Maxwell Sommerville

“ When Rome’s reputation as the glyptic school was heralded and established throughout the nations as the art centre of the world, it became as we have inferred, the vortex into which hosts of artisans were attracted, and who, when once there, established themselves. ”

“ With the Byzantine epoch we meet with the Emperor Constantine as we turn from the first period of decadence, in fact, almost demise, of the art of the incisori.
The justice, energy, and enterprise of Constantine showered benefits on all industrious men in the Eastern Roman world. Skilled workmen, spared from the absorbing conflicts of war, anew devoted themselves in peace to their mechanical avocations.
Prosperity ruled and was assured to the people. Foremost among these artisans were the gem-engravers; the demand for their glyptic productions, and the amount produced, was phenomenal. ”

“ The builder’s stones are graven—the footway is of pictured pebbles, miniatures, amulets, and seals, reflecting lineaments and traces of the history of entombed generations. Their inscriptions reveal to us the impress of ancient, mediæval, and modern art. ”

“ This was succeeded by several hundred years not of repose in the art, but of wretched ignorance, when man almost ceased to create a connecting link in the history of the glyptic art. With rare exceptions, the specimens of that time scarcely merit the designation of gems: it was a period that may be reasonably identified as the night of art, when, alas! in the darkness blows were stricken which destroyed and reduced to fragments much that was precious and beautiful, and vandalism, contributing nothing that was fair, robbed us of a large part of our inheritance. ”

“ It is not surprising that comparatively so few engraved gems have been handed down to us when we consider the tides of the last twenty centuries as a great sea which has borne to the shores of civilized Europe, and later to America, specimens of ancient art creations—that sea, at times placid, yet ever and anon turbulent with devastating storms, whose iconoclastic waves broke upon the ancient sites of antiquity, destroying treasures that thus have been irreparably lost to archæological science and to our museums. ”

“ It is often almost impossible intelligently to explain the difference between the gems of the Greeks and the Romans; such power of distinguishing one from the other is only to be gained by long observation and close study of the subject.
Many of them, however, seem to say to us whenever we meet them in exile, “We are of Ancient Greece, Grecians of the epoch and home of Pericles the patron, and Phidias the practitioner.” We are reminded of these classic, silent monuments when we meet and recognize the strictly glyptic work of the incisori of the land of the Parthenon. ”

“ The era in the decline in art was sensibly marked in the glyptic branch. The very rude and often grotesquely drawn designs we meet in this long period, the Middle Ages, may well be termed the dark days.
The eras of art in the history of nations have been marked by the same changing characteristics; light has invariably been succeeded by darkness; there are shadows ever following the bright rays of the sun. ”

“ Among so many contestants rivalry and emulation had a very happy effect in forming and creating artists who were indeed eminent, and whose works even to-day sparkle as jewel-gems in the diadem which crowns the history of their place in art. ”

“ Though we have seen the work of the Græco-Romans bearing evidence of combined influence and instruction, there was even at that very epoch a school, or powerful class of artists, in Rome, who retained their own individuality, who were Romans of Rome, and from whose hands, and from their successors, we have inherited grand cameos and intaglios, portraying their emperors, statesmen, philosophers, mythological subjects, and occasionally groups recording important events in Roman history. ”

“ If ancient engraved stones had never been unearthed or found, we would have been ignorant to-day of much that is interesting and important concerning the historic chain which now connects us with the traditions of men in the incipiency of art thousands of years before the era of manuscripts. ”

“ Throughout all this time the glyptic art flourished under the protection of kings and emperors, who for the general encouragement of the civilizing arts, served their own interests and gratified their tastes for luxury and the beautiful by their constant patronage of gem-engraving. ”

“ Rambling in many strange countries, seeing palaces, costumes, men, and manners, this subject, paramount to them all, has often received my attention—a theme the most precious to the scattered races of the human family, their religion. ”

