The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1905-07-06
HISTORY OF CANOES.
Shells, Eggs and Stones Used Before
ONYX Was Known,

Shells, egg ana STONES OSed DeToFe
Onyx Was Known.
Scientific American: An interesting
lecture was recently delivered by
| Cyril Davenport at the Royal institu-
ton, London, dealing with the beauti-
full handicraft dating from Ptolemaic
times-cameos. Mr.. Davenport main
tanned tina a first-rate intaglio on hard
stone was the finest work of art which
could be wrought by the hand of mar.
~Intaglios, however, he explained, We're
normally intended for the purpose Of
making impressions, being therefore
only a means to an end, whereas a
cameo was complete in itself. He de-
scribed the processes necessary to the
production of a cameo, including the
mysteries Of the bow drill, cutting dia-
mond point, and modern g~en-cutter's
lathe. A short account was also given
Of the early history of canoes on
shells, eggs and soft stones before the
discovery of onyx as the material spe-
cially adapted for ca~meo-cutting. The
Graeco-Roman, and especially the Au-
GUSTAV, period was rich in canoes, and
| almost every great Roman wished to
have his portrait cut in onyx. n Of
these, an exquisite portrait of the en-
peror himself, which formerly belonged
to the Strozzi collection, is perhaps the
finest existing cameo. Such portrait
canoes were practically i~ndestructible,
except by accident. The large canoes
the "Triumph of Bacchus" at the vati-
can, the Agate de There at Paris,
and the "Gemma Augesten' at Vienna
were described in detail, and much
curious information was given about
the signatures or canoes. When these
signatures We're in relief they We're I'M
doubtedly genuine, but when in intaglo
they might be forgeries, and many such
signatures were known to have been
forged during the renaissance.
Regarding the glass plates, the finest
instances of glass canoes are to be
found upon the Portland a n the
Auldjo vase, both in London, II on
the Vase des Vendanges at Naples.
The remarkable change from the
classical and NEUROLOGICAL designs OF
the Graeco-Roman times to the Chris
tian themes of the fourth century, When
Constantine the Great became Chris
tan, is %curiously illustrated in canoes
Hercules was christened David" Per
seus and the Gorgon became "Davic
and Goliath" and Venuses and LedAs
were turned into Virgin Marys;" ant
the great Agate de There at Paris
was only saved from destruction BY
being called the Triumph of Joseph il
Egypt Then at the renaissance they
all went back again, and classical ar
recovered it's lost position. The re
naissance cameo cutters We're very
skilled ~workmen, but in spite of theil
general high level they had not sue
ceeded in making any very importanr
cameo, although the "Hymeneal Pro
cession of Eros and Psyche realized {
high price. They We're, however, emf
gently successful in the setting of gems
Pope Plus II. and Lorenzo de Medic
bestowed high and learned patronage
in the matter of engraved gems. Two
very charming pendants With cameo
portraits of Queen Elizabeth repre-.
scented English work, and fine recent
work has also been executed by Ed.
ward Burch, Marchant, Wray ant
Brett. In Great Britain, however, the
art was virtually lost, and Bernardo
Pistrucci, chief engraver to the mint
who designed the beautiful group Of st
George and the dragon on the Eng.
fish sovereign coin, was really the las,
great cameo designer. In France fine
work has been don In late years BY
Adolph David, Henri Francois, Georges
Lemaire and others.