. The largest is near Dingwall, and the
next in size near Inverness.
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.
123
sufficiently intense to melt this vitrifiable ore and cement the
whole into one coherent mass. As the country then abounded
with wood it would have been easy to collect any quantity of it.
Mr. Higgins¹ gives a description of the fort of Knockferrel, two
miles from Dingwall, where a section has been cut through the
walls to enable people to judge of the manner in which it was
constructed. The outside wall is a crust, two feet thick, of stones
immersed in vitrified matter; some stones are half fused, and all
have suffered a considerable heat; inside a considerable thickness
of loose stones is heaped up. There are several of the same kind
in Scotland. Dr. McCulloch thinks there is an oriental cast
about them which indicates the remote eastern origin of the early
Celtic tribes. It has been suggested that these masses of build-
ings resembling vitrified forts were formed by the immense heaps
of wood burned on the tops of hills by the ancient fire wor-
shippers, piles of such magnitude that they were loftier than the
hills and heated the atmosphere to such a degree that the spot.
could not be approached for several days!!
No record of glassmaking exists in Scotland till 1620, when
John Maria dell'Aqua from Venice had the post of Master of the
Works in Scotland offered to him. Sir R. Mansel, who had
a patent for glassmaking in England, in a statement to the
council some years later complains that his workmen were drawn
into Scotland, so that most of the glass used here was imported
from thence, and he was obliged to buy up the Scotch patent at
£250 per annum. The Romans left some traces of the art in
Scotland, as Pennant mentions in his "Tour" that at Netherhall,
Maryport, at a Roman station, were found fragments of glass
vessels and mirrors and two pieces of painted glass cups.
IRELAND.
The old records of Ireland yield more encouragement to the
student of ancient glass than those of Scotland. Not only are
glass beads, identical in pattern with those found elsewhere, dis-
covered in the graves, but some are of peculiar and curious
designs, and are described in Sir W. Wilde's catalogue of the
Royal Irish Academy Museum. Then the art of glass working
seems to have existed from an early period, and taken chiefly the
"Celtic Druids." 1827.
124
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
form of ornament, as small pieces of mosaic glass are found in
the cross of Cong and the Lismore crosier, and cameo beads in
the Tara brooch, works of Irish origin. The mosaic glass in the
Lismore crosier (which belongs to the Duke of Devonshire)
displays remarkable skill. It was made for a bishop of that see
who died 1112; but the glass industry must have been much
older. Some beautiful chalices, now in the museum of the Irish
Academy, were found at Ardagh, Limerick, and are supposed to
date from the ninth and tenth centuries. Mr. Nesbitt points out
that their mode of decoration was probably by impressing a
pattern on the glass while soft, and filling the cavity with metal or
glass or enamel of another colour. He goes on to suggest that
the colours and patterns used in these processes are so peculiar as
to render it highly improbable that the objects referred to were
made elsewhere than in Ireland. There is no indication of such
an art being practised either in Britain, Gaul, or Germany at the
time; apparently therefore it must have been derived at a very
early date from Rome or possibly even from Egypt. Dr. Keller
remarks that the colours and ornaments on the Irish manuscripts
at St. Gall have much analogy with Egyptian art, and says there
is direct evidence of the sojourn of Egyptian monks in Ireland
in the "Leabhar Breac," where mention is made of seven
Egyptian monks who were buried at Disert-Ulidh. Mr. Higgins
gives another evidence of ancient communication between Ireland
and Egypt. "There are in Kerry fourteen inscriptions in the
Ogham or tree system of letters. Herr Hammer, of Vienna, found
in Egypt a manuscript written in a character absolutely identical
with the Ogham of Ireland. It is a very strange fact that
Hammer, a man who probably never heard of the Irish letters or
their histories, should find an Arab work in Egypt written in one
of them." "1 He also says that Aristotle distinctly states there was
a settlement of Carthaginians (possibly from Spain) in Ireland,
from whom many of their customs and antiquities may have been
derived. This may be the Milesian settlement talked of; such a
colony would tend to introduce or keep alive Phoenician customs
in Ireland which the influx of Romans in Britain would tend to
destroy.
Phoenician art being directly derived from Egypt may have
tended to give Irish art that peculiar impress observed by Dr.
1" Celtic Druids."
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.
125
Keller. In the History of the Britons, written in the reign of
Mervin by Nennius, A.D. 858, he gives another source whence
Egyptian art may have reached Ireland. "A Scythian of noble
family, who was banished from Egypt when the Israelites crossed
the Red Sea, wandered with his family through Mauritania to the
Pillars of Hercules into Spain, where, having multiplied greatly,
his descendants passed to Ireland, landing in Ulster." Nennius
also says there came to Ireland three sons of a Spanish soldier with
thirty ships, containing soldiers and their wives.
After the space
of a year there appeared unto them in the middle of the sea a
tower of glass, the summit of which seemed crowned with men,
to whom they often spoke but received no answer.
At length
they determined to besiege the tower and advanced towards it
with all their ships, except one that had been wrecked; but when
all had disembarked on the shore which surrounded the tower
the sea opened and swallowed them up. Ireland however was
peopled from the family remaining in the vessel that was wrecked.
In the "Tripartite Life of St. Patrick," seventh or eighth century,
mention is made of "a certain stone cave of wonderful workman-
ship, with an altar underground, having on its four corners four
chalices of glass," situated at Duma-Graidh, county of Sligo.
In the British Museum are some curiously formed beads and
amulets found at Loughey, county Down. They are of peculiarly
elaborate character and varied shapes; some beads recalling the
grotesque pendants of Greek and Roman tombs. A string of
smaller beads was also found at the same place, chiefly yellow in
colour, and carefully graduated.
}
FRENCH, SPANISH, GERMAN, AND ITALIAN.
On Gentlemen Glassmakers.
"Votre noblesse est mince,
Et ce n'est pas d'un prince
Daphnis que vous sortez
Gentilhomme de verre ;
Si vous tombez par terre,
Adieu la qualité.”—Maynard.
"Toute votre félicité,
Sujette à l'instabilité,
En moins de rien tombe par terre,
Et comme elle a l'eclat du verre
Elle en a la fragilité."—Corneille.
FRANCE.
P
LINY asserts that the glassworks of Gaul and Spain
were established before those of Rome. Whether this
assertion be true or not, there can be little doubt that
the ever increasing demand for glass in Rome would
induce many busy searchers to ransack the provinces far and
near for materials necessary for their art, and wherever those
essential articles were found factories were at once established
and flourished. The glass made in these differing localities would
not show exactly the same qualities, but those artisans who to
the possession of proper materials joined the greatest knowledge
of chemistry were those who rose most certainly to eminence in
their manufactures. The most ancient glass found in Europe
was doubtless imported; the tin, glass, amber, and ivory found
in tombs at Hallstadt, Austria, which belong to the transition age
between bronze and iron, indicate the existence of an extended
commerce. M. Fillon considers that the fabrication of glass in
France began in Poitiers in the second century; the factories
were active in the Roman and Frankish periods, survived the
Norman invasion, and were left a legacy to the gentlemen workers
of the middle ages. The most ancient piece of glass found in
Poitiers is a thick green cup of inferior quality, taken from a tomb
126

NIK
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FRENCH, SPANISH, GERMAN, AND ITALIAN.
127
at Amuré with a new coin of Vespasian; this probably belongs to
the first century and is imported. In the time of the Antonines
the tombs furnish great quantities of glass, showing the fabrication
had grown quickly. Wherever you discover a cemetery of the
Gaulo-Roman period¹ you are certain to find in it glass vases
of varied forms and sometimes of delicate and careful workman-
ship. These discoveries, constantly made, prove that the glass
industry was largely practised in the Poitiers territory, which being
very woody, and containing all the necessary materials, possessed
many factories, the remains of which are known by the presence
of vitreous scoriæ, ruins of ovens, and broken melting pots. The
names of many places, as Verrerie, Vielle Verreries, Voirie, Verrines,
owe their names to glassmaking. Excavations made at Verrines
in 1858 disclosed tombs of the second century containing more
glass than pottery, proving glass to have been the easiest to obtain
on the spot. Much of the glass found at Poitiers and La Vendée
has evidently come from the same factory; the usual colours
are blue, pale green, and yellow; dark green and red are rare ;
many pieces are spotted and enamelled in two or three colours.
Quantities of little cakes enamelled in various colours, supposed
to have been used for some game, are preserved in the Nantes
museum, with many beads and glass rings of varied colours
strung on stems of bronze for bracelets; also some pieces of
cameo glass, and vases in the form of human heads, bunches
of grapes, and other shapes. In a gladiator's tomb at Cormier,
Vendée, was found a cup of clear yellow glass which had been
moulded in two parts, of precisely the same kind as those dis-
covered in other parts of France, England, Austria, Wiesbaden,
etc.; it has eight figures of gladiators with the well known names
of Spiculus, Columbus, and others. With this cup were some
of the twisted glass batons supposed to have been given to
gladiators on their retirement. These cups seem all to have
belonged to the first and second century. From a tomb of the
third century called that of the "female artist," at St. Médard
des Prés, eighty pieces of glass of varied kinds were taken. The
cemeteries of Poitiers have yielded a rich harvest of glass to the
excavator. Abbe Cochet, who has been a most zealous explorer
of Gaulo-Roman 2 and Frankish tombs in France, says it is hardly
possible to give an idea of the quantity of vases found at every
1 See Plate V. I-9.
2 See Plate V. 10-12.
128
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
Roman station; the poor who could scarcely afford a vase for
themselves seem to have placed a simple tile in their friends'
tombs. To give an idea of the number of vases buried in ceme-
teries, he states that twenty thousand were found at Terre-Nigre,
Bordeaux. Whatever the mode of interment, clay, wood, or lead
vases continue to descend by the side of the dead, who seem
unable to part with them. Children, who at that time were not
burnt, took with them their dolls and playthings of clay or glass,
beads, twisted sticks, and tiny glass vases; some of these vases are
only half an inch high. In most tombs are numerous glass phials
for scent and ointment; many of these are remarkable for being
marked with the initials of the maker. From the tombs at
Fécamp¹ twenty-five glass vases were recovered, most of them
enclosed in clay or wooden urns; only the bronze locks of the
latter are found sometimes, the wood having disappeared. Blue
coloured vases were the most common for preserving bones.
The peasantry in the last century objected very much to the
removal of these vases, saying they contained hurtful magic and
sorcery. In 1781 a labourer near Entretat, having lost all his
cattle near a wood called Haye du Curé, disgusted at having
no milk to drink, went to break up the wood, and found there
an amphora full of glass bottles and an urn of blue glass contain-
ing burnt bones; instantly conceiving that this was the source of
the witchcraft that had affected him, he broke the whole in
vengeance; how many other precious relics of antiquity may not
have been lost in the same manner! Some of the drinking glasses
are the shape so common in Greek tombs, as if they had been
pinched while soft into a square. Glasses the same shape exactly
as that found at the Reculvers are common. The Boulogne
museum preserves six curious glass barrel-shaped jars, with
two handles each, and six circles at the top and bottom to
strengthen them, and bearing the mark of the imperial factory
of Frontincennes at Foret Eu; this factory mounts to a great
antiquity, it is supposed to have been started in the second
century, and was the cradle of all the Norman factories of later
times; it is still a great factory, and must surely be about the
oldest in the world. All these barrels are cast, and many have
a workman's name or initials cast with the stamp of the factory.
M. Deville thinks, from the low quality of the glass and its greenish
1 See Plate V. 13—16.
FRENCH, SPANISH, GERMAN, AND ITALIAN.
129
((
tone, that it cannot be older than the third century. Among the
names of glassworkers collected by M. Deville he also gives that
of an oculist, Gaius, who is supposed to have invented an oint-
ment for the eyes; this name placed over a large eye on the body
of a square bottle, with the name of the ointment "Diarpodon,"
has been found in two places; one specimen from Caen is now
in the Bibliothèque, Paris. Among the many shaped perfume pots
and bottles preserved in women's tombs are small twisted glass
sticks, which M. Sanzoy suggests were used for spreading rouge
on the cheeks; we know that pots of rouge were found at Hercu-
laneum; another suggestion which appears more likely is that
these twisted sticks were used for mixing up the sweet drinks
much used in old days; there are several specimens in the British
Museum. Two curious sticks, formed of four balls of white cast
glass, stuck together, with a letter on each and a point as if meant
to be pushed into the ground, were found near the Rhine; no
explanation of their use has yet been given. In 1856, at Breauté,
Seine Inferieure, a vase was found enclosed in one of clay; on
the glass one Orfitus and his wife Constantine have their portraits
placed under the protection of Hercules. On another vase is the
portrait of a woman in the costume of the lower empire and an
inscription: "For thy happiness, drink, live with Donata." In
La Vendée in a tomb with other feminine objects was found
a large fluted glass basin, and a beautiful dark green cup and
saucer with yellow threads, and on the cup in white letters the
name Evtvchia." It is curious to remark how old is the passion
for having the owner's name inscribed on personal objects. From
Queen Hatasou in ancient Egypt, through pagan, classical, and
early Christian times, the custom has been handed down to our
days, when it flourishes as freshly as though but recently introduced,
with ever renewed interest surrounding each new individuality.
On another cup is the name of Demosthenes, with a bust believed
to be the god Pan. One cup found in a Norman tomb has
graceful serpentine handles twisted with blue from neck to base,
others are ornamented with gold. In the faubourg of Rouen an
elegant shaped vase with a handle was taken from a third century
tomb, and from a woman's tomb in the same place one with
engraving of lines and spots rudely cut; but engraving, always
confined to very few hands, was at this time declining, the artist
tried to place circles, balls, and lines symmetrically; the large spots
or tears, so common in Frankish glass, were first raised and then
K
oto
130
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
cut out. During the Roman occupation the art of glass was
perpetuated in the farthest and most barbarous provinces, but
abandoned to itself it soon began to fade out. The cinerary
urns for containing the bones of the dead are common in every
Roman settlement; they are sometimes very large, usually square
in shape, and have sometimes an inscription denoting simply
good wishes for the dead, as Vale, Salve. They were probably
procured in haste at the moment of decease, so could not have
a special inscription except in the case of royal or important
persons. These urns were put into the earth enclosed in a vase
of clay or lead, the top covered with a tile. In Normandy Abbe
Cochet thinks that gold preserved the bones of rich people, glass
those belonging to middle rank, while the poorer classes were
content with clay only. Greenish white glass
Greenish white glass is the most common,
and is found in quantities preserved in French museums; there
are also several recovered from Algerian soil; coloured and
ornamented funeral urns are rarer, one of gilt glass is shown at
Nismes. The museums of that town and also of Arles are rich
in Roman glass; indeed every winter flood seems to bring to
light still undiscovered treasures buried in the earth of these
southern provinces. In the Museum of Practical Geology may
be seen a flat bowl found at Nismes, of a mosaic pattern, with
a ground of pale rose colour which Mr. Franks is inclined to
attribute to the use of gold. A green cup also found at Nismes
with figures painted on it in coloured pastes is now in the
Louvre. A few years ago some remarkable glass vessels were
found in a sepulchre near Hellanges, Luxembourg; some were
purple and ribbed bowls similar to those found in London, some
brown and grey with white veins imitating agate, and one very
beautiful bowl composed of at least six colours, blue, rose, yellow,
and transparent and opaque white and purple. The entire bowl
is divided into four rectangular triangles by two bands of rose
colour and milk white crossing each other; at the point of
intersection in the centre of the bowl is a purple square with
five pellets in white, placed in quinconce. The four divisions are
filled with bands of different colours, the most remarkable being
of transparent glass with spiral lines of opaque white as seen
in Venetian glass. Such work, indicating a most delicate and
difficult manipulatory process, would most likely be imported from
¹ See Caylus for more particulars of these localities.
1
FRENCH, SPANISH, GERMAN, AND ITALIAN.
131
one of the great glass centres, probably Rome. Many writers
concur in thinking that the extraordinary beauty, variety, and
abundance of glass found all over France prove the greater part
of it to have been of native manufacture. With the invasion of
the barbarians the art fell into decay, but revived again under the
Merovingians. Some of the Frankish tombs contain vases which
probably belonged to an earlier period, but being valued by some
Frank he would naturally give "them repose with his ashes."
Merovingian artists impressed on all their work a seal of bizarre
ornamentation which renders it easily recognisable. The large
number of vases found in tombs of the first three centuries give
the great distinction between them and those of the three follow-
ing, when Christian emblems begin to mix with pagan.
All
Merovingian tombs have an empty vase beside the occupant,
possibly meant to contain holy water to frighten away demons.
Enamel is commonly found about this epoch. Philostratus,
writing from Rome in the third century, says: "Barbarians near
the ocean have found the art of fixing glass on metal." The
Merovingian ornaments are distinguished by having thin gold
threads dividing the different coloured incrustations of glass;
the art is the same wherever found, and as it only appears to
have lasted a short time, would seem to have been imported not
indigenous art. This class of ornament is precisely the same
in England, France, Spain, or Germany; from this latter country
it is believed to have taken its origin, as it is in Frankish tombs it
most abounds. At Londiniers in 1847 some fine ornaments of
this class were found in a woman's tomb, consisting of little pins
presenting the form of a bird, serpent, or other animal in gilt
bronze with encrusted glass ornamentation; a round fibula with
filagree and glass, some square or crescent shaped decorations,
with the ends prolonged to an animal's head, all with glass,¹ which
is rarely blue, sometimes green, but generally red; one parrot's
head fibula had red glass eyes. In 1855, at Evermeu, an orna-
ment was discovered of red glass cloisonné exactly like those in
the tomb of Childeric, A.D. 481. It is now in the Louvre, it
was found at the waist of a skeleton, and had been evidently the
clasp of a bag or purse; it was formed of two birds' heads joined,
and the glass had metal placed behind to enhance its brilliance.
2
¹ Ornaments of an earlier date are found set with garnets, which are slightly
rounded.
2 See Plate VI. I.
132
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
A fibula found at Caudebec is made of gold with green paste, and
eight tears of red glass exactly like those found in Anglo-Saxon
tombs. The sword of Childeric is ornamented in precisely the
same manner. Some of these fibulæ are encrusted with glass in
the form of a cross. It is difficult to prove exactly the religion of
their owners; they stood between the fading pagan and the advanc-
ing Christian worlds, from the third to about the seventh century.
The most beautiful specimens of this jewellery known are those
now in the Museum of Cluny, commonly known as the Tresor de
Guarrazar. In 1858 some peasants digging near Toledo, at the
Fuente de Guarrazar, unearthed eight votive crowns of gold,
ornamented with a profusion of precious stones and glass; the
peasants, ignorant of the value of their treasure, commenced
dividing it, when fortunately some wiser person purchased the
whole, and, starting for Paris, offered them to the government,
who promptly secured them at once for the Museum of Cluny.
The largest crown is composed of a gold band, four inches wide,
ornamented with thirty large uncut sapphires, and as many pearls
arranged in groups of five; between them the ornamentation is
infinitely more rare, it is composed of a sort of repoussé pattern
of seven leaves open à jour, and filled in with clear red glass;
two borders of red glass, cloisonné in circles, finish the pattern,
in each circle is a square of green glass. But the most original
part of this precious diadem is found in the twenty-two letters
suspended like pendants from the lower part of the band; these
letters are about an inch long, and open à jour, of the same work
as the double border, that is to say, filled in with red glass
cloisonné with gold; from each hangs by a golden chain a pendant
of green glass, and pear shaped sapphires. The letters give the
inscription "Reccesvinthus Rex Offeret." This is the name of one
of the most distinguished kings of the Goths, who died 678; the
date of the crown is therefore fixed by this ingenious inscription,
in which each letter forms a jewel in itself. The crown is sup-
ported by four gold chains, joining in a rock crystal ornament,
forming an exact copy of the capital of a seventh century pillar,
with a crystal bead at the top, and a beautiful cross formed of
sapphires, with three pendants of glass paste, pierced sapphires
and pearls, hanging from it. This is a unique specimen of jewels
set à jour at that epoch. None of the other crowns approach
this one in beauty. The custom of suspending votive crowns in
1 See Plate VI. 2.
FRENCH, SPANISH, GERMAN, AND ITALIAN. 133
holy places, or in secular buildings, was much practised when
the northern conquerors placed themselves on the ruins of
Roman civilization.
Ravenna gives us many examples, a circumstance of some
importance, as many monuments of that town were founded by
kings of the Goths. The treasures of Guarrazar are supposed to
have been hidden during the Moorish invasion of the eighth
century. Julian of Toledo describes a crown of a similar
character, that was consecrated to St. Felix by King Reccarède,
586. There is a small reliquary at St. Maurice, Valais, of which
three sides are covered with red glass cloisonné with pure gold
and cameo ornaments, and the fourth side contains an inscription
presenting the names of Theuderic and three others, all giving
a septentrional origin. A superb evangelaire in the treasury of
Monza shows on the binding a pattern in gold and red glass,
of precisely the same character as that on the votive crowns; it
is supposed to have been the gift of Theodelinde, a princess of
German origin. Lasteyrie, who has carefully described these
votive crowns, thinks that jewellery in red glass cloisonné with gold
was never practised save by people of German race; as in
France by the first Merovingians, in England by Anglo-Saxons,
among the Swiss by Bourguignons, and in Italy and Spain by
Goths and Lombards. This industry was never native. These
conquerors, when treading out all traces of Roman occupation,
might have called to their courts artisans from the north, and
naturalized to a certain extent their ancient arts; but they took no
deep roots when transplanted. These ornaments are red glass
and not garnets, as they are flat on both sides and all of
precisely the same thickness; the green is simply glass. It is
necessary here to return to some of the earlier Merovingian
tombs, in which no jewellery occurs, though they present other
features of interest; thus among seven or eight glass vases found
at Evermeu one, of a bottle shape, was filled with the larger
wings of coleoptera, “Calandra granaria”; probably the bottle was
filled with these insects, of which only the wings remain; why
these singular relics were placed there no one can tell, at the
depth of four feet beneath the surface of the soil it is impossible
to imagine the natural introduction of the insects. Sometimes
vases were placed at the foot of the grave filled with food and
nuts. M. Baillon found one filled with the bones of water rats,
woodpeckers, jays, frogs, and field mice. Many of the graves
134
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
contain cone shaped glasses, with the remains of dried red wine;
several of these glasses are shaped like the tumblers found in
Anglo-Saxon tombs. Abbe Cochet describes a glass ring for a
bracelet, of a black colour, with a bronze ring attached to it,
as if for suspending an ornament; this kind of bracelet is rare
in Merovingian tombs, but is spread over a great space. M.
Troyon says, apropos of a glass ring bracelet found at Vallée de
l'Haulne in Switzerland: "it is curious to see how the same kind
of ornament was worn in many different countries; thus in some
localities the glass ring bracelets are found with Celtic money of
three or four centuries B C., then they appear in Roman remains,
and are still worn in many Eastern lands." Some large flat
objects, with a hole in the centre and only ornamented on one
side, are probably buttons, used by Roman men and women
to fasten their robes on the shoulder, as seen in busts; they are
rarely found in the same tomb with fibulæ, some think they were
amulets. Several bracelets were made of a leather band, with
hanging or fixed ornaments and square plaques. Our pins and
brooches are precisely the same as those worn by the ancients.
At St. Sabine a glass vase was found with an inscription in honour
of Julian the Apostate, which would fix the date late in the fourth
century. M. Baudot, who excavated the cemeteries near Charnay,
Dijon, found in different graves thirty-five glass vases; this glass
was not at all iridescent, or altered by its long entombment, as
glass buried in other localities generally is. The colours found
were only light and dark green, thick or thin according to its
destination; a half sphere with the lip turned down was the
commonest form; possibly these vases, if meant to hold liquids,
were fixed in some kind of foot, as they could not stand alone;
some were long shaped, like beer or champagne glasses. Some
larger vases were ornamented with horizontal or vertical bands of
glass, the same as are now used among rich peasants of Auxois
for waterpots; each vase had by it a small cup with a little
handle by which it might be suspended with a cord to the large
one; sometimes these vases are found enclosed in earthen ones,
to preserve them. A great variety of beads in coloured glass,
amber, or clay, were also preserved in these tombs. They are
supposed to date from early in the fifth century, when King Clovis
met the Bourguignons near Dijon, and fought and conquered
them, pursuing the barbarians under Gondebard, by the Saone
and Rhone, as far as Avignon where Gondebard fortified his
FRENCH, SPANISH, GERMAN, AND ITALIAN.
135
camp. The tombs are conjectured to have belonged to the
warriors then killed; the women's tombs among them are
accounted for by the fact that the women of these tribes often
accompanied the men to battle, sometimes indeed the whole
tribe assisted. The graves are Christian as the cross frequently
occurs, the art is not Roman. It is possible these tombs may
have belonged to the conquerors of Gaul after the expulsion of
the Romans from England and Gaul, which is a period more
wrapped in shadow than any other. The museum of Rouen is very
rich in glass found chiefly in France, the whole is minutely
described in M. Deville's beautiful work.¹ Near Avignon many
Roman remains have yielded to their explorers a large number
of glass vases, of varied though not uncommon shapes; some of
these, from three to seven inches high, are of extraordinary light-
ness, and some are undoubtedly meant for surgical purposes.
As Christianity advanced glass became necessary for the service
of the church, and we find many references to it especially with
regard to chalices. Thus Pope Zephyrinus, 197, had ordered that
wine should not be consecrated as heretofore in a wooden but in
a glass vessel; St. Jerome writes of the Bishop of Toulouse as
bearing the Lord's blood in a vessel of glass. As the earlier
converts to Christianity were by no means all of humble station,
there were soon very few churches which could not afford a silver
chalice, and in the fourth century we find many churches already
rich in gold and silver vessels. St. Exupêre, of Toulouse, fifth
century, used glass chalices not by caprice as Romans did, but
because he had sold his gold and silver ones to assist the poor.
St. Ambrose sold his precious chalices to redeem captives, and
used glass until they could be replaced. Some bishops preferred
metal, looking down on glass or wood. Pewter was then used
and considered a superior material to glass, as St. Benedict of
Aniane, 821, says the vessels of his church were first wood, then
glass, and at last he ascended to pewter. In the British Museum
are preserved two glass chalices of the sixth and seventh century.
Church authorities again found it necessary to prohibit the use
of inferior materials for chalices, as Pope Leo IV., 850, lays down
the rule that no one should celebrate mass in a chalice of horn,
wood, lead, or glass; yet glass continued to be used, as St. Winoens
says the monks of a monastery founded by him in Flanders still
1 "L'Art de la Verrerie dans l'antiquité."
2 Window glass has been treated in a separate chapter.
136
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
made use of chalices of glass, and Pugin says monks at Venice
up to the tenth century used glass, although a council held at
Rheims before that period forbade all chalices made of wood,
glass, tin, or copper. Among the most ancient relics preserved
in France may be named the fragments of the "Ste. ampoule,” a
glass phial containing holy oil, which was said to have been
brought by a snow-white dove to St. Remi, when he was baptizing
King Clovis, who embraced Christianity in 495. This sacred
phial was preserved in the tomb of the saint, and used in the
coronation of nearly all the kings who reigned in France from
Clovis to Charles X. The new king was ushered with great pomp
into the cathedral of Rheims, the barons then went to the church
and tomb of St. Remi to fetch the "Ste. ampoule," which was
brought with great state to the cathedral, and when the ceremony
of coronation was over was restored to the tomb, where it was
preserved in safety for thirteen centuries, but in 1793 a band
of ruffians entered the church and broke the phial at the foot of
the statue of Louis XV. Pious hands preserved the broken frag-
ments, to which some dried balm still adhered, and in 1819 these
were restored to the clergy and authenticated with great pomp,
and dried oil from the fragments was used in the coronation of
Charles X., 1825. Glass would seem to have become more com-
monly used very soon, as Fortunatus, bishop of Poitiers, sixth
century, writing to Queen Radegonde, wife of Clotaire I., describes
a repast at which he had been present, in which each kind of
food was served on a different material, "meat on silver, vege-
tables on marble, fowls on glass, fruit on painted baskets, and
milk in black earthenware pots." Ruricius, bishop of Limoges,
506, writes of a "vitrarius"; and M. Fillon quotes a diploma of
Louis le Debonnaire, 825, in which "portus vitriarii" is named
as a boundmark in the "pays d'herbauges."
About this time it appears that foreign artists were called in to
assist native talent, as Filiasi says in 677 many Greek workmen
went to France to make glass. M. Fillon says that written docu-
ments connected with glassworks begin in the ninth century.
Lasteyrie asserts that Normandy was the first country where
privileges were given to glass workers, they were conceded by
the first dukes of Normandy in the tenth and eleventh centuries
to four families attached to their persons; these families, constantly
devoted to the same pursuit, enjoyed their privileges confirmed
by English and French kings till last century. To this day
FRENCH, SPANISH, GERMAN, AND ITALIAN. 137
In
descendants of one of these families, Brossard, are to be found;
the rest are extinct. When factories were to be established in
other parts of France "gentlemen" from Normandy were sent to
start them. These privileges must have given a great impetus
to the art in France. Other countries must have been nearly
contemporaneous with Normandy in glassmaking; M. Fillon
gives the name of Robertus, vitriarius, as witness to two deeds
in the abbey of Maillezais, 1088; as his name is placed first in
the list of witnesses, he would seem to have held superior rank
to the other gentlemen of the country (Poitiers). He also gives
the name of a window glass maker in the eleventh century.
1290 there existed in the department of Aisne, near La Capelle,
a factory of glass bottles, which preserves in its archives patents
given to it by Charles of Burgundy, Francis I., and others. In
the time of St. Louis it was the custom to serve glass on the
table; "Le comte d'Eu dressait sa Bible du long de nostre table,
et nous brisait nos pos, et nos vouerres (Joinville). The tube
in which the thorn given by St. Louis as one from the crown of
thorns of our Saviour is preserved in the treasury of St. Maurice
in the Valais, and the piece of glass which encloses it,¹ may pro-
bably be the work of the medieval houses founded after the
crusades, whose workers preserved their nobility, notwithstanding
their being obliged to exercise a profession. Palissy says, "L'art
de la verrerie est noble, et ceux qui y besongnent sont nobles." It
does not appear that nobility was conferred on those who worked
in glass, but only that exercising that art did not degrade one
already noble. M. Chaptal thinks these factories have changed
neither their furnaces or their manipulation since the days of
Louis, 1226, when they were founded, and thinks the gentlemen
workers brought back from the crusades only a power of making
very common glass, such as their fathers had seen made in the
East. "Ces gentilhommes comme on sait, ne daignaient pas
alors apprendre à lire, et ils declaraient ne savoir pas signer,
attendu leur qualité de gentilhomme." Charles V. by letters
patent gave all glass painters exemption from all "tailles, aides,
et subsides, garde de porte, guet, arriere guet, et autres sub-
ventions quelconques." Charles VII., 1431, confirms these
privileges, and Charles IX. again confirms them, and adds that
¹ In Notre Dame, Paris, is preserved a piece of the true cross (with a pope's
attestation of its genuineness) enclosed hermetically in glass blown over it,
possibly of the same date as this relic.
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GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
all noblemen may work at glass without losing caste. Possibly
the gentlemen workers gave themselves airs on the strength of
their privileges, as the quotations at the head of this chapter
seem to imply. There are records of glasshouses in Provence
as early as the thirteenth century. In 1338 Humbert, dauphin of
Viennois, granted to a glassworker named Guionet a portion of
the forest of Chamboraut, to establish glassworks there, on con-
dition that he should furnish the dauphin with three thousand
pieces of glass annually. M. Fillon thinks the custom of placing
coats of arms in the bottom of cups is as ancient as 1420, when
Guillaume Bouchet describes a widow whose excessive grief made
her take to drinking; to cure this bad habit her friends filled for
her a cup, containing the arms of her husband, the sight of which
always renewing her grief, she was obliged to leave enough wine in
the cup to conceal them.
SPAIN.
Pliny states of Spain, as he does of Gaul, that glass factories
were established before his time, and the numerous remains of
furnaces found there confirm his assertion. It is also not im-
possible that the Carthaginians who traded with Spain for tin
should have introduced some of their glass, in the manufacture
of which ancient authors have told us they excelled. Prof. Raw-
linson considers that the trade of the Carthaginians with the west
coast of Africa has been fully proved, and suggests that the glass
objects found there (outside the Straits of Gibraltar) were brought
to the coast by them; there is therefore no improbability in sup-
posing that traders from Carthage might have carried their com-
merce to the nations on both sides of the Pillars of Hercules,
though the records left us of that once flourishing city are very
scanty. Mr. Nesbitt, who has given a good deal of information
regarding Spanish glass, quotes Sinobas as his authority that “in
the Ibero-Roman period glass was made chiefly in the valleys
which run from the Pyrenees to the coast of Catalonia, near the
Ebro, also in Valencia and Murcia. The ruins of furnaces still
met with in those parts are small in diameter; he considers they
produced the objects found still in Spanish tombs, such as small
jars with handles, cups, phials with wide necks but without a foot,
pateras with gold, dishes, thick moulded saltcellars, small am-
phoras, lachrymatories, rings red, yellow, and gilded, counters,
and bracelets. He believes the manufacture continued to exist
FRENCH, SPANISH, GERMAN, AND ITALIAN.
139
under the Gothic kings, and he quotes a translation made in the
twelfth century of the Lapidario of Abolais, who is supposed to
have written in Hebrew in the seventh century, and who says of
it that it is of several colours, white which is the noblest, red,
green, "xade," which he explains as the dark hue of obsidian, and
purple; mention is made also of its use in windows, and as a
burning lens. M. Labarte is of opinion that the art did not
survive the invasion of the barbarians, and quotes Isidore of
Seville, who however only says that "pure white glass was not
made in Italy, Gaul, or Spain," but does not deny that glass was
made at all. We have seen in the Tresor de Guarrazar, that the
Goths of the seventh century brought their own glass manu-
factures with them into Spain. El-Makkari states that Murcia
was renowned for the fabrication of glass and pottery, of both
which materials large vases of the most exquisite shapes were
made by the Moors. It is to the artistic skill of the Moors that
we owe the iridescent Hispano-Moorish pottery so prized by
artists. Mr. De Morgan has succeeded in reproducing the
brilliant iridescence so highly esteemed on the old faience, but
modern art has not yet brought it within the reach of our poorer
classes, it remains a luxury of the rich; whereas in Spain, from the
enormous quantity found, it must have once been commonly used,
as footbaths and large vessels still remain proofs of the skill in
glazing of the old Moors. Ash-Shakandu, an Arab author of the
thirteenth century, says:
"Almeria also was famous for the fabri-
cation of all sorts of vases and utensils, whether of iron, copper,
or glass." The manufacture of glass in Barcelona was of equal
or probably greater antiquity, as a municipal edict of 1324
banishes all glass ovens from inside the city. After this date
large quantities of glass seem to have been manufactured in Spain,
both for home use and exportation, much of which bears great
resemblance to old Venetian. Many beautiful specimens of
Spanish glass, collected by Señor Juan Riano, may be seen in
the South Kensington Museum, but their dates are later than the
limits examined in this work. Spain not being a country so rich
in forests as France, it is probable glassmaking would always
have been a more costly manufacture, and her factories con-
sequently not so continuously worked as those of her neighbour.
Numerous modern Spanish examples are engraved in Mr. Nesbitt's
art handbooks, but they are all later in date than the limits as-
signed to these notes.
140
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
GERMANY.
1
So much ancient glass has been found in Germany, especially in
the neighbourhood of the Rhine, that it seems probable that local
manufactories were established in the country during the Roman
occupation. It is most likely the art fell into disuse when the
Roman influence was withdrawn. In graves belonging to the
next period in Germany drinking glasses have been discovered,
very similar in form to those preserved in French and British
tombs; but whether they were made contemporaneously by tribes
of a kindred stock or introduced from one country to the others
has never yet been clearly ascertained, though the weight of
evidence seems in favour of native factories. The Frankish
jewels appear to have all originated from a Teutonic source. Mr.
Wright has engraved some German drinking glasses, which
present nearly the same forms as those of Anglo-Saxons. Le
Viel thinks the Germans of the ninth century taught glassmaking
with other arts to more northern nations. "The holy bishops
Villebrod, Ouinfrid, and Villehade, in endeavouring to chase away
the shadows of paganism by the light of Christianity, strove also
to introduce useful arts with a view of uprooting that pernicious
idleness, source of brigandage and cruelty, and the people gradu-
ally replaced by useful works those scenes of blood and carnage
to which their natural ferocity had led them." He is inclined to
believe that the English, having learnt the art of glassmaking
from the French, taught the Germans in the eighth century;
but this view is contradicted by a letter quoted by Mr. Nesbitt,
addressed about the middle of the eighth century to Lullo,
bishop of Mainz, by Cuthbert, abbot of Wearmouth: "If there be
any man in your diocese who can make vessels of glass well, pray
send him to me; or if by chance he is beyond your bounds, in
the power of some other person outside your diocese, I beg your
fraternity that you will persuade him to come to us, for we are
ignorant and helpless in that art; and if it should happen that
any one of the glassmakers through your diligence is permitted
(D.V.) to come to us, I will, while my life lasts, entertain him with
benign kindness.”
The practice of using glass drinking cups is spoken of in the
metrical life of Eigilis, 822, abbot of Fulda, written by his
1 "The Celt, Roman and Saxon."
FRENCH, SPANISH, GERMAN, AND ITALIAN. 141
disciple Candidus. If these were of home manufacture some
more precious specimens were brought from the East, as we hear
of "precious glass of Alexandria" at the emperor Henry's court,
1039. St. Odilo, 1049, another abbot of Fulda, is represented.
in his life as pouring wine into a little glass; some "sculptured
glass vessels which were buried in the snow," mentioned in his
biography, probably came from Alexandria, as did also most
likely the vase which, being accidentally broken by a fall, was
mended by the prayers of this saint. St. Donatus of Arezzo,
we are told by St. Gregory, was equally fortunate in restoring by
prayer a chalice of glass that had been broken by the heathen.
