chimney-piece, which frame was carved by Gririling Gibbons, on condition that the said several articles be never sold or exchanged, but to the intent that the same may be deposited and kept in the South Kensington Museum, or any other suitable place which may be provided in substitution for that Museum, and exhibited to the public, with the other Works of Art which now are or may be therein.
The Townshend collection of precious stones contains 154 specimens, nearly all of them mounted in gold, as rings. A considerable number of these specimens once formed part of the famous "Hope collection," and appear in the "Catalogue of the Collection of Pearls and Precious Stones formed by H. P. Hope," described by B. Hertz, 1839. Two copies of this catalogue are in the Art Library, Victoria and Albert Museum. One of these copies contains MS. additions, and belonged to Mr. H. Hope, and then to Mr. Townshend: in it are entries giving the prices paid for many of the specimens. Many of the specimens are figured in Hertz's "Catalogue"; fifty of these illustrations, representing stones now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, have been reproduced for the present volume. Mr. Townshend's bequest to the Museum included, besides the above precious stones, 41 other specimens (Nos. 1791—'69, to 1831–'69). These are engraved gems, some antique and some modern, chiefly in onyx, cornelian, and sard. One example, however, is on turquoise, and is remarkable for its size; it is an irregular octagon, 2 inches long by rather more than 112 inch broad.
A catalogue of the Townshend gems was written by the late Professor Tennant, and published by the Science and Art Department in 1870. The author of the present Handbook of Precious Stones has submitted each specimen to such an examination as could be managed with cut and mounted stones, and has been enabled to correct some of the attributions. These corrections were first made by him in "The Spectator" of July 9th, 1870; they were reproduced in "The Quarterly Journal of Science" for January, 1871, and were adopted by Mr. Hodder M. Westropp in his "Manual of Precious Stones," published in 1874.
