Chap. VI. valuable estate of Halsteads in Lonsdale (Yorkshire), under Book III, the will of the last male-heir of that family, and on his early death he was succeeded by his brother, the benefactor. BENEFAC TORS OF DAYS. Truly a benefactor.' To purposes of public charity he RECENT bequeathed not less than seven thousand pounds, and bequeathed that sum with wise forethought, and with Christian generality of view. He founded and munificently endowed Professorships of Art at each of the ancient Universities, and at University College in London. To the British Museum he gave the splendid bequest about to be described, which had been selected with exquisite taste, knowledge and judgment, and which, under such rare conditions of purchase, had cost him more than twenty-five thousand pounds. I describe it in the precise words—chiefly from the pen of one of his Executors-which are used in the Return to Parliament of 1869 :- The collection of glass THE SLADE and other antiquities bequeathed to the Nation by the late Felix SLADE, Esq., F.S.A., includes about nine hundred and TIES. fifty specimens of ancient glass, selected with care, so as to represent most of the phases through which the art of glassworking has passed. Collected in the first instance with a view to artistic beauty alone, the series has been since gradually enriched with historical specimens, as well as with curiosities of manufacture, so as to illustrate the history of glass in all its branches. 'Of early Egyptian glass there are not many examples in the collection; one of some interest is a case for holding the stibium, used by the Egyptian ladies for the eye, and which is in the form of a papyrus sceptre. The later productions of Egypt are represented by some very minute specimens of mosaic glass, formed of slender filaments. of various colours fused together, and cut into transverse sections. MUSEUM OF ANTIQUI 1869. BOOK III. OTHER TORS OF RECENT DAYS. Account of Slade Museum, in the Parlia mentary To the Phoenicians have been attributed the making of many little vases of peculiar form and ornamentation that are met with, not unfrequently, in tombs on the shores of the Mediterranean. They are of brilliant colours, with zigzag decoration, and exhibit the same technical peculiarities, so that they must have been derived from one centre of fabrication. Of these vases there is a considerable series, showing most of the varieties of form and colour that are known. The collection is especially rich in vessels moulded into singular shapes, found principally in Syria and the neighbouring islands, and which were probably produced in the workshops of Sidon, but at a later time; possibly as late as the Roman dominion. The Museum Collections were previously very ill provided with such specimens. To the same date must belong a vase handle, stamped with the name of ARTAS the Sidonian, in Greek and Latin characters. 'Of Roman glass there is a great variety, as might be expected from the skill shown in glass-making during the Imperial times of Rome. Large vases were not especially sought after by Mr. SLADE, but two fine cinerary urns may A. W. Franks, be noticed, remarkable not only for their form, but for the beautiful iridescent colours with which time has clothed them. There is also a very fine amber-coloured ewer, with blue filaments round the neck, which was found in the Greek Archipelago; an elegant jug or bottle with diagonal flutings, found at Barnwell, near Cambridge, and a brown bottle, splashed with opaque white, from Germany. Of cut glass, an art which it was formerly denied that the Romans possessed, there are good examples; such, for instance, is a boat-shaped vase of deep emerald hue, and of the same make apparently as the Sacro Catino of Genoa; a Returns of 1869. Chap. VI. BENEFAC TORS OF DAYS. bowl cut into facets, found near Merseburg, in Germany; Book III, and a cup, similarly decorated, found near Cambridge. OTHER The last two specimens are of a brilliant clear white, imitating rock crystal, a variety of glass much esteemed by the RECENT Romans. Several vessels found in Germany are remarkable for having patterns in coloured glass, trailed as it were over the surface. There are two very fine bowls of millefiori glass, one of them with patches of gold, and very numerous polished fragments illustrating the great variety and taste shown by the ancients in such vessels. Two vases exhibit designs in intaglio; one of them, a subject with figures; the other, a bowl found near Merseburg, exhibits the story of Diana and Actæon; the goddess is kneeling at a pool of water in a grotto; Actæon is looking on, and a reflection of his head with sprouting horns may be