Among the objects found when the island of Bjorkö in Sweden
was explored, were some disks of glass, three inches in diameter
by an inch and a half thick, convex, and well rounded at the sides,
such as are still used in Sweden for smoothing linen after it has been
washed. The site is believed to be that of the city of Birka,
destroyed about the end of the eleventh century. Mr. Nesbitt
surmises that these objects of glass may have been brought from
Germany. Window glass seems to have been made in Germany
at a very early period, and is more especially treated in its place.
In 1335 the name of "Henricus factor vitrorum" occurs in
one of the registers of the city of Cologne. Specimens of
German glass in the middle ages are rare; none in the South
Kensington Museum is earlier than the sixteenth century.
ITALY.
Though very little is known of glass manufacture in Italy
immediately after the fall of the Roman empire, it would be
unreasonable to suppose that all traces of an art so highly valued
and widely practised should disappear at once from the country,
especially when we remember that in other parts of Europe it
survived, though in a minor degree, the removal of Roman
influence. Christian glass in the catacombs would bring the
manufacture there down to at least the fifth century, if not later;
and though the window glass and the mosaic, used in the large
churches built both at Rome and Ravenna in the fifth and sixth
centuries, may have been chiefly Byzantine, it is most probable
that some glass should have been made or at least coloured on
the spot, in both cities. Thirty glass vases were found in the
tomb of Maria, wife of Honorius of Rome, A.D. 423.
142
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
The Roman glass which Eraclius directs should be used for
glazing earthen vessels and making artificial gems is clearly
ancient Roman, as he constantly directs that glass shall be sought
for and collected from the pagan edifices for his various recipes,
a source of supply which was doubtless much richer in his day
than it would be found at present.
Eraclius seems to have been
an Italian, and wrote his treatise certainly after the sixth century,
because he quotes Isidore of Seville, and possibly before the
tenth, because he makes no allusion in his work to Arab science
which was then becoming well known. But the contents of his
book argue a very extended knowledge of glassmaking, probably
inherited from previous workers, as it could hardly have been all
collected during the life of one man.
The exact origin of the extensive and world renowned manu-
factories of Venice can scarcely be clearly ascertained. Native
writers are inclined to believe that glassmaking was practised in
the lagunes of Venice by refugees from the troubles of Italy as
early as the fifth century, and it would be impossible to disprove
such an assertion, as among the many exiles from large cities like
Padua or Aquileia there were most probably some capable of
carrying on in small houses, such as were then used, an art so
commonly known in Rome and other cities.
If any skilled
workmen were among such refugees they would hardly fail at
once to recognise in such a place as the lagunes the presence of
marine plants yielding alkali, and the abundance of sand which
would make the manufacture of glass easy and inexpensive. It
was doubtless the existence of these rich gifts of nature which
afterwards gave Venice such superiority in her art. In the days
of her after renown, not contented with her own native pro-
ductions, she sent her boats to Belus to collect the sand celebrated
of old, wherewith to provide the factories of Murano. Signor
Cecchetti declares that the first documentary evidence of glass-
making in Venice is contained in the municipal archives of 1090,
where mention is made of a certain Petrus Flavianus, phiolarius.
Several churches in Murano and Venice had before that date
been decorated with mosaic. St. Cyprian was finished in 882,
but there is no record of the place at which the mosaic was
manufactured. The building of St. Mark's, 1159, would naturally
give a great impetus to glassmaking on the spot; and the taking
of Constantinople, 1204, would probably drive many Greek
workers to seek employment and an asylum in Venice, and they
FRENCH, SPANISH, GErman, anD ITALIAN. 143
doubtless brought with them the knowledge of many Byzantine
recipes that would tend to enrich the new factories.
In 1224
twenty-nine "phiolarii" are mentioned as having infringed the
official regulations laid down by the town for the management of
the works, thus showing a great increase in the members of the
trade. At the election of the doge in 1268 the glass workers
exhibited decanters, scent bottles and similar pretty objects, and
in 1279, by a decree of the great council, they made measures
and weights of glass somewhat like those issued by the Fatimite
princes, showing at this time their traditions were rather derived
from Byzantine than Roman influence. In 1275 a law was
enacted prohibiting the exportation of the sand and other sub-
stances used in making glass, and also fragments of broken glass.
After this time the republic strove, by various similar decrees,
jealously to guard from the outer world the secrets of a manufac-
ture that brought great riches to the citizens. Marco Polo, 1295,
gave them useful hints as to extending their trade in beads by the
same routes followed by Phoenician merchants centuries before.
The fear of fire made the council abolish all glass furnaces from
the city of Venice, 1291, though the makers of small glass wares
were afterwards allowed to remain within the city, provided a
space of fifteen paces was left between the workshops and the
houses. It is supposed the banished establishments were recon-
structed at Murano, where they seem to have remained in full activity
almost ever since. In 1295 the council increased the fines to be
levied on glassmakers who should return to Venice after a sojourn
abroad; and from a petition presented on this occasion it appears
that furnaces had been established in Treviso, Vicenza, Padua,
Mantua, Ferrara, Ravenna, and Bologna. Many travellers of
this age bear testimony to the marvels produced in the renowned
workshops of Murano. Foreign towns strove to attract Venetian
workmen to teach their artisans this lucrative trade, and the
council of ten redoubled their precautions to preserve their
precious secret. In 1459 they took entire charge of Murano, to
prevent the art being taught to any strangers, and an article of the
¹ At the beginning of the seventeenth century there were three hundred glass-
houses in Murano; at the commencement of the present century all were gone
except a mosaic factory, which closed in 1825, but the necessity for renewing
some of the mosaic of St. Mark's induced the government to persuade the
owner, Tradi, to reopen his works. He afterwards made some valuable
discoveries, and ultimately a great revival of glassmaking took place, which
appears to be daily increasing.
144
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
state says: "if any workman carries this art to a foreign country
he will have first an order to return; if he obeys not, all his nearest
relatives will be put in prison; if in spite of this he obstinately
remains abroad, some emissary will be charged to slay him." Two
workmen whom the emperor Leopold had tempted into Germany
were actually killed. But if the republic thus sternly punished
offenders, it covered with favours those who remained faithful.
The Venetian police had no power in Murano, they had their
own magistrates and code of laws. Nobles gave their daughters
in marriage to glass workers, and their children retained their
nobility.
F. Faber, of Ulm, writing in 1484, says such precious and
beautiful glass wares were manufactured nowhere else in the
world save Murano, and relates that the doge and senate con-
sidered a vase of glass a fit and worthy present to the emperor
Frederick IV. when he visited Venice. Such vases had in ancient
days been esteemed fitting presents for royalty; this emperor
however, to show his mean opinion of the gift, let it fall, and
remarked that in one respect, fragility, glass was inferior to gold
and silver; the doge taking the hint replaced the glass by a vase
of precious metal. Leandro Alberti, who visited Murano early in
the sixteenth century, says there were then twenty-four glass-
houses at work, and describes among the remarkable objects of
glass he saw there a galley with all its tackle, a braccio in length,
and an organ which produced melodious sounds. The large
extent of the trade in glass carried on by Venetians may be
imagined from a note in the journal of Sir Thomas Roe, ambas-
sador from James I. to the court of the Great Mogul, Jehangir,
1615. He had brought a number of presents from the English
king, but while he was still negotiating with the Mogul an ambas-
sador from Persia arrived, who presented on the part of his
sovereign, among other costly offerings, "seven mirrors of Venice
so fair and beautiful that my heart sank within me on seeing
them." Capt. Hawkins a little before this date reported that the
Great Mogul had in his treasury two hundred glasses and rich
cups. These were most probably also of Venetian manufacture,
as the length of the journey did not prevent the Persians from
sending large mirrors, which would be more difficult to transport
than glasses. Vincenzo Cervio writes that at the marriage of
the Prince of Mantua, 1581, "there was there, besides most rich
sideboards and ordinary glass ware, a display of various beakers,
FRENCH, SPANISH, GERMAN, AND ITALIAN.
145
decanters, jars, and other most beautiful vessels of Venetian
crystal, so that I think all the shops of Murano had met there,
and of that there was need, for all the signori invited, after they
had drunk, broke the beakers, which they held as a sign of great
joyfulness." This idea, that no meaner toast shall ever be drunk
from any glass once used for such an important occasions, has,
fortunately perhaps for the cause of art, been altered of late years.
The shops of Murano which furnished these signori with the
power of showing their joy are described by C. Sabellico as form-
ing a magnificent street, extending a mile in length, and illustrious
on account of its glasshouses, where in 1495 every conceivable
object that could be fashioned in glass was produced. In
Curzon's "Libraries in Italy" a curious use of glass is described.
"In the beginning of the fifteenth century a man named Panfilo
Castaldi was employed by the government of the republic of
Venice to engross deeds and public edicts of various kinds, the
initial letters at the commencement of the writing being usually
ornamented with red ink or illuminated in gold and colours.
According to Sansovino certain stamps or types had been invented
some time previously by Pietro di Natale, bishop of Aquileia.
These were made of Murano glass, and were used to stamp or
print the outline of the large initial letters of public documents,
which were afterwards filled up by hand. Panfilo Castaldi im-
proved on these glass types by having others made of wood or
metal, and having seen several Chinese books which the cele-
brated traveller Marco Polo had brought from China, and of
which the entire text was printed with wooden blocks, he caused
movable wooden types to be made, each type containing a single
letter, and with these he printed several broadsides and single
leaves at Venice in 1426. Some of these single sheets are said to
be preserved among the archives of Feltre. The tradition con-
tinues that John Faust of Mayence became acquainted with
Castaldi, and passed some time with him in his scriptorium at
Feltre." Mr. Nesbitt, who has collected an immense variety of
facts connected with the glass manufactures of medieval Venice,
gives a curious list of articles of glass from the inventory of effects
belonging to Henry VIII. in 1542, which were under the custody
of Sir Ant. Denny at Westminster. Nearly 450 glass objects
are enumerated, and probably the greater number of these were of
Venetian manufacture. Among them are many pieces of blue,
or blue partly gilt, some of many colours, and several garnished
L
146
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
with silver. Four "bell candlesticks" of glass are especially
named, and the expression is interesting, as brass candlesticks of
this form are well known not only from Venice, but also of
Damascus and Persian work; glass in this form are rare, though
some specimens of faience are known; the shape was a favourite
one in the East, where it is still much in use. Venetians made
numerous vessels in the form of animals or fish or monsters.
René François, chaplain to Louis XIII., gives an amusing sketch
of Murano filling Europe with a thousand fantasies in glass and
crystal, which compel people to drink in spite of themselves ;
one swallows a ship or a gondola of wine, a pyramid or a steeple,
a whale or a lion, all sorts of potable or non-potable beasts.
The astonished wine takes all kinds of shapes and turns all
manners of colours, thus claret becomes golden and white wine is
dyed scarlet. From this we see these extraordinary vessels were
meant for use as well as for objects of ornament. The activity
of Venetians in searching far and near for means of improving
their important factories is shown by Sandy, who travelling in 1610
says:
"in the desert between Alexandria and Cairo is a wood
called kali by the Arabs, which they use for fuel and sell the
ashes crushed together like a stone, in great quantities, to the
Venetians, who, equally mixing the same with the stones brought
from Pavia by the Ticino, make thereof their crystalline glass."
These are the same (6 tarso" stones which Neri directs should be
used for making pure glass. As the factories of Venice rose in
renown, new born genius was added to the experience of the past,
and the art the Byzantine Greeks had transmitted to western
Europe approached an extraordinary degree of perfection.
Specimens of ancient glass were carefully sought out and earnestly
studied by the most skilful workmen of Murano, and the result
of their close observation of the antique enabled them to produce
those countless marvels in colour and form which still give
pleasure to the uncultivated as to the most fastidious taste; the
extraordinary lightness of old Venetian glass rivals that of ancient
Greece or Rome. They succeeded in copying all the old colours,
and blended two sheets of colour in one glass; they imitated all
kinds of marbled stones; they made mille fiori or mosaic glass ;
they invented aventurine; and they far surpassed their masters
in reticulated or lace glass. The most remarkable of this filagree
glass is that called à reticelli. M. Labarte gives the clearest
account of how this beautiful appearance is produced. Canes are
FRENCH, SPANISH, GERMAN, AND ITALIAN.
147
prepared containing a coloured or milkwhite thread, twisted in a
transparent rod of glass; these rods laid side by side are heated
in the usual manner to make two sheets of glass (the enamel must
be very dry). These two are laid slanting across each other, so
that between each rounded point of the approaching canes
a bubble of air is left; with the iron pinchers these sheets are put
into the furnace and formed into a vase with a stand and cover;
the extraordinary manner in which the bubbles of air inside the
mass of glass increase and decrease with mathematical precision,
according to the shape of the vase, makes its manufacture appear
totally incomprehensible to the uninitiated. The amount of
dexterity and skill in manipulation required to produce works so
minute and delicate in their details must always place specimens.
of this glass among the most valuable artistic treasures a nation
can possess. This reticulated glass has been perfectly reproduced
at the modern Murano works, and Englishmen may feel some
pride in remembering that their countrymen have had some hand
in fostering the revival of this beautiful art. It is no secret that
English culture and capital materially aided Salviati in his early
difficulties, and the exquisite works produced by the Royal Society
of Murano and exhibited at Paris 1878 were deservedly rewarded
by the Cross of the Legion of Honour bestowed by the French
government on M. Castellani, the director of the society, which is
chiefly supported by Englishmen. It is the extreme delicacy of
touch and artistic taste inherited by the artisans of Murano from
numerous generations of glass-working ancestors, that has enabled
these modern societies to rival and reproduce all the envied
treasures of medieval times, whose hidden secrets have all been
unravelled in the last few years by the patient determination of
modern skill. The fame of Murano so entirely eclipsed that of all
other glassmaking cities in Italy that we find very little mention
of their productions, with the exception of mosaic and painted
glass. No doubt, glass of other sorts was made in the middle ages
which could not all have come from Venice. Thus it is possible
the glass found in the tomb of Maria, wife of Honorius, at Rome,
may have been of local manufacture; in her tomb was a beauti-
ful lamp and a silver box, about a foot and a half long, containing
vases and other pieces of glass to the number of thirty; among
them two cups with beautiful figures in half concave, and a flat
bottle for oil, wonderfully thin, also one shaped like one of the
skimmers with handles used to take holy water out of bénitiers
148
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
at Rome. The tombs of Roger I. and Constantine in Sicily,
both of the twelfth century, have pillars ornamented with glass
mosaics, and several of the Sicilian monarchs were buried with
embroidery of imitation pearls on their shoes and dresses, but
there is nothing to prove that all these were not made in Venice.
In 1623 Antoine Miotti addressed a petition to Philip IV. of
Spain, in which he says that Rome had two establishments for
glassmaking, Florence one, and that Milan and Verona had tried
to set others on foot; and Sir R. Mansel in the same year pro-
cured a (6
company of glass workers from Mantua." Therefore it
is possible that some of the articles classed as Venetian are really
the production of other Italian cities.
IMITATION GEMS.
"Should you wish to make an emerald, take two ounces of fine crystal glass
and half an ounce of calcined copper, grind in a mortar, add some alum, melt
at an equal fire for three days and nights."-From an MS. on the sacred art of
Alchemy, by Olympiodorus of Alexandria, third century.
T
HERE is little doubt that the most profitable and pro-
bably also the most scientific trade carried on in Egypt
was that of imitating all manner of precious stones,
of which an enormous number seem to have been
produced; therefore the process of making transparent glass
must have been understood, though we have no means of fixing
the precise date of its discovery. Not only would the manu-
facture be guarded with all the jealousy of trade secrets, but it
would be veiled in the additional mysteries of an all-powerful
priesthood as well. Indeed we are told that the earth around
Egypt was supposed to produce various coloured gems by the aid
of divine fire. No doubt that branch of chemistry was held in
high honour, as historians have thought worthy a place in their
annals the name of that king who succeeded in imitating the
stone called a "cyanus."1 In the Harris papyrus (British
Museum) Rameses III., twentieth dynasty, is supposed to recount
after his death the benefits he has conferred on the country and
temples, and mentions adorning the statue of the god of Thebes
with "real" stones; he also among the list of rings enumerates
those of good gold, with real precious stones, and mentions three
qualities of gold and beaten silver, together with glass scarabei,
and crystal signets, and beads, and pieces of vases, also real
stones, and other stones, real lapis, and turquoise statues of the
Nile, 2 and carefully distinguishes between the number of white
and coloured jars, and earthenware jugs and amphora for holding
¹ Cyanus is an inferior sort of lapis used for making ultramarine. Theo-
phrastus, 384 B.C., says it was produced by art, and an Egyptian king first
made a fusible cyanus.
2 There is apparently an allusion to embroidery in this list, "plants worked
as flowers in screens. >>
149
150
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
incense, spirits, beer and wine, and paint and cosmetics.
sandstone tablet in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, of the date
of Rameses XII., twenty-first dynasty, contains a curious
distinction between xesbit ma, real lapis, and xesbit, only,
supposed to be the paste imitation of it, sometimes sent as
tribute. It also specifies "real" malachite (see a papyrus tale
called "The Possessed Princess"). Real lapis, or "pure," is often
mentioned among the most precious of stones.1 In the pectorals
and other jewellery found in Egyptian tombs many of the stones
are real, and others glass imitations. Saumaise declares the
Egyptians sent such numbers of glass gems to India that they
far outnumbered the real ones; he accuses Indians of trafficking
them with other nations who came to buy the precious stones
and knew no difference between real and false. No wonder
Pliny says "it was the most lucrative trade ever invented by the
mind of man." The priests of Memphis were famed for making
a preparation called "l'osustum," which produced emerald glass.
From their laboratories proceeded probably the marvellous
columns which Herodotus saw in the temple of Hercules at
Tyre, and which he describes as formed of a single emerald,
which at night threw out an extraordinary light. Doubtless they
were made of hollow green glass, lighted up by the care of the
priests with lamps inside. Even in our time such a luminous
column would have a grand effect. Most likely these would
be the same columns which St. Clement describes in the isle of
Aradus, (where stood the Tyre of Herodotus,) which the inhab-
itants invited St. Peter to come and see, and which "astonished
the prince of apostles by their size and grandeur." Of a similar
character must have been the obelisk in the temple of Jupiter,
Egypt, which was sixty feet high, and four and a half wide,
formed of four large emeralds. It must have required great
skill to cast these large pieces of glass. Sesostris had sculptured
in emerald glass a statue still seen in Constantinople in the
reign of Theodosius, he also used a sceptre made of emerald
glass. There existed in the time of Apion Plistonique, in the
labyrinth of Egypt, a colossal emerald statue of Serapis, thirteen
and a half feet high. This god's name also appears on a black
1 That there must have been quantities of real stones in Egypt is shown by
an inscription at the temple of Karnak, where Amenophis III. engraves
a list of his donations to the temple of Ammon, and enumerates among quan-
tities of rare stones 4820 uten of turquoise, part of the booty gained from
a campaign against the Asiatics.
IMITATION GEMS.
151
glass amulet before described; the little ornament remains intact,
but of the great statue not a vestige can be found. When we
read of an emerald six feet long sent as a present from Babylon
to a Pharaoh, of a piece of jasper out of which was carved an
effigy of Nero, A.D. 54, in armour, or of that beautiful chrysolite, six
feet long, which Ptolemy Philadelphus,¹ 285 B.C., had sculptured
into a statue in honour of Queen Arsinoe, may we not imagine
them all to have been glass? Also when we hear that Pompey,
about 80 B.C., found among the treasures captured from Mith-
ridates two thousand drinking vessels all made from precious
stones, may we not think it probable that some among them were
glass imitations? Though it is said that emeralds, 2 being the
most easy gem to imitate, were fabricated in the greatest numbers,
yet many other stones were made in Egypt. A Theban jeweller
could provide a set of ornaments imitating any fashionable
novelty of the day at a price that placed them within the reach of
all classes. It is only when a nation has reached a high state
of civilization and luxury that artificial wants are cultivated, and
poorer classes feel the desire of copying all the caprices and tastes
of the wealthy. Democritus, 460 B.C., was said to have invented
emerald glass, but it is much more probable that during his five
years' residence in Memphis he mastered the secret of making it.
The Egyptian priests also succeeded in making from the scoria
of their factories a black glass resembling jet,3 which they used in
their jewellery and also for statues, to replace not only jet but
the obsidian of Ethiopia, a substance which pleased the emperor
Augustus so much that he had his statue made of it, and also four
elephants which were placed in the temple of Concord. These
obsidian statues were no doubt sculptured by hand, as a block of
that substance from Hecla has in recent times been made into a
bust of a king of Denmark, in Copenhagen, where, as of old in
Egypt and Rome, they still make earrings and necklaces of it.
This substance seems to have appealed to the taste of widely
separated nations, as the old inhabitants of Peru made mirrors
and ornaments of a vitrified lava like obsidian. Of the false
1 Founder of the museum and library of Alexandria.
2 Ancients probably classed as emeralds fluor spar, green vitrified lava,
green jasper, and also green glass. The piece of green glass, seven inches long,
preserved in the monastery of Reichenau, and the sacred cup of Genoa, long
considered the veritable "San Graal," which is full of flaws, are both given
out to be emeralds to the present day.
3 A statue of Menelaus in jet was brought from the temple of Heliopolis in
Egypt to Rome, and afterwards sent back to its original place by Tiberius.
152
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
obsidian statues from Egypt, having no knowledge as to whether
they were wrought by hand or cast, we can only quote Pliny,
“eastern marble liquefied by fire and used as glass." We have
many proofs that signet rings of glass paste were highly valued,
and thought worthy of presentation at the shrine of divinities.
Chandler publishes, from a marble inscription, a list of articles
contained in the treasury of the Acropolis, between the fourth
and fifth centuries B.C.; among them are two "glass signets" of
different colours, set in gold and having gold chains to them. In
one of Boeckh's inscriptions, dating from the Peloponnesian war,
he enumerates (6
seven signets of coloured glass"; and in the
treasury of Curium, Cyprus, numerous pastes, some set as ring
signets, and of various colours, were found, though most of them
were too much corroded to enable the original design to be dis-
tinguished. Some among them were imitations of lapis lazuli,
that "royal gem" as Epiphanius calls it. Mr. King thus
describes one of great beauty. Among these was an un-
exampled paste pendant, belonging to a royal lady, with bands
of gold inserted to imitate the real stone. It is probable, from
the care bestowed on the setting, that the Sidonian merchant had
passed it off on the Cypriote queen as a precious and rare
stone." It is curious to see such similar votive offerings treasured
up in shrines so far apart; it is possible that the donors may
have believed their gifts to be real stones, or the glass imitations
may have been equally valued.
Signet rings of engraved gems must have been used before
600 B.C. in Greece, as soon after that date Solon passed a law
prohibiting the gem engravers (who were already numerous
enough to constitute a distinct trade) from keeping by them the
impression of any signet ever sold, in order to prevent the chance
of forgery from a replica of the original design falling into the
hands of dishonest persons. It would be a great convenience
now if forgery could be prevented by a simple enactment.
Cicero, in speaking of Verres that fanatical collector, describes as
a heinous crime on his part that being greatly pleased with a seal
on a letter, he sent for the signet itself under pretence of looking
at it, and then refused to return it. The fashion of wearing signet
rings was introduced from Greece into Rome, and soon became
universal.
((
It is to the skill of the ancients in making false stones that
owe the numerous imitations of gem camei and intagli,
we
IMITATION GEMS.
153
technically known as "pastes," which fill our public and private
cabinets. Hundreds of them are probably forgeries, but many
are really antique and very valuable, not only for their own
beauty, but because they are often impressions from ancient
gem camei, and have in some cases preserved to us rare designs
of which the originals are lost. Winckelmann mentions as an
example a paste representation of the combat between Pittacus,
one of the seven wise men of Greece, and Phryno on the pro-
montory of Sigëum; the former has entangled his opponent's
head in a net, and so mastered him.
Mr. King describes two beautiful pastes from the Basle
collection, one aventurine with an emerald ground, the other
a breccia agate of wonderfully beautiful colours, both honoured
with the choicest performance in the way of a gold setting ever
achieved by an Etruscan artist. In the Bibliothèque at Paris is
a dark glass intaglio, bearing the head of Augustus, with the
name of the engraver, Dioscoride, a repetition of the signet
he used during the later years of his life. Suetonius, A.D. 70, says
he first used a sphinx, then Alexander the Great's head, then
his own head engraved by Dioscoride. While the rich Romans
wore jewels and gem camei set in gold for signet rings, the trade
of making pastes, meant to meet the requirements of the poorer
classes (always eager to copy the habits of the rich when
possible), throve immensely,¹ and has left us numbers of most.
valuable and skilful specimens. When gem engraving declined
in the third century the art of making pastes seems to have
ceased also.2 The paste gems made for the people in Rome
are sometimes found set in a twisted shank of glass, differing
in colour from the pretended stone, but perfect specimens are
naturally very rare, they are more generally found set in
massive bronze. It is so extremely difficult to remove this
setting from the paste without breaking it that Mr. King thinks
any pastes found without any remains of setting may be set down
as forgeries; this is perhaps true in many cases, but there are
Ancient pastes are much harder than our common window glass, while
modern coloured glass is softer than white.
* We believe that etching on glass now so common was unknown in old
times, because it depends on the properties of fluoric acid, a chemical discovery
of the last century.
3 In the last century paste making was rediscovered and brought to great
perfection by Regent Orleans, 1700; he got the chemist Homberg to reproduce
all the gems in the royal cabinet.
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GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
numerous unset paste gems of undoubted antiquity preserved
in museums. Imitation gems were seldom set in gold, unless
to deceive the unwary; Romans put a backing of stone to a paste
sometimes, so that when the edges were concealed by the setting
the fraud was very difficult of detection, as the back of the ring
when tested gave back a true reply. Of such a kind may have
been "the well dissembled emerald" on the finger of a dandy
mentioned by Martial, who, after asking the price of all the most
expensive articles, is glad to sell his ring for two shillings to get
himself a dinner.
Pliny says the glass gems from rings of the people were ground
up with pipeclay, to make a paint called annulaire. Among
the Duke of Devonshire's gems are to be noted an Achilles
of Pamphilus, and portraits of Nero and Poppæa, both on
pastes that are more lustrous and beautiful in colour than even
the ruby and emerald they were meant to imitate. Busts and
figures in full relief made in glass are sometimes cut, as if out
of a hard stone; there is a fine example in the British Museum,
in hœmatinum, opaque red glass, a bust two and a half inches
high, in very good style; while many of the cameo pastes
preserved in the gem room are more brilliant than jewels.
Seneca says in his time they had discovered the art of converting
pebbles, by means of fire, into stones resembling emeralds, and
they made all sorts of colours by means of stones, which in fusion
took those tints. Pliny says no substance lends itself better to
colour than glass, and they manufactured, at Rome not only
"obsidian which is made in stained fashion for vessels of repast,"
but also red, white, murrhine or hyacinth, sapphire, and all other
coloured stones; so that it was impossible to tell real from false
gems, save by proof of stone, glass being softer. He tells us he
had in his possession manuscripts in which were written all the
secrets for imitating precious stones, but the fear of propagating.
this fraud determined him never to reveal these secrets. He
gives the best means of detecting impositions, "Lunâ, tactu,
pondere." In describing white glass however he is obliged to
speak of manganese, which contributes so much to its purity, and
in his article on metallic colours for painting he cannot help
enumerating those oxides which give them. The result is that
without wishing to do so he has pointed out to us the road we
must follow to make glass gems. Pliny also remarks that in his
day pearls were worn by the wives of inferior public officers, who
IMITATION GEMS.
155
wished to vie in the splendour of their dress with ladies of the
highest rank, so it is certain some means of imitating pearls had
then been discovered, though Pliny does not describe it. Tre-
bellius Pollio says it was a false pearl which deceived Salonina,
wife of the emperor Gallienus, A.D. 260, who took a whimsical
revenge on the perpetrator of the fraud. The unfortunate
merchant was condemned to be thrown to the wild beasts in the
arena; but when, half dead with fright, he was waiting his last
moments, the door of one of the dens was thrown open and a
cock (some say a turkey) entered and trotted peacefully round
the enclosure, the peccant victim being released after his false
alarm, the emperor saying, "He deceived others, he has himself
been deceived." Yet some authorities have asserted that the art of
making false pearls was unknown to the ancients, and only invented
in Venice, where the manufacture was forbidden by the govern-
ment early in the sixteenth century, as too fraudulent, or perhaps,
as they were made of quicksilver, too dangerous to the health.¹
M. Baudet describes finding in a tomb in Burgundy, dating about
the fourth century, a necklace of blown beads of small size, into
each one of which had been introduced a leaf of silver or some
such metal, which gave to the outside of the beads that "chato-
yant" aspect which exactly imitates the lustre of a pearl.
tricks as the one practised on the emperor must have been often
repeated, as Tertullian complains that in Rome they sold "a bit
of glass as dear as a fine pearl." M. de Goguet, quoting from
Pliny (i. 37, sec. 17), says "that on the tomb of Hermias, a
prince of the island of Cyprus, was a lion in marble, with emerald
eyes, which shone so brightly their lustre penetrated to the bottom
of the sea, and frightened away the tunnyfish from the adjacent
fisheries. The fishermen, suspecting this might be occasioned by
the eyes, took them away, when the fish returned in great plenty
as before." The marble lion discovered by Newton near the
peninsula of Cnidus, now in the British Museum, has deep
sockets in place of eyes, which, like those of the Cypriote lion,
were probably filled with coloured glass.
Such
The vivid imagination of Lucian makes him describe the city,
in his Isles of the Blessed, as having walls of emerald, while the
temples were made of beryl and the altars were formed of a single
1 M. Jaquin in 1656 first invented lining glass beads with the scales of the
bleak fish. It requires about 20,000 fish to manufacture one pound of essence
of pearl.
156
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
amethyst.¹ Some ancient authors have said that mirrors were
made of rubies, but we do not find rubies in our day large enough
for such a purpose, though Marco Polo says the king of the isle of
Zeilan "is said to have the best ruby in the world, one palm long,
and as big as a man's arm, without spot, shining like the sea.
Cublai Khan sent and offered the value of a city for it in vain ;
it was not to be bought with money." Captain Hawkins tells us
the Great Mogul had in his treasury "fifty cups made of ballace
rubies in one piece, emeralds, and other sorts of stones." These
stones were evidently believed to be real by their possessors.
When we read in the Chinese classics that an emperor built for
his favourite " a palace with walls of carnation gem, and inner
walls of ivory," we suppose the word translated gem must have
some other meaning in Chinese from that attached to it by us.
Also when we read that at the abdication of the emperor Yaou,
2145 B.C., a mysterious dragon brought in its mouth a casket of
red gem, in which was enclosed a white gem with an inscription
giving the empire to Shun, and when some centuries later Leu
Chang opportunely fished up from a lake a gem on which was
inscribed that "Chang emperor was to receive it," and was there-
fore proclaimed emperor at once, we feel these inscriptions were
too quickly discovered to have been really engraved on a hard
substance such as we call gems, and were probably glass or some
such imitation.
The "fabri ocularii" of antiquity were at one time supposed to
be those artisans who made imitation eyes of glass for men, they
are now known to have been workmen who furnished glass eyes
for statues. Many stories are told of jewel or glass eyes for
Hindoo and other pagan idols. The exact manipulation of glass
for making false gems has always been a trade (or rogue's) secret ;
so we know little of the ancient method of working, until Eraclius
published his book about the seventh century. The emerald
seems to have been the easiest jewel to imitate, therefore it is the
most common.
In many museums are to be seen pieces of coloured glass
which were evidently once worn as jewels, from which they cannot
A block of amethyst was discovered in Brazil in 1819, four feet in circum-
ference, and weighing ninety-eight pounds in its rough state; it was formed
of fifty irregular columns shooting up from one source, and was pronounced to
be a real amethyst by professional men in Calcutta, where it was sent for sale.
This is supposed to be the largest amethyst known.
IMITATION GEMS.
157
be distinguished by the eye. Batissier especially cites among
others a chrysolite and an emerald, so well executed and perfectly
coloured throughout, and without the slightest blemish internally
or externally, that it is extremely difficult not to be deceived by
them. A head of Tiberius in the Florentine gem cabinet, as large
as a hen's egg, was supposed to be cut out of an unusually large
turquoise, but it has now been proved to be glass. It required
great skill and care in old times to guard against such skilful for-
geries as these. I have been assured by a jeweller that even among
many valuable and celebrated family jewels there are some false
stones still carefully hoarded up, and their owners do not care to
have them too carefully assayed.
Among the early treasures of Christian churches the same
delusion has frequently been exposed; perhaps the donors of the
jewels have themselves been deceived, or possibly the imitation
gems may have been substituted for real ones during times of
great trouble or want. Sometimes we know the monks, guardians
of the church stores, have hidden away in safety the valuable
jewels, only exhibiting worthless ones to the gaze of a hostile or
avaricious public. Among these so called church jewels may be
noted the cup at Monza, said to be made out of a single sapphire,
and to have belonged to Queen Theodolinde, A.D. 600. It is
about three inches in diameter, and of a very beautiful blue
colour. Mr. Nesbitt thinks it is probably made of glass, though
it is cold to the touch, and he failed to find any bubbles in it.
The celebrated piece of emerald glass still preserved in the
abbey of Reichenau, Lake Constance, is two feet long by thirteen
inches wide and three inches thick. It is said to have been sent
by Irene, mother of Constantine VII., to Charlemagne, A.D. 800.
It was always given out to be a real emerald, and Keysler,
who saw it in 1730, believed in its value himself, and gives an
amusing account of the precautions taken by the prior for its
safe keeping.
The well known sacro catino of Genoa, a shallow shaped dish
with a foot and handle, has always been supposed to be formed
out of a single emerald. It was pronounced to be green glass by
President de Goguet, 1761. It does not appear even to be of
antique workmanship, being rather clumsily made and finished
with a tool; but it has long been considered one of the most
sacred relics in Christendom, being the veritable "sangraal,"
whatever that mystical vessel (the object of so much devotion in
158
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
the age
of chivalry) may have really been. It was part of the
booty obtained at the taking of Cæsarea in 1101. The colour is
very fine, but it is full of bubbles. Arab writers give such varied
accounts of the famous table of emerald taken by Tarib son of
Zeyad at the siege of Toledo in the fourteenth century, that it
seems probable there must have been more than one table or
altar front taken at Toledo. The first is described as formed of a
solid emerald possessed of talismanic properties, and made by genii
for King Suleyman the Wise; it formed part of the spoils taken
from Rome by Alaric king of the Goths, A.D. 402. El-Makkari
says the table was of pure gold set with precious stones, and it
was found on the altar of the principal church of Toledo, where it
was made. Some writers say it had three hundred and sixty-five
feet, some three, some none. A manuscript of 1174 states it was
inlaid with precious stones of various kinds and hues, as well as
with aromatic woods, that it was ornamented with several inscrip-
tions in the Greek tongue, and was made of a single emerald. It
was probably the frontal of an altar, and, if the inscriptions were
in Greek, of Byzantine workmanship. At all events one table was
presented by Musa to the caliph at Walid, and valued at 100,000
dinars. Musa found at Seville among other sacred spoils a cup
made out of a single pearl, said to have been brought by an early
king of Spain from Jerusalem. Pliny has described the effect
produced by a kind of crystal called iris. In modern times
triangular pieces of glass are made like crystal, which decompose
light like a prism; one of these prisms was passed off in China
for a ..
fragment of that substance whereof the heavens consist."
Father Ricci, a Jesuit missionary, 1570, narrates his giving a
prism to a native convert who, putting it into a silver case with
golden chains, sold it for a high price as a veritable piece of
heaven. No. 274 in the Paris cabinet is a cylinder in glass paste,
an inch and a quarter long, representing in relief twelve scenes
from the life of Christ. Chabouillet considers it as anterior to
the eighth century, and made in Mesopotamia, the original
country for that form of gem. King points out that the fact of
this specimen being a paste shows that there must have existed a
regular manufactory of the kind, otherwise the mould for casting
1 The holy chalice of Valencia, supposed to have been the actual cup used
by our Lord at the last supper, is formed of a splendid brown sardonyx, of
Roman workmanship. Its origin is lost in obscurity; the setting is of about
the ninth century.
IMITATION GEMS.
159
them would have been unnecessary; the figures being in relief
show this cylinder was merely an ornament, probably for stringing
on to a necklace. The Arab women use all the ancient cylinders
they find for their necklaces.¹ The extreme hardness of ancient
glass is such that it will scratch modern productions like a stone.
This hardness is noticed by Theophilus (about thirteenth century),
who says cubes of ancient mosaic glass are scarcely affected by
a heat which reduces our glass to a fluid. This property may
account for some of the wonderful varieties of mille fiori and other
Roman vases. There is no doubt that much ancient glass was
melted down by the earlier workmen in their manufactures; it
was obviously much easier for them to pound and melt the frag-
ments of an old sapphire coloured cup or vase than to prepare
and grind down the necessary oxides for a new one; and much of
this skilfully made glass was no doubt fashioned into false stones.
Theophilus says: "in the ancient pagan edifices different kinds
of glass are found, of divers colours, in mosaic work, not trans-
parent but opaque like marble, made like square stones, from
which coloured gems are made for gold, silver, and brass work.”
