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Anengraved gem, frequently referred to as anintaglio, is a small and usuallysemi-preciousgemstone that has been carved, in the Western tradition normally with images or inscriptions only on one face.[1] Theengraving of gemstones was a major luxury art form in theancient world, and an important one in some later periods.[2]
Strictly speaking,engraving means carvingin intaglio (with the design cutinto the flat background of the stone), butrelief carvings (with the design projectingout of the background as in nearly allcameos) are also covered by the term. This article usescameo in its strict sense, to denote a carving exploiting layers of differently coloured stone. The activity is also calledgem carving and the artistsgem-cutters. References to antique gems and intaglios in ajewellery context will almost always mean carved gems; when referring tomonumental sculpture, the termcounter-relief, meaning the same asintaglio, is more likely to be used. Vessels like theCup of the Ptolemies and heads or figures carved in the round are also known ashardstone carvings.
Glyptics orglyptic art covers the field of small carved stones, includingcylinder seals and inscriptions, especially in an archaeological context. Though they were keenly collected in antiquity, most carved gems originally functioned asseals, often mounted in a ring; intaglio designs register most clearly when viewed by the recipient of a letter as an impression in hardened wax. A finely carved seal was practical, as it made forgery more difficult – the distinctive personalsignature did not really exist in antiquity.
Gems were mostly cut by using abrasive powder from harder stones in conjunction with a hand-drill, probably often set in alathe.Emery has been mined for abrasive powder onNaxos since antiquity. Some early types of seal were cut by hand, rather than a drill, which does not allow fine detail. There is no evidence that magnifying lenses were used by gem cutters in antiquity. A medieval guide to gem-carving techniques survives fromTheophilus Presbyter. Byzantine cutters used a flat-edged wheel on a drill for intaglio work, while Carolingian ones used round-tipped drills; it is unclear where they learnt this technique from. In intaglio gems at least, the recessed cut surface is usually very well preserved, and microscopic examination is revealing of the technique used.[3] The colour of several gemstones can be enhanced by a number of artificial methods, using heat, sugar and dyes. Many of these can be shown to have been used since antiquity – since the 7th millennium BC in the case of heating.[4]
The technique has an ancient tradition in theNear East, and is represented in all or most early cultures from the area, and theIndus Valley civilization. Thecylinder seal, whose design appears only when it is rolled over damp clay, from which the flat ring type developed, was the usual form inMesopotamia,Assyria and other cultures, and spread to the Aegean andMinoan world, including parts ofGreece andCyprus.[5] These were made in various types of stone, not all hardstone, and gold rings were a related development inMinoan seals, which are often very fine. The Greek tradition emerged inAncient Greek art under Minoan influence on mainlandHelladic culture, and reached an apogee of subtlety and refinement in theHellenistic period. Pre-HellenicAncient Egyptian seals tend to have inscriptions inhieroglyphs rather than images. The biblicalBook of Exodus describes the form of thehoshen, a ceremonial breastplate worn by the high priest, bearing twelve gems engraved with the names of theTwelve tribes of Israel.
Round or oval Greek gems (along with similar objects in bone and ivory) are found from the 8th and 7th centuries BC, usually with animals in energetic geometric poses, often with a border marked by dots or a rim.[6] Early examples are mostly in softer stones. Gems of the 6th century are more often oval,[7] with ascarab back (in the past this type was called a "scarabaeus"), and human or divine figures as well as animals; the scarab form was apparently adopted fromPhoenicia.[8] The forms are sophisticated for the period, despite the usually small size of the gems.[9] In the 5th century gems became somewhat larger, but still only 2-3 centimetres tall. Despite this, very fine detail is shown, including the eyelashes on one male head, perhaps a portrait. Four gems signed byDexamenos ofChios are the finest of the period, two showingherons.[10]
Relief carving became common in 5th century BC Greece, and gradually most of the spectacular carved gems in the Western tradition were in relief, although theSassanian and other traditions remained faithful to the intaglio form. Generally a relief image is more impressive than an intaglio one; in the earlier form the recipient of a document saw this in the impressed sealing wax, while in the later reliefs it was the owner of the seal who kept it for himself, probably marking the emergence of gems meant to be collected or worn as jewellerypendants in necklaces and the like, rather than used as seals – later ones are sometimes rather large to use to seal letters. However inscriptions are usually still in reverse ("mirror-writing") so they only read correctly on impressions (or by viewing from behind with transparent stones). This aspect also partly explains the collecting of impressions in plaster or wax from gems, which may be easier to appreciate than the original.
