Ring
late 18th century - early 19th century (made)
Artist/Maker | |
Place of origin |
The art of engraving gemstones can be traced back to ancient Greece in the 8th century BC and earlier. Techniques passed down to the Egyptians and then to the Romans. There were major revivals of interest in engraved gems in Europe during the Byantine era, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and again in the 18th and 19th centuries. At each stage cameos and intaglios, these skillful carvings on a minute scale, were much prized and collected, sometimes as symbols of power mounted in jewelled settings, sometimes as small objects for private devotion or enjoyment.
This gem is in the neo-classical style popular in the late 1700s and early 1800s, when taste in the arts echoed the subject matter and style of the Greek and Roman masters. Thousands of gems were made in this style in Italy and brought back by British Grand Tourists, who went there to visit the newly-discovered classical antiquities and archaeological sites. The figure represented in the carved sardonyx intaglio is that of Paris, one of the protagonists of the Trojan War, whose kidnap of the beautiful Helen was the starting point of Homer's Iliad. The sculptor Antonio Canova (1757-1822) carved a bust of Paris wearing a bonnet similar to the one in this ring and in a similar pose. The sardonyx intaglio has been attibuted to the gem carver Luigi Pichler (1773-1854).
The ring was part of the collection of Edmund Waterton. Waterton spent a considerable amount of time living in Rome and may have acquired this ring there.
This gem is in the neo-classical style popular in the late 1700s and early 1800s, when taste in the arts echoed the subject matter and style of the Greek and Roman masters. Thousands of gems were made in this style in Italy and brought back by British Grand Tourists, who went there to visit the newly-discovered classical antiquities and archaeological sites. The figure represented in the carved sardonyx intaglio is that of Paris, one of the protagonists of the Trojan War, whose kidnap of the beautiful Helen was the starting point of Homer's Iliad. The sculptor Antonio Canova (1757-1822) carved a bust of Paris wearing a bonnet similar to the one in this ring and in a similar pose. The sardonyx intaglio has been attibuted to the gem carver Luigi Pichler (1773-1854).
The ring was part of the collection of Edmund Waterton. Waterton spent a considerable amount of time living in Rome and may have acquired this ring there.
Object details
Categories | |
Object type | |
Materials and techniques | Gold with a sardonyx intaglio |
Brief description | Gold ring, with an oval bezel set with a sardonyx intaglio bust of Paris after Canova, Italy, late 18th or early 19th century |
Physical description | Gold ring, with an oval bezel set with a sardonyx intaglio bust of Paris, after the statue by Antonio Canova (1757-1822). With forked shoulders. The engraved gem attributed to Luigi Pichler (1773-1854) |
Dimensions |
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Credit line | Given by Messrs. S. J. Phillips |
Object history | This ring forms part of a collection of over 600 rings and engraved gems from the collection of Edmund Waterton (1830-81). Waterton was one of the foremost ring collectors of the nineteenth century and was the author of several articles on rings, a book on English devotion to the Virgin Mary and an unfinished catalogue of his collection (the manuscript is now the National Art Library). Waterton was noted for his extravagance and financial troubles caused him to place his collection in pawn with the London jeweller Robert Phillips. When he was unable to repay the loan, Phillips offered to sell the collection to the Museum and it was acquired in 1871. A small group of rings which Waterton had held back were acquired in 1899. Edmund Waterton used the fortune which was made by his family’s involvement in the British Guiana sugar plantations to put his collection together. His grandfather owned a plantation known as Walton Hall and his father, Charles Waterton, went to Guiana as a young man to help run La Jalousie and Fellowship, plantations which belonged to his uncles. When slavery was abolished in the British territories, Charles Waterton claimed £16283 6s 7d in government compensation and was recorded as having 300 enslaved people on the Walton Hall estate. |
Subjects depicted | |
Summary | The art of engraving gemstones can be traced back to ancient Greece in the 8th century BC and earlier. Techniques passed down to the Egyptians and then to the Romans. There were major revivals of interest in engraved gems in Europe during the Byantine era, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and again in the 18th and 19th centuries. At each stage cameos and intaglios, these skillful carvings on a minute scale, were much prized and collected, sometimes as symbols of power mounted in jewelled settings, sometimes as small objects for private devotion or enjoyment. This gem is in the neo-classical style popular in the late 1700s and early 1800s, when taste in the arts echoed the subject matter and style of the Greek and Roman masters. Thousands of gems were made in this style in Italy and brought back by British Grand Tourists, who went there to visit the newly-discovered classical antiquities and archaeological sites. The figure represented in the carved sardonyx intaglio is that of Paris, one of the protagonists of the Trojan War, whose kidnap of the beautiful Helen was the starting point of Homer's Iliad. The sculptor Antonio Canova (1757-1822) carved a bust of Paris wearing a bonnet similar to the one in this ring and in a similar pose. The sardonyx intaglio has been attibuted to the gem carver Luigi Pichler (1773-1854). The ring was part of the collection of Edmund Waterton. Waterton spent a considerable amount of time living in Rome and may have acquired this ring there. |
Bibliographic reference | 'British Guiana 2426 (Walton Hall)', Legacies of British Slave-ownership database, 2019. |
Collection | |
Accession number | M.336-1977 |
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Record created | November 11, 2005 |
Record URL |
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