Dr Albert Ilg, in an exceedingly learned paper on the subject in the Wiener Quellenschriften, Neue Folge, V, 158 f., offered an entirely new explanation of the word ‘mosaic,’ which he maintained had in its original sense nothing to do with inlaid work at all, but rather with gilding. He connected it with a root ‘mus’ or ‘mos,’ with a sense of ‘beating’ or ‘grinding,’ and instanced the mediaeval Latin term ‘mosnerium,’ which Ducange notices as equivalent to ‘molendinum,’ ‘mill.’ ‘Musivum opus’ would refer on this view to the gilding process in which the gold is ground to powder or beaten out; and Ilg affirmed ‘Musaicum im alten Sinne kann nur eigentlich Vergoldung, nicht das moderne Mosaik, bezeichnen.’ If the word at first meant ‘gilded work’ it would later on be extended to what we know as ‘mosaic,’ because of the use in mediaeval mosaics of the familiar gold background. The argument of Dr Ilg is not convincing, and the question must be considered still open. Theophilus, for example, Lib. II, c. 12, uses ‘musivum opus’ for inlaid work in which there is no question of gold.
[143]. Possibly what we call ‘mother of pearl.’
[144]. See Note on ‘The Sassi, della Valle, and other Collections,’ etc., postea, p. 102 f. The mosaic here noticed is unfortunately lost. Lanciani, The Golden Days of the Renaissance in Rome, 1906, p. 234, states that he has searched for it in vain.
[145]. See Note 5, ante, p. [27].
[146]. Mosaics made up of small cubes of coloured or gilded glass are abundant in early Christian and Byzantine times, but were also used, though sparingly, by the Romans from the time of Augustus downwards. See Pliny, Hist. Nat., XXXVI, 189, who fixes the time of their introduction.
[147]. Egg-shell mosaic. See Note, postea, p. 136.
[148]. See Chapters XV and XVI of the ‘Introduction’ to Painting. The pavement of the cathedral of Siena exhibits a large collection of such mosaics in black and white executed in different technical processes.
[149]. See Note on ‘Ideal Architecture’ at the close of the ‘Introduction’ to Architecture, postea, p. 138.
[150]. That is, about 4½ inches.
[151]. About 15½ inches.