Before alluding to the subjects represented by engraving on stones, a few words may be said of the nations among which it was anciently practised ; and here it is natural to expect the utmost diversity, according to the progress of the arts. The Egyptians had gems both in intaglio and relief, but more commonly the farmer; and those preserv ed are for the most part called scarabei, from the figure resembling a beetle, consisting of green jasper, cornelian, and calcedony. The Jews perhaps learned engraving from the Egyptians among whom they dwelt, and some notices respecting it are preserved in sacred writ, while describing the decorations of the high priest. Of the jewels which were in the ephod, Moses was directed to take two onyx stones and grave on them the names of the children of Israel, six of their names on one stone, and the other six names of the rest on the other stone, according to their birth. 64 With the work of an engraver on stone, like the engravings of a signet, shalt thou engrave the two stones with the names of the children of Israel." The Greeks, before the decline of their own country, and afterwards when their artists were under the patronage of the Romans, have been much more eminent for their gems than all the other nations of antiquity. The most refined taste for the arts prevailed among them: they excelled alike in architec ture, sculpture, and painting ; and almost every succeeding artist has formed his works after their model. They prac tised seal-engraving at a remote period, though it does not appear to have been upon stones; for we are told, that a law of Solon prohibited engravers from keeping or making copies of seal-rings ; and Mnesarchus, the father of Py thagoras, was a seal engraver. The names of many cele brated artists are preserved on their works, which M. Mil li:), a learned antiquarian, has endeavoured to arrange in chronological order ; an undertaking of much difficulty, and one that can never be free of doubt. But the catalogue given by him of the Greeks and later engravers being long, we can only make a brief excerpt from it. Those who flourished anterior to the era of Alexander, he sup poses, were Theodore of Samos, who engraved a lyre on a famous emerald belonging to the king Polycrates, 750 rears before Christ, which the owner, to mortify himself, threw into the sea ; Mnesarchus, none of whose works are extant ; Heius, Phrygillus, Thamytos. Pyrgoteles was cotemporary with Alexander, who is reported to have issued an edict prohibiting all other artists from engraving his effigy. Between the era of this sovereign and the Au gustan age, are enumerated Admone, Apollonides, Poly cletes, who was also a statuary, Tryphon, whose period is well ascertained, and others. They become still more numerous on descending later ; Aulus, Chronius, and espe cially Dioscorides, to whom some of the most beautiful works are ascribed, and who engraved the Roman empe ror Augustus. Alphmus Ehvodus, Antiochus, Epolian, flourished in the age of his more immediate successors ; but the exact era of the greater number cannot be ascer tained. Some of the most celebrated of these are Aetiun, Agathemeros, Allion, Apollodotus, said to be the first en graver who added his profession to his name ; Pamphilus, whom some have supposed a pupil of Praxiteles, and who engraved upon an amethyst Achilles playing on a lyre ; Teucer, Carpus, and others, whose names would protract the catalogue to a great length. Among the Roman artists, M. Millin includes all those whose names do not appear of Greek origin, or arc written in Latin ; such as Aquilus, Felix Quintillus, Rufus, and a few, but not many more. The Greeks still preserved their taste for engraving on fine stones during the earlier part of the darker ages ; nor was it obliterated entirely from among the Romans. But the doctrines of Christianity, which gradually spread over the eastern and western empire, were adverse to the art, from discountenancing images ; and those again being sup planted in the seventh century by the Mahometan religion, it may be said to have entirely disappeared. Here the his tory of ancient gems concludes ; because the empire of the ancients was overrun by barbarians, the arts sunk into in significance, and those that had shone with the greatest lustre were obscured in the gloom of ignorance.
In retracing the qualities of the gems anterior to the first centuries of Christianity, we find the Egyptians did not produce any works of excellence ; their engravings were principally symbolical, or representing rude figures of their divinities in partial human shape, or the animals that they worshipped. The Jews are said only to have written
names. The Etruscans present few if any works of skill, or of much interest. But what remains of Grecian work manship, or that of the Romans in their zenith of refine ment, exhibits beauty and perfection belonging to no other people. Wherever the arts are patronised they flourish ; for mankind, always guided by self interest, will soon dis cover the way to celebrity. Many circumstances conspir ed to encourage engraving in Greece : The opportunity of receiving the best materials from foreign nations ; the his torical events of their own advancement to power ; the va riety, complication, and allurements of their religion, all contributed to afford an infinite variety of interesting sub jects. The taste for gems may be called original with the Greeks : Among other nations, it is rather to be deem ed imitative, and to have been introduced along with a taste for the various arts. The Greeks chose many interesting subjects ; the heads of eminent men ; their divinities, with their adventures either in heaven or on earth ; historical events, which were transmitted to posterity ; and the like. They were particularly successful in the beautiful repre sentation of the human body naked ; and they always pre ferred pictures undisguised by drapery. They were mas ters in engraving animals, either in a passive state, or when animated with rage and ferocity. Dioscorides engraved naked figures at Rome ; but the Romans, whose works do not bespeak the same character as those of the Greeks, generally concealed them in drapery. These nations pro duced works in relief and intaglio ; and there are rare ex amples of gems being engraved on both sides. The artist just alluded to worked in very slight relief, which is reput ed to be of extremely difficult execution; but many figures rise highly prominent on the gem. It has been supposed by the learned, that the Greeks had better models than have fallen to the lot of the more modern nations. " To judge by the heads alone which we see on engraved stones, and particularly by those which unquestionably are por traits, their models abounded in beauties rarely found among ourselves. The set of the eyes, the figure of the nose, the smiling lips, the majestic countenance, in short, those un definable graces, which are the offspring of internal sensa tion, never were the fruit of the artist's imagination only. The work declares, that he must have beheld them in his model, and that nothing belonged to him but to make a faithful representation. The Greeks besides had another advantage, in being able to study the proportions and atti tudes of the human body. Far from being disgraceful to appear naked in public, the most distinguished characters contended for the prizes bestowed for wrestling, running, and similar exercises. Many opportunities were thus pre sented for artists to examine the natural motions of the per son, far preferable to the constrained or languishing pos tures of our mercenary models. Their draperies too were so simple, that we might affirm they were devised to betray the human figure itself; and of this we are so well aware, as invariably to adopt them when dignity or expression are required." Amidst all the variety of subjects represented on gems, it is not wonderful that antiquarians should be led into er rors and controversies : of which, a notable instance ap pears in Michael Angelo's seal, now preserved at Paris. By one, this subject is supposed to be Alexander the Great represented as Bacchus; by another, it is thought a reli gious procession of the Athenians ; and there arc others, who suppose it simply a vintage, or sacrifical rites relative to the conquest of India. But it is said to be proved, that instead of being an antique, this gem was engraved by an intimate friend of Michael Angelo himself ; which is suffi cient evidence of the uncertainty relative to ancient en gravings. The seal is a cornelian ; it was bought by the keeper of the cabinet of I Ienry IV. of France for 800 crowns; and Louis XIV. having afterwards acquired it, frequently wore it as a ring. Specimens of Greek workmanship are always more anxiously sought by those who appreciate the arts of antiquity.