This intaglio is set in an 18 karat gold rin
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.
Portraits of famous emperors, their wives and the divine beings the ancients believed ruled their lives were favorite themes in the eighteenth century. On this lovely intaglio is the head of an attractive female, bearing a resemblance to ancient depictions of the goddess Diana (Artemis), with waving hair and wearing a laurel wreath. This powerful deity was a symbol of women's independence. Patroness of virginity and paradoxically of childbirth, she was especially revered at Ephesos where a temple built to her was one of the wonders of the world. The grace and elegance attributed to this immortal goddess is beautifully depicted on this fine intaglio.