This intaglio is set in an 18 karat gold ring
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 the
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.
In Imperial Rome, members of the royal court
and nobility often wore portraits of the emperor
engraved on gems. Such tokens identified the
political allegiance of the wearer and were
sometimes given by the ruler himself as marks of
special favor. The style of this beautiful
engraving is similar to imperial portraits on coins
of the Roman Empire. It shows a handsome
young man, a prince or emperor, wearing a
laurel wreath. Superb ability was necessary to
capture this person's strong personality, and yet
not lose any of the youthful freshness of his
features. Set in a powerful ring of gold, this
intaglio will forever exude an aura of mystery
and beauty; much as does the person who
chooses to wear something so distinctive.
- (FJ.6343)
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