In the best times of Greek art the chief works in gold and silver seem to have been dedicated to religious purposes, and to have been seldom used for the ostentation of private individuals. Vessels for the use of the temples, tripods in gold or silver w 21 23 24 FIG. 21. - Golden A iras a.µxuc&?rfXXov from Mycenae (Late Minoan i.; about 1600 B.C.).
FIG. 22. - Fragment of a Silver Vase with Relief Design, showing the Defence of a City; from Mycenae (Late Minoan i.). FIG. 23. - Golden Cup from Troy (Early Minoan iii.; 2500 B.C. or earlier).
FIG. 24, 25. - Gold Cups of Valphio (Late Minoan i.).
FIG. 29. - Gold Cup And Cover, Charles Ii.
FIG. 30. - Tudor Cup.
of the richest work, and statues of the gods were the chief objects on which the precious metals were lavished.1 The gold used by the Greeks probably came from Asia Minor or Egypt, while the mines of Laurium, in the mountains which form the promontory of Sunium in Attica, supplied an abundant amount of silver for many centuries. According to Pliny, of Ulysses and Diomedes carrying off the Palladium. Enormous prices were given by wealthy Romans for ancient silver plate made by distinguished Greek artists; according to Pliny, the last-mentioned cup, which weighed .2 oz., was sold for io,000 denarii (350). It is worthy of note that a large number of the artists named by Pliny were natives of Asia Minor; and FIG. 5. - Greek Silver Vase, 4th century B.C., from South Russia. Pheidias was the first sculptor who produced works of great merit in the precious metals; he mentions a number of other Greek artists who were celebrated for this class of work, but does not give their dates. The chief of these were Mentor and Mys (both of the Std, century B.C.), Acragas, Boethus, the sculptors Myron FIG. 6. - Silver Crater, found in Ithaca. (34(34 in. high.) and Stratonicus, as well as the well-known Praxiteles and Scopas. In Pliny's time many works in gold and silver by these artists still existed in Rhodes and elsewhere. Among later workers he specially mentions Zopyrus, who made two silver cups, embossed with the scene of the judgment of Orestes by the Areopagite court,' and Pytheas, who made a bowl with reliefs The gold eagles on the sacred omphalos at Delphi were notable examples of this; see Pindar, Pyth. iv. 4.
2 It has been thought that a silver cup in the Corsini collection it is very probable that the Asiatic school of silversmiths had at least as much influence on Roman caelatura as that of Alexandria., whose importance has been overrated by Schreiber.
The finest extant examples of Greek plate are those found in the tumuli of south Russia, especially in the neighbourhood of Kertch, the ancient Panticapaeum. Fig. 5 shows a silver vase found in 1862 at Nikopol in the tomb of a native Scythian prince. The native horse-tamers of the steppes are represented on the shoulder with wonderful naturalism, and the work is beyond doubt that of an Athenian artist of the 4th century B.C. Splendid examples of goldwork were found in the tumulus of Kuloba, about 62 kilometres from Kertch, which was excavated in 1830 and found to be the burial-place of a Scythian prince and his wife. The jewelry and plate found in this tomb, which were clearly of Greek origin, comprised (amongst other objects) an electrum vase 13 cm. high, representing Scythians in their native costume, one of whom is extracting a neighbour's tooth, another binding up a wound, a third stringing a bow, besides several silver vases and two gold medallions with reproductions of the head of the Athena Parthenos of Pheidias. In these Crimean tombs are often found golden crowns in the form of oak leaves, some of which belong to late Roman times. The finest extant example of a gold wreath, however, is that discovered at Armento in south Italy and preserved in the Antiquarium at Munich; it bears an inscription of the 4th century B.C., showing that it was dedicated by a certain Kreithonios. In 1812 Dr Lee discovered at Ithaca a beautiful crater, 34 in. high (see fig. 6), and a phiale or patera, 92 in. across, both of silver, repousse and chased, with very rich and graceful patterns of leaves and flowers picked out with gilding.' These are probably not later than the 5th century B.C. Many silver mirror-cases, with repousse figure-subjects in high relief, have been found at various places; as, for instance, one with a beautiful seated figure of Aphrodite found at Tarentum and now in the British Museum.4 at Rome (Michaelis, Das corsinische Silbergefass, 1859; cf. W. Amelung, in Ronische Mitteilungen, 1906, pp. 289 sqq.) may reproduce the design-of Zopyrus.
4 Ibid. xxxiv. 265-272.
Graeco-Roman Plate
During = 3 o the last century of the Republic the growing luxury and ostentation of the wealthy Romans found expression in the collection of elaborate specimens of plate.
The works of the old Greek masters were the most highly prized, but contemporary artists, such as Pasiteles, also attained distinction in this branch of art. Amongst the numerous finds of silver plate made in modern times we may distinguish (a) temple treasures made of up of votive offerings, such as the treasure of Bernay in France (dep. Eure), discovered in 1830 and preserved in the Cabinet des Medailles, which belonged to the shrine of Mercurius Canetonnensis; (b) private collections.
FIG. 8.-- Silver Crater, 151 in. high, from the Hildesheim find. (Berlin Museum.) The most famous of these are the Hildesheim treasure, in the Berlin Museum, discovered in 1869, which has been thought (without adequate reason) to have formed part of the campaigning equipment of a Roman military commander, and the Bosco Reale treasure, found in 1895 in a villa near Pompeii, whence its owner was endeavouring to remove it when buried by the eruption of Vesuvius. These collections contain pieces of various dates. The Bernay treasure, in part belonging to the 2nd century A.D., contains oenochoai (ewers) with mythological subjects in relief inspired by classical Greek models - the theft of the Palladium was the subject of a famous cup of Pytheas, mentioned by Pliny - which must belong to the early imperial period. The Hildesheim treasure, again, contains two barbaric vases, without feet or handles, together with such fine pieces as the crater figured (fig. 8), whose decoration recalls that of the Ara Pacis Augustae (see Roman Art), and a cylix with a seated figure of Athena in high relief, soldered on to the centre of the bowl, which appears to be of Greek workmanship. Such detachable figures were termed emblemata; in the Bosco Reale treasure is a cup with such a bust, typifying the province of Africa. Great value was also set upon crustae, i.e. bands of repousse work forming an outer covering to a smooth silver cup (cf. the Rothschild vases, Roman Art). Such works commonly have Latin inscriptions incised on the foot giving the weight of the piece, the cup and emblema being weighed separately. The artistic value of Roman plate is discussed under Roman Art.
Among later specimens of Roman plate the most remarkable is the gold patera, nearly io in. in diameter, found at Rennes in 1777, and now in the Paris Bibliotheque - a work of the most marvellous delicacy and high finish - almost gem-like in its minuteness of detail. Though not earlier than about 210 A.D., a slight clumsiness in the proportion of its embossed figures is the only visible sign of decadence. The outer rim is set with sixteen fine gold coins - aurci of various members of the Antonine family from Hadrian to Geta. The central emblema or medallion represents the drinking contest between Bacchus and Hercules, and round this medallion is a band of repousse figures showing the triumphal procession of Bacchus after winning the contest. He sits triumphant in his leopard-drawn car, while Hercules is led along, helplessly intoxicated, supported by bacchanals. A long line of nymphs, fauns and satyrs complete the circular band.
Late Roman plate is also represented by a series of large silver dishes, to which the name missorium is often, though perhaps wrongly, applied. These were used for presentations by emperors (whose portraits they sometimes bear) and distinguished officials. Three are preserved in the Cabinet des Medailles of the Bibliotheque Nationale at Paris - the " shield of Scipio," found in the Rhone near Avignon, about 26 in. in diameter, with a relief representing the restoration of Briseis to Achilles;' the " shield of Hannibal," 2 chiefly remarkable for FIG. 9. - Shield of Theodosius.
its size (it is 72 cms. in diameter and weighs io kilogrammes); and a third, decorated with a group of Hercules and the Nemean lion. 3 Other well-known examples of this form of art are the 1 Cf. S. Reinach in Gazette des beaux-arts (1896).
2 Cf. E. Babelon, in Bulletin de la societe des antiquaires de la France (1890), p. 228.
3 Cf. E. Piot, in Gazette archeologique (1886).
? i u i? N .;^ r? (/, ?..? d,; ?- 'Y r g oo() 000v000000 '00 0900 FIG. 7. - Greek Silver Vase, 5 in. high, c. 3rd century B.C. The ornamental band is shown below in piano. (Victoria and Albert Museum.) " shield of Theodosius " at Madrid (fig. 9), which represents the emperor seated between Valentinian II. and Arcadius 1;1; the " shield of Valentinian " at Geneva 2; the " shield of Aspar " at Florence 3; and a fine dish found at Aquileia, now at Vienna.4 The British Museum contains some fine specimens of late Roman silver work, found on the Esquiline in 1793 (cf. Visconti, Una Supellettile d'argento, Rome, 1825; the objects are published and described in Mr Dalton's Catalogue of the Early Christian Antiquities in the British Museum, pp. 61 sqq., pls. xiii. - xx.). The most remarkable of these are: (1.) a silver casket decorated in repousse, with the inscription Seconde Et Projecta Vivatis In Cristo, doubtless a wedding gift to a couple bearing the names of Secundus and Projecta, whose portraits appear in a medallion on the centre of the lid; (ii.) four statuettes representing personified cities--Rome, Constantinople, Antioch and Alexandria (cf. P. Gardiner in J. H. S., 1888, ix. 77 sqq.). This treasure appears to belong in the main to the 5th century A.D., though some minor pieces may be earlier.
