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Intaglio Jewelry :
Seal Earrings : Gold Earrings Featuring Two Classical Revival Intaglios of Roman Soldiers
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Gold Earrings Featuring Two Classical Revival Intaglios of Roman Soldiers - FJ.6446
Origin: Europe
Circa: 1700
AD
to 1800
AD
Collection: Jewelry
Medium: Carnelian and Gold
Additional Information: Seoul
£6,400.00
Location: Great Britain
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| Description |
Two classical revival carnelian intaglios depicting
1) Two Roman soldiers 2) Fecunditas and child
These Intaglios are Set in 18 Karat Gold Earrings
The art of glyptics, or carving on colored
precious stones, is probably one of the oldest
known to humanity. Intaglios, gems with an
incised design, were made as early as the fourth
and third millennia BC in Mesopotamia and
Aegean Islands. They display a virtuosity of
execution that suggests an old and stable
tradition rooted in the earliest centuries. The
tools required for carving gems were simple: a
wheel with a belt-drive and a set of drills.
Abrasives were necessary since the minerals
used were too hard for a metal edge. A special
difficulty of engraving intaglios, aside from their
miniature size, was that the master had to work
with a mirror-image in mind.
Stimulated by a renewed interest in classical
antiquities among the wealthy classes, engravers
sought subject matter and inspiration from the
study of ancient coins. These two delightful
intaglios offer an excellent example of such
research. On one there are two fully armed
Roman soldiers holding spears, the soldier at left
presenting a wreath of victory to the other. The
goddess Fecunditas adorns the second intaglio,
wearing a stola, holding a cornucopia and
wreath which she extends over the head of a
young boy who is reaching for it with
outstretched arms. This scene is similar to one
found on a coin of the empress Julia Mamaea,
(mother of Severus Alexander A.D.222-235). It
is interesting that both intaglios feature wreaths
in a different context-- as a symbol of victory in
war, and a representation of the bounty of many
children through fecundity.
- (FJ.6446)
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