CHRISTIAN ANTIQUITIES.* IT used to be something of a reproach
to that distinguished antiquary, the late Sir Wollaston Franks, that, with the exception of a work on Japanese ceramic, he never published catalogues of the collections under his charge. Other depart-
ments in the British Museum were indefatigable in issuing volume after volume of scientific catalogues, but the Mediaeval Department remained mute. One reason for this was Franks's extreme reluctance—not an unusual peculiarity of very learned men—to express definite judgments and commit himself to theories of relation and date. But there was another reason which was not personal. No department in the Museum comprises such extremely heterogeneous collections as that over which he presided, and no antiquities present such obstacles to classification as the mediaeval. It is comparatively a simple matter to produce catalogues of printed books, of MSS., of coins, and even of Greek and Roman antiquities, where the field has been thoroughly worked, and the evidences of date, or at least of chronological sequence, have been collected and established. But in many branches of mediaeval or early Christian art such evidences do not exist, or at best remain vague and debatable. As Mr. Dalton prudently remarks, "in dealing with a subject like the minor arts of the Byzantine Empire, where there is so much untrodden ground "—despite the signal advance of recent years, shown notably in the works of Schlumberger, Strzygowaki, Diehl, Kondakof, and Graeven, and in the special journals published in Europe dealing exclusively with Byzantine history and antiquities—" the danger of premature hypothesis must be set against the security of excessive caution. In the frequent absence of definite landmarks, conjecture is perhaps a greater evil than suspension of judgment, and it is better to err rather on the side of prudence than of temerity. Precise dates have therefore been sparingly assigned, and in many cases the age of an object has been left quite undetermined." There is a further difficulty in the way of cataloguing the mediaeval collections,—the difficulty of drawing the line between the legitimate provinces of the several departments of the Museum. How is one to distinguish between what belongs to the Roman collections and what should be classed as Early Christian, and therefore attached, as an introductory section, to the Mediaeval Department? Of course, when there are Christian symbols the difficulty is solved; but very often there is no means of distinguishing. " It had to be decided whether all Byzantine antiquities were to be admitted, or only those which bore some obvious mark of Christian ownership. The latter alternative had been adopted for the beginning of the Christian era, with which period the Department of .Greek and Roman Antiquities was equally concerned. Theoretically no objects belonging to these early centuries were placed in the Christian room which did not bear clear signs of Christian. use, but contemporary pagan antiquities were included when they formed part of a single find' with those of a religious character." This rather makeshift plan is still adopted in the Museum, and is found to be convenient, but it can hardly be called scientific. Thus the Mediaeval Department cannot claim to be the possessor of the whole range of early Christian objects of art. Not only does the Roman collection interfere with its completeness, but the Egyptian Department holds a great many antiquities of Coptic Egypt, as well as a large collection of Gnostic gems, whilst the Byzantine leaden seals are deposited in the Department of Manuscripts.
']his curious cross-division is perplexing and disheartening to the archaeologist who wishes his catalogue to represent
• Catalogue of Early Christian Antiquities and Objects from the Christian East in the Department of British and Mediaeval Antiquities and Ethnography of the British Museum. }By 0. M. Dalton, Thirty-five Plates and Numerous Mkodcuta. London: Published by Order of the Trustees. f25e.]
adequately a complete branch of antiquities, and one is not surprised, therefore, at the hesitation of the Mediaeval Depart- ment. Mr. Dalton, however, has achieved a satisfactory com- promise in this scholarly volume, including objects of the minor arts of the early Christian and Byzantine periods preserved in the Department in which he is assistant under the keeper, Mr. C. H. Read. The classes described consist in gems and rings, jewels, ivory carvings, silver, bronze, glass, pottery, and sculptured stone, and were enriched from the collec- tions of the Abbe Hamilton, Castellani, Maskell, Nesbitt, Slade, Rohde Hawkins, and others, and notably by_ the Franks bequest and by the Treasures of the Esquiline, of Carthage, of Lampsacus, and of Cyprus. The gems, rinds, and jewels, including some splendid bronze-gilt fibulae, wonderfully delicate carvings from the Franks collection, and the exquisite Tyszkiewicz gold bracelet, number nearly three hundred examples. The ivories, though few, are of surpassing interest, for among them are not only the admirable Maskell panels, but also a fourth-century Byzantine diptych representing the archangel Michael, and a remarkable Pyxis carved with the story of St. Menas of Alexandria, and another with.the figure of Daniel, both from Egypt and of about the sixth century. Other notable specimens of the .Coptic branch of Byzantine art are the beautiful panels from the church of the Mu'allakah at Babylon (Cairo), representing the Annun- ciation, Nativity, Baptism, Entry into Jerusalem, Descent into Hell, Pentecost, and Ascension. These belong to the thirteenth century, and the decorative borders and groundwork closely resemble the almost contemporary carvings in the Cairo mosques, which doubtless derived their designs from Coptic models.
The most magnificent series in the collection is the silver Treasure found in 1793 on the Esquiline Hill, where it was probably buried during some panic caused perhaps by a bar- barian invasion. The list opens with the famous Projects casket, so named from the Roman bride of the fourth century to whom it was a wedding gift, and whose name occurs in the inscription, Secunde et Proiecta rivals in Christo. Here in a series of panels we see the bride and groom, the bridal procession, and other scenes connected with the wedding, with Venus seated in a shell dressing her hair and attended by Tritons in the prominent place of the front panel, the whole elaborately embossed, chased, and in places gilt. It suggests comparisons with Egyptian work in the Gizeh Museum, but there is no evidence as to when it was made. Nor is it certain who the bride was ; but Mr. Dalton thinks that "Projects must have been the wife of some member of the great family of the Asterii, perhaps of L. Turcius Rufius Apronianus Asterius, prefect of Rome in 363; though in- scriptions show that this family did not embrace Christianity till quite late in the fourth century." Some graceful flasks, with embossed decoration, and the well-known silver images of cities, Rome, Constantinople, Antioch, and Alexandria, with which the Romans decorated their chairs, also appertain to the Esquiline Treasure ; and the delicious series of spoons, with inscriptions, belonging to the Lampsacus Treasure and dating back to the sixth or seventh century, will charm every col- lector of silver. The pear-shaped bowls and looped borders are captivating, and so are the mottoes from sayings of Solon and Bias. One motto, however, is Latin,—Omnia vincit amor et nos cedamue amori ; whilst the Greek motto on the same spoon, TpZys iporoxparrs, is taken by Mr. Dalton to mean, not " 0 love-smitten Trogus," but " Eat, 0 love-smitten." At all events, the double signification of the word "spoon" must have been fully realised by the fortunate diners at those early banquets at Lampsacus.
A valuable feature of the catalogue, upon which Mr. Dalton is to be congratulated, is the ample bibliography appended to the descriptions. Not only does he refer to all works in which the object described has previously been noticed, but he also supplies exceedingly useful and suggestive comparisons with similar objects preserved or described elsewhere, and the attentive student of these notes will find in them much curious and little-known information on the history and relations of early Christian art. A great deal has still to be done before the subject can be treated in a precise or com- prehensive manner, but it is largely by the publication of such catalogues as this, accurately compiled by qualified scholars, that the study advances. The plates and the numerous engravings in the text are admirably executed. The book is, in fact, much more than a catalogue ; it is a guide to its subject, and also a portfolio of exquisite designs.
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