Bibliography
- A general account will be found in Smith's Dictionary of Antiquities, 3rd ed., s.v. " Caelatura " (without illustrations), and in Daremberg and Saglio's Dictionnaire des antiquites, under the same heading (with several cuts). The passages in ancient writers which refer to the art will be found in Oberbeck's Antike Schriftquellen Nos. 2267-2205; Pliny's account is most conveniently studied in K. Jex-Blake and E. Sellers, The Elder Pliny's Chapters on the History of Art, pp. 2 sqq. The finds made in southern Russia were published in the Antiquites du Bosphore cimmerien (St Petersburg, 1854); the Comptes rendus de la commission imperiale (St Petersburg, 1859 sqq.); and the Recueil des antiquites de la Scythie (1866-1873). The first of these works, which is very rare, has been republished on a reduced scale by M. Salomon Reinach, in his Bibliotheque des monuments figures (Paris, 1892) with notes; and all the more important objects are figured in Antiquites de la Russie meridionale, by Kondakoff, Tolstoy and Reinach (Paris, 1891-1892). For Graeco-Roman plate the most important works are Heron de Villefosse's publication of the Bosco Reale treasure in the Monuments Piot, vol. v. (cf. the articles by the same author and M. Thedenat on " Les Tresors de vaisselle d'argent trouves en Gaule," Gazette archeologique, 1883-1884), and Der hildesheimer Silberfund, by E. Pernice and F. Winter (Berlin, 1901). Reference should also be made to T. Schreiber, " Die alexandrinische Toreutik," (Abhandlungen der scichs. Gesellsch. der Wissenschaften, 2894, vol. xiv.), whose theories are somewhat exaggerated; and A. Odobescu, Le Tresor de Petrossa (1889-1900), which deals with a find of barbaric plate and jewelry made in Rumania, but gives much information on the history of the art. For early Greek work, see R. Schneider, " Goldtypen des griechischen Ostens," Berichte der sachs. Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften (1891, p. 204), and A. Furtwangler, Der Goldfund von' Vettersfelde (1883). For Etruscan metal-work, see J. Martha, L'Art etrusque, ch. xvii. An interesting popular account of ancient work in precious metals will be found in E. T. Cook's Popular Handbook to the Greek and Roman Antiquities in the British Museum, pp. 569 sqq.
(H. S. J.) Oriental, African Plate, &'c. - Some very curious pieces of plate, both in gold and in silver, have been found in northern India in which country the goldsmith's art is of great antiquity; 5 these appear to be of native workmanship, but the subjects with which they are embossed, and the modelling of the figures, show that they were produced under late Roman influence, or in some cases possibly even Greek influence in a highly degraded state, handed down from the time of Alexander's Indian conquests. A fine gold casket (Buddhist relic) said to date from about 50 B.C. is worthy of note. 6 In the British Museum are an Indian silver dish (3rd-4th century A.D.) 7 and an earlier one, ascribed to C. A.D. 200.
Under the Sassanian kings of Persia (from the 3rd to 6th centuries) very massive and richly decorated gold vases, bowls, 1 Cf. E. Hubner, Die antiken Bildwerke in Madrid, pp. 213 sqq.
2 A. Odobescu, Le Tresor de Petrossa, pp. 153 sqq., fig. 68.
3 D. Bracci, Dissertazione sopra un clipeo votivo (Lucca, 1771).
See R. v. Schneider, Album auserlesenster Gegenstande der Antikensammlung des allerhiichsten Kaiserhauses (1895); and cf. Verhandlungen der 42 Versammlung deutscher Philologen (1893), pp. 2 97 sqq.
5 Sir G. Birdwood, Industrial Arts of India (1880).
5 Wilson's Arcana antiqua (1841).
7 Archaeologia, lv. 534.
and bottles were made (fig. 10). Those which still exist show a curious mingling of ancient Assyrian art with that of Rome in its decline. Reliefs re presenting winged lions, or the sacred treebetween its attendant beasts, alternate with subjects from Roman mythology, such as the rape of Ganymede; but all are treated alike with much originality, and in a highly decorative manner. A fine example of Persian work of the early 19th century (dated 1817) is the circular gold dish, richly enamelled, which is in the Victoria and Albert Museum, where a large collection of Oriental plate may be studied. Here may be seen a gold rose-water sprinkler of gold, entirely covered with richly enamelled flowers, Mogul. work, 17th century; fine Burmese gold work found in A.D.1484-1485in a Buddhist temple, Rangoon; remarkable gold ornaments of the Burmese regalia; and a large elephant howdah, from the Punjab, made of silver, parcel gilt, the top covered with silver plates of large repousse foliage. Tibetan craftsmen work is represented by numerous vessels for sacred and domestic purposes, mostly of metal, partially mounted in silver, which display the skill of the Tibetans in the 19th century. Of the skill of the Hindus as goldsmiths, abundant evidence is afforded by the Ramayana and Mahabharata, though very little of their ancient gold and silver work has survived. In India the people of the Cashmere valley have long been famous for their natural superiority as craftsmen, as was Lucknow for its utensils of gold and silver, much of it richly enamelled in the 18th and 19th centuries. Chanda in the Central Provinces was once celebrated for its skilled goldsmiths, and the plate of Cutch and Gujarat in the Bombay Presidency has enjoyed a well-deserved reputation. The uncontaminated indigenous designs of the Sind goldsmiths' work call for special notice. Indian plate, as is quite natural, has often been influenced by European designs: for instance, the beautiful gold and silver work of Cutch is Dutch in origin, while the ornate throne of wood covered with plates of gold, early 19th century, used by Ranjit Singh (at South Kensington) also displays European influence. Much of the Siamese decorative plate of the 18th and 19th centuries is of silver-gilt and nielloed. In the Rijks museum, Amsterdam, is a collection of silver dishes, boxes of gold and silver, jewelry, &c., all of excellent workmanship, from Lombok. African goldsmiths' work is represented in the British Museum by the gold ornaments from Ashanti, where there are also some gold ornaments from graves in Central America and Colombia. Ancient Abyssinian work can be studied at the Victoria and Albert Museum in the gold chalice, gold crown of the Abuna of Abyssinia, another more ornate crown of silver-gilt, a fine shield with silver-gilt filigree, and other objects.
The gold and silver work of Russia resembles in style that of Byzantium at an early period. Shrines and other magnificent pieces of plate in the treasury of the cathedral at Moscow (see Weltmann, Le Tresor de Moscou, 1861), though executed at the end of the i 5th and 16th century, are similar in design to Byzantine work of the 11th or 12th century, and even since then but little change or development of style has taken place.
The caliphs of Bagdad, the sultans of Egypt, and other Moslem rulers were once famed for their rich stores of plate, FIG. 10. - Sassanian Gold Bottle, about Io in. high. In the Vienna Museum.
which was probably of extreme beauty both in design and workmanship. Little or nothing of this Moslem plate now remains, and it is only possible to judge of its style and magnificence from the fine works in brass and other less valuable metals which have survived to our time.
Towards the end of the 10th century the Rhine valley became the centre of a school of goldsmiths, who produced splendid examples of their work - a mixture of Byzantine art with their own original designs. The book-covers, portable altars and other objects, preserved at Trier and Aix-la-Chapelle, are notable examples produced at that centre. The magnificent book-cover from Echternach, now at Gotha, is of the school of Trier.
Early Medieval Plate
The Gothic, Gaulish and other semi-barbarian peoples, who in the 6th century were masters of Spain, France and parts of central Europe, produced great quantities of work in the precious metals, especially gold, often of great magnificence of design and not without some skill in workmanship. The Merovingians encouraged the art of the goldsmith by spending immense sums of money on plate and jewelry, though only two examples of their great wealth in church vessels have survived - the gold chalice and paten of Gourdon, now at Paris. Fine examples of Carlovingian work, which was mainly wrought in the monasteries in the north of the Frankish dominions and on the Rhine, may be studied in the covers for the Gospels, in the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris. In 1837 a large number of pieces of very massive gold plate were found at Petrossa in Rumania; much of this find was unfortunately broken up and melted, but a considerable portion was saved, and is now in the museum at Bucharest. These magnificent objects are all of solid gold, and consist of large dishes, vases, ewers, baskets of open work, and personal ornaments (fig. 11). Some of them show a strong Roman influence in their design, others are more purely barbaric in style. To the first of these classes belongs a very fine phiale or patera, 10 in. in diameter. In the centre is a seated statuette of a goddess, holding a cup, while all round, in high relief, are standing figures of various male and female deities, purely Roman in style. Though the execution is somewhat clumsy, there is much reminiscence of classical grace in the attitudes and drapery of these figures. A large basket and other pieces, made o square bars of gold arranged so as to form an open pattern of stiff geometrical design, have nothing in common with the vessels in which Roman influence is apparent, and can hardly be the work of the same school of goldsmiths.' The date of this Petrossa treasure is supposed to be the 6th century. The celebrated Gourdon gold cup and tray now preserved in Paris belong to about the same date. They are very rich and magnificent, quite free from any survival of classic influence, and in style resemble the Merovingian gold work which was found in the tomb of Childeric I. The cup is 3 in. high, shaped like a miniature two-handled chalice; its companion oblong tray or plate has a large cross in high relief in the centre. They are elaborately ornamented with inlaid work of turquoises and garnets, and delicate filigree patterns in gold, soldered on.
