do not recognize as yet among them any known cartouch of a king. closures possibly name the possessor. We gold, and of agates cut in long shapes mounted with gold caps finely ornamented, and having agate pendants with gold setting. The children of those days seem to Another silver cup plated with gold is engraved with deer, horses, and other animals, in circles, the body of each animal being repoussé work, while the outlines are cut with a graver, and the limbs traced in the same way, somewhat as the Egypto-Phoenician vases in pottery are treated. A solid gold cup of the same size, fresh and gleaming as fine gold always is, is ornamented with a simple pattern in circles and lines in repoussé work. The armlets of Eteander, a king in Cyprus some six or seven hundred years B.C., are the heaviest articles of ancient jewelry in gold ever found. They are simply bars of gold curling around the arm. Each has an engraved inscription, which, have worn little bracelets of delicate chainwork, with a round gold button at the clasp. There are several of them here. Objects in enamel are numerous, and cloisonné enamel was one of their favorite styles of ornamenting jewelry. There is a pair of # X X ÷ ÷ heavy gold bracelets on which the gold INSORIPTION ON ARMLET. though slightly differing, are the same, and are translated, "Of Eteander, King of Paphos." Were they ever worn by the king? Or were they made expressly for presentation to the temple in honor of some victory, or in gratitude for some other favor supposed to be granted by the deity? Doubtless all the objects of personal ornament found in the treasure vanlt were offerings of worshipers, and most of them were evidently personal jewelry which had been worn by the devotees. They had delicious ideas of taste and beauty, those Cypriot ladies of the olden time. We have never seen more beautiful jewelry than they wore. Their ear-rings bands forming the cloisons remain, but from which the enamel has disappeared. In fact, the enamel has mostly vanished from all the specimens of cloisonné work, but in a few it remains in a disintegrated condition, while in one of the gold necklaces from which the enamel has nearly vanished one little fragment remains, giving the clear translucent glint of a vitrified substance, and showing that the entire necklace must have shone once with the lustre of emeralds. A large pendant, set with an eye-like agate, is a splendid specimen. The old Phoenicians-the men-had an SECTION OF GOLD NECKLACE WITH STONE DROPS. were of a thousand forms, and we have a hundred or two of those forms here, and illustrate a few of them, They wore necklaces in many shapes, and some of the ladies of ancient Kurium, when they wished to pay vows to the temple, by good luck gave their necklaces. We say by good luck, for thus it happens that we have become heirs to them, and know that they wore necklaces of fine gold beads, of beads and agate, of alternate beads and drops of gold, of enamel, of heavy links of odd style of wearing ear-rings. On many of the statues in the collection it has been noticed that around the ear was represented a heavy ring, with sometimes an ornament attached. The Kurium treasures revealed the explanation of this. There are a large num SECTION OF GOLD NECKLACE. look at the variety and beauty of the fingerrings, whether this is not all an imagination, a deception, and whether these gems are not things of our own day. Many of them are as perfect as if bought to-day on Broadway. The Egyptian scarabæus is the most frequent form of the stone in rings, but others have emeralds, carbuncles, beryls, sards, agates, enamels, and glass. There is a fine ring whose exquisite setting consists of two figures of a deity bending backward, and with uplifted hands holding the box or chest in which the stone, a brilliant amethyst, is placed. This inclosure of the stone in a box or receiver, more or less ornament PHOENICIAN GOLD EAR-RINGS AND ENGRAVED PENDANT. ed, is one of the most frequently repeated ber of these rings, which were massive spiral twists, sometimes probably pinching the lobe of the ear, but in other cases attached in an unknown way, possibly by piercing a large hole through the ear. One end of the ring seems to have stood up perpendicular before the ear, and on this end an ornament was often fitted by a gold cap. Many of the rings in the collection have the ornaments, and some of these are among the most superb works of the goldsmith's art. A massive pair with two winged lions on each is a marvelous work, which no artist of Europe or America could to-day surpass, either in beauty of design or skill of workmanship. Instead of describing the large variety of ear-rings, we refer the reader to our illustrations of a number of them. It can not fail to strike the observer that the crescent form was a favorite, and many in this form are evidently Phoenician of early date. Simple crescents of plain gold are numerous. After these come plain crescents with raised edges and various wire ornamentations. Then enamels beautify the crescent. Precious stones are placed on them, or form pendants. Then the crescent swells into a solid gold form. Then the hollow gold is shaped in lobes with charming surface ornaments. Then we see agates cut in the new-moon form, and set in gold with delicious granulated patterns. There is no end to the varieties of ear-rings. There are bunches of fruit, rosettes, plaques with impressed images, ear-rings with pendants in every form, and ear-rings without pendants, in the modern form, where a small ornament fits close on the lobe of the ear. GOLD EAR-RING WITH PENDANTS, ALL IN FILIGREE. We may well wonder, as we designs. It is familiar to those who have examined Etruscan work, and here is, apparently, the school from which the Etruscans learned many of their much-admired designs in metal-work. Another very beautiful ring, which we illustrate, holds three stones in its curious form. GOLD EAR-RINGS WITH ENAMEL DROPS. Many of the rings were evidently used as signets, but not worn on the finger. Their setting is massive, and shaped more like the modern idea for a pendent seal. One