小小珍品

V. M. 希利尔（仲秋　译）

V. M. 希利尔（1875—1931），美国著名儿童教育家、科普作家，创建了卡尔弗特教育体系。他为孩子们编写了一套趣味盎然的历史、地理、艺术读物，即《写给孩子看的世界歷史》《写给孩子看的世界地理》《写给孩子看的艺术史》。本文选自《写给孩子看的艺术史》，该书写于20世纪二三十年代。

“WHERE your treasure is， there will your heart be also.” I once read a description of a group of sculptured figures that had been made for a public building. The chief thing the newspaper said about the sculpture was that it weighed ten tons. It did not say whether the statues were beautiful or not—just that they weighed ten tons. It might have been ten tons of coal. But mere size doesnt make a thing beautiful. The Greeks made some huge statues， but they were beautiful. They made， also， tiny sculptured figures so small that you have to look at them under a magnifying glass to see how really beautiful they are.

Not long ago I saw in a museum a piece of such sculpture that couldnt have weighed more than an ounce and was no larger than a domino. It was a piece of colored stone through which the light shone and it was carved with beautiful figures of Greek gods and goddesses in low relief. The figures had been cut into the stone with very fine but sharp tools. It had been made by some Greek sculptor whose name no one knows— before Christ was born. It was called a Gem， which is the name we give to anything that is very precious though it may be tiny.

In the British Museum in London is a whole room of such gems made before the time of Christ， by sculptors as great as those who made man size and colossal size figures. These gems were made for kings and wealthy people， for no others could afford them. Rich people long ago used to collect such gems as you might collect postage stamps， and museums—and some people who can afford it—do so today.

Often these tiny bits of low relief sculpture were cut in a stone that had two or three layers of different colors so that the figures were in one color and the background in another. If one layer was black and the other white， the stone was called onyx. If the top layer was reddish and those below it white and black， it was called sardonyx. Such sculptured low reliefs were known as cameos and some were very beautiful. Nowadays， cameos are made of shells of two color layers and are called shell cameos. Some are cut from two or more layers of different colored stone cemented together or from artificial sardonyx.

“你珍视的宝贝在哪，你的心就在哪。”我曾经读过一篇专门介绍雕像的报道，是用于介绍公共建筑的一组雕像。那篇报道不断地强调这组雕像重达十吨，除此之外，比如这组雕像漂亮不漂亮、艺术价值在哪里之类的，却完全没提。煤炭堆也可以重达十吨，所以仅仅是形状和重量大并不代表就是好的艺术品。不过古希腊人制作了不少巨大的雕像，却都雕刻得很美。不仅如此，他们还制作了一些特别小的雕像，小到你必须要拿放大镜才能看得清楚它们到底有多漂亮。

我不久前在博物館看到了一座雕像，还不到三十克重，大小与一块多米诺骨牌接近。它是用半透明的彩色石头制作的，能够被灯光穿透。希腊神的很多浅浮雕刻在石头上，要雕刻这些浮雕，必须要用很精细，而且很锋利的工具才能够做到。据说，这座雕像是公元前的古希腊雕塑家创作的，但是很遗憾，没有人知道这个雕塑家的名字。现在，人们把这座雕像叫作《宝石》，因为宝石是用来形容那些尽管袖珍，但却珍贵的东西。

在伦敦大英博物馆里有一个房间，摆满了产自公元前的“宝石”，这些雕刻作品以及雕刻这些“宝石”的艺术家，和那些雕刻出真人大小或巨型雕像的雕塑家一样伟大。在当时，这些“宝石雕刻”只是为国王或者有钱人做的，因为其他人根本买不起这么价值连城的东西。以前的不少富人都有收集这种“宝石雕刻”的爱好，就像今天有些人喜欢集邮一样。在今天，只有博物馆以及一些非常富有的人才有财力收藏这样的珍品。

这些用来雕刻小型浅浮雕的石头通常都有两到三层不同的颜色，这样就可以让图案是一种颜色，而背景则是另一种颜色。如果一种石头，一层是黑色的，而另一层是白色的，人们把这种石头叫作“黑玛瑙”。如果在石头最上面的那层是红色的，而在红色层下面的颜色是黑色和白色，这种石头就被人们叫作“红条纹玛瑙”。这些雕刻浅浮雕的宝石被称为“宝石浮雕”，都非常漂亮。现在有一种两层色彩的浮雕是用贝壳制成的，因此又被称为“贝壳宝石浮雕”。还有些是雕刻在用几种不同颜色的石头粘接在一起的宝石上的，或者是雕刻在人造的红条纹玛瑙上的。

Word Study

sculptured /'sk?lpt??d/ adj. 雕刻的;雕塑的

Various kinds of sculptured handicrafts will be shown at this exhibition.

artificial /'ɑ?t?'f??l/ adj. 人工的;人造的;假的

He did not want his life to be prolonged by artificial means.

It used to be the fashion for ladies to wear shell cameos as breastpins and perhaps your grandmother may have had such a cameo pin with the head of some one cut in it. Some kinds of china have white cameo-like figures on a blue background. Some cameos were cut from glass of two colors. There is a famous vase in the British Museum called the Portland Vase. It is of blue glass and the figures on it in relief are white glass. Many years ago a crazy person， just to show off， knocked over the vase and it was smashed to bits. The bits were all picked up and put together again， and so well was it repaired that you can hardly tell that it was broken.

There was another kind of gem made in great quantities， before Christ， in which the figures were hollowed out or sunken， instead of being raised. A gem of this sort was called a seal or intaglio， which means sunken. The seals were used to stamp a design in wax. Of course the stamped impression made from the sunken relief was raised in wax， and one could make as many stamped impressions with the seal as he liked. Each person who could afford it had such a seal with a special design all his own to stamp everything he wished to mark with his own hand. Every one would then know he alone had made the impression.