No doubt ancient materials were more plentiful and more easily
procured than they are now. The same author tells us if we wish
to polish glass, gems, or enamel, "to procure some of the potter's
ware found among ancient vases, rub it down on a stone with
saliva until it becomes thick and red; this you anoint on a flat
leaden tablet, upon which you lightly rub the glass stone till the
colours appear clear and transparent; again rub down the clay
ware with saliva, and anoint with it a goat's skin, upon which you
polish the stone till it shines perfectly, so that if one half were wet
and the other dry no one could distinguish which was the wet
part." The following curious if not useful recipe for sculpturing
glass is given in a very old treatise by Eraclius 2: "artists who
wish to engrave glass in a beautiful manner, I can now teach you
as I have myself made trial. I have sought the gross worms
which the plough turns up in the ground, and the art necessary in
these things also bid me to procure vinegar and the warm blood of
a lusty goat, which I was careful to place under the roof for a short
time bound with a strong ivy plant. After this I infused the
¹ Sir R. Ker Porter says these cylinders are supposed to be animated by a
portion of the divinity to whom they are dedicated; this is effected by means of
magical ceremonies. This sort of bosom god is usually suspended round the
neck of the person happy enough to possess it.
2 Eraclius must have written between the seventh and tenth centuries.
160
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
worms and vinegar with the warm blood, and I anointed the
whole clearly shining vessel, which being done I essayed to sculp
the glass with the hard stone called pyrites." He also gives many
recipes for making precious stones, which sound simple but rather
vague, for instance: "take crystal, soak it in alum for eleven
days, then melt it with orpiment, and it will be a chrysolite."
Similar recipes are given for making other gems. Paul de
Canotanto early in the fifteenth century says: "should you wish
an emerald, use green copper; if a sapphire, lapis lazuli; if a
hyacinth, violet coloured, use less or more of the same stone; if a
garnet hyacinth, powder of malachite, if a chrysolite arsenic, if a
topaz moderately arsenic." We are also told to use gold free
from salt to make a carbuncle.
Neri, who published his interesting work on glass at Florence,
1611, gives most careful directions as to how chalcedony is imi-
tated; he directs you to make nine different coloured glasses ;
"these nine bodies well closed are to be kept in the furnace
fifteen days and every day well stirred, then put all the materials
together closed for six days and stir well every day; then put in
ashes for twenty-four hours, then very gentle heat that the powders
may work strange in the glass, then in twenty-four hours again
work it with diligence and according to art, and set it to the fire
again. This I performed at Antwerp, 1609. It came forth a
chalcedony so fair and so beautiful that it surpassed the oriental
agate. Many Portuguese gentlemen admired it, saying nature
could do no more. Of this two cups were given to the Prince
of Orange which pleased him well."
Old chronicles are generally quite ignorant and probably in-
different as to whether the gems they describe are real or imi-
tation. In the Anglo-Saxon poem of Beowulf,1 when the funeral
pile is raised to the hero, "the people cast into the mound rings
and bright gems and all such ornaments." Beowulf having killed
a dragon which guarded a hoard of treasure, he had taken
possession of the whole and it was this hoard which was thrown
on to his tomb. At that date it would have been impossible for
the people to detect false from real stones. Some of the jewels
shown at the shrine of Thomas à Becket, at Canterbury, who died
1170, were of dimensions larger than a goose's egg. When the
body was burned, 1538, two chests full of jewels were taken for
1 Translated by Mr. Thorpe, 1855.
IMITATION Gems.
161
1
the king's use. Stones such as onyx, cornelian, and others can be
stained by the aid of heat and various acids many colours, and
their original colours may be improved and darkened. Mr.
Billings gives a curious account of how stones may be stained
with an inscription which can only be seen when held up to the
light; these were first brought from the East for purposes of
mystification.
AI
WINDOWS.
"But since the practice of this kind of embellishment cannot be of quick
apprehension, like a diligent inquirer I have greatly laboured to inform myself
by all methods what invention of art and variety of colour may beautify a
structure and not repel the light of day and the rays of the sun.
Applying
myself to this exercise I comprise the nature of glass, and I consider that this
can be effected by the use of it alone. This art as seen and reported I have
learned, I have laboured, for your observance to fathom."-Theophilus, eleventh
century.
"You shall have sometimes fair houses so full of glass (windows) that one
cannot tell where to become to be out of the sun or cold."-Bacon's Essay on
Buildings.
A
((
NCIENT EGYPTIANS never seem to have used
windows, their climate not requiring such a defence
against the cold, though as they made plaques for
ornamental purposes they could doubtless have made
window glass had it been required. It was probably intro-
duced by the Romans, whose more rigorous climate demanded
some kind of protection from the weather. It was not known
apparently to Seneca, as he speaks of the use of talc as a new
thing: we know of some inventions within our own recollec-
tion, as that of the application of thin sheets of talc which
transmit the clear light, the plate being transparent." When
Varro, 116 B.C., in his Rural Economy directs that the windows
of the fruit room should be to the north to give free entrance to
the wind, and adds, "but forget not to place shutters for fear
too much wind should dry up the fruit," he does not seem to
allude at all to glass or talc; but when he goes on to describe the
aviary which Lucullus constructed at Tusculum he must have
some transparent medium in his mind. "In the interior he
made a dining room, in which he could enjoy the delights of the
table and see at the same time thrushes cooked and arranged on
dishes and others leaping and flying about outside the windows.
This example found few imitators, as however pleasant it might
be to see the birds fluttering outside the windows, the pleasure
162
WINDOWS.
163
did not make you forget the disagreeable odours of the aviary.”
These aviaries were sometimes so large that the owners could
sell five thousand birds a year. He describes some aviaries
which were only made by columns with nets stretched above and
around, and goes on to give directions that in building an aviary
"you must carefully place the windows so that the birds should
not see trees or other birds, as this prevents their fattening. The
circumference of the doors and windows should be covered with
well polished putty, to prevent rain from entering or any noxious
animal." This advice seems to establish the fact that he knew
of some transparent substance for windows, as in describing a
dovecote he especially insists on the necessity of having "very
narrow windows which should be covered with lattice work inside
and out, to prevent serpents or other vermin from entering." A
curious passage in Philo Judæus, A.D. 30, tells us he heard Nero
give orders to have a hall or gallery of his palace (possibly a
loggia) filled in with stones transparent as white glass. Martial
frequently alludes to windows. Winckelmann describes a so called
ancient picture belonging to Cardinal Albani, representing build-
ings with windows filled in with glass; but supposing the picture
really antique what looks like glass might have been thin sheets
of phengite-alabaster or some such stone used to admit light and
keep out the cold, as we use frosted glass. It is certain that rich
Romans had squares of real glass for greenhouses or frames, in
which they kept the plants they wished to preserve from cold.
These glass squares, though probably not so large as those made
in modern factories, undoubtedly led the way for ours. Glass
must very soon have been substituted for talc, and the first real
evidence of its use comes from Pompeii and Herculaneum ;¹ the
Naples museum contains various specimens, and it shows the
extraordinary ignorance of such subjects which prevailed in the
last century, during which so many people disputed the existence
of any proof that glass was anciently used for windows, when
Dutens, 1778, states that the baths in Pompeii were glazed with
as fine glass as in the present day; his book was evidently never
read or not considered a veracious history. The pane of glass
in a bronze frame found in the house of the faun seems to have
been cast on a stone and is full of defects, it could transmit light
but would hardly permit external objects to be seen. The public
¹ See also the beautifully iridescent specimens of window glass from Pozzuoli
in the British Museum.
164
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
1
baths of Pompeii had windows made of good plate glass slightly
ground on one side to prevent people in the street from
looking in. One bath was lighted by a skylight, closed by a
single pane of cast glass, 2 ft. 8 in. high, 3 ft. 8 in. broad;
this pane was fixed into the wall and slightly ground on one
side. A window containing four panes of glass, described by
Gell, was divided by cruciform bars of copper, fastened with nuts
and screws ingeniously contrived to remove the glass at pleasure.
In a Roman two-storeyed villa on the Herculaneum road was a
large glazed bow window, the glass very thick and greenish, and
set in lead like a modern casement; some panes of glass found
in the same town measure 16 in. by 7 in. Bontemps says he
proved that the panes of glass in Pompeii were cast in a metal
mould, all the window glass found seemed to have been cast.
A window in the house called Diomede's presented a copper
frame similar to that described by Gell. Many private col-
lectors possess specimens of window glass from these buried
cities, and a very little more knowledge would have disposed
of the whole question of window glass, so much disputed by
the learned in the early part of this century. Though glass
was used in Rome for windows, many other substances,¹ linen,
shells, alabaster, and mica, were more commonly employed. Flat
pieces are found in houses both in Italy and Britain. From
China, Japan, and Java we still hear that windows are filled in
with mother o' pearl, tortoise or crocodile shell, and a large kind
of oyster shell found in the canal of Chauto. These temper the
heat of the sun, and give beautiful colours. Ancient Romans
also filled in windows and the litters of women with pieces of
transparent "stone speculaire," possibly mica in sheets, or that
verre de Muscovie which even now replaces, in some vessels of
war, glass, which might be broken by the roar of artillery. They
certainly made of glass or some transparent substance green-
houses for plants, and hives through which they could watch the
bees at work, and also filled in lanterns which were more brilliant
than those covered with bladder. Lucian insists much on the
importance of well arranged windows. In describing the baths
of Hippias he notices that "the whole building was well pro-
portioned and the windows of a proper size and distance.
In
building especially, as Pindar says, regard should be paid to the
1 "Movable windows, closed in either with linen curtains or transparent
glass."
WINDOWS.
165
Each room
windows and a fine external appearance gained.
should have double doors, a water dial, and a sun dial." Again
when praising a house he particularly delights in "the windows
large and disposed according to the various seasons of the year,
and all admirably contrived both for pleasure and convenience.”
We may certainly conclude that Lucian alludes to glass windows,
as they had been known and used at least a century before his
time in Pompeii. Not only in Pompeii but in Britain, fragments
of glass are found which could only have been used for glazing
windows. The knowledge of such windows (a great luxury in
Rome) would be taken to Britain by the nobles, as there, from
the greater cold of the climate, they would require such a defence.
Many fragments of flat, semi-transparent, greenish-hued glass, have
been found in the ruins of Roman London. Similar fragments
which are undoubtedly window panes come from the sites of old
Roman villas, and some of an especially marked character are
reported by Mr. Wright from Wroxeter, the ancient Roman Uri-
conium. If this glass was made in Britain, as many think it must
have been, the art seems afterwards to have been forgotten, as the
first notice we have of church window glazing in Britain is in the
seventh century, when Benedict of Wearmouth had to send to
France for workmen to glaze the church he had built. Windows
in Latin houses being small could more easily be filled in with
sheets of stone or talc, or closed with lattice work. Sometimes
when the window was filled with a translucent substance it would
be preserved by an awning or curtain from the heat of the sun,
and it is probable that these curtains would in time be decorated
with coloured designs, and thus give the first idea of painted or
stained windows. In large windows the pieces of glass were
fixed in pierced slabs of marble or wood. "Specularii" were
probably the glaziers of the time; they are mentioned in an
ordinance of Constantine II., A.D. 337,¹ but they worked in
various substances besides glass. The old Roman basilicas were
open at the top, that the priests might take auguries from the
sky; the Christian basilicas were closed with windows formed
of pieces of glass or talc, fixed in slabs of marble or wood. As
it always seemed more easy for old workmen to make coloured
glass than white, it has been supposed that most likely the earlier
churches were decorated with coloured windows, which would
1 In an engraving by Bellori from a painting said to be of the time of
Constantine there is a representation of a house with windows.
166
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
have the effect of mosaic.1 All ancient windows were in fact
mosaic, painted windows are a much later invention. Lactantius,
A.D. 290, is the first author who distinctly speaks of glass and talc
for windows. “But as we see at the same moment of time every-
thing whatsoever placed before us, more truly is it the case that
it is the mind which by means of the eyes looks through as it
were windows of transparent glass, or talc, at the things placed
before it." St. Jerome, 331, speaks of windows closed with pieces
of glass. Prudentius, 337, says of St. Paul's beyond the walls of
Rome: "the magnificence of this temple is royal, the pious
prince Constantine has painted the roof at great expense, he has
reclothed the gilded wainscoting, so that the light of day repeats
the fires of dawn. In the windows are displayed glass of varied
colours, as brilliant as the fields of flowers in spring." An in-
scription on St. Agnes', Rome, says: "this temple, rebuilt by
Honorius, was decorated with windows which produced a magni-
ficent effect." Chrysostom, 398, praises the "high glass windows
of different colours." Mr. Franks in his "Churches in Rome
says that Canon Wilmowsley, of the cathedral of Treves, showed
him quantities of pieces of glass twisted and bent by heat, which
had been found close under the walls of that church, accompanied
and overlaid by such other remains, as to make it tolerably certain
that they resulted from the burning of the church, when the city
was pillaged by the Franks in 420. Everywhere Christian art
was spreading its roots, numerous churches were being built in
France. Gregory of Tours, 525, rebuilt the church of St. Martin
(which had been burnt down) and placed in the new edifice
seventy-two windows. Gregory also recounts how a man, having
conceived the sacrilegious idea of robbing a very rich church in
the neighbourhood of the town, was unable to elude the vigilance
of the guardians of the church, so for want of any better plunder
was obliged to content himself by detaching the windows from
their frames, and carrying them away to make money of the glass
taken from them. He succeeded in getting off with his prize,
but after subjecting the glass to a violent fire for three days
could only make some shapeless masses of glass which he sold
to stranger merchants. This story seems to prove that the
windows must have been coloured, as their brilliance no doubt
attracted the thief, and made the merchant give him money for
""
¹ The early churches may have had coloured windows, but all the fragments
found in Pompeii and Britain are greenish white.
WINDOWS.
167
the lumps of glass; as dingy white glass would not have tempted
the man to steal, and white lumps melted by an unpractised hand
would not have brought any price from the merchants. Fortu-
natus of Poitiers, sixth century, is very much struck with the
lighting of churches by means of glass windows, and says the
light of day once admitted in these holy temples is imprisoned
there and can never escape, "by means of the hand of the
artificer imprisons daylight." Fortunatus also lauds highly those
bishops who ornamented their churches with large windows
of glass, and especially notices the grand effect which they pro-
duced when illumined by the rays of the setting sun. Sidonius
Apollinaris particularly eulogizes the coloured glass windows
placed in the church erected by Patiens at Lyons. The employ-
ment of coloured glass mosaic in the fashion of the "fenestra
simplex" of Theophilus would soon give place to painted win-
dows. The extraordinary admiration excited by the coloured
windows would stimulate Christian artists to new exertions, every-
where we find fresh examples arising. It was in the beginning
of the sixth century that the emperor Justinian determined to re-
build with great magnificence the church of St. Sophia at Constan-
tinople, and embellished it with all the art of the day, among the
rest with coloured windows; consequently when finished St.
Sophia exceeded in splendour anything that had before been seen,
and the admiration it excited may be imagined from the words
that escaped Justinian at the dedication in 627: "Glory to God,
who has permitted me to achieve this great work; I have sur-
passed thee, O Solomon." Procopius says of the coloured win-
dows, "it appeared that day took its birth under the roof of the
temple."
Windows of glass for large buildings seem to have come into
use in France in the third century, and become more general in
the sixth. But other transparent substances were still employed,
as the French have a proverb: "L'abbaye est pauvre, les vitres
ne sont que de papier." Britain at this time was ignorant of the
art of glazing windows, as Benedict, bishop of Wearmouth, had
to send for French workmen to glaze the windows of his church;
they executed the special work for which they came over, and in-
structed the Saxons in the art. St. Wilfrid is said to have glazed
the windows of St. Peter's, York, in 669; but if Benedict could
find no glazier in England it is most probable the York windows
were also glazed by French art. In 709 St. Wilfrid repaired the
168
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
church of St. Paulin, and not only glazed the windows, a new
thing in the country, but also "whitewashed the walls." This
barbarous habit of whitewashing buildings therefore seems as
old as the buildings themselves. St. Wilfrid speaks of "artifices
lapidarum," which some think must mean that he had windows
filled in with transparent stone before the glassworkers came, but
he may also have alluded to the workmen who pierced and cut
into patterns the stone frames 1 which were to be filled in with
little bits of glass, as in the infancy of the art was the usual
custom. When Wilfrid first introduced glass windows in place of
wooden shutters great astonishment was excited among the simple
country folk, and supernatural agency was suspected when the
moon and stars were seen through a substance which excluded the
inclemency of the weather. Probably owing to the demand aris-
ing from these church restorations an attempt was made to estab-
lish a window glass manufactory at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, but it
proved a failure and the furnaces remained extinct for eight
hundred years. It is supposed the first windows used in England
were imported. There is a curious passage in Bede, about this
date, when writing of the church on Mount Olivet he says: "in
the west front of it were eight windows, which on some occasions
used to be illuminated with lamps which shone so brightly
through the glass that the mount seemed to be in a blaze." Of
the great French basilicas but little remains; mostly built of wood
they became a prey to fire or fell into ruins, but possibly the
coloured glass, always commanding a certain price at that time,
would be preserved with a view to re-use when the temples were
rebuilt towards the eleventh century, and it is possible that the
little round-shaped panes called "chives" (literally small onions),
which may still be seen at the top of high windows in French
churches, may be the remains of ancient ones. Though the
Italians so early knew and practised the art of mosaic, they do not
seem to have adorned their churches with coloured glass till the
eighth century, when Leo III. decorated the churches of St. Peter
and St. John Lateran with coloured windows, the first decided
mention of their use in Rome; but the knowledge of making them
may have been earlier. Coloured windows soon gave birth to
painting on glass; first, the variously shaped compartments in the
stone frame were filled in with stained glass of different colours,
1 In the fifteenth century the name of a builder of churches is commemor-
ated, who is "a maker of windows. both the stone work and glass."
WINDOWS.
169
then the glass was adorned with sacred and historical subjects;
both had their source in mosaic, an art which the Italians followed
with great ardour, while the French applied themselves more to
painting on glass, which is not heard of in Italy till 1503 when
Pope Julius II. employed it. Stained glass was first fastened with
mortar to the pierced stone windows, later iron and lead were
used; the way this was done can be seen in the church of St.
Prassede, Rome, which was finished in 824, where the openings in
the marble windows are rabbeted and filled with pieces of talc
fixed against the rabbet by cement; portions of this talc still
adhere to the apertures where they were fastened. Many pagan
and Christian buildings had these pierced marble windows which
might have been closed by transparent stone, talc or glass. Speci-
mens are still found in eastern (especially Arab) buildings where
the lace-like elaborately pierced marble windows are filled in
with tiny pieces of delicately coloured glass. Though many of
these slabs still exist in Roman churches, no glass remains which
can be attributed with any certainty to a very early date.
At
St. Sophia, where the ancient method of fixing the glass has been
preserved, may still be seen plates of glass measuring ten inches
by eight, which seem to have been cast, not blown, and which
may, Mr. Nesbitt thinks, date from Justinian.
The art of painting is probably three centuries younger than the
art of staining glass windows.¹ Charlemagne pushed all arts to
their greatest possible height during his reign, and especially made
France celebrated for its sumptuous buildings, repairing those de-
stroyed by Saracens, and building others. The Abbe Texier holds
glass painting to have been invented by the school of Limoges.
Winston considers that, wherever its birthplace may have been, its
earlier remains show more or less developed strong features of
Byzantine art. It is unlikely that glass painting should be exempt
from the great influence the Byzantine school exercised over
western art. The glass used in the oldest glass paintings was
probably made after Greek or Byzantine recipes, from its simi-
larity in texture and colour to ancient Greek glass. As early as
979 a Venetian colony settled at Limoges for the purpose of
trading with the spices and other eastern products conveyed
through Egypt by Marseilles. To what extent the Venetians had
imbibed Byzantine influence is seen by reference to St. Mark's
¹ Most historians, especially Benedictines, are agreed that painted glass
windows date from about the time of Charlemagne, 800.
170
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
(the only real specimen of Byzantine architecture in the western
empire). The church of Front Perigueux, 978, ascribed to Doge
Orseolo I., and other churches at no great distance from Limoges,
attest in general resemblance to St. Mark's how thoroughly the
colony carried with it the spirit of the arts of its parent state.
The effects of the artistic impulse thus early given to Limoges
may be traced to the present day. The earliest recorded instance
of coloured glass windows in Germany is that of some presented
to the abbey of Tegernsee, Bavaria, by a Count Arnold in 999.
The inhabitants have lately held a festival in honour of the in-
vention of glass painting, which they claim for their town. In the
"Handbook of Trades," published at Amsterdam in 1717, is the
following interesting extract which bears testimony to the fact
that glass windows were used in the Low Countries in the ninth
century: “in the dukedom of Cornthen, four miles from Villach,
there is a very old church celebrated for pilgrimages, dedicated to
the mother of God, called Saalfelden, which was built in the
ninth century by the Duke Chitomarus. In the year 1482 it was
besieged by Hungarius, and also by the barbarian Saracens who
destroyed the greater part of the dukedom of Cornthen; for three
days they shot with arrows at the church but could not destroy it,
because they saw that all their arrows could not break a single
pane of glass, so they gave it up." No doubt as soon as painted
glass was invented it was received with delight by all classes, and
it was for a long time the only library of the people;¹ the council
of Arras in 1025 declared that "the books of the illiterate were the
paintings in the temples." As church windows grew larger, leav-
ing less space for frescoes and monuments, the desire to utilize
them must have grown stronger, besides coloured glass produced
the softened mysterious light thought most suitable to the services
of religion. Perhaps the oldest painted glass mentioned is that
described by the historian of the chronicles of St. Beguine's
monastery at Dijon, in 1058, who states that in his time there yet
existed a very ancient glass window in the church of the monastery,
representing the martyrdom of St. Paschasius, and that this painting
had been taken from the old church restored by Charles the Bald,
850. Monk Bicher, of St. Remi, states in his chronicle, which
ends in 995, that Adalberon, archbishop of Rheims, in 968, after
having restored the basilica, lighted it by windows, on which were
1 Combined with frescoes.
WINDOWS.
171
displayed various histories. These, had they been still in exist-
ence, would have been contemporaneous with the Tegernsee
windows. Peligot gives an account of the coloured windows in
the abbey of Leroux, which dated from 1121; the church being
in a ruinous state it was suggested that the windows should be
removed for safety to Angers, but while those in authority were
still contemplating the possibility of such a change the necessity
for any action was avoided by the fall of the wall in question
which crushed the windows. Leon d'Ostic, abbe of Monte
Cassino, 1058, says that his predecessor Desiderius (doubtless
the same abbe who sent to Constantinople for mosaics) had
entirely rebuilt from the foundation the chapterhouse and
adorned it with glass windows, which he had painted in various
colours. This is one of the first notices clearly distinguishing
between stained (mosaic) and painted windows. Labarte says it
is acknowledged by all archeologists that no painted glass windows
in France can with any certainty be attributed to anything earlier
than late eleventh or twelfth centuries, though that does not
prove that some may not exist of an older date. The windows of
the abbey of St. Denis are considered to be the oldest painted
windows in France.¹ When Louis le Gros, 1108, was rebuilding
(for the sixth time) and embellishing this abbey, Jagur who was
employed to direct the works tells us no expense was spared to
make these windows beautiful. The workmen pounded down in
abundance sapphires (lapis lazuli) and burnt quantities of them
with the glass to give it that rich azure colour still so much
admired, and notwithstanding the great expense the devotion of the
time was equal to it, for in the church boxes was each week found
enough money to pay the workmen. One window in the abbey
is a grand mosaic of colour acting on light almost as a prism;
nature is not servilely copied, as many fanciful colours are intro-
duced, thus human hair is represented both as green and purple,
the artist thinking only of the harmony of his tones and not of
truth. The abbot Suger, who lived in the twelfth century, is
represented in the glass of St. Denis. Theophilus tells us how
the Greek mosaic cubes of sapphire are melted with white glass
to make windows. "They work also from purple and green in the
same manner. Divers small vases are also formed of the same
1 There is a painted window of the eleventh century in a church at Neu-
willen, Alsace, representing St. Timothy; the figure is crude, but the border
rich and fine in colour.
172
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
colours, which the French, most intelligent in this work, collect;
and some melt the sapphire in their furnaces, adding to it a clear
white glass, and make costly plates of sapphire very useful for
windows."
Peligot quotes from the "Art de la Salle," 1455: "then my
lady was brought to her chamber which was very well warmed and
arranged," tapissée et verrée; and in "Cents Nouvelles," published
1459, we find, “he replied that he was happier even than those
who had their beautiful chambers all verrées, nattées, et pavées."
Bourges was celebrated for its clear glass, 1444; and Boulogne
must have made glass windows whose fame extended even to
Italy, as in the "Dream of Polyphile," 1 when describing a collec-
tion of natural and artistic marvels, the author says: "between two
columns was a window glazed with the 'larmes' of Boulogne in
France." Buffon says that "in Greenland they made transparent
panes out of the insides of fish, a sort of isinglass probably."
It is thought that the oldest specimens of painted windows in
England are probably those in the choir of Canterbury cathedral,
which was rebuilt in 1174. They contain subjects from holy writ
on a ground of deep blue or ruby colour; the spaces between the
panels are filled in with mosaic patterns, all surrounded by a
brilliant and elaborate border of leaves and scrollwork. There
are windows of the same character at Angers and St. Denis. Some
of the heads at Canterbury might have been portraits of old
Romans. The ornamental details of all early glass painting are
very Greek in character, and bear witness to the great influence
Byzantine art exercised over Europe. In Granton's History of
Peterborough "it is recorded with gratitude that Robert de
Lindsay, abbot of Peterborough, had beautified thirty monastic
windows with glass, which previously had been stuffed with straw
to keep out the cold and rain." Painting on glass is first men-
tioned in the Claus Roll, 20, of Henry III.; Sir W. Dugdale says
it was practised in the reign of John. In 1240 there is a record
of the orders given by Henry III. for the stained glass windows in
the Tower of London, and we find that Edward the king's glazier
at Windsor is in receipt of a pension from the same monarch.
Though it is supposed that all the "verre de luxe" in England was
imported from the continent, yet window glass must have been a
¹ Written in 1467 by Friar J. Colonna. The British Museum possesses a
copy with original woodcuts and bound by Maioli. This copy is perhaps as
valuable among books as the Koh-i-Noor is among diamonds.
WINDOWS.
173
local manufacture and a glazier seems to have been attached to
the royal household. John Prudde under Henry VI. was per-
mitted to have the "shedde called Glazier's logge, in our paleys of
Westminster." In the fourteenth century it became fashionable to
furnish noblemen's houses with coloured windows, and each lord
pleased himself by reproducing in this way his arms, and the
portraits of his family. In the college chapel, Winchester, are
still to be found portraits of the carpenter, mason, clerk of the
works, and the glazier, all English faces; the manufactory which
supplied this glass was English in every sense of the word. The
author of "Piers Ploughman," fourteenth century, speaks of " wyde
wyndows shynen with shapen sheldes, and merkes of merchauntes
betweene." Henry VII. in his will, among other directions relating
to his chapel at Westminster, enjoins that the windows of the
said chapel are to be glazed with stories, images, armes, badges,
and cognoissaunts, "as is by us redily divised and in picture de-
livered to the Priour of Saunt Bartilmews besid Smythfield,
maistre of the workes of our said chapell."
Gough in his "Sepulchral Monuments of Great Britain," pub-
lished 1786, describes a series of windows still existing in his
time at South Mimms which chronicled the names and portraits
of those who had presented them to the church. Thus Richard
Walter, 1525, is a man in a red gown, with six sons in blue
behind him; a woman in red, with a blue purse and rosary, has
three daughters behind her with golden locks, wide girdles and
furred cuffs; another man has twelve sons; and a woman
dressed in a red mantle has five daughters. The portraits on
glass of Anne and Richard Nevil, Earl of Warwick, were long
extant in the church at Warwick.
The whole subject of painting glass windows has been so mag-
nificently illustrated and so exhaustively treated by so many
authors, both in France and England, that it is needless to trace
their history any farther here. The best age of painted glass is
also later than the limit belonging to this work. Window glazing
in private houses however has not been so well described, and it
may be interesting to note a few data on that subject. Though
used for churches and important buildings, it was by no means
common either in England or France. In 1386 Richard II. gave
a writ to Nicholas Hoppenwell to take as much glass as he could
find or as was needful in the counties of Norfolk, Northampton,
Leicester, and Lincoln, "saving the fee of the church," for the
174
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
repair of the windows founded at Stamford in honour of the king's
mother Joan, Princess of Wales; he had also authority to impress
as many glaziers as should be requisite for the work. If it was
needful to search four counties for glass to repair a few windows,
there could not have been much in the country. In 1413 Jean
Avin, receiver general of Auvergne, writes in his accounts: "“in
preparation of Mad. la Duchesse de Berri going to Montpensier
to have certain frames made for the windows of said castle and
to have them filled in with oiled linen in default of glass." For
the palace of the Duke of Burgundy's brilliant and luxurious court
in 1467 there were commanded twenty pieces of wood, to make
frames for paper, serving as chamber windows. In 1447 John
Prudde, of Westminster, in covenanting to execute the windows
of the Beauchamp chapel at Warwick, engages to use "no glasse
of England," showing though it was made it was not so much
esteemed as foreign glass. In 1505 it was held (21 Henry VII.)
that though the windows belonged to the heir the glass was the
property of the executors and might therefore of course be removed
by them, "for the house is perfect without the glasse." In less than
a century however, 1599, it was resolved that glass annexed to the
windows by nails or in any other manner could not be removed,
"for without glass it is no perfect house," and the heir should
have it and not the executors. Glass was still so costly it was
only used at Alnwick Castle when the Duke of Northumberland
was at home; in 1567 an entry made in the minutes of a survey
of the castle informs us that the glass casements were taken down
during the absence of the family, to preserve them from accident.¹
A century later the use of window glass was so uncommon in
Scotland that only the upper rooms in the royal palaces were
furnished with it, the lower part having wooden shutters to admit
or exclude the air. In the memoirs of Queen Marguerite, 1658,
we read that during her journey to Flanders her litter was closed
with glass, the windows all made "a devises," that she had
as much silk for the lining as painting for the windows, which
contained forty different devices, each with appropriate words in
Spanish or Italian on the sun and its effects; when will so much
thought and fancy be bestowed on a carriage for the first lady of
our land? The second Duke of Buckingham introduced coach
windows into England, and made a great deal of glass at his factory
1 These movable casements may be seen in the hall of the archbishop's
palace at Mayfield, Sussex.
WINDOWS.
175
at Lambeth. Evelyn in 1677 went to see this factory, which was
first managed by workmen from Murano. Even in 1688 window
glass was rare on the continent, as Sir R. Worsley writes in his
travels: "
a pretty big town called Murano, where they make ye
fine Venetian glasse; in all ye great towns of Italy except Genoa
and in this city they have paper in their sashes instead of glass."
At the close of the eighteenth century, not a hundred years ago,
there existed in provincial towns in France, and even in Paris, a
corporation of window sash makers whose trade was to fill windows
not with glass, but merely with oiled paper. In the present day
a recent traveller¹ tells us: "the cost of glass in Odessa is so
great that many frames are filled in with greased paper instead of
glass. A watchglass costs a rouble, a foot square window-pane
about six shillings. In the inland towns the prices are still higher;
so that a Russian boy who puts his fist through a pane of glass
commits one of the heaviest crimes in the domestic decalogue."
Capt. Burnaby, in "Asia Minor," describes Dudusa near Sivas,
a straggling Armenian village, where "some of the better farmers
boast glass windows. In other houses the panes were replaced
by paper, or pieces of some transparent alabaster, which is found
in quantities in the neighbourhood." So the classical mode of
lighting houses may be studied there in perfection.
The only notice of coloured windows in Persia seems to be that
in Chardin's travels, when he remarks that the windows of the
tomb of Shah Abbas who died 1666 at Korn were made of crystal,
painted gold and azure.
Dr. Tennant says before the arrival in Hindostan of Europeans
there was not a house in all India furnished with glass windows,
as the Hindoos were unable to make furnaces of sufficient power
to manufacture useful things. But the emperor Shahjehan built
a palace said to be entirely of glass for the peerless Nourmahal;
this palace was in the gardens of Shalimar, Lahore. It must have
had some kind of windows. Mr. Nesbitt quotes from chronicles of
the Singhalese kings about 386 B.C., "windows with ornaments
like jewels which were as bright as eyes," indicating that the author
must have seen windows made of bits of coloured glass.
A great modern instrument maker says he is obliged to search
in old chateaux for glass made long ago; it is faulty, and green in
colour, but being dryer is much better for isolation. The hardest
1 See "Russians of To-day."
176
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
glass isolates best for electricity, that which has been longest in
fusion and contains the greatest quantity of lime; modern glass
is too quickly made. Plate glass is very difficult to make, and
requires great care in every respect. It is said that, in order to
ensure perfect regularity in the supply of wood at the glassworks
of St. Gobain, two workmen are made to run at a speed of rather
more than a league an hour incessantly round and round the
furnaces, each having ten billets of wood cut the same size; these
they deposit as they run, one in each alternate opening of the
furnace, which by this means is fed at regularly recurring intervals
of time. These men succeed each other in relays for forty hours.
1
MOSAICS AND WALL DECORATION.
"Nous ne saurions aller plus avant que les anciens, ils ne nous ont laissé
pour notre part, que la gloire de les bien suivre."-La Fontaine.
N
O method of glass working has probably excited
more attention than the wonderfully minute
mosaics found scattered over the world both
in beads and amulets. Old writers have ex-
hausted their ingenuity in conjecturing the secret of their
manufacture. Many of them are far too minute for human
fingers or eyes to have executed, but like many other marvels
the explanation is simple when once discovered. They were
made (and are now successfully imitated in Murano) by arranging
long slender glass rods of various colours so as to form a pattern,
a picture, or the letters of a name, and then fusing them together,
and while still warm the rod or cane so formed could be drawn
out to almost any length, the pattern becoming perhaps micro-
scopically small, but always retaining its distinctness. A tube of
glass treated in the same manner never loses a minute hole in
the middle. Thin slices cut off such a rod would present on
each side the exact picture 1 or pattern originally arranged.
When this idea had been once suggested, thousands of patterns
could have been invented, and slices from these rods placed in
liquid blue or other coloured glass, and cast in a mould and
ground into shape, gave rise to the endless combinations of Greek
or Roman workers.
The numberless mosaic beads or balls found almost wherever
the foot of man has passed are probably made of larger pieces of
1 Any one may easily try this experiment for themselves by slicing up a
cucumber or, which is perhaps more interesting, the stalk of a common
bracken fern, beginning close to the root. A well grown stalk of this fern,
when sliced straight across, will give numerous little pictures of what country
children still call King Charles's oak; but if the stalk be sliced in a slanting
direction it presents a very good double headed eagle, for which reason
Highland families will tell you that their armorial bearings are to be found on
every hillside.
N
178
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
such rods, rounded by being exposed to heat and friction much
as beads are made in Murano to this day. The mille fiori glass
of the Venetian republic was simply a revival of this old industry.
Very early specimens of the mosaic art may be seen in the inlaid
bricks of Rameses III. in the British Museum. Many marble
and pottery figures of Egyptian deities and sacred emblems are
inlaid with glass mosaic. Much of the very oldest Egyptian
jewellery is mosaic in character. An exceedingly beautiful ex-
ample of the work is to be seen in the Turin museum, where
part of a mummy case dating from the Ptolemies is ornamented
with astonishing fidelity in glass mosaics representing the feathers
of birds, executed with the most perfect truth and exactness.
Mr. Nesbitt considers that mosaic, first practised in Egypt, is
never seen in such perfection as in objects of a decidedly
Egyptian character.¹ One of the first allusions to mosaic pavement
is found in Esther i. 6, where the king's palace had a pavement
of red, blue, black, and white marble. As this palace is supposed
to have been in Persepolis, sixth century B.C., we may imagine
the Persians to have been early workers in mosaic. Bonucci
suggests they invented it for pavements, and quotes Ælian :
"beds of gold and silver were placed on a pavement made of
emerald and marble of Pharos, and decorated with a surprising
and varied painting." Minutoli found remains of glass mosaic
among the ruins of Persepolis.
That the Assyrians understood the art of inlaying, the first step
to mosaic, is easily ascertained by examining the delicate work
on the fragments of an ivory object brought from Nimroud, dating
about 880 B.C.; the wings of the bulls and the dresses of the
men are all inlaid with gold and lapis. It is in the British
Museum, and was found by Mr. Layard.
Greeks and Phoenicians are supposed from a very early date
to have ornamented the walls and pavements of their temples and
palaces with mosaic pictures after nature, and introduced coloured
glass into them, because in it they could produce all manners of
shades which it was impossible to get in marble. The Romans
copied them and introduced mosaic which remains to this day one
of the industries of that city. After the fall of Carthage, 146 B.C.,
the Romans might have seen the advantages of mosaic pavements,
1 Under the Ptolemies the Egyptians acquired a rare perfection in mosaic,
formed by laying slender filaments of glass in patterns and fusing them
together.
MOSAICS AND WALL DECORATION.
179
as that city was full of these beautiful works, many of which were
disinterred from the ruins and sent home by Mr. Davis in 1861.
Though mosaic was known in Rome before Augustus, none is
extant of an earlier date. Perhaps Varro, 116 B.C., is one of the
first authors who speak of mosaic. In his Rural Economy,
third book, he says, "you possessor of a farm distinguished by
the elegance of its internal decorations and the beauty of
mosaics"; and again, "is not this small farm built by our
ancestors preferable to your brilliant one at Reatina? there you
see blazing vermillion and azure mosaics, here all is plain and
simple."
The first mosaic artist's name we find mentioned is Proclus,
who flourished in the Augustan age in the city of Perinthus,
where he must have attained some celebrity, as the Alexandria
merchants erected a statue in his honour. His name appears on
two inscriptions, from one of which we learn that he adorned the
temple of Fortune in Perinthus, the second is an epitaph on a
mosaic artist who left a son his equal in art. Vitruvius, first
century A.D., gives the name of another mosaic artist, Dioscorides
of Samos. Seneca alludes to "Numidian mosaic" in the
decoration of baths, and we are told that Cleopatra in the
ornamentation of her rooms replaced glass cubes by real stones.
