Little remains of the work of Thomas Germain, a talented 18th century goldsmith, but several notable pieces by his son, Francois Thomas Germain, notably at Lisbon, have survived. For the more important of these the student must, however, repair to the old imperial and royal collections at Leningrad and Lisbon, which are unequalled in France itself.
The former contains notable objects by masters of the i8th century, by Claude Ballin the younger; Francois Thomas Ger main; Paul Charvel and Louis Lenhendrick; Robert Joseph Auguste, a prolific goldsmith; Antoine Boullier; Edme Pierre Balzac ; and Claude Augustus Aubry. Two celebrated goldsmiths of the First Empire, Biennais and Odiot, are represented by notable specimens. Henri Auguste, a talented Paris goldsmith, fled to Jamaica and died there in 1816.
The ecuelle is peculiar to France and became a common vessel in the i8th century. One delightful phase of French goldsmiths' work must be mentioned, namely, the exquisite gold and enamelled boxes of the i8th century.
One of the few surviving examples of early secular plate is the gold and enamelled cup (138o) of the kings of France, in the British Museum, which is decorated with scenes from the life of St. Agnes, and is unparalleled elsewhere (Plate II., fig. 8). The cup has undergone subsequent alterations in England and Spain. One other important early French vessel is the covered beaker, made about the year 1462, now at Oriel college, Oxford. Of the few pieces of secular plate of the i6th century are the massive plain ewers with their dishes, the pair of cups and a wine bottle, all dating from 1581-82, from the chapel of the order of St. Esprit, and now in the Louvre. Here also are the unique and magnificent enamelled gold shield and morion of Charles IX. of France (156o-74). The beautiful sardonyx and gold ewer in the old Imperial collection at Vienna, sent as a gift with Cellini's golden salt, from Charles IX. to Ferdinand of Tirol, is believed to have been executed in Paris, as was the gold mounted sardonyx cup showing similar details, in the Louvre.
Italy.—Italy has great wealth in ecclesiastical goldsmiths' work but in secular silver it is singularly poor, many precious objects having been converted into bullion. One authentic work
by Benvenuto Cellini alone can be mentioned : the celebrated gold salt at Vienna (Plate I.). French designs, especially Louis XVI. styles, penetrated here as elsewhere, as in the "Turin" service at Leningrad and in the work of L. Valadini, of Rome.
English ornament of the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods was markedly influenced by German work. Every collection of German plate contains a preponderance of drinking vessels. A few cups of about 1590-1620 were made as "masterpieces," be fore admission to the gilds. Certain exclusively German cups are the giant cup (Riesenpokal), the double cups, the Jung frauenbecher and the little ships. Other popular cups are those decorated with a large boss or lobe (buckeln), and the pineapple cup (ananaspokal), which was copied in London, in the reign of James I. The common gourd-shaped cup was also introduced into England. Certain fantastic cups were fashioned like birds and animals, figures and globes. Many are fitted with clockwork mechanism for propulsion along the table. Tankards were com mon from the i6th to the 18th century. The Baroque taste was strong, as was the rococo. Designs were executed for silver smiths by Albrecht Altdorfer (c. 148o-1538); Peter Flotner, whose Kunstbuch was published in 1549; Virgil Solis Hans Brosamer ; Bernard Zan (fl. 158o-81) ; Hans Sibmacher (fl. 1555-95); Georg Wechter; and Paul Flindt ; and the anonymous designers of the late 16th century.