The results of the auction for the six intaglios only included Lot 492, as shown below, so apparently the other items didn’t sell. The sale price for the Aquamarine Ring Stone was quite good —
I recently vacationed at the City of York, which is located about 200 miles north of London in the UK. While there I visited the Yorkshire Museum and found an exhibit of some intaglios with an interesting history – they were found in a sewer! The exhibit includes 7 intaglios.
I first came across the image of a woman seated in front of a pedestal with a small figure on it when I acquired several Wedgwood black basalt intaglios. As usual, I began to look into the history of the piece. My first finding was reported in the “Intaglio Search – Another one” blog entry. Since then, I have discovered more.
Briefly, without the details of how I “stumbled” upon some of
the information, this is what I found:
In his “TRAITÉ DES PIERRES GRAVÉES TOME SECOND” (“Treatise on Engraved Stones”, Volume II – Of the Royal Cabinet) [MyI: Louis XV was king at the time] published in 1750, Mariette addresses Plate No. 104, in part, as follows: “This Antique, one of the most important in the King’s Cabinet, having only given rise to conjectures until now, I can, with less temerity, propose my own. … This engraved stone [MyI: an amethyst] can therefore represent Calpurnie, when Caesar went to the Senate, consulting his Genie on the anxieties and the presentiments which agitated him.”
The above entry about the intaglio intimates that there had been no accepted identification of the subject at the time of the writing (1750), however, Mariette, “…with less temerity…” puts forth his opinion that it is Calpurnie (Calphurnia), the wife of Ceasar.
In the Wedgwood & Bentley Catalogue of 1774 it is noted that Intaglio No. 178 of the subject image is entitled “Matrone Romaine” (“Roman Matron”). There is no reference to Calphurnia. [MyI: This is the intaglio of the seated woman which was the first one added to our collection and shown as the first image above.]
In Raspe’s “DESCRIPIVE CATALOGUE…OF CASTS…BY JAMES TASSIE“, vol I, published in 1791, page 625, he opines, “Said to be Calphurnia, the wife of Caesar, consulting the Penates on the fate of Caesar, who contrary to her advice and prepossessions went to the Senate the day he was assassinated. Or rather a very fine woman in a veil sitting and meditating before a cippus with attention…” There are six items with this subject (Nos. 11016 – 11021), the first, No. 11016, the amethyst referred to by Mariette as being in the collection of the King of France; the next being a cornelian; with the last two being sulfurs in the Stosch collection. Clearly, the original amethyst had been copied. (The images at right are from the Beazley Archives.)
The last reference to this gem was found in “GEMS PRINCIPALLY FROM THE ANTIQUE” by Dagley in 1822. Dagley entitles the piece, “A WOMAN CONTEMPLATING A HOUSEHOLD GOD.” His opinion of the subject of the amethyst intaglio is, “THIS is among the most beautiful of the antique draped figures. The execution of the gem is remarkably fine. It has been called ‘Calphurnia consulting the Penates on the fate of Csesar.’ It is more probably a symbol of that ‘Domestic Affection,’ which the ancients exalted, almost blamelessly, into an object of divine homage. –“
Just recently, Michelle Robson at Intagliosuk proffered the opinion that the subject was Juno with Mars as a baby. — See her comment below; she should know!
The popularity of this intaglio of a seated woman is not only attested to by the six entries in Raspe’s Tassie Catalogue, but also, recently, I found a couple of impressions for sale; a plaster cast attributed to Paoletti (on Etsy from Intagliosuk, which has been sold and taken off the website) and a wax seal from a Georgian era collection, on EBay also from Intagliosuk.
Based on all of the
above, I’d say the identity of the seated woman will remain a matter for
discussion for the foreseeable future, perhaps forever.
A while back my daughter presented me with a Christmas
present which was a plaster cast of an intaglio gem of a bust of a man. It
appeared to have some age on it, perhaps dating to the late 18th or
19th century. There was no
wrapping as was common with many similar pieces from the Grand Tour period, but
it was in relatively good condition. I,
of course, was immediately curious about who the subject of the cast was, who
produced it, and who the engraver of the original stone was. The investigation began.
The piece had been purchased on Ebay so it was easy to go online and find the original advertisement. The sellers statement – “This is part of an 1021 piece original James Tassie collection of intaglios, cameos and medallions that were acquired in November 1967 by Colby Antiques, (Edward Colby and Mary Elizabeth Colby Co-founder of Port O’ Call gift stores in Southern California), of which 81 pieces were purchased by the now owner.”