A common variety of mosaic was formed by combining square
pieces of various coloured glass in patterns producing an effect
like tesselated pavement.¹ Thick pieces of glass like tiles were
much used in Rome, both plain in colour and some imitating
porphyry, granite, and other stones, and mixed in patterns with
bright coloured marbles for pavement. Mr. Nesbitt mentions
the slabs of black, white, and orange opaque glass like tiles,
forming a pattern, which were found on the site of the palace of
the Cæsars at Rome. The Duc de Blacas found such a pavement
in 1820 near the Colosseum. It formed part of the pavement
of a private house older than the temple of Venus, which was
built by Hadrian, and was formed of slabs of blue, green, and
white glass in different patterns, enclosed between rows of tiles
placed on a layer of cement laid over the ground. When found it
lay seven feet lower than the Via Sacra. The walls of the
chamber where this flooring was found were, according to
Vescovali, divided into compartments to a height of six feet from
¹ There is a mass of this tesselated pavement in the Louvre.
180
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
the ground and laid out with giallo antico, African marble, and
other costly stones, upon which was still to be found incrusted
fragments of coloured glass. The pavement is given in Part I.
of Minutoli's work. Of course remains of pavements in which
the numerous pieces forming patterns of this sort have been
preserved are rarely met with; but in the South Kensington
Museum are pieces from such a pavement taken from a villa near
Rome which belonged to Lucius, the son in law of Marcus
Aurelius, A.D. 169. At Isola Farnese, nine miles from Rome, a
pavement of slabs of mosaic glass was found; it is described by
Winckelmann. Passeri says, having examined the ruins of an
ancient villa at Porte St. Sebastian, he saw with surprise that the
pavement was formed of a compact mass of glass, the same size
as the room, and thinks it was seeing such a massive pavement
that gave the idea of the sea of glass which the author of the
Apocalypse has placed before the Divine throne. Pavements
were of different kinds; that now called "opus vermiculatum" was
the pavement formed of little bits of coloured glass which were
more varied in colour and made of much smaller pieces than
opus tessellatum" or mosaic made of bits of marble; to the
first kind belonged a pavement found at Tivoli, so finely worked
that a square inch contained 180 pieces.
(6
At first glass was only used for those brighter colours which
could not easily be found either in clay or marble; but as the
desire for splendour increased, glass gradually took the largest
place in decoration. Thinner bits of glass, imitating porphyry and
marble, were backed with stone to strengthen them and much
used for walls; such pieces are still met with in quantities in the
hands of dealers, with their stone backing still adhering to them.¹
Many such pieces of glass are found with a layer of white enamel
behind them to throw up the colour, blue especially, which would
have little effect without a white ground. Opaque yellow is found
sometimes under green.
In Pompeii and Herculaneum slabs for pavements and wall
decorations are found in singular shapes like the petals of flowers,
stars, or rosettes, each placed in the middle of a piece of lavender
1 Mr. Nesbitt describes part of a female figure in his possession as formed
by placing suitable fragments into proper positions, and then pouring a mass
of heated glass on to the back; by this means the pieces were blended together
with less of the hardness of a mosaic and more of the effect of a painting.
Such figures might have been used in the " opus sectile" or marquetry with
which walls were ornamented.
MOSAICS AND WALL DECORATION.
181
opaque glass, one of the stars is cut from a rod formed of eight
pieces of glass; many of these can be seen in the museum of
Naples. As these pieces must all have been ground to fit,
enormous sums must have been spent on this kind of decoration.
Minutoli describes the flooring of the house of the faun in
Pompeii¹ as laid with mosaic of glass paste mixed with many
costly stones, all in small pieces, of the kind now called “alla
Veneziana," set in firm cement; to give himself an idea of what
this pavement looked like when new and polished, he had the
floor wetted, when there stood out pieces of beautiful red and
purple mixed with enamel pastes and many-shaded marbles. Two
fountains in Pompeii are covered with vitrified coloured pastes, in
patterns in which blue predominates, and bordered with real sea.
shells which are still perfect. These fountains have leaden pipes
and brass cocks for admitting and turning off the water precisely
the same as modern ones. The mode of using mosaics for wall
decorations instead of pavements seems to have arisen in Pliny's
time, as he says, "mosaics banished from the floor began to be
used for vaulted ceilings, and those made from glass became a
new fashion." Roman habitations were full of works in glass,
whether sculptured in colour, painted, or enamelled. When
pictures were spoken of it was long thought mosaic ones were
meant, but it has now been proved they were real plaques of
glass fastened to the wall. One example is in the Vatican; it is a
slab one palm long, with four figures on it, Bacchus and Ari-
adne, with two satyrs, the figures are white on a dark brown
ground. One wall decoration is known with coloured palmettes
in relief. Passeri describes one in his possession three feet long,
with a taurobolium and an inscription on it, and another with
Apollo standing between Thalia and Melpomene, and columns
surmounted by scenic masks, a composition well suited to a
theatre, and just such as Scaurus may have used in his celebrated
one; this piece is four inches high, the figures white on a blue.
ground.
Sometimes these glass pictures had blue grounds with figures
painted on them in enamel by means of colours fixed à l'encaus-
tique in lines engraved for them, others painted with colours by
the brush on the flat. In these elaborate wall decorations the
figures of men and animals are introduced both in marble and
¹ One mosaic in this house represented a small Bacchus holding in his hand
a large glass cup full of wine.
182
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
They were some-
Horace had his
glass, they are the result of a high style of art.
times fixed to the wall and framed in marble.
room ornamented with paintings on round pieces of glass, and
in many museums are preserved small round mosaics in bas-
relief meant to be fixed on walls. A roof in Hadrian's villa was
found covered with basrelief in paste and enamel. In the theatre
of Pompeii were found two glass figures in basrelief, six inches
high, one representing Abundance, the other a female figure
without emblems.
Minutoli minutely describes a very beautiful paste in his posses-
sion, of an oval form, which was found in the Baths of Titus where,
from marks on the wall corresponding with it, it seems to have
been fixed as a decoration. It is a dark green paste with layer of
blueish grey on it to imitate an onyx or a flint; some parts have
been set in, of a lighter shade, to imitate more perfectly the stone.
Doubtless the original of this paste was a cameo of great beauty;
the subject is the favourite one of Cupid the lion tamer; the god
playing his lyre is riding on a conventionalized lion, the whole com-
position belonging to the best age of art. The beautiful figure of
Bonus Eventus, a naked youth holding a cornucopia, in the British
Museum, which if whole would be a foot high, is considered the
finest known paste cameo in the world; it is imitation lapis
lazuli, and was no doubt a wall decoration. There is a smaller
tablet of the same kind at South Kensington. Some of these
slabs have architectural ornaments or foliage in brightly contrasting
colours; some heads in blue or white glass, flat at the back, have
been doubtless used to ornament a cornice. Such decorations
would be hardly more expensive than plaster, and far more dura-
ble and beautiful; and we have hundreds of examples to copy
from; the extreme cleanliness of such a style of mural ornament
would be most valuable in a city like London.¹ In those cases
where expense was no objection, higher artistic qualities might be
employed in reproducing such a wall decoration as that which
Minutoli gives in Part IV. of his work. It is a fragment which
formed part of the decorations in the hall of Junius Bassus, consul;
his house was afterwards made the church of St. Andrew in
1 Another suggestion which comes to us from America is worth careful con-
sideration, the substitution of slabs of glass for those of wood in Venetian
blinds. Such blinds might easily be made of any shade to suit the colouring of
the room, and might be highly decorated and ornamental; no weather could
spoil them, and they would be a strong defence against thieves.
MOSAICS AND WALL DECORATION.
183
Catabarbara, in Rome, now destroyed; Ciampini has painted the
building as it existed in his time. The only piece now existing is
supposed to be that preserved in the Albani palace at Rome. It
measures about four feet square; in the upper part is represented
the story of Hylas seized by the water nymphs; on the lower part
a piece of green drapery appears attached to the wall. In the
upper part only the blue and green colours are in glass, the re-
mainder is marble mosaic; the drapery is almost entirely formed
of glass; it has a broad border on which are depicted small figures
of Egyptian deities and priests, this border is all in glass mosaic,
and the subject would appear to denote that Egyptian artificers had
been employed on the work. Many smaller pieces of ancient
mosaic can be cited, either meant to ornament small pieces of
furniture or for personal adornment, representing human faces,
masks, or birds. There is one specimen from the Townley col-
lection, now in the British Museum, which depicts a human headed
hawk in mosaic, on a piece of lilac glass not an inch across, the
feathers and details of which require the aid of a magnifying glass
to enable you to distinguish them. A piece of blue glass one inch
long, also in the British Museum, shows the kneeling winged figure
of the goddess "Sati," like a delicate miniature; this specimen
belonged to the Duchess of Devonshire. No. 95 in the Slade
collection is a mosaic of decidedly Egyptian character, and No. 93
in the same collection is worth examining carefully from the ex-
treme minuteness of the details; it is a human bust; on the
forehead is a lock of hair which appears about the thickness of an
ordinary horse hair, but when seen through a lens is found
(Mr. Nesbitt tells us) to consist of nine threads of alternately
opaque and transparent glass. Specimens of fish are found in
which the teeth, divisions of the fins, eyeballs, and eyes are exe-
cuted with the greatest delicacy and truth. It has been suggested
that the ancients, who were quite alive to the value of rarity, only
permitted a small number of these specimens to be finished. In
some cases the pattern does not penetrate the entire thickness of
glass; a cavity seems to have been hollowed out and fitted either
to receive a slice from a prepared rod, or the colours as in some
2
1 Glass continued in use as a wall decoration for some centuries, as Boethius,
A.D. 470, a man famous for his learning, speaks of the walls of his library
decorated with glass and ivory; he was afterwards executed for practising
magic.
2 It is possible these fish may have been worn as charms; they are still
regarded with reverence by Arab women in North Africa.
184
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
Egyptian specimens may have been placed in the form of stiff
paste each in its proper place in the cavity prepared for it, and
then blended by heat and afterwards rubbed down and polished;
but this process could never have rivalled the delicacy of the first
described. Many larger and coarser pieces are met with in slabs
of four or six inches long, with flowers represented on them.
Although the finest mosaics may have been made in Egypt, many
pieces were also manufactured in Rome, and fragments of rods
prepared for slicing are met with. Mr. Nesbitt describes one in
his possession, three quarters of an inch square, which shows a four-
leaved turquoise blue flower with a yellow centre on an opaque red
ground. One rod, about two inches long but scarcely a quarter of
an inch across, now in a private collection, was taken out of the
catacombs in Rome; it had a coating of dark blue with a human
mask showing at each end. Slices from similar prepared mosaic
rods were used to form the thousand varied cups manufactured for
Roman use, and they also no doubt assisted in making the flowered
slabs still met with. Quantities of pieces of mosaic glass washed
up from buried palaces are to be found on every Mediterranean
shore; perhaps they are now more numerous on the African side,
where fewer people care to search for them. Many beautiful mosaic
pavements have been discovered among Roman ruins in Algeria ;
but as the French have not yet awakened to the fact that they ought
to preserve to the world the treasures they have conquered, any
such old relics found are left to the careless ignorance of the
colonists and generally destroyed. The Romans carried their love
of mosaic pavements into all their own cities, and many of those
they conquered. Dr. Birch describes a pavement at Verona as
made by many hands: Eusebia and her companions made twenty
feet; Hiernisa and her friends made twenty feet; Marinus ten feet.
Perhaps they only subscribed to the work; but in this age we know
that women make mosaic pavements at South Kensington. In the
museum at Rouen are preserved some thick slabs of blue and
green glass, evidently from a Roman pavement; and in the same
museum is placed a mosaic pavement found in the forest of
Brotonne, Normandy, which represents Orpheus playing the lyre,
in which the brighter parts are in glass. Another pavement found
at Avenches has an inscription stating it was made in the time of
consuls Avitus and Pompeianus, A.D. 209. Many pavements
have been discovered in London; one found in Fenchurch St. in
1858 contained a coloured peacock on a white ground, in which
Mw!!
MOSAICS AND WALL DECORATION.
185
the blue feathers were all in glass. Another pavement discovered
in 1803 in Lombard St. was unfortunately placed in the old
East India House and spoiled by exposure to the weather; the
design in it was Bacchus reclining on a panther; all the blue,
purple, and green colours in it were made in glass.¹ Some pieces
of flat glass probably used for wall decorations were obtained from
the ruins of a Roman house near Great Tower St.; they show
a more elaborate style of manufacture; they are sections cut
from a slab in which coloured flowers have been arranged in fila-
ments and fused into a dark ground. The originals may be seen
in Roach Smith's collection in the British Museum.
Glass mosaics were much used in imperial Rome up to the
fourth century, when we begin to find them in Christian art. The
earliest known example is in the catacomb of St. Helen, a
glass mosaic pavement remarkable for good style and variety.
Constantine, A.D. 306, enriched many Roman churches with
mosaics; but the only known ones still existing are those in the
circular galleries of St. Constance, near St. Agnes. Their sub-
jects are the vintage, harvest, and Christian symbols. The
beautiful mosaics of St. Prudentius, founded A.D. 142, have been
many times restored, especially by St. Sirice in the fourth century.
Among mosaics of the fifth century are particularly to be noted
those world-renowned specimens in the chapel of Galla Placidia,
built at Ravenna, A.D. 440. These mosaics were superior to those
made in Rome at the time, and were doubtless executed by Byzan-
tine artists brought there by Placidia, mother of Valentinian III.
Mosaics were made in Rome till the sixth century. The church of
the Nativity at Bethlehem, built A.D. 327, by Helen, mother
of Constantine, is one of the oldest Christian churches known; it
was adorned by her with mosaics, of which fragments only re-
main, representing Scripture scenes, portraits of angels, Greek
inscriptions, and arabesques. It has been suggested that these
mosaics were executed by order of Manuel Comenos in the
middle of the twelfth century, but it is more probable that he only
repaired them. Helen would have been sure to have adorned
so sacred a spot with all the splendour of her age; and mosaic
was then too well known to have been omitted. The only other
specimen of mosaic extant, of this date, is that of the church of
St. George at Salonica (ancient Thessalonica), 323, built by
1 For information respecting Roman mosaic pavements discovered in
England see a work published by Fowler and Lysons.
186
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
Constantine. The dome, more than two hundred feet in circum-
ference, is entirely lined with mosaic of a magnificent character
which covers 9,700 feet of space. The designs, light, fanciful,
and architectural, recall the baths of Titus and Pompeii; the
ground gold, the colouring rich and harmonious, presenting
colossal figures, holy persons of the Greek Church, birds, purple
curtains, and other objects. This splendid work is probably the
largest mosaic that has come down to us, one of the few that have
escaped the fury of Mahommedan fanatics, and gives point to the
saying of Ghirlandajo that "mosaic is the only painting for
eternity." Mosaic decoration certainly received a very great im-
petus from Christian art. From the chronicles of Eutychius it
appears when the Mussulmen invaded Palestine for the first time
they found the church of Bethlehem ornamented with fsefosis, an
arrangement of small stones is called by Arabs fsefysa. The
word "fsefysa" is found in the Athos MS. to designate mosaic.
Theophilus suggests that the term "mosaic" is possibly derived
from "mosque," for the adornment of which the Byzantine Greeks
were much famed and employed in producing the cubes of glass
required in the work. According to Ebn-Sayd one of the con-
ditions of peace concluded at the beginning of the eighth century
between caliph Walid and the Greek emperor Justinian II. was
that the latter should furnish a certain quantity of fsefysa for the
decoration of the mosque of Damascus which the emperor was
then constructing. Is it not of these same mosaics that Benjamin
Tudela writes later, when he tells us that one wall of the great
mosque of Damascus was formed of glass by enchantment?
Capt. Conder writes now "the whole of this mosque is white-
washed, but patches of the old glass mosaics which once covered
it are still visible, and the effect must formerly have been highly
magnificent." In the sixth century³ the emperor Justinian erected
a basilica to the Virgin, the remains of which are to be seen in
1 66 Eglises Byzantines": Texier and Pullans.
2 M. Dedron writes: "but these are mosaics in glass, transparent with
golden grounds; these are the mosaics which cover the vaults, cupolas, and
part of the walls of St. Sophia at Constantinople and Salonica, of St. Laura
of Mount Athos, of Daphne near Athens, of St. Luke, Livadia, of the round
temples of Salonica and Ravenna. Mosaic is Byzantine and Christian, and
the Arabs who have borrowed our architecture have even borrowed a great
portion of their embellishment."
3 A semicircular plaque in green glass representing the nativity, Mary
adoring the Saviour, Joseph meditating, and an ox and ass looking on, of
the sixth century, was found at Martigny.
MOSAICS AND WALL DECORATION.
187
،،
the mosque of Jamia el Aksa in Jerusalem; it has since passed
through many hands, among others those of the crusaders, who
called it Solomon's temple; it is probably to their care that the
glass mosaics still visible on the south side are owing.¹ This same
Justinian determined to build at Constantinople the finest basilica
ever seen, and constructed the present St. Sophia on the site
of the temple built by Constantine. Among the other embel-
lishments of this building were glass mosaics of the kind called
"musivum." Muratori corrects the error of certain archæologists
who seem ignorant that musiva is formed not of stone but of
glass." The apse of the church of the Transfiguration, of the
monastery of Sinai, is adorned with mosaics of great value,
attributed to Byzantine artists of the seventh and eighth centuries;
they represent Scripture subjects, and one of the transfiguration
(from which the church takes its name) is especially remarkable.
Capt. Burton describes finding along the coast of Midian, round
the ruins of tenements he thinks probably built for the wealthy
inhabitants who wished to enjoy sea bathing, "many scattered
fragments of sea coloured glass, varying in tint like the Roman
from blue to green." No fragments were found inland.2 Capt.
Conder explored many mounds at the hillocks of Gilgal, and
found them "full of pottery, glass, and tesseræ," indicating the
existence probably of one of the numerous religious establishments
that once covered the plain. Of the mosques and buildings in
Jerusalem itself a very curious account is given by Nasir ibn
Khusri, a native of Merv, who visited the Holy Land about 1060.
His work, called Safarnámah,³ was translated by Major A. Fuller ;
after describing various remarkable things he says: "there is a
fine large 'dargáh' with two wings; the faces of the wings and
hall of the dargáh are ornamented all over with pieces of parti-
coloured glass, which they have set in cement in any pattern they
pleased, insomuch that the eye becomes dazzled in looking at
it. In like manner an inscription in variegated glass has been
made on the dargáh, on which is written the title of the sultan of
Egypt, and when the sunshine lights upon it the effect of its rays
is so enchanting as to bewilder the intellect." The “maksúrah”
stands on the southern wall, and comprises sixteen pillars, as
¹ At the ruins of Anni, near Kars, beautiful mosaic work, brilliant in colour,
is spread all over the city.
2 He also found rare sherds of pottery composed almost entirely of kaolin.
3 "Journal of Asiatic Society," 1873.
188
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
well as a huge dome embellished with coloured glass as already
described."
The great manufacture of mosaics continued in Rome from the
time of Augustus till the ninth century; during the fourth and fifth
centuries walls and roofs were entirely covered with glass deco-
ration. A series of mosaics exists from Constantine to Charle-
magne. After the ninth century the work seems to have been
discontinued in Rome, but still flourished in Constantinople
and Venice. In the middle of the tenth century the emperor
Romanus II. sent to the caliph Abderrahman III. the materials
for the mosaics of the kibla in the mosque of Cordova.¹ In the
eleventh century Desiderius (afterwards Pope Victor III.) sent
to Constantinople for workers in mosaic, which appears to indi-
cate that the manufacture in Rome had ceased, and that in
Venice had not become celebrated. Yet the art was known
then in Venice, as the church of St. Cyprian, Murano, decorated
with glass mosaics, was finished in 882; probably they were the
work of foreign artists. The mosaics in St. Mark's were com-
menced by Doge Domenico Silvio in 1071; they were made of
Greek glass by Greek artists, but doubtless the decorations cf (
St. Mark's would have given a very great impulse to native art.
The first mosaic artist's name known as employed on the works
of St. Mark's is one Pietro, 1159.2 In the twelfth and thirteenth
centuries mosaic was much used in Italy for decorating monu-
ments, rooms, and furniture, where it was often inlaid in white
marble. This art acquired great importance at Florence, where it
is still practised. A similar industry exists at Agra, Bengal, where
it was introduced by Italian artists employed in decorating the
Taj Mahal. In Rome Mr. Nesbitt observes it is not uncommon
to find decorations of this class formed partly of antique glass
and partly of that manufactured at the time, and this is especially
noticed in the works of the Cosmati family, skilful artists in
mosaic.3 Eraclius says, "in ancient pagan edifices are found
different kinds of glass in mosaic work, viz. white, green, yellow,
sapphire, red, purple, opaque, resembling marble, made like
1 Arab artists seem early to have substituted faience for mosaic, as in the
Alhambra.
2 George Sand's exquisite tale of "Les Maitres Mosaistes " refers to the
time of Tintoretto.
3 For mosaic pavements in Italy see Sir Digby Wyatt's beautiful work;
also Sir A. Layard's paper on mosaic, read to the Institute of British
Architects.
MOSAICS AND WALL DECORATION.
189
square stones, from which gems are made for gold, silver, and
brass work." He also tells us to imitate the Grecian gold back-
grounds by making white glass tablets the thickness of a finger,
dividing them with a hot iron into squares, and covering one side
with gold leaf then paint over it with very clear glass, this being
placed among coloured mosaic work adorns it exceedingly. Such
are the mosaics which cover the interior of St. Mark's, and which
have made that building the glory and wonder of the world.
vast illuminated missal written within and without in letters of
enamel and gold. Never had a city a more glorious Bible."
(Ruskin.)
"A
Specimens of mosaic glass were eagerly sought for and care-
fully examined by intelligent workmen of Murano, who succeeded
in reinventing mille fiori and trina glass, in some things they even
surpassed their masters. The return of the crusaders to Europe
had a great effect in stimulating the manufacture of glass; a new
proof of this influence was discovered during the restorations of
the Ste. Chapelle, Paris. It had long been known that in Persia
the ancient usage of decorating walls with plaques of glass was still
practised, but no account of such an ornamentation in mediæval
Europe had been preserved. The walls of the Ste. Chapelle
were however found to have been decorated in many places
with tablets of glass stuck on with mastic. Some plaques were
white with delicate arabesques at the back; some painted in
distemper and flat tints, and lined with silver leaf to heighten the
effect and give metallic reflections; others were blue glass backed
by silver, and with arabesques of gold in front. This disposition
of glass replacing Byzantine mosaics is a curious fact, and shows a
decorative element in the middle age churches hitherto ignored.
M. Batissier gives this account in his History of Glass.¹ English
medieval mosaic work may be seen on the tomb of Henry II.,
the shrine of Edward the Confessor, and in Becket's crown at
Canterbury, which presents some curious patterns. A singular
wall decoration was attempted in the time of Charles II.; when
Hawsted House was altered it was plastered over and thickly
spangled with fragments of glass, which, according to Sir J.
Cullum, made a brilliant appearance when the sun shone and
even by moonlight.
There is a sort of coarse mosaic wall decoration used in India,
1 It may be remarked here that the guardians of the Ste. Chapelle abso-
lutely deny the existence of these plaques, but that proves nothing.
190
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
and especially round Lahore, which has a very good general
effect. In the fort of that city, built by Jehangir, 1600, are
some panels containing elephants fighting, the elephants bright
blue on pale yellow, white, or green grounds. The mosque of
Wasir Khan is richly decorated in this manner. Some Indian
wall decoration is made with arabesque patterns in plaster or
chunam, and the hollow parts filled in with small tiles of various
colours cut into the requisite shapes. Many Hindoo idols are
decorated with a kind of mosaic made of triangular pieces of
coloured glass, talc, and other substances. In the Christy collec-
tion, Victoria St., is a good example.
CUPS.
"The Sun embarks and is borne across the sea to his setting, in a golden
cup made by Vulcan. Hercules threatening to shoot, the Sun bade him
desist, and in return for his forbearance gave him the cup in which he used
to travel with his horses, when he had set going all night across the ocean to
the east whence he rises again; and Hercules went in this cup to Erythea, and
when the oxen of Geryon swam over the sea Hercules also passed over in the
cup of the Sun to find them; and when he was at sea, Oceanus, to tempt him,
appeared in visible form, tossing his cup about in the waves, and he was then
on the point of shooting, but Oceanus being afraid desired him to forbear."
-Athenæus, book ii.
T
HERE can be but few objects of common use which
have more deeply exercised man's ingenuity since the
earliest dawn of history, than the effort to give variety
of form and colour to the numerous cups or vases
which he has during all these ages devised, whether for drinking
or merely ornamental purposes. No doubt the first instinct of
primæval man was to stoop to the running brook, and quench
his thirst as the animals around him did theirs. It was a step
in advance when he learned to scoop up the limpid draught in
the palm of his hand, and drink from that cup of Nature's own
providing; how many years elapsed before Vivian made of
her "own lady palm a cup"? We find Diogenes, 419 B.C.,
already overburdened with civilization, flinging away his bowl,
probably made of wood or earthenware, thinking it more con-
venient to return to a state of nature and only drink from his
hand. Leaves of plants and shells were possibly utilised before
man made any vessels of clay. Barbarians we know gloried
in drinking from the skulls of their defeated enemies. The magic
kernos, used in mystical ceremonies to hold small quantities of
various viands, was formed of many small vases united in a
double row round one central stand.1 Athenæus describes the
kernos as a vessel having many little cups like figures fastened
to it, in which are wine, white poppies, wheatears, barley, peas,
vetch, pulse, and lentils. And he who carries the kernos,
1 See British Museum.
191
192
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
like the man who has borne the mystic fan, eats of all these
things, as relates Ammonius, A.D. 190. This kernos must have
resembled the flat vessel or platter, divided into many compart-
ments, each containing some piquant tasting viands, which used
to be carried round before eastern banquets, in order that each
guest might partake of hot, sweet, or salted condiments, which-
ever he considered most likely to provoke an appetite.
Ir
It is to Egypt we naturally look for the earliest practical
evidence of the use of glass drinking cups, and on the walls of
her tombs we find paintings which show at once the transparence
of glass and the presence of wine. The rude cup of pottery
gradually gave place to the more refined glass-porcelain, of which
the ruins of Thebes have yielded many varied specimens.
the Chinese classics, which claim a higher antiquity even tha.
the tombs of Egypt, we find allusions to cups, though no pictorial
record of them is left; thus the emperor Shun, 2000 B.C., who to
us is so very ancient, speaks with regret of the beautiful figures
embroidered on the dresses of "the ancients" emblematic of
various attributes, and among them describes one as a "temple
cup with figures on it"; what the material it was originally made
of might be we know not. Another emperor nearly a thousand
years later, who chose to introduce the use of ivory chopsticks,
is sorrowfully remonstrated with by one of his court officers :
"ivory chopsticks will be followed by cups of gem and other
extravagances, which may cost you your empire."
Cups in early times were made only of wood or clay, then of
horn, and rich people tipped them with gold and silver; then cups
began to be made of the most varied forms and costly materials,
and inlaid with jewels. Aristotle says "the cups which are called
Rhodiacan are brought into drinking parties, and when warmed
deprive wine of its intoxicating qualities." In a play of Euripides,
480 B.C., one of the characters on hearing an ominous word threw
his cup on the ground and called for another, desiring all present
"to pour like him the untasted liquor down." Cups were dressed
with garlands and filled to the brim, when libations were offered
to the gods, for Athenæus¹ quotes Aristotle thus: "we offer
nothing imperfect to the gods, but only things whole and entire,
and that which is full is entire." "The cups are crowned with
drink, that is they are filled above the brim, so as the wine riseth
1 Lib. xv., cap. 5.
CUPS.
193
""
in the manner of a crown for good luck's sake." A wreath of ivy
is also placed around the cup, and this is not attached but en-
graved. Cups were presented to guests at the end of a feast; thus
Alexander at his wedding feast at Susa is said to have given a
cup of gold to each of his nine thousand guests. In Greek feasts
a king was chosen by lot to direct the revels, whom all obeyed.
Arrian, A.D. 100, reports, "the king commands in this manner, Do
you drink, do you fill the glass, do you go, do you come.'
Theocritus says: "at last we voted each should crown a glass,
what health he pleased, but name whose health it was.” Lucian
reports that in the islands of the blessed "there were large trees
made of glass, the fruit of which are cups of various shapes and
sizes, whoever comes gathers one or more of these cups, which
becomes immediately full of wine." Full cups were presented to
guests of high quality at Greek feasts. The first cups were emptied
to the gods, then to absent friends, and to the mistress of each
guest. Sometimes three cups were drunk to the graces, some-
times three times three to the muses; four was an unlawful
number. Sometimes prizes were given to those who drank the
most, then again laws were enacted against the large use of wine.
Some Grecian sages only allowed three cups, one for health, one
for cheerfulness, and a third for sleep. Parryasis only permitted
two, the first to the graces, the second to Venus, and the third
was dedicated to strife. It was often the custom to propound
riddles and give prizes for the best solution; the prize was some-
times a cake, sometimes a cup of wine; the loser was obliged to
swallow a cup of wine mixed with salt. The word cup seems to
be applied equally to a drinking vessel, to a vase for holding liquid,
or merely for ornament, also to prizes given in games, a signifi-
cation which we preserve to this day. The most celebrated ex-
amples of vases known are undoubtedly the two cameo urns
generally called the Portland and Naples vases. Perhaps this is
as good an opportunity as can be found for placing together some
almost forgotten points of interest connected with the first named
vase. The greatest glass treasure of our Museum is enshrined in
the gem room, jealously guarded as such a gem should be. This
vase was originally discovered in the sixteenth century in the tomb
of the emperor Severus, near Rome. It was supposed on rather
insufficient evidence to have contained the ashes of Mammea the
mother of Severus. This emperor was killed A.D. 222, but the
vase is probably of earlier date. When first discovered it was
O
194
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
supposed to be a splendid sardonyx, but closer inspection proved
it to be made of a deep pellucid blue glass, adorned with beauti-
fully carved cameo figures in semi-opaque white glass. Learned
authors have exhausted themselves in trying to interpret exactly
the meaning of the scenes depicted on this vase, but have arrived
at no positive conclusion except that they are a triumph of antique
art, and undoubtedly belong to the very best Greek or Roman
period. Winckelmann asserts the figures are designed to pourtray
the nuptials of Thetis and Peleus, a sort of mystic marriage which
was a very favourite subject with ancient artists,¹ and the explana-
tion is not an unlikely one; his opinion of the merits of the work
is thus expressed. "Such glass work must ever be regarded as
infinitely more beautiful by all true connoisseurs than the porce-
lain vases so much admired, whose beautiful material has not
been ennobled by any pure work of art nor impressed with any
worthy or instructive devices. Most porcelain has been formed
into ridiculous shapes, from whence has sprung a childish taste
that has diffused itself everywhere." For two centuries after its
discovery the vase remained in possession of the Barberini family;
from them it became the property of Sir W. Hamilton, and then
passed into the hands of the Duchess of Portland; the contents
of her museum were sold by auction in 1786, and then Wedg-
wood the English potter conceived the idea of copying the vase,
and bid up to a thousand guineas for it but ceased bidding on
receiving a promise from the duke her son that it should be lent
him to copy.
In 1810 the Duke of Portland gave the vase to
the British Museum, where it has since remained regarded as a
national treasure. On one unfortunate day a foolish madman
entered the museum, and smashed the precious vase, one of the
wonders of the world, into a hundred pieces. Very wisely the
name of this feeble imitator of Eratostratus (who set fire to the
temple of Diana of Ephesus in hopes of gaining notoriety) has
never been known more definitely than as a madman. The ruins
of the vase have with wonderful skill and patience been recon-
structed into a resurrection of its former beauty, and it is kept in
an inner room, out of danger it is to be hoped of any future
catastrophe of this kind. The famous imitations made by Wedg-
wood with infinite labour and trouble are worthy of his fame.
Though the fifty original copies were sold for fifty guineas each
¹ See the Aldobrandini marriage at Rome.
CUPS.
195
66
(they are now much more valuable), they did not repay the great
outlay they had cost him, the model made alone having cost
£500. The original vase remained more than a year in his
hands, without which it would have been impossible to do
justice to this rare work of art. I now flatter myself with the
hope of producing in a short time a copy which will not be un-
worthy the public notice." The copies were finally finished 1790.
The black Wedgwood ware copy of the Portland vase exhibited
at Paris in 1878 is one made of jasper clay, but rendered more
valuable as a work of art by having passed under the hands of
Mr. J. Northwood, who added to its sharpness by graving and
polishing the hard jasper ware in the same way that he works glass
cameos. It is this gentleman who has with rare skill and artistic
knowledge succeeded in making a perfect copy of the Portland
vase in cameo glass. This beautiful work of art was commissioned
by Mr. P. Pargeter of Stourbridge, who himself cast the vase of
a deep blue glass coated with white for Mr. Northwood¹ to work
on, who has by patient hand carving reproduced a vase made in
precisely the same manner as the great original. This work, of
which its author may well be proud, was exhibited in Paris, show-
ing that such objects of art may be reproduced in our day if
only they are encouraged. What Wedgwood's opinion of such
a work would have been may be imagined from his remarks when
he proposed to make his own copy, and says he must call the
engraver to his aid before he can hope to produce anything highly
finished. "But here insurmountable difficulties arise, for how few
artists have we in this branch whose touches would not carry
ruin with them to those beautiful and highly wrought figures!
and suppose one or two could be found equal to the task, would
such artists be persuaded to quit a lucrative branch of their pro-
fession, and devote half a life to a single work for which there is
little probability of their being paid half so much as they can earn
by their present employment? for I do not think £5,000 for
the execution of such a vase, supposing our best artists capable
of the work, would be at all equal to their gain from the works
they are now employed in."
1 Mr. Northwood is the author of some original and beautiful works in
cameo glass; one of these is the exquisite work presented by Mr. Stone to the
Birmingham Art Gallery. The cameo glass tankard of Signor di Giovanni
(Florence) representing the "Childhood of Bacchus " is spoken of in terms of
enthusiastic praise by foreign critics.
196
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
The Naples vase, the great treasure of the Bourbon Museum,
is of the same character and probably the same age as the
Portland. It is in the form of an amphora, the shape is more
graceful than that of the Portland. The ground is blue, and
the white figures represent a vintage; some little genii collect
grapes and carry them to others, one with a mallet pounds the
mass, music plays to keep his strokes in time. Overhead hang
grapes and acorns, underneath is a basrelief of rams and kids
in various positions. Two vines cross above a masque at the
side, and spread over the vase. From the symbols of vintage
and the other emblems on this vase antiquarians suppose that it
contained the ashes of a devoted follower of Bacchus, or some
one initiated in the mysteries of the worship of that deity. It was
discovered in 1837 in the house of Marco Frugi, Pompeii, some-
times called the house of the Medusa. The vase was taken out of
a tomb in the presence of the king, and very probably contained
the ashes of Frugi the owner of the house. There is another very
beautiful cameo vase in the British Museum, nearly perfect. It
was found at Pompeii in the house of the faun; it is of the shape
called œnochoe, about nine inches high, the ground dark blue with
a very lovely wreath of vine foliage in white round it. This was
called the Auldjo vase.
Though few of these costly and exquisite works of art have
survived the lapse of centuries, yet they must have been at
one time common, as fragments of cameo glass, sometimes in
various colours though generally blue and white, are to be
met with in nearly all collections of ancient glass, and are still
found in the hands of dealers in Rome. After cameo glass per-
haps the cups showing the greatest ingenuity, and the most con-
summate skill of the workmen, are those enclosed in a network
of circles of a colour different from the body of the cup. One beau-
tiful specimen may be cited described by Winckelmann which
was found at Novara in 1725. It belongs to the Trivulsi family
at Milan. The body of this cup is iridescent, displaying all the
changing hues of the opal; the network is blue; round the rim
in green characters is an inscription, "Bibe vivas multos annos.'
Neither network or letters have been soldered to the cup, but the
whole has been carved out of a solid mass of glass like a cameo,
the marks of the wheel being still visible on the little props which
connect the network and letters with the body of the cup, and
which are more or less angular as the instrument was able to reach
""
CUPS.
197
them completely or not. A similar cup found in a tomb near
Strasburg in 1825 has the name Maximianus Augustus on it,
which fixes the date as the end of the third century. Mr. Nesbitt
thinks the network and letters in this kind of cup were added to
the body, and the connecting props worked by the wheel or hand.
There is a cup of the same kind at Munich, and a fragment of one
in the British Museum. Perhaps the finest example known of
this work is a pail or situla of greenish glass in the treasury of St.
Mark's, Venice; the upper part has a lion hunt with men on horse-
back and dogs in relief, some of the figures completely undercut ;
the lower part has four rows of circles united to the vessel only at
those points where the circles touch each other. Examples are
known in which the network of circles stands nearly a quarter of
an inch from the cup. It is easy when looking at such specimens
of manual dexterity to understand how the last touch of the
workman sometimes ruined the fruit of his toil. Cups are known
in which the whole surface is covered with figures and ornaments
engraved with the wheel in shallow intaglio, perhaps the finer
details added by the file or diamond; this style of work was pro-
bably of later date, and is more generally in bad and degraded
taste. A situla of dark violet glass at St. Mark's, on which a
bacchanalian dance is represented, may be cited as a specimen.
Later in time come the cups ornamented by threads of coloured
glass trailed over the surface, forming coarse patterns, or with
coloured enamels stuck in lumps or spots carelessly on them; no
doubt these were cheaper and more common wares. The decora-
tion of trailed threads is a favourite one among Frankish and
Anglo-Saxon remains. Many vases were painted different colours
by powdering glass very finely, mixing it with colour and water,
and after painting the desired subject on the vase putting it into
the oven.
Earthenware vases were treated in the same way.