In the 6th century Byzantium was the chief centre for the production of large and magnificent works in the precious metals. The religious fervour and the great wealth of Justinian and his successors filled the churches of Byzantium, not only with enormous quantities of gold and silver chalices, shrines, and other smaller pieces of ecclesiastical plate, but even large altars, with tall pillared baldacchini over them, fonts, massive candelabra, statues, and high screens, all made of the precious metals. The wealth and artistic splendour with which St Peter's 1 Soden Smith, Treasure of Petrossa (1869).
in Rome and St Sophia in Constantinople were enriched is now almost inconceivable. To read the mere inventories of these treasures dazzles the imagination--such as that given in the Liber pontificalis of Anastasius Bibliothecarius, which includes the long list of treasures given by Constantine to St Peter's before he transferred his seat of empire to Byzantium (330), and the scarcely less wonderful list of gold and silver plate presented to the same basilica by Pope Symmachus (498-514) Some early Byzantine plate of the 6th century is in the British Museum; an inscribed paten of the _Toth and 11th centuries is in Halberstadt Cathedral in Germany, and numerous ecclesiastical vessels are in the Treasury of St Mark's, Venice.
Early in the medieval period France and other Western countries were but little behind Italy and Byzantium in their production of massive works, both secular and religious, in the precious metals. At this time every cathedral or abbey church in Germany, France and even England began to accumulate rich treasures of every kind in gold and silver, enriched with jewels and enamel; but few specimens, however, still exist of the work of this early period. The most notable are Charlemagne's regalia 3 and other treasures at Aix-la-Chapelle, a few preserved at St Peter's in Rome, and the remarkable set of ecclesiastical utensils which still exist in the cathedral of Monza near Milan - the gift of Queen Theodelinda in the early part of the 7th century. 4 The treasure of Nagy-Szent-Miklos, consisting of several vessels of gold, of Hungarian origin (8th-9th century), is in the Imperial Museum at Vienna.
The existing examples of magnificent early work in the precious metals mostly belong to a somewhat later period. The chief are the gold and silver altar in Sant' Ambrogio at Milan, of the 9th century; the " Pala d'Oro," or gold retable, in St Mark's at Venice, begun in the 10th century; the silver altar-front in St Domenico's Church at Palermo; the shrine of silver-gilt (with later additions) in the church of St Simeon at Zara, Dalmatia, by Francesco di Antonio of Sesto near Milan, 1380; and the gold altar-frontal given by the emperor Henry II. and his wife Cunigunde, at the beginning of the 11th century, to the cathedral at Basel. The last is about 4 ft. high by 6 ft. long, repousse in high relief, with figures of Christ, the three archangels, and St Benedict, standing under an arcade of round arches; it is now in the Musee Cluny in Paris.' A similar gold frontal, of equal splendour, was that made for the archbishop of Sens in 999. This was melted down by Louis XV. in 1760, but fortunately a drawing of it was preserved, and is published by Du Sommerard (Album, 9th series, pl. xiii.). Reliquaries of great splendour were made of the precious metals, one of the most notable being that containing the skulls of the three kings in Cologne Cathedral. This shrine, which resembles in form a building of two storeys, was wrought in the 12th century. The covers of the Textus in the Victoria and Albert Museum are highly important examples of goldsmiths' work; they are of gold and silver, decorated with enamel and set with stones, probably dating from the 12th century.
Anglo-Saxon
Judged by the examples of Anglo-Saxon jewelry discovered, the Anglo-Saxon -craftsmen brought their art to a high state of perfection, though hardly equal in merit to the Celtic. A large quantity of their metal-work is of bronze, frequently enriched with gold and enamel. Happily, there is preserved one priceless specimen of the goldsmith's art of this period - namely, the famous Alfred jewel of gold, now in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, with a portrait, believed to be of Alfred the Great, in cloisonné enamel. Another notable specimen is the Ethelwulf ring in the British Museum. Though ecclesiastical vessels, doubtless of the precious metals, appear in Anglo-Saxon illuminated manuscripts, the only piece of plate of that time at present known is the plain silver cup of the latter part of the 9th century, found with gold and silver jewelry and pennies at Trewhiddle in Cornwall, which is now in the British Museum.' There is, however, an important example of metalwork embellished with silver plates - namely, the portable altar of St Cuthbert at Durham.
A most valuable description of the various methods of work practised by goldand silversmiths in the 11th and 12th centuries is given by the monk Theophilus in his Diversarum artium schedula (Hendrie's ed., 1847). He minutely describes every possible process that could be employed in making and ornamenting elaborate pieces of ecclesiastical plate - such as smelting, refining, hammering, chasing and repousse work, soldering, casting (by the " cire perdue " process), wire-drawing, gilding with mercury amalgam, and the application of niello, enamel and gems.
The silversmith of those days, as in classical times, was not only a thorough artist with a complete sense of beauty and fitness in his work, but he was also a craftsman of the most varied fertility of resource, and made himself thoroughly responsible for every part of his work and every stage through which it passed - a most striking contrast to the modern subdivision of labour, and eagerness to produce a show of neatness without regard to real excellence of work, which is the curse of all 19thcentury handicrafts, and one of the main reasons why our modern productions are in the main neither works of true art nor objects of real lasting utility.
Italian Plate. - Before the latter part of the 15th century, large pieces of silver work were made more for ecclesiastical use than for the gratification of private luxury. The great silver shrine in Orvieto Cathedral, made to contain the bloodstained corporal of the famous Bolsena miracle, is one of the chief of these. It is a very large and elaborate work in solid silver, made to imitate the west front of a cathedral, and decorated in the most sumptuous way with figures cast and chased in relief, and a wonderful series of miniature-like pictures embossed in low relief and covered with translucent enamels of various brilliant colours. This splendid piece of silver work was executed about 1338 by Ugolino da Siena, one of whose other works, a fine reliquary, is also at Orvieto. The other most important pieces of silver work in Italy are the frontal and retable of St James in the cathedral at Pistoia 2 and the altar of San Giovanni at Florence. On these two works were employed a whole series of the chief Tuscan artists of the 14th and 15th centuries, many of whom, though of great reputation in other branches of art, such as painting, sculpture on a large scale, and architecture, did not disdain to devote their utmost skill and years of labour, to work which we now as a rule consign to craftsmen of the very smallest capacity. The following celebrated artists were employed upon the altar at Florence: Antonio Pollaiuolo, Michelozzo, Verrocchio, as well as less prominent artificers, Betto Geri, Leonardo di Ser Giovanni and Betto di Francesco Betti.
Among the distinguished names of Florentines who during 1 Victoria History of Cornwall, i. 375.
2 E. Alfred Jones, " The Altar of Pistoia, " The Reliquary (January, 9 0 6), pp. 19-28.
the space of one century only, the 15th, worked in gold and silver, the following may be given to suggest the high rank which this class of work took among the arts: Brunelleschi, Ghiberti, Donatello, Luca della Robbia, the two Pollaiuoli, Verrocchio, Michelozzo, Ghirlandaio, Botticelli, Lorenzo di Credi, Baccio Baldini and Francia. The cities of Italy which chiefly excelled in this religious and beautiful class of silver work during the 4th and 5th centuries were Florence, Siena, Arezzo, Pisa, Pistoia, Bologna, where there are fine 14th-century silver reliquaries executed by Jacopo Roseto da Bologna for the heads of St Dominic and St Petronio in the church of St Stefano, Perugia, where Paolo Vanni, Roscetto and others worked in the 14th and early 15th centuries, and Rome.
Owing to the demoralization and increase of luxury which grew in Italy with such startling rapidity during the early years of the 16th century, the wealth and artistic skill which in the previous centuries had been mainly devoted to religious objects were diverted into a different channel, and became for the most part absorbed in the production of magnificent pieces of plate - vases,. ewers, dishes, and the like - of large size, and decorated in the most lavish way with the fanciful and over-luxuriant forms of ornament introduced by the already declining taste of the Renaissance. This demand created a new school of metalworkers, among whom Benvenuto Cellini (1500-1S71) was perhaps the ablest and certainly the most prominent. His graphic autobiography makes him one of the foremost and most vivid figures of the wonderful 16th century, in which often the most bestial self-indulgence was mingled with the keenest enthusiasm for art. The large salt-cellar made for Francis I., now at Vienna, is the only piece of plate which can be definitely assigned to Cellini. The splendid Farnese casket, with crystal plaques engraved by Giovanni di Bernardi, in the Naples Museum, has been wrongly attributed to Cellini. His influence on the design of plate was very great, not only in Italy and France, but also in Germany. 3 During the 17th century fine pieces of plate were produced in Italy, many of them still retaining some of the grace and refinement of the earlier Renaissance.
The papal treasure, containing priceless examples of the goldsmith's art, was almost entirely depleted by Pius VI. to pay the indemnity demanded by Napoleon. The tiara of Julius II. by Caradosso, and the splendid morse of Clement VII. by Benvenuto Cellini, coloured drawings of which are preserved in the Print Room, British Museum, are among the objects then destroyed.