The advertisement included images of the original auction catalogue cover and certificate of authenticity. It would have been nice to have the page from the catalogue that listed the piece, but the plaster cast was almost certainly a cast by James Tassie. I found that – “James Tassie (1735–1799) was a Scottish gem engraver and modeler. He is remembered for a particular style of miniature medallion heads, portraying the profiles of the rich and famous of Britain, and for making and selling large numbers of “Tassie casts” of engraved gems for collectors.” (from Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Tassie ). He is the subject of a biography by John Miller Gray, “James and William Tassie A Biographical and Critical Sketch”, the full text of which is available at https://archive.org/details/jamesandwilliam00graygoog/page/n9 .
Further confirmation that the cast was a Tassie came when, while searching the online database of the Tassie collection available from the Gem Research people at the Classical Art Research Centre (CARC) at https://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/gems/default.htm , I found an image of the same bust –
Regrettably, the accompanying entry in the Raspe Catalogue didn’t provide any further information. (An entry in the “Resources” page gives further information about use of this online database.)
As to the personage represented by the bust and who
engraved it, I found, after removing a piece of felt from the back, the
following written in pencil –
Writing on back of Plaster Cast
When looking at the image now, it clearly shows “Lord
Cawdor”, however, when I first saw it, it looked more like “Lord Carodor” or “Lord
Carvdon” or “Lord Caradon” or something similar. Several of these were, in fact, actual British
lords, but which one was the one on the cast?
I searched for each, but couldn’t definitively ID the bust – it would
have to wait.
Pencil drawing of Nathaniel Marchant
The writing on the back also indicated that the image was “by Marchant”. At the time, I wasn’t familiar with “Marchant”, but soon found that he was a famous British engraver who worked during the latter 18th and early 19th century. His bio was found on the British Museum site at https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/term_details.aspx?bioId=83154 In part it reads, “Gem-engraver, antiquary and dealer, working in London and Rome. A pupil of Edward Burch (qv), Marchant was the foremost prizewinner of the Society of Arts competitions in intaglio engraving, winning four years running from 1761-64…. Many (intaglios) were taken from the antique, while others were adapted from celebrated paintings or were portraits of his contemporaries, especially his patrons.” (I later found that for several years, during the mid-1880’s, both Marchant and Lord Cawdor lived in Rome and were heavily involved in the contemporary art scene. It is very likely that they came to know each other at that time.)
I now knew everything about the plaster cast except who the subject was. I had ultimately come upon information about Lord Cawdor (John Campbell) and was relatively sure that he was the subject of the engraving, but I couldn’t confirm it as fact.
Not too long ago I was again perusing the CARC Beazley Archive website and came upon an image in the Amastini Marchant Collection at https://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/gems/amastini/default.htm which was identified as a Marchant engraving AND a bust of Colonel John Campbell (Lord Cawdor).
Finally, the information about this one, small piece of
plaster was complete. I sometimes wonder
if the hunt isn’t more enjoyable than appreciation of the prey.
In summary, the plaster cast is a bust produced by James Tassie (probably around 1800) of an intaglio gem engraving of Colonel John Campbell (Lord Cawdor) modeled by Nathaniel Marchant probably in the late 18th century.
P.S.
I later discovered much more about Lord Cawdor in “’Nathaniel Marchant, Gem-engraver 1739-1816′, Walpole Society, vol. LIII, 1987, pp. 1-105. By G. Seidmann, It can be found and downloaded at https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/41829502.pdf
In the descriptions of various Marchant engraved gems, “Colonel John Campbell (later 1st Lord Cawdor)” is mentioned as an owner of several original Marchant pieces.
p.75
131 Colonel John Campbell, later Lord Cawdor (1755-1821), c. 1785-88 Fig. 134
Profile bust of a young man with drapery over one shoulder; his hair is dressed in contemporary fashion, waved over the crown of his head with a lock above his ear, the long hair at the back twisted and drawn up in the form of a ‘campaign wig’.
Unsigned.
‘Sardonyx’, 33 X 27.
Untraced.