of these, of which we present an illustration, is of solid gold, holding a scarabæus in clear carnelian, on which is engraved the Egyptian hawk of Osiris, crowned, and holding the flail of power. A large number of the seals are held in silver handles too cumbersome to have been worn on the person. An illustration will show the form of these rings. Many finger-rings are of plain gold, and many others are engraved with letters, figures, and devices. One of the most delicious pieces of work in the whole collection is a ring, which we illustrate, of which the top is a rosette in the most delicate GOLD EAR-RINGS. gold-work. But this rosette covers an empty box, in which, perhaps, was once some precious object, an engraved stone, or a portrait, or something too rare and delicate for the common eye, and the rosette was a lid, opening and closing above the gem. But while the rings are beautiful and wonderful as works of art, the engraved gems which they hold are vastly more beautiful and astonishing. The students of glyptic art are, by this great discovery, compelled to re ENGRAVED SARD (BAPE OF PERSEPHONE) IN A GOLD RING. Hitherto the vise their present theory of the origin and rise of this art in Greece. One of these old stones alone, found in a temple which was destroyed twenty-five hundred years ago, would serve to overthrow a whole library of works based on former discoveries. What, then, is the astonishment of those who have heretofore supposed the art rude and archaic in the fifth century before Christ to find before that works equal to those of the best period! oldest known engraved stones of Greek workmanship have been considered to be those of the sixth or fifth century B.C. The Berlin Museum has a sard engraved with the death of the Spartan Othryades, who killed himself on the battle - field, of which he was ashamed to be the sole survivor, in the sixth century B.C. This stoné is by many scholars regarded as the oldest known Greek gem. In describing it, they are accustomed to call it flat, hard, without grace, "in the oldest Greek style." The school of Greek art is generally divided into three periods: 1, that from Theodorus of ENGRAVED CARNELIAN (PHOENICIAN GOD) IN A GOLD RING. ENGRAVED SARD (BOREAS AND Samos, 560 B.C., to Alexander the Great; 2, from Alexander to Augustus Cæsar; 3, after Augustus. The Phoenicians and Egyptians have not been supposed to possess the art of engraving hard stones with much skill. But this collection contains an extensive series of scarabæi and scaraboid gems, and other stones, in styles of progressive art, which point to a period far older than has been supposed for the practice of great skill in the glyptic art among the Phoenicians, as well as the early Greeks. One of the first suggestions from this new mass of material is that the Phoenicians were the instructors of the Etruscans. Aristotle, indeed, gives the name of Mnesarchus as a gem engraver at Samos before 570 B.C., and says he was from Tyre, a Phoenician city. He is perhaps the oldest artist in this work of whom we have any record. There are here many admirable gems, of Egyptian and Phoenician subjects, in archaic settings, or in heavy silver crescent-shaped handles, ENGRAVED SARD IN A SILVER RING. An engraving on wood can give but a poor idea of the delicacy of work on a gem; but the stones which we illustrate will show the reader that the age of the Berlin sard was an age of decadence in art, or the stone was the work of a poor engraver. Before the death of Othryades there were gem engravers in the Greek cities of Cyprus who have scarcely been surpassed in later periods. It is noteworthy that the female figure which we illustrate, engraved on a dark sard, has no polish in the interior, and thus the theory that all Greek gems are characterized by a dull polish is overthrown. We find other gems in which parts are polished and other parts, such as the hair, left unpolished. The Cesnola collection makes it necessary to revise the text-books and to begin again the study of Greek art. "If they could only speak!" said a lady in our hearing the other day, as she leaned over the case containing some of these superb works of art. They do speak in the clearest tones, and many understand their language. More will learn it from the education of the Museum of Art. These rings utter intelligent language in every gleam of their gold and every form engraved on their gems. They tell the most ordinary mind of the luxury, the refinement, the civilization, of the men and women of twenty-five cen of a necklace in long agates, with gold caps at the ends, on which the decoration is in minute globes of gold, commonly called granulated-work. This style of work, known in Etruscan jewelry, characterizes much of this ancient Greek work, and is a puzzle to modern goldsmiths. We illustrate a gold ornament-a round brooch or amulet-for the sake of describing this remarkable style of work. The surface of this object presents to the eye the appearance of a gold disk age French, English, or American gentleman | stones in settings of gold. There are parts of our day. It may be humiliating to believe it, but it is nevertheless true, that the art has disappeared. There is not a living engraver of gems above mediocrity, and the reason is very simple and plain-that the men and women of our day do not appreciate the art, and do not, therefore, encourage its pursuit. If the wealthy lover of paintings or of statuary were to be asked to pay a thousand dollars for an engraved stone by a modern artist, however exquisite the work, he would think it an insane idea. Nevertheless, there is no statue of modern times better worth a thousand dollars than is the Cupid, of Solon, engraved on a sard which we know of; and the ability bestowed on it by the artist was fully equal to that of Story on the Cleopatra. AGATE PENDANT, GOLD MOUNTING. Besides the complete necklaces, there are many fragments of necklaces and pendants, which were either attached to necklaces, or worn as ladies now wear lockets on ribbons. One of the most remarkable of these pendants is engraved in high relief on a heavy piece of