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BOOK III,
Chap. VI.

OTHER
BENEFAC-

TORS OF

RECENT
DAYS.

Franks, as above.

'The coloured vases display most of the hues made at Venice; ruby, purple, green, and blue, as well as an opalescent white and an opaque white, the latter often diversified with splashes of other colours. To these To these may be added various imitations of agate, avanturine, &c. Another Another peculiar fabric of Venice is well illustrated, the frosted glass belonging generally to an early period.

In the production of millefiori glass the Venetians did not equal the ancients, either in harmony of colour or variety of design. The rosettes were formed of sections of canes, such as were employed in making beads. The specimens of this glass are rare, but there are not less than seven pieces so ornamented in the collection.

'Of lace glass, one of the most remarkable productions of Venice, and which nowhere has been carried to such perfection, there are many fine specimens, both in form and delicacy of pattern, as there are likewise of the variety called reticelle. Among the latter is a tall covered cup with snakes on the cover and in the stem; there should also be noticed a drinking glass, in the stem of which is enclosed a half sequin of the Doge FRANCESCO MOLINO, 1647.

'Of unquestionably ancient French glass but few specimens are known. This adds much to the value of a goblet in the collection, with enameled portrait of Jehan BOUCAU and his wife Antoinette, made about 1530.

'German glass is fully represented: the earlier specimens are richly decorated with enamel, chiefly heraldic devices; they are dated 1571, 1572, &c. A few are painted like window glass, and among them is a cylindrical cup, dated 1662, on which is depicted the procession at the christening of MAXIMILIAN EMMANUEL, afterwards Elector of Bavaria. The later German specimens are engraved, and some of them by artists of note. Of ruby glass, another production

Chap. VI.

BENEFAC

for which Germany was famed, there are good specimens; BOOK 111, 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.

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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
DAYS.

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, œnochos 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

Chap. VI.

OTHER

BENEFAC

TORS OF

RECENT

DAYS.

them made at Nevers, another of Avignon ware, and the BOOK III, third probably Venetian-all three are rare specimens ; an oval plate of niello work on silver, and a silver plate engraved 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.

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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, mentary George Wille, Faithorne, Hogarth, L. A. B. Desnoyers, F. Returns of Forster, Sir R. Strange, William Woollett, Porporati,

in Parlia

1869.

BOOK III, Chap. VI. OTHER

BENEFAC

TORS OF

RECENT
DAYS.

THE SPECI-
MENS OF
PRINTING

AND BIND

ING IN THE

LECTION.

Pefetti, Pietro Anderloni, Raphael Morghen, Giuseppe
Longhi, Garavaglio, and others. There are also some rare
English portraits and book-illustrations.

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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 EMYLIUS, De 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 VINTE MILLE (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.

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