Искусства и ремесла Средневековья

Gold and Silver

7

handles of the chalice as follows: " Take wax, form handles witl1 it, and grave upon them dragoпs or animals or Ьirds, 01' leaves - in whatever шanner you may wish. But on the top of each handle place а little wax, 1·ound like а slender candle, half а fiпger in length, . . . this wax is called tЬе ft1nncl.... Then take some clay and cover carefully tЬе haпdle, so that tЬе hollows of ' t.he sculptшe may Ье filled нр....After\vards place these moulds near the coals, that when they have become warm you may ронr out the wax. Which being turned out, melt the silver, ... and cast into the same place whence you poured out the \Vax. And when they have becomc cold reшove thc clay." ТЬе solid silver handles аге found inside, onc hardly несd say. In casting in the " cire peгdu " process, Benvenuto Cellini ¼'arns you to beware lest you break your cruciЫe -н just as you've got your silver nicely molten," he says, " and are pouring it into the mould, crack goes your cruciЫe, and all уош \Vork and time and pains are Iost ! " Не advises \Vrapping it in stout cloths. The process of repousse work is also muc]1 the same to-day as it has al\vays been. The metal is mounted on ceшent and the design partly beaten in from tl1e outside; tЬen the cement is melted out, and the tiesign treated in more detail from the inside. Theophilнs tells us ho\v to pI'epare а silver vessel to Ье beaten with а design. After giving а recipe for а sort of pitcЬ, he says, " Melt this coшposition анd fill tl1e vial to the top. And when it has become cold, pOl'tray ...what-