The cameo, which is rare in intaglio form, seems to have reached Greece around the 3rd century; theFarnese Tazza is the only major surviving Hellenistic example (depending on the date assigned to theGonzaga Cameo – see below), but otherglass-paste imitations with portraits suggest that gem-type cameos were made in this period.[11] The conquests ofAlexander the Great had opened up new trade routes to the Greek world and increased the range of gemstones available.[12] Roman gems generally continuedHellenistic styles, and can be hard to date, until their quality sharply declines at the end of the 2nd century AD. Philosophers are sometimes shown;Cicero refers to people having portraits of their favourite on their cups and rings.[13] The Romans inventedcameo glass, best known from thePortland Vase, as a cheaper material for cameos, and one that allowed consistent and predictable layers on even round objects.
During the EuropeanMiddle Ages antique engraved gems were one classical art form which was always highly valued, and a large but unknown number of ancient gems have (unlike most surviving classical works of art) never been buried and then excavated. Gems were used to decorate elaborate pieces of goldsmith work such asvotive crowns, book-covers and crosses, sometimes very inappropriately given their subject matter.Matthew Paris illustrated a number of gems owned bySt Albans Abbey, including one large Late Roman imperialcameo (now lost) calledKaadmau which was used to induce overdue childbirths – it was slowly lowered, with a prayer to St Alban, on its chain down the woman's cleavage, as it was believed that the infant would flee downwards to escape it,[14] a belief in accordance with the views of the "father of mineralogy",Georgius Agricola (1494–1555) onjasper.[15] Some gems were engraved, mostly with religious scenes in intaglio, during the period both inByzantium and Europe.[16]
In the West production revived from theCarolingian period, whenrock crystal was the commonest material. TheLothair Crystal (orSuzanna Crystal,British Museum, 11.5 cm diameter), clearly not designed for use as a seal, is the best known of 20 surviving Carolingian large intaglio gems with complex figural scenes, although most were used for seals.[17] Several crystals were designed, like theSusanna Crystal, to be viewed through the gem from the unengraved side, so their inscriptions were reversed like the seals. In wills and inventories, engraved gems were often given pride of place at the head of a list of treasures.[18]
Some gems in a remarkably effective evocation of classical style were made inSouthern Italy for the court ofFrederick II, Holy Roman Emperor in the first half of the 13th century, several in theCabinet des Médailles in Paris. Meanwhile, the church led the development of large, often double-sided, metal seal matrices for wax seals that were left permanently attached tocharters and similar legal documents, dangling by a cord, though smaller ring seals that were broken when a letter was opened remained in use. It is not clear to what extent this also continued practices in the ancient world.
The late medieval French and Burgundian courts collected and commissioned gems, and began to use them for portraits. The British Museum has what is probably a seated portrait ofJohn, Duke of Berry in intaglio on asapphire, and the Hermitage has a cameo head ofCharles VII of France.[19]
Interest had also revived inEarly Renaissance Italy, whereVenice soon became a particular centre of production. Along with the Roman statues andsarcophagi being newly excavated, antique gems were prime sources for artists eager to regain a classical figurative vocabulary. Cast bronze copies of gems were made, which circulated around Italy, and later Europe.[20] Among very many examples of borrowings that can be traced confidently, theFelix orDiomedes gem owned byLorenzo de' Medici (see below), with an unusual pose, was copied byLeonardo da Vinci and may well have provided the "starting point" for one ofMichelangelo'signudi on theSistine Chapel ceiling.[21] Another of Lorenzo's gems supplied, probably via a drawing byPerugino, a pose used byRaphael.[22]
By the 16th century carved and engraved gems were keenly collected across Europe for dedicated sections of acabinet of curiosities, and their production revived, in classical styles; 16th-century gem-cutters working with the same types ofsardonyx and other hardstones and using virtually the same techniques, produced classicizing works of glyptic art, often intended as forgeries, in such quantity that they compromised the market for them, asGisela Richter observed in 1922.[23] Even today, SirJohn Boardman admits that "We are sometimes at a loss to know whether what we are looking at belongs to the 1st or the 15th century AD, a sad confession for any art-historian."[24] Other Renaissance gems reveal their date by showing mythological scenes derived from literature that were not part of the visual repertoire in classical times, or borrowing compositions from Renaissance paintings, and using "compositions with rather more figures than any ancient engraver would have tolerated or attempted".[24] Among artists, the wealthyRubens was a notable collector.[25]
Engraved gems occur in theBible, especially when thehoshen andephod worn by theHigh Priest are described; though these were inscribed with the names of thetribes of Israel in letters, rather than any images. A few identifiably Jewish gems survive from the classical world, including Persia, mostly with the owner's name in Hebrew, but some with symbols such as themenorah.[26] Many gems are inscribed in the Islamic world, typically with verses from theKoran, and sometimes gems in the Western tradition just contain inscriptions.
