Chap. VI. BENEFAC for which Germany was famed, there are good specimens; BOOK III, one bears the cypher of JOHN GEORGE IV, Elector of OTHER Saxony, another that of FREDERICK THE FIRST. KUNCKEL, to whom these glasses are attributed, was successively in RECENT the service of both princes. Though glass was early made in Flanders, the most ancient specimens in the collection under this head have been regarded as Venetian glasses decorated in the Low Countries. If made at Venice, they must, from certain peculiarities of form, have been designed for the Flemish and Dutch markets. The ornaments are etched, and contain allusions to the political events of the country: for instance, the arms of the seventeen provinces chained to those of Spain, and dated 1655; a portrait of PHILIP IV; WILLIAM II of Orange; his wife, MARY OF ENGLAND; Olden BarnevELDT, &c. Some of the later specimens are engraved on the lathe in a very ornamental manner, and others delicately stippled. One of the latter bears the name of F. GREENWOOD, and others are attributed to WOLF. 'In English glass the collection is not rich, the difficulty of identifying such specimens being very great; some of them are referred to the works at Bristol, which produced ornamental glass about a century ago. 'Some valuable additions to the collection of glass have been received from the Executors of Mr. SLADE, purchased by them out of funds set aside for the purpose. They are nineteen in number, and among them may be especially noticed a very fine Oriental bottle with elaborate patterns in gold and enamel, together with figures of huntsmen, &c. It may be referred to the fourteenth century, and was formerly in the possession of a noble family at Wurzburg. Two specimens of Chinese glass, dated in the reign of the Em TORS OF DAYS. Book III, Chap. VI. OTHER BENEFAC TORS OF RECENT Franks, as above. peror KIEN-LUNG, 1736-1796; and several ancient Flemish and Dutch glasses. 'By the acquisition of the SLADE Collection the series of ancient and more recent glass in the British Museum has probably become more extensive, as well as more instructive, than any other public collection of the kind, and it will afford ample materials for study both to the artist and the antiquary. In addition to his collection of glass, Mr. SLADE has bequeathed to the Museum a small series of carvings in ivory and metal work, from Japan, which are full of the humour and quaintness which characterise the art of that country. 'He has likewise bequeathed to the Museum such of the miscellaneous works of art in his possession as should be selected by one of his Executors, Mr. FRANKS. The objects so selected are not numerous, but include some valuable additions to the National Collection. 'Among them may be noticed the following:-Two very beautiful Greek painted vases, œnochoæ with red figures of a fine style; these were two of the gems of the DURAND and HOPE Collections successively; also a fine tazza, with red figures very well drawn, formerly in the ROGERS Collection. Two red bowls of the so-called Samian ware, with ornaments in relief; one of them was discovered near Capua, the other is believed to have been found in Germany; an antique hand, in rock crystal, of which a drawing by Santo BARTOLI is preserved in the Royal Library at Windsor, and a small Roman vase of onyx; a panel, probably from a book cover, a fine example of German enamel of the twelfth century, from the PREAUX Collection; a very fine flaskshaped vase of Italian majolica, probably of Urbino ware, and representing battle scenes; three elegant ewers, one of BOOK III, Chap. VI. BENEFAC RECENT DAYS. them made at Nevers, another of Avignon ware, and the third probably Venetian-all three are rare specimens; an oval plate of niello work on silver, and a silver plate en- TORS OF graved in the style of CRISPIN DE PASSE; three early specimens of stamped leather work, commonly termed cuirbouilli; a tile from the Alhambra, but probably belonging Franks, as to the restorations made to that building in the sixteenth century. The value of Mr. SLADE'S bequest is considerably increased by a very detailed and profusely illustrated catalogue of the Collection which, having been prepared during his lifetime, will be completed and distributed, according to his directions. above. 