attached portions form in some instances inscriptions, as on a cup found at Strassburg, which bears the name of the emperor Maximian (A.D. 286–310), on another in the Vereinigte Sammlungen at Munich, and on a third in the Trivulzi collection at Milan, where the cup is white, the inscription green and the network blue. Probably, however, the finest example is a situla, 1012 in. high by 8 in. wide at the top and 4 in. at the bottom, preserved in the treasury of St Mark at Venice. This is of glass of a greenish hue; on the upper part is represented, in relief, the chase of a lion by two men on horseback accompanied by dogs; the costume appears to be Byzantine rather than Roman, and the style is very bad. The figures are very much undercut. The lower part has four rows of circles united to the vessel at those points alone where the circles touch each other. All the other examples have the lower portion covered in like manner by a network of circles standing nearly a quarter of an inch from the body of the cup. An example connected with the specimens just described is the cup belonging to Baron Lionel de Rothschild; though externally of an opaque greenish colour, it is by transmitted light of a deep red. On the outside, in very high relief, are figures of Bacchus with vines and panthers, some portions being hollow from within, others fixed on the exterior. The changeability of colour may remind us of the “calices versicolores” which Hadrian sent to Servianus.
So few examples of glass vessels of this period which have been painted in enamel have come down to us that it has been questioned whether that art was then practised; but several specimens have been described which can leave no doubt on the point; decisive examples are afforded by two cups found at Vaspelev, in Denmark, engravings of which are published in the Annaler for Nordisk Oldkyndeghed for 1861, p. 305. These are small cups, 3 in. and 212 in. high, 334 in. and 3 in. wide, with feet and straight sides; on the larger are a lion and a bull, on the smaller two birds with grapes, and on each some smaller ornaments. On the latter are the letters DVB. R. The colours are vitrified and slightly in relief; green, blue and brown may be distinguished. They are found with Roman bronze vessels and other articles.
The art of glass-making no doubt, like all other art, deteriorated during the decline of the Roman empire, but it is probable that it continued to be practised, though with constantly decreasing skill, not only in Rome but in the provinces. Roman technique was to be found in Byzantium and Alexandria, in Syria, in Spain, in Germany, France and Britain.
Early Christian and Byzantine Glass.—The process of embedding gold and silver leaf between two layers of glass originated as early as the 1st century, probably in Alexandria. The process consisted in spreading the leaf on a thin film of blown glass and pressing molten glass on to the leaf so that the molten glass cohered with the film of glass through the pores of the metallic leaf. If before this application of the molten glass the metallic leaf, whilst resting on the thin film of blown glass, was etched with a sharp point, patterns, emblems, inscriptions and pictures could be embedded and rendered permanent by the double coating of glass. The plaques thus formed could be reheated and fashioned into the bases of bowls and drinking vessels. In this way the so-called “fondi d’oro” of the catacombs in Rome were made. They are the broken bases of drinking vessels containing inscriptions, emblems, domestic scenes and portraits etched in gold leaf. Very few have any reference to Christianity, but they served as indestructible marks for indicating the position of interments in the catacombs. The fondi d’oro suggested the manufacture of plaques of gold which could be broken up into tesserae for use in mosaics.
Some of the Roman artificers in glass no doubt migrated to Constantinople, and it is certain that the art was practised there to a very great extent during the middle ages. One of the gates near the port took its name from the adjacent glass houses. St Sofia when erected by Justinian had vaults covered with mosaics and immense windows filled with plates of glass fitted into pierced marble frames; some of the plates, 7 to 8 in. wide and 9 to 10 in. high, not blown but cast, which are in the windows may possibly date from the building of the church. It is also recorded that pierced silver disks were suspended by chains and supported glass lamps “wrought by fire.” Glass for mosaics was also largely made and exported. In the 8th century, when peace was made between the caliph Walid and the emperor Justinian II., the former stipulated for a quantity of mosaic for the decoration of the new mosque at Damascus, and in the 10th century the materials for the decoration of the niche of the kibla at Cordova were furnished by Romanus II. In the 11th century Desiderius, abbot of Monte Casino, sent to Constantinople for workers in mosaic.
We have in the work of the monk Theophilus, Diversarum artium schedula, and in the probably earlier work of Eraclius, about the 11th century, instructions as to the art of glass-making in general, and also as to the production of coloured and enamelled vessels, which these writers speak of as being practised by the Greeks. The only entire enamelled vessel which we can confidently attribute to Byzantine art is a small vase preserved in the treasury of St Mark’s at Venice. This is decorated with circles of rosettes of blue, green and red enamel, each surrounded by lines of gold; within the circles are little figures evidently suggested by antique originals, and precisely like similar figures found on carved ivory boxes of Byzantine origin dating from the 11th or 12th century. Two inscriptions in Cufic characters surround the vase, but they, it would seem, are merely ornamental and destitute of meaning. The presence of these inscriptions may perhaps lead to the inference that the vase was made in Sicily, but by Byzantine workmen. The double-handled blue-glass vase in the British Museum, dating from the 5th century, is probably a chalice, as it closely resembles the chalices represented on early Christian monuments.
Of uncoloured glass brought from Constantinople several examples exist in the treasury of St Mark’s at Venice, part of the plunder of the imperial city when taken by the crusaders in 1204. The glass in all is greenish, very thick, with many bubbles, and has been cut with the wheel; in some instances circles and cones, and in one the outlines of the figure of a leopard, have been left standing up, the rest of the surface having been laboriously cut away. The intention would seem to have been to imitate vessels of rock crystal. The so-called “Hedwig” glasses may also have originated in Constantinople. These are small cups deeply and rudely cut with conventional representations of eagles, lions and griffins. Only nine specimens are known. The specimen in the Rijks Museum at Amsterdam has an eagle and two lions. The specimen in the Germanic Museum at Nuremberg has two lions and a griffin.
Saracenic Glass.—The Saracenic invasion of Syria and Egypt did not destroy the industry of glass-making. The craft survived and flourished under the Saracenic régime in Alexandria, Cairo, Tripoli, Tyre, Aleppo and Damascus. In inventories of the 14th century both in England and in France mention may frequently be found of glass vessels of the manufacture of Damascus. A writer in the early part of the 15th century states that “glass-making is an important industry at Haleb (Aleppo).” Edward Dillon (Glass, 1902) has very properly laid stress on the importance of the enamelled Saracenic glass of the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries, pointing out that, whereas the Romans and Byzantine Greeks made some crude and ineffectual experiments in enamelling, it was under Saracenic influence that the processes of enamelling and gilding on glass vessels were perfected. An analysis of the glass of a Cairene mosque lamp shows that it is a soda-lime glass and contains as much as 4% of magnesia. This large proportion of magnesia undoubtedly supplied the stability required to withstand the process of enamelling. The enamelled Saracenic glasses take the form of flasks, vases, goblets, beakers and mosque lamps. The enamelled decoration on the lamps is restricted to lettering, scrolls and conventional foliage; on other objects figure-subjects of all descriptions are freely used. C. H. Read has pointed out a curious feature in the construction of the enamelled beakers. The base is double but the inner lining has an opening in the centre. Dillon has suggested that this central recess may have served to support a wick. It is possible, however,