A valuable source of study of Italian plate (now destroyed) is contained in the three volumes of drawings, executed between 1755 and 1764, by Grauenbroch, in the Museo Correr at Venice.
Germany
From very early times Germany was specially famed for its works in the precious metals, mostly for ecclesiastical use. In the 15th century a large quantity of secular plate was produced of beautiful design and skilful workmanship. Tall covered cups on stems, modelled with a series of bosses something like a pineapple, beakers and tankards, enriched with Gothic cresting and foliage, are 3 See Eugene Plon, Benvenuto Cellini, sa vie, &c. (1883); also Cellini's own work, Dell' Oreficeria (1568).
FIG. 12. - Silver Beaker, decorated with open work, filled in with translucent enamels. German or Flemish, of the 15th century. (S. K. M.) among the most important pieces of plate. During the 16th century Augsburg and Nuremberg, long celebrated for their silver work, developed a school of craftsmen whose splendid productions have often been ascribed to the great Cellini himself. In the first decade of the 16th century, Paul Milliner, a Nuremberg goldsmith, furnished Frederick the Wise with several silver-gilt reliquaries for his collection at Wittenberg. Later in the same century came the Jamnitzer family of Nuremberg, chief among them being Wentzel Jamnitzer, one of whose masterpieces, an enamelled silver centre-piece, belongs to the baroness James de Rothschild of Paris. Mathaeus Wallbaum of Augsburg was another celebrated goldsmith of the 16th century. His chief works are religious ornaments of ebony mounted in silver, and the Pommerscher Kunstschrank in the Kunstgewerbe Museum, Berlin. But the chief German goldsmith of the 16th century was Anton Eisenhoit 1 of Warburg, who wrought the fine crucifix (1589), the chalice and other ecclesiastical vessels which belong to the Fiirstenberg family. Other notable craftsmen of this period were Hans Petzolt and Melchior Bayr, the latter having made the silver altar (with scenes from the Life of Christ after Darer) FIG. 13. - Silver Cup, 84 in. high, usually attributed to Jamnitzer, but more probably by Paul Flint. FIG. 14. - Ewer by Francois Made at Nuremberg about the midBriot, about io in. high. dle of the 16th century. (S. K. M.) Middle of 16th century.
for the king of Poland, which is in the Sigismund chapel in Cracow Cathedral.' Jakob Mores, the elder, of Hamburg, was employed by the royal house of Denmark. A large number of his original designs for plate are in the public art library at Berlin. Jakob Mores, the younger, executed the silver altar at Frederiksborg in the 17th century. In Germany the traditions of earlier Gothic art were less rapidly broken with, and many purely Gothic forms survived there till the end of the 16th century, and Gothic decorative features even later. In the first half of the 17th century, though the technical skill of the German silversmiths reached a high standard of merit, there was some falling off in the execution and in the purity of outline in their designs. Germany is richer in secular plate than any other country. The remarkable royal collections of plate in the green vaults at Dresden, Gotha and Munich, as well as public museums in Germany, including the treasure of Luneburg at Berlin, afford excellent opportunities for the study of the German goldsmith's art, the remarkable chalice, 12th century, of St Gothard's church, Hildesheim; the celebrated Kaiserbecher of Osnabruck 1 Lessing, Die Silber-Arbeiten von Anton Eisenhoit (1880).
Illustrated by Ordzywolski, in Renesaus w Polsce, pls. 11-12.
of the 13th century; the cup given by the emperor Frederick III. and Mathias Corvinus to Vienna in 1462, and the splendid ewer of Goslar, 1477, are notable specimens of early German work. In England the only public collections of German plate worthy of notice are the " Waddesdon " in the British Museum, and the Victoria and Albert Museum. Prior to its dispersal among his five daughters, the late baron Carl von Rothschild's collection at Frankfort-on-Main was the most extensive private collection in existence. The Gutmann collection, acquired by Mr J. Pierpont Morgan, contains many rare pieces, as does that of the baronesses Alphonse and Salomon de Rothschild in Paris.
Many of the most beautiful vessels of crystal, agate, &c., formerly attributed to Italian artists, were carved and engraved and set in beautiful enamelled gold and silver mounts, in southern Germany in the 16th and 17th centuries. At the end of the 17th and the beginning of the 18th centuries household plate and other ornaments were frequently decorated with painted enamels, mostly originating from Augsburg. Dinglinger of Dresden and his school at about this time exercised considerable influence in the production of ornaments in pearl and other materials, elaborately carved, mounted and enamelled.
Several specimens exist of the models of cups required of candidates for the rank of master-craftsmen in the second half of the 16th century. One of these, at the Victoria and Albert Museum, is believed to have been wrought by Martin Rehlein of Nuremberg in 1572-1573.3 Many of the famous 15th and 16th century artists - such as Martin Schdn, Israel von Mecken, Aldegrever, Altdorfer, Brosamer, Peter Fldtner, the Behams, Hopfer and Hans Holbein the younger, supplied the silversmiths with designs for plate. Several of Holbein's original designs, including one for the gold cup probably wrought by his friend, John of Antwerp, for Queen Jane Seymour, are in the Print Room, British Museum, where there is also an original design for a table fountain by the celebrated artist, Albrecht Darer. Virgil Solis of Nuremberg (1514-1562) was especially fertile in designing plate, and he executed a large series of etchings of designs for vases, cups, ewers, tazze, &c. 4 Many of the German silver ewers and basins resemble those made in pewter at the end of the 16th century by Francois Briot and Gaspar Enderlein, who migrated from Switzerland to Germany.
Switzerland. ,This country produced several silversmiths whose work in the main follows that of the German school. The three historical beakers in the national library at Zurich were made in that city from money sent out as gifts from England by the three English bishops, Jewel of Salisbury, Horn of Winchester, and Parkhurst of Norwich, in appreciation of the hospitality afforded them during their exile at Zurich, in the reign of Queen Mary I. 5 Important plate was wrought at Berne, Rappersweil and other Swiss towns.
English
There is strong evidence of the importance attached to English medieval plate by Continental peoples, as there was to the magnificent English illuminated MSS., and, later, to the embroidered vestments, opus anglicanum. But, unfortunately, the ruthless destruction of plate during the Wars of the Roses, the Reformation and the Great Rebellion has spared but few medieval pieces to which we can point. Under the name of Protestantism every ecclesiastical vessel with a device savouring of " popish superstition " was instantly destroyed. The inventories of the great cathedrals and religious houses plainly reveal their marvellous wealth in gold and silver vessels.
Norfolk is richer than any other county in pre-Reformation chalices and patens. 3 The well-known " Gloucester " candlestick, 3 Norfolk Arch. xii. 85. though composed of inferior metal, is an illustration of the fine plate wrought in England in the 12th century, while the ancient anointing spoon of the sovereigns of England at the Tower of London is an historical relic of the end of the 12th century (with the bowl altered for Charles II.). The earl of Carysfort is the fortunate possessor of a silver-gilt censer of about 1375 and an incense ship, of about 1 4 00, found in Whittlesea Mere in 1850, and formerly belonging to Ramsey Abbey.' Only one pre-Reformation English gold chalice has survived, which with its paten and a silver crosier was given to Corpus Christi College, Oxford, by its founder, Bishop Foxe (Plate II., fig. 26). Both bear the London date-letter for 1507-1508. Another historical relic which has come down to the present day, though in a restored form, is the gold ampulla of about the end of the 14th century in the Tower of London. The universities of Oxford and Cambridge, though sadly depleted of their plate, can still show some notable pieces. The earliest example at each is a drinking horn, both of the 14th century, at Queen's College, Oxford, and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. Other notable horns are the Pusey horn; the celebrated Bruce horn with the seals of John of Gaunt attached, and one at Christ's Hospital.
Mazer bowls, made of wood mounted in silver and even in gold, and frequently engraved with scriptural and other inscriptions (see Plate II., fig. 28), were popular drinking vessels in England in medieval times. Many of these have survived, the earliest specimen being one of Edward II. at Harbledown hospital. They ceased to be made after the reign of Elizabeth (Archaeologia, i. 129). Medieval coco-nut cups, mounted in silver, are of frequent occurrence in England, the best known examples being in the possession of the colleges at Oxford and Cambridge and several of the city companies. As has been mentioned before, but few examples of early plate exist; the following is a brief list of some of the most notable pieces, other than those previously enumerated: the " Sokborn " cup (c. 1450), and the " Anathema " cup (1481-1482) at Pembroke College, Cambridge; the Leigh cup (1499) at Mercers' Hall; the ivory and silver cup (1525-1526) of the duke of Norfolk; the pastoral staff (c. 1367) at New College, Oxford; the Richmond cup (c. 1510) at Armourers' Hall; the " election cup " (c. 1520) at Winchester College; and the Foundress' plate, consisting of a fine covered cup (1435-1440), two salts (c. 1500), a beaker and cover (1507-1508), and a salt (1507-1508) at Christ's College, Cambridge. Of Elizabeth's reign, the finest examples are probably the salt of the Vintners' Company (Plate II., fig. 27), and the rosewater dish and ewer of the duke of Rutland. Stoneware jugs, as the well-known example (1581) from West Malling, Kent, and Chinese porcelain vessels were elaborately mounted in Elizabethan times, a goodly proportion of the former having been done by goldsmiths at Exeter.