Theophilus tells us the Greeks made precious drinking cups out
of ancient mosaic tubes "formed of sapphire stones, and then
ornamented them by cutting figures out of thick gold leaf, and
applying them to the body of the cup, then with gold and silver
ground very fine in a mill painting small circles on it with divers
figures in varied work and covering them with clear glass, then
taking glass of various colours such as is used for artificial gems
grind each by itself separately on porphyry stone, and paint what
you will of flourishes and other designs, with a border moderately
thick round the mouth, and heating it all again in the furnace. Also
198
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
make cups from purple or light sapphire, surrounding them with
threads made from white glass flung on them and divers colours
as they will." The dark brown Byzantine vase at St. Mark's, with
circles on it, exactly fulfils the description given by Theophilus.
Achille Tatius, a Greek writer of the fourth or fifth century, in
his romance of Leucippe and Clitophen, describes a cup as
belonging to Hippias of Tyre, who poured libations from it at the
feast of Bacchus. His hero says, "they made us drink from a cup
consecrated to Bacchus, and resembling those of the celebrated
Glaucus of Scio; it was of chiselled glass, a vine taking root at the
bottom wound itself round the cup, which it crowned with its
foliage and branches; from it hung bunches of grapes which
appeared green at first, but seemed to ripen as wine was
poured into it; in the middle stood Bacchus tending the vine."
Eusebius, bishop of Cæsarea, A.D. 340, describes the same or a
similar cup. A very remarkable goblet, supposed to be of late
Roman work, belonging to Baron L. Rothschild, seems to answer
in a singular manner the poet's description, and may have been
a copy of some more ancient vase. It is of an opaque greenish
hue on the exterior, but by transmitted light of a deep red,¹ the
colouring matter being possibly oxide of copper which has not
reached the state in which it forms ruby glass. On the outside
in very high relief are figures of Bacchus with vines and panthers,
some portions being hollow from within and others fixed on the
exterior of the vase.
De Rossi gives an engraving of a cup found in a tomb near
Treves, on which are fishes, sepias, and shells, all it would seem
moulded in high relief and stuck on, in the same manner as can
be seen in some of our old Plymouth pottery. A similar cup was
found in the cemetery of Calixtus, near Rome. Many cups of
various forms, made by being blown or moulded, have been after-
wards much undercut by the wheel or diamond, though this style
of work usually belongs to a late and degraded kind of art. One
very lovely cup in the British Museum looks like a silver cup
studded with sapphires; the metal seems to have been pierced
with numerous holes, and the blue glass blown into it so that it
projects a little from each hole; this style of ornament would
¹ Some extremely light vases are made by the Royal Society, Murano, which
look red when standing on the table, but appear green when held up to
the light. They are made by a film of the darker colour being dashed over
the paler.
CUPS.
199
present no difficulty to the modern worker. M. Deville describes
one cup with a ring like that round the planet Saturn, others with
covers made of engraved silver, and gives an engraving of a very
unique specimen in the Rouen museum which has a bronze
handle and a rim of bronze at the top and bottom, with long
spiked teeth to protect the glass. Some cups have two bronzę
rings which must have been put on before the glass handle was
welded to the cup. Such rings were probably meant to fasten to
a chain, and must have been used in the bath, as one cup was
found with a long bronze chain and by it a strigile. The cup
of Chosroes, the verre de Charlemagne, and the Luck of Edenhall,
and other celebrated cups, have been described elsewhere.
M. Jacquemart in his History of Furniture describes a marvel-
lous cup belonging to Baron G. Rothschild, on which a wreath of
birds perched on delicate branches are painted in enamel, sur-
rounding the cup like a garland; this is probably Damascus or
oriental glass.
BEADS.
""O Lord!' she said, 'Jesu Christ,
That sinful mannes bedes hear'st.'
Lay Le Fraine, from Marie's Lays.
"""
"Our modern word 'bead' is derived from this word (prayer, bede), because
it was by such articles hung on a cord that our ancestors reckoned the number
of their prayers; a unique example of the deduction of a term for a visible
object from a mental and spiritual act."-Glossary to Piers Plowman, by
Mr. Wright.
701
W
E may feel sure that among the very earliest manufactured
objects produced either in Egypt or elsewhere for barter
were found beads, probably rudely formed and dull in
colour, but still possessing the same fascination for the
ancient as they do for the modern race of mankind. We find
the treasured necklace buried with the oldest mummies of
Memphis, and carefully copied in the most ancient sculptures in
India, and it would be difficult to point to a period in the world's
history since then, when they have ceased to be objects of admir-
ation and delight. Whether viewed only as personal ornaments,
as objects of superstitious reverence, as ancient currency, or as
throwing light on the habits and manners of the whole world, they
deserve perhaps more attention than they have received. Indeed
it has been suggested that an exhaustive history of beads would
comprehend in fact the history of the human race, We have no
certain knowledge that our remote ancestors the gorillas ever
decked themselves in coloured berries, but ever since man has
had a history at all he has found pleasure in this mode of adorn-
ment. In the earliest times kings, and naturally queens, did not
disdain the aid of necklaces to heighten the splendour of their
appearance, and the greatest poets have recognised the importance
of beads and recounted their histories when describing the adven-
tures of their owners.
The "fatal necklace of Eriphyle," sung by Homer, had a remark-
able history, and being probably unknown to non-classical readers
it may not be uninteresting to them. "Harmonia, daughter of
200
BEADS.
201
Zeus, received from her husband Cadmus (he who built Thebes and
sowed the dragon's teeth) a fatal necklace. It was presented to
Eriphyle to induce her to betray her husband. Her son Alcmaon
slew his mother and gave the necklace to Arsinoe, daughter of
Phegeus, whom he married, but pursued by madness for matricide
he went to the oracle of Delphos, and then fixing his residence at
Achelous married Callirhoe. Though men give way to foolish
desires, the insane wishes of women are more vehement;
Callirhoe desired to possess the necklace of Eriphyle, and her
husband against his wishes had to seek it in Phegia, where he
was slain by the sons of Phegeus, who dedicated the necklace to
the oracle of Delphos. Callirhoe prayed Zeus that her sons
might instantly be grown up to revenge their father's death, and
they killed Phegeus and his two sons." Pausanias thinks that the
necklace preserved in the temple of Amathus is not that in
question, as it is composed of green stones set in gold, and
Homer says only:
'There Eriphyle weeps, who loosely sold
Her lord, her honour, for the lust of gold;"
and yet Homer was not ignorant that there are many different
kinds of necklaces, and describes some made with amber, but he
does not say Eriphyle received a necklace varied with stones and
gold. It was said to have been taken away by the Phocean
tyrants. It wrought mischief to all who had been in possession
of it, and continued to do so even after it was dedicated at
Delphi, as Phayllus the tyrant stole it from the temple to gratify
his mistress; she wore it in triumph for a time, but punishment
overtook her, for her youngest son being seized with madness
set fire to the house in which she perished with all her treasures.
The date of this record belonging to fabulous times can scarcely
be ascertained; but among our Egyptian remains we have for-
tunately more reliable chronicles to consult.
The well known bead of Queen Hatasou was probably in its
day of greater value and more celebrated than the Koh-i-noor ;
and as it was inscribed with her name and titles it possessed decid-
edly a more personal charm. Bugles and beads were extensively
used for ornament by ancient Egyptians during their lives, and
served commonly to decorate their mummy cases after death.
Capt. Harvey describes a bead he found at Thebes, engraved
with the name of a king, 1500 B.C.; he states that it was the
202
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
same specific gravity as crown glass. Other beads are known
inscribed with names of the eighteenth dynasty. In the British
Museum may be studied a great variety of beads in glass¹ and
vitrified pastes of innumerable forms and colours; some necklaces
have figures of men and deities as pendants; one curious string
has cats' heads hanging from it; one very peculiar bead presents
three human faces. Numerous charms or amulets are mixed with
the beads, such as the "mystic eye" in various forms, nilometers,
horns, and delicately shaped vases, these latter probably belong
to the Græco-Roman period. The immense mass of mosaic,
twisted, and variously coloured beads found all over the world
were probably dispersed by the first Phoenician traders, who
seem to have used them as the earliest objects of barter with
barbarous nations, a commerce which the civilized world appears
to have continued ever since. Glass beads, Sir J. Lubbock says,
were in use in the bronze age, but no vessels of glass have yet
been discovered; just as there are many barbarous tribes now
which are well supplied with European beads, but which possess
no glass vessels.
The trio of colossal stone figures in the ruins of Tak-i-bostan
near Bagdad are highly decorated with beads.2 The dress of
the principal figure (16 ft. high) is all spotted with large beads,
and confined at the waist by a band of four rows of beads. The
sword belt and sword are ornamented in the same manner. A
smaller figure on the right side has two rows of large beads all
round the tunic; that on the left side, supposed to be the statue
of a woman, has a headdress formed of a sphere of beads
fastened together, and a large mantle bordered with beads.
Two figures of genii at the entrance hold each in one hand a
chaplet of beads and in the other a cup full of beads. In another
part of the building are statues of Sapor II. and King Bahram.
It is probable these beads in the figures of royal persons represent
precious stones. The beads now made for export to Africa bear
a resemblance, doubtless not accidental, to the ancient specimens.
Probably the factories of Tyre and Sidon produced most of the
beads scattered by Phoenician traders in return for tin, amber,
and gold. The Romans, who copied the arts of these earlier
nations, seem to have had a passion for beads; in all Roman
tumuli they are to be found buried with their possessors.
1 See a square bead, Plate I. 6 ; also a blue bead from the Louvre, Plate II. 2.
2 In the earliest Hindoo sculptures the figures all wear long chains of beads.
BEADS.
203
،،
2
Trebellius speaks of the great commerce of beads in his day,
gemmas vitreas, bullas vitreas." To be buried in her necklace
was a phantasy with Roman ladies. Papinianus¹ writes of a
woman who took the trouble to put in her will that she was to be
buried in her necklace of two rows of pearls. M. Campana
found the habit general among the tombs he opened in the Via
Latina. Even among the ashes of those who were burned after
death are beads to be found. Holy martyrs are represented in
the catacombs wearing necklaces of beads, some round, some of
square shape. Among the many beads found in Roman and
Saxon tumuli in Great Britain, perhaps none have excited greater
interest than those supposed to have been made and worn as
amulets or badges by Druid priests, and commonly called glain
neidyr or holy snake beads. These have been by some con-
sidered identical with the ovum anguinum of Pliny, who says he
saw one worn as a badge of office by a Druid. Higgins says "it
was a congeries of small snakes rolled together and incrusted
with a shell formed by the saliva and viscous gum or froth of
the mother. This egg is tossed in the air by the hissing of its
dam, and before it falls again to earth should be received in the
sagus lest it should be defiled." Pliny describes it very carefully
and says,
"the person who was to carry off the egg must make
the best of his way on horseback, for the serpent pursues this
ravisher of her young ones even to the brink of the next river
they also pretend that this egg is only to be taken from its dam
at one particular time of the moon. The trial whether the egg
was good in its kind and of sufficient efficacy was made by
seeing whether it would swim against the stream even if set in
gold. I have seen that egg; it is about the size of a moderate
apple, its shell a cartilaginous substance, full of little cavities
such as are on the legs of the polypus; it is the insignia or badge
of distinction which all Druids wear. For getting the better of
their adversaries in any kind of dispute, and introducing them to
the friendship of great men, they think nothing equal to the
anguinum, and of my own knowledge I can say that Claudius
Cæsar ordered a Roman knight of the Vesontian family to be
put to death for no other reason but that when he had a trial
at law before a judge he brought into court in his bosom the
anguinum." 3
;
1 Roman jurist, A. D. 200.
2 "Celtic Druids.”
³ Pliny, lib. xxix., cap. 3.
204
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
""
The object which Pliny saw was evidently a natural substance,
not an ornament made by art, and the description more nearly re-
sembles an echinus than anything else, a view that is supported by
the fact that a variety of this shell is still called "mermaid's egg.
Bishop Gibson says "in most parts of Wales, throughout Scot-
land, and in Cornwall, it is a common opinion of the peasantry
that about midsummer eve an innumerable company of snakes
collect in one place, and joining their heads together commence
hissing; from the foam thus produced a kind of bubble is formed
round the neck of one of them like a ring, which by continual
hissing was blown on by the others till it slipped off at the tail,
when it immediately hardens into a ring like glass. The assem-
bled mass of snakes continue to hiss, bearing the mystic egg
aloft in air." Whoever wished to secure this magic charm had
to catch it in a cloak before it reached the ground, otherwise
it lost its virtue. The captor was immediately pursued by the
whole troop of serpents, and unless enabled by swiftness of foot
to cross a running stream before he was overtaken by his pursuers
lost his prize. The fortunate possessor of one of these amulets
was to prosper in all his undertakings. Instead of the natural
one, which must surely have been very rare, artificial rings of
stone, glass, or baked clay, were substituted. The Druids prob-
ably propagated wonderful stories about the value of these
charms, to induce the credulous multitude to purchase them from
their own order only, pretending they were never of full virtue
unless procured from the hands of a Druid. Mr. E. Lhwyd says
the Cornish people towards the Land's End have still charms of
glain neidyr, which they call "mepreo" (or a thousand worms),
and have a spell by which they can force the snake to make it,
(C
when they succeed in finding one asleep and have stuck a
hazel wand in the centre of her spira." Carew asserts the same
peasants have a belief that snakes, breathing on a hazel wand,
produce a stone ring of a blue colour, in which appears the
yellow figure of a snake. He had one given him, and the donor
declared he had seen a part of the stick still attached to it. Mr.
Owen says these transparent or adder stones were worn by the
different orders of the bards, each having its appropriate colour.
There is no certainty that they were originally worn from
superstitious motives. Whatever may have been the cause, the
notion of their rare virtue was universal in all places where the
bardic religion was taught.
BEADS.
205
Whether the glass beads commonly known as holy snake.
beads were ever worn as insignia of office among Druids or not,
they are extraordinary specimens of taste and skill on the part of
the British or Roman workmen. They are generally made of
blue or green glass, much thicker than a finger ring, but with
larger holes than a common bead; some are fluted, some of a
flattened shape have wavy lines of white disposed round them in
different patterns. Some are of very vivid colours and elegant
form, with small spheres of spiral white and different coloured
threads like little shells stuck on the outer circle at regular in-
tervals; they were probably worn as the centre ornament of a
necklace. Some of these beads are of vitrified clay, dark blue in
colour, with white lines arranged round them as though intended
to represent two snakes twined round the bead. Mr. Fosbrooke
says a very fine glass bead mixed with gold was exhibited at the
Antiquarian Society some years ago, which had a beautiful effect
when placed in water. The test of a holy serpent's egg was to
float in water, hence the effect of this glass in water was possibly
substituted.
Mr. Mason's spirited version of Livy's description of snake
beads may be quoted here.
"From the grot of charms and spells
Where our matron sister dwells,
Brennus, has thy holy hand
Safely brought the Druid wand?
And the potent adder stone
Gendered 'fore the autumnal moon?
When in undulating twine
The foaming snakes prolific join,
When they hiss and when they bear
Their wondrous egg aloft in air,
Thence before to earth it fall,
The Druid in his holy pall
Receives the prize,
And instant flies,
Followed by the envenomed brood
Till he cross the silver flood.”
The ancient British name for glass was "glaine," in Irish it was
"gloine"; both words derived from an ancient Scythian or Phoe-
nician name for glass ;¹ hence our word "glain neidyr" for these
beads or glass charms. Bishop Gibson says he has seen twenty
1 Nenia Britannica": Rev. J. Douglas.
206
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
or thirty of these amulets in one place. It is a curious fact that,
whenever discovered in modern times, they are regarded by the
peasantry of Great Britain, Wales, Gaul, or Africa, as charms
productive of good fortune to the finder. Near Abarfrair Palace
in Wales some good specimens were found, and others may be seen
in the British Museum, where are preserved some black and white
balls or beads without holes, and also spotted opaque and clear glass
beads from the north of Ireland, all called alike Druidic. There
are some dark blue and red beads which have been erroneously
called glain neidyr, but they are obviously of more modern make.
They have been cut from a glass cane in which a white line with
twelve starlike points divides the red centre from the blue outer
coating;¹ there is a large piece in the British Museum. These
beads are widely scattered over the world; in 1848 some were found
at Keswick, one comes from Dakkah, Egypt and other places; it
has been suggested that they are early Venetian, and the star
alludes to the twelve apostles. Beads found in the form of the
vertebral bone of a fish, and smaller at one end, meant to be
placed between large oval beads to make the circle fit better, from
their resemblance to a small pulley are designated as "pulley
beads." A few of these are of the same imperfect vitrification,
and resemble in substance the little figures found with mummies
in Egypt. Some English beads found in tombs and now preserved
in the Whitby museum are of this rough and careless make, and
have therefore been supposed to be of native origin.
In ancient barrows a single bead is often found, no doubt
looked upon as a precious amulet more than an ornament. In a
tomb at Sarre in Kent was discovered a dark coloured crystal ball
with silver mountings, resting on a silver spoon; a similar one was
found in the Isle of Wight, another at St. Sabine, and one also in
the tomb of Childeric. Similar balls or bulla have been taken
from Frankish tombs, and are supposed to denote that the occu-
pants were of the highest rank. Those who could not afford a
crystal ball probably contented themselves with a glass one.
In a tumulus at Boxmoor with other glass remains were some
light blue vitrified porcelain beads of a fluted shape, sometimes
called Druids' beads; and from a moss near St. Olaf, Orkney, were
dug up two variegated glass beads. In 1850 a grave was opened
near Stamford containing the skeleton of a female with some articles
1 See Plate VI. 4. This bead was found at Sibertswold.
"
BEADS.
207
of jewellery, and a string of coloured glass beads principally dark
blue with white lines, but some nearly resembling in colour and
substance the red Samian ware: there was also one double bead 1
of the same kind as two found in Lyston Park, Lincolnshire,
and presented to the British Museum by Sir J. Banks, together
with a very beautiful string of amber and coloured glass beads,
some of which were ornamented with projecting spikes. In
Linton Heath was also found a string of blue glass and amber
beads.
In 1722 a barrow north of Stonehenge was opened, and beneath
the usual layers of chalk and flint was unearthed an urn of
reddish unbaked clay with rude lines and mouldings on it, con-
taining burnt bones laid in a little heap, a small handful, supposed
to be those of a girl about fourteen. With the ashes were a number
of glass beads of various shapes, principally yellow and one black;
many were in long pieces notched to resemble beads, and of a blue
colour; these would seem to indicate they were of native manu-
facture, also several flat button-shaped beads; and some pulley
shaped, all drilled for suspending, and several pieces of amber,
all shapes and sizes; all had gone through the fire, and the amber
was half burnt.
Many pieces of amber are taken from these old tombs, probably
picked up then as now on the sea beach; most of these pieces
are left in their natural shapes, either from the workman not
knowing how to cut them or from his considering the substance
too valuable to be reduced. Bryan Faussett describes finding in
many Saxon graves quantities of coloured and variegated glass
beads, not so finely worked as the Roman ones, but differing
greatly in shape, some made in long drops as though for earrings,
some wide and flattened 2 apparently for hanging, others were
slung on knotted wire rings, and one bead had twisted gold wire.
Numbers of beads found in Britain are really Roman and resemble
precisely those found in Normandy and other parts of France and
the continent, indeed in all countries that were subjugated by the
Romans.
1 See Plate IV. 5.
Abbe Cochet, who has excavated so much in Normandy,
calculates that in every hundred tombs he found two or three neck
laces of amber, glass, and jet; the glass beads are of all shapes,
sizes, and colours, some square, some opaque red with rays of
2 See Plate VI. 5.
208
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
colour, which seem to have been highly prized. At Tiétreville
in one glass vase were preserved all the beads for a necklace, each
one differing in shape and colour. A Frank woman and child
buried in the same grave wore glass and paste beads, and in some
children's graves at Cany were found loose beads, some white
some coloured, probably used as toys.
Bracelets of glass and paste beads are common, and in some
tombs are found bracelets made of the seeds of a sort of vetch,
probably the occupants were too poor to wear anything else; the
same custom exists still in the Fiji islands, and among other
savages; the beads of Varney and Helvetia reproduce the same
features as those of Normandy and Britain.
In the museum of
Rouen are preserved three necklaces, one of which has pendants
of acorns, an emblem much venerated among Gauls.
M. H. Baudot describes thirty-five tombs at Charnay, Dijon;
among these he discovered twenty-four complete necklaces formed
of mixed amber and glass beads, the latter of every shape and
colour, some like Roman mosaic, some striped, zigzag, wavy, or
spotted, spirals, circles, imitation of leaves, in fact everything that
chance or the hand of the workman could conceive; some clay
beads with no variety of colour, others melon shaped. It is im-
possible to give any idea of the variety of these beads; one
necklace was formed of small glass beads, blown and moulded,
into the middle of each a small piece of silver has been introduced
which imitates exactly the shimmering aspect of a pearl, between
each three or four pearls is placed a long blue or green bugle,
resembling the mummy necklaces of Egypt. These tombs are
supposed to date between the fourth and fifth centuries.
Among the glass beads found by Mr. Douglas in tombs at
Chatham were many specimens of imitation pearls, and he
specially notices one dark opaque bead easily cut with a knife,
and still retaining an aromatic smell, which had no doubt been
brought from the East.¹ He also found ten rings made of a simple
twist of silver wire with coloured beads on each ring; they seemed
to have been attached to an ivory armilla or bracelet.
Caylus
gives an engraving of a specimen, and thinks it may have been
some kind of musical instrument, Mr. Douglas thinks it was most
likely used in incantations; some of the beads imitated malachite,
a stone which preserved infants from harm. All these women's
1 See Plate IV. 4, 6.
BEADS.
209
tombs contain numerous beads of various colours mixed with
coral and amber. Tertullian is very sarcastic concerning ladies
who spend large sums of money on these ornaments, and Clement of
Alexandria pours a heavy denunciation on the practice, saying
that women are so extravagant in these objects that neither
Tyrian, Indian or Ethiopian treasures, or the golden sands of
Pactolus, could satisfy their vanity.
The thousands of ancient beads of varied patterns, opaque or
transparent, striped or mosaic, still so valued all over Africa,
known by the singular name of "aggry," whether they originally
proceeded from Egyptian factories, or were scattered by Phoe-
nician traders, or owe their presence to Roman conquests, seem
never to have lost their charm in the eyes of the native popula-
tions, indeed their value appears to increase with their age. The
earliest notices we have of travellers who in modern times have
striven to pierce the veil that shrouded the dark continent all
speak of the extraordinary worth attached to aggry beads. Their
peculiar make seems to have puzzled these old writers. Isert
describes them as a sort of coral with inlaid work, and Dr.
Leyden writes: "the aigris is a kind of stone of a greenish blue
colour, supposed to be a species of jasper, small perforated pieces
of which valued at their weight in gold are used for money."
Bosman, who visited the coast of Guinea in 1700, says: “negros
wear quantities of gold and coral ornaments; one sort of coral,
called conte de terra, is sometimes of a quadruple value to
gold, as also a sort of blue coral which we call 'agrie' and the
natives 'accorri,' which being moderately large is so much
valued that it is weighed against gold. Their legs, arms, and
wrists are adorned with gold and the above mentioned sorts of
coral. The King of Fida's daughter was richly adorned with
conte de terra and aggrie, two sorts of coral I have already
mentioned." Bowditch, who travelled in Ashantee (1817), was
much struck by the profusion of aggry beads worn by chiefs; he
says: “at Coomassie on the first reception of the mission a great
crowd received the visitors, the superior captains wore silk cloths
of incredible size and weight, with massive gold necklaces sus-
pending Moorish charms and curious embroidery; some wore
necklaces of aggry beads reaching below the waist, a band of
gold and beads encircled the knee, from which several strings of
the same were suspended; lumps of rock gold hung from their
wrists, which were so heavily laden as to be supported on the
P
t
210
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
head of one of their handsomest boys." "The king wore a fillet
of aggry beads round his temples, his bracelets were the richest
mixture of beads and gold, his knee bands were of aggry beads,
and he wore an infinite variety of other ornaments and charms."
While the mission remained at Coomassie the king made a great
sacrifice, imagining that if he washed the bones of his mother
and sisters, who had died while he was on the throne, it would
propitiate the fetish and make the war successful; the bones were
therefore taken from their graves with great ceremony, and bathed
in rum and water, then wiped with silk and rolled in gold dust,
and wrapped in strings of aggry beads and other things of the
most costly nature.
Aggry beads are used for charms by natives; if the successor to
a property is a child, they grind aggry beads into a powder and
rub him with it daily after washing, believing that it hastens hist
growth and maturity. When any one is suspected of a theft an
aggry bead is placed in a small vessel of water and the person
holding it puts his right foot against the right foot of the accused,
who invokes the powder of the bead to kill him if he is guilty ;
he then takes it into his mouth with a little of the water, the rest
being thrown on the ground; and their superstition generally over-
comes their resolution and they confess the crime. The natives
assert that these beads are found in many places, but always in
the ground, the greater number in the Dankara country, being the
richest in gold; they say they are directed to dig for them by a
spiral vapour issuing from the ground, and they rarely lie near
the surface; the finder is sure of a series of good fortune. They
pretend that beads if buried in the sand will not only grow larger,
but will increase in numbers; they also believe imitations are
made in the country, which they call boiled beads, alleging that
they are broken beads ground into powder and boiled together,
and they know them because they are so much heavier than the
real ones.
They are of every kind, some rude clay, some plain
colours, others of the most delicate mosaics. Tube shaped are
valuable, one large one is worth four cows. The plain beads are
blue, yellow, green, or a dull red; the variegated consist of many
colours and shades. The Fantees prefer plain yellow, the Ama-
naheans the blue and yellow, for which they will give double
weight in gold. Beads of inferior beauty often fetch a large price
if they have belonged to a royal or celebrated person. One
bead, called popo, is semi-transparent, of a bright blue, and re-
BEADS.
211
sembling cornelian; it is said to be obtained in the same manner
as the aggry one, and also used for pieces of money.¹ Beads are
sometimes cut in half for small transactions. The glass globes
dug up in Lincolnshire, now in the British Museum, are very like
one kind of aggry found more rarely than the others; they are as
large as an apple, opaque; the ground is generally black, speckled
with red, white and yellow. "Aggry' is the generic not the
abstract name; 'awynnee' means a bead, but 'aggry' is an exotic
word no native can explain. When I first heard of similar beads
being found in India I thought it might be in the neighbour-
hood of Agra, and so throw some light on the origin of the name,
but they came from Malabar. The beads found in India closely
resemble aggry beads, they are found in circles of stones near
Calicut, but also in other parts of India; they were found at a
depth of about five feet, in circles of stone enclosed in an earthen
jar very like those found in Wiltshire, generally one jar found in
each circle. Sir R. Hoare has described one of these beads in
the History of Wiltshire; they were doubtless connected with the
bardic religion." Hutton, in his voyage to Africa, 1821, saw the
same profusion of aggry beads and gold worn by all the great
chiefs described by other travellers; on one occasion a great pro-
cession of 20,000 warriors passed, all armed with long Danish
guns, and all decorated with aggry beads and gold charms; the
king wore a necklace and bands round wrists, knees, and ankles,
all made of aggry beads.
Marco Polo is said to have been the first who excited the
Venetians to make beads for the African market, and to have
pointed out to them the proper routes by which their goods could
be spread over the country; the trade seems to have been a
very thriving one ever since. Burckhardt, who travelled in Nubia
in 1814, says that every district has its own particular kind of
bead which is not in fashion in the neighbouring districts. At
Shendy glass beads have not the same currency that they have in
Abyssinia and Darfour, though they are seen in the market;
the white glass beads of Bohemia are most liked at Darfour.
He calculated that four or five hundred chests of Venetian beads
weighing ten hundredweight each were sold at Cairo annually.
At Djedda he describes some dozen varieties of Venetian beads
prepared for the inland market, each packet arranged with its
1 Some beads, blue in shadow and yellow when held up to the light, are also
called popo.
212
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
sample bead outside and each known by its special name, as the
Renowned, King's Saddle, Whore's Eye, Hassan Beg, and so on;
modern travellers see the same practice in Arab shops of to-day.
Burckhardt describes one particular sort of bead called "reysh"
which come from Surat in India, which he thinks were coloured
agates; these formed the principal article of exchange for slaves
at Djedda, these beads were worth fifteen dollars a thousand,
which would purchase at Kordofan six female slaves; as the beads
were easily transported the trade must have been very profitable.
He describes the chiefs adorning themselves with amber and
coral, but says the Venetians¹ sent false coral into the market.
The Venetian beads were made, doubtless intentionally, as much
as possible like the ancient ones so dear to Africans, but they
seem to have been unable to make the mosaic beads, an art
rediscovered in more modern times. It is these ancient mosaic
beads which command such high prices in Ashantee; after the
late war our officers described the desire of even civilized people
to purchase the aggry beads brought from Coomassie, which
they valued more than coral of the same weight, doubtless
from a lingering half belief in the charm supposed to belong to
them.
At present quantities of beads are made at Murano of every
size and colour. The process of manufacture is very simple; a
piece of glass, once perforated, may be drawn out to a tube of
any length without losing the hole in its centre; these lengthened
tubes are then cut into small pieces, and the bits placed in a
mixture of lime and charcoal to fill up the holes and prevent
their closing when again heated; they are then placed with sand
and charcoal in an iron vessel over a furnace, so adjusted that a
rotatory motion can be given to it (exactly as round sweetmeats
are treated); by this means the sections of tubes are rounded,
then they are shaken in bags to take the stopping from the holes,
and finally polished by being shaken in sacks with bran. In 1764
twenty-two furnaces at Murano were employed in this industry,
and the quantity made annually was prodigious; it may be ima-
gined what a variety of patterns were produced. A tariff drawn
up at the beginning of this century enumerates 562 different
species and a vast number of sub-species of beads. The manu-
1 The republic endeavoured by repeated prohibitions to prevent workers
from imitating in glass such objects as were generally made of crystal or stone,
proving that such imitations were often attempted.
BEADS.
213
facture continues to be one of very great importance, the annual
export amounting in value to about £200,000 per annum.
There are in the British Museum some very beautiful glass
beads, clouded and coloured, of various shapes, from both China
and Japan, but they are all of modern make.
The habit of using beads to keep count of the number of
prayers said seems to be very widely extended and of great anti-
quity, it would be difficult to say which nation originated the
practice. All Turks habitually finger beads during their prayers ;
the Arab pilgrims from Mecca bring numerous rosaries home
with them. Capt. Hawkins describes the great mogul of Agra;
(6
at break of day at his devotions he has eight chains of beads,
four hundred in each chain, formed of all kinds of precious
stones; he turneth over his beads and saith 3200 words, and then
his prayer is ended." And Marco Polo tells us that between
Malabar and Zeilan where they fish for pearls the king has a
silken thread to his breast "with 104 faire pearles as beads to
number his prayers, of which he must daily say so many to his
idols."
The Christian adaptation of beads is first mentioned by St.
Augustine, A.D. 366; the intention was that no prayer should
be omitted. That the name of the "bede
or prayer should
gradually come to indicate the symbol is not unnatural. Bead-
roll was the catalogue of those who were to be specially mentioned
at prayers, the king's enemies were thus cursed by name at Paul's.
Many monumental brasses show a double necklace of beads
hanging down from the neck of the figure represented; in the case
of men these were probably used for counting their prayers.
Early in the fifteenth century, 1407, Bishop Wickham bequeathed
to Bishop Arundel a pair of beads with a gold chain. Herrick
bids his Corinna to
"Wash, dress, be brief in praying;
Few beads are best, when once we go a-Maying."
MIRRORS.
"The one true essence is like a bright mirror, which is the basis of all phe-
nomena; the basis itself is permanent and true, the phenomena are evanescent
and unreal; as the mirror however is capable of reflecting all images, so the
true essence embraces all phenomena, and all things exist in it and by it.".
Avatamsaka Sutra (Buddhist): translated by S. Beale.
S
W
HO can doubt that the first known mirror was a calm
mountain pool? Classical authors represent goddesses
and shepherdesses alike contemplating their charms in
limpid water instead of glass, a method of employing
the laws of reflection which Dame Nature could scarcely have
intended. Mr. Burne Jones has lately taught us how Venus might
have instructed some of her elder daughters in the art of admiring
themselves, a lesson they have never forgotten; Narcissus
followed their example with fatal results. When we leave the
misty realm of fable and come down to prosaic history, we find
Venus' descendants in Egypt striving to replace the mountain
pool of early days by polished metal. So admirably did the
chemist of those times succeed in making mirrors of a mixed
metal, capable of receiving a very high polish, that the brilliance
of some ancient metal mirrors discovered in Thebes has been
partially revived after being buried in the earth for so many
centuries. These mirrors were chiefly made at Brundisium of a
mixture of copper and tin. This produces a white metal, which
unless preserved with great care is apt to become dim; and to
preserve untarnished the splendour of ancient mirrors a sponge
with powdered pumicestone was fastened to the setting. After
the invention of glass mirrors the art of making metal ones was
entirely lost; no one thought any circumstances could occur
to render metal mirrors again necessary as has been the case in
these days with the telescope, when chemists were obliged to
make new experiments to determine the best metal for mirrors.
"No art should be suffered to become extinct, at least the
written process should be preserved for posterity. According to
214
MIRRORS.
215
experiments made by Mr. Mudge the Brundisium mixture of
copper and tin produces the best metal for specula."1 Egyptian
mirrors were generally oval in shape, with a handle, and were
held up by slaves during the lady's toilette. In the East
mirrors had a connection with religion; females held them before
the images of goddesses, thereby testifying their own humility as
servants of the deities, and also showing the prevalence in private
life of a similar custom, which in later times we sometimes find
was performed by the lover when admitted to the toilette of his
mistress. The Israelitish women must have followed the Egyptian
habit of wearing their mirrors when Moses collected them at the
tabernacle to make the brazen laver. Egyptian artisans must
very early have observed the reflections given by their polished
stones and obsidian, and if they tried to imitate this effect in glass
would probably, as their glass was chiefly opaque, have used black
glass. In the Turin museum are two little glass mirrors framed
in wood, and fixed at the base of small Egyptian figures in white
stone. M. Batissier says he has seen in Egypt some of these
little mirrors, round, slightly convex, and all framed at the
bottom of pottery figures found in the diggings of Sakkarah; and
though by reason of their fragility very few have been preserved,
yet enough remain to show that mirrors were sometimes made of
glass, and not only of metal. To Sidon has been ascribed the
original invention of glass mirrors, but whether that honour
belongs to her or to Egypt cannot now be ascertained. That
glass mirrors must have been made in Sidon seems probable, for
though in Pliny's day, and many years after him, people still used
metal ones, yet Aristotle four centuries before Pliny says "that
if metal or pebbles have to be polished to serve as mirrors, glass
or crystal require to be lined with a leaf of metal to throw back
the image presented to them." And then Alexander Aphrodisius
his commentator explains why the glass mirrors are so much more
resplendent than others. Theophrastus, the pupil of Aristotle,
observes that "mirrors were made of carbuncles from Orchomenos
in Arcadia," this shows the idea was familiar to the ancients.
Some mirrors are reported to have been made of rubies, but that
stone, at least in modern days, is not found large enough for such
a purpose. Some authors describe Nero as using an emerald
mirror, but that legend most probably alludes to the magnifying
¹ Beckmann's History of Inventions.
216
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
glass his short sight required. Mr. Nesbitt quotes a curious
passage from the Mahawanso chronicle of the Singhalese kings,
306 B.C., "mirrors of glittering glass were carried in procession."
Small pieces of coloured glass, talc, and mirrors of a triangular
shape arranged in patterns, form a favourite mode of decorating
Burmese and Hindoo idols to this day, and some of the figures
so adorned must belong to a remote age.
There seems little doubt that glass mirrors must have been
made in the old world, but it is equally certain they did not
succeed, which is not surprising when we remember that the glass
of the time was greenish in colour, slightly opaque, full of defects
and dull in surface, and therefore could not reward the gaze of
inquiring beauty with the same glittering reflection that was
returned by the brightly polished metal one. That the latter
were more costly and required daily and hourly care to preserve
undimmed their burnished splendours, while the glass required
comparatively little or no trouble, would be of small importance
to a classical belle, as her surrounding bevy of slaves could hardly
find more fitting employment for their time than in keeping every-
thing connected with the important toilette requisites of their
mistress in perfect order. So, notwithstanding the undoubted
invention of looking glasses, the feminine world clung to their
metal mirrors, and we find preserved in their tombs many exquisite
specimens, in the decoration of which artists must have expended
a world of delicate and ingenious fancies.
Cœlius Rhodiginus assigns a moral reason for the invention of
mirrors (lib. viii.). "Apuleius writes that Socrates the philo-
sopher (468 B.C.) made use of a mirror (and this perhaps may seem
strange) for moral instruction. For he urged his pupils, we are
told, to look at themselves frequently in the glass, that he might
beg any of them who should be gratified at his own beauty not
to spoil the dignity of the body by a dishonourable state of
mind." Here is a novel hint for modern instructors to consider.
These ancient philosophers seems to have looked on the mirror
as an assistance to their teachings, as Seneca some three cen-
turies later says, "the mirror was invented that man might
recognise himself"; no man therefore ought to neglect carrying
one always about with him.
Though the glass of that day did not equal the crystal pureness
which modern fastidiousness requires, yet some pieces must have
approached it, or Virgil would not have thought of comparing it
MIRRORS.
217
There is a
to the "smooth clearness of the Fucian lake."
curious account written by Dom Boucher, 1749, of the so called
mirror of Virgil, preserved among the treasures of the abbey of
St. Denis. It came originally from Naples, that town which
Virgil loved, where he studied, and near which he is buried. Many
objects belonging to him may well be supposed to have remained
in Naples, and some French officers who during the war were
often in that town brought home this mirror and placed it in St.
