Böcker av Claudia Wagner

This volume presents a selection from a large private collection of engraved gems, finger rings and cylinder seals. It was created from 1921 through the 1960s from various sources, and includes many examples from old collections that had come on to the market, notably the Evans, Southesk, and (for later gems) Poniatowski, as well as many purchased from dealers and in auctions. They are now in the possession of the collector's son, who encouraged this publication. Boardman had already published a selection, mainly of the Greek and Etruscan gems from the collection, in Intaglios and Rings (London, Thames and Hudson, 1975), and these stones have since been purchased by the J. Paul Getty Museum in Malibu (except for nos. 9, 17, 86, 149, 154, 205-208). The present selection also includes some early gems, omitted from the earlier publication for various reasons, but it is mainly devoted to the Hellenistic and Roman, as well as to a choice of the many Sasanian stones, cylinder seals, other eastern, and Neo-classical. The selection has been determined by the apparent interest of each piece for either its style or its subject, but also represents a fairly typical range of gem engraving through the Greek and Roman worlds, and outside it - including Etruscan, Greco-Persian, Syrian, Persian, Phoenician, Sasanian and the early production of cylinders in the near east. This is the type of material that was available for collectors in the first half of the last century. The catalogue takes the form of a descriptive handlist rather than a catalogue raisonné, with select comparanda, and with more attention paid to the puzzling or important pieces. Of these there are several of the highest quality, and several of exceptional archaeological or iconographic interest. The prime motive has been to make much of the collection known to scholars who might wish to take study of individual pieces further. To this end the publication of mainly unprovenanced engraved gems is of no less importance than that of unprovenanced decorated vases. This volume inaugurates the new series Studies in Gems and Jewellery.

The Beazley Archive Studies in Gems and Jewellery IVThis volume is intended to supply some supplementary information about the gems and cameos published in A Collection of Classical and Eastern Intaglios, Rings and Cameos, published in 2003 as BAR S1136. These had been chosen from a large private collection formed mainly in Italy from about 1921 into the 1960s. It comprised ancient gems but there were a number of post-antique, and part of this publication is devoted to further consideration of some of them, as well as of some comparable examples in the collection not included before, and especially to their later, most distinctive mounts, a feature not always much remarked or explored in publications of ancient gems in later settings. Those on gems in this collection are mainly remarkable for demonstrating some characteristically elaborate Sicilian methods of mounting gems, mainly of the 18th century, and not commonly encountered in published collections. The opportunity is also taken to add a few more interesting examples from the collection, and to republish in colour some of the more important pieces in the original catalogue. The opportunity is, moreover, also taken reflect briefly upon the way in which the ancient traditions in gem engraving and the classical style and subject matter survived or was revived and rediscovered in later centuries. The accompanying text attempts also to summarise some of the problems of original and copy, not only à propos of gems. The study of such matters is extremely complex, requiring a breadth of knowledge about both antiquity and the artistic and literary activities of both the Renaissance and the Neo-Classical movements of the 17th to 19th centuries. A further essay explores the ways by which the subjects of the gems became known beyond the world of those who owned or could readily view the originals, since the publication of gems, by drawing or facsimile, plays a major role in the whole story. This offers the opportunity to illustrate pages from antiquarian books to demonstrate the style and quality of reproduction available and practised before photography.

The creation of miniature intaglios - or incised carvings - which could be impressed on clay or wax was one of the earliest crafts of civilisation. To this the Greeks added relief cameos, while comparable skills were lavished on the decoration of metal finger rings. These artefacts record subjects of significance for their period and place but are also the direct expression of an artist's skills and imagination. Engraved gems were collected first by the ancient Romans and then throughout the Renaissance were a source for knowledge of `classical' subjects and styles, when they were copied - from Michelangelo to Rubens - by the foremost artists of the day. The gemstones explored here are from a distinguished collection made in the earlier twentieth century by a notable connoisseur of ancient art. Many originate from named older European collections and were previously unknown to scholars and collectors. The authors have sought to offer a balanced selection of earlier eastern and Greek stones, alongside others from the neo-classical era. The book offers a survey of the finest products of the gems craft over millennia.