LAPIDARY and GEM CUTTING. The earliest examples of gem cutting and carving known (see also GEM) are the ancient engraved seals, which are of two principal types, the cylindrical or "rolling" seals of Babylonia and Assyria, suggested by a joint of the bamboo or the central whorl of a conch-like shell, and the peculiar scarabaeoid seals of Egypt. (See also SEALS.) Recent researches make it appear that both these types were in use by 4800 B.C. or earlier, though with some variations. The jewels of Queen Zer, and other jewels consisting of cut turquoise, lapis lazuli and amethyst, found by the French mission, date from 4777 B.C. to 4515 B.C. Until about 2500 B.C., the cylinder seals bore almost wholly animal designs; then cuneiform inscriptions were added. In the 6th century B.C., the scarabaeoid type was introduced from Egypt, while the rolling seals began to give place to a new form, that of a tall cone. These, in a century or two, were gradually shortened ; the hole by which they were suspended was enlarged until it could admit the finger, and in time they passed into the familiar form of seal-rings.
500 B.C. to Renaissance.—The date of about 500 B.C. marks the beginning of a period of great artistic taste and skill in gem engraving, which extended throughout the ancient civilized world, and lasted until the 3rd or 4th century A.D. Prior to this period, all the work appears to have been done by hand with a sapphire point, or with a bow-drill, fed with sapphire dust ; then the wheel was largely employed. The Greek cutters, in their best period, the 5th and 6th centuries B.C., knew the use of disks and drills, but preferred the sapphire point for their finest work, and continued to use it for two or three hundred years. Engraving by the bow drill was introduced in Assyrian and Babylonian work as early as perhaps 300o B.C., the earlier carving being all done with the sapphire point, which was secured in a handle for convenient application. This hand-work demanded the utmost skill and delicacy of touch in the artist. The bow-drill consisted of a similar point fastened in the end of a stick, which could be rotated by means of a horizontal cross-bar attached at each end to a string wound around the stick; as the cross-bar was moved up and down, the stick was made to rotate alternately in opposite directions. This has been a frequent device for such purposes
among many peoples, both ancient and modern, civilized and uncivilized. The point used by hand, and the bow-drill, were afterwards variously combined in executing such work. Another modification was the substitution for the point, in either process, of a hollow tube or drill, probably in most cases the joint of a hollow reed, whereby very accurate circles could be made, as also crescent figures and the like. This process, used with fine hard sand, has also been widely employed among many peoples.
The Egyptian scarabs were an early and very characteristic type of seal cutting. The Greek gem cutters modified them by adding Greek and Etruscan symbols and talismanic signs; many of them also worked in Egypt and for Egyptians. Phoenician work shows a mixture of Assyrian and Egyptian designs ; and Cypriote seals, principally on the agate gems, are known that are referred to the 9th century B.C.
In the later Roman period, the 3rd and 4th centuries, a great decline in the art is seen—so great that Castellani terms it "the idiotic age." Numbers of gems of this kind have been found to gether, as though they were the product of a single manufacturer, carved in the crudest manner, both in design and execution. The decline of the art went on until in the Byzantine period, especially the 6th century, it had reached a very low point. Most of the gems of this period show drill-work of poor quality, although hand-work is occasionally seen.
The Renaissance.—With the Renaissance, the art of gem carving revived, and the engravers from that time have produced results that equal the best Greek and Roman work; copies of ancient gem carvings made by some of the 18th-century masters are only distinguishable from true antiques by experts of great proficiency.