Denis. It is said there is, or was, another in the cabinet of the
Pitti palace. The mirror at St. Denis is oval, the size is fourteen
inches by twelve, and it weighs thirty pounds. It was whole until
1663, when it is said to have been broken by a too curious stranger ;
at all events, Mabillon, then custodian of the church treasures,
was dismissed from his employment for having broken or suffered
it to be broken. The greater part remains; it is of a greenish
yellow colour, one piece melted in a crucible proved it to be
glass, with a large mixture of lead in it, which doubtless made it
so heavy and gave it the yellow colour. Virgil like many other
great men was accused of being an enchanter and magician of
the first rank, and above all was able to predict events by means
of this mirror. Dom Boucher attributes to a certain Englishman,
Gervais de Tilis, 1200, the invention for Virgil of this new quality,
which all antiquity had ignored for eleven centuries.1 Romans
ornamented their walls with plaques of glass and mirrors, and had
a kind of black glass like jet which they placed between the others,
so that the spectator was startled to see only his shadow not his
image. Though the ancients used mirrors for decoration we may
suppose them to have been more an assemblage of small pieces of
glass than the large sheets we use. When they wanted a great effect
they used sheets of phengites, possibly we owe our large glasses
to the desire moderns had to unite the beauty of small mirrors
with the grandeur of phengite. Lucretius, 95 B.C., speaks of two
opposite mirrors reflecting your image several times, and imitating
all your actions; and Pliny and Seneca both speak of multiplying
mirrors. We have only added to their beauty and effect. Seneca
describes a mirror of many facettes, before which instead of one
man you saw the same figure repeated in all the facettes; he also
¹ Can the publication of the romance of Virgilius, which was attributed in
the middle ages to Virgil, have given rise to this report? In the beginning of
the sixteenth century the adventures of the poet-magician Virgil were very
favourite subjects with German artists.
218
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
writes of mirrors as large as a man, ornamented with silver and
gold and precious stones, (it must have been such a mirror in
size at least before which Demosthenes is said to have practised
his oratory,) and upbraids his countrymen for their effeminate
luxury in having their baths lined with large and costly mirrors.
Pliny describes a semi-opaque glass fixed on a wall serving as a
mirror;¹ this description certainly could never have meant a
window. As soon as people saw glass windows, mirrors must have
been at once invented, whenever chance placed an opaque body
behind them.
Domitianus, A.D. 81, when he suspected that plots were formed
against him, caused a gallery in which he used to walk to be
lined with phengites, which by its reflection showed everything
that was done behind his back. This transparent stone was much
used for windows, and no doubt its power of reflecting objects
had given the emperor this idea of using it as a mirror. Rochette
thinks the guild of glassworkers at Rome who used the inscrip-
tion "collegium speculariorum" only alluded to those workmen
who made the round mirrors called specula. Pliny mentions
obsidian (Iceland agate) as a very suitable material with which to
make mirrors; he also describes silver mirrors framed in gold;
when he describes gold applied behind a mirror we must suppose
he alludes to the setting.
The French and Spanish Academicians discovered in the tombs
of old mummies in Peru mirrors made of a volcanic vitrified
stone like obsidian, some concave, some convex, and as highly
polished as they could be in this day, also mirrors made of Incas'
stone, so called because the Incas had ornaments and hatchets
made of it. It is a compact pyrite or marcasite, capable of a very
brilliant polish; old ladies still show ornaments made of it which
look like white bright steel but which never rust, a very suitable
stone for a mirror.
The very oldest mention of a glass mirror is that found in the
Chinese classics 2 when the king says, "Now that Yiu has lost its
appointment ought we not to look much to it as our glass, and
learn how to secure the repose of our time?" The date of this
book is more than 2000 B.C., but we know so little of old China
that the bare statement is all we have to depend on; still there
¹ In Pompeii has lately been discovered a mirror of square black glass, fixed
to the wall by three holes ; when it is wetted all near objects are reflected in it.
2 The Shoo King, Part V., book 10, p. 12, translated by J. Legge, D.D.
MIRRORS.
219
are many other allusions to glass in the classics, showing a high
state of civilization and scientific knowledge.
Concave mirrors, whether of glass or metal, were much used in
ancient temples; they served the vestals to light the "sacred fire
of Vesta" with, when necessary, and they were useful for the
purposes of divination; divination by means of a mirror was very
common among the Greeks.¹ Pausanias tells us it was much
used among the Achaians by those who were sick or in danger
of death. "In Patræ, before the temple of Ceres, is a fountain,
which is separated from the temple by a stone wall; there is a
descent to it by steps on the outside. This temple has a true
oracle, but it does not predict all events, only those relating to
disease. They let down a mirror which is suspended by a slender
thread, and balanced in such a manner that it may not be merged
in the fountain with its anterior parts, but so that the water may
lightly touch its circumference. After this, having prayed to the
gods and made a fumigation, they look into the mirror and by
this means perceive if the sick person will live or die, for when
looking into the glass if they see a ghastly disfigured face they
take it as a sure sign of death, but on the contrary if the face
appears fresh and healthy it is a token of recovery. And thus
far does the truth of this water extend. At the oracle of Apollo
near Cyanæa there is also a fountain, into which those who
descend in a similar manner perceive whatever they wish to
behold." "Four stadia from Acacesium is the temple of Per-
sephone, where there is a curious thing; on coming out of the
temple where stands the statue of the goddess there is a passage,
and on the right hand there is a mirror fitted in the wall. Who-
ever looks into this mirror will behold himself very obscurely or
not at all, but he will see very clearly the statue of the goddess
and the throne." This mirror was evidently fixed for reflecting
at a distance the figures of those worshipping in the temple, and
in which you could see all the objects brought into it.
There is a curious use of a mirror mentioned by Captain Colin
Mackenzie, who in 1797 visited the pagoda of Maldecarjee, about
a hundred miles from Hyderabad, India. There seemed no
means of introducing light into the principal temple, and the
ceremony of displaying the idol is thus described. The door of
1 Pausanias says
"that Dionysius, establishing the image of Bacchus in a
mirror, pursued it, and thus became distributed into the universe." Bacchus
was the exemplar of our intellect.
220
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
the temple is darkened by a stone building enclosing a well which
by its shadow prevents any light entering the building till the sun
rises above it, thus rendering the sight of the idol more rare. At
the right instant a boy placed in the doorway waved and played
a concave mirror in such a manner as to throw gleams of light
into the temple, in the darkest recess of which was discovered by
means of these rays a small oblong whitish stone with dark rings
(probably an agate or onyx) fixed in a silver case. The mirror
used in this ceremony was made of a whitish metal, possibly a
mixture of tin and brass.
Sometimes divination was performed with a looking glass with-
out water, and the images of future events represented in it. Lucian
tells us it was the "sacred fury" which enabled the great orator
Demosthenes "to go through with the grotto, the looking glass, and
the sword." In his dialogue of "the portrait" he describes a cynic
philosopher who, in running from a too importunate questioner,
drops his wallet, which instead of containing only some lupins or
black bread, as might have been expected, is found to hold some
gold, pomatum, a sacrificial knife, a mirror, and a pair of dice.
In his burlesque true history he says, “in the king's palace in
the moon a looking glass is placed in a well not very deep; who-
ever goes down into the well hears everything that is said upon
the earth, and if he looks into the glass beholds all the cities and
nations of the world as plainly as if he were close to them. I
myself saw several of my friends, and my whole native country,
whether they saw me also I will not pretend to affirm. He who
does not believe these things whenever he goes there will know
that I have said nothing but what is true." This witty philosopher
has a keen eye for the little weaknesses of his countrymen, and
laughs at the vanity which makes them like to see themselves in
large glasses. "Observe the barbers: you shall perceive that the
best artists among them have a common razor and a moderate
sized looking glass; while the bunglers and those who know little
of their trade produce a multitude of instruments and immense
specula, though these are generally ignorant of their business; yet
it is the custom, which is foolish enough, for people to go to
the one to be shaved and to the other with the large glasses to
have their hair done."
To the use of magic mirrors Lucian alludes in a dialogue
between Melissa and Bacchis on the subject of love spells; when
Melissa begs her friend to find her a Thessalian woman who can
MIRRORS.
221
bring her lover back to her, Bacchis replies that she knows a
Syrian woman who can do it, it is only necessary to give her
some hair or trifling keepsake of the absent one, which she will
hang up on a pin and make a fumigation under it, "she will then
throw salt into the fire, pronouncing both your names. Then
drawing forth from her bosom a magic mirror, she will turn it on
all sides, murmuring several words in a low voice. This did she
for me, and spite of the remonstrances of his friends my Fanias
returned to my arms." From this graphic description it would
seem the magic mirror must have been a well known divining
spell in Lucian's day. Pretended soothsayers in Egypt still practise
divination by making a species of mirror with a little water in a
child's hand and drawing conclusions from what the child thinks
he sees in it. Medieval superstitions cling thickly round mirrors,
and the magic looking glass of the middle ages was always a most
important point in the possessions of charlatan astrologers and
fortune tellers, and formed the nucleus for many a romantic and
poetical story. Scotch maidens to this day consult a mirror under
certain elaborate conditions, when they wish to see the human
semblance of the man they are destined to marry.
Among the Japanese the metal mirror holds a most prominent
place and is thought so important as to be almost an object of
worship; it
it is considered an emblem of the soul of woman, and
two at least are included in every bride's trousseau. These are
selected especially for her with great care and by a species of
second sight, as the qualities of the mirror should be in accordance
with the characteristics of the possessor. Tradition asserts that
the great sun goddess Amateram presented to her grandson (who
subdued the world and was the first emperor of Japan) a sword
emblematical of the spirit of man, and a mirror emblematic of her
own spirit, which she desired him to keep always by him and to
worship it as if he were worshipping herself. These mirrors are
generally made in bronze and very highly ornamented; some
among them are magic mirrors (which seem as much used by
Japanese fortune tellers as they were in the middle ages), when
held to the light in a particular manner not only is your own face
reflected in it but also a hidden ornamentation in the mirror can
be thrown on to a wall. A curious explanation of the means by
which these so called magic mirrors are manufactured was given
by Professor Ayrton at the Royal Institution, who in the same
lecture quoted from the historian Muratori an account of the
222
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
magic mirror found under the pillow of the Bishop of Verona,
who was afterwards condemned to death by Martin della Scala,
as well as of one discovered in the house of Colla da Rienzi on
the back of which was the word "Fiorone." It has been stated
that the fleet of Alexander the Great was guided along the Persian
Gulf by means of mirrors and that the ancients understood the
art of utilising the rays of the sun for signalling purposes; so they
and the North American Indians who carry on a system of signals
by sun flashes have both preceded us in the invention of the
heliograph, though Mr. Mance's instrument is doubtless more
perfect than its predecessors were.
Although from the evidence of tombs mirrors were made of
marble, polished, and precious stones, gold, silver, bronze, and
mixed metals, and even of wood as well as of glass, still the
greater part of the world clung to metal mirrors, and the most
elaborate work of the day was expended on decorating them.
Many hundreds of very beautifully engraved bronze mirrors are
found in Etruscan tombs, probably the work of native artists, aș
the inscriptions on them are generally in the Etruscan character.
The style of execution varies considerably, as might be expected
from the lapse of time covered by the different dates of these
entombments, some of them being of a rude and archaic character
while others are among the most artistic treasures of which our
museums can boast. From time to time we find notices of glass
appearing during these ages, showing the art was not lost but only
slumbering; thus fragments of a circular glass mirror foliated with
a thin sheet of lead have been discovered among the excavations
at Lillebourne; and Isidore, Bishop of Seville, who died A.D. 636,
speaking of glass, says there is no material better adapted for
making mirrors; yet they could never have come into common
use, and must have been forgotten, as Alhagen the Arabian, who
wrote his well known treatise on optics about 1100, speaks of
iron and silver mirrors but never mentions glass. Then Johannes
Peckham, English monk, writing also on optics in 1272, un-
doubtedly mentions glass mirrors, and says they were covered on
the back with lead, and no image was reflected if the lead was
scraped off.¹ Still ladies must on the whole have preferred metal,
as we find Anne of Bretagne, queen of Louis XII., fourteenth
century, using a metal mirror. The extreme delight which the
1 Roger Bacon states the same thing.
1
MIRRORS.
223
middle-age Persian world took in mirror glass ornamentation is
noticed fully in the chapter on Persia. The Persian poet Jámi,
born 1414, must have been acquainted with magic mirrors, from
the following passage in his "Saláman and Absál ” :¹
"Then from his secret art the Sage-Vizyr
A magic mirror made, a mirror like
The bosom of All-wise Intelligence,
Reflecting in its mystic compass all
Within the sevenfold volume of the world
Involv'd; and looking in that mirror's face,
The Shah beheld the face of his Desire."
Mr. Franks considers all the bronze mirrors found in Britain
(they are very rare) may be attributed to late Celtic times. It is
curious that these British mirrors are the only ones known, besides
Etruscan, which have the ornamentation on the backs engraved,
not cast or stamped.
(પ
At the coronation dinner (1422) of Henry VI. and Catherine
of France, described in Fabian's chronicles, among many
'sotyltyes" provided for the occasion was one of a tiger looking
at himself in a mirror, and a man sitting on horseback armed,
with a tiger's whelp held before him and a scroll saying: "Per
force sans reason je ai prise ceste beste," while the tiger holds a
scroll which reads: "Gile le mirour ma faite distour." In
"Richard III." Shakespeare says: "I'll be at charges for a look-
ing glass." Mirrors were publicly worn in his day by men as
brooches and ornaments in the hat; by women on their fans or
hanging from the girdle, as they are still worn by Arab women.
After Obsidius on his return from Ethiopia made known the
black glass from volcanoes, it was used for mirrors inserted in the
wall. It was cut into plates, and such a plate, plastered at the
back with black bitumen, might have served for those glasses the
size of a man which Plutarch says Demosthenes used. Plutarch,
A.D. 60, also adds that a faithful representation was much valued.
Juvenal sneers at young men who made use of mirrors. It may
have been one of these early black glass mirrors with foil behind
it which Montany saw. Alexander Aphrodisius in the second
century certainly mentions glass mirrors. Vopiscus speaks of a
silver cup lined with mirrors for divination. Ingherami supposes
the metallic disks with handles, called Etruscan pateræ, may,
when fitted with specula, have been used for magic mirrors.
1 B. Quaritch. 1879.
224
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
Montany asserts that he saw in a collection of antiquities glass
mirrors covered behind with foil. This was probably one of the
first attempts to make them; later, blown glass was covered in-
side while hot with lead. Beckmann says before 1500 mirrors
were made at Nuremburg by blowing into the glass bubble, still
heated, a metallic mixture with a little resin or salt of tartar, the
bubble was then cut into small round mirrors.
The first mention of glass mirrors in Venice is in 1317, when
artists at Murano conceived the idea of covering plates of glass
with an amalgam of tin and quicksilver. At that date we read
that Nicolo Corro and others state in a petition made to the
government that they had arranged an agreement with a certain
"magister d'Alemania," who knew how to work glass into
mirrors; he had broken his agreement and departed. In 1507
we find a monopoly of twenty years' mirror making granted to
the brothers D'al Gallos by the council of ten. There was a
corporation of mirror makers in Venice, 1569; after this time
mirror workers increased so much that the republic had to
separate them from other glassmakers and give them a distinct
establishment, whence proceeded all the mirrors the world re-
quired till 1665, when Colbert, envious of the great manufacturing
reputation of Venice, determined to grasp some of her laurels for
France, and having already succeeded in tempting away and
establishing at Alençon some of her renowned lacemakers,
managed, spite of her jealous watchfulness, spite of the death
penalties incurred by recreant workmen, to wrest from the
great republic the carefully guarded secrets of mirror making,
and founded a manufactory in France, whence have sprung
the countless establishments of to-day. The importation of
Venetian mirrors into France was prohibited in 1669.
The
manufacture of mirrors was introduced into England first by the
second Duke of Buckingham, who brought workmen from Venice
and established a factory in Lambeth in 1677.¹
The goldsmiths and lapidaries of Venice lavished all the
resources of their arts on adorning and perfecting the frames of
mirrors destined for presents to crowned heads by the republic.
Perhaps one of the best preserved specimens of this kind of work
is the mirror presented in 1600 to Marie de Medicis by the
republic of Venice, and now exhibited in the Louvre, Paris. It
¹ Evelyn says they "made looking glasses far finer and larger than any
which came from Venice.”
MIRRORS.
225
is a perfect blaze of rock crystals and gold, agate, diamonds,
emeralds, antique gem cameos, and small busts made of hyacinth
and gold. In 1791 the value of the gems and gold was estimated
at £6000; what its artistic and historical value may be now it
would be difficult to suggest. Some authors assert the face of
this mirror is not glass but rock crystal. As Venice was cele-
brated for glass however it seems most probable that a mirror
made there should have been of glass. When Colbert's effects
were valued after his death, a Venetian mirror framed in silver
was estimated at eight thousand livres, while a picture by Raphael
only brought three thousand. In the book of the Duc de St.
Simon, historian of the court of Louis XIV., 1699, we are told
the Countess de Fiesque, who died at an advanced age at Fon-
tainbleau in great poverty having been robbed by her man of
business, had some splendid mirrors, then rare and expensive;
not satisfied with these she purchased one still more perfect, and
when her friends asked where she had got it from replied: "I
had a bad piece of land which brought me in nothing but corn.
I sold it, and with the money procured this mirror; have not I
managed wonderfully, to possess this beautiful glass instead of
dull corn ?"
Q
LAMPS.
"And sacred lamp in secret chamber hide,
Where it should not be quenched day nor night
For fear of evil fates, but burnen ever bright."
SPENSER, Book i., c. 12, v. 5.
A
NCIENT authors have combined to throw such a
halo of mystical and poetical fancies
ject of lamps that it seems better to
over the sub-
treat them as
well as mirrors in a separate manner. A lamp may
literally be described as lengthening the days of mankind. Per-
haps our first recorded example of this useful invention is the
burning lamp which Abraham saw in a vision, Gen. xv. 17; then
we find Moses making a six-branched candlestick for the service of
the tabernacle, and in the book of Job lamps and candles seem
well enough known to be used as metaphors.
St. Clement of Alexandria ascribes the original invention of
lamps to Egypt. There is a description in Herodotus of a fes-
tival at Sais of burning lamps; he says these were small vessels
filled with salt and olive oil. As the Egyptians were then perfectly
well acquainted with the manufacture of glass, there is no impossi-
bility in the suggestion that these may have been made of glass,
as clay vessels would have given very little light; but there seem
to be no glass lamps preserved in the tombs. At Alabastron there
is a sculpture representing a guard of soldiers, one of whom holds
before him a long stick from which hangs what may be considered
a lamp or lantern; if so, this must have been partly formed of
some transparent substance.
In the British Museum are two coloured glazed tiles which
were fixed in the centre of the ceiling, each has a large knob
pierced through the base to receive a cord for suspending a lamp;
round the base of each is an inscription stating that it formed part
of the decoration of the temple of Kammuri at Kalah Nimroud,
in the time of Assuru-Abla, 885 B.C. What these lamps were made
226
LAMPS.
227
of we cannot now ascertain, but there is plenty of contemporaneous
glass which has been discovered in the neighbourhood.
The sacred lamps in Greek temples whose undying flames were
perpetually watched by vestals were probably of metal and the
wick formed of asbestos. The celebrated lamp made by Calli-
machus for the most holy statue of Athena, the one that fell
from heaven, is described by Pausanias as formed of gold; "when
filled with oil it burns night and day for a year, this is owing to its
wick being made of Carpasian flax, which alone of all things is
inconsumable by fire; above the lamp is a brazen palm tree, which
rising to the roof of the building dissipates the fume." It was
one of the offences charged against the tyrant Aristion that he
allowed this lamp to die out during the siege of Athens by Sulla,
86 B.C. Aristophanes, 427 B.C., in his comedy of the "Wasps
gives a comic account of a party of philosophers picking their way
home through the mud by the light of a lantern, which we must
infer was a light enclosed in a transparent case of some kind, such
as Plautus, 254 B.C., who had a happy gift of nomenclature, calls
"Vulcan in prison." Virgil must have been acquainted with an
ancient equivalent to our chandelier when he says:
،، Lamps display
From golden roof an artificial day."
"Near morn, when lamps are dwindling out their light,
And seem to nod for sleep, that part of night
When dreams are truest offered to our sight."
"
Ovid, 43 B.C., had evidently been familiar with night lights in the
passage:
In the public baths at Pompeii two lamps were used, each to
light two rooms; these lamps were protected by circular convex
glasses, fragments of which were found on the spot. At the en-
trance of the small bath, or balinea, there is still to be seen a
niche in the wall closed with glass, which at night contained a
lamp, and the tepidarium which by day was lighted with four
windows was resplendent at night from the brilliance of a lamp
suspended above the labra.
Though glass was used for lamps in Pompeii, yet they also made
lanterns of horn and oiled paper, and Martial describes a lantern as
being more brilliant than bladder. "If I am not of horn, am I
darker? or does he think I am a bladder?" Besides these lanterns
for common use in Pompeii there was one found of a much more
228
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
elegant form, which is now in the Naples museum. It was made
of twenty-eight divisions of bronze wire, shaped like a basket; on
these wires have been threaded numerous beads of crystal, the
handle formed by a chain to suspend it like a lustre ; in the middle
of the basket is the place for the light, which would be reflected
by all the crystal beads. This is a unique specimen.
Romans had a veilluse lamp with a single wick, and also a fixed
lamp with several beaks, possibly very like the common Italian
lamp of to-day. The Egyptians and Israelites, and the Greeks
and Romans their imitators, had golden and brass candelabra
made like trees, with branches, and bearing, instead of fruit, lamps
fed with oil; they knew how to make artificial crystal and precious
stones, and would probably ornament their candelabra with these
substances, but we can hardly believe they made lustres as brilliant
as ours. They had suspended lamps, "pendentes lychni," as well
as girandoles attached to panels. Lucian tells us that lamps be-
longing to celebrated people were held to have special virtues and
narrates in his usual satirical vein how he was acquainted with a
man who had given three thousand drachms for the lamp of
Epictetus the stoic, satisfied that if he only read every night by
the light of that sage's lamp he should inherit his wisdom and
become in time as learned as the philosopher. It is Lucian who
describes for us the golden statue of Juno at Hierapolis, which
was richly adorned with precious stones, the most extraordinary
among them being a jewel upon her head which they call the
lamp; "from its lustre by night it shines with such a splendour as
to light the whole temple, though in the daytime it is less bright
and has the appearance of a pale fire." The Greek priests had
evidently learned from their Egyptian brethren the secret of this
nightly illumination.
Lucian gives an amusing description of the city of lamps, which
he pretends to have seen during his travels. "In this city there
were no men, only a number of lamps running to and fro in the
market place and round the port; some little ones, the poor
of the town, others the rich and great among them, very large,
splendid, and bright. Every one had its own habitation or candle-
stick to itself, and its own proper name as men have; their death
is to be put out. Here I found my own lamp, talked to him, and
asked how things went on at home, and he told me everything
that had happened." In his "Banquet " he gives an account of a
great philosopher's feast which ended in a riot. "At length there
LAMPS.
229
was nothing but crying and roaring on every side, when, to crown
all, Alcidanus threw down the light and left us all in total dark-
ness; the affair then grew still more serious, for we could not easily
procure another light, which when it was at last brought in dis-
covered some very bad transactions that had been carried on, thus
one philosopher was just making off with a cup."
The Athenians¹ established in the Academy an annual festival,
during which men raced from the altar of Prometheus to the city,
carrying with them burning lamps, and at the same time contended
while running with each other about keeping the lamps alight, "for
he whose lamp is in the race extinguished yields the victory to his
successor, and he again if equally unfortunate to a third, but if the
lamps of all of them are extinguished the victory is not left to
any one." So writes Pausanias, and the propriety of employing
burning lamps in a contest sacred to Prometheus is sufficiently
apparent, as this divinity was the inspective guardian of rational
souls, and fire from its tendency upwards is an emblem of the
rational soul. "As a burning lamp therefore may be considered
as a very proper image of our rational part, it appears to me that
the custom adopted by the Athenians of running from the altar
of Prometheus into the city with lamps, in which he alone was
victorious whose lamp remained unextinguished in the race, was
intended to signify that he is the true conqueror in the race of
life whose rational part is not extinguished, or in other words
does not become dormant in his career. The Abbe Banier
considers that this festival was generally spread among all nations,
and is kept to this day in China, Mexico, and other places, as
the feast of lamps; the ceremony consists in lighting numbers of
lamps and torches, and is no doubt a tradition of the universal joy
expressed for the use of fire.³
" 2
Apuleius, second century A.D., describes a lamp which fur-
nished indications of the weather like a modern barometer.
St. Aldhelm, in the seventh century, says, "let not the glass
lantern be despised, or that made of a shorn hide or of a thin
skin, although a brass lamp may excel it in brilliance," which proves
that even at that early period our ancestors made use of various
materials for their lanterns. St. Willibald describes with admir-
1 Vulcan taught men how to make lamps, Minerva showed them the use of
oil, and Prometheus brought fire from heaven; hence the feast of lamps was in
honour of all three.
2 Priestley.
3 The moccoli at a Roman carnival will occur to most travellers.
230
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
ation the benefit of a glass lamp, which was probably a novelty
to him: "there is a small lamp, and around it on all sides is clear
glass, that it may always continue to burn in the rain and sun."
Among the quantities of lamps and lanterns of all kinds of
materials used by the Chinese, the most remarkable are grotesque
lamps, made generally in porcelain, as a ship all in one piece, and
a cat painted after nature; the light coming through her eyes
frightened the rats at night! The festival of lighted lamps among
the Hebrews, which takes place on the 25th December, was
instituted in memory of the victory gained by the Maccabees
over the Greeks. On the first day they light one lamp, on the
second day two lamps, and so on to eight. This is done in
remembrance of the time when, the enemy having already entered
the temple and profaned it, Jochanan and his children succeeded
in chasing them out, but on their return found they had no pure
oil with which to light the lamps of the temple; after some search
they discovered enough in a little vase to last for one night, but
this oil by a miracle became sufficient for eight nights; therefore
the lamps are lighted as above described.
}
The marvellous accounts left us by medieval authors of per-
petually burning lamps found in ancient tombs seem too numerous
and too well attested to be altogether fabulous. When the tomb of
Pallas, son of Evander, who is mentioned by Virgil, was discovered
about the twelfth century by a countryman digging near Rome, it is
said a lighted lamp was still burning over his head, which must have
been lighted more than two thousand years, and might be called
"eternal." William of Malmesbury giving an account of it
says:
"the lamp was constructed by magic art, so that no violent
blast, no dripping of water, could extinguish it. While many were
lost in admiration, one person expert in mischief made an aper-
ture beneath the flame with an iron style, which introducing the
air the light vanished." Baptista Porta in his treatise on natural
magic relates that about 1550 a marble sepulchre of the Roman
period was discovered in an island near Naples; on opening this
tomb was found a phial containing a burning lamp. This light
became extinct on breaking the phial and exposing the flame to
the open air. It was supposed that this lamp had been concealed
before the Christian era; those who saw it reported the lamp
emitted a most splendid flame. In 1550 a remarkable lamp was
found near Atestes, Padua, by a rustic digging, who unearthed
a terracotta urn containing another urn in which was a lamp
LAMPS.
231
placed between two cylindrical vessels, one gold and the other
silver, each of which was full of a very pure liquid by whose
virtue the lamp had been kept shining upwards of fifteen hundred
years. This curious lamp was not meant to scare away evil spirits
from a tomb, but was an attempt to perpetuate the profound
knowledge of Maximus Olybius, who effected this wonder by his
extraordinary skill in chemical art. On the outside of the urn
were inscribed some Latin verses to this effect:
"Plunderers, forbear this gift to touch,
'Tis awful Pluto's own;
A secret rare the world conceals,
To such as you unknown."
During the reign of Pope Paul III., in the sixteenth century,
a tomb was opened in the Via Appia, supposed to be that of
Tullia, Cicero's daughter; in it was the body of a woman
with hair tied with gold thread, and also a lighted lamp which
must have been burning at least 1550 years; this wonderful
spectacle did not last long, no sooner did the exterior air rush in
than the flame extinguished itself and the body faded away like
a ghost before the eyes of the beholders, leaving only a heap of
dust. St. Augustine says a lamp was found in the temple of Venus
exposed always to the open weather, and which could never be
extinguished; this was certainly the greatest triumph of the
chemist's art. Ludovicus Vives mentions another lamp which
was found a little before his time, that had continued burning
for 1050 years. Licetus is of opinion that the perpetuity of these
lamps was owing to the consummate tenacity of the unctuous
matter with which the flame was united being so proportioned to
the strength of the fire that, like the radical heat and natural
moisture in animals, neither of them could conquer or destroy
the other. In order to preserve this equality of proportion these
lamps were hid in caverns or closed monuments; on opening
these tombs the admission of fresh air to the lamps has produced
so great an inequality between the flame and the oil that they
have become extinguished. They were placed by Romans in
tombs as a mark of honour, doubtless also the knowledge that
a light was there gave a feeling of safety that was satisfactory to
the friends of the deceased, who were always inclined to fear
supernatural enemies. Several of these lamps were discovered
near Viterbo, Italy, and two are still preserved (unlighted) in the
232
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
museum of Leyden. In Henry VIII.'s time a lamp was found in
a monastic tomb that had been burning for 1200 years. In the
romance of Virgilius, a book which the middle age authors
attributed to Virgil, is the following very singular account of a
lamp. "For profit of common people Virgilius on a great
mighty pillar did make a bridge that came up to the palace; that
palace and pillar stood in the midst of Rome, and upon this
pillar made he a lamp of glass that always burned without going
out, and nobody might put it out, and this lamp lightened over
the whole city of Rome from one corner to the other, and there
was not so little a street but it gave such light that it seemed two
torches there had stand, and upon the walls of the palace made
he a metal man that held in his hand a metal bow that pointed
ever upon the lamp for to shoot it out, but always burned the
lamp and gave light all over Rome. And upon a time went the
burgesses' daughters to play in the palace, and beheld the metal
man, and one of them asked in sport why he shot not; and then
she came to the man and with her hand touched the bow, and
then the bolt flew out and brake the lamp that Virgilius made;
and it was wonder that the maiden went not out of her mind for
the great fear she had, and also the other maidens that were in
her company, of the great stroke that it gave when it hit the
lamp, and when they saw the metal man so swiftly run his way
and never after was he any more seen; and this aforesaid lamp
was abiding burning after the death of Virgilius by the space of
three hundred years or more." Friar Bacon believed in the possi-
bility of making lamps that should burn for ever, and old chemists
affirm there is a way of reducing the flame back into wax or
oil, so as to keep up a perpetual supply, the wick being made of
asbestos. The founder of the Rosicrucian sect is said to have
discovered this secret and made an eternal lamp, which was dis-
covered years after his death still lighted in his tomb. In Burton's
Melancholy a lamp is described which is to burn as long as the
man with whom it has a certain mystical connection continues
to live. The poet Cowley must have been thinking of these
"eternal" lamps when he wrote the line, "life's light goes out
when first they let in air." The many thousands of little hand
lamps that have been disinterred from Pompeii and are found in
nearly all Etruscan, Greek, or Roman tombs or towns, though
much varied in pattern and design, are invariably formed of clay;
the only exception to this rule is the beautiful blue and white
LAMPS.
233
lamp made in the usual shape, but of glass, which is figured by
M. Deville; it represents under a vine tree a winged figure of
Harpocrates, god of silence, son of Osiris and Isis, with his
finger on his mouth and the legend "to the great god." Such
a lamp could obviously have only been made for ornament, as it
could never have been used. M. Deville does not say where it
was found. The Persian traveller Nasir, who visited Jerusalem¹
in the eleventh century, speaks of lamps and lustres suspended
every here and there in the mosques by chains; also a lustre sent
by the Sultan of Egypt to one especial building where he sends
every year a candle seven yards high and three spans in girth,
made of perfumed camphor and ambergris. Eastern nations
appear to have delighted in glass lamps, there are some enamelled
of very elegant form in the mosque of Sultan Hassan, at Cairo, of
the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. In the British Museum
is a very beautiful lamp of a thistle form, made for the Arab
emir Sheikhoo, who died in 1356; this lamp was brought from a
mosque in Egypt; near it is one of the fourteenth century brought
from Damascus. The Kensington Museum has acquired some
very fine specimens of these lamps, which are nearly all shaped
like a thistle flower, and have a smaller lamp, also glass, inside, to
hold the oil and wick. The Persian Ibn Batoutah, 1332, talks of
clusters of lamps made of glass from Irak. Many lamps, of these
flower shapes, some with painted and enamelled flowers and large
letters outside, some painted inside, can still be procured in Cairo
and Damascus; they generally contain the name of the person for
whom they are made, but these names are not always known to
fame, so do not assist us in fixing the age of the lamp. Clavijo
in his embassy to Timour Beg, 1403, says he saw many glass
lamps in the church of St. John the Baptist at Constantinople;
they were most probably lamps of this form, and of Byzantine
manufacture. In the calendar of the Treasury of Exchequer of
Edward III. are mentioned "two glass lamps," one called that
of "St. Lucia." The list seems to be of the fourteenth century,
and is among the relics of the cathedral of Durham. A lamp of
very original design was found in the tomb of Maria, wife of
Honorius, at Rome, A.D. 393. A glass, snail shaped like a large
sea shell, held the oil; this shell was twisted round with its point
.
¹ Sir J. Maundeville, 1322, says: and there is one lamp which hangs before
the sepulchre and burns bright, and on Good Friday it goes out of itself, and
lights again of itself at the hour that our Lord rose from the dead."
234
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
fitted to a lamp of gold, which covered the mouth of the snail,
leaving only a hole for the oil; beside this hole was fastened a
movable golden fly which covered or uncovered the hole as
required. In Purchas' Pilgrimmes we find a description of
Muscovy glass for lanterns. "Near the river Deyna towards the
North Sea there groweth a soft rock which they call slude; this
they cut into pieces, and so tear it into thin flakes, for which
naturally it is adapted, and so use it for glass lanterns and such
like."
1
OF TRUE AND FALSE MURRHINE, AND
FLEXIBLE GLASS.
"Murrhine vases have a lustre without strength, more properly a polish than
a lustre.
But their value lies in their variety of colours, the spots occasionally
turning themselves into purple or white and a third made up of both, the
purple by as it were a transition of colour becoming fiery or the milky part
turning red.
Some especially admire the edge of these spots and a kind of
play of colours such as is seen in the rainbow. Opaque spots are most
esteemed; any part transparent or pale is a defect, as are also flaws and warts
not projecting from the surface but as if implanted within the substance itself.
There is some recommendation also in their agreeable smell.”—Pliny.
MURRHINE.
T
HE much disputed question as to what substance
murrhine really was has occupied the thoughts and pens
of many learned writers. The enormous sums paid for
vases formed of it show that it was an object greatly
admired and eagerly sought after in ancient Rome. The true
precious murrhine came from Parthia and Caramania, but
even the imitation made in Egypt, of glass, commanded a ready
sale both in Rome and the provinces. It may be interesting to
collect here all the evidence procurable on the subject, with a
view not to pronouncing any decided opinion on the subject but
of enabling readers to form their own. The article called mur-
rhine was first introduced to the Roman world at the triumph
of Pompey,¹ when six vases found among the treasures of Mith-
ridates and other specimens, especially a draughtboard four feet
long and three wide, formed of two slabs of murrhine, were ex-
hibited to an admiring populace. Pompey afterwards dedicated
some unworked pieces, together with the vases carried in his
procession, to the temple of Jupiter. After the defeat of Antony
and Cleopatra, Augustus brought from Alexandria a murrhine
vase as one of the most precious objects wherewith to grace
his triumph; this was also placed in a temple. That the new
1 "Murrhine was not agate, as that stone was known in Rome before
Pompey's time." (A. Billings.)
235
236
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
material became immediately in great request and was used at
the banquets of wealthy citizens is proved by the fact that the
luxurious Verres (who was so denounced by Cicero) made his
guests drink from crystal and murrhine of Alexandria; whether
this was the true or false murrhine we have no means of ascertain-
ing. True murrhine appears to have been generally found in
veins in the earth, of just the depth required to make the saucer
shaped cups called trulla, used in Rome; pieces large enough to
be formed into a scyphus, a deep hemispherical bowl, were very
rare and extremely expensive. In spite of the large price de-
manded however, Roman collectors must have accumulated great
numbers of murrhine vases before the reign of Nero, as the collec-
tion of these objects belonging to a single senator which were
seized at his death by Nero were sufficient, when displayed as a
spectacle for the people, entirely to fill the theatre which Nero
had built in the palace gardens, that very theatre which he had
hoped to see filled with people anxious to hear him sing. One
remarkable object of this show consisted of the fragments of a
scyphus preserved in a glass case with as much care as the corpse
of Alexander the Great and exhibited to the public to excite their
pity. These fragments are supposed to have been the shattered
remains of that cup for which Petronius had given three thousand
talents, and by destroying which in his dying moments he deemed
himself fully revenged on the emperor who was greedily waiting to
take possession of the coveted prize. Nero afterwards himself
gave three thousand talents for a smaller vase, and by this acqui-
sition surpassed all other collectors in Rome. Pliny blames this
excessive luxury, it seemed to him scandalous that the master of
the world should drink out of a cup at such a price and thereby
set an example of reckless extravagance to others. We must
suppose the enormous price of these two vases and a few others
was due to their extreme beauty, as the greater number and
especially the imitations made in Egypt were much cheaper,
there being indications in many authors that they were very
generally used in Rome.
Juvenal speaks of "maxima murrhina," and Martial often
alludes to murrhine and says it gave the wine a more agreeable
taste and flavour; that it was not transparent we gather from his
epigram: "We drink from glass, and thou O Ponticus from
murrhine; and why? because for fear lest a transparent cup should
allow to be seen two different wines." Among the numerous
MURRHINE.
237
substances suggested as true murrhine are gum, shell, porcelain,
precious stones, crystal, obsidian, soapstone, the rare "yu"
stone of China, real alabaster, fluor spar, and oriental agate.