distinguished in the water at the goddess's feet; to prevent any mistake, the names of the personages, in Greek, are added. This bowl may be of a late date, probably early Byzantine. Of vases decorated in cameo, fragments alone are to be found in the collection; but as only four entire vases are known, this is not surprising. One of the fragments seems to be part of a large panel which has represented buildings, &c., and has on it remains of a Greek inscription. There are several glass cameos and intaglios, the representatives of original gems that have long since been lost; one of the cameos is a head of AUGUSTUS; another represents an Egyptian princess; whilst among the intaglios are several of great excellence; of these should particularly be noticed a blue paste representing Achilles wounded in the heel, and crouching down behind his rich shield, a gem worthy of the best period of Greek art. One of the rarest specimens in the collection is a circular medallion of glass, on which is painted a gryphon; the colours appear to be burnt in, and BOOK III, TORS OF RECENT it is therefore a genuine specimen of ancient painting on glass, of which but three other instances are known. In the fourth and fifth century it was the habit to ornament the bottoms of bowls and cups with designs in gold, either fixed to the surface or enclosed between two layers of glass. These specimens have generally been found in the Catacombs of Rome; but two or three have been found at Cologne, one of which is in the collection. It is the remains of a disc of considerable size, with a central design, now destroyed; around are eight compartments, with subjects from the Old and New Testaments: Moses striking the Rock, the History of Jonah, Daniel in the Lions' Den, the Fiery Furnace, the Sacrifice of Isaac, the Nativity, and the Paralytic Man; of these, the Nativity is a very rare representation. 'Of glass of a Teutonic origin there is but one specimen in the collection, a tumbler of peculiar form, from a cemetery at Selzen, in Rhenish Hesse. Like other glasses of the time, it is so made that it cannot be put down until it has been emptied, and thus testifies to the convivial habits of the Teutons. 'Of early Byzantine glass but little is known; the bowl with Diana and Actæon, already noticed, is very probably of that period; and a Byzantine cameo with the head of CHRIST should be mentioned. 'Of glass of the middle ages, from the West of Europe, but little or nothing has been preserved save the exquisite painted glass in cathedrals and churches. Of the Eastern glass of the same period several specimens are in the collection. Among these is a very beautiful bottle, probably of the thirteenth century, decorated with a minute pattern of birds; a lamp of large size, made in Syria to hang in a mosque, bears the name of SHEIKHOо, a man of great wealth and importance in Egypt and Syria, who died in 1356, after BOOK III, building a mosque at Cairo. Chap. VI. TORS OF DAYS. To a later period of the Eastern glass works may be referred an ewer of a sapphire blue, resplendent with gold RECENT arabesques, and several other richly decorated pieces, all made in Persia. Venice for many centuries held the foremost place among the makers of glass. Enriched, to begin with, by her very extensive trade in beads, she received gladly the Byzantine workers in glass, who had been driven out of Constantinople by the Turks. Henceforward the variety of her glass wares increased, and must have brought much profit. The earliest glass vases which can with certainty be referred to Venice are of the fifteenth century; of these, a large covered cup with gilt ribs is remarkable for its early date and size. The two finest specimens are, however, two goblets richly enameled; one of them is blue, with a triumph of Venus; the other green, with two portraits. These were the choicest specimens in the DEBRUGE and SOLTYKOFF Collections successively, and were obtained by Mr. SLADE, for upwards of four hundred pounds, at the sale of the latter collection. Among other enameled specimens may be noticed three shallow bowls, or dishes, with heraldic devices: one has the arms of Pope LEO X, 1513-1521; another those of LEONARDO LOREDANO, Doge of Venice, 1501-1521; and the third the arms of FABRIZIO CARETTO, Grand Master of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, 1513-1521. "The blown glasses of Venice are numerous and well selected, exhibiting great beauty of outline and variety of design. Among them should be especially remarked, a very tall covered cup, surmounted with a winged serpent, from the BERNAL Collection; and two drinking glasses, with enameled flowers forming the stems. 1 |