The smalto tesseræ used was made from opaque glass of many colours and shades, and the fractured edge was shown in every case as the surface of the mosaic; this was done in order to get greater brilliancy of colour, and to catch all the possible light that is reflected from the walls and floor of the church.
Portland stone composed the panels, and brick was the background material of the saucer domes, and in order to get a bed for the cement and tesseræ, these surfaces had to be cut away to a certain depth so that the mosaics would come flush when finished with the original surface. The tesseræ were inserted into a bed of red mastic cement, made chiefly of a mixture of red lead and linseed oil, a cement which ultimately sets as hard as the stone itself. The execution of the work was entrusted to Messrs. Powell of London, who employed a large staff of skilled assistants in this successful achievement.
Fig. 293.—Indian Mosaic, from the Taj Mehal.
The Saracens employed mosaic—as in the Alhambra in Spain—in the form of small tiles—azulejos—of glazed earthenware cut into geometric shapes, from which they made up their characteristic rectilinear patterns, and used this form of decoration to a great extent for walls, but rarely for floor pavements (Figs. 291, 292).
Some beautiful examples of mosaic work in the nature of inlaid marbles and precious stones occur in the Mohammedan buildings in India, the chief of which are the Taj Mehal at Agra (Fig. 293) and the great palace at Delhi. The latter has been noticed in the chapter on Indian Architecture in the former volume, and an illustration of the inlaid marble hall is given at Fig. 329 in the same volume.
CHAPTER VIII.
GLASS.
Fig. 294.
Glass Vase or Bottle; height,
3½ ins. (B.M.)
The manufacture of glass is of great antiquity. The invention has been ascribed to the Phœnicians, but specimens of glass beads, amulets, plaques, vases, and small phials or bottles have been found in some of the oldest Egyptian tombs. In the British Museum there is a small piece of blue opaque glass in the form of a lion’s head, which bears the prenomen of the Egyptian monarch Nuntef IV., belonging to the Fourth Dynasty (B.C. 2423-2380). There are also paintings on the walls of early tombs representing bottles with red wine, as well as figures engaged in glass-blowing.