Christius suspected it might be an onyx; Bruckman says a
sardonyx; Winckelmann supports this idea; M. Pauw devotes
many pages to the subject but without advancing it materially,
indeed he ends the discussion by merely saying it was not of a
chalky nature.
Many of these suggestions cannot stand the least examination.
How could gum vases bear spirituous and hot liquids?
"If you
drink it hot, the murrhine suits Falernian wine and improves its
flavour" (Martial). Would people have imagined a shell a
vitreous substance, and made out of it utensils and small pieces
of furniture of various forms? The want of bright colours and
white lines in obsidian and soapstone excludes them altogether
from the question. It was brought to Egypt from various eastern
countries. Pliny says, "and they bring it yet from little known
places"; it was therefore abundant enough in nature, and if at
one time scarce in Rome became common afterwards, so could
not have been the "yu" stone, still so rare in China. Justinian
distinctly says it cannot be classed among precious stones, on the
authority of Cassius, who writes that "murrhine vessels are not
ornamented with gems." It differed from gems in not being
hard. "A consular person drinking out of a murrhine cup was
so struck by its beauty that he could not help taking a bite out
of it,¹ and this accident instead of diminishing the value of the
vase augmented it." Pliny who gives this story places murrhine
next to rock crystal. It would have been impossible for a culti-
vated man like Pliny to have confounded painted porcelain with
a natural stone drawn from the earth. The only ancient authority
for this idea is the line of Propertius, 50 B.C., "murrhine vases
baked in Parthian fires"; but this is surely only a poet's conceit,
or possibly he scarcely distinguished between true murrhine and
that made in Egypt. English workmen have some means of
heightening by fire the colours of Derbyshire spar, much as Ger-
mans stain heated spar or crystal different colours with nitre or
nitrate of silver; some such method may have been practised by
ancient workers in murrhine, as pale colours and transparency
were defects. Sir W. Gell says in 1555 Chinese porcelain vases
1 This consul showed an analogous taste to those medieval people who
were so passionately fond of point lace they could not help eating it.
238
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
were called “mirrha de Smyrna." It is not impossible that tales
of the fabulous prices given for murrhine may have induced the
Chinese like the Egyptians to endeavour to imitate it and give
the name of mirrha to the production as something valuable,
indeed the splashed china for which collectors still give enormous
sums looks like an imitation of some natural substance, and the
Chinese have always been celebrated for their successful imitations
of stone.
.2
Propertius, writing a century earlier than Pliny when murrhine
was still very rare, says,
"and let the murrhine box anoint the
nostrils with unguent." It is possible that his idea of onyx was
simply any arrangement of red or black and white lines.¹
La
Roziere thinks onyx was only meant to express any stone with
concentric lines. The same word was also applied to some kinds
of alabaster, but alabaster is not brilliant enough in hue to fulfil
our idea of murrhine. Pliny describes not only sardonyx but
many kinds of agate with such distinctness that it could scarcely
be better done in our day. It was the variety and richness of its
colours that excited such admiration, and gave murrhine such a
high price; the predominant tints were violet or purple (this colour
included all shades from red to indigo) with bands of milky white
disposed in undulations, some parts nearly transparent with a
reddish brown, giving changes of hue as the light passes through
the vessel at different angles. Pliny's description is very precise ;2
this description is quoted equally by those who try to establish
the theory that fluor spar is true murrhine and those who hold
that agate is meant. No doubt the words are very applicable to
fluor spar, and many early Egyptian bottles much resemble spar.
The "brilliance without force " and the "polish more than lustre,"
with the richness of colouring, are all characteristic of spar, also
the undulating bands of white with an edge partaking of the two
colours and imitating the clear colour of flame which Pliny re-
marks, and the reflections giving the hues of a rainbow, may all
be found in spar. M. Haüy says "the bright agreeable colours
of spar seem to rival gems," he distinguishes six principal colours
of which the most common is red or violet.
M. Werner says
"there is perhaps no mineral which presents colours so varied,
severed, and mixed in the same piece, and with ribands or spots."
Buffon says
"the colours of spar are so varied that they are called
1 A
passage in Lampridius speaks of murrhine and onyx vessels.
2 See heading of this chapter.
MURRHINE.
239
La
after the precious stones they imitate, and the most common tint
is amethyst." Spar has been called "vitreous alabaster," to re-
present at once its vitreous aspect and disposition in zones and
different shades; this is very like the poetical expression of Pro-
pertius, "murrheus onyx." These opinions would make it appear
conclusive that spar is true murrhine, were it not for the fact that
no remains of it are to be found among ancient ruins.
Roziere cites one instance in the collection of M. Gillet-Laumont
of a vase made of fluor spar which by its form and the character
of its workmanship is undoubtedly an antique. It is spotted with
a number of little metallic grains like particles of antimony, and
La Roziere thinks it incontestably an old murrhine vase. This
appears however the sole example, while the immense number of
fragments and whole vases of agate, both real and imitation, found
in quantities in all Roman ruins, besides the numerous specimens
met with in the hands of dealers and in collections, prove them
to have belonged to a class of vessels in constant use. Small
pieces of these vases are constantly polished and set as brooches
and bracelets in Rome, and the imitations of agate are most
wonderful. Pliny when he speaks of imitation murrhine “finds
it very like the real"; it was fabricated in Egypt.¹ Arrian
speaks of "glass and murrhine vessels wrought in the city of
Diospolis." La Roziere says he found in the ruins of Thebes
abundant fragments of glass showing beautiful shades of purple,
which he thinks were debris of false murrhine, though he adds
naively that if so it confirms what old writers have said, "that
they only imitated nature very rudely," which was doubtless the
reason that false murrhine was of small value and little sought
after in Rome. They sent it rather to the ruder people of Arabia
and the north of Africa, with many other vases made at Thebes
or Coptos. That spar is not now found in Caramania would
be no conclusive argument that none had ever existed there, as
in our own time the Blue John spar of Derbyshire (which rivals
the amethyst in colour) has become almost extinct. Mr. Billings
says a recent traveller has seen fluor spar in the neighbourhood
of the Caspian Sea, just the locality of the Parthian expedition.
Possibly the Romans never acquired the right method of heating
and bringing out the colours of the raw material. Spar is much
more brittle and friable than marble or glass, and the process of
1 Ancient writers called it "vitrum murrhinum."
240
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
heating may have rendered it even more likely to crumble away;
still it is difficult to conceive that any possible combination of
circumstances could have swept away all fragments of a class of
stone vessels which at one time were so plentiful among Romans.
Pausanias, a century later than Pliny, speaks of murrhine as one
of the substances broken by contact with the waters of the river
Styx, and also places it in the same rank with glass and crystal
for fragility. Marcus Aurelius, a thrifty minded monarch, sold by
public auction in the forum cups and vases of crystal and murrhine,
belonging to the imperial service; but we are not told if this was
true or false murrhine. It was in use down to the close of the
empire, as a legal writer distinguishes murrhine carefully from
glass or precious metals. The large price still paid for agate
vases seems a confirmation of the notion that some variety of
that stone was the ancient murrhine; £1500 was paid for the
splendid vase still one of the gems of the Naples museum. Col-
lections of Indian agate vases are often sold in auction rooms in
London, and sometimes realize startling prices; and their great
fragility is sometimes unfortunately shown by their being dashed
to fragments even in the auction room. Mr. King laments over
the grievous waste of skill and labour and value annihilated in a
moment when, at the siege of Delhi, the soldiers smashed chests
full of these productions, which are sometimes worth much more
than their weight in gold.¹ It is only wonderful so many treasures
have escaped destruction, considering the numerous wars of the
world. Dr. Birch tells us that some vases found in Egyptian
tombs are painted in distemper, the ground perhaps blue, with
wavy lines on it in red, white, and yellow, then varnished with
resinous substances; these were humble imitations of Egyptian
murrhine opaque glass vases, and placed in tombs instead of the
real ones, which the relations wished to retain for themselves.
Coccio Sabellico, 1495, describing the works at Murano, says:
"hence come vessels the equals of the murrhine, unless cost be
a source of pleasure." These were doubtless the imitations of
chalcedony called by the Germans "schmelz," and show what
in the fifteenth century was thought to be murrhine. Jerome
Cardan, 1501, says he saw a glass showing at the same time
¹ It is a melancholy fact that our soldiers imagine that nothing is valuable if
it cannot stand smashing. A gentleman has described to me seeing a soldier
at Delhi crushing up an emerald necklace on a stone, who when remonstrated
with said, "It's no good, it breaks like glass.
""
FLEXIBLE GLASS.
241
white, blue, black, purple, and green, and which by its beauty
and the variety of its colours imitated perfectly agate; was this
false murrhine? Neri, who wrote in 1612, gives some recipes for
making false murrhine; he obtained vases which being smooth
and polished offered all the colours of jasper, chalcedony, and
agate, and appeared red as fire when seen with the light through
them. After reading all the evidence authors can give respecting
the substance so much admired by the Romans, we can only say
that, should any fragments of an undoubted murrhine vase ever
be discovered, it is to be hoped they will be preserved in the
same manner that Nero enshrined his precious relics, under glass.
In the time of Papias all glass vessels were called myrrhina.
Mongez asserts they were formed of the cacholong of Cronstedt,
a variety of chalcedony which gives all the characteristics
mentioned by Pliny. The Calmucks still make vases of the
cacholong.
FLEXIBLE GLASS.
That a vision of flexible or malleable glass haunted the dreams
of the ancients is obvious from the many references to it found
in their writings, and these constant allusions to such an article
would seem to infer that there must at one time have been some
tangible reason for the dream. The first notice we find on the
subject is that "glass which might be bended and yet not broken"
was included in the list of treasures placed in the pyramid of
Chephren; the list is given by the court poets of El-Mamoum
who opened the pyramid, and it is singular that the poets do not
speak of such glass as an impossibility but only as a thing to
be desired. In classical times the first account of flexible glass
is found in the satire of Nero's court, written by Petronius,
"The Supper of Trimalchio"; it is to the effect that a certain
artist, having discovered a way to make glass vessels as strong as
gold or silver, made one so fine as to be worthy the acceptance
of Cæsar, to whom he presented it. The cup was received with
great admiration; but then the artist, to increase the importance
of his gift, dashed it to the ground with great force, only making
thereby an indentation on the glass, which he beat out again with
a hammer as if it had been metal; then Cæsar, instead of reward-
ing him according to his expectation, demanded if any one knew
R
242
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
this secret excepting himself, and being answered in the negative
immediately ordered the artist to be beheaded, lest silver and
gold should lose their value if such an art became once known.
Pliny relates almost the same story, but gives Tiberius as the
emperor concerned; he also says, the art of making glass malle-
able being discovered by an artist in Rome, the populace who
imagined their interests would be thereby injured conspired and
destroyed his dwelling and his goods. Dion Cassius, A.D. 155,
also alludes to flexible glass. Isidore, bishop of Seville, who
died 636, relates Pliny's story but amplifies it with many details,
such as may well have gathered round a tale in the course of six
centuries.
""
The art of rendering glass more fusible by means of litharge
was well known to Eraclius, who wrote between the seventh and
tenth centuries; and Theophilus, who wrote about the twelfth
century, gives the following recipe for making glass fuse easily.
"When crystal is soft over the fire, take well purified oil of tartar,
throw it in drop by drop, and it will be easily fused; also when
lumps of crystal are red and glowing over the fire, quench them
in oil of tartar; repeat this seven times, and you have a glass
which melts easily and is proper for making artificial gems.
Surely here is a gem of toughened glass! A large number of
alchemists pretended in the middle ages that malleability of glass
was due to the great elixir. Neri, whose book on glass was
published at Florence in 1612, says: "in the time of Tiberius
was invented a way of making glass malleable, a thing afterwards
lost and to this day wholly unknown, for if such a thing were
now known, without doubt it would be more esteemed for its
beauty and incorruptibility than silver or gold; since from glass
there ariseth neither smell, nor rust, nor taste, nor any other
quality." But though unknown to the old Italian, the art was
practised in Persia if we may believe Bailey, who says that in
1610 Sophi, emperor of Persia, sent to King Philip III. of Spain
six glasses that were malleable and would not break by being
hammered; and Blacourt tells us that an inventor having pre-
sented a bust of malleable glass to Richelieu, 1620, was rewarded
for his ingenuity by perpetual imprisonment, lest the vested
interests of French glassworkers should be injured by the new
invention. How slowly the world learns anything! Neumann
says muriate of silver while being fused forms a ductile kind of
glass, which can be moulded or turned into different figures, and
FLEXIBLE GLASS.
243
may be pronounced to a degree malleable, a fact to which
Henchal reduces all the stories of the ancients. The mines of
Quantajaia in the South Sea yield beautiful vitreous masses
of muriate of silver.
The art of making flexible glass was said to be reinvented by
an Italian at the court of Casimir, king of Poland. The process
of annealing in oil to which a great deal of attention has lately
been directed is said to decrease the brittleness of glass in a great
degree; the process is described in the article "Glass,” in Ure's
"Dictionary of Chemistry." The use of toughened glass however
does not increase in popular favour; further experiments are
required to remedy its defects, one serious one being its total
destruction under the least fracture.
The lieou-li, the flexible glass of China, is noticed in the
chapter on the glass of that country.
ANALYSIS, OXIDES, AND GLAZES.
Chemistry dissipates little by little the dark shadows of ignorance, and
throws light on every object. All the elements of the universe are used by
chemists to further and perfect their art; and fire, of these, is the most service-
able. The discovery of glass, which it procured them, was regarded by them
as the most useful and the most marvellous.”—Shaw's Lectures on Chemistry.
ANALYSIS AND OXIDES.
"P
ERHAPS iron alone can dispute with glass the pre-
eminence in utility to man." It is strange, though
the chief quality of glass is transparence, all the
materials composing it are opaque; stone gives silex,
ashes potash, marble lime; the only mysterious agent is fire, for,
like gold, glass is tried in the fire and perfected, and acquires
brilliance. Neri tells us to note "that those stones which strike
fire with a steel are fit to vitrify, and those which strike not
fire with a steel will never vitrify; which serves for advice to
know the stones that may be transmuted from those that will not
be transmuted into glass." He directs us to take the whitest
tarso which has not black veins or yellow spots like rust in it,
to make fair crystal. Tarso is a hard and white marble found
in Tuscany and many other places, and he assures us that "glass
is more gentle, graceful, and noble than any metal, and its use
is more delightful, polite, and sightly than any other material
at this day known to the world." All that the artist in glass has
to guard against is fragility. At present modern ordinary white
glass is composed of silica, soda, and lime; in Bohemia soda ·
is replaced by potash; thus three substances enter into the com-
position of modern glass, while the ancients only used sand and
alkali of some kind; thus, as M. Peligot points out, the almost
entire absence of lime in ancient glass forms between it and
modern glass a line of demarcation which it is useful to remember.
He thinks that ancient glasses, formed of pure sand, with salts
244
ANALYSIS AND OXIDES.
245
Silica
Lime
furnished by the washing of cinders, would have disappeared by this
time, as they belong to the category of soluble glasses which
Fuchs discovered, so that in reality all the antique glasses left us
are probably only those best made which contain the most lime.
His analysis of white glasses (choosing those least iridescent) is
given from samples nearly all found at Autun, and belonging
probably to the second century.¹
...
...
...
...
Alumina, Oxide of Iron, and
Manganese...
Soda and Potash
...
...
...
66.7
5.8
2.8
24'7
66'0
7.2
3.0
23.8
1000 100'0
67.4
70'9 69'4 69'4
2'7 7.9 6:4 7'1
5'7
24°2
100 0
4'5
16.7
100'0
2'9 2.8
21.3 20'7
100 0 100'0
In all these glasses the proportion of lime is small, about half
or a third of what is used in modern factories. Pliny says, "to
the materials of glass they began to add the magnetic stone,
then they joined little slimy stones of all kinds, then shells and
fossil sands," and he notices lime as an advance made in his
time. Still the use of lime seems to have escaped the notice
of glassmakers to a much later date, and they seem to have
all taken manganese (the soap of glass) to be a kind of load-
stone, which it resembles. It was doubtless the use of man-
ganese which made Pliny say the magnet stone was added to
glass, the ancients used this name for it; Pliny seems to have
attributed to it a power of making glass more liquid.
How the art of applying manganese to glass was first dis-
covered is unknown, and we can only offer hypotheses as to the
reason why it deprives glass of its dirty colour. Agricola thinks
"it has the property of attracting the liquor of the glass in the
same manner as it does iron, and cleaning and making it white,
free from bubbles and greenness as it was before"; the fire then
consumes the "magnes." This author is evidently under the
impression that the ore of iron and of manganese are the same
thing. Mr. Nesbitt gives the following analyses of Roman and
modern glass.
1 "Annales de Chimie et de Physique," for 1878. "Glass of the Ancients.”
(Peligot.)
246
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
Roman base (?)
Flattened Glass
Lachrymatory
Soluble Glass
Crown
Bottle
Common Win-
dow Glass
Plate Glass
Crystal
Flint
Strass
Enamel
..
...
...
...
Silicic
Acid.
...
62
63
54
76
69
72
61
433
1 58
45
38
31
Silica.
70.58
1.80
71.95 trace
71'45
2'15
Potash or
Soda.
ROMAN.
26 (potash)
22
5
∞∞
Alu-
mina.
""
8
MODERN.
""
II (soda)
17
""
6
""
12 (potash)
""
8 ""
Oxide Manga-
of Iron.
nese.
Lime.
12
20
36
13
8
*53
3'45
I'02
Oxide of
Lead or Iron.
6 ox. iron
48
*57
*17
2 ox. iron
33 ox. lead
43
53
3
50
Lime.
""
""
""
Mag-
nesia.
trace
7.33
.60
8.14 trace
Alumina.
| w |
72
I
IO OX. tin
Soda.
18.86
15.30
16.62
Water.
211
An analysis of window glass from Herculaneum gives a compo-
sition very nearly the same as that of to-day.
It is only lately that the presence of lime in glass has been
appreciated at its real value, the want of it makes glass exposed
to damp decompose. Window panes from an insufficiency of
lime in their composition become so corroded and lined by the
action of the atmosphere that they have had to be replaced. This
was observed by Bernard Palissy, who remarks that "not only
stones are consumed by the dampness of the air, but also glass,
thus you shall find in the churches of Poitiers and Brittany an
infinite number of panes of glass which are incised outside by
the injury of time, and the glassmakers say it is the moon that
has done this, but they will pardon me, it is the damp and rain
which have melted part of the salt of the glass." Lavoisier
distilled and condensed successively the same water in a glass
alembic, and found after a hundred days that the glass had lost
one gramme of its weight, and the residue of the water was
strongly alkaline from the alteration the glass had undergone.
ANALYSIS AND OXIDES.
247
Well made glass in the present day contains from twelve to
twenty parts of lime, to 100 pounds weight; this proportion has
been arrived at slowly and by many careful experiments, it repre-
sents nearly equal equivalents of lime and alkali, and renders our
modern glass almost unalterable. Ancient factories were always
placed at the mouth of rivers, where there was facility for embark-
ing the products of the factory, and where abundance of sand
could be found, as at Belus, at Cumes and Volterno; at that
time the presence of fuel, now such a "burning question," was
of no importance. The Venetian workers sent to Belus for sand,
and in our days sand has been brought even from New South
Wales for experiment, so anxious are our manufacturers to
perfect their productions.¹
Ferrandus Imperatus speaks "of the glass stone called quocoli,
which is almost like white marble, but something transparent and
hard as flint, of a light green colour like a serpentine stone, and
having veins like Venice talc. This being put into the fire loses
its transparency and becomes more white and light, will not turn
to lime, but in length of time is converted into glass." Neri says
the pebbles from the river Ticino are much used for making glass.
It would be an interesting experiment to try whether the siliceous
bark of the pottery tree of Para (Moquilea Utilis) could not be
converted into glass; the wood is strongly impregnated with
flint, and when mixed with river clay the Indians make a strong
po:tery ware from the ashes of the bark. Fritte is nothing but a
calcination of those materials which make glass. Abbe Spallanzani,
who visited Stromboli 1788, gives a very interesting account of
volcanic glass (obsidian) there: "the scoria from the volcano
has nowhere been changed into true glass, except as a vitreous
coating on small pieces. Other bits seemed to consist of semi-
transparent vitreous threads, as fine as those of a spider's web,
the heat of the volcano seeming insufficient to turn these into
true glass, but when placed in the glass furnace of Pavia they
were converted into glass with ease. This would appear to show
that the heat of the volcano was not so great as that of the furnace,
or the substance was not kept long enough in fusion." On Vul-
cano he found pumicestones with one end fused into a hard glass,
nearly black, which gave sparks when struck by steel. These
were easily fused in the furnace into true glass. The island of
1 Lynn in Norfolk, and Alum Bay, Isle of Wight, are celebrated for the
purity of their sand for glassmaking.
248
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
Lipari, which consists principally of vitrified substance, has a
cavern of which the sides are composed of solid glass. He failed
to make lava or pumicestone in his furnaces, they either refused
to melt or became glass. Vulcano and Lipari are entirely formed
by an accumulation of vitrified substance of fifteen miles in circuit.
Lava means a heterogeneous mixture of vitrified substance thrown
out by volcanos; the purest part is called obsidian, and was
used for making mirrors. The name is possibly derived from the
Greek word meaning "seeing images in." The lighter part of
lava, scoria, is properly a species of glass; it signifies the vitrified
particles of melted metals, it can be remelted and turned into
glass. The scoria or slag from metal furnaces is often very
beautiful in colour, and it seems strange it should not be more
utilized than it now is.¹ Lead is found in many specimens of
ancient glass. M. Chevreul found in the tomb of St. Medard-
des-Prés a very fine fragment belonging to the glass called crystal
which contained oxide of lead; it was heavier but more brittle
than real rock crystal found in the same tomb. The recipes
given by Eraclius make a very heavy but fragile glass; they all
contain silicate of lead, like the mirror of Virgil. Ancient imita-
tions of stones, glass of the time of Pliny, of the Jews in the
middle ages, probably also all the little Gaulo-Roman bottles
and objects preserved in museums, were made in this manner.
M. Alliot gives a recipe for making lead glass, which he says is
yellow, heavy, and easily melted. Merret says lead glass is not
used in our works on account of its great fragility. There are
hints of crystal glass in Neri's book, but M. Peligot after şe-
viewing all these facts comes to the conclusion that there is " no
proof that real flint glass was known to the ancients, and that to
the English should really be attributed the honour of having
created in their flint glass a new product which, by the progress
made in the quality and selection of the materials used in ts
fabrication, has become without dispute the most beautiful glassy
substance which we know and which it may be possible to pro-
duce." The extreme lightness and strength of Venetian glass is
due to the absence of lead in its composition, but the processes
used in its manufacture were so jealously guarded that few par-
ticulars can be found of them. A manuscript treatise on
2
1
¹ Slag glass is made into common bottles under a patent of Mr. Britten's,
its chief recommendation being extreme cheapness.
2 "Le Verre": E. Peligot, Paris, 1877.
ANALYSIS AND OXIDES.
249
glassmaking, dated 1443, has recently been published at Milan,
but the recipes given are difficult to understand as the terms
used are obscure. Alum was used as a material supplying
alkali early in the fourteenth century, but in the fifteenth it was
forbidden as it produced bad glass. The "herba calida " reduced
to ashes and brought from Syria or France, or the ashes of fern
or seaweed, made the alkali; and white quartz pebbles, or white
sand, (two parts of sand to one of alkali,) were to be melted with
some manganese in a furnace, and the fritte thus obtained was
made into glass. Fern ash, Garzoni says, made a yellow and
weak glass. It is not improbable that the herb called "uznea
in some recipes really means kelp, made from seaweed, traces of
which Peligot found in Roman glass. When fritte has been
melted into glass, the longer the process of cooling gradually is
kept up, the less likelihood there is of the glass decomposing, as
the atoms arrange themselves with their poles lying naturally to-
gether. "In rock crystal, which is pure silex, and other regu-
larly crystallized bodies, their atoms unite in virtue of regular
laws, the pole of one atom uniting with the similar pole of
another.¹ Such substances therefore do not decompose under
the ordinary action of the elements. The lens of rock crystal
found by Layard at Nineveh is as sound as it was many thousand
years ago when in the form of a crystal. In the case of glass
however the silex has been melted, and forced into fusion with
other bodies to which it has no natural affinity; therefore its
atoms, which have their poles lying in every possible direction,
have a constant tendency to recover their original position when
in the state of silex. For the same reason the alkalies or metals,
with which the atoms of silex have been constrained by fusion to
enter into union, all tend to resume their primitive state and
separate themselves from the silex. There are some remarkable
cases when flint glass without any rude exposure to the elements
has become opaque; and we have seen specimens in which this
disintegration of the same kind of glass has commenced a few
years after it was made. In general however the process of de-
composition is very slow, excepting in stables, where the presence
of ammonia hastens the decomposition and produces upon its
surface all the beautiful colours of the soap bubble. It is from the
1 The strength and durability of a stone is greatly increased by laying it in
the building in the same direction as that which it had in its quarry. A stone
not so placed is said in French to be "en délit.”
250
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
ruins of ancient buildings that glass is found in all stages of dis-
integration; and there is perhaps no material body that ceases to
exist with so much grace and beauty when it surrenders itself to
time and not to disease.”1 The beautiful colours on iridescent or
decomposed glass are formed by thin films of disintegrated glass
on which the light has been depolarised cylindrically as it were
by refraction in passing obliquely through the little hemispherical
cups formed by these films, of which perhaps twenty or thirty are
crowded into the tenth of an inch. In salt water the decomposi-
tion of glass goes on very rapidly, as is proved by the bottles
brought up from the wreck of the Royal George; M. Brame
succeeding in producing on glass in a very short time the regular
and irregular circles of decomposition by plunging fragments of
thick glass into a mixture of fluoride of calcium and concentrated
sulphuric acid, or by exposing them to the vapour of fluorhydric
acid. White glass is much less liable to decomposition than
coloured, which contains quantities of metallic oxide.
"" A
very interesting experiment can be made by placing in the appar-
atus a square bar of well annealed glass. On examining it by
polarized light it will be found that before any pressure from the
screw is applied to the glass it allows the light to pass equally
through every part of it, but when, by turning the screw, the
particles have been thrown into a state of strain distinct bands
will make their appearance in the body of the glass. The shape
of the figures thus produced varies with every change in the strain
and in the mode of applying the pressure." 2
The stones intended for glassmaking should be very finely
pulverized. Neri says "a fine sieve and plenty of dry wood
bring honour to a furnace." Plutarch advises "heath" and Pliny
"tamarisk ""
as the most proper wood for heating a glass furnace.³
Glass can be made from calcined bones by digesting them for
two or three days in sulphuric acid. M. Chaptal says “it was a
pity the Scythians, who drank from disgusting skulls, were not
acquainted with the art of converting them into so cleanly a
substance as glass"; and he shows the possibility of forming a
gallery of family effigies, moulded from glass, the produce of the
identical bones of the originals, in which the likenesses might be
preserved as truly as by the painter's art, an entirely new kind
1 Sir David Brewster.
2. Discoveries and Inventions," by Robert Routledge: 1876.
3 Lardner's "Cabinet Encyclopædia," vol. 115.
ANALYSIS AND OXIDES.
251
In 200 grains:
Silica.
of memento mori. A skeleton, he adds, "of nineteen pounds
weight will yield five pounds of this phosphoric glass which,
when first made, will emit strong electric sparks, but this property
ceases after a day or two." On extracting the phosphorus from
bones, the residue consists of lime and phosphoric acid, this can
be readily turned into glass. Bone glass, which is now manu-
factured in France, can be worked with the same facility as any
other glass, and possesses the valuable property of not being
attacked by fluoric acid.
Owing to the presence of metallic oxides in alkaline carbonates
or quartzous fragments, the production of a coloured glass would
be easier and of earlier date than a pure and colourless vitri-
faction. The surprising brilliance of many ancient colours found
in glass, pottery, and paintings, has incited chemists to devote
much time and labour in endeavouring to discover the secrets of
their manufacture. Klaproth, Minutoli, Davy, and a host of
learned professors have aided in this research. But, though we
know with certainty the substances anciently used, we are yet
far from understanding all the old methods of manipulation, as
Winston 1 warns us that "the same colouring matter produces
different tints according to the different degrees of heat or length
of time occupied in fusion, thus analysis of ancient glass will not
help workers as much as might be expected." Some chemists
direct blue to be made with filings of copper, then suboxide of
copper yields a red colour, while copper which has received its
full proportion of oxygen gives a green.
Klaproth gives the following analyses of three specimens of
Roman glass from Capri :
Oxide of lead
Oxide of copper
Oxide of iron
Alumina
Lime
•
OPAQUE RED.
•
•
1 "Inquiry into Glass Painting": 1867.
142 grains.
28
15
5
2
23
""
""
""
""
""
195",
252
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
In 200 grains:
Silica
In 200 grains:
•
Oxide of copper
Oxide of lead
Oxide of iron
Lime
Alumina
•
OPAQUE GREEN.
SEMI-TRANSPARENT BLUE.
Silica.
Oxide of iron
Alumina
Oxide of copper
Lime.
•
•
•
130 grains.
20
15
7
13
II
196
3
I
""
""
186'5
""
""
در
163 grains.
19
""
""
""
""
0'5",
""
Ancient workers appear to have had fewer varieties of red at
their command than of other colours, and the same fact is
observable in all ancient potteries, where dull reds are only used
as foils to the brilliant blues and greens. One of the reds found
in glass, probably derived from minium, has all the intenseness
of rosso-antico with the brightness of glass, thus combining the
properties of a rich enamel; there is another semi-transparent
red which, when light is passed through it, appears of a dull
green colour. Dr. Percy thus describes a fragment from Nineveh,
"the surface of which was dull and green, as though encrusted
with green carbonate of copper. This colour was superficial, the
glass itself was opaque and of a fine sealing-wax red colour, due
to suboxide of copper, the external coating due to atmospheric
action on the surface of the glass, and consequent conversion of
the suboxide into green carbonate of copper." Probably ferru-
ginous earth was the principal substance by which all reds,
violets, and yellows were obtained; for common red this is
sufficient, but when pure clear glass of a lovely red hue and free
from flaws is required, iron is not fit, because its colour by con-
tinued heat either disappears or becomes blackish and dirty.
German artists in the last century employed gold, and made
artificial rubies which deceived many connoisseurs unless they
ANALYSIS AND OXIDES.
253
were tried with a file. The substance they used was called "gold
purple," and was supposed to be made by Cassius.¹ Something
of this kind was doubtless meant by old chemists, who speak of
gold, chief of metals, last and most perfect work of nature, and
delight in phrases such as red lions, the purple soul of gold, the
golden mantle, and so on. Ruby glass was a most remarkable
production; though it might have been produced in ancient days
it was certainly reinvented and brought to perfection by Kunckel,
1679, when director of Potsdam. He never left full directions
for making ruby glass, but affirmed that he could produce it
without gold. It is now known that a perfect ruby colour can
be got with copper, but the manipulation is difficult and the
result uncertain, a little more or less exposure to heat producing
different tints. Eraclius says in making carbuncles use gold
separated from all salt. M. D'Arcet says that during the French
revolution, when it was proposed to melt all the ruby glass in
the church windows for the sake of obtaining the gold which it
was supposed to contain, the chemist who was charged to
ascertain by experiment the probable quantity of gold derivable
from this source, on analysing some pieces, found that the
principal colouring matter was composed only of a weak pro-
portion of copper and iron; thus the threatened destruction of
the glass was arrested. Pliny describes the non-translucent red
called hæmatinum, and also mentions protoxide of iron for
colouring strong red glass. Some think a red glass called
gallien was so named from the Greek word for beauty; some say
it was derived from Gallienus, under whose reign the arts were
cultivated and encouraged in Rome.
The culminating triumph of Egyptian colouring was the famed
"bleu de Nil," unrivalled to this day. Pliny says it was the
most beautiful colour in the world, a judgment posterity seems
inclined to endorse. Theophrastus describes it as being origin-
ally invented by a king of Egypt, and made there in great quan-
tities. We know the Egyptians got tin used in their white
enamels by commerce, and they also got cobalt (called saffre by
old chemists) from India. Fourcroy says cobalt was unknown
to the ancients, and though used before was only recognised as
a metal by Brandt, a Swede, 1732; but ancients, like moderns,
might have employed cobalt without knowing it was a metal.
¹ Beckmann's "History of Inventions."
254
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
At all events we know from conviction that the beauty of some
Egyptian blues must have been due to cobalt. Sir H. Davy
thinks probably the ancients took it to be a sort of copper; he
examined numerous antique blues from various parts, and found
copper in many blue and green pastes, but "though I experi-
mented on nine different specimens of ancient transparent blue
glass, I found no copper in any, but cobalt in all. If M.
Hachette or Klaproth found copper in blue glass, I imagine it
must have been opaque." Davy found in Pompeii a small vase
filled with a pale blue colour, which he says was a mixture of
lime and Alexandria fritte. Nestorius imitated Alexandria blue
at Pozzuoli, and gives the composition thus: carbonate of soda,
15 parts; flint pebbles, 20 parts; filings of copper, 3 parts.
This mixture kept at a great heat for two hours gave him a fritte
which pulverized was a beautiful dark sky-blue. Vitruvius gives
this same composition for Egyptian blue. Davy thinks this
same blue was used in painting the baths of Titus and the
"Aldobrandini marriage." These azures have not changed at
all.
Pliny describes one method of making these blues thus.
"There is a kind of paint made from the ultramarine sand.
This paint is procured by rubbing or washing out the sand, and
is (when made) of a brighter colour than the sand itself." Theo-
phrastus speaks of copper being "used to give beautiful colour
to glass," it is probable the Greeks took cobalt for a sort of
copper. Cardan speaks of "zaffer" without clearly knowing
what it is, and seems to confound it with " magnes lapis" as
some ancients called manganese. "Syderion, which Italians call
manganese is an earth very fit for clarifying glass, tinging it of a
cærulean hue, and some people call this zaffer." Minutoli¹ de-
scribes an amulet of transparent blue glass which was dug up in
ancient Memphis; it is cast, and represents in low relief a beetle
with the head and outspread wings of a hawk, carrying a globe,
which he thinks would indicate the use of cobalt at a very early
date. Analysis shows that opaque blue glass in Memphis owed
its colour to copper, semi-transparent to manganese and cobalt,
and black to iron. Davy says blue glass from Etruria and
Greece owed its colour to cobalt, but more recent specimens of
1 Minutoli established at Liegnitz in Prussia an institute for educating
artisans, which seems very rich in glass models and fragments; he also wrote
in 1836 a learned work on the use of glass by the ancients.
ANALYSIS AND OXIDES.
255
Gallo-Roman glass to copper. Theophilus says most ancient
writers have confounded lapis lazuli, lapis Armenus, blue jasper
coloured with carbonates and arseniates of copper, mountain blue
(bergblau of the Germans), one with another, and errors have
arisen which even now are to be dispelled. The Persian lazoard
blue is probably the origin of the term "lazu." Persians are very
fond of ultramarine blue, and use a great deal in their coloured
illuminations, but Persia only produces blue copper ore (the male
cyanus), real lapis comes from the Tartary mountains in Bo-
khara, extending east from the Caspian.1 "The true lapis lazuli
is permanent, that which is placed on the fire does not change
colour, this is the legitimate, it is mostly brought from the east ;
that found in Germany is not permanent, it is lasurstein, and
this is the mean between the Armenian stone which is friable
and the lapis which is equal in hardness.” Some old blue glass
was coloured with iron, but since the discovery of cobalt the art
of obtaining blue from iron has been neglected.
M. Girardin analysed a blue bead from the Roman tombs of
Cany, and found in it traces of iron and magnesia, the colour
was due to oxide of copper. The Roman workers were able to
produce blue, green, purple, or amethystine, amber brown and
rose colour in transparent glass, of these there are several tints
of blue; in opaque colours they succeeded in making white,
black, red, blue, yellow, green, and orange. Of opaque blues
there are about ten varieties, and of green not so many; many of
these colours are mixed together, and opaque and transparent
hues are mingled when imitating agates, and other stones some-
times;
this admixture of colours produced a gaudy effect, but in
the generality of cases the result is harmonious. Mr. Nesbitt
gives the usual glass colours as obtained from the following
materials: yellow, from charcoal, antimony, or silver; a peculiar
canary yellow from uranium; red from suboxide of iron, oxide
of copper, and from gold; brownish red from protoxide of iron ;
green from protoxide of iron, oxide of copper, of chromium, and
mixtures of oxides of nickel and uranium; blue from cobalt,
also from iron; amethystine from manganese; brown perhaps
¹ The loss of four chapters on coloured glass in the manuscript of Theophilus
is much to be regretted, they leave a void in the history of the art of that
age.
2 Can this be the steely blue glass which is found in old church windows up
to the fifteenth century, which is not due to cobalt ?
256
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
((
from the same; orange from peroxide of iron with chloride of
silver, also it is said from arsenic; black from scoria of iron or
charcoal. But these lists of names do not assist the worker
much; the art of colouring glass is very subtle, and requires
great care and skill on the part of the artificer; much depends
on the proper adjustment of the degrees of heat, and the length
of time the glass is kept in fusion, a very slight difference in the
quantity of some one ingredient may produce very great difference
in the result. In fact knowledge and experience on the part of
the artificer would seem to be of much more importance even
than the kind of oxide employed. The writer has been assured
by Mr. Hawkes, a gentleman who for many years was engaged
con amore" in repairing the coloured windows of French
cathedrals, that he could produce every colour by the use of
iron alone. M. Bontemps' authority confirms this assertion, at
a meeting of the British Association at Birmingham he brought
forward some very extraordinary facts in connection with the
colouring powers of different bodies. "He showed that all the
colours of the prismatic spectrum might be given to glass by the
use of the oxide of iron in varying proportions, and by the agency
of different degrees of heat, the conclusion being that the dif
ferent colours are produced in their natural disposition in pro-
portion as the temperature is increased.
