LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Examples of Ecclesiastical Metal Work
Crown of Charlemagne
Bernward's Cross and Candlesticks, Hildesheim
Bernward's Chalice, Hildesheim
Corona at Hildesheim. (detail)
Reliquary at Orvieto
Apostle spoons
Ivory Knife Handles, with Portraits of Queen Elizabeth and James I. Englis
The "Milkmaid Cup"
Saxon Brooch
The Tara Brooch
Shrine of the Bell of St. Patrick
The Treasure of Guerrazzar
Hebrew Ring
Crystal Flagons, St. Mark's, Venice
Sardonyx Cup, 11th Century, Venice
German Enamel, 13th Century
Enamelled Gold Book Cover, Siena
Detail; Shrine of the Three Kings, Cologne
Finiguerra's Pax, Florence
Italian Enamelled Crozier, 14th Century
Wrought Iron Hinge, Frankfort
Biscornette's Doors at Paris
Wrought Iron from the Bargello, Florence
Moorish Keys, Seville
Armour. Showing Mail Developing into Plate
Damascened Helmet
Moorish Sword
Enamelled Suit of Armour
Brunelleschi's Competitive Panel
Ghiberti's Competitive Panel
Font at Hildesheim, 12th Century
Portrait Statuette of Peter Vischer
A Copper "Curfew"
Sanctuary Knocker, Durham Cathedral
Anglo-Saxon Crucifix of Lead
Detail, Bayeux Tapestry
Flemish Tapestry, "The Prodigal Son"
Tapestry, Representing Paris in the 15th Century
Embroidery on Canvas, 16th Century, South Kensington Museum
Detail of the Syon Cope
Dalmatic of Charlemagne
Embroidery, 15th Century, Cologne
Carved Capital from Ravenna
Pulpit of Nicola Pisano, Pisa
Tomb of the Son of St. Louis, St. Denis
Carvings around Choir Ambulatory, Chartres
Grotesque from Oxford, Popularly Known as "The Backbiter"
The "Beverly minstrels"
St. Lorenz Church, Nuremberg, Showing Adam Kraft's Pyx, and the Hanging Medallion by Veit Stoss
Relief by Adam Kraft
Carved Box—wood Pyx, 14th Century
Miserere Stall; An Artisan at Work
Miserere Stall, Ely; Noah and the Dove
Miserere Stall; the Fate of the Ale-wife
Ivory Tabernacle, Ravenna
The Nativity; Ivory Carving
Pastoral Staff; Ivory, German, 12th Century
Ivory Mirror Case; Early 14th Century
Ivory Mirror Case, 1340
Chessman from Lewis
Marble Inlay from Lucca
Detail of Pavement, Baptistery, Florence
Detail of Pavement, Siena; "Fortune," by Pinturicchio
Ambo at Ravello; Specimen of Cosmati Mosaic
Mosaic from Ravenna; Theodora and Her Suite, 16th Century
Mosaic in Bas-relief, Naples
A Scribe at Work; 12th Century Manuscript
Detail from the Durham Book
Ivy Pattern, from a 14th Century French Manuscript
Mediæval Illumination
Caricature of a Bishop
Illumination by Gherart David of Bruges, 1498; St. Barbara
Choral Book, Siena
Detail from an Italian Choral Book

ARTS AND CRAFTS IN THE MIDDLE AGES

CHAPTER I

GOLD AND SILVER

The worker in metals is usually called a smith, whether he be coppersmith or goldsmith. The term is Saxon in origin, and is derived from the expression "he that smiteth." Metal was usually wrought by force of blows, except where the process of casting modified this.

Beaten work was soldered from the earliest times. Egyptians evidently understood the use of solder, for the Hebrews obtained their knowledge of such things from them, and in Isaiah xli. 7, occurs the passage: "So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith, and he that smootheth with the hammer him that smote the anvil, saying, 'It is ready for the soldering.'" In the Bible there are constant references to such arts in metal work as prevail in our own times: "Of beaten work made he the candlesticks," Exodus. In the ornaments of the tabernacle, the artificer Bezaleel "made two cherubims of gold beaten out of one piece made he them."

An account of gold being gathered in spite of vicissitudes is given by Pliny: "Among the Dardoe the ants are as large as Egyptian wolves, and cat coloured. The Indians gather the gold dust thrown up by the ants, when they are sleeping in their holes in the Summer; but if these animals wake, they pursue the Indians, and, though mounted on the swiftest camels, overtake and tear them to pieces."

Another legend relates to the blessed St. Patrick, through whose intercession special grace is supposed to have been granted to all smiths. St. Patrick was a slave in his youth. An old legend tells that one time a wild boar came rooting in the field, and brought up a lump of gold; and Patrick brought it to a tinker, and the tinker said, "It is nothing but solder. Give it here to me." But then he brought it to a smith, and the smith told him it was gold; and with that gold he bought his freedom. "And from that time," continues the story, "the smiths have been lucky, taking money every day, and never without work, but as for the tinkers, every man's face is against them!"

In the Middle Ages the arts and crafts were generally protected by the formation of guilds and fraternities. These bodies practically exercised the right of patent over their professions, and infringements could be more easily dealt with, and frauds more easily exposed, by means of concerted effort on the part of the craftsmen. The goldsmiths and silversmiths were thus protected in England and France, and in most of the leading European art centres. The test of pure gold was made by "six of the more discreet goldsmiths," who went about and superintended the amount of alloy to be employed; "gold of the standard of the touch of Paris" was the French term for metal of the required purity. Any goldsmith using imitation stones or