It is certainly a peculiar feature of an art so singularly decorative that it was applied so largely to the ornamentation of objects that were appropriated to the commonest uses. Enamelled horse-trappings of the most finished and beautiful workmanship have frequently been found in England, sometimes associated with the remains of chariots.[61] Not only is the use of enamel in the decoration of such objects unknown beyond the area of the British Isles, but the special system of design which accompanies its use is also confined within that area. And it is an interesting fact that there is historical evidence as to the nationality of these remains. The only classical author who mentions the art of enamelling is Philostratus, a Greek sophist in the household of Julia Domna, wife of the Emperor Severus. In a notice of the variegated trappings of the horses in a painting of a boar-hunt he accounts for their peculiar appearance as follows:—“They say that the barbarians who live in the Ocean pour such colours on heated brass, and that they adhere to it, become as hard as stone, and thus preserve the designs that are made in them.” It is matter of inference what people they were who are thus styled “barbarians in the ocean,” but it is matter of fact that horse-trappings of bronze (or brass) decorated with coloured enamels have hitherto been found in the British Islands alone.
They have been found at Polden Hill, near Bridgewater (_Archæologia_, vol. xiv. p. 90); at Hagbourn Hill, Berkshire (_Archæologia_, vol. xvi. p. 348); at Stanwick, Yorkshire, with chariot-wheels (York Volume of the Archæological Institute, p. 10); at Arras and Hessleskew, in the same county, with chariot-wheels and the bones of horses (_Ibid._ p. 28), and other places. A synopsis of the whole group of objects characterised by this decoration is given by Mr. Franks in _Horæ Ferales_ (4to., London, 1863), pp. 172, 196, and many figures in the coloured plates (Plates XIV.-XX.).
But this peculiar style of art was not confined to the decoration of such objects as parts of military equipments or harness of horses. It was largely employed in the decoration of personal ornaments and objects of personal use.
[Illustration: Fig. 102.—Quern Stone of sandstone found at Balmaclellan (14 inches in diameter).]
