RELIQUARY OF THE JAW OF S. STEPHEN OF HUNGARY
The treasury is particularly rich in reliquaries, of which the most valued contains the head of S. Blaise. It consists of a number of small Byzantine enamels reset in an elaborate floral pattern of filigree and enamel by a Venetian goldsmith in 1694—"Franc°° Ferro Venet°," as he signs himself on the lower edge. The design resembles the later Hungarian enamel-work very closely. The stalks are simply gold wires, and the leaves, flowers, &c., are filled in with enamels of different colours, very delicately varied, leaving the copper ground showing, each plaque being surrounded with a twist of gold and pinned down to the capsule of the skull. Legend says that the head was brought to Ragusa in 1026, but even the Byzantine enamels scarcely look as old as that; and the occurrence of two half-lengths of S. Blaise and two of S. Peter suggests that it was made up with fragments of several reliquaries, of which other portions have been used in the arm reliquary of S. Blaise. The names appear to have been added in the thirteenth century; the letters are Latin. There are three rows of the enamels. At the top, upon the curve, are four figures in roundels—"SS. Andreas, Blasivs, Petrvs," and the Archangel Michael. The nimbi are blue-green, the figures red. The second row has eight enamels, alternately round and square; the round ones are unnamed, and represent three saints (one with a stole, holding a cross in the right hand) and a badly restored Madonna. The others are: an Apostle with a roll, "Santvs Petrvs"; a bishop, "Santvs Blasivs"; "Santvs Matevs" with a book in the left hand; "Santvs Jacobvs" with a roll. The third row has eight circular enamels, alternately figures and ornaments. The figures are: Christ enthroned, blessing with the right hand, and with a roll in the left inscribed "IC XC"; S. John the Baptist with inscription "S. IO. BAPT."; S. Zenobius, with his name in full, commencing with a Greek ζ; and S. John the Evangelist, "S. Johes Eb Agelisa." The arm reliquary is inscribed "Tomaso Paleologo despota del Peloponeso donato a Giorgio Radovanovich civi Raguseo 1452." The saints who appear on the enamels are SS. Laurence, Andrew, Nereus, Achilleus, Lucas, Tomas, Simon, Bartholomew, and Paul. Another reliquary has remains of enamel plaques of Christ, the Virgin, Simeon, SS. John the Evangelist, Blaise, and John the Baptist. A hand of S. Blaise is contained in a beautiful filigree reliquary, and is kept under glass. A head reliquary has a fine pierced pattern and a punched border of early Renaissance character, with niello medallions of the Evangelists' symbols. Another, not quite so good, is dated 1349, and has similar nielli, with interlacings of oak-sprigs. There are several very curious thorax reliquaries, and many arms. Two portable altars with inlaid reliquaries in patriarchal crosses were seen by Eitelberger, with fine figure subjects; on one the Virgin and S. John in repoussé in Romanesque style, and Christ on the Cross on the other, with the monograms added in enamel. These I did not see. A cross with reliefs of the Virgin and Child, with angels at the top, S. Mary Magdalene below, and SS. Blaise and Vincent on the arms, encloses what the Canon told us with pride was the largest piece of the true Cross in existence. A processional cross of the fourteenth century, set upon an eighteenth-century stem, bears figures in relief of Christ, and the Evangelists' symbols, gilt on a silver ground. On the back are the Madonna and Child, with God the Father above and a cherub beneath, SS. Biagio and Francis. Most of the objects are either of the fourteenth or late thirteenth century in style, but may very likely be later, the goldsmiths still using the patterns of an earlier period. The curious reliquary supporting the jaw of S. Stephen of Hungary, and with a figure of the monarch hanging below it, is interesting (as well as unusual) as being an example of ancient Hungarian silversmith's work. It was brought to Ragusa for safety during the Turkish period. There are also several monstrance-like reliquaries, and one fine monstrance of a later period with something of German style in its foliated ornament; but the objects which are exhibited with most pride and with evident expectation of the stupefaction of the tourist are a ewer and dish of silver-gilt, which are covered with representations of sea creatures and weeds, worked with the most extraordinary realism and fineness, and proving very satisfactorily that the copying of nature and the production of a work of art are not necessarily connected. They are kept in leather cases, and the tourist generally makes the expected exclamations when they are disclosed to view. There is an "N" stamped upon the metal, and it is thought that Nuremberg was responsible for them.