The Celtic races of both England and Ireland appear to have possessed great wealth in gold and silver, but especially the former. It seems, however, to have been mostly used in the manufacture of personal ornaments, such as torques, fibulae and the like. A magnificent suit of gold armour, repousse with simple patterns of lines and dots, was found some years ago at Mold in Flintshire, and is now in the British Museum.3 The amount of old jewelry found in Ireland during the past century has been enormous; but, owing to the unfortunate law of " treasure-trove," by far the greater part was immediately 1 Illuscrated in Old Cambridge Plate, pp. 102 -103.
Archaeologia, iii. 3, xii. 377. a Ibid. xxvi. 422.
melted down by the finders. Little of this period that can be called plate has been discovered in the British Isles - unlike Denmark and other Scandinavian countries, where the excavation of tombs has in many cases yielded rich results in the way of massive cups, bowls, ladles and horns of solid gold, mostly decorated with simple designs of spirals, concentric circles, or interlaced grotesques. Others are of silver, parcel-gilt, and some have figure subjects in low relief (fig. 15). In like manner, during the Saxon period, though gold and silver jewelry was common, yet little plate appears to have been made, with the exception of shrines, altar-frontals and vessels for ecclesiastical use, of which every important church in England must have possessed a magnificent stock. With regard to English secular plate, though but few early examples still exist, we know from various records, such as wills and inventories, that the 14th century was one in which every rich lord or burgher prided himself on his fine and massive collection of silver vessels; on festive occasions this was displayed, not only on the dinner-table, but also on sideboards, arranged with tiers of steps, one above the other, so as to show off to advantage the weighty silver vases, flagons and dishes with which it was loaded. The central object on every rich man's table was the " nef " - a large silver casket, usually (as the name suggests) in the form of a ship, and arranged to contain the host's napkin, goblet, spoon and knife, with an assortment of spices and salt. No old English " nefs " are now known. Great sums were often spent on this large and elaborate piece of plate, e.g. one made for the duke of Anjou in the 14th century weighed 348 marks of gold. The English silversmiths of this period were highly skilled in their art, and produced objects of great beauty both in design and workmanship. One of the finest specimens of Edward III.'s plate which still exists is a silver cup belonging to the mayor and corporation of King's Lynn. It is graceful and chalice-like in FIG. 16. - Silver Cup, with translucent enamels. Probably English work of the 14th century.
form, skilfully chased, and decorated in a very rich and elaborate way with coloured translucent enamels (fig. 16) of ladies and youths, several with hawks on their wrists. Silver salt-cellars were among the most elaborate pieces of plate produced during the 15th century. Several colleges at Oxford and Cambridge still possess fine specimens of these (fig. 17); a favourite shape was a kind of hour-glass form richly ornamented, made between about 1 4 80 and 1525.
FIG. 15. - Silver Cup, 41 in. high, with embossed gold band; found in a grave in the east of Zealand (Denmark). This cup dates from the earlier part of the Iron Age.
FIG. 17. - Silver - gilt Salt-cellar, 141 in. high. Given to New College, Oxford, in 1493.
But few existing specimens of English plate are older than the beginning of the i 5th century. Among the few that remain the principal are chalices - such as the two large silver-gilt ones found in the coffin of an archbishop of York, now used for holy communion in the cathedral, and a fine silver chalice from the church of Berwick St James, Wilts, now in the British Museum. Both this and the York chalices are devoid of ornament, and, judging from their shape, appear to be of the first half of the 13th century, which is the date of the fine medieval chalice and paten found near Dolgelly some years ago (the latter now believed in some quarters to be of German origin). Several Tudor cups are in existence: the celebrated one of 1521 (Plate II., fig. 30), an earlier one, r50o; two covered ones of about 1510 and 1512 at Sandwich and Wymeswold, respectively; one (1515) at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, and the Bodkin cup (1525) of the Corporation of Portsmouth. A very early beaker (1496) is in a private collection, as is also a small Tudor bowl (1525-1526). The earliest known chalices of silver include the Gourdon chalice and paten, the St Gozlin chalice at Nancy (loth century); the 12th-century specimen in the abbey of Wilten in Tirol.
It is interesting to note the various changes of form through which the ecclesiastical chalice passed from early Christian times Chalices . till the 16th century. It was at first an ordinary secular cup with two handles, classical in form and of large capacity, because the laity as well as the clergy received the wine. The double handles were of practical use in passing the cup round like a modern " loving cup." The first alteration was the omission of the handles, so that it took the form of a large hemispherical bowl, with a round foot, and a knop for security in holding it. For some centuries it appears to have been the custom for the priest to hold the chalice, while the communicant sucked the wine through a silver tube or " fistula." Some of the most magnificent early examples of this form of chalice have the bowl mounted in bands, set with jewels, and enriched with minute filigree work - a design which appears to have been taken from those cups, such as the four magnificent examples in the treasury of St Mark's at Venice, which have their bowl cut out of crystal, onyx or some other precious stone.' The finest examples of this class are the Ardagh chalice, now in the Dublin Museum, and the chalice of St Remigius, in Reims cathedral; both are most magnificent speci mens of the taste and skill of 10th to 11th century goldsmiths. In the 12th and 13th centuries the design becomes simpler; there is a distinct shaft, extending above and below the knop; and on the foot is marked a cross, not found in the earlier ones, to show which side the priest is to hold towards himself at celebration. The next alteration in the form of chalice, which occurred in the 14th century, was to make the foot not circular in plan but polygonal or lobed, so that the cup might not roll when laid on its side to drain, after it had been rinsed out. This FIG. 18. - Elizabethan form lasted in most countries till about 1500, Chalice. and in England till the Reformation. Then the bowl, which in the previous two or three centuries had been slowly reduced in size, owing to the gradually introduced practice of refusing the wine to the laity, was suddenly made more capacious, and the form was altered to the shape shown in fig. 18, in order that the Protestant " communion cup " might bear no resemblance to the old Catholic " massing chalice." This was ordered to be done in 1562 (see Arch. Journ. xxv. 44-53). The best account of the evolution in the form of English medieval chalices and patens is by W. H. St John Hope and T. M. Fallow, in Archaeologia, vol. xliii.
Secular plate during the 15th and 16th centuries was frequently similar in style to that made in Germany, though the English silversmiths of the latter century never quite equalled the skill or artistic talent of the great Nuremberg and Augsburg silver-workers. In the 17th century, during the reigns of James I. and Charles I., many fine pieces of plate, especially tall cups and tankards, were made of very graceful form and decoration. The greater part of this, and all earlier plate, especially the fine collections belonging to the universities, were melted down during the Civil War. In Charles II.'s reign returning prosperity and the increase of luxury in England caused the production of many magnificent pieces of plate, often on a large scale, such as toilet services, wine-coolers, and even fire-dogs and other furniture. These are very florid in their ornament, much of it ' See De Fleury, La Messe (Paris, 1882), &c.
under Dutch influence, and mostly have lost the beautiful forms of the century before (fig. 19 and Plate II., fig. 29). In the early part of the 18th century the designs of English plate were to some extent influenced by the introduction of French ornaments by the large band of French silversmiths who sought refuge in England after the revocation of the edict of Nantes. Chief among these Frenchmen (though probably not a refugee himself) was Paul Lamerie, who produced a large number of notable specimens, the largest of which is a fine wine-cooler in the Winter Palace, St Petersburg. Through the greater part of the reign of George III. English plate is more remarkable for its plain solidity than for artistic merit. With the advent, however, of the talented architects, the brothers Adam, came a taste for plate with classical characteristics. The South Kensington Museum has a small, though fine, collection of plate, varying FIG. 19. - Covered Cup of Solid Gold, 6 in. high, c. 1660-1670. Given to Exeter College, Oxford, by George Hall, Bishop of Chester.
in date from 1770 to 1788, in the Adam style. Many of Flaxman's designs were produced in plate, among the most important being the " Shield of Achilles," in silver-gilt, at Windsor Castle. Thomas Stothard, the painter, executed several designs for goldsmith's work for Rundell and Bridge.
king's mar
a leopard's or lion's head crowned. This was introduced in 1300 by Edward I. (29 Edw. I. stat. 3, c. 30). The second, the maker's mark, was instituted in 1363 (37 Edw. III. c. 7). This might be any badge or initial chosen by the master silversmith himself. The third was the Year letter or assayer's mark; this was an alphabet, one letter being used for a year, counting from the day of the annual election of the warden of the Goldsmiths' Company. When one alphabet was exhausted another with differently shaped letters was begun. The earliest existing piece of plate which has the three marks is the chalice (with paten, 1479-1480), at Nettlecombe, Somerset. Other marks, subsequently introduced, were the lion passant, first used in 1544; the lion's head erased; and a full-length figure of Britannia, used only between 1697 and 1719-1720; and, lastly, the portrait of the reigning sovereign, which was used from 1784 to 1890, when the duty on gold and silver plate ceased. In addition to these general hall-marks, the plate made in various provincial towns had certain special assay and hall-marks.