“ There were artisans who engraved the larger funereal Scarabei and kept them ready made on sale, so that in the event of a man dying unexpectedly in youth or the prime of life who had not thought to prepare for his sojourn in the tomb, his family repaired to these shops, and, choosing a Scarabeus to their taste or liking, purchased it; the engraver then added the name of the deceased, and they placed it under the wrappings of the mummy.
These traffickers also did a thriving trade with the living: many provided themselves in advance. There were always a variety from which to choose ”

“ Through the possession of these Pagan cameos and intaglios we have become heirs to the most thorough knowledge of Mythology.
Hundreds of distinct specimens may be gathered from glyptic work centuries before Christ, and so arranged as to form several genealogical trees.
In Mythology there is not one single ancestor of all, as in the biblical history, where Adam is honored with being our original and only progenitor and equally censured with being the testator of our legacy of all human ills. ”

“ So completely have we acquired an acquaintance with the various characteristics of each nation’s handiwork in engraving gems, that we are enabled also to discern the epoch; not to a year, but within a century or even a decade. 15
In proportion to the rudeness of the incisions we recognize the barbaric condition of the people among whom they were incised; also in proportion to the fineness of the incision, beauty of conception, and execution of the design, do we estimate the civilization of the epoch and of the people. ”

“ To them we are indebted for some rude fibres in the fabric with which this period of darkness is canopied; they walked under it in the simplicity of monastic life; and to us at least it conveys the lesson that man has forgotten so much, knows so little, and has so much to learn. ”

“ With Constantine we find the Byzantine epoch in its maturity. With the simplicity of the early Christians we have remarked that everything like representation of the Godhead was eliminated or rather forbidden.
It was the Byzantines who created for the gem market token cameos and intaglios on which were incised effigies of the Holy Family, and incidents in every phase in that series of events that never has been equalled in historic interest in the records of time: the birth, life, trial, sufferings, death, and resurrection of the Son of God. ”

“ At first the colonists incised what was known as the Hellenic style, and then, as they fraternized with the Romans, and as the Romans made incisions under the Greek teaching, their glyptic works showed the Greek influence, and such works constituted the gems of the Græco-Romano. Many of the intaglios by Romans, of this school, were signed in Greek characters, and can be seen in my collection. This act of a Roman signing his name in characters other than the Latin letters peculiar to his own country shows how Grecian art was appreciated in the Græco-Roman epoch. ”

“ Many of the oldest Greek statues were accompanied with the names of the subjects represented, which seems to imply that the artist was conscious of his deficiency, both in character and expression. Yet in time they created single figures and groups in fair marble, whose symmetry and exquisite modelling of the human form command the admiration of all. ”

“ Ariadne provided Theseus with a sword with which he slew the Minotaur, and with a thread which enabled him to find his way out of the labyrinth; they then fled to the island of Naxos (Dia) , where Theseus, warned by a god in a dream, deserted her. Bacchus arrived opportunely from India, finding Ariadne in a state of grief and consternation, which even added to her charming beauty; he quenched her tears, consoled her, and took her to himself. This exquisite gem is a fine representation of Renaissance work (see plate on p. 81) . ”

“ We can hardly say they cultivated the arts at home, for wherever they went, there they made their home; on every island inhabited by them are found evidences of their industry as gem-cutters—intaglios, scarabei, and seals. I remember how I was impressed on going ashore at Syra and walking through its beautiful amphitheatral city of to-day, whose site had once known those very Phœnicians, examples of whose gems may be seen in my collection. ”

“ The Chinese are the only race producing glyptic work in relief on hard Jade, and also on stones resembling it—in which one is easily deceived.
They are said to be good copyists: all designs given to them for reproduction are copied very closely, but in what we find on engraved stones there is the type of their nationality; it resembles nothing else. Their work is mostly in very low relief, on Nacre, Jade, Amethyst, and Agalmatolite. ”