The church of S. Biagio is quite near, a late Renaissance building, which replaced the votive church erected in 1349-52 after the plague of 1348, and burnt in 1706. Above the high-altar is the celebrated silver statue of S. Blaise which was saved from the fire, and is now preserved under glass. It is made of silver plates, gilded, on a basis of wood, and shows the front part of an old man with a long beard, in episcopal robes, holding a model of the city. The back portion has never been completed. The head is too large, the neck too short, and the arms too long. The chasuble has an embroidered cross with figures of Christ and three saints or Apostles, with two little angels censing below the arms, and a quatrefoil in the centre. Two half-length saints are on the dalmatic beneath a double arch. The draperies are well treated, especially the chasuble, upon which is worked an elaborate Burgundian pattern. The details of the town which the saint holds in his hand prove that it was made between 1480 and: 1485. It shows the harbour closed by a chain. The breakwater was built in 1485. The clock-tower also appears (built in 1480). The cast portions of the figure (of which the town is one) are of silver of a different colour from that of the beaten parts, and there is no-doubt, from the variety of style in certain of the details that it has been restored more than once, probably after the fires of 1547 and 1706.
PLAN OF THE DOMINICAN CONVENT, RAGUSA
CLOISTER OF THE DOMINICAN CONVENT, RAGUSA
The Dominican convent is just within the Porta Ploće, and the stair which leads to it dates back to Roman times, though it now has Venetian-looking balustrades of the fourteenth century. It led to a gate of the city. Until the seventeenth century it was the duty of the Dominicans to defend Porta Ploće; the Franciscans defended Porta Pile; and the cathedral canons Porta Pescheria. One hundred soldiers were selected monthly from the various ranks, and were divided into two bands for alternate nightly police; twenty-seven more were told off to defend nine selected points against external attack. The lesser towers belonged to patrician houses who were responsible for their defence, whilst the greater and more exposed were looked after by the State. The Dominicans were first established in 1225, in S. Giacomo in Peline, a small, roughly constructed church high on the hill, which has a fourteenth-century Madonna over the altar. Tradition says that S. Dominic himself established the community. The present church was building in 1297, and was consecrated in 1306. The portions which survived the earthquake of 1667 are the south door with the apse of the chapel close to it, the main apse, and the sacristy. This last is the ancient church of the Assumption, given to the Dominicans in 1253 by the Palmotta. The convent was built in 1348. The church has a long nave with a horizontal wooden roof and a polygonal apse. The choir was once vaulted. There are two side altars in recesses rather behind the high-altar. Above them are restored pictures by Nicolaus Raguseus. To the right the centre panel is filled by a figure of S. Nicholas in a shell-headed niche; on the right are SS. Mary Magdalene and James; on the left, SS. John the Baptist and Stephen. The panels are round-headed, and the sky fills the space behind the figures with their gilded nimbi. On S. Stephen's dalmatic are patterns in gold; S. Nicholas's chasuble is of gold with patterns on it. In the picture to the left the Madonna is seated on the crescent moon holding the Child, and surrounded by cherubs; on her right are S. Biagio holding the city, and S. Paul; on her left, S. Thomas Aquinas holding a church, and S. Augustine. There is a good deal of gold used in the draperies, and the ground is gold. Both these pictures are very decorative. The high-altar-piece is a Venetian Madonna and Child, with SS. Dominic and Clara. On the north wall is a picture ascribed to Titian, parts of which may be from his hand, but it has been restored. It represents S. Biagio with a crozier, holding the town; S. Mary Magdalene in ecstasy, with long hair and a white dress; at the right the donor kneeling, and behind him Tobit and the Angel. There is also a great coloured crucifix with SS. John and Mary, regarded as miraculous at the time of the plague of 1358. It was placed here by Pasquale Resti, and is well modelled, with the head cast down. The dark brown colouring of the hair is not pleasant, and the white drapery cuts hardly against the dark-hued flesh.