The best work on hall-marked plate and the marks themselves, with the history of the Goldsmiths' Company, is C. J. Jackson's English Goldsmiths and their Marks (1905), where will be found illustrations of the marks found on plate wrought in Scotland and Ireland, and at English provincial gilds - York, Norwich, Exeter, Chester, Lincoln, Newcastle, Birmingham, Sheffield and other places. E. Alfred Jones's book, Old English Gold Plate (1907), illustrates and describes gold plate only.
Modern Plate in the East. - Though little plate of real artistic merit is now made in Europe, in the East among the Moslem and Hindu races there still survive some real taste in design and skill in execution. Delhi, Benares, Lucknow, Cutch and other places in India and Kashmir still produce a quantity of beautiful silver and gold work - chiefly ewers, basins, rose-water sprinklers, salvers, coffee-pots and the like. These are of graceful form, covered with rich repousse work, or more often with very delicate chased patterns. Their style in the main is Moslem, but some combine an Arab form with native Indian surface decoration. This class of work is not a revival, but has been practised and handed down by unbroken tradition, and with little or no change in style from the 16th century or even earlier.' The silversmiths of Persia, Damascus and other Eastern places are still skilful, and retain some good tradition in their designs. They are, however, more occupied in the production of personal ornaments than in making larger works of silver or gold.
Italian
L. Caglieri, Compendio delle vite dei santi orefici ed argentieri (1727); Il Santuario delle reliquie ossia it tesoro della basilica di S. Antonio di Padova (1851); " Stanziamenti e contratti per opere di oreficeria (XIV.-XV. cent.)," Perugia: R.Commissione Giornale, i. 333, iii. 206, 225 (1872-1874); Filangieri, Documenti per la storia, le arte e le industrie delle provincie napoletane (1883-1891); Antonio Pasini, Il Tesoro di San Marco, Venezia (2 vols., 1885-1886); " Orfevres et l'orfevrerie en Savoie," Chambery: Soc. savoisienne memoires, xxiv. 329 (1886); A. Guarneri, Esposizione di Palermo. Catalogo della collezione di antica oreficeria ed argenteria (1891); L. Fumi, Il Santuario del SS. Corporale nel duomo di Orvieto (1896); Congresso eucaristico ed esposizione di arte sacra antica in Orvieto (1897); Congresso eucaristico di Venezia (1898); A. Cocchi, Les Anciens reliquaires de Santa Maria del Fiore et de San Giovanni de Florence (1903); O. H. Giglioli, Pistoia, nelle sue opere d'arte (1904); Catalogo generale della mostra d'arte antica abruzzese in Chieti (1905); E. Manceri, Notizie di Sicilia, arte viii. 388 (1905); P. Piccirilli, Oreficeria medievale aquilana: due cimeli nel Victoria and Albert Museum di Londra (1905); F. Ferrari, L'Oreficeria in Aquila 1 See Birdwood, Industrial Arts of India (1880), p. 144.
(1906); S. J. A. Churchill, " The Goldsmiths of Rome under the Papal Authority," with valuable bibliography, Papers of British School at Rome, vol. iv. (1907); Catalogo della mostra d'antica arte Umbra (Perugia, 1907); Corrado Ricci, Il Palazzo pubblico di Siena e la mostra d'antica arte senese. Russian, &c. - A. P. Sonzoff, an illustrated book on some Russian plate (1857-1858); A. Maskell, Russian Art and Art Objects in. Russia (1884); C. de Linas, Les Origines de l'orfevrerie cloisonne;. Viollet-le-Duc, Art russe; Antiquities of the Russian Empire. Austrian and Hungarian. - B. Czobor and I. Szalay, Die historischen Denkmdler Ungarns (1897-1901); E. Radisics and J. Szendrei,, Treasure of Hungarian Art (Hung.) (Budapest, 1897-1901); J. Mihalik, " History of Goldsmiths' work at Kassa " (Hung.), in vol. xxi. of Archaeological Proceedings of Hungarian Academy (1899); " Zur Geschichte der Wiener Goldand Silberschmiedekunst," by E. Leisching, in Kunst and Kunsthandwerk, vii. 343 (1904); " Alt. Troppauer Goldschmiedekunst," by E. W. Braun, in Zeitschrift fur Geschichte ... oesterreichisch Schlesiens, i. 24 (1905); J. Hampel,. Alterthumer des friihen Mittelalters in Ungarn (Brunswick, 1907); Katalog der Ausstellung von alt-oesterreichischen Goldschmiede arbeiten (Kaiser Franz Josef Museum in Troppau); A. Ilg, Wiener Schmiedewerk. German, &c. - Manuscripts (W. Jamnitzer), " Ein gar kunstlicher and wolgetzierter Schreibtisch sampt allerhant kunstlichen silbern and vergulten newerfunden Instrumenten" (1585), col. drawings; Sibmacher, Entwiirfe fiir Goldschmiede (1879); R. Bergau, Wentzel Jamnitzer (1880); Erzeugnisse der Silber-Schmiede Kunst aus dem 16 bis 18 Jahrh. (1883); Luthmer, Der Schatz des Freiherrn K. von Rothschild (2 vols., 1883-1885); Luthmer and Schuermann, Grossherzoglich-hessische Silberkammer (1884); C. A. von Drach, Altere Silberarbeiten in den kgl. Sammlungen zu Cassel (1888);(1888); Marc Rosenberg, Der Goldschmiede Merkzeichen (1890); J. H. HefnerAlteneck, Deutsche Goldschmiede-werke des 16. Jahrh. (1890); Marc Rosenberg, 17 Blatt aus dem grossherzoglich sdchsischen Silberschatz im Schlosse zu Weimar (1891); Die Kunstkammer im grossherzoglichen Residenzschlosse zu Karlsruhe (1892); Siebzehn Blatt aus dem herzoglich Anhaltischen Silberschatz im Schlosse zu Dessau (1895) F. Sarre, Die berliner Goldschmiede Zunft (1895); P. Seidel, " Deux oeuvres de Wenzel Jamnitzer," Der Silberand Goldschatz: der Hohenzollern im kgl. Schlosse zu Berlin (1895); Gaz. des beaux arts, 3 S. xx. 221 (1898); Eugen von Nottbeck and W. Neumann, Geschichte u. Kunstdenkmeiler der Stadt Reval (1899); Bernhard Olsen, De hamburgske Guldsmede Jakob Mores d. oeldres og d. yngres Arbejder for de danske Konger Frederik II. og Christian IV. (1903), (Die Arbeiten der hamburgischen Goldschmiede Jacob Mores, Vater and Sohn, fir die deinischen Kiinige Frederick II. und Christian IV.); J. Sembritzki, Verzeichniss in Memel vorhandener, eilterer Erzeugnisse der Edelschmiedekunst (1904); H. P. Mitchell, " Two works by Wentzel Jamnitzer," Art Journal, p. 105 (1905); W. Neumann, Verzeichnis baltischer Goldschmiede, ihrer Merkzeichen and Werke (1905); E. Hintze, Die breslauer Goldschmiede (1906); E. Alfred Jones, " The gold and silver plate of W. D. von. Raitenau, prince-archbishop of Salzburg, in the Pitti Palace," Connoisseur, xviii. 20 (1907); " The Plate of the Emperor of Germany," Connoisseur, nos. 51 and 54; Illustrated Catalogue of Early German Art (Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1908); Richard Grain, Leipziger Goldand Silberschmiedearbeiten des Mittelalters (1908); A. Weiss, Das Handwerk der Goldschmiede zu Augsburg bis 1681; E. von Schauss, Die Schatzkammer des bayerischen Konigshauses; " Duke of Portland's Gold Cup," Archeologia, lix. 233. French, Burgundian, &c. - J. C. Delafosse, Nouvelle iconologie historique, fol. (1771); E. Aubert, Tresor de l'abbaye de Saint Maurice d'Agaune (1872); Mely, Le Tresor de Chartres (1886); L. Palustre et X. Barbier de Montault, Le Tresor de Treves (1886); J. D'Arbaumont et L. Marchant, Le Tresor de la Sainte-Chapelle de Dijon d'apres ses anciens inventaires (1887); C. G. Bapst, Etudes sur l'orfevrerie francaise au X VIII' siecle, le Germain, orfevressculpteurs du Roy (1887); Album de l'exposition de art ancien au pays de Liege: orfevrerie religieuse (1888); Catalogue raisonne des pieces d'orfevrerie francaise composant la collection du marquis da Foz (a Lisbonne) (1889); L'Orfevrerie francaise el la tour de Portugal au X VIII'. siecle (1892); E. Miintz, Histoire de l'art pendant la Renaissance (1891); W. Cripps, Old French Plate (1893); H. Havard, Histoire de l'orfevrerie francaise (1896); Inventaire de l'orfevrerie et des joyaux de Louis I. (1903); E. Molinier, Un Monument d'orfevrerie francaise du XIII', siecle, Soc. des antiq. de France, p. 477 (1904); F. Pasquier, " Objets precieux de la maison de Foix au quinzieme siècle," Societes des beaux arts, Memoires (1904); L. de Farcy,. " Croix de la Roche-Foulques," Revue de l'art chretien, p. 337 (1905); J. J. Marquet de Vasselot, Catalogue raisonne de la collection Martin Le Roy (1906); Histoire de art, ii. 9 88 -999 (wi t h bibliography), edited by Andre Michel (1907), &c.; A. Lefranc, 50 planches d'ancienne orfevrerie empire. Low Countries. - Van Loon, Histoire metallique des Pays-Bas (Hague, 1 73 2 - 1 737); Schaepkens, Tresor de l'art ancien en Belgique (1846); Tentoonstellung Amsterdam (illustrations), (1877); for marks on Dutch plate, see Nederlandsche Kunstbode (1879); Exposition retrospective d'objets d'art en or et en argent, Amsterdam (1880); Roddaz, L' Art ancien iz exposition nationale belge (1882); LeewardenProvincial Friesch Genootschap (1902); Catalogue of the Exhibition at Bruges (1903); Catalogue of the Exhibition at Liege (1905); J. Helbig, L' Art Mosan. Spanish. - Riano, Industrial Arts in Spain (1879); Davillier, L'Orfevrerie en Espagne (1879); Museo espan"ol de antiguedades (1879); Jose Villaamil y Castro (on Spanish chalices), Boletin de la sociedad espanola de excursiones (April, 1893); El Tesoro de la catedral de Santiago; H. P. Mitchell, Catalogue of the Silversmiths' Work in the Wyndham Cook Art Collection (1905); L. Williams, Arts and Crafts of Older Spain (1907); Don Enrique de Leguina Baron de la Vega de Hoz, La Plata espanola; Gestoso, Diccionario de artifices sevillanos. American. - J. H. Buck, Old Plate (1903); American Silver (Boston, 1906); Colonial Silverware of the 17th and .r8th centuries (1907); E. Alfred Jones, " Old American Silver Plate," Connoisseur (December, 1908).