The identification of the sitter of one of Marchant’s largest gems, reproduced in Raspe-Tassie 14606 [MyI: actual number is 14607] among ‘modern unknown heads’, rests on the entries in Amastini B I/3 and Amastini II A II/9 as ‘Colonello Campell’. It is supported by Campbell’s commissions from Marchant of three gems reproduced in 100 Impressions ; another, for Lady Charlotte Campbell, was a copy of a relief owned by him, see Head of a female Figure deco-rating a Temple ‘ (54). By 30 August 1788 he had returned to London: Flaxman writes in a letter from Rome to his parents, ‘I shall desire Marchant to present my respects to Colonel Campbell and to desire him if he wants any of the plaisters he brought to England, moulded, to let you do them’ (British Library Add. MS 39,780, f. 4$). In correspondence between England and Italy, there are several references linking the two men. Campbell married a daughter of the 5th Lord Carlisle, one of the artist’s powerful patrons.
And on page 40:
“…John Campbell (later the first Lord Cawdor) who also sat to Marchant for his portrait. He was an important collector and lavish patron, much noticed in Rome 1785-88, and returned to England a few months before Marchant, who cut several gems for him. He had political ties with the artist’s powerful Whig patrons and married a daughter of the 5 th Earl of Carlisle the year after his return from Rome.”
Christie’s in New York had an important auction of 40 ancient cameos and intaglios on the block at its April 29, 2019 MASTERPIECES IN MINIATURE auction. Sale total including buyer’s premium: USD 10,640,500
Two notable pieces from the sale which realized the highest prices were:
LOT 32
A Roman Amethyst Ringstone with a portrait of DEMOSTHENES
Signed by Dioskourides, CIRCA Late 1st Century B.C.
Price Realized: USD 1,575,000
LOT 37
A Roman Black Chalcedony Intaglio Portrait of Antinous
CIRCA 130 – 138 A.D.
Price realized: USD 2,115,000
These two pieces and fifteen more were acquired by the Getty Museum in Los Angeles. For information on the Getty purchase, including a complete listing, CLICK HERE.
A blog entry was posted after the sale at http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/55165 which in a short article addresses carved gems through the ages and some of the pieces acquired by the Getty.
Click Here to view the entire auction information, catalog, and results. There are also a couple of links to articles on gem engraving.
From the catalog: “The forty superb engraved
gems and cameos presented here represent a small portion of a much larger
collection originally assembled by Giorgio Sangiorgi (1886-1965). Much of
the collection, but not all, was recently published by Sir John Boardman and
Claudia Wagner, Masterpieces in Miniature: Engraved Gems from Prehistory to
the Present in 2018. Not a small number of them come from famous older
collections, some with provenance back to the Renaissance. Many are without
question true masterpieces of the gem engraver’s art, some world-renowned,
rivaling the best works of the major arts of every other medium.”
Most pieces were originally estimated to be in the $30,000 – $50,000 range with several in the $100,000’s and one at $300,000 – $500,000. The final average price, including buyers premium, was about $250,000!!!!
The value of the glyptic arts is alive and well !
Christie’s London had a sale in 2017 of other pieces from the Sangiorgi Collection. See the post below or Click Here.
It seems relatively rare that the story of the modern day
gem carver (glyptician) is shared with the general public. Most, if not virtually all, of the articles
about gem engraving and engravers are academic or trade generated and
distributed. It’s too bad that the story
of this unique artistic endeavor is not more widely known and appreciated.
Recently, I came across an article in the NY Times, which,
ever so briefly, gave its readers a glimpse into the world of gem carving and
carvers. It also gives an insight into
why gem carvers do not become well known.
Below is a little taste of the article. The entire piece can be accessed at https://nyti.ms/2jIambs subject, of course, to the whims of the publication.
By Milena Lazazzera
Nov. 21, 2017
“In Résonances de Cartier, the house’s most recent high jewelry
presentation, the diamonds, emeralds and rubies that are de rigueur in such
collections were combined with more unusual materials like smoky quartz and
fire opals.
But it was a black jasper cuff, carved in a classic
Panthère style, that would catch the discerning eye. It was the work of a
glyptician, or gem sculptor, a highly trained artisan who turns rough stone or
jewels into dazzling art.
“Black jasper per se is not rare or precious,” said
Philippe Nicolas, Cartier’s in-house master glyptician, whose atelier designed
and sculpted the bracelet. It was difficult to find two large homogeneous
pieces of jasper, but the human skill used to create the cuff was what made the
piece valuable, he said……
The Munich-based jewelry house Hemmerle inserts old
cameos into modern jewels because “in the olden days, sculptors looked at the
stone in a more artistic way, asking themselves how to maximize beauty,” said
Christian Hemmerle, a member of the fourth generation to work in the family
business.
Hemmerle also offers some sculpted objects in crystal. But, when asked, ‘Who was the glyptician?’ Mr. Hemmerle, like many others in the business, answered, ‘I cannot reveal my sources.’”