Many Asian and Middle Eastern cultures have their own traditions, although for example the important Chinese tradition of carved gemstones and hardstones, especiallyjade carving, is broader than the European one of concentration on a flattish faced stone that might fit into a ring.Seal engraving covers the inscription that is printed by stamping, which nearly always only contains script rather than images.Other decoration of the seal itself was not intended to be reproduced.
The iconography of gems is similar to that of coins, though more varied. Early gems mostly show animals. Gods,satyrs, and mythological scenes were common, and famous statues often represented – much modern knowledge of the poses of lost Greek cult statues such asAthena Promachos comes from the study of gems, which often have clearer images than coins.[27] A 6th century BC Greek gem already showsAjax committing suicide, with his name inscribed.[28] The story ofHeracles was, as in other arts, the most common source of narrative subjects. A scene may be intended as the subject of anearly Archaic gem, and certainly appears on 6th century examples from the later Archaic period.[29]
Portraits of monarchs are found from the Hellenistic period onwards, although as they do not usually have identifying inscriptions, many fine ones cannot be identified with a subject. In the Roman Imperial period, portraits of the imperial family were often produced for the court circle, and many of these have survived, especially a number of spectacular cameos from the time ofAugustus. As private objects, produced no doubt by artists trained in the tradition of Hellenistic monarchies, their iconography is less inhibited than the public state art of the period about showing divine attributes as well as sexual matters.[30] The identity and interpretation of figures in theGemma Augustea remains unclear. A number of gems from the same period contain scenes apparently from the lost epic on theSack of Troy, of which the finest is by Dioskurides (Chatsworth House).[31]
Renaissance and later gems remain dominated by the Hellenistic repertoire of subjects, though portraits in contemporary styles were also produced.
Famous collectors begin with KingMithridates VI of Pontus (d. 63 BC), whose collection was part of the booty ofPompey the Great, who donated it to the Temple ofJupiter in Rome.[32]Julius Caesar was determined to excel Pompey in this as in other areas, and later gave six collections to his ownTemple of Venus Genetrix; according toSuetonius gems were among his varied collecting passions.[33] Many later emperors also collected gems. Chapters 4-6 of Book 37 of theNatural History ofPliny the Elder give a summary art history of the Greek and Roman tradition, and of Roman collecting. According to PlinyMarcus Aemilius Scaurus (praetor 56 BC) was the first Roman collector.[34]
As in later periods objects carved in the round from semi-precious stone were regarded as a similar category of object; these are also known ashardstone carvings. One of the largest, theCoupe des Ptolémées was probably donated to theBasilica of Saint-Denis, near Paris, byCharles the Bald, as the inscription on its former gem-studded gold Carolingian mounting stated; it may have belonged toCharlemagne. One of the best collections of such vessels, though mostly plain without carved decoration, was looted fromConstantinople in theFourth Crusade, and is in the Treasury of theBasilica of San Marco inVenice. Many of these retain the medieval mounts which adapted them for liturgical use.[35] Like theCoupe des Ptolémées, most objects in European museums lost these when they became objects of classicist interest from the Renaissance onwards, or when the mounts were removed for the value of the materials, as happened to many in theFrench Revolution.
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The collection of 827 engraved gems ofPope Paul II,[36] which included the "Felix gem" ofDiomedes with thePalladium,[37] was acquired byLorenzo il Magnifico; theMedici collection included many other gems and was legendary, valued in inventories much higher than hisBotticellis. Somewhat like Chinese collectors, Lorenzo had all his gems inscribed with his name.[38]
TheGonzaga Cameo passed through a series of famous collections before coming to rest in theHermitage. First known in the collection ofIsabella d'Este, it passed to theGonzagaDukes of Mantua,Emperor Rudolf II, QueenChristina of Sweden, CardinalDecio Azzolini,Livio Odescalchi, Duke ofBracciano, and PopePius VI beforeNapoleon carried it off to Paris, where hisEmpress Joséphine gave it toAlexander I of Russia after Napoleon's downfall, as a token of goodwill.[39] It remains disputed whether the cameo isAlexandrian work of the 3rd century BC, or aJulio-Claudian imitation of the style from the 1st century AD.[40]
Three of the largest cameo gems from antiquity were created for members of theJulio-Claudian dynasty and seem to have survived above ground since antiquity. The largeGemma Augustea appeared in 1246 in the treasury of theBasilique St-Sernin, Toulouse. In 1533,King François I appropriated it and moved it to Paris, where it soon disappeared around 1590. Not long thereafter it was fenced for 12,000 gold pieces to Emperor Rudolph II; it remains inVienna, alongside theGemma Claudia. The largest flat engraved gem known from antiquity is theGreat Cameo of France, which entered (or re-entered) the French royal collection in 1791 from the treasury ofSainte-Chapelle, where it had been since at least 1291.
