In shape it would seem that these early chalices resembled the Greek _cantharus_. Of this form is what is perhaps the oldest example of a metal chalice that has survived—the cup found at Gourdon, now in the Bibliothèque Nationale. We have, or rather had, another example of this type in the golden chalice inlaid with jewels which was formerly preserved at Monza. In fact, this form is especially characteristic of early Byzantine art; we see such vases represented over and over again on marble reliefs and mosaics. Now in the British Museum there are two vases, distinctly of this _cantharus_ shape; they are of blue, somewhat bubbly glass, with fluted body: one which is perfect was found at Amiens (Plate XII.); the other, from the Slade collection, has lost its handles. These vases may well date from the sixth century, and they may very probably have served as chalices. Let us now turn to some of the rare specimens of early glass to be found in the treasuries of churches, chiefly in the north of Italy. At Rome, in the church of St. Anastasia, is a bowl of opaque glass, with ornaments in relief, mounted on a metal foot. This claims to be the chalice used by St. Jerome. More famous is the _sacro catino_ preserved in the cathedral of St. Lorenzo at Genoa. There is no reason to doubt the story that this bowl fell to the share of a Genoese when the town of Cæsarea was sacked by the Crusaders in the year 1101. It seems to have suffered no diminution in sanctity from a want of uniformity in the tradition as to its earlier history.[68] The _sacro catino_ is a shallow hexagonal bowl with feet and handles; the slight ornaments on the surface are finished with a tool. It was carried off to Paris during the revolutionary war, and then discovered to be not an emerald, as had been always maintained, but a piece of admirably tinted glass, containing, however, a few air-bubbles. The bowl was broken before its return to Genoa, and the pieces are now united by a filigree mounting of gold. [Illustration: _PLATE XII_ VASE OF BLUE GLASS, PROBABLY A CHALICE ABOUT FIFTH CENTURY, A.D.]