The classical designs on the secular caskets are more completely conventionalized than would be the result of direct imitation of antique originals by later craftsmen; and the coin-like borders give a clue to finding out what were their actual models. They must have been inspired by the _repoussé_ designs on gold and silver plate, it being a very common practice, in all ages, to insert coins round the edges of precious vessels. The peculiar tapering ankles and delicate wrists are another proof of some other technique intervening between the marble sculpture and the ivories. The tendency of marble to crack if exposed to too great a weight, led to a sturdiness in all detached forms, and not even in the bronze statues are such exaggeratedly slender extremities to be found. Ancient records often tell of large masses of plate being presented to churches in the West. A single gift to St. Germain at Auxerre in the seventh century, consisted of one hundred silver vessels, including two great dishes decorated with reliefs from the Æneid, and a third with the “Rape of Europa,” and having Greek inscriptions. If there was such a mass of plate in the West, the richness of Constantinople in gold and silver vessels must have been simply fabulous. The descriptions of the Byzantine chroniclers, and the figures given of the Venetian share in the sack of Constantinople by the Crusaders in 1204, are astounding. The silver casket at Anagni forms a connecting link; it is the same shape and style as the ivory caskets, and the little silver reliefs are mounted in the same manner with border strips. The caskets with religious subjects are derived from the miniatures in ancient and contemporary manuscripts, as has been abundantly proved by the complete correspondence of existing plaques and miniatures. The Victoria and Albert Museum possesses an excellent example in the strip of ivory, with Joshua receiving envoys from the people of Gibeon, which is taken almost line for line from two miniatures in the famous Joshua Roll in the Vatican Library; except that in the translation of the painting into sculpture, certain details had to be simplified, and the serried ranks of Joshua’s soldiers were reduced to a faithful copy of the forward group.