In England, a false dawn of gem collecting was represented byHenry, Prince of Wales' purchase of the cabinet of the Flemish antiquaryAbraham Gorlaeus in 1609,[41] and engraved gems featured among the antiquities assembled byThomas Howard, 21st Earl of Arundel. Later in the centuryWilliam Cavendish, 2nd Duke of Devonshire, formed a collection of gems that is still conserved atChatsworth.[42] In the eighteenth century a more discerning cabinet of gems was assembled byHenry Howard, 4th Earl of Carlisle, acting upon the advice of Francesco Maria Zanetti andFrancesco Ficoroni; 170 of the Carlisle gems, both Classical and post-Classical, were purchased in 1890 for theBritish Museum.
By the mid-eighteenth century prices had reached such a level that major collections could only be formed by the very wealthy; lesser collectors had to make do with collectingplaster casts,[43] which was also very popular, or buying one of many sumptuously illustrated catalogues of collections that were published.[44]Catherine the Great's collection is in theHermitage Museum; one large collection she had bought was the gems from theOrléans Collection.[45]Louis XV hiredDominique Vivant to assemble a collection forMadame de Pompadour.
In the eighteenth century British aristocrats were able to outcompete even the agents for royal and princely collectors on the Continent, aided by connoisseur-dealers like CountAntonio Maria Zanetti andPhilipp von Stosch. Zanetti travelled Europe in pursuit of gems hidden in private collections for the British aristocrats he tutored in connoisseurship;[46] his own collection was described inA.F. Gori,Le gemme antiche di Anton Maria Zanetti (Venice, 1750), illustrated with eighty plates of engravings from his own drawings. BaronPhilipp von Stosch (1691–1757), a Prussian who lived in Rome and then Florence, was a major collector, as well as a dealer in engraved gems: "busy, unscrupulous, and in his spare time a spy for England in Italy".[24] Among his contemporaries, Stosch made his lasting impression withGemmæ Antiquæ Cælatæ (Pierres antiques graveés) (1724), in whichBernard Picart's engravings reproduced seventy antique carved hardstones like onyx, jasper and carnelian from European collections. He also encouragedJohann Lorenz Natter (1705–1763) whom Stosch set to copying ancient carved gems in Florence.Frederick the Great ofPrussia bought Stosch's collection in 1765 and built theAntique Temple in the park of theSanssouci Palace to house his collections of ancient sculpture, coins and over 4,000 gems – the two were naturally often grouped together. The gems are now in theAntikensammlung Berlin.