'Since the CRACHERODE bequest, which formed the nucleus of the British Museum Print Collections, no acquisition of the kind approaches the bequest of Mr. SLADE in rare and choice specimens of etchings and engravings, wherein nearly every artist of distinction is represented. The collection comprises rare specimens of impressions from Nielli and prints of the School of Baldini; fine examples of some of the best productions of Andrea Mantegna, Zoan Andrea Vavassori, Girolamo Mocetto, Giovanni Battista del Porto, Jean Duvet, Marc Antonio, with his scholars and followers, the master of the year 1466; Martin Schongauer, Israel van Meckenen, Albert Dürer, Lucas van Leyden, Hans Burgmair, Lucas Cranach, Matheus Zazinger, the Behams, Rembrandt, Vandyck, Adrian Ostade, Paul Potter, Karl du Jardin, Jan Both, N. Berghem, Agostino Caracci, Wenceslaus Hollar, Cornelius Visscher, Crispin and Simon de Passe, S. à Bolswert, Houbraken, G. W. Reid, L. Vorsterman, Jacques Callot, Claude Mellan, Nanteuil, George Wille, Faithorne, Hogarth, L. A. B. Desnoyers, F. Returns of Forster, Sir R. Strange, William Woollett, Porporati, in Parlia 1869. BOOK III, OTHER TORS OF RECENT DAYS. THE SPECI- AND BIND ING IN THE LECTION. Pefetti, Pietro Anderloni, Raphael Morghen, Giuseppe MYLIUS, De The specimens of binding from the SLADE Collection (now placed in the Printed Book Department), continues the Report of 1869, are twenty-three in number, chiefly of foreign execution, and afford examples of the style of SLADE COL- PADELOUP, DUSSEUIL, DEROME, and other eminent binders. One of the volumes, an edition of PAULUS gestis Francorum (Paris, 1555, 8vo), is a beautiful specimen of the French style of the period, with the sides and back richly ornamented in the Grolier manner. An Italian translation of the works of Horace (Venice, 1581, 4to), is of French execution, richly tooled, and bears the arms of HENRY III of France. A folio volume of the Reformation der Stadt Nürnberg (Frankfort, 1566), which is a magnificent specimen of contemporary German binding, formerly belonged to the Emperor MAXIMILIAN THE SECOND, whose arms are painted on the elegantly goffered gilt edges. An edition of PTOLEMY'S Geographicæ Narrationis libri octo (Lyons, 1541, fol.) affords a fine illustration of the Italian style of about that date. The copy of a French translation of XENOPHON'S Cyropædia, by Jacques de VINTEMILLE (Paris, 1547, 4to), appears to have been bound for King EDWARD VI, of England, whose arms and cypher are on the sides, while the rose is five times worked in gold on the back. A volume of Bishop HALL'S Contemplations on the Old Testament (London, 1626, 8vo), in olive morocco contemporary English binding, has the Royal arms in the centre of the sides, and appears to have been the dedication copy of King CHARLES THE FIRST.' It is proposed, concludes the Report, to exhibit some of the most beautiful specimens comprised in Mr. SLADE'S valuable donation, in one of the select cases in the King's Library. T. Watts, in Returns, as above. BOOK III, Chap. VI. BENEFAC Mr. SLADE also bequeathed three thousand pounds for the augmentation, by his Executors, of his Collection of OTHER Ancient Glass, and five thousand pounds to be by them expended in the restoration of the parish church of Thorn- RECENT ton-in-Lonsdale. TORS OF DAYS. AND HIS TIONS OF Philip VON SIEBOLD was born at Wurtzburg, in February, VONSIEBOLD 1796, and in the university of that town he received his JAPANESE education. He adopted the profession of medicine, but COLLEC devoted himself largely to the study of natural history. In 1823-8. the joint capacity of physician and naturalist, he accompanied the Dutch Embassy to Japan in the year 1823. He was a true lover of humanity, as well as a lover of science. Many Japanese students were taught by him both the curative arts, and the passion for doing good to their fellowmen, which ought to be the condition of their exercise and practice. He won the respect of the Japanese, but his ardent pursuit of knowledge brought him into great peril. In 1828 he was about to return to Europe, laden with scientific treasures, when he was suddenly seized and imprisoned for having procured access to an official map of the Empire, in order to improve his knowledge of its topography. His imprisonment lasted thirteen months. At last he was liberated, and ordered to do what he was just about to do when arrested. (SIEBOLD, says his biographer, kam mit der Verbannung davon.) But his banishment was not perpetual. In 1859, he returned. He won favour and employment from the then Tycoon. He returned to his birthplace in 1862, and died there in October, 1866. Of his second library, Mr. WATTS wrote thus:—' The collection of Japanese books was one of two formed by Dr. |
