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jeweller Hilliard, now forming the chief ornament (quite in its pristine state) of the Diadem, into which it has been introduced without the slightest alteration. The other stones, I am informed, were all loose when selected to be employed in carrying out this most fortunate idea. It was justly observed at the time, "that Moore's oft quoted line,

Rich and rare were the gems she wore,'

never had a closer application than to the matchless parure worn by the lady of our ambassador at the recent coronation at Moscow. While others were vieing in the splendour of their jewels, in which the Russian imperial, princely, and noble families are very rich, none attracted so much attention as the Countess of Granville, whose parure was the triumph of art over mere material wealth. Others displayed a perfect blaze of diamonds, but it was for the English lady to assert a higher splendour; and if their jewels were the more costly, hers were positively priceless. For while lost diamonds may be replaced, each of these fine gems is unique, and so far has the gem-engraver's art been lost, that there exists no artist who could produce anything to compare with the choice works of the Cinque-Cento period, much less with the higher and more unattainable excellence of the best times of ancient Greek or Roman art. It was a happy thought of the Duke to have had constructed, out of this rich store of art-treasures, a suite of personal decorations fit for the adornment of queen or empress. To any one who has not seen these exquisite ornaments, the impression likely to be conveyed by imagining a series of cameos combined--in a necklace for instance-is, that it would be somewhat monotonous and heavy. Nothing can be farther from the fact; and we were especially gratified with three of its features, the admirable harmony with diversity of colour giving a

peculiarly soft and mellow tone to the ensemble, the agreeable forms of contour selected, and the exceedingly light and elegant mountings, wholly free from heaviness or dullness of effect."

I shall now proceed to make a few remarks upon the most important of these gems, following the order in which they are numbered in the descriptive catalogue.

The Comb.-No. 2 is a small and delicately worked cameo, Head of Leander: an early work; probably Greek.

No. 4. A portrait of Charles I., interesting as a specimen of the decline of the newly revived art, and very rare.

No. 6. A large cameo; bold antique work; a Centaur bearing a Bacchante on his back.

No. 7. The principal ornament of this piece is the famous portrait intaglio of Sapor, on a beautiful Amethyst of uncommon dimensions; the finest relic in existence of later Persian art. The monarch appears with the usual stern expression of face seen in all the Persian regal portraits, his beard elaborately curled, his hair falling in long ringlets, and his head covered with a tiara edged with pearls. Around run two lines of well cut Pehlevi letters.

No. 8 is one of the finest camei of the collection: a Faun balancing his youngster on his right foot. The attitudes of the pair most natural, and the anatomical forms rendered with the greatest knowledge and exactness. This is to all appearance a work of the Greek period. The design is cut in the white stratum upon a dark ground.

The Bandeau. Of this the central ornament is the farfamed work of Dioscorides, known as "The Diomede, master of the Palladium." The hero appears seated, with one leg extended, and contemplating the statue placed on a cippus before him. The intaglio, on a large red Sard, is in somewhat shallow relief, and certainly not equal in merit to the

portraits by the same engraver. The signature of the artist is, however, antique beyond all suspicion; and for this historical recommendation (another instance of the value of a name), the stone was purchased, it is said, for 10007. by the founder of the collection. The characters are extremely minute and well-formed, agreeing with those inscribed on his portraits of Julius Cæsar and of Mæcenas. Probably from the exaggerated idea one had conceived beforehand of the transcendent excellence of this artist from the sight of his heads (in which doubtless his forte lay), the first view of this group is rather disappointing, although had it been nameless it would present much to admire.

To keep fitting company with this most precious antique, the other stones mounted in the bandeau have been selected from those the most valuable in material of the whole number employed. They are Oriental precious stones of uncommon beauty, and are rather lessened than enhanced in value by the work upon them, which (in accordance with the usual rule) is always found the best on the cheapest stones, when these are truly of antique date.

No. 8. A Sapphire of the most perfect quality, with a head of Augustus; a very deep intaglio, and apparently good work of his period, certainly the finest stone of the kind I have ever seen engraved upon.

And the same remark as to the quality of the stone will apply to No. 11, a superb Emerald of extraordinary magnitude. It is cut into a full-faced Medusa's Head, in very high relief, and is probably of Roman work. Nothing is more difficult than to decide upon the antiquity of this class of camei in the precious stones, the surfaces of which bid defiance to the changes wrought by time in all the varieties of the quartz species: but in this instance, besides the extreme grandeur of the treatment and boldness of the lines,

it is hardly probable that any artist of the Renaissance would have obtained from his patron an Emerald of such high intrinsic value (incomparably higher then than now), merely as a material on which to display his skill, however great might have been his reputation at the court of the Pope or Medici of the period.

Nos. 12 and 14 are two Plasmas or Prases of Roman work; one an intaglio of Serapis, the other of Venus Victrix. They have probably been introduced for their colour's sake, being fine specimens of that gem, and little inferior to the Emerald.

No. 15. A head of Silenus, full-face, on Jacinth, in very high relief; a very spirited work, and the gem of the very finest quality for tint and brilliancy.

No. 14. An intaglio, head of a youth, very deeply cut on a pale octagonal Sapphire, is apparently an interesting example of the style of the Lower Empire.

But No. 17 may claim the reputation of being the most valuable intaglio, as far as its material is concerned, that graces any cabinet of gems. It is a perfect Ruby of the most delicious cerise colour, weighing, as nearly as can be judged by the eye, three carats, and consequently of enor mous value as a precious stone. a precious stone. The Venus and Cupid engraved upon it are deeply cut in the usual style of middle Roman work, but the figures are of very mediocre execution, and by no means compensate for the damage done to the Ruby, in its character of an ornamental jewel, by the excision of so much of its beauteous surface. The corresponding stone, No. 9 (at the other extremity of the bandeau), is also a Ruby, but of very inferior quality, yet the intaglio it bears, a Faun's Head, is greatly superior to this in point of art, and of much earlier date.

In the Stomacher the gems most deserving of attention (where all is good) are,--

No. 23. A cameo, white on a dark ground, a Roman Emperor seated on a throne, by the side of a female completely veiled, and presenting a sword to a warrior standing before him. This group is usually explained as representing Tiberius and Drusus, which, however, does not account for the introduction of the veiled lady. A more probable conjecture of its meaning is that the investiture of Tiberius with the tribunician power by his stepfather Augustus, in the presence of Livia (who always appears veiled in her portraits), is here expressed. As a work of art nothing can exceed this cameo in accurate drawing and delicate finish. The figures are kept in flat relief.

No. 24. A profile of Alexander; white, on a pinkish ground, in flat relief, and of a style nearly coeval with his times.

No. 25. An Europa carried upon the Bull, preceded and followed by Tritons sounding their conchs; at her feet are dolphins, and in the rear are two Cupids, one seated on a dolphin and carrying a crown; in the background is a very elaborate landscape; all the figures are a pure white on a dark ground. This cameo is a masterpiece of the Cinque-Cento school in its fullest perfection; admirable in composition, and exquisitely finished in every part: it is, in fact, a picture worked out in an Onyx, and bears no resemblance in its treatment to the simplicity of antique works in the same material.

No. 26 is a very large intaglio of Mars, in Lapis-lazuli of the finest colour, apparently a work of the Renaissance.

No. 29. Head of Minerva, the helmet ornamented with the group of Leda and the Swan, of which the wings form the crest of the helmet. A work full of the grotesque vigour of the Florentine Cinque-Cento, and cut on a remarkably beautiful Onyx, the brown and white layers of which have been employed with the greatest skill, and produce a very

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