Beazley Archive - Studies in Gems and Jewellery I

This 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 was 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, taken to 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.

This important catalogue of 860 Roman engraved gems and finger-rings in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford is the third in the Beazley Archive series "Studies in Gems and Jewellery". The catalogue is themed under the major headings of gods; goddesses; followers of deities and muses; personifications; portraits and figure studies; children's rings; scenes from daily life; theatrical subjects; animals, birds and other natural subjects; mythological subjects; symbolic subjects; astrological subjects; magical gems; Jewish and Christian subjects; inscriptions. Overall, the items are catalogued with the aim of producing a summary inventory that details the nature of the collection as built up over the years, the mechanisms by which the Ashmolean came to acquire the various pieces, and the degree to which they survive and can be related to the documentary record. (Volume I in the series was A Collection of Classical and Eastern Intaglios, Rings and Cameos (2003) and Volume II Classical Phoenician Scarabs (2004))

Sir John Boardman is one of the foremost experts on ancient Greek art. His autobiography offers a mixture of scholarly reminiscence, reflection on family life, travelogue, and critique of classical scholarship worldwide. Illustrated with pictures of travels, friends and home life, it reflects on his experiences of more than 90 years.

The subject of this study is a collection of over one hundred intaglios, cameos, seals and rings acquired by Tom and Danielle White during a diplomatic posting in Burma (Myanmar) between 1985 and 1989. (Another private collection of intaglios, seals, sealings and other objects from Burma is described briefly in the Appendix.) Twenty rings from Java, also from the White collection, have been added at the end of the catalogue. Until now the few engraved gems from Burma which have been published are scattered through periodicals or only briefly mentioned in larger works. The opportunity has been taken in the present catalogue to compare, where possible, this collection from Burma with intaglios, sealings, coins and other objects from India, Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia and elsewhere which may help to set this collection in its regional context. In Part B of the introduction brief descriptions are given of the main Pyu sites in Burma; and of the other 'Indianised' sites in Arakan and elsewhere in Southeast Asia, where engraved gems have been found. Photographs of the White Collection by Robert Wilkins

Over 50 papers, first presented at the international congress ‘Greek Art in Motion’ (Lisbon, 2017) in honour of Sir John Boardman’s 90th Birthday, are collected here under the following headings: Sculpture, Architecture, Terracotta & Metal, Greek Pottery, Coins, Greek History & Archaeology, Greeks Overseas, Reception & Collecting, Art & Myth.

An illustrated catalogue of 59 engraved gems from the Wright Collection, most of which are from Turkey and Yugoslavia. The collection includes Phoenician and Etruscan scarabs and ringstones and cameos dating from the Hellenistic, Roman, Sasanian, Late Antique, Renaissance and Modern periods. The largest group is Roman and includes gems engraved with deities, Bacchic themes, heroes, symbols, portraits and animals.