I came across this set of Paoletti “Books” for sale from the establishment of “Robert Schreuder Antiquair” in Amsterdam. I have no prior knowledge of Mr. Schreuder or his shop, however, upon my request, he was kind enough to forward a complete set of images of all of the plasters and the catalog lists. The books and the plasters appear, based on the images, to be in quite good condition.
The following is the description from the webpage and it’s link:
Set of Grand Tour plaster intaglio casts mounted in six books. €7600
“Pietro Paoletti: a set of six books with over 200 intaglios. The books are made of wood and cardboard covered with paper and have a leather back mentioning ‘Paoletti Impronte’ and the name of the enclosed collection. Each book is filled on two sides with plaster casts of gems; the insides of the covers contain a catalogue of all works of art displayed on the intaglios as well as the mention of the maker with his address on the Piazza di Spagna in Rome. Paoletti was one of the most renowned manufacturers of collections of plaster intaglio casts (daktyliotheque) in 19th century Rome. With ex-libris Alexander Rowand.”
Image from the Webpage
As with most of the Paoletti “Books” the individual plasters are made from contemporary engravings of the art masterpieces which one might encounter on the “Grand Tour” of Europe during the 18th and 19th Centuries; they are not plaster castings made from intaglio gemstones of antiquity.
Interesting Antique Roadshow segment from 2011 about Grand Tour Intaglio Plasters set of books. This appraisal puts these books, which appear to be in pretty good condition at about $500 each. Today, in 2018, they appear to be going for around $1,000 each.
The result of a recent auction is a reminder that collecting art or, more specifically, intaglios and intaglio plasters should be more for the enjoyment of possession than as an investment, unless of course you are a fortune teller.
A cabinet full of mid-19th century plaster and wax intaglio impressions was up for auction at the March 14, 2018 Christie’s London auction shop. The lot can be viewed at https://www.christies.com/Lotfinder/lot_details.aspx?hdnSaleID=27498&LN=216&intsaleid=27498&sid=8baa9deb-6ce7-47cd-99c9-88f6f5f95240 The roughly 19 in. high x 18 in. wide x 12 in. deep Regency inlaid wood cabinet had 13 drawers which contained some 700 plus impressions. The pre-auction estimate was GBP 4,000 – 6,000. The images of the cabinet and of an array of the impressions presented an impressive collection.
2018: Price realized (Includes buyer’s premium) GBP 2,750
At current exchange rate of $1.39/GBP the US dollar price was $3,822.
2006: Price realized (Includes buyer’s premium) GBP 4,560
At the then current exchange rate of $1.96/GBP (WOW!), the US dollar price was $8,957
The CPI increase from 2006 to 2017 has been 21.4%, so in today’s dollars the sale price in 2006 was almost $11,000!
It’s difficult to tell why the disparity in sales prices, especially not having had the opportunity to view the cabinet and its contents. Perhaps the sale was just missed by collectors or dealers. Maybe the market, which admittedly is quite small for this type of item, has softened. Who knows? All that is certain is that in this specific case it was a not so good investment.
In the previous post “Intaglio Search – Another one” below, one of the Intaglios is entitled “ENCHANTMENT”. After I found the information and wrote the post, I downloaded another, better copy of the image to reproduce from https://archive.org/details/traitedespierres02mari (I usually download the .pdf file, but if better images are needed, it’s better to download the “SINGLE PAGE PROCESSED JP2 ZIP” file.)
As I looked at the engraving in more detail I noticed the “vase on a capital” above the head of the satyr to the left of the fire pit. It seems to either rest on his head or float above it.
In the description of the intaglio by the author, Pierre Jean Mariette who wrote in 1750, it states, “…Above the head of the Satyr is seen a vase placed upon a specimen of a capital; The rest of the column is assumed to be hidden by the figure which is before; There must be no other mystery.” A quick look at the detail does not show a column. Is it just an oversight by the artist in the engraving, or is the vase and capital in fact sitting on the head of the satyr. In either case, what does it mean? Is it in fact a vase and a capital or something else? And what is that branch with leaves growing from its base? This is just one of several mysterious symbols in this intaglio.
We might also ask, “How old is the original carnelian intaglio?”; “When was it engraved?”; “By whom?”
nce indicated – “Anonymous sale: Christie’s, London 7 December 2006, lot 224”. Having this information, it was easy to compare the sales and amounts paid for presumably the same item sold at open auctions, 12 years apart. The lot from the 2006 auction can be viewed at 
