Scientific American, Volume XXXVI., No. 8, February 24, 1877 | Page 7

treasure of primitive
Etruscan and Phoenician ornaments of gold, adorned with granulated
work. Signor Castellani considers that the workmanship of these
objects is so perfect that it is impossible at the present time to explain
the process of execution, and very difficult to imitate it. The ornaments
are of two kinds--those for ordinary use and those for funereal purposes.
The first are massive, and might be worn for years without injury; the
others are extremely delicate. All are made of the purest gold, and their
decoration evinces the most consummate skill and taste on the part of
the artist. There is, for example, a small flask, shaped something like an
antique wine jar, and about five inches in height. It is of beaten gold,

and is covered with a pattern intended to imitate the similarly shaped
designs of variegated glass of the Græco-Phoenician period. This
pattern is entirely produced by minute globules of metal soldered to the
surface in tiers of zigzag or Vandyke patterns. Another specimen is a
strip of gold covered with granulated lines and bearing a row of birds in
relief. On other ornaments are exquisitely carved heads and flowers,
produced apparently by hammering on the reverse of the object, but
with a delicacy and precision of touch which is simply marvelous.
The closest students of this ancient handiwork are entirely at a loss to
understand how the processes of melting, soldering, and wire drawing,
which were employed in the art, were performed. Modern workmen
have failed in their attempts exactly to imitate the old ornaments; and it
is certain that the secret of the mechanical agents, whereby it was
possible to separate and join pieces of gold hardly perceptible to the
naked eye, is lost. Signor Castellani has taken great pains to solve the
problem, reading all the treatises of mediæval goldsmiths, inquiring of
all classes of Italian jewelers, and experimenting with all kinds of
chemicals, in the hope of finding the solder wherewith the minute
grains were attached to the surface of the metal. At last he found some
of the old processes still employed in a remote district, hidden in the
recesses of the Apennines, far from the great towns. Bringing away a
few workmen, he gave them much more instruction, and at last
succeeded, not perhaps in equalling, but certainly in rivalling the
ancient productions.
We question whether the Etruscans used fire at all in their soldering, as
it would be almost an impossibility to keep the excessively fine tools
necessary for the work at a proper heat. Mr. Joshua Rose offers the
plausible suggestion that a cold flux was employed, with which the
workman followed the lines or dots of his pattern. Then the gold
granules were possibly sprinkled over the surface, and adhered only to
the solder, the superfluous grains being brushed off after the solder had
set.
There is also a fragment of a finely woven fabric, made of threads of
pure gold, found on the body of a woman in a tomb at Metapontum.

This is without doubt the material to which the Psalmist refers in
speaking of "the King's daughter" having "clothing of wrought gold;"
and in the Pentateuch there is reference to gold threads being used upon
looms.
As we follow the various objects in the twenty cases above mentioned,
the decline of the goldworker's art when the use of enamels came into
vogue is evidenced. Continuing on to later periods, the decadence is
more marked under the successors of Alexander. In Rome, under the
emperors, we find gold used as a mere setting for precious stones, and
finally the collection terminates with examples of workmanship of the
time of Charlemagne, when the workmen had lost their cunning, and
the noble metal had been altogether debased to secondary uses.
The second instance where a lost art is exemplified in Signor
Castellani's collection is in the glazing of the Gubbio majolica. We
have not space here to review the magnificent series of ancient
specimens of pottery in detail; and thus it will suffice to say that,
beginning with some of the earliest pieces made by the Arabs when
they occupied Sicily, from the twelfth to the sixteenth century, the
collection presents examples of all the finest types of later mediæval art.
Gubbio, where the peculiar kind of majolica above noted was made, is
a small town once in the territory of the dukes of Urbino; and in the
sixteenth century it became famous for its pottery. This was attributable
to the talent of one man, Giorgio Andreoli, who is reputed to have
invented the wonderful luster characteristic of the Gubbio ware. The
body of majolica is mere common clay; and after the piece is finished
on the wheel, it is dried and burnt in a furnace. After the biscuit thus