The collection ofJoseph Smith, Britishconsul inVenice was bought by KingGeorge III of Great Britain and remains in theRoyal Collection. The collections ofCharles Towneley,Richard Payne Knight andClayton Mordaunt Cracherode were bought by or bequeathed to theBritish Museum, founding their very important collection.[47]
But the most famous English collection was that formed by the4th Duke of Marlborough (1739–1817), "which the Duke kept in his bedroom and resorted to as a relief from his ambitious wife, his busy sister and his many children".[48] This included collections formerly owned by theGonzagas ofMantua (later owned by Lord Arundel),the 2nd Earl of Bessborough, and the brother ofLord Chesterfield, who himself warned his son in one of hisLetters against "days lost in poring upon imperceptible intaglios and cameos".[49] The collection, including its single most famous cameo,the "Marlborough gem" depicting an initiation of Cupid and Psyche, was dispersed after a sale in 1899, fortunately timed for the new American museums and provided the core of the collection of theMetropolitan in New York and elsewhere,[20] with the largest group still together being about 100 in theWalters Art Museum, Baltimore.[49][50]
PrinceStanisław Poniatowski (1754–1833) "commissioned about 2500 gems and encouraged the belief that they were, in fact, ancient." He presented a set of 419 plaster impressions of his collection ofPoniatowski gems to the King ofPrussia which now form the Daktyliothek Poniatowski inBerlin, where they were recognised as modern in 1832, mainly because the signatures of ancient artists from very different times were found on gems in too consistent a style.[51]
As in other fields, not many ancient artists' names are known from literary sources, although some gems are signed. According to Pliny,Pyrgoteles was the only artist allowed to carve gems for the seal rings ofAlexander the Great. Most of the most famous Roman artists were Greeks, like Dioskurides, who is thought to have produced the Gemma Augustea, and is recorded as the artist of the matchingsignet rings ofAugustus – very carefully controlled, they allowed orders to be issued in his name by his most trusted associates. Other works survive signed by him (rather more than are all likely to be genuine), and his son Hyllos was also a gem engraver.[52]
TheAnichini family were leading artists in Venice and elsewhere in the 15th and 16th centuries. Many Renaissance artists no doubt kept their activities quiet, as they were passing their products off as antique. Other specialist carvers includedGiovanni Bernardi (1494–1553),Giovanni Jacopo Caraglio (c. 1500–1565),Giuseppe Antonio Torricelli (1662–1719), the German-ItalianAnton Pichler (1697–1779) and his sonsGiovanni andLuigi,Charles Christian Reisen (Anglo-Norwegian, 1680–1725). Other sculptors also carved gems, or had someone in their workshop who did.Leone Leoni said he personally spent two months on a double-sided cameo gem with portraits ofHoly Roman Emperor Charles V and his wife and son.[53]
The ScotJames Tassie (1735–1799), and his nephewWilliam (1777–1860) developed methods for taking hard impressions from old gems, and also for casting new designs from carved wax inenamel, enabling a huge production of what are really imitation engraved gems. The fullest catalogue of his impressions ("Tassie gems") was published in 1791, with 15,800 items.[54] There are complete sets of the impressions in the Hermitage, theVictoria & Albert Museum in London, and in Edinburgh.[55] Other types of imitation became fashionable for ladies'brooches, such asceramic cameos byJosiah Wedgwood injasperware. The engraved gem fell permanently out of fashion from about the 1860s,[20] perhaps partly as a growing realization of the number of gems that were not what they seemed to be scared collectors. Among the last practitioners wasJames Robertson, who sensibly moved into the new art ofphotography. Perhaps the best known gem engraver of the 20th century, working in a contemporary idiom, is the British artistRonald Pennell,[56] whose work is held in the BritishCrafts Council Collection among many others.
Cameo glass was invented by the Romans in about 30BC to imitate engraved hardstone cameos, with the advantage that consistent layering could be achieved even on round vessels – impossible with natural gemstones. It was however very difficult to manufacture and surviving pieces, most famously thePortland Vase, are actually much rarer than Roman gemstone cameos.[57] The technique was revived in the 18th and especially 19th centuries in England and elsewhere,[58] and was most effectively used in FrenchArt Nouveau glass that made no attempt to follow classical styles.
The Middle Ages, which lived bycharters and other sealed documents, were at least as keen on using seals as the ancient world, now creating them for towns and church institutions, but they normally used metal matrices andsignet rings. However some objects, like a 13th-century VenetianSeven Sleepers of Ephesus, mimicked the engraved gem.[59]
Another offshoot of the mania for engraved gems is the fine-grained slightly translucentstoneware calledjasperware that was developed byJosiah Wedgwood and perfected in 1775.[60] Though white-on-blue matte jasperware is the most familiar Wedgwood ceramic line, still in production today and widely imitated since the mid-19th century, white-on-black was also produced. Wedgwood made notable jasperware copies of the Portland Vase and theMarlborough gem, a famous head ofAntinous,[61] and interpreted in jasperware casts from antique gems by James Tassie.John Flaxman'sneoclassical designs for jasperware were carried out in the extremely low relief typical of cameo production. Some otherporcelain imitated three-layer cameos purely by paint, even in implausible objects like a flatSèvres tea-tray of 1840.[62]
Gems were a favourite topic forantiquaries from the Renaissance onwards, culminating in the work of Philipp von Stosch, described above. Major progress in understanding Greek gems was made in the work ofAdolf Furtwängler (1853–1907, father ofthe conductor, Wilhelm). Among recent scholarsSir John Boardman (1927-2024) has made a special contribution, again concentrating on Greek gems.Gertrud Seidmann (1919–2013) moved into the subject, after her retirement from being a German teacher; she concentrated on post-medieval gems.
