LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
| PAGE |
| [Protogenis, a Comedian of the Second Century, with a Mask, Playing the Character of Meleager, the “Wild Boar Hunter,” Engraved in His Time] | 11 |
| [Vestal Virgins Guarding the Palladium, the Sacred Effigy of Minerva] | 15 |
| [Egyptian] | 17 |
| [Egyptian Scarabeus: The Barque of the Sun, Represented by the Hieroglyph of the City of Heliopolis. The Obelisk below with the God Ra—and the Deess Ma, together Ra-Men-Ma, the Prenomen of King Set First, Second King of the XIX. Dynasty] | 21 |
| [Portrait of Sapor] | 22 |
| [Allegorical Sketch of Persia] | 23 |
| [Impressions of Babylonian Cylinders] | 27 |
| [Impressions of Assyrian, Persian, Hittite, Phœnician, and Cyprian Cylinders] | 29 |
| [Allegorical Sketch of the Source of History] | 33 |
| [Persian Seals] | 35 |
| [Etruscan Sketch] | 37 |
| [Etruscan Scarabeus] | 40 |
| [Phœnician Scarabei and Intaglios] | 42 |
| [Phœnician Intaglios, Mask, etc.] | 45 |
| [Callimachus, the Greek Inventor of the Corinthian Capitol] | 48 |
| [Greek and Roman Intaglio Rings] | 50 |
| [Cameo, the Greek Pallas] | 52 |
| [Roman Gems] | 54 |
| [Cameo in High Relief, Roman Emperor Caracalla] | 57 |
| [Abraxas or Gnostic Gems] | 59 |
| [Abraxas Token] | 62 |
| [Abraxas or Gnostic Gems] | 63 |
| [Early Christian Token] | 67 |
| [Byzantine Gems] | 69 |
| [Byzantine Cabinet and Gems] | 73 |
| [The Annunciation] | 75 |
| [An Orgie of Silenus] | 78 |
| [Renaissance-Medici Period] | 81 |
| [Noah’s Ark] | 85 |
| [A very fine Intaglio by Giovanni Pickler—Ceres] | 87 |
| [Jupiter Ægiochus] | 91 |
| [The Triumph of Constantine] | 95 |
| [John the Baptist Preaching in the Wilderness] | 103 |
| [Historic Cameos: 1347, Trajan offering a Sacrifice to Mars Vincitore; 1348, the Triumphant Entry of Titus Vespasianus into Jerusalem] | 105 |
| [Coriolanus: His Mother and Wife Beseeching Him to Raise the Siege of Rome] | 107 |
| [Historic Cameos: 1339, Trajan Pursuing a Wild Boar; 1350 and 1351, Prisoners; 1349, the Exit from Jerusalem of the Victorious Army of Titus Vespasianus, the Golden Candlesticks, etc.] | 109 |
| [Cock and Serpent: The Cock Intaglio, “Vigilance;” The Serpent in Relief—Cameo; The Serpent’s Tail in its Mouth, “Eternity”] | 115 |
| [Antique Pastes] | 117 |
| [Fragment of Antique Paste, Basso-rilievo] | 120 |
| [A Chimera: Four Faces and the Horn of Jupiter Ammon] | 122 |
| [A Chinese Cameo] | 124 |
| [Aztec or Mexican] | 126 |
| [Aztec or Mexican] | 128 |
| [Odenatus and Zenobia] | 130 |
ENGRAVED GEMS.
When specimens of any ancient art industry are brought together and classified in a museum it is interesting to compare each piece and trace the work from the hands of the different nationalities through all the transitions and changing history of past centuries.
My collection exemplifies the progress in execution of engraved gems from the most primitive eras through periods of varying excellence and of inevitable decline. The quality of the execution approaches perfection and degenerates as in a geometrical progression repeating itself in reverse; advancing and improving in fineness up to nearly the end of the first century, the century of Christ, and from the beginning of the second century retrograding to the base of mediocrity at the end of the fifth century.
The sixth and seventh centuries, the Byzantine period, yielded a group of principally religious cameos, abundant, curious, and of great interest.
This was succeeded by several hundred years not of repose in the art, but of wretched ignorance, when man almost ceased to create a connecting link in the history of the glyptic art. With rare exceptions, the specimens of that time scarcely merit the designation of gems: it was a period that may be reasonably identified as the night of art, when, alas! in the darkness blows were stricken which destroyed and reduced to fragments much that was precious and beautiful, and vandalism, contributing nothing that was fair, robbed us of a large part of our inheritance.