{"id":"01KG8AM8ZGQ8FF8S9JWQSXKBPW","cid":"bafkreiev6ztysp6ay5qyrwdz4j2ze7lvgz6oapcsiny5a3hzg5m2egmkb4","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":11127,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:26.985Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 13","source_file":"01KG89J1FFTGRE9J93Z3K29NGY","start_line":11069,"text":"sculpture on one side, about the bigness of My Lord’s seal to a\r\nparchment, showing the figure of an angel with a spade under arm like a\r\ngardener, and bearing roses in a pot; and a like angel-figure, clad like\r\na cellarer, and with a wine-jar on his shoulder; and these two angels,\r\nside by side, pacing toward a meagre wight, very doleful and Job-like,\r\nsquatted hard by a sepulchre, as meditating thereon; and all done very\r\nlively in small.\r\n\r\nBut the thing that meseems was most strange was the amber wherein this\r\ndevice and sundry other inventions were cut; for in parts it held\r\nmarvellously congealed within its substance certain little relics of\r\nperished insects, as of the members of flies on frozen syrup or\r\nmarmalade. Never had I seen the like thereof before; and My Lord, to\r\nwhom that night I spoke of it, as he was drinking his posset, about the\r\ntime of his retiring, he instructed me that that sort of amber was of\r\nthe rarest, and esteemed exceeding precious, and spoke of a famous piece\r\nin the Great Duke’s museum at Florence; and much wished that the Azem\r\nhad given him that vase in place of the jewelled scimetar you wot of.\r\n‘And Geoffry,’ quoth My Lord somewhat eagerly, ‘didst thou note that the\r\nvessel was of one whole piece or in two parts, the bowl part and the\r\nstandard?’ But verily I could not answer to purpose here, for I did in\r\nno wise handle the vase; and I doubt had the jealousy of the attendants\r\npermitted it; so that, were there any junction of two or more parts,\r\nright deftly was the same hidden by the craft of the artificer.\r\n\r\nIt befell that at the next coming together of My Lord and the Azem,\r\nwhich was about that stale affair of the two factors at Aleppo; My Lord\r\nafter that business, and when their black drink, coffee, had been\r\noffered us in little cups of filigree, fine as My Lady’s Flanders lace,\r\nand great jasmine-stemmed pipes, two yards long, likewise, as is their\r\nceremonious custom; My Lord, I say, holding the amber mouthpiece before\r\nhim, shaped somewhat like a lemon, and of a wondrous clear tint much the\r\nsame, and of a diameter not behind, for among these people the higher\r\nthe rank or the longer the purse, the greater the costly mouthpiece, the\r\nsame being but gently pressed against the lips at the orifice of the\r\ninhaled vapour; My Lord, I say, holding this fair oval of clear amber\r\nbefore him, turned, through the interpreter, the discourse to\r\nconsiderations of the occult nature of that substance whereof it was\r\nfashioned; declaring, among other items, his incredulity touching the\r\nstrange allegement that amber was sometimes found with bees glued up\r\ntherein as in their own crystallised honey, or, if not bees, then fleas\r\nand flies. With the wondrous sedate courtesy of all the grandees in\r\nthese parts, the Azem with his silvery spade-beard, sitting cross-legged\r\non the green silken cushions; he, though never understanding a word of\r\nMy Lord’s English, yet very gravely and attentively, as before, heard\r\nhim out; him, My Lord, first, I mean, leaning over toward him, his hand\r\nto his ear, for, certes, he was somewhat deaf, being in years; leaning\r\nover toward him, I say, and thereafter relaxing and falling back\r\nsomewhat on the cushions, and so giving another sort of heed to the\r\ninterpreter; who, having delivered his burden, the Azem did nothing but\r\ngive a little clap with his hands, and, as it were one of the painted\r\nmanikins in the great clock at Strasbourg, a pretty little page issued\r\nfrom a sort of draped closet near by; to whom his master made a sign;\r\nwhereat the page brought to My Lord the aforesaid amber vase, empty, and\r\nput it into his two hands; who made as if surprised; and after\r\nscrutinising it, and turning it round and round, and discovering the\r\nimbedded relics, affected great admiration at being so promptly and in\r\nthat tacit manner confuted in his misbelief; and much did he laud the\r\nbeauty of the vase as well; insomuch that the interpreter, a precise\r","title":"Chunk 13"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJWBYEAWFNPZ7F62GDZWF","peer_type":"segment","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1FFTGRE9J93Z3K29NGY","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AM8ZGSNPR8E3SHAH1RX9A","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AM9K7Y6G21DTR1H0QME5G","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:31.728Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:45.145Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}