The marks made by seals were largely used instead of signatures， back in the days when few people knew how to write—or even how to sign their names. Sometimes the seal was fitted in a finger ring which was worn by the owner so that no one else could use it. Such rings were called signet rings， which means “signing ring”. Sometimes the seal was not mounted in a ring， but was kept in a safe place so that no one but the owner could use it.

Have you ever collected old coins， old metal money of bronze or silver？ Most boys have. Perhaps you would never think of such coins as a kind of sculpture， but that is what old coins are—pieces of low relief sculpture， and the Greeks used to make the most beautiful coins with heads or figures of famous people or gods on them in low relief. First they made a die which was a sunken relief， and then， with this die， coins were stamped out of metal—gold， silver or bronze. One difference between a coin and a gem is that a coin is made from a die and any number of coins all alike can be made from the one die， but there is only one of a gem. The coins of some countries today are also really beautiful， but none quite so beautiful as those the old Greeks made. One reason for this is that our coins have to be made quite flat， in very low relief， so that they will stack in a pile， for this is necessary in our banks. But it was not necessary to stack the old Greek coins in piles and so they could be made， and were made， in higher relief.

Coins were， of course， used to buy things with， but there were old coin-like sculptures called medals that generally were larger and were not used as money. The figures on medals were often in higher relief and made by pouring the metal into a mold instead of by stamping the metal with a die. Usually such medals were made for prizes in athletic games or honors in war or to celebrate some great event， anniversary， or celebration. Medals of this kind are made today， so your father may have one to show you.

以前，用貝壳宝石浮雕做胸针是女士的一种时尚，说不定你的奶奶就曾经有过这样的胸针呢，看看上面是不是刻有人物头像的贝壳？一些陶瓷品上面也有白色宝石浮雕式样的图案，背景则是蓝色的浅浮雕佳作。还有用两种不同颜色的玻璃做成的一些“贝壳珠宝”。大英博物馆有一个非常著名的花瓶，叫作《波兰花瓶》。花瓶的瓶身由蓝色玻璃做成，而上面的浅浮雕图案则是由白色玻璃雕刻而成的。很多年以前，曾经有一个人狂妄地向别人炫耀自己的财富，就把这个花瓶砸到地上，结果花瓶被摔成了碎片。后来，人们把这些碎片收拾起来，小心翼翼地粘到了一起。由于黏合技术特别高超，所以你根本看不出来花瓶曾被摔破过。

还有一种在公元前也很流行的“宝石雕刻”，它们上面刻着凹下去的图案，而不是凸出来的。这种凹下去的“宝石雕刻”又被叫作“印章”或“凹雕”，也就是“陷下去的雕刻物”的意思。这种印章也可以在蜡上面压印出图案，这样用蜡压在“凹雕”里印出来的图案就是凸起的图案。印章上的图案可以任意变换，可以刻成任何想刻成的样子。当时只要是能买得起古罗马的一些“宝石雕刻”印章的人，都一定有一枚自己独特的印章，那上面的图案独一无二。这样他们就可以在东西上面盖章了，想盖在哪儿都行。人们一看到印迹就知道那东西是谁的。

在那个时候，这些印章主要用来代替签名，因为当时会写字的人凤毛麟角，甚至绝大部分人都不会写自己的名字。有些印章被刻在戒指上，主人可以一直把它戴在手指上，其他人就不能盗用了。这种戒指也被称为印戒，意思就是“有印章的戒指”。也有些时候人们并不把印章一直戴在手上，而是放在一个十分安全的、只有主人知道的地方，保证除了主人没有其他人可能使用。

你有没有收集过古硬币、古钱，银币或者铜币之类？估计大部分男孩子都应该收集过这些。也许你从来都没把自己收集到的旧钱币或者那些金属的小玩意看作是雕像，但事实上，旧硬币上都刻有浅浮雕。古希腊人做的钱币一般都十分好看，上面刻着的浅浮雕有各种名人或者神明的头像。他们制作的过程是这样的：首先做一个刻有浅浮雕的金属印模，然后使用这个做好的印模，压印出大量金属硬币，比如金币、银币、铜币。由此可见硬币最不同于“宝石雕刻”的一点，那就是硬币是用同一个印模压印出来的，一个印模可以印制许许多多完全一样的硬币，而每个“宝石雕刻”却都雕刻得各不相同。今天一些国家也发行了十分漂亮的硬币，但是这些硬币比古希腊人做的硬币逊色不少。其中一个原因是，现在的银行需要方便地把硬币叠放在一起，所以要求硬币表面很平坦，于是上面的浮雕只能使用非常浅的那一种。但是，古希腊人并没有这种堆放的要求，他们便把硬币上的图案做成任何他们喜欢并可以做到的样子，甚至是高浮雕。

硬币自然是买东西用的。但有一种只稍稍比硬币大一点，但和硬币一样古老、样子也差不多的物品，却不能当作钱来买东西。这种物品就是勋章。勋章上面通常使用高浮雕图案，它是把金属熔化后倒在模子里做出来的，而不是用印模压出来的。这种勋章通常是一种奖励的象征，比如奖励田径比赛中的优胜者或者是战争中的立功者，也有的是为了庆祝一些大型活动、周年纪念，或者庆典仪式而专门制作的纪念章。今天，这类勋章十分常见，所以你的父亲或许就有一枚，你可以让他展示给你看。

Word Study

smash /sm??/ v.（哗啦一声）打碎，打破，破碎

He smashed the radio to pieces.

stamp /st?mp/ v. 在……上盖（字样或图案等）;把（字样或图案等）盖在……上

Ill stamp the company name on your cheque.

mount /ma?nt/ v. 镶嵌;安置

The diamond is mounted in gold.