384 rROCEEDINGS AT MEETINGS OP ^ CHI :
- GIST :
- DAME : : meiiivs : : patreiote
- Qi
TRES : PASSA : EN LAN : ■ DE : : LIN : : car : : nasion :
- Nos
- TRES
- SEGNIEVR
- Mcc
- LX : XII : : EV : mois : : de :
- NO :
- YEN :
BRE : : PRiiES : : povr : : same Some of the words it will be seen are tlivided in a singular manner ; the sense is however too clear to make any comment necessary. The third lies in a chapel on the south side of tlie Cathedral of Meaux. It is a very beautiful example of an engraved slab of the fourteenth century, as will be seen in the accompanying admirable woodcut by Mr. Utting. It measures 8ft. 4in. by 4ft. 3in., and is a stone of a slaty texture and of very dark colour ; when polished probably nearly black. Advantage has been taken of this to produce an eifective contrast of colour by inlaying pieces of white marble (?) or alabaster, forming the figures of the angels, the heads, busts, hands and feet of the persons commemorated, and the animals on which their feet are placed. The remaining part of the figures was formed by cutting out the ground (like the field of a Limoges champ- leve enamel), lines of the stone being left to indicate the folds of the garments ; the lines and ornaments of the canopy and the letters of the inscription were cut out in the same manner, and the hollows thus formed were filled with a white composition, some fragments of which still remain. The first of these processes was very commonly used in France, and several examples of its use exist in England, but it is very seldom that in either country the inlaid pieces are as well preserved as in this instance. The second process, that of fillingi up with white or coloured composition, appears to have been less common. Some tombs in the Cathedral at Hereford, however, shew indications of it (see the article " Incised Slabs," in the Glossary of Architecture) ; and a red composition was employed in the architectural parts of the slab in the Cathedral of Chalons-sur-Marne, engraved in the 3rd vol. of the Annales Archcologiques. The pavements of the Cathedral of St. Omer, and of Trinity Chapel in that of Canterbury, are also decorated in the same way. The only peculiarity in the costume of the figures which seems to need remark is the pointed hood or capuchon worn by the female ; a similar hood is seen on the head of one of the figures in the slab at Chalons above- mentioned, and the wearer is assumed by Mr. Didron to have been a nun ; she also wears a barbe cloth, but no mantle. In the present instance it seems probable that it is merely a widow's dress which is represented. The inscription is much injured ; from what remains it appears that this slab commemorates Jehan Rose, citizen of Meaux, and his wife ; he seems to have died in 1328, and she in 13G7. The date of the execution of the work is probably between these years, and, judging from the character of the architectural details, nearer to the first than to the second. Both sides of the inscription it will be seen read the same way. This was no doubt so arranged in order that the passer by in the adjacent aisle might be able to read the whole inscription without entering the chapel, and crossing to its further side. The fourth is a very elaborate slab in the Cathedral of Laon, measuring 9ft. lOin. by 4ft. lOin. It commemorates a canon of that church who is represented standing under a canopy, which, with its accessories, covers ' The employment of a composition to form a ground differs from the common practice of filling up lines with a black materiah
