FIG. 20.—VENETIAN CANDELABRUM (ONE OF A PAIR).
Bordering on the secular vessels, yet associated with the altar, there are the alms-dishes, of which there are a great number in private collections of metal. They are mostly of brass, some quite plain, others engraved and highly ornamental. Some little time ago there was a special display of alms-dishes, two-score or more in number, exhibited at the Kelvingrove Exhibition at Glasgow. Some were covered over with scriptural pictorial designs, among the favourite being those illustrating the old story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden; the episode of Samson and the lion; and the visit of the two spies to the Promised Land, returning carrying a large bunch of grapes. Such alms-dishes vary in size, seldom less than 12 in. in diameter, but ranging up to 20 in. Sometimes the collector is puzzled to find what he may regard as inappropriate mottoes on church vessels. On the other hand, it is not an uncommon thing to meet with religious devices or pious mottoes on platters and bowls which were obviously used as domestic vessels. This fact is explained in that at one time there was but little difference between secular and ecclesiastical plate, and the vessels were often used indiscriminately for church purposes and for the use of the household.
Metal Architectural Ornament.
The lectern is frequently of bronze or brass. The eagle with spread wings or other designs adopted by the metal-workers gave the artist plenty of scope. The altar rail and in a few instances the metal screen and grille are composed of elaborately chased brass or copper-work, sometimes cast, at others hammered. Perhaps one of the greatest achievements of the coppersmith in connection with church metal-work is the ball and cross of St. Paul's, surmounting the great dome. It was made in the year 1821 by Benham and Froud, an old firm of coppersmiths. An illustration of this gigantic piece of work is given in Fig. 22. When viewed from beneath few would imagine that the cross, although so high up, is 30 ft. in height, and that its weight is upwards of one and a half tons. The occasional gilding of this triumph of the coppersmith's art is in itself a costly procedure.
Memorial Brasses.
The visitor to the country church, as well as the larger cathedral, finds much antiquarian interest in the tombs and monuments, and in the memorial tablets of the illustrious dead the history of their lives may often be read. In the older tombs the work of the sculptors in marble is frequently enriched by the addition of appropriate tablets of brass, sometimes inlaid with enamels. One of the most noted tombs is that in the centre of the chapel of Henry VII. in Westminster Abbey, the tomb itself being closely guarded by the massive railings, which are of brass. The visitor to that chapel notes with interest the brass stall plates so rich in enamels, on which are the arms and crests of the knights who in times past occupied those stalls and hung their banners over them.
FIG. 21.—BRONZE INCENSE BURNER AND INCENSE BOAT.
(In the Victoria and Albert Museum.)