The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1877-05-05

ANCIENT ART.
THE xunIuM COLLECTION AT THE MErRoPo1I-


last night crowded BY the beauty and fashion Of
tho metropolis on the occasion the exhibition Of
General al Cesnoa's Kurium collection OF cypriote an
tquities The interest excited In this country by the
OF the Golgos antiquities in ancient archaeology
cal research has evidently not died ous, ~ We may
Judge from the number Of visitors and Tho interest
manifested In the art treasures OF the museum. Ger
ainly II would be difficult to imagine anything better
calculated to awaken interest and curiosity than tho
bringing back 10 light OF these long bur
led relics Of civilization that has passed
well nigh into tho realms Of fable. Some
OF the objects placed exhibition belong TO tho
period OF the great Thcban Kingdom Of Egypt
Among them Is the Official seal u Thothmosis Ill,
tho Egyptian conqueror OF Cyprus whose minority
the third and fourth pyramids we're built and whose
name Is borne upon the famous obcisI VIC know SO
well Cieopatras Needle tho date OF which, Tor the
sake OF illustration, may be given as l443 H. q. THIS
IS not a defaccd and broken stonc bat nncly cur
stone pierced and mounted in gold, with It's ancient
movable handle Of silver, which Is very rarely met
WITH Other objects OF this nature, which serve to Tx
date well show the surprising perfection 10
which the gyptc had been carried there, are some
Baby on,an cylinders, In meteOrc, h9matte and car
uean and chalcadony, with intaglio characters, pro-
ndlnccd by such authorities as Mr.. Sayce and Sir
Henry Rawlinson 10 refer 10 dates OF 500, l2UO and
1000 h. G.
II is to the energy and intelligence OF General di Ces
nola thai the world Is indebted for tho recovery OF
these ancient treasures. Attracted by tho numerous
mounds and rock cut tombs which abound in Cyprus
the General formed the idea OF identifying the sitcs
OF the ancient ana, setting himself rcsolulcly
TO work, he succeeded in discovering less than
seventeen He next procured nrman from tho sui
tan enable HIM TO search Tor lost treasure aud be-
gan excavations at Kttium, the ancient khtni OF
tho Bible Al hfst tho result was not encouraging, as
evident that nearly every tomb bad been visited
and rihed a. some remote perioa. purng me
Gogos General d Cesnola rewarded tor his labors
by coming upon one OF tho most remarkable treasure
troyes OF times More than thousand statues
wore found, less broken II IS true, but still
sufficiently perfect 70 Qivo very clear idea OF the ar
tistic culture OF the age TO which they belonged But
these not all some 10000 objects Ia MI were
Cesnoa collection acquired by tho metropolitan Art
Museum at q cost OF some S6o,OU0
kURluM BONANZA. 4E
Tho objects composing The present collection were
found IN the treasure OF the Temple OF kurium,
the Curium which strabo and Pausanias describe.
Kurium is ON tho ives. coast Of the island Of
| or 'Palgo Limisso." as Il Is called II was
. royal city, and, ike an eagles nest,
General di Cesnola says, on rock 3UU eet high and
inaccessible three sideA TINS rock, which about
tive hours ride trof the coast is cut with two quite
perpendicular faces south and east the marks OF the
chisel being still visible the cacare0us sandstone.
Al forty feet from tho ground terrace IS cut on the
slope 100 ieet wide and scoopcd out 20 the depth Of
twenty-five ect, thus forming ditch. But tins was
not for fertilization aloneit was Tor cemetery; for
|
arched and rather rude others rectangular and well
made. often containing sarcophagi carved out OF The
! living rock III these lomos wore found skeletons
and in somc OF them earthenwarc lamps, four Phun-
| clan amphore, copper mirror, with some gold rings
| aud earrings and bracelets OF silver
1 A NUMBER VI marble works werc also discovered
but these have not yet been unpacked and probably
/ viii not DO exhibited until tho Arr Museum moves
! into tho permanent building In Central Park
year Among the treasures great number OF
sunet rings ana seals One seal 10 engraved with
| Egyptian deity Anubis "A PhHn.cian letter. In
\ ed a "A
spindle, which they turn, the spindle being rveted
At each end TO simple hali ring OF soia
| ali IN an excellent state OF preservation,
while tho silver ornaments nearly all black, IN
minority OF cases Almost destroyed by oxidation Sill.
