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 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.
Twin sister of Apollo, Artemis was the goddess of the hunt, eternally young and forever virginal. She was the untamed deity who frequented the wild forests of Arcadia with her female companions; associated with the moon and invoked as the 'foster-mother-goddess of youth. Her portrayal on this delightful intaglio shows her in full stride, bow aimed and arrow shot with her hound prancing at her feet. The skill of the engraver has given the deity lively movement, as if she were possessed of supernatural powers!