n eastern tale. Goldsmith's work was executed on
such a scale for the great church as to form parts of the architecture of
the interior. The altar was wholly of gold, and its ciborium and the
iconastasis were of silver. In the later palace-church, built by Basil the
Macedonian, the previous metals were used to such an extent that it is
clear, from the description, that the interior was intended to be, as far
as possible, like a great jewelled shrine. Gold and silver, we are told,
were spread over all the church, not only in the mosaics, but in plating
and other applications. The enclosure of the bema, with its columns and
entablatures, was of silver gilt, and set with gems and pearls.

The most splendid existing example of goldsmith's work on a large scale is
the _Paid d'Oro_ of St Mark's, Venice; an assemblage of many panels on
which saints and angels are enamelled. The monastic church of St Catherine,
Sinai, is entered through a pair of enamelled doors, and several doors
inlaid with silver still exist. In these doors the ground was of
gilt-bronze; but there is also record of silver doors in the imperial
palace at Constantinople. The inlaid doors of St Paul Outside the Walls at
Rome were executed in Constantinople by Stauricios, in 1070, and have Greek
inscriptions. There are others at Salerno (c. 1080), but the best known are
those at St Mark's, Venice. In all these the imagery was delineated in
silver on the gilt-bronze ground. The earliest works of this sort are still
to be found in Constantinople. The panels of a door at St Sophia bear the
monograms of Theophilus and Michael (840). Two other doors in the narthex
of the same church, having simpler ornamentation of inlaid silver, are
probably as early as the time of Justinian.

The process of enamelling dates from late classical times and Venturi
supposes that it was invented in Alexandria. The cloisonne process,
characteristic of Byzantine enamels, is thought by Kondakov to be derived
from Persia, and to its study he has devoted a splendid volume. One of the
finest examples of this cloisonne is the reliquary at Limburg on which the
enthroned Christ appears between St Mary and St John in the midst of the
twelve apostles. An inscription tells that it was executed for the emperors
Constantine and Romanus (948-959).

A reliquary lately added to the J. Pierpont Morgan collection at South
Kensington is of the greatest beauty in regard to the colour and clearness
of the e