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Ecclesiastical: Mount

Queen Christina of Sweden completed her renunciation of all the pomps and vanities of the world at Loretto, by laying down at the foot of the golden image her crown and sceptre, with jewels of great value. In the monastery of the Vatopidi at Mount Athos is the girdle of the Virgin Mary, which appears to be of leather, so far as one can see through the glass case in which it is kept, and is ornamented with diamonds and numerous rows of rudely worked and very ancient pearls. So far is the fame of its miraculous powers throughout the Egean, that frequently when a city is afflicted with pestilence, it is sent for to restore health to the inhabitants. In the monastery of Xeropotamu, or the "Torrent," on Mount Athos, is a fragment of the true cross, consisting of one long piece of dark wood and two cross pieces, one above the other, the upper one, which is the shorter of the two, being intended for the superscription. Though not exactly a crucifix, it has a small figure of our Lord on the middle of it in ivory or bone; from the great abhorrence in which anything approaching an image is held in the Greek Church, even this would probably not have been spared, had it not been a reputed present from the Empress Pulcheria. Near the foot is a representation in gold plate of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, with an inscription in ancient Greek characters; but what is most remarkable about it is the wonderful size of the uncut diamonds and emeralds with which it is set. This is in all probability the same piece of the true cross which is mentioned in a golden bull of the Emperor Romanus Lecapenus (A.D. 924) as having been taken from the queen's treasury, and presented by him to this monastery after his recovery from a severe illness, on which occasion it was conducted thither with great pomp and ceremonial.

In the monastery of Sphigmenu, at Mount Athos, there is another cross, inferior in other respects, but not less valuable for its ancient diamonds, and the two together form a pair which it would be difficult to match elsewhere.

It has lately been pointed out that the great rarity of large diamonds in ancient works of art, even in Byzantine times, when we should have expected that the gorgeousness of the Court and the communication with Asia would have introduced them, is to be accounted for, not by the scarcity of the gem itself at that period, but by the prohibition which was imposed by the Indian sovereigns against the exportation from that country of any above a certain size. [King on the "Natural History of Precious Stones."] In the monastery of Docheiareiu, or the "Steward's Monastery," at Mount Athos, there are two splendid crosses: one a single cross, magnificently set in gilt filigree work adorned with gems, the spaces between the limbs being also filled up with the same kind of ornamentation, so that it assumes, roughly speaking, a diamond shape; the other is a double cross, like that at Xeropotamu, and has beautiful metal flower-work wreathed all about it. In the possession of Hollingworth Magniac, Esq., is a celebrated jewelled "reliquary," formerly in the treasury of the Cathedral of Basle, and obtained at the sale of the church property in 1834. It is in the form of a sandalled foot, in silver parcel gilt, set with pearls, etc., and is of Swiss work, 1470. The length is nine and a quarter inches, height five and a half inches. The foot is in silver, well and minutely modelled in beaten work, the toes most beautifully executed in the naturalistic style of Martin Schongauer, or the artists of the Van Eyck school; the sandal forms a covering for the greater part of the foot, leaving the toes only exposed; it is diapered all over with small gilded applied rosettes in relief, and bound round by several straps, set with large jewels and glass pastes. In front, on the instep, is a raised circular medallion, containing a pane of glass, intended for the inspection of the relic formerly contained within, which was a foot of one of the Innocents, given to the church by St. Colombanus, and the work of one Oswald, probably a goldsmith of the city of Basle. Above the raised circular medallion is a large rosette in high relief of elegant foliage in gold, set with pearls. On each side of the ankle, also, the sandal is decorated with a large circular applied medallion, formed by a beautiful translucent cloissone enamel of green, red, and white tints, and gold filets, arranged in a floriated pattern, surrounded by zones of filagree work, and thickly set with seed-pearls. Around the top, where the ankle is cut, the margin is surrounded by a band of jewels, crested with a raised open-work crown of strawberry leaves; this encloses a circular medallion carving, in mother-in-pearl (placed horizontally on the summit), representing the Presentation in the Temple. Access to the interior of the foot is obtained in the sole of the sandal by a hinged door, which is ornamented on both sides, by inscriptions, varied with scroll ornaments, engraved or chiselled in low relief, in large church text characters. On the exterior the inscription is as follows:-"In. tegmen . pes . de . innocentibus. Sanctus . Columbanus . dedit"; and inside, "Osvaldus . fecit . hoc . opus . de . voluntate. Dei . 1470 . iar." This remarkable reliquary is engraved in Shaw's "Decorative Arts of the Middle Ages," etc. In the possession of the Right Honourable W. E. Gladstone is a curious large circular jewel or reliquary of gold, set with diamonds, the outer case beautifully enamelled with arabesque scrolls in blue, red, and white on yellow ground; it has a glass cover which opens on a hinge; within the case are four cavities containing groups in enamel of Adam in Paradise; Adam and Eve; the expulsion from Eden; and Cain slaying Abel, with backgrounds of trees and herbage; open-work centre ornament. Size, four inches in diameter, with a loop for suspension.