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ENGRAVED GEMS
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ENGRAVED GEMS
BY
MAXWELL SOMMERVILLE
PROFESSOR OF GLYPTOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA; AUTHOR OF “SANDS
OF SAHARA,” “SIAM,” ETC.; CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE SOCIÉTÉ
ACADÉMIQUE DES SCIENCES, ARTS ET BELLES-LETTRES
DU DÉPARTEMENT DE L’AUBE,
FRANCE, ETC.
DREXEL BIDDLE, PUBLISHER
PHILADELPHIALONDONSAN FRANCISCOTORONTO1901
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Copyright, 1901
by
Maxwell Sommerville
PRINTED BY
DREXEL BIDDLE
PHILADELPHIALONDON
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PREFACE.
My former treatise, “Engraved Gems, their Place inthe History of Art,” being largely illustrated andinconvenient in size, I have abridged the work andwith new material prepared this volume.
The various epochs of gem engraving from theearliest eras down to the XVIII. century are brieflydescribed.
Many people throughout the year cast passingglances at my glyptic collection in the Free Museumof Science and Art of the University of Pennsylvania.
They express great admiration of the beautifulobjects in stones of many colors and interestingdesigns.
It was never intended to make only an attractivedisplay; what I have always desired and hoped forwas that a proportion of our visitors would recognizein my life’s work a contribution to science.
It is a classified representation of the glyptic workof more than forty centuries, so carefully arrangedthat those who care to learn through the medium ofthose beautiful engraved stones, cylinders, seals, and6Gnostic tokens, may inform themselves intelligentlyon the science which these gems of all epochs sothoroughly exemplify.
Men in this Western World during the last threehundred years have been engrossed in the pursuitand acquisition of fortunes.
A fair proportion of the population now havingsecured competency, that condition once assured, withincreased opportunities for intellectual culture andthe enjoyment of art, the development of refinedtastes and pursuits in America has been marked bythe formation of many private collections. Amateurshave gradually become connoisseurs in manuscripts,ceramics, enamels, engravings, ancient coins, armor,and arms. Happily, each is engrossed in his particularbranch of antiquities.
It is to be hoped that we may all profit by theirresearches, and that the antique objects acquired bythem may be stored in the Archæological Museums ofthe world, that all who will may view them and learnfrom them.
Presuming that the majority of my readers wouldunderstand the Latin inscription from an engravedstone, which decorates the cover of this book, I havenot given any translation. By request I add thefollowing explanation: