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of this description had been in use long before the reign of Claudius, the time assigned by Pliny for their coming into fashion, which also is refuted by the remark of Atteius Capito, already quoted, that the older Romans cut their signets on the iron or gold of the ring itself. Both these rings were in the former splendid collection of Mr. Boocke, to whose exquisite taste and profound knowledge of this branch of antiquity I am indebted for many of the observations incorporated in these pages. To him also belonged the Diamond in its antique ring, described above—a rarity that I had sought for in vain amongst the most famous European cabinets.

Stymphalian Bird: Roman Burnt Sard

CHIMERAE.

Chimerae, also called Grylli, from the Italian word signifying both a cricket and a caprice, are grotesque figures formed of portions of various animals combined into the outline of one monster, which generally bears the shape of a bird or of a horse. Paintings of similar "capricci" were common among the ancients, and went by the same name that. they still bear in Italy; for Pliny uses the expression "pinxit et Gryllum ridiculi habitus," to designate these fantastic

6 Pliny's remark may perhaps only refer to the newly introduced fashion of cutting the imperial por

trait on the gold ring itself, instead of on a gem.

compositions. These intagli are sometimes called Basilidan Figures, and classed among Gnostic gems; to which family, however, they by no means belong, for besides that they never bear the symbols or legends characteristic of the Gnostic amulets, the style of work which they exhibit is a sufficient proof to an experienced eye that they belong to a much earlier date-the flourishing period of Roman art. Their first origin must have been those combinations of masks so frequent in all collections where the engraver sought to produce effect by putting together the strongest contrasts, such as faces of a satyr and a nymph side by side, or back to back Janus-like; or a stern tragic and a laughing comic mask; and an infinity of similar groups, often joined together with singular skill. A very favorite stone for these subjects was the red Jasper; doubtless its colour was considered appropriate to such representations. One of the most ingenious of these combinations I have ever met with is in my possession, and represents a fine bunch of grapes

Bunch of Grapes: Roman. Red Jasper.

with stalk and tendril, the whole formed out of five masks, the two upper satyric, the three lower comic, a few grapes being introduced to fill up the outline; an idea probably unique and carried out with much art in this instance. Some of the very finest Roman art is to be found displayed in the work of these groups: witness the admirable combination of three masks, symbolical of the three divisions of

the drama, on a large Sard formerly in the Webb, now in the Fould Cabinet. A very frequent arrangement is to represent a beautiful youthful profile covered with a helmet composed of three or more caricature masks, all united in one whole. A full-faced wide-mouthed tragic mask has often a comic, with mild and regular features in profile, attached to the back; and every collection furnishes new examples of the artist's ingenuity in varying these combinations. The next step was to combine the human head with that of some beast: thus an old man's head is backed by that of a wild-boar, of a ram, or of an elephant, all which combinations are of frequent occurrence.

By adding to these compositions the head and neck of a bird or of a horse, a complete animal sui generis was obtained, which was next supplied with legs, and often mounted by a Cupid, a parody of the popular subject, Cupid riding the lion. A favorite type was formed out of a peacock's head

SR

Gryllus Roman. Sard.

and neck set upon a body made out of a satyric mask, backed by a ram's head, out of which springs a cornucopia for the tail, while the monster tramples upon a dolphin or a lizard ; where the general idea of the outline of the whole is that of the sacred Ibis destroying such reptiles; perhaps a sly hit at the fashionable Egyptian superstitions of the age. A mouse or rabbit is often introduced, together with a letter or two, sometimes of the Punic alphabet, probably

giving to the initiated the key to the enigma. The completed figure makes a very good imitation of a crane; or of a cock with a horse's head, perhaps the hippalectryon of the comedians; and it will be found that these monsters, however varied in form, are almost always made up of the same component parts: the satyric mask, or perhaps head of Socrates, the ram's head, cornucopia, mouse, dolphin, rabbit, and lizard, always entering into the composition. Hence one is tempted to hazard a conjecture that these objects, the attributes of Earth, Air, and Sea, have a certain designed relation to each other, and the figure resulting from them a deep and mystic meaning. May they not symbolise certain virtues or qualities arrogated to himself by the owner of the signet? It is hardly probable that they would have been so generally used for signets (at a time when good taste still flourished), if they had been only caprices of the artist, in which case also the component parts would have admitted of unlimited variations, and not have been confined to portions of the animals already enumerated. A design sometimes occurs representing the Stymphalian bird, a long-legged crane, with a human head helmeted, and armed with a buckler and two javelins; a figure which, curiously enough, is a type of the denarii of the family Valeria. The story goes, that these birds were invulnerable, but could with their bills pierce through the strongest armour-a quality typified by the darts; they consequently set Hercules and his arrows at defiance until

7 Or it may be one of the birds of Mars inhabiting the isle Aretias in the Euxine, which shot forth their feathers like arrows in their flight on the approach of the Argo, and wounded Oileus in the shoulder (Apol. Rhod. II. 1060). This de

vice contains an allusion to the name Valeria, another instance of (in heraldic phrase) the "Canting Arms" of the Roman families, as the elephant of Cæsar, the calf of Vitulus, the larches of Lariscolus, &c.

Pallas came to his aid and gave him a bronze rattle by means of which he scared them away to the coast of the Red Sea. There their descendants continue to the present day, for the officers employed on the late nautical survey of its shores discovered on the sand hills the deserted nests of a monstrous crane far exceeding in size anything known to belong to that species. Interwoven in the structure of one of them were the bones and tattered clothing of a shipwrecked sailor, still retaining his silver watch, and thus testifying to the recent construction of the pile.

Lyres composed of dolphins and tortoises, accompanied by ravens and hoopoes, all animals consecrated to Apollo, are plentiful enough, and serve to support the opinion that the other more enigmatical compositions had a well-defined intention. All these chimerae, grylli, or symplegmata, are found much more abundantly on red Jasper than on any other stone.

ASTROLOGICAL INTAGLI.

The Signs of the Zodiac are often seen upon gems of Roman work, either singly, combined, or as adjuncts to figures of deities, the representatives of the different planets. They

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