Manganese, copper,
silver, gold, and charcoal were all found to produce corresponding
results; gold for instance giving a great many tints varying from
blue to pink, red, opaque yellow and green. M. Bontemps was
of opinion that in the case of manganese light is the agent which
produces change, and doubted whether any change in the oxida-
tion of the metal will explain the photogenic effect. He is dis-
posed to refer the chromatic changes in most if not all cases
rather to some modifications of the composing particles than to
any chemical changes in the materials employed." Analysis of
ancient glass has shown that various colours have been obtained
from the same metal; thus Roman opaque red glass usually
contains copper, but it has recently been shown that oxide of
iron and not copper was in some cases the colouring agent. M.
Peligot points out that the simple action of light colours glass
yellow, rose, and violet. Mr. Gaffield, of Boston, cut a piece of
glass into squares and exposed each piece to sunlight, one for a
week, the next for two weeks, and so on up to ten. The yellow
colour came first, then appeared rose, each week making a dis-
1
ANALYSIS AND OXIDES.
257
tinct difference, which was not effected by heat alone; it is the
action of sunlight. M. Peligot gives this interesting account.
66 The curious drops of glass ending in a very fine delicate point,
known as Batavian drops or Prince Rupert's tears, are made by
dropping very liquid glass into cold water. They give the highest
point of the fragility of glass; they have the singular property of
resisting the blow of a hammer on the thick end, whereas the
slightest break at the thin end reduces them into powder with a
violent explosion. They were first brought into England in 1661.
When the drop of glass falls into the water the outside cools
suddenly, while the inner part is still red hot; when this has
cooled, it is kept in a state of great compression by the outer
layer to which it is fixed. Berzelius compares this bursting of
the glass by the destruction of its solidity to that of a piece of
stuff very tightly stretched, which resists the tension while it is
whole, but the slightest cut makes it tear at once.”
Enamel is a glass (opaque) with a ground of lead and tin,
which melts on the surface of glass at a temperature which only
softens the latter. The dust from enamel is very dangerous to
the health of workmen employed in making it. M. Paris has
invented a sort of indiarubber muslin mask to prevent the worker
from breathing the dust, but the men are so careless that it is
little used. Aventurine is a transparent yellow glass in which
are fused numerous little particles of copper (or silicate of copper),
it imitates exactly the sort of gold stone which is often mixed
with lapis lazuli. It was invented about the beginning of the
seventeenth century by one of the Miotti family, and was long
preserved as a trade secret. Aventurine and the glass imitation
of chalcedony do not melt at the same heat, and the secret of
mingling the two compositions together as is done for the handles
of walking sticks, beads, and other objects, was for a long time
only known to one old workman in Murano; it has however
lately been successfully practised by the Royal Society of Murano,
who have also succeeded in faithfully copying the celebrated
coppa nuziale" of the Correr museum at Venice; it is of a
beautiful sapphire colour, enamelled with figures and landscapes
and medallion portraits of the bridegroom and bride. This was
shown in the Paris Exhibition with a copy of the famous tazza of
St. Mark's, enamelled with various colours and gold, and having
round it medallions and Coptic inscriptions.
(6
S
258
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
GLAZES.
Glazes are glassy substances made of metallic silicates and
borates; the materials composing them are usually quartz, flint,
felspar, gypsum, borax, boric acid, common salt, potash, soda,
and red oxide of lead. Some glazes are first formed into
"frits," imperfectly vitrified bodies, and then pounded for use.
Mr. Franks suggests that a knowledge of glazing would travel with
the wheel. Very ancient Chinese pottery was glazed, though its
composition does not appear to be exactly known; those glazes
we see on their earliest wares would seem derived from the same
substances as those now in use, a mixture in which felspar forms
a chief ingredient, and which requires very high firing to melt.
Small glazed objects in Egypt belong to the sixth or possibly
earlier dynasties. These objects are generally made of grains of
sand, cemented together by some vitreous matter, commonly
silicate of soda; this substance was shaped in moulds and covered
with a greenish blue glaze due to a silicate of protoxide of copper
and soda. This cupreous enamel seems to have been largely used ;
these glazed frits are often incorrectly known as Egyptian porce-
lain. Many objects in the British Museum are carved in some
steatetic substance resembling soapstone, then covered with a
cupriferous glaze, and exposed to the necessary heat for vitrifying
it; the cavities have then been filled in with coloured pastes, as
these cavities are lined with greenish glaze they must have been
carved previous to glazing. Mr. Franks thinks the Egyptian
mode of enamelling frits composed of siliceous sand cemented by
alkaline silicate was introduced by Mahommedans into India, where
we find frits enamelled with different coloured glasses and then
cut to form a mosaic design, embedded in a wall of chunam; the
pedestals of idols are so treated. These frits have been used in
India since the thirteenth century, and it is said they are still made
in Scinde. Sir G. Birdwood describes the glazing and colouring of
Indian pottery as made of "kanch," literally glass and oxides of
lead. In the Punjaub the two kinds of glaze used are distinguished
as English glaze and country glaze. The art of glazing pottery
in India is said to have been introduced from China by the
influence of Tamerlane's Chinese wife, and the custom of orna-
menting walls with glazed tiles is contemporary with the Mongol
conquest of Persia, where the art of glazing had descended from
Assyrian traditions in an unbroken line. Some of the Burmese
GLAZES.
259
glazes are said to resist the action of acids. The glazes from
Nimroud are formed of silicate of soda with lead coloured by
metallic oxides. But the analyses of glazed wares from Babylonia
made by Salvetat and Dr. Percy give different results, so it is
possible they used different kinds of glaze. Dr. Birch thinks
glazed vases coeval with the dawn of Hellenic civilization, perhaps
nine or ten centuries B. C. The glaze on Greek vases is very fine,
thin, and lustrous. The recipe for making it appears to be lost,
it has been fused by baking, but yields neither to acids or the
blowpipe. Hausmann considers it a varnish, of which soda,
saltpetre, borax, and salt are supposed to have been the ingredients
used; there is no lead found in it. It is far inferior to our
modern glazes as it is permeable by water, but cannot be de-
composed by the same chemical agents. The black glaze found
on some Greek vases is supposed to be a volcanic substance
spread with a brush over the portion required, and the vase
exposed to sufficient heat for its fusion. The Kabyles in North
Africa, who derive their pottery by tradition from the Greeks and
Romans, use a varnish made from resin, and succeed in producing
very strong vases in which they carry oil, water, and various
liquids.
The glazes used in some ancient potteries are infinitely harder
than those now made, though ancient Bristol ware seems to be
an exception, as at the burning of the Alexandra Palace, in which
a great deal of porcelain was destroyed, some specimens of
Bristol china were found with the entire glazed coating remaining
untouched by the heat of a fire which had completely burnt out
the clay composing the body of the object. The phenomena of
devitrification can be induced in all glass (easily in inferior,
with difficulty in the finer kinds) either by slowly cooling it from
a state of fusion, or by heating it in a mixture of sand and plaster
of Paris till it softens, and cooling slowly. It loses its translucent
and amorphous character, and by the formation of innumerable
minute crystals becomes opaque. When such a change penetrates
the entire mass, it assumes a milky, porcelain like appearance,
and in this condition is known as Reaumur's porcelain. De-
vitrification renders the material much harder and less fusible
than the same glass in a transparent state, and less subject to
fracture on the application of heat. It has been suggested that
some invention of this kind might be applied to making cooking
utensils of glass. The existence of an Egyptian glass porcelain
260
GLASS IN THE OLD WORLD.
has already been noticed. The application of spun glass to
textile fabrics has perhaps hardly received the attention it merits;
the colours would be extremely fine and unalterable by weather,
a great recommendation for banners and many other articles
used in our uncertain climate. It has been proved in Germany
that large masses of glass make better millstones than the French
"burr."
A Mr. Thom has cast large blocks of hard glass, six to
twelve inches thick, and four and a half feet in diameter; they
grind smoother flour than burr, and always remain cold, so the
flour does not get heated; they do not wear out faster than stone.
An old suggestion that our roads might be paved with cubes of
glass does not now seem an impossibility; if the slipperiness
could be obviated, a city paved with glass could surely be kept
clean.
NOTES.
NOTE A.-TRADE WITH INDIA.
NUMEROUS ancient writers seem to agree that the commerce of the world
was in the hands of the Arabians and conducted through the Red Sea. Actual
history begins for us with Senefroo, third dynasty, 4235 B.C., the explorer of
the copper mines of Wady Magarah, and the conqueror of Arabia, whence he
would no doubt have drawn tribute. A papyrus found at Karnak records in
detail the great battle of Megiddo between Thoutmes III. and one of the kings
of Palestine. This campaign seems to have assured to Egypt the submission
of the neighbouring countries, and extended her power to Nineveh and pos-
sibly to India itself. We find in Exodus xxx. 23 that cinnamon was one
of the ingredients used in preparing the anointing oil. Now cinnamon is
one of the peculiar products of India, Ceylon, and the Eastern Archipelago;
and Herodotus, some twelve hundred years later, says Arabia is the last
inhabited country towards the south, and the only region of the earth which
produces frankincense, myrrh, and what we, instructed by the Phoenicians, call
"kinnamon"; he also states that the Arabs were unacquainted with the
particular spot in which it was produced, but some asserted it grew in the
region where Bacchus was educated, from which we infer it was the product of
a distant country, possibly India, and was obtained by the route of the Red
Sea. In Dr. Vincent's disquisition on a work called the "Periplus of the
Erythrean Sea," he says, the most ancient record of trade between Arabs and
others is found in Ezekiel, and this trade must have been carried on before the
siege of Tyre and must have been at its height long before any visits paid to
the Red Sea by Greeks or Romans. "All this induces a belief that in the
very earliest times, prior to Moses, the communication with India was open,
that the intercourse with that continent was in the hands of the Arabians, that
Memphis had owed its splendour to that commerce, that Thebes from the same
cause came to the same preeminence, and Cairo succeeded to both in wealth,
grandeur, and magnificence." Pliny records that a regular communication
was known to be open between Arabia, India, and parts beyond, and the Arabs
who were established at Ceylon were receiving the trade of China from the
Chinese who had reached that island, and the father of the rajah who came on
an embassy to Claudius had been in that island. We read of Sabea or
Yemen the blest, "the people are robust, warlike, and able mariners; they
sail in very large vessels to the country where the odoriferous commodities are
261
262
NOTES.
produced, they plant colonies there; in fact, there is no nation on earth so
wealthy as the Gerrhei and Sabei, as being the centre of all the commerce
which passes between Asia and Europe." Herodotus says Pharaoh Necho,
610 B.C., sent Phoenicians down the Red Sea, who sailed round Africa and
returned to the mouth of the Nile in three years. Ptolemy Philadelphus sent
Dionysius as ambassador to the princes of India, 309 B.C.
NOTE B.
STATUE OF MEMNON." The more northerly of the two statues at Karnak
is that colossus of Memnon, so renowned among those travellers who in the two
first centuries of Roman dominion in Egypt visited the land of the Pharaohs.
Destined by Amenophis as an ornament to the façade of his temple, the colossus
had been known to all the world as his statue till the upper part was destroyed by
an earthquake, 27 B. C. By this accident the colossus became celebrated. It soon
appeared that from the headless trunk a sonorous ringing sound, resembling the
human voice, was heard when the first rays of the morning sun fell on the
statue. Doubtless this effect was caused by the crackling of the stone wet with
dew under the influence of the sun's rays; but it was looked on as a miracle
by Greeks and Romans. Memnon was the legendary founder of this part of
the city. Was not the voice thus heard Memnon plaintively imploring his
divine mother, Aurora? The fame of the phenomenon spread, people came
from all parts to hear the marvellous voice, and the mania rose for engraving
on the legs of the statue inscriptions betokening the admiration of those fortu-
nate enough to become witnesses of the miracle. The most ancient of these
are in the reign of Nero. After two centuries, Septimus Severus, thinking to
stay the plaintive cries of the hero and to impart clearness and beauty to his
voice, restored the colossus : all sound was effectually smothered and for ever
silenced under the blocks of sandstone we see to this day. Here are two of the
inscriptions: 'He announces the return of day to the mortals here assembled,
complaining to his mother of the outrage of Cambyses'; 'Twice, oh divine
being, I have heard thy voice when the sun left the majestic waves of the
Ocean."" 1
Sir A. Smith visited the statue of Memnon in 1820, with a numerous
escort, and says: "At six in the morning we heard very distinctly the sounds
so much spoken of in former times, and which have generally been treated as
fabulous." He attributes the sounds to a certain arrangement of the stones.
-("Asiatic Journal," 1821.)
THE recent discovery of a carefully hidden royal mausoleum at Thebes has
brought to light the mummies of twenty kings and queens, and those of sixteen
persons connected with them. Many of these mummies appear to have been
brought from other tombs and placed for greater safety in a vault constructed at
a depth of forty feet below the surface of the soil. Among the valuable objects
(nearly six thousand in number) recovered from this vast tomb are some rare
papyri and many articles in alabaster, bronze, glass, and wood. The mummies
1 "Monuments of Upper Egypt," by Mariette Bey: 1877.
NOTES.
263
date from about 1700 B. C. to less than 1000 B.C., and the presence of many
glass objects confirms the impression that during the eighteenth dynasty glass-
making was much practised in ancient Egypt. The especially beautiful coloured
glass goblets found with the funeral equipage of Queen Isi-em-Kheb belong
to the comparatively modern age of less than 1000 B.C.
NOTE C.
LANGLÈS thus describes the travelling tent of Nadir Shah, 1736. The
outside was covered with red cloth, the inside lined with violet satin, on which
was represented birds and all animals of creation, enriched with pearls, rubies,
emeralds, amethysts, and other precious stones. At each side of the throne
(formed as a peacock) stood a screen on which was embroidered in diamonds
two angels; the piquets were of pure gold, the whole concern in travelling
took seven elephants to carry it. It was always placed on fête days in the salle
du divan in Herat. Nadir Shah carried his conquests into India, and brought
away enormous treasures from the moguls of Delhi. The blaze of jewels
exhibited by Futteh Ali Shah to Sir R. Porter formed part of these Indian
spoils.
A.
Abbé Cochet, 116, 127, 130, 134, 207.
Abbé Moriti, 65.
Abbot Suger, 171.
Abd-el-latif, 3, 12.
Achille Tatius, 198.
Acropolis, 25.
Ælian, 66, 178.
Agate vases, 240.
Agra, 188,
Aggry beads, 209; in India, 211.
Agrippa, 49.
Alexander, 25, 60, 193.
Alexandria, 50.
Allasontes, 44.
INDEX.
Amber, 114, 201, 207.
Amethyst, 49.
Amosis, 10.
Amravati, 106.
Analysis of white glass, 245.
Analysis of coloured glass, 252.
Apis, 12.
Apyrous, 23.
Arab lamps, 233.
Archimedes, 32.
Aristophanes, 23, 71, 117, 227.
Aristotle, 192, 215.
Arles, 130.
Arrian, 193, 239.
Artas of Sidon, 28.
Artifex vitri, 66.
A. Severus, 52.
"Asiatic Journal," 94, 262.
Athenæus, 29, 31, 191.
1
Athor, 8.
Athos, 186.
Augustus, 34-36, 153.
Auldjo vase, 196.
Aventurine, 257.
Aviary, 162.
Ayrton, Prof., 222.
Babel, 59.
Babylon, 56.
Bacchus, 196, 198.
Bacon, 1, 162.
Barberetti, 22.
Bardic religion, 204, 211.
Barometer lamp, 229.
Barrel shaped jars, 128.
Basilicas, 165, 170.
Basle collection, 79.
Baths, 43, 227.
Batissier, 189, 215.
Bead roll, 313.
Beads, 14, 114, 134.
Beckmann, 25.
264
B.
Bede, 168.
Behistun rock sculpture, 72.
Bell candlesticks, 146.
Belus, 61, 62, 65, 247.
Benedict, 120, 165, 167.
Beneventum, 47.
Beni Hassan, 4.
Benjamin of Tudela, 60, 94, 186.
Beowulf, 118, 160.
Bernard Palissy, 248.
T
INDEX.
265
Berosus, 60.
Bethlehem, 185, 186.
Beugnot collection, 44.
Bibliothèque of Paris, 3.
Billings, A., 161, 235, 239.
Birch, Dr., 3, 32, 70, 96, 184, 240,
259.
Birdwood, Sir G., 74, 100, 258.
Bjorko in Sweden, 141.
Black Jews, 68.
Black pottery, 32.
Bleu de Nil, 253.
Blue beards, 14.
Blue coral, 209.
Blue network, 14.
Boeckh, 3.
Bone glass, 250.
Bontemps, 64, 256.
Bonus Eventus, 182.
Bottles, 12, 15, 26, 42, 78, 80, 102.
Boulak, 5, 9, 10, 13.
Boulogne, 172.
Bow windows, 164.
Bracelet, 7, II, 14, 15.
"Breviary of Philosophy," 123.
Brewster, Sir D., 250.
Brighton, 119.
Brugsch, 3.
Brundisium, 214.
Bryan Faussett, 115, 117, 207.
Buchanan, 108.
Buddha, 100, 107.
Buonarotti's cup, 84.
Burnaby, Capt., 175.
Burne Jones, 214.
Burning glass, 32, 33, 53.
Burton, Capt., 95, 187.
Bust of glass, 242.
Buttons, 134.
Byzantine influence, 91, 169.
Byzantium, 90.
C.
Cacholong, 241.
Cairo, 3.
Caligula, 38.
Cambyses, 71.
Cameo glass, 50, 81.
Canterbury, 115, 117, 160, 172.
Capri, 38.
Carbonate of copper, 252.
Carchemish, 8.
Carmel, 61, 65.
Carnac, III.
Carthage, 28, 138, 178.
Catacombs of Callisto, 84.
Catacombs of Rome, 82, 105.
Catalogue of Pompeii, 82.
Caylus, 13, 19, 36, 85, 208.
Celtic Druids, 203.
Cesnola, General, 21.
Cesnola, Major, 22.
Chalcedony, 160, 240.
Chalices, 124, 135, 141.
Chardin, 76, 175.
Charlemagne, 169.
Chatham, 114, 116, 167.
Cheops, 5, 6.
Chephren, 2, 5, 7, 241.
Chevalier Jancourt, 65.
Childeric, 131.
Chinese classics, 98, 218.
Chinese lanterns, 230.
Christian glass, 82.
Christy's Museum, 69, 190.
Cicero, 33, 36, 152.
Cinerary urns, 81, 130.
Citizenship, 39.
City of lamps, 228.
Claudian's epigram, 32.
Claus Roll, 172.
Clavijo, 77, 233.
Clenched hands, 9.
Cleopatra, 12, 179, 235.
Clepsydra, 30.
Clovis, 134, 136.
Cluny Museum, 94, 132.
Coachmakers, 174.
Coats of arms, 139.
Cobalt, 253.
Coda Theodosius, 54.
Cornthen, 170.
Colbert, 224.
Colosseum, 179.
Coloured lamps, 70.
Colours of murrhine, 238.
Columella, 39.
266
INDEX.
Concave mirror, 219.
Conder, Capt., 186, 187.
Constantine, 90, 165, 188.
Cooling balls, 36.
Cooling water, 36.
Coomassie, 209.
Coppa nuziale, 251, 257.
Coptos, 23.
Cordova, 188.
Corneille, 126.
Cosi antiqui, 53.
Cottabus, 29.
Cross of Courg, 124.
Crusaders, 69.
Crystal, 29, 114, 206, 228.
Ctesias, 56, 71.
Cup of Chosroes, 72.
Cups of gems, 156, 192.
Curium, 20, 152.
Curzon, 145.
Cyanus, 149.
Cyprus, 18, 20, 22, 155.
Cyrus, 66.
D.
Damascus, 76, 91, 186, 233.
Darius Hystaspes, 17.
Davy, Sir H., 254.
Dead Sea, 69.
Dedron, 186.
Democritus, 23.
Demosthenes, 218, 219, 223.
Derbyshire spar, 237.
De Rossi, 86, 88, 198.
Desiderius, 171, 188.
Deville, 28, 40, 44, 128, 135, 199, 233.
Devitrification, 259.
Diamond, 16.
Diana of Ephesus, 26, 83, 194.
Diatreta, 45.
Dice, 29, 36.
Diogenes, 191.
Dioscoride, 153.
Disks, 9, 23, 26, 97, 141.
Divination, 29, 219, 224.
Doge Orseolo I., 170.
Douglas, Rev. J., 114, 205.
Dream of Polyphile, 172.
Druids, III, 122, 203.
Duke of Buckingham, 224.
Dutens, 163.
E.
Edkins, Rev. J., 104.
Edward I.'s tomb, 119.
Egyptian chronology, 3.
Elastic glass, 100.
El-Mamoum, 6.
Emerald columns, 150; eyes, 155.
Emerald glass, 157; table, 158; mirror,
215.
Emperor Justinian, 167.
Emperor Shun, 98; Taitsou, IO1;
Yaou, 98.
Enamel, 5, 24, 50, 56, 73, 90, 94, 95,
107, 120, 127, 131, 257.
Ennion, 28.
Eraclius, 69, 142, 150, 188.
Ethiopians, 2, 25.
Etruria, 32.
Etruscan, 77.
Eusebius, 106, 198.
Eyes, 8.
Everlasting lamps, 230.
Exhibition in Japan, 103.
F.
Factories of Venice, 142.
Family effigies, 250.
Fatal necklace, 200.
Father Ricci, 101, 158.
Fatimite princes, 96.
Faversham, 113.
Fayoum, 4.
Feast of lamps, 229.
Fecamp, 128.
Fergusson, Mr., 106.
Fern, 178; ash, 248.
Fibula, 116, 131.
Field of cloth of gold, 121.
Fillon, M., 126, 136.
Firmus, 54.
First pyramid, 6.
Fitzroy, Admiral, 106.
Flint glass, 248.
INDEX.
267
Fluor spar, 238.
Fortunatus of Poitiers, 166.
Fosbrooke, Mr., 82, 117, 205.
Fountains, 82, 181, 219.
Frankish jewels, 131, 140.
Franks, Mr., 130, 166, 258.
Fresco painting, 5.
Fritte, 247.
Frugi, 196.
Fsefysa, 186.
Fuchs' discovery, 245.
Full cups, 192.
G.
Gallienus, 53, 155.
Game of glass balls, 51.
Garucci, 82, 85, 130.
Gaubil, 98.
Gaufres de Venise, 57.
Gaulo-Roman, 127, 248.
Gell, Sir W., 82, 164, 237.
Gentlemen glassmakers, 126, 137.
German drinking glasses, 140.
Germanicus, 27.
Gladiators, 38, 81, 113, 127.
Glain neidyr, III, 203.
Glass amphora, 42; beads, 202;
blinds, 182; blowers, 4, 8, 37;
bowls, 112, 131; bracelets, 134, 208;
cask, 39; clouds, 40; coffin, 73,
120; cylinder, 158; drainpipe, 81;
engraving, 41; exposed to light, 256;
for walls, 180; garments, 30; hea-
vens, 101; hoops, 117; lanterns,
229; medallions, 96; millstones,
250; moulding, 16; pavements,
180; pictures, 181; porcelain, 15;
tiles, 179; types, 145; urns, 79.
Glass eyes, 27, 107, 156.
Glaucus of Scio, 198.
IOI
Glazed ornaments, 57.
Glaziers, 165, 174.
Gold in glass, 82, 130, 253.
Gough, Mr., 114, 173.
Greatest treasure, 193.
Greek, 19; glaze, 26.
Greenhouses, 163.
Gregory of Tours, 116.
Ground glass, 164.
H.
Hadrian, 13, 50, 179.
Hand lamps, 232.
Handbook of trades, 171.
Hardness of old glass, 159, 175.
Harvey, Capt., 201.
Hawkes, Mr., 256.
Hawsted House, 189.
Hebrew marriage, 66; mirrors, 67.
Hebron, 69.
Heliogabalus, 52.
Hematin, 8, 253.
Henry VIII., 145.
Herodotus, 1, 6, 17, 23, 56, 60, 226.
Hiram, 18, 66.
Hispano-Moorish, 139.
Homer, 23, 31, 41, 200.
Honorius, 147, 166, 233.
Horace, 33, 36, 42, 182.
Hourglass, 30, 55.
Hyalus, 24.
Hyderabad, 220.
I.
Imitation gems, 154, 156, 160.
Imitation murrhine, 239.
India, 4, 17.
Infant's feeding bottle, 21.
Inlaid glass, 13.
Intaglio, 197.
Ireland, 122, 155; Irish MS., 124.
Iridescence on glass, 250.
Isidore of Seville, 142, 222, 242.
Islands of the blessed, 30.
Ivory armilla, 208.
J.
Jacquemart, Chevalier, 199.
Jámi, 223.
Japan, 102.
Japanese mirrors, 222.
Jehangir, 144, 190.
Jerusalem, 70, 187.
1
268
INDEX.
Jesuits, 99.
John Prudde, 172, 174.
Johnson, 110.
Josephus, 65.
Jugglers, 101.
Juno's lamp, 228.
Juvenal, 32, 39, 43, 44, 223.
Kabyle, 31, 259.
Kaempfer, 102.
Kali, 64, 146.
Karnak, 12.
K.
Kohl, 21.
Koran, 67.
Kufic, 93, 97.
Kars, 59.
Kertch, 25, 28.
Kilns, pottery, 118; glass, 119, 138.
King, Mr., 41, 79.
Klaproth, 152, 158, 240, 251, 254.
Koh-i-noor, 192, 201.
L.
Labarte, M., 90, 100, 139, 145, 171.
Labra, 43, 227.
Lachrymatories, 26.
Lactantius, 166.
Lahore, 108, 190.
Lakes of Nitre, 4.
Lanterns, 226, 227.
Lapis lazuli, 150, 255.
La Rosiere, 238.
Lasteyrie, 136, 133.
Lawrence-Cesnola, 21.
Layard, Sir A., 57, 188, 249.
Legends on cups, 83, 129.
Lehmann, 16.
Lentils, 10.
Lepsius, 4.
Lesbos, 31.
Lewis, Prof., 13; Sir G., 110.
Library walls, 188.
Lieou-li of China, 100, 243.
Light glass, 22, 39, 51, 146.
Lighthouses, 42.
Lightning conductor, 106.
f
Lime in glass, 244.
Limoges, 93, 169.
Linen windows, 174.
Linum asbestos, 27.
Lion of clay, 8.
Liquid in glass, 115.
Lismore crozier, 124.
Litharge, 70, 242.
Livy's lines, 205.
Loftie, Rev. W., 8.
Loftus, Mr., 57, 71.
London, 110, 113, 184.
Louvre, 3, 12, 44.
Lubbock, Sir J., 202.
Lucan, 18, 116.
Lucian, 28, 30, 44, 50, 164, 193, 219,
228.
Luck of Edenhall, 95.
Lucretius, 33, 217.
M.
Ma, 9.
Magic kernos, 191; lamp, 230; mir-
rors, 221.
Magnifying glass, 58.
Majault, 87.
Mance, Mr., 221.
Manetho, 3.
Manganese, 245, 256.
Manufacture of beads, 212.
Marco Polo, 143, 145, 156, 211, 213.
Marie de Medicis, 224.
Mariette Bey, 3, 5.
Martial, 40, 44, 46, 236.
Martigny, 85, 88.
Martyr god of pottery, 99.
Mason, 205.
Mastaba, 4.
Maundeville, 65, 233.
Measure of capacity, 97.
Mecænas, 34, 36.
Medinet Abou, II.
Memnon, II.
Memphis, 3.
Menephtah, 10.
Menes, 2.
Mermaid's egg, 204.
Merovingian art, 131.
INDEX.
269
Merret, 64, 248.
Metal mirrors, 216.
Meteoric stone, 65.
Meydoum, 5.
Michaelis, 62.
Midian, 95, 187.
Miniatures on glass, 85; on cups, 82.
Minute mosaic, 183.
Minutoli, 71, 178, 180, 182, 252.
Mirrors, 74, 99, 100, 106.
Modern methods, 88.
Monica, 84.
Monnaie de verre, 96.
Monza cup, 157; evangelaire, 133.
Mosaic artists, 179, 184, 188.
Mosaic beads, 177.
Moses, 12, 63, 66, 67.
Mount Olivet, 168.
Movable casements, 174.
Murano, 142, 144, 147, 175, 188, 198,
212, 240.
Muriate of silver, 242.
Murrhine bowl, 41.
Museum of Practical Geology, 88.
Mycenæ, 20.
Mystic eye, 8, 202.
N.
Names inscribed, 129.
Names of beads, 212.
Naples vase, 196.
Nard, 103.
Nebuchadnezzar, 56.
Necklaces, 3, 114, 155, 200, 203, 208.
Nefermat, 5.
Neith, 7.
Nennius, 125.
Neri, 146, 160, 241, 242, 244.
Nero, 40, 47, 236.
Nesbitt, Mr., 33, 37, 65, 88, 92, 100,
102, 106, 124, 138, 140, 145, 175,
245, 255.
Network on cups, 196.
Newcastle, 120, 168.
Newton, Mr., 20, 23.
Nilometer, IO.
Nimroud, 178, 226, 258.
Nineveh, 56.
Ninyas, 56.
Nismes, 113, 130.
Norman factories, 128, 137.
Northwood, J., 194.
Numa, 33.
O.
Obelisk, II.
Obsidian, 25, 48, 151, 218, 248.
Obsidius, 222.
Oculist, 129.
Odessa, 175.
Oil of stone, 99.
Oldest dated glass, 8.
Oldest transparent glass, 58.
Opalescent, 50.
Opaque blues, 255.
Oppert, M., 57.
Opus vermiculatum, 180.
Orkney tombs, 114, 206.
Osiris, 13.
Osirtasen I., 8.
Ovid, 17, 26, 32, 36, 43, 227.
P.
Painted glass, 22; windows, 169.
Palace of Cæsars, 37.
Panes of glass, 163.
Paper windows, 167.
Paphos, 22.
Pargeter, Mr., 195.
Paste gems, 153.
Paullus, 52.
Pausanias, II, 30, 201, 219, 227, 240.
Pausias, 25.
Pearls, 155, 208.
Pectoral, 6, II, 12.
Peligot, M., 171, 244, 248, 256.
Pennant, Mr., 123.
Pere Duhalde, 100.
Periplus, 17, 18, 105.
Perrini, 59.
Persepolis, 71, 178.
Persians, 19.
Peru, 151, 218.
Petronius, 42, 241.
Phengites, 218.
Philo Judæus, 163.
270
INDEX.
Philostratus, 51.
Phoenicians, 17, 26.
Piers Ploughman, 173, 200.
Pillar moulding, 45, 117.
Pindar, 164.
Plate glass, 176.
Plato, 2.
Plautus, 27, 85, 227.
Pliny, 16, 42, 47, 49, 64, 80, 85, 106,
125, 138, 154, 203, 215, 235, 237,
245.
Plutarch, 27, 223.
Plymouth pottery, 198.
Poitiers, 126.
Poles of glass, 249.
Po-li, 100, 104.
Polished fragments, 45.
Pollux, 82.
Pompeii, 32, 38, 80.
Pompey, 151, 235.
Pope Julius II., 169; Vigilius, 86;
Zephyrinus, 89, 135.
Porcelain, 73, 99.
Porter, Sir R., 59, 73, 75, 159.
Portland vase, 53, 194.
Potter, Pu, 99.
Pottery tree, 247.
Prince Rupert's tears, 251.
Prinsep, Mr. V., 108.
Prism, 37, 101.
Procter's myths, 7.
Prometheus, 229.
Propertius, 36, 238.
Prudentius, 85, 166.
Ptah, I, 3.
Ptolemy Philadelphus, 3.
Ptolemies, 10.
Pulley beads, 206.
Pulverized rocks, 102.
Purchas' Pilgrimmes, 100, 102, 234.
Q.
Queen Aah-hotep, 10, 16; Arsinoe,
151; Berenice, 42; Catherine, 223;
Hatasou, 12, 129, 201; Marguerite,
174; Nitocris, 113; Radegonde,
136; Semiramis, 56, 59; Sheba, 67;
Taia, II; Theodelinde, 157.
R.
Ra-hotep, 5.
Rameses II., 12, 10; III., 13, 149,
178.
Ravenna, 133, 185.
Rawlinson, Sir H., 72; Prof. G., 18,
29, 58, 138.
Real lapis, 150.
Recent murrhine, 239.
Red hair, 14.
Reflecting mirrors, 20, 219.
Religion of India and Egypt, 105..
Renan, M., 20.
Reticelli, 146.
Rhodes, 19, 20, 31.
Roach Smith, 118, 185.
Robinet, M., 37.
Rogers, E., 96, 97.
Roman factories, 35.
Ronyer, M., 19, 25.
Roper, M., 119.
Rosellini, 14.
Rosicrucians, 232.
Rothschild, 198.
Rouge, 129.
Royal Exchange, III.
Royal George, 250.
Royal Society of Murano, 147, 259.
Royle, 105, 107.
Rubies, 6, 252.
Ruins of glass works, 4.
Ruskin, 189.
Russian ambassador, 101.
S.
Sacred bull, 12.
Sacro catino, 157.
Safarnamah, 69, 187, 233.
Sais, 23.
Sakhara, 4, 215.
Saltpetre, 64.
Sanguis, 84.
Sanzoy, M, 65, 129.
Sapor, 72.
Sargon, 57.
Scarabeus, 7, 11, 78.
INDEX.
271
Scaurus, 34, 41.
Schist, 15.
Schliemann, 23.
Scoria, 248.
Sculpturing glass, 159.
Scylax, 17.
Seleucus, 25.
Seneca, 37, 162, 179, 216.
Senefroo, 5.
Serapis, 13, 150.
Servianus, 50.
Shah Abbas tiles, 74.
Shakespeare, 223.
Shiraz, 76.
Shoo King, 99, 218.
Sibertswold, 115, 116.
Sichor, 63.
Sidon, 18, 20, 28, 64, 215.
Signet rings, 152, 153.
Silver cup, 188; work, 18.
Sinai, 187.
Singhalese chronicles, 106, 216.
Slade collection, 8.
Snake beads, 203.
Snow, 36.
Socrates, 24, 30, 216.
Solomon, 18, 67, 72, 158.
Solon, 152.
Spanish glass, 139.
Spectacles, 27.
Specula, 215, 218.
Speculaire, 164,
Spenser, 226.
Sphinx, 5.
Splendid mirrors, 224.
Spun glass, 259.
St. Adalbert, 91; Ambrose, 33; Au-
gustine, 64, 84, 231; Beguine, 170;
Chrysostom, 54, 166; Clement, 51;
Denis, 171; Helen, 185; Jerome,
62, 166; Mark's, 91, 93, 144, 169,
188, 197; Odilo, 141; Patrick,
125; Peter, 150; Sebastian, 33;
Sophia, 167, 169, 187; Wilfrid, 167.
Ste. Ampoule, 136.
Ste. Chapelle, 189.
Stained glass, 169.
Staining stones, 161.
Stanislaus, 99.
Statius, 43.
Statuettes, 9.
Strabo, 17, 25, 35, 41, 65, 71, 110.
Straining glass, 250.
Stromboli, 247.
Styx, 31.
Sulphur in glass, 40.
Supper of Trimalchio, 241.
T.
Tacitus, 47, 54, 65, 110.
Tak-i-bostan, 202.
Talmud, 62, 68.
Tassels of pearl, 99.
Tea-bottles, 103.
Tegernsee, 170.
Tel-el-Yahoudeh, 13.
Telescopes, 42, 98, 112.
Temple of Fortune, 81.
Tennant, Dr., 175.
Thebes, 15.
Theophilus, 94, 159, 162, 167, 171,
186, 197, 242, 255.
Theophrastus, 24, 215, 254.
Thessalonica, 185.
Thomas à Becket, 160, 189.
Thoutmes I., 15.
Thoutmes III., 11, 19, 21.
Tiberius, 38, 242.
Tiles, 4, 13.
Timour, 77.
Tin, III; tinland, 110.
Tomb of Tih, 4.
Toughened glass, 242.
Tower of London, 172.
Trailed threads, 197.
Tresor de Guarrazar, 132.
Treves cathedral, 166.
Tribute of glass, 34.
Tristram, Rev. H., 69.
Trivulsi, 196.
True murrhine, 230.
Tumblers, 118.
Tunis, 97.
Turin museum, 14, 178, 215.
Typhon, 5.
Tyre, 18, 64, 68, 69.
272
INDEX.
۵۰
Ure's dictionary, 243.
V.
Various meanings of cups, 193.
Varos, 33.
Varro, 36, 162, 179.
Venetian rules, 144; fantasies, 146;
mirrors, 224.
Verre de Charlemagne, 95.
Verres, 236.
Verus, 50.
Vesta, 219.
Vesuvius, 80.
Vincent, Dr., 68.
Virgil, 33, 113, 217, 227, 230. -
Virgilius, 217, 232.
Vitreous sponge, 104.
Vitriarii, 52, 136.
Vitrified forts, 122.
Vivian, 191.
Volcanic glass, 25.
Volcano, 247.
Vopiscus, 53.
Votive crowns, 132.
Vulcan, I.
Vulture, 9.
W.
Walid, Caliph, 186.
Wall decorations, 182.
Warka, 57, 70.
Warping reels, 109.
Warren, Capt., 69.
Wedgwood, 194.
Welsh poets, 120.
Westminster, 173.
Wilkinson, Sir G., 15, 30.
Williams, 7, 98.
Winckelmann, 54, 153, 163, 180, 194,
237.
Windows in Britain, 168.
Winston, 92, 169.
Wiseman, Cardinal, 86.
Witchcraft, 128.
Xerxes, 66.
Zebulun, 63.
Zenobia, 54.
Zeus, 201.
X.
Z.
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