executed on stained glass."[1] This is far more likely to be enamel than glass.
It is, however, from the existing remains of this art that we must seek evidence of the skill of the Greek artists. It may be as well, then, to notice such specimens as are still preserved, in the chronological order to which they seem to belong.
1. One of the most interesting, and at the same time most ancient, existing examples is represented in the engraving opposite. It is a cross, which formed part of the Debruge-Dumenil collection (No. 661 of the Catalogue), and is now in the collection of A. J. B. Hope, Esq., to whose kindness I am indebted for permission to exhibit it to the Institute, and to have the accompanying engraving made. This cross consists of two cruciform plates of gold, enamelled, and set in silver gilt; thus forming a kind of box or reliquary. The setting, as it now exists, is very plain, and appears more recent than the enamels themselves. It has, therefore, been omitted in the engraving here given. On one side is represented the Saviour on the cross, clothed in a long tunic of various colours, the feet separately fixed to the suppeditaneum, or wooden tablet; over the head is the monogram IC. XC.[2] The presence of the Father is considered to be indicated by the letter Π (the initial of πατηρ) at the top of the cross, occupying the position of the more usual symbol, a hand in benediction. At the foot of the cross appears the skull of Adam, in whose tomb the cross was supposed to have been fixed at Golgotha. On the Saviour's right is the Blessed Virgin, in a deep transparent blue robe; on the left St. John, beardless, and with short black hair. They are accompanied by the abbreviated inscriptions, ΙΔΕΟΥC—ΔΟΥΙΜΗΡC, ἴδε ὁ υἳος σου—ἰδοὺ ἡ μήτηρ σου, the Saviour's address to them from the cross. On the other side there is a full-length figure of the Blessed Virgin. Above whom appears St. John Baptist, with long hair and beard, and the inscription ΙΩΑΝΗC; below, St. Paul, ΠΑΥΑΟC; on the right and left, St. Peter, ΠΕΤΡΟC,
- ↑ Quoted from Ibnu Hayyan, by Ahmed Ibn Mohammed Al-Makkari, in his History of Mohammedan Dynasties in Spain, translated by Gayangos, Lond., 1843, vol. ii., p. 141. Mrs. Merrifield has quoted this passage as an authority for the practice of the art of staining glass at so early a period. The Arabic word has probably been misunderstood by the translator.
- ↑ The X, it will be seen, is very irregular, and resembles a K. If it is the latter letter, it may be the contraction for κύριος.
