DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5009#0288
264 HANDBOOK OF AllCIUEOLOGY.
seated on a throne. Scrapie, however, whose worship was so
universal under the later emperors, claims by far the largest share
of the intagli representing Jupiter. Apollo is next to Serapis in
point of popularity, together with his attributes, especially lyres,
represented in a great variety of shapes. Mars is by no means
uncommon upon Roman gems. Diana is more unfrequent, still more
so Juno. Ceres is not seen very frequently. Neptune is still more
rare; still more so Saturn and Vulcan. Pluto has been never
represented. Millin has remarked a kind of connection between
the colour of the stones used and the subjects represented; for
instance, for the sea-born Venus the artists adopted the sea-green
coloTir of the plasma; for Bacchus, the amethyst; for Neptune and
the Tritons, the beryl, or acqua marine; for Proserpine, a black
stone ; for Marsyas, flayed, a red jasper. This rule is not, however,
strictly carried out in its application.
An infinite variety of masks, chimera?, and caprices, are also fre-
quently found represented. They all belong to the second century.
Animals make up the majority of Etruscan intagli, especially
in that rude class the origin of which can be distinctly assigned to
the engravers of that nation. Of Eoman date, the lion and the
bull are the most common subjects, then the various kinds of dogs,
and the wild boar. Among birds, eagles, with various emblems, are
the most frequently engraved. But of all subjects, portraits seem
to have been most in favour. The Greek period gives us some
magnificent portraits, but they are rare, and were most probably
engraved only for the use of the person himself as his private
signet. In the Eoman period it seems to have been held a mark of
loyalty to wear the portrait of the reigning emperor, which accounts
for the vast number of such down to the time of Caracalla, and
many of which, even of the early Cassars, are of the most inferior
execution, clearly manufactured at a cheap rate for the wear of the
military and the poorer classes.
seated on a throne. Scrapie, however, whose worship was so
universal under the later emperors, claims by far the largest share
of the intagli representing Jupiter. Apollo is next to Serapis in
point of popularity, together with his attributes, especially lyres,
represented in a great variety of shapes. Mars is by no means
uncommon upon Roman gems. Diana is more unfrequent, still more
so Juno. Ceres is not seen very frequently. Neptune is still more
rare; still more so Saturn and Vulcan. Pluto has been never
represented. Millin has remarked a kind of connection between
the colour of the stones used and the subjects represented; for
instance, for the sea-born Venus the artists adopted the sea-green
coloTir of the plasma; for Bacchus, the amethyst; for Neptune and
the Tritons, the beryl, or acqua marine; for Proserpine, a black
stone ; for Marsyas, flayed, a red jasper. This rule is not, however,
strictly carried out in its application.
An infinite variety of masks, chimera?, and caprices, are also fre-
quently found represented. They all belong to the second century.
Animals make up the majority of Etruscan intagli, especially
in that rude class the origin of which can be distinctly assigned to
the engravers of that nation. Of Eoman date, the lion and the
bull are the most common subjects, then the various kinds of dogs,
and the wild boar. Among birds, eagles, with various emblems, are
the most frequently engraved. But of all subjects, portraits seem
to have been most in favour. The Greek period gives us some
magnificent portraits, but they are rare, and were most probably
engraved only for the use of the person himself as his private
signet. In the Eoman period it seems to have been held a mark of
loyalty to wear the portrait of the reigning emperor, which accounts
for the vast number of such down to the time of Caracalla, and
many of which, even of the early Cassars, are of the most inferior
execution, clearly manufactured at a cheap rate for the wear of the
military and the poorer classes.