Gold Ring Featuring a Classical Revival Lapis Lazuli Intaglio Depicting a Hippocampus, 1700 CE - 1800 CE
Lapis Lazuli, Gold
FJ.6408
This genunine antique Classical Revival lapis lazuli intaglio has been set in a modern 18 karat gold ring. The art of glyptics, or carving on colored precious stones, is probably...
This genunine antique Classical Revival lapis lazuli intaglio has been set in a modern 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.
The depiction of mythical creatures in conjunction with real emblems or symbols was particularly popular in the eighteenth century. It was a way of combining fact with fiction, using a device to emphasize the 'true' nature of something by contrasting it with fantasy. This intriguing intaglio shows a hippocampus flying over what appears to be a representation of the Roman fasces (a military insignia). The hippocampus (hippo horse and kampos monster) was a fabulous sea creature whose head and forequarters were that of a barge, and the tail of a dolphin. The beautiful blue of the lapis lazuli makes it appear the hippocampus is swimming under the sea. Beneath it is a scroll-like abject with two branches extending from the top on either side. This could be a variation on the Roman fasces which was a bundle of rods held together by red thongs, symbolizing magisterial authority. There is a sense of freedom in the way the hippocampus flies over the more solid scroll, stationary and immovable, while the mythical beast is not bound by the powers of heaven or earth.
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.
The depiction of mythical creatures in conjunction with real emblems or symbols was particularly popular in the eighteenth century. It was a way of combining fact with fiction, using a device to emphasize the 'true' nature of something by contrasting it with fantasy. This intriguing intaglio shows a hippocampus flying over what appears to be a representation of the Roman fasces (a military insignia). The hippocampus (hippo horse and kampos monster) was a fabulous sea creature whose head and forequarters were that of a barge, and the tail of a dolphin. The beautiful blue of the lapis lazuli makes it appear the hippocampus is swimming under the sea. Beneath it is a scroll-like abject with two branches extending from the top on either side. This could be a variation on the Roman fasces which was a bundle of rods held together by red thongs, symbolizing magisterial authority. There is a sense of freedom in the way the hippocampus flies over the more solid scroll, stationary and immovable, while the mythical beast is not bound by the powers of heaven or earth.