gold, and represents one of the nondescript deities or genii, familiar in Assyrian sculptures, crouching rather than standing, in front face, the four legs being entirely engraved in relief. Other pendants are of agate in forms of bottles, and yet others are GOLD PENDANT, GRANULATED SURFACE. stamped in a die, or crossed by numerous fine wires at right angles with each other. Оп examining it with the magnifying-glass, howev er, it is found that the effect is produced by mi nute globes of gold, each one perfectly round and smooth, soldered on the surface in exact lines, each globe touching the next. There are on the surface of this small object, a little over an inch in diameter, upward of nine hundred of these globes. How were they made, and how were they soldered on in such absolutely true lines? The ablest gold-workers in America (and that is now to say the ablest in the world) tell us that they can not explain it. Another device of those Greek makers of the beautiful, which is new to modern artists, is in the use of twisted gold wire for ornaments. The moderns draw their wire round, and twist it into cable form, fine or coarse, as they please. But these old Greeks used square wire, which, in twisting, produced facet-like points and double curves, so that an exquisite effect was gotten from even the finest wires, such as the round wire could never produce. It is not unknown to most readers that it was customary with the Greeks in early times to place over the faces of the dead thin plates of gold, one over the mouth, and another sometimes over the forehead. These are always of thin gold, and General Cesnola has, of course, found numbers of them in the tombs. The form of one of the diadems for the forehead is shown in our illustration. This, like many of the others in the collection, is ornamented with a scroll pattern, produced by pressure from a die. The wreath of which we give the half was part of the treasure of the Kurium temple, and when found the gold leaves which compose it were separate. They were probably sewed on a ribbon, forming a wreath for the head of a statue in the temple, or possibly they were originally intended for a mortuary decoration. The restoration is conjectural. Each leaf is a plate of gold, stamped with veins like a natural leaf. There is scarcely any object in the collection more noteworthy than a superb vinaigrette of rock-crystal, with a golden lining to the neck, and a crystal cover set in beautiful gold-work, attached by a chain to one of the ears of the bottle. We call it a vinaigrette for the reason that it looks as if fresh from a modern jeweler, and it is one of the safest rules in antiquarian research to ask, "What would we call that, and for what purpose would heads curiously engraved. Under the corrosion on many of the cups can be traced the remains of delicate engraving. And there are some things here in silver which, GOLD MORTUARY DIADEM. were they perfect, would ravish the eyes of our lady readers, and over which some of them who love old art will bend in delighted rapture. These are silver belts worn by the ladies of Cyprus in the ancient years. Within the past year or two a fashion has prevailed among ladies in America of wearing broad metallic belts of silver or other metal. Could an American lady possess one of these belts of Cypriot make in its original freshness, or its fac-simile, she would be very HALF OF A GOLD WREATH. we use it, if it were modern ?" Men and women have been very much alike in all ages; and if one doubts this, the study of such a collection will soon prove convincing. Else why those rows on rows of earrings, of patterns so much in esteem now that it seems incredible that these are old; those finger-rings with pendants, a favorite style not many years ago; those handy shawl-pins of silver, closing with a spring, and looking as if lost last year from ladies' heavy wraps? happy. Delicately engraved in patterns, inlaid or overlaid with gold, they are exceedingly beautiful. From a brief examination of some of these, we are struck with the idea that when they were made silver was more precious than gold, and that the gold which shines out of them was used for color to set off the beautiful patterns in silver. Do not imagine, dear madam, from our account that you will see a shining silver belt, the zone of an ancient Venus, when you visit the museum. But you will see rows of rough, dark, ashy-looking fragments, the glow of the ancient splendor showing through the decay. The slender form of beauty, once surrounded by this belt of rare and delicate workmanship, retains to-day the contour of the form it encircled, is dust of the old island of Cyprus, and the metal zone is almost dust as well. which The bronze, like the gold and silver, shows We have lingered so long among the gold that we have little time to look at the silver and bronze; and yet, if there were nothing else in the collection, these would abundantly repay the art student for many visits to the museum. The silver vault of the temple was very rich. The silver is here, but the gleam and glitter have departed, and it is all black with corrosion. There are many heavy silver cups and pitchers. There are scores of massive silver bracelets-mass-plainly that the age ive in the true sense, for many of these brace- before the sixth cenlets must weigh more than half a pound each, tury of the pre-Chrisand there are some that would certainly go tian times was one of near a pound in weight. The trustees have noble art. There is exhibited only a part of the silver, for we are something wonderful told that great quantities were in fragments, and they exhibit some in masses of silver plates corroded together, looking more like silver ore than silver. Kurium must have grown rich in this metal. Some of the heavy bracelets, which are coils of thick round silver bars, have gold caps on the ends of the coils. Others flatten out into serpents' in the boldness of ROOK-CRYSTAL VINAIGRETTE. Massive caldrons, that may have served the cooking purposes of the priests, tell us that men were hungry in old days. The hoofs of deer, superbly produced, once sus |