Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 8.djvu/165

NOTICES OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL PUBLICATIONS. 110 Labartc, relating to the Dobriigc-Diiinosuil Culiiiiet, iiiio;lit have fornit'd uii admirable model. In default of such desirable addition to archaeological literature, our thanks are due to Mr. De la Motto, and to the spirited publisher of the "Choice E.xamples," for the speedy production of a volume which must conduce to confirm the impression produced by the ll]xhibition of the past year, before it may be effaced by a more imposing display of art and industry. 13y many, we are assured, such a memorial, at a cost which must render it extensively acceptable, will be welcome as recalling one of the most attractive exhibitions ever produced in England. Mr. De la Motte has placed at our dis])Osal specimens of the interesting subjects reproduced by his pencil. Amongst the ancient English plate, drawn forth on this occasion from the stores of colleges and corporate companies, was the curious covered salt, of which a representation accompanies this notice. It is preserved at Christ's College, Cambridge, as one of the gifts of the Foundress. A more elegant production of an earlier period, but of continental workmanship, is the charming turricula, from Mr. Magniac'siich collection. (See woodcut.) It is described as having been destined to receive chrism. This adaptation of architectural forms to objects wholly of a different character was employed with the happiest effect by the medieval artificers. Similar attempts, in modern times, liavc been rarely if ever successful. There is, for the most part, a graceful originality in the design of these ancient objects, even in those of ordinary or trivial uses. See, for instance, the little key of wrought steel, here represented. The Exhibition was singularly rich in Damascened work, especially dis- played on the magnificent shield, sent by Her Majesty's gracious permission from Windsor ; in enamels, also, and sculptured ivories, of which last, with some earlier specimens, Mr. De la Motte gives the graceful pro- ductions of Fiamingo, of which Mr. Vulliamy is the possessor. The exquisite glass of Murano, and the curious fictile chefs-d'oeuvre of the sixteenth century have supplied several subjects, the more interesting because fabrications of this nature have been very little known in l^^ngland, and their history claims special notice in connexion with the growth, from that period, of a taste for elegant, and even artistic, productions of fictile manufacture. The candlestick of " Fd/aicc fne du temps iV Ihnri 11., of which a representation accompanies these notices, is one of the choicest examples of Italian design, introduced by Francis I. It is striking to observe how totally all Gothic elements of decoration had vanished : a slightly Moresque character may even be traced in the interlacements.' Works such as that under consideration must exert an infiucncc, not only in encouraging the prevalent taste for relics of the olden time, but as a valuable aid to Schools of Design, in promoting a refinement of the forms and ornamentation of all our National Manufactures. ' Sec Brongniarl'siiitfrcbting account of this choice fictile fabi-ication, Trailcf ilcs Arts Cerani, vol. ii., p. I75.