/ yer appears 10 have been more employed thar gold,
aud WAS. perhaps, moro scarce and valuable but OBJ
they are very seldom found In collections never
before have 50 many silver vessels and been
discovered. There some examples Of vases the
British Muscum presumed TO be Etrnscan, there
s one III tho BbliothtQuc OF Paris. DR.. Schliemann
also found some silver with the gold cups aud
the Two dadcnis, watch he calls .Priam's treasure,n
IN MS discoveries ut tho supposed size OF Troy. Gsu-
eral d Cesnoa discovered 80 objects III silver many
ul which iary perfect WHILE there are many fral
| ments OF others, and among these II
pac. mass Of pa,eras, stuck together by oxlds.
on Just they we're placed In the treasury OF the
| temple more than two thousand years ago The most
perfect object is an elegant 6ulbshaped lccythus,
| " III IN and HANDLE seven and hve-eghths inches
| high the surface much oxdizcc but still showing
patches bright silver, but with very little trace OF
| ornament lett others winch may be mentioned are
| an unochoe OF the size; q cayx. hive inches In
diameter with remains Of ornament In vine branches;
| sa,ora with n gold boss in centre and a band uf
| honcysuckle and lotus ornament round it; several
| bowls some VI which arc nuted by rcpousse work,
others engraved ia lines OF geometricai pattern.
| md one especially fine example with the in
| side ncd with pattern oI radiatng lines
from a circle centre cnuins In star points.
| But perhaps the most important, In reference 10
| tho style OF the Ornauicntation and It's
Of preservation, Is a very large patera IN silver
Wit seven and half inches diameter entirety covered
with lacised aud repousse work OF bands Of guloche
ornament, with the conventional trees and animals,
with Egyptian divinte5 and cartouches. Only less
rare aud scarcely inferior to the SILVER vessel ~ the
dcllcacy OF the incscd work aud the perfect condition
Of the ornament. rs cayx, IN thin god, about 1--WE
inches diameter, the INSIDE OF which Is entirely
covered with circular bands OF engraved work. repre-
sentipg, by conventional wavy nes. wafer with palm
trees n,d ngurcs OF stays like the reindeer HUT
era TINS object must, We should say. be unique
specimen perfectly preserved anu OF SUCH excellent
artistic beauty. The work these ~ precisely similar
to that on bas-reei from koy unJk ana Oh Of
the metal vessels to be III the glass OF tbe
Assyrin collection IN the British Museum. A cor.
nucopa about fifteen inches long, thin
yer overland with gold plate ~ places, another
| object in the collection The Practice OF overiaying
ulnes of SILVER and copper With gold seems TO have
been common but as would be expected u has proved
destructive The gold work from the swelling OF the
inner metal produced by oxidation, thus bursting tho
outer coating oi gold Many OF tho la:gc rings and
other ornaments THIS condition., while those OF
solid SILVER though much corroded, are still firm and
heavy ami tho pure gold objects some OF them
perfec. the DAY they were made great number
oI coed rings IN silver. gold and bronze were iuund
some PLAN, others frequently ornamcnted with tho
head Of the asp al each end, exceedingly well carved,
or had ever been used II Is somewhat puz-
cling to decide, Tor some are too small TO
admit the hand ~ he passed gu 10 the
wrist or the arm, or be worn rs anklcts Two mas
sve pam gold rings, not perfect rings, but the ends
overlapping, weighing more than three pounds which
we're found what tho General calls the gold room,
are most interesting, having each OF lhom the
in tho Cyprioc dialect and letters Etcandcr,
King OF Paphos, who probably presented these
Offering to some divinity IN the temple where they
were found This interesting COLLECTION
boon secured by the Mctropo It Mus.um ii ART tut
tI,pr, SLl "A IN
Cesnola which Is to be hoped some pubic spirited
cizes Will supply. The progress OF tho Art Mnseu
has been c-cditaUc beyond expectation, and II similar
success attends future direction New YORK VIII have
museum which viii compare iayoraby with tho grand
museums oi Europe.
THE NEW ROCHELLE COACH.