English
H. Shaw, Dresses and Decorations of the Middle Ages (1843); Decorative Arts of the Middle Ages (1851); Bray, Life of Stothard (1851); Catalogue of the Antiquities and Works of Art exhibited at Ironmongers' Hall (1861); Catalogue of the Exhibition of Objects of Art, South Kensington (1862); W. Cripps, College and Corporation Plate (1881); Old English Plate (9th ed., 1906); R. S. Ferguson, The Old Church Plate of the Diocese of Carlisle (1882); Atkinson and Foster, Old Cambridge Plate (1883); W. A. Scott Robertson, Church Plate in Kent (1886); R. C. Hope, Church Plate in Rutland (1887); J. E. Nightingale, The Church Plate of Dorset (1889); The Church Plate of Wilts (1891); A Trollope, The Church Plate of Leicestershire (1890); F. G. Hilton Price, Handbook of London Bankers, with some account of the Early Goldsmiths (1890-1891); H. D. Ellis, The Silver Plate of the Armourers' Company (1892); The Silver Plate of the Merchant Taylors' Company (1892); " The Plate of Christ's Hospital," Trans. of the London and Middlesex Arch. Soc. (1902, new series, vol. i., pt. 4); Sir J. Watney, The Plate of the Mercers' Company (1892); Rev. T. Burns, Old Scottish Communion Plate (1892); J. Starkie Gardner, English Enamels (1894) Old Silver Work, chiefly English, 15th to 18th centuries (1902); " Charles II. Silver at Welbeck," Burlington Mag. vol. vii. nos. 25 and 26; " Silver Plate of the Duke of Newcastle," Burlington Mag. vol. viii. no. 32; " Silver Plate of the Duke of Rutland," Burlington Mag. vols., viii. and ix. nos. 36 and 37; C. A. Markham, The Church Plate of the County of Northampton (1894); Handbook to Foreign Hallmarks (1898); E. H. Freshfield, The Communion Plate of the Churches in the City of London (1894); The Communion Plate of the County of London (1895); The Communion Plate of Middlesex (1897); The Communion Plate of Essex (1899);; Sir W. Prideaux, Memorials of the Goldsmiths' Company (1896); L. Jewitt and W. H. St John Hope, The Corporation Plate, &c., of England and Wales (1895) W. Chaffers, Gilda Aurifabrorum (1896); Hall Marks on Gold and Silver Plate (1905); Cyril Davenport, The English Regalia (1897); Haslewood, Church Plate of Suffolk (1897); G. E. Halliday, Llandaff Church Plate (1901); A. Butler, " The Old English Silver of the Innholders' Company," Connoisseur (1901), i. 236; " The Old English Silver of the Skinners' Company," Connoisseur (1903), v. 201, vi. 33; Percy lIcQuoid, " The Plate of Winchester College," Burlington Mag. (1903) ii. 149; " Evolution in English Plate," Burlington Mag. (1903) i. 16 7, 359; The History of English Furniture (1904, &c.); Stanhope and Moffatt, The Church Plate of the County of Hereford, (1903); Guide to the Early Christian and Byzantine Antiquities, British Museum (1903); General Guide to the Art Collections (Gold and Silver), Science and Art Museum, Dublin (1903); Montague Howard, Old London Silver (1903); E. Radford, " The Church Plate of St Lawrence Jewry," Connoisseur (1904), viii. 72; H. F. N. Jourdain, History of the Mess Plate of the 88th Regiment (1904); T. M. Fallow, " Yorkshire Plate and Goldsmiths," Journal of Arch. Inst. of Great Britain (1904), lxi. 74; J. T. Evans, The Church Plate of Pembrokeshire (1905) .; The Church Plate of Gloucestershire (1906); The Church Plate of Carmarthenshire (1908); C. H. Ashdown, Notes on the Corporation Plate and Insignia of the City of St Alban (1905); H. C. Casley, " An Ipswich Worker of Elizabethan Church Plate," SuffolkInst. of Arch. and Nat. Hist. (1905) vol. xii. pt. 2; F. Guy Laking, The Furniture of Windsor Castle (1905); H. C. Moffatt, Old Oxford Plate (1906); J. W. Caldicott, The Values of Old English Silver and Sheffield Plate (1906); E. Alfred Jones, " The Old Silver Sacramental Vessels of English Nonconformity," Mag. of Fine Arts (1906), i. 280, 371; The Church Plate of the Diocese of Bangor (1906); The Old Church Plate of the Isle of Man (1907); The Old Silver Sacramental Vessels of Foreign Protestant Churches in England (1907); Old English Gold Plate (1907); Illustrated Catalogue of Leopold de Rothschild's Collection of Plate (1907) Two Illustrated Catalogues of J. Pierpont Morgan's Collection of Plate (1907-1908); " Old Plate at the Dublin Exhibition, 1907," Connoisseur (Dec. 1907); " English Plate at the Church Congress, Great Yarmouth," Burlington Mag. vol. xii. no. 57 (Dec. 1907); The Old Plate at the Tower of London (1908); " The Civic Plate, Regalia, &c., of the Norfolk Boroughs," Memorials of Old Norfolk (1908); The Old English Plate of the Czar of Russia (1909); The Old Plate of the Cambridge Colleges (1909); " Some Old Plate in the possession of Lord Mostyn," Burlington Mag.; " The Plate of Tesus College, Oxford," Y Cymmrodor, vol. xvii.; Guide to the Medieval Room, British Museum (1907); Nelson Dawson, Goldsmiths' and Silversmiths' Work (1907); T. S. Ball, Chester Church Plate (1908); R. H. Cocks, Concerning some Treasures of the Vintners' Company; Hope and Fallow, " English Medieval Chalices and Patens," Arch. Journal, xliii. 140; C. J. Jackson, " The Spoon and its History," Archaeologia, vol. liii.; G. R. French, " The Plate of the Vintners' Company," London and Middlesex Arch. Soc. Trans. vol. iii.; " The Plate of the Mercers' Company," London and Middlesex Arch. Soc. Trans. vol. iv.; J. G. Nichols, " The Plate of the Stationers' Company," London and Middlesex Arch. Soc. Trans. vol. ii.; Article on " Drinking and other Horns," in Chester Arch. Soc. Journal, new series, vol. xi.; Somerset Arch. Soc. xlv. 2; Oxfordshire Arch. Soc. Proc. vols. xxvi., xxiv.; Norfolk Archaeology. Designs, &c. - J. Giardini, loo Designs for Silversmiths' Work, (pub. in Rome, 1750); A. W. Pugin, Designs for Goldand Silversmiths, (1836); Andronet du Cerceau, Ornemens d'orfevrerie propres pour flanquer et emailler: nouveau livre d'ornemens d'orfevrerie (pub. Paris, c. 1660, London, 1888); H. Bouchot, Cent modbles inedits de l'orfevrerie francaise des 17 e et 18 e siecles executes par les orfevressculpteurs royaux Nic. de Launay, J. J. Roettiers, T. Germain, F. T. Germain et reproduits d'apres les dessins originaux de la bibliotheque nat. (1888); Le Cabinet des estampes de la bibliotheque nationale (1895); Reproductions of Paul Flindt's designs for goldsmiths' work, published 1888; Reproductions d'anciennes gravures d'orfevrerie hollandaise (1892-1900); Collection of illustrations entitled Die Schatzkammer des Bayer-Konigshauses (1902). For an account of the original drawings for silversmiths' work in the museum at Basle see Jahrbiicher der kgl. preuss. Kunstsammlungen (1905); Illustrated reproductions of goldsmiths' designs by the Dutch silversmith, Adam Vianen; Etienne Delaune (1519-1583), Reproductions of his goldsmiths' ornaments, Paris; J. F. Forty, Oeuvres d'orfevrerie d l'usage des eglises; J. C. Reiff ,(18 Jahrh.), 4 Blatt sehr schone Zierrathen fur Goldschmiede, &c.; Giardini, Promptuarium artis argentariae (Rome, 1750); Holbein, Original Designs for Plate, in the Print Room, British Museum, and in the Bodleian at Oxford (the South Kensington Museum also has a fine collection of original 16th-century designs in pen and ink); Viane, Models of Silver Vases, &c. (Utrecht, 17th cent.); Loie, Brasiers... et autres ouvrages de orfevrerie, and Nouveaux dessins de gueridons, &c. (Paris, n.d.); Maria, Livre de dessins de jouaillerie, &c. (Paris, n.d.); Portefeuille d'ornement (Paris, 1841).
