Before the Christian era the Roman world was indebted to Greece and Etruria for all but the plainest jewelry forms, and in the palmy days of Imperial Rome, the expert jewelers were either Greeks themselves or had learned the art under Greek influence. The specifically Roman work was more massive, seeming to lay as great stress , upon the intrinsic value of the precious metal used for a jewel, as upon its artistic character. At the same time the tendency to produce a striking effect was dis played in the free use of the more brilliantly colored stones. Reds, yellows and blues were favored, and the contrast is emphasized by the addition of pearls, which enjoyed immense favor ip Imperial Rome, when the pearl-fisheries of the East were laid under contribution to satis fy the luxurious tastes of the wealthy Romans. Drawing to herself as she did the finest fruits of the world's culture in every direction, Rome offered a rich variety of all known forms and designs of jewelry, this wonderful variety of borrowed or adapted types hiding her lack of originality. As the power and wealth of the state declined there was a progressive decline in the artistic merit of the ornamental objects produced, until toward the end the quality and value of the materials used for the jewels much surpassed the skill displayed in their work manship and decoration.
The most remarkable examples of the Visi gothic art of Spain that have been preserved for us are the gold crowns and coronets found in 1858 at the Fuente de Guarrazar, near Tol edo, and now preserved at the Musee Cluny at Paris. Of these the one bearing the name of the Spanish-Gothic king Reccesvinthus (649 672) is the finest. It consists of a broad, mas sive gold band, about four inches high, the diameter being about eight inches ;• along the upper and lower edges runs a bordering of cloisonné incrusted with almandine garnets, and on the band are set in relief 30 Oriental sapphires of great beauty and of large size; alternating with the sapphires are 30 large pearls. From the band hang 24 golden chains, supporting as many letters in gold cloisonné, reading Reccesvinthus rex offeret. Each of these letters terminates with a gold pendant from which hangs a pearl and a pear-shaped sapphire. The crown is suspended by a quad ruple chain of fine workmanship, which at taches it to a double fleuron of massive gold, enriched with 12 pendent sapphires. The cross which occupies the centre of the crown, and is attached to fleuron by a long golden chain, is remarkable both for the richness of its mate rial and the elegance of its form. It is of massive gold and is decorated with six beautiful sapphires and eight large pearls. The letters depending from the crown proclaim it to have been a votive offering, and the church to which it and the other crowns were dedicated was that of Sancta Maria in Sorbaceis, near Toledo.* The two most striking types of jewelry characteristic of Celtic art are the crescent shaped head ornaments and the massive gold torques. The former are made of thin plates of gold, usually with a simple decoration of parallel lines; they were probably attached near the ears by extensions on either side, so that the moon-shaped ornament could project up ward above the head; but some of them may have been adapted to be worn suspended from the neck. An exceptionally rich example in
the Dublin Museum has a weight of 16 ounces, giving a metal value of $330, as the gold is probably nearly if not quite pure. The gold torques are twisted lengths of the metal, turned to a circular form, so as to be worn around the neck; but many of the metal torques were worn passing over the shoulder and across the breast. Splendid gold fibula, or clasps, from prehistoric times, have also been found in Ireland; some of those of penannular form, with cup-shaped terminations, are very large and heavy, one in the Dublin Museum weighing as much as 33 ounces, the intrinsic value being $680. Armlets of gold were also made, as were plates of gold for adorning garments.
Anglo-Saxon jewelry was essentially of the same type as the Merovingian. The Anglo Saxon jewelers possessed a strong individuality, so that the personal note is very pronounced in their work. The execution was artistic and the jeweler's sense of color in the choice of stone adornments was highly developed. As it was the custom to bury many ornaments with the dead, the sepultures, especially those of Kent, have afforded a bountiful harvest of fine jewels. Examples of almost all types have been unearthed. Bead necklaces are present in great variety, the materials ranging from glass up to amber and amethyst, while for the wealthy there were gold necklaces with more precious settings. Hairpins, with fantastic bird or animal forms, or with garnets, were much in favor. The well-known jewel of Alfred the Great, now in the Ashmolean Museum at Ox ford, was found at Newton Park, three miles from Athelney, county of ' Somerset, where Alfred sought refuge during the Danish in vasion in 878. It measures two inches in length, one and one-fifth inches in width and half an inch in thickness, and is considered to repre sent Anglo-Saxon jewelry at its very best. In shape it is oval, the front and the back being flat. On the obverse, beneath a plate of rock crystal, two-fifths of an inch thick, there is a plaque of semi-transparent cloisonné enamel, blue, white, green and brown, figuring a man's form. At the smaller end of the oval a pro longation is shaped like a boar's head. An Anglo-Saxon inscription in gold letters, along the edge of the jewel, reads: Aelf red mec heht gewyrcan (Alfred ordered me to be wrought). The gold is delicately fashioned in filigree and granular work; the enamel figure has been variously considered to represent Christ, Saint Neot, Saint Cuthbert, or Alfred himself. Of Anglo-Saxon gold rings, the most noteworthy are three, bearing respectively the names of Ahlstan, bishop of Sherbourne (824-67) ; of Ethelwulf, king of Wessex (836-58), the father of Alfred the Great, and of Ethelswith, queen of Murcia, Alfred's sister. Ethelswith's ring was tied to a dog's collar by the farmer who found it, and served this ignoble use for six months, until to his surprise and joy the man learned that it was of gold.