Classical Gems
Classical Gems
Diana Scarisbrick
Mary Whiting
Out of Print
This is a comprehensive, lavishly illustrated catalogue of the magnificent collection of over a thousand engraved gems in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. It also provides a history of engraved gems from c. 1000 BC to the nineteenth century AD. Gems cut in intaglio were used mainly as signets for sealing documents, and were valued from remote antiquity for their artistry. The Fitzwilliam Museum contains work by the greatest of the Classical Greek engravers, Dexamenos, and by the master signet-cutter of the Augustan age, Dioskourides, who provided Augustus's own seal. The collection as a whole is very wide ranging, with a large holding of Sassanian gems and others from north-west India.
- Catalogues one of the widest-ranging and most important gem collections in existence
- Includes valuable coverage of the history of engraved gems
- Lavishly illustrated in both black and white and colour
Reviews & endorsements
'The Press has done their authors and their subjects proud … photos are wonderfully clear.' John Boardman, Apollo
Product details
December 1994Hardback
9780521239011
568 pages
271 × 403 × 55 mm
3.515kg
982 b/w illus.
Unavailable - out of print May 1998
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Part I. Greek and Roman: Part II. Medieval and Modern: Appendixes
- Indexes.
