THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 1()H brasses, is the inscription — Dieu nic pourvoic, danimc dc uiuel, damme audrianne de Morbcq'/ On the inner side of the sliding piece which closes the case is engraved the date 1523, and a mark with the initials I. E., probably those of the engraver. Charles V. was elected Emperor in June, 1519. — Also twelve enamelled plaques of Limoges work, of very rich colouring, and in fine condition ; representing the sybils, each holding one of the symbols of our Saviour's Passion. They bear the mark, L L — Leonard Liniosin, who painted from 1532 to 1560, and was one of the most celebrated artists of Limoges, being honoured by Francois I. with the office of " peintre emailleur ordinaire de la chambre du roi." By Mr. Franks. — A signet-ring, fifteenth century, the device a trefoil, on the leaves the motto, ffSt lUOU btf , found in pulling down London Bridge. — A panel of Italian earthen-ware, intended as a mural ornament ; the subject upon it is the Sacrifice of Iphigenia at Aulis; a specimen of late manufacture. — A jug, of German stone-ware, with mottled brown glaze, mounted with silver-gilt, on which appears the English plate mark for the year 1584, showing the use of foreign vessels of this manufacture, which began to be in vogue in England, in the reign of Elizabeth. — A small mug of the curious manufacture carried on by Mr. Francis Place, at the Manor House, York, towards the close of the seventeenth century, probably with the object of discovering the secret of imitating porcelain. This specimen, possibly the only one now to be identified, was in the Strawberry Hill Collection, and bears a ticket (in Horace Walpole's writing) stating that it is a " Cup of Mr, Place's China."* AValpole mentions Place's taste for painting and the arts, in his Anecdotes of Painters : and he is commended by Thoresby, who enumerates, amongst artificial curiosities in his museum (Catalogue, 1712, p. 477) the following : — " One of Mr. Place's delicate fine muggs made in the Manor-House at Yorke : it equals the true China-ware. " Mr. Place had frequent communication with Vertue, and through him, possibly, the specimen in Mr. Frank's possession had reached Strawberry Hill. The cup is of a stone colour, marbled with brown. By Mr. E. J. Willson. — Two seals of jet, stated to have been lately found at Lincoln. One of them lozenge-shaped, the device a cross patee, rudely formed — sigil : albino : de : iieyden. On the reverse four deep punctures. The other is in form of a sextant, perforated for suspension : the device alien's face, with "Dieu etmon droit,' beneath it, and "Sig. Ricardi Regis" over the lion's head. A jet seal was lately brought to Lincoln, similar form and device to that first described, the legend being, — sig : osbeuti : DE : iiiLTVNE, or KILTVNE ; and another, with the cross patce, and the same inscription, has subsequently been shown to Mr. Franks. These were, possibly, imitations, slightly varied, engraved after the jet seal which bears that legend, now preserved in the museum at Whitby, and described as found near the Abbey there. It was shown in the museum foi-med during the meeting of the Institute at York.* ^ Moerbeke is a village in Flanders, a ^ Transactions at the York Meeting, few miles N.E. of Ghent. Museum Catal., p. 23. It may be advisable,
- Catalogue, 18th day, lot. 41. Walpole's as jet seals are rare, to caution the col-
Description of Strawberry Hill, p. 40iJ. lector that some recent fabrications are ' Thoresby makes frequent mention of on sale ; less fallacious perhaps than the Place, and says he had discovered an fictitious Italian and German brass nia- earth suited for making porcelain, and the trices, some of them producing fair ini- secret of its mauufactui'e. Place died iu pnssions, which have lately beeu brought 1 728, aged fi 1 . over in large uumbcra.
