DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7597#0346
CHAP. IV.]
DISCOVERED AT PARIS.
309
? that the inscription on the scroll held by the two little angels at
" the top of the composition, ASSVMPTA EST MARIA IN
" CELVM, was reversed; and having discovered the titles of the
« two Saints on their knees, AGOSTI, ANBRUS, likewise in
" characters the reverse way, I became thoroughly convinced that
" I had found a print, and not either a drawing or a tracing. The
" suspicion, however, that this print might have been copied and
" engraved from the original Pax, by some anonymous artist,
" curbed my joy, and prevented me from making known my dis-
" covery to any one.
" After having continued my labours in that magnificent col-
« lection for six months, I went to see the prints in the possession
" of Mr. Alibert, one of the first print-merchants of Paris; and, upon -
" opening a portfolio, I observed, pasted upon the first sheet, two
" vignettes from the famous Dante of 1481, an amorous subject by
" an anonymous German artist, and above, a design, with a broad
" margin, under Avhich was written as follows : ' This is the design
" exact, and careful in every part, and of the same dimensions, of
" the Silver Pax, which was gilt, enamelled,* and worked in niello,
" by Maso Finiguerra, and is preserved in the church of S. Gio-
" vanni, at Florence; of which Vasari speaks, especially in the
" life of Marc Antonio Raimondi; and Baldinucci, in his treatise
** on the Art of Engraving on Copper. In its weight it corresponds
«* with the authentic record, which Ant. Francesco Gori, public
*f reader of history to the Florentine Academy, discovered in
" the great journal, marked A A. 1452, preserved in the archives
" of the said Church. Its weight is fifty-five ounces, and eleven
** denari.'
* Many writers have erroneously con-
founded works of niello with such as were
executed in enamel; and, amongst the rest,
Mr. Strutt, in his Dictionary of Engravers.—
The enamel, which is here spoken of, was
probably used in small compartments of the
ornamental frame by which the engraved
plate was surrounded. The union of engrav-
ing, niello, enamel, and chiselled work, was
not unfrequent in the same piece of plate.
DISCOVERED AT PARIS.
309
? that the inscription on the scroll held by the two little angels at
" the top of the composition, ASSVMPTA EST MARIA IN
" CELVM, was reversed; and having discovered the titles of the
« two Saints on their knees, AGOSTI, ANBRUS, likewise in
" characters the reverse way, I became thoroughly convinced that
" I had found a print, and not either a drawing or a tracing. The
" suspicion, however, that this print might have been copied and
" engraved from the original Pax, by some anonymous artist,
" curbed my joy, and prevented me from making known my dis-
" covery to any one.
" After having continued my labours in that magnificent col-
« lection for six months, I went to see the prints in the possession
" of Mr. Alibert, one of the first print-merchants of Paris; and, upon -
" opening a portfolio, I observed, pasted upon the first sheet, two
" vignettes from the famous Dante of 1481, an amorous subject by
" an anonymous German artist, and above, a design, with a broad
" margin, under Avhich was written as follows : ' This is the design
" exact, and careful in every part, and of the same dimensions, of
" the Silver Pax, which was gilt, enamelled,* and worked in niello,
" by Maso Finiguerra, and is preserved in the church of S. Gio-
" vanni, at Florence; of which Vasari speaks, especially in the
" life of Marc Antonio Raimondi; and Baldinucci, in his treatise
** on the Art of Engraving on Copper. In its weight it corresponds
«* with the authentic record, which Ant. Francesco Gori, public
*f reader of history to the Florentine Academy, discovered in
" the great journal, marked A A. 1452, preserved in the archives
" of the said Church. Its weight is fifty-five ounces, and eleven
** denari.'
* Many writers have erroneously con-
founded works of niello with such as were
executed in enamel; and, amongst the rest,
Mr. Strutt, in his Dictionary of Engravers.—
The enamel, which is here spoken of, was
probably used in small compartments of the
ornamental frame by which the engraved
plate was surrounded. The union of engrav-
ing, niello, enamel, and chiselled work, was
not unfrequent in the same piece of plate.