The Portland daily press., 1876-10-12
Ex ibitiOn Echoes.
The CastelIani CoIIecfion-MarbIe. aua
Bronzes-Mundus Muliebris-Majoii
The Gut Gems.

Bronzes s-Mundus Muliebris-uaio,;c.-
The Gut Gems.
In galleries U, V, and W, in the east end of
Memorial Hall is the famous Castellani collec-
uon of antiques rich in the treasures of ancient
and medieval art marbles, bronzes. engraved
gems, ceramics, and articles of personal adorn-
ment,-s collection unapproached in this coun-
Try and to equal which one would have TO
search long through the old world Its atten-
1--WE STUDY should be neglected by no visitor
"no.ieels the slightest interest in the objects of
which the collection is made up.
The marbles and bronzes are arranged In
gallery U. There the impressive and noble
statue OF Bacchus, the bearded and robed Di-
onysus of the Indian trium ph, first Strikes the
eye. 1t is of colossal size, perfect but for the
right hand. The catalogue suggests that the
prototype may have been that Liber Pater
winch Pliny ascribes to the school of Prsxiteles.
IL was found near Naples. Near it is the
Spinar.o, the shepherd Martius of the Roman
legend who ran all night unmndful of the
thorn in his foot to bring news to the Senate of
Latin invasion. 1t is sometimes known as
the Athlete extracting the thorn" and is
strongly realistic work of the school of Perga-
mos The heads of Perseus and Apollo, the
profile portrait of Tiberius, the bust of Julia
consort of Elagabulus, and others merit lnger-
ing notice, though an Apollo with his nose
Knocked off loses much of his divinity
| Ihe bronzes are the ciSte or toilet boxes
taken from excavations in Palestrina and illus
trate the luxury and magnifcsnce of the an
cleDt Pr@neste They are of oval shape in
beaten bronze, with handles which are statu.
cites, and with sides covered with figures.
usually of NEUROLOGICAL subjects, engraved In
outline. One of these subjects is Atalanta pre-
pairing for the race. Another the combat of
the Centaurs and Lapitbe, another the alliance
| of Latinus and Eneas The contents are mir
rors, combs, strigils or scrapers, sponges, rouge
poxes and other articles belonging to the wo-
men world. One OF these mirrors, of bronze
with ivory handle, represents Perseus stretch
ing out his hand to .tske the eye from the
Grace. The rouge boxes are of CEDAR One
bears upon its cover a head of Demeter in bas
relief, a unique specimen of wood-carvise. Be-
sides the cis'e are other articles, figure of the
winged victory forming the handle of a patera
an Etruscan augursl staff of wood covered with
bronze Ph@nician terra-cotta vase decorated
with figure of Astarte,it orpamentation of
foliage OF brown and deep red on a yellow
ground, and set of ten early Christian cande-
sticks.
In gallery is the magnificent collection Of
ceramics, embracing four hundred specimens
OF the famous makes of majoca from the
thirteenth century down. The specimens are
arranged in chronological order, beginning with
the rough ware produced by the Arabs during
their rule in Sicily. The most noticeable is
glazed ovoid vase, decorated in blue and black,
with Arabic inscriptions on the neck. Sue
ceeding these are about thirty specimens of the
Della Robbia ware, among them dish with
design surrounded by zone of ornaments in
oaanco fsso, and drinking cup, yellow ground
studded with blue, encrced by winding bor-
der OF blue palmettes. The famous lustred
Gabbo ware, some Of the pieces bearing The
monogram of Maestro Giorgio Andrioli himself,
is very fully represented. OF Castel Durante
there are eighteen specimens, one of thsm,
cup bearing the Flight into Egypt being mar
velous for its finish Dsruta, Faenza Romag-
ma, Pesaro, and the famous Urbino are all rem
resented. Of the last several are attributed to
Fontana, one of which is a superb cup bearing
portrait of Charles V. The collection comes
to an end with some remarkable specimens of
Medicean porcelain made in the Boboli gardens
hundred years before Meissen began to prc.
duce its wares.
The last OF the three galleries, W, is given
to the collection of ancient iewelry. arranged
in epochs from the scarabs and cylinders
brought by the Ph@nicians into Etruria to the
heavy jewelry Of Charlemagne in which wealth
of material is more regarded than fineness Of
avl
work, the rope work consisting of cords made
up of four filaments, each finer than q hair,
and the granulated work of minute beads of
gold soldered upon gold surfaces, are beautiful
to lsok upon. An alabastron in beaten gold is
the most striking specimen of the granulated
work. There are amber fbuIe from Praneste,
silver amuets and beads Of irridescent glass
found in Tarquinia. There are amphora in
alabaster, onyx eicadas worn by women in
their hair as a talsman against barrennsss,
enameled antique gold ornaments, 'Herculean
knots in gold, funeral diadems, earrings
with prismatic plasm@, amulets formed of am
monites (Jupiter Ammon having his head
adorned with rams horns as the leader and
protector of the fock) bronze snamelled disks
with Gnostc inscriptions which are exorcisms
addressed to the gout, and many articles in
vitreous paste. The coins, among them a
slater of Philip, are of interest, as are the
early Christian ornaments from the catacombs.
The Lombard ornaments in repousss work and
the silver military decorations used by the Cru
saders excite curiosity. OF rings there are
over three hundred, gold. silver, bronze, amber
ivory, some the siguet rings of Popes others
remarkable for the cut gems they bear The
collection of engraved gems, cylinders, scar
abs, cameos, is of exceeding interest and calls
for an examination lasting days. There are
270 specimens, among the most noticeable be-
ing an Assyriau cylinder of black agate of the
winged bulls, banded onyx scarab of the
winged Victory before palm, green and
white jasper intaglio of sea monster, car
nelian intaglio of Minerva, yellow agate of
a wounded warrior and an agate OF two layers
with triumpbal procession of Vespasian. Not
to be neglected are the illuminated missals on
vellum and Benevenu.o Celini's first concep
tion of the Perseus. NJ.