MISCELLANEOUS
Hertfelder, Basilica SS. Udalrici et Afrae (Augsburg, 1627); Masson, Neue Vorrisse von Sachen die auf allerlei Goldsmidts Arbeit, &c. (Augsburg, 1710); Christyn, Delices des PaysBas (1769), vol. iii.; Frisi, Memorie della chiesa Monzese (1774-1780); Shaw, Ancient Plate from Oxford (1837); Du Sommerard, Les Arts au moyen age (1838-1848); Kratz, Der Dom zu Hildesheim (1840); Richardson, Old English Mansions and their Plate (1841-1848); Drawings and Sketches of Elizabethan Plate (London, n.d.); Tarbe, Tresors des eglises de Reims (1843); Smith, " Specimens of College Plate," Cam. Ant. Soc. (1845); Cahier and Martin, Melanges d'archeologie (1847-1856); Filimoroff, Plate, Jewellery, &c., in the Musee d'Armures at St Petersburg (Moscow, 1849); Schotel, La Coupe de van Nispen (1850); H. Emanuel, Catalogue of the Principal Works of Art in Gold, Silver and Jewels shown at the International Exhibition (1851); King, Metal Work of the Middle Ages (1852); Becker and Hefner-Alteneck, Kunstwerke and Gerdtschaften (Frankfort, 1852-1857); Fleury, Tresor de la cathedrale de Laon (1855); Heider, Mittelalterliche Kunstdenkmale (1856-1860); Der Altaraufsatz zu Klosterneuburg (1860); Aus'm Weerth, Kunstdenkmdler des christlichen Mittelalters in den Rheinlanden (Leipzig, 1857-1860); Texier, Dictionnaire d'orfevrerie (1857); Bock, Das heilige Köln (1858); Der Reliquienschatz. zu Aachen (1860); Der Kronleuchter Kaisers Barbarossa zu Aachen (1864); Die Kleinodien des heil. romischen Reiches (1864); Viollet-le-Duc, Dictionnaire du mobilier (1858-1875); Darcel, articles in Gaz. des beaux-arts, " L'Orfevrerie du moyen-age " (1859) iv. 224, " La Collection Soltykoff " (1861) lx. 212, " Les Tresors de Cologne " (1861) xxiii. 98, " Les Tresors de la cathedrale de Reims " (1881) xxiii. 98; Way, " Gold Crowns from Toledo, and St Fillan's Crozier," in Arch. Journ. (1859), vol. xvi., and " Ancient Ornaments," ibid. vol. iii.; F. W. Fairholt, Illustrated Catalogue of Lord Londesborough's Collection of Plate (1860); De Lasteyrie, Tresor de Guarrazar (Paris, 1860); Histoire de l'orfevrerie (1875); Coussemaker, Orfevrerie du XIII e siecle (Paris, 1861); Linas, Orfevrerie merovingienne (1864); Labarte, Histoire des arts au moyen-dge (1864-1866); Baldus, Recueil d'ornements (Paris, 1866), Quarterly Review, cxli. 353; Strada, Entwiirfe fur Prachtgefdsse in Silber and Gold (Vienna, 1869); Zeitschrift des Kunst-Gewerbe-Vereins zu Munchen (1871); La Croix, Arts in the Middle Ages (1870); Keller, Autotypes of Italian Designs for Plate (London, 1871); Aubert, Tresor de l'abbaye d'Agaune (Paris, 1872); Kulmer, Die Kunst des Gold-Arbeiters, &c. (Weimar, 1872); Schorn, Kunst and Gewerbe (1874, seq.); Fabre, Tresor. .. des ducs de Savoie (1875); Jacquemart, Histoire du mobilier (1876); Hirth, Formenschatz der Renaissance (Leipzig, 1877, seq.); Danko, Graner Domschdtze (1880); Luthmer, Goldschmuck der Renaissance (Berlin, 1880); Wheatley and Delamotte, Art Work in Gold and Silver (1882); A. Heyden, Das Tafelsilber and Silberarbeiten ihrer kgl. Iloheiten des Prinzen u. der Prinzessin Wilhelm v. Preussen, Festgeschenk zu hiichstderen Vermdhlung am 27. Februar 1881 dargebracht von preussischen Stddten (1883-1884); J. and C. Jeidels,Catalogue of Collection of Plate, 16th-18th Centuries (1883); Greco and Emanuel, Arts of the Goldsmith and Jeweller (1883); I. F. Sick, Notice sur les ouvrages en or et argent des rois de Denmark (1884); Julius Lessing, " Der Silber Altar in Riigenwalde," Konig. preuss. Kunstsammlungen Jahrbuch (1885), vi. 58; Gold and Silber (1907); C. Pulsky, E. Radisics and E. Molinier, Chefs-d'oeuvre d'orfevrerie ayant figure a l'exposition de Budapest (2 vols., 1886); R. von Kulmer, Handbuch fur Gold u. Silberarbeiter u. Juweliere (1887); E. Molinier, " Le Tresor de Saint Marc a Venise," Gaz. des beaux-arts, 2nd series, vols. xxxv., xxxvii., xxxviii., 3rd series, vol. i. (1887-1889); Le Tresor de la cathedrale de Coire (1895) Catalogue of Baron Adolphe de Rothschild's collection of Objects of Art (1902); A. Darcel, " Les Collections Spitzer," Gaz. des beaux-arts, 2nd series, xxxviii. 225 (1888); L. Gmelin, Alte Handzeichnungen nach dem verlorenen Kirchenschatz der St-Michaels-Hofkirche zu Miinchen (1888); A. Ilg, Kunsthistorisches Hofmuseum, &c. (1891) Arbeiten der Goldschmiedeu. Steinschlifftechnik (1895); Kunsthistorische Sammlungen des allerhochsten Kaiserhauses: Arbeiten der Goldschmiedeund Steinschlifftechnik (1895); E. Marchal, La Sculpture et les chefsd'oeuvre de l'orfevrerie belges (1895); B. Czobor, Les Insignes royaux de Hongrie (1896); W. Froehner, Collections de château de Goluchow: l'orfevrerie (1897) R. Hausmann, Der Silberschatz der St Nickolaikirche zu Reval (1 ' 899); Warner Silfersparres nya grafiska aktiebolag (Stockholm, 1900); F. R. Martin, Schwedische koniggliche Geschenke an russische Zaren, 1647-1699 (1900); Deinische Silberscheitze aus der Zeit Christians IV. aufbewahrt in der kaiserlichen Schatzkammer zu Moskau (1900); J. Starkie Gardner, Catalogue of the Collection of Silversmiths' work of European Origin (Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1901); A. Pit, Het goud en zilverwerk in het Nederlandsch Museum, &c. (1901); Kaiserliche Ermitage, St Petersburg, Fuhrer durch die Peter-Gallerie (1901); Illustrated Catalogue of the Waddesdon Bequest, British Museum (1902); H. L. Tilly, The Silver Work of Burma (1902); P. Eudel, L'Orfevrerie algerienne et tunisienne (1902); H. Barth, Das Geschmiede (1903) H. Wilson, Silverwork and Jewellery (1903); H. P. Mitchell, " A Medieval Silver Chalice from Iceland," Burlington Mag. (1903) ii. 70, 357; E. Ducharne and P. Vialettes, Manuel de l'orfevre: la garantie du titre des ouvrages d'or et d'argent (1904); W. Stengel, Formalikonographie (Detailaufnahmen) der Gefeisse auf den Bildern der Anbetung der Konige (1904); " Le Musk WilletHolthuysen: l'orfevrerie et l'argenterie," Art flamand er hollandais (1905), iv. 29; O. M. Dalton, Treasure of the Oxus (1905); H. H. Cunynghame, European Enamels (1906); Rosenberg, Geschichte der Goldschmiedekunst auf technischer Grundlage, Abteilung: Niello (1907); ibid. Abteilung: Aushangebogen (1908); Nelson Dawson, Goldsmiths' and Silversmiths' Work (1907); " Ecclesiastical Goldsmiths' Work in the Coast Towns of Istria and Dalmatia," The Builder, xciii. nos. 3384 and 3385; L. Forrer, Dictionary of Medallists, &c. (in progress), 8 vols.; T. Olrik, Drikkehorn (wassail horns), in progress; Thieme and Becker, Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Kiinstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart. (E. A. J.)
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Bibliography Information
Chisholm, Hugh, General Editor. Entry for 'Plate'. 1911 Encyclopedia Britanica. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/bri/p/plate.html. 1910.
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