“ In the two or three centuries succeeding the advent of Christ the Abraxas flourished and engraved the mass of religious mystic talismans (already described in their place in this book) . Their priests or pastors, in the term accepted by us, prepared these amulets, engraving upon them attributes and symbols of the Most 103 High; they taught their followers to wear them close to their hearts, these reminders of their heavenly Father, these rude glyptic lights that kept them nearer to God. ”

“ One important fact must be understood. The signs, symbols, the unintelligible hieroglyphs of the Gnostics, the Basilidians, which we find on the Abraxas gems—almost all talismans—are the mystic representations of a sect thus made up of people of several nations, all of whom in their aspirations sought for knowledge of the invisible power, that unquestionably had created and who governed all things, whom, though unseen, they served and feared. ”

“ There remains a series worthy of notice—those intaglios and cameos worn as amulets on which were engraved innumerable animals, birds, fishes, and even insects.
As the families of the nobility chose the insignia which entered into the quarterings of their escutcheons, so the ancients according to their superstitions or their tastes chose some patron animal or bird for an emblem and caused it to be engraved on their talismans; and these symbols were cherished with what might almost be termed religious fervency. ”

“ It is proven that the Assyrians knew of and practiced the art of engraving on stone; we are not fully convinced that they were the first to practice the art.
We are frequently able to corroborate glyptic inscriptions by statements in Holy Writ, though we certainly find on ancient cylinders, incisions many centuries anterior to the records to which we have here alluded.
We know little of the Assyrian divinities through ancient manuscripts, yet we have volumes about their deities written on the cylinders of Babylon and Nineveh. ”

“ When specimens of any ancient art industry are brought together and classified in a museum it is interesting to compare each piece and trace the work from the hands of the different nationalities through all the transitions and changing history of past centuries.
My collection exemplifies the progress in execution of engraved gems from the most primitive eras through periods of varying excellence and of inevitable decline. The quality of the execution approaches perfection and degenerates as in a geometrical progression repeating itself in reverse ”

“ In this epoch, again, we find instances of the sensitiveness of the numismatic branch of the art of gem-engraving, for the models of all pieces of money are intaglios, and thus far they are related to the glyptic art; and it has always been the first industry giving evidence of a decline. ”

“ My taste has grown and perhaps been influenced by long association with such gems, until I now often find more pleasure in regarding a rude fragment of Assyrian work than I did thirty years ago when I sought only the beautiful.
The place of these Babylonian cylinders in the history of art cannot be classed as decorative, for as they were originally used only as seals, and mostly business or official signets, they were not at that time used to decorate the person, though they were worn on necklaces and bracelets by the ancient Greeks. ”

“ Some of the nations who have bequeathed us engraved gems were, in two respects, the first sculptors. They were first, not only because none of ability had preceded them, but rather were they first in art rank, and in excellence of conception; their execution has never been surpassed; their statues and high reliefs have never been equalled in modern times. ”

“ These gems, however, which were characterized by remnants of pagan decoration, were only of the epoch immediately succeeding the institution of the sect of “followers of Christ,” and preceding the dawning struggle of the “Early Christians,” to establish their belief and to retain their rights as citizens. They renounced the idolatrous religion of the nation, and their glyptic work was generally typical of the purity and simplicity of their faith and their devotion to its observance. ”

“ The mass of scientists have been contented with musty old volumes, and these little message-bearing stones have been regarded as nothing more than curious ancient articles of luxury, yet you will remark we do not look on them in that light ”

“ Though a large proportion of cylinders are rudely designed and more coarsely executed, many of them are freely, vigorously, and well drawn, evincing a high degree of talent.
Remark the anatomical drawings of man and beast; they are unsurpassed in any age, especially the contest between men and lions, where naturally the muscles are strongly developed and show prominently.
As bearers of messages from that remote period, they 26 come more welcome to us than the fairest Greek or Roman intaglios. ”