That, however, gem-cutting still persisted in the Western world to a small extent is pi oved by historic records, as well as by a few engraved gems in bishops' rings, up to the end of the 7th century. In the 9th century, with the advent of the Carolingians, there seems to have been a limited revival. At this time rock crystal was the stone preferably chosen, the finest ex ample being the ((crystal of Lothair" now in the British Museum, on which an artist has engraved scenes from the story of Susannah and the Elders. The work was probably done for Lothair II (855-69). After this brief revival the political disintegration in Europe dis couraged the development of art, and during the 11 th and 12th centuries, and up to the middle of the 13th century, gem-engraving ap pears to have almost died out in the West, although in a decadent form it still persisted in the East.
The Early Renaissance saw a timid revival, scattered notices from about 1315 to 1450 men tioning briefly the names of a very few en gravers on gems. One of the earliest appears to have been Benedetto Peruzzi of Florence, who flourished about 1379, and who is said to have cut an imitation of the seal of Charles of Durazzo. Perhaps better authenticated is Vittore Pisanello, who lived about 1406 in Florence. Among the Germans the earliest that is noted is Heinrich (or Daniel) Engelhard of Nuremberg, a friend of Albert Diner, who died in 1512. The discovery of some fine antique specimens in Italy, particularly in Florence, and the display of gems by the Emperor Palteologus, at the Council of Florence in 1438, were per haps the original cause of the taste of the Medici for engraved stones. Forerunners as patrons of gem cutters, and as collectors of gems, were the PopeS Martin V (1417) and Paul II (1464). A Florentine artist, generally called on account of his great skill in engraving carnelian, Giovanni delle Carniole (1470—aft. 1516), distinguished himself in this early mod ern period. There are few gems which can be ascribed to him with any confidence, except the famous carnelian in the Uffizi, at Florence, bearing the portrait of Savonarola, and the inscription Hieronymus Ferrariensis ordinis prirdictorum, profeta vir et martyr. This stone, which must have been engraved later than 1498, is given in D'Agincourt's great work. Contemporaries and rivals of Giovanni were Nanni di Prospero delle Carniole, in Florence, whom Francesco Salviati directed in his works, and Domenico dei Camel (of the Cameos), a Milanese, whose portrait of Duke Ludovico Sforza, called II Moro, cut in a balas-ruby, is still preserved in the Uffizi at Florence.
Perhaps the most prolific gem engraver of this period was Valerio Belli, surnamed II Vicentino ; he was employed by Popes Clement VII and Paul III. Another celebrated engraver was Giovanni Bernardi di Castelbolognese. who worked for Duke Alfonsci of Ferrara and was the first of these early Renaissance engravers to sign his work. This art found patrons in all the Italian princes, the number of artists constantly increased and,the sphere of their art was extended. A most in teresting application of it was in the engraving of the indomitable diamond, the first work of this kind being attributed to Clemente Birago of Milan, who is stated to have cut a portrait of Don Carlos, son of Philip II, on one diamond and the Spanish coat-of-arms on another; a rival claimant to the first exercise of this diffi cult art is Jacopo da Trezzo, also a Milanese; Jacobus Thronus is said to have engraved on a diamond a portrait of Queen Mary I of Eng land. The names of many of the engravers are not known, because they were but rarely put on the stones. Many gems, too, are still con cealed in the cabinets of the wealthy or the treasuries of princes. Till these are accurately described, as are those of the Ambrosian col lection, it will be difficult to obtain a complete general view.
Subjects of antiquity especially appealed to the artists of the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries, who treated them with such ability that it often requires the skill of the most accomplished con noisseur to distinguish them from genuine an tiques. The dispute concerning the so-called "Signet of Michelangelo') is well known. It is not improbable that this carnelian is the work of Pier Maria da Pescia, to whose name the figure of a boy fishing (pescia) makes punning allusion. This artist belonged to the age of Leo X, as did also Michelino, another noted gem-cutter. In order to give the gems more completely the appearance of antiques, some artists engraved their names on them in Greek characters, but with so little knowledge of the language that they sometimes betrayed them selves by this artifice. To this time we must ascribe the gems with the name Pyrgoteles, which Fiorello endeavors to prove were the work of an Italian of Greek descent (Lascaris).