Antique Grand Tour Red Sulphur Intaglios (priced individually)

A group of Grand Tour intaglio impressions, each cast in deep red and set within a gilt paper border. Impressions like these were taken from celebrated antique gems and carried home from Rome by travelers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, then kept in cabinets, trays and desk drawers as a portable library of the classical world.

Each is sold individually. They are lettered A through E in the second photograph; choose yours from the menu.

A · Bacchus and Ariadne · approx. 1.25"
A Bacchic pair in high relief: a wreathed figure, likely Bacchus, supports a draped companion, likely Ariadne, who carries a thyrsus over her shoulder. A heavy cluster of grapes hangs between them. The detail is crisp throughout, from the fall of the drapery to the crown of leaves.

B · Wreathed Head · approx. 1"
A classical head in profile, crowned with a wreath over close curls, in the manner of an antique portrait gem. Compact and densely modeled, with a quiet authority well beyond its size.

C · Cupid · approx. 1.25"
A winged Cupid bent low at his task, set within a raised double border on a finely stippled ground. The stepped frame gives this one real presence on a desk or a shelf.

D · Draped Classical Figure · approx. 1"
A standing figure in long drapery beside a column, one arm raised, a staff held across the body. Perhaps a muse or a goddess. The pose is composed and upright, the oval long and elegant.

E · Cupid on a Dolphin · approx. 1"
Cupid rides a dolphin over the waves, reins in hand. A lively, horizontal composition and a subject much loved by gem engravers.

Each shows the soft wear of age to its gilt edge, entirely in keeping with pieces that have been handled and admired for generations.