Page:Once a Week Volume 8.djvu/228

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
220
ONCE A WEEK
[Feb. 14, 1863.

looking at the child. This possibly illustrates the mythological legend of Hippothous suckled by a mare, while the female figure is probably his mother, Alope. Several Etruscan bullæ or lockets of this kind, all of them curious, are preserved in the Museum Etruscum Gregorianum.

The Campana collection is particularly rich in necklaces formed of gold and emeralds, above referred to, a rich mixture of colour which appears to have found great favour with the Etrurian world of fashion; but it is the gold work itself that imparts the greatest value and interest to these exquisite remains of ancient art. One necklace, especially, in this collection is distinguished by the most exquisite workmanship of a bearded human head, with the horns of a bull; the face itself is highly finished, with careful and minute chasing, while the curling of the beard is represented by minute granules of gold, apparently soldered on to the solid in a very skilful and laborious manner. The hair is formed by innumerable spirals of gold wire, each terminated by a little knob or pellet of bright gold. A bandlet passes across the forehead, which is also enriched with a close granulation of minute gold pellets, like the beard. This rich ornament is suspended by a loop, highly enriched with filagree work, to a plaited chain of gold wire, which terminates with an enriched hook as a fastening. This jewel is of fine artistic style, and the workmanship may be pronounced truly exquisite in fineness and accuracy of finish.

The Græco-Etruscan necklaces, of somewhat different style, belonging to this collection, are equally admirable in their artistic workmanship, and scarcely less curious and interesting style; especially two which were discovered in a tomb at Vulci by MM. François et Noel des Vergers. The first of these consists of a series of the most intricate and beautiful knottings in gold wire, alternating with solid glass beads of curious fabric, of which only seven remain. The other is formed of six groups of ornament, each group composed of a bead of amber placed between two richly-wrought balls of gold. These groups of gold balls and amber beads are separated from each other by intricate knottings of gold plaited wire, of large dimensions. The fastening is composed of an ornament in the form of a wheel, enriched with a large garnet.

Silver jewellery of Etruscan workmanship is much more rare than gold, and on this account a beautiful silver necklace in the Campana museum is more prized than some of the far richer examples in gold. This silver necklace, of quaint and singular design, is composed of a series of twenty smooth balls, separated into groups of four by curiously-wrought syrens and harpies; while from the two central balls of each group of four an amphora is suspended by a loop, which is delicately enriched with a filagree pattern of twisted wire.

Enamel was frequently added to vary the effect of Etruscan jewellery, and there are several fine specimens in the Gregorian museum of Etruscan antiquities in the Vatican, and a very pretty example in the British Museum, which is represented in the annexed wood-cut (No. 2) and in which enamel was freely used.

The diamond work between which the ridged plates of gold in the above engraving (No. 2) was originally filled with what appears to have been red, grey, and green enamel, which must have produced a very pleasing effect, in contrast with rich yellow of the matt gold, of which all the rest of the necklace is composed.

As an example of the manner in which different kinds of foliage, the figure of the hippocamp, or of syrens, or harpies, &c., were introduced, I cannot give a better general example than the one