§ 69 Modern Tours de Force in Small Castings
But that is a truly marvellous thing which is come to pass in our times, this mode of casting figures, large as well as small, so excellently that many masters make them come out in the cast quite clear so that they have not to be chased with tools, and as thin as the back of a knife. And what is more, some clays and ashes used for this purpose are actually so fine, that tufts of rue and any other slender herb or flower can be cast in silver and in gold, quite easily and with such success, that they are as beautiful as the natural; from which it is seen that this art is more excellent now than it was in the time of the ancients.