纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 057海德薇玻璃杯（6）

"The contact between Europe and the Middle East in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries was built around some quite intense trading contact; the Venetians, Genoese, Pisans in particular, managed to carry on their business. This sometimes caused a certain amount of scandal, as you can imagine - that they were still present in the port in Alexandria, for instance, whilst Saladin was preparing his campaigns against the Christians¹ in the Holy Land. But the basis of this trade was the exchange of raw materials, really, which came out of the Islamic world - notably² silks, glassware, ceramics³, things like this which could not be produced to anything like the same quality within western Europe."

And it's this phenomenon of trade coexisting with war that explains one of the most extraordinary things about the Hedwig beaker. The design of the Hedwig beakers all feature similar images: a lion, a griffin, an eagle, flowers and geometric motifs⁴, but this beaker is the only one that combines all these elements. There is a lion and a griffin, each raising a paw in homage⁵ to the eagle that stands between them, and the deep-cut design runs all the way round the glass. A mould must have been pressed into the glass while it was still hot and soft, and then details of the texture⁶ and pattern were meticulously⁷ carved. You get a real sense of feather and fur, but above all, when you look at this you're struck by the style.

十二世纪至十三世纪，中东与欧洲维持着密切的贸易往来，与威尼斯人、热那亚人和比萨人更是持续地进行商品交易。不难想象，这一情况有时会招致一定的反感，例如这些人尚在亚历山大港时，萨拉丁却着手与基督徒争夺圣地。贸易的主要目的是用西方的原材料交换产自伊斯兰世界的奢侈品，如丝绸、玻璃制品和陶瓷等，当时整个西欧都无法生产出质量能与之媲美的物品。

贸易与战争并存的局面，正是使海德薇玻璃杯非同寻常的一大原因。所有的海德薇玻璃杯都带有一些相类似的图案：狮子、狮身鹫首兽、鹰、花卉和几何图案，但只有本馆收藏的这一个集结了以上所有元素。上面的狮子与狮身鹫首兽各举起一只爪，宣誓效忠于立在它们中间的鹰。整个杯壁布满深深的刻痕，想必是趁玻璃还滚烫柔软的时候压上模具，一丝不苟地雕刻出纹理与图案的细节，从而呈现羽毛和兽皮的特点，而最重要的是，它极具风格，不明就里的人也许会把它当作二十世纪三十年代北欧装饰派艺术的作品。这款杯子与制作于中世纪欧洲的任何玻璃制品都大相径庭，也许正是因此才会有人把它们与神迹联系起来。

1 Christians   

n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
• His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。

2 notably   

adv.值得注意地，显著地，尤其地，特别地

参考例句：

• Many students were absent,notably the monitor.许多学生缺席，特别是连班长也没来。
• A notably short,silver-haired man,he plays basketball with his staff several times a week.他个子明显较为矮小，一头银发，每周都会和他的员工一起打几次篮球。

3 ceramics   

n.制陶业；陶器

参考例句：

• an exhibition of ceramics by Picasso 毕加索陶瓷作品展
• The ceramics bore the imprint of Luca della Robbia. 陶器上印有卢卡·德拉·罗比亚的字样。

4 motifs   

n. （文艺作品等的）主题( motif的名词复数 )；中心思想；基本模式；基本图案

参考例句：

• I try to develop beyond the old motifs. 我力求对传统的花纹图案做到推陈出新。 来自辞典例句
• American Dream is one of the most important motifs of American literature. “美国梦”是美国文学最重要的母题之一。 来自互联网

5 homage   

n.尊敬，敬意，崇敬

参考例句：

• We pay homage to the genius of Shakespeare.我们对莎士比亚的天才表示敬仰。
• The soldiers swore to pay their homage to the Queen.士兵们宣誓效忠于女王陛下。

6 texture   

n.(织物)质地；(材料)构造；结构；肌理

参考例句：

• We could feel the smooth texture of silk.我们能感觉出丝绸的光滑质地。
• Her skin has a fine texture.她的皮肤细腻。

7 meticulously   

adv.过细地，异常细致地；无微不至；精心

参考例句：

• The hammer's silvery head was etched with holy runs and its haft was meticulously wrapped in blue leather. 锤子头是纯银制成的，雕刻着神圣符文，而握柄则被精心地包裹在蓝色的皮革中。 来自辞典例句
• She is always meticulously accurate in punctuation and spelling. 她的标点和拼写总是非常精确。 来自辞典例句