patronage of Lorenzo de Medici, are distinguished by their
extreme stiffness and mediaeval character, quite in contrast
with the flowing style of a later period.
The numerous forgeries extant had an unfavorable influence, writes King, upon the public fancy for engraved gems,
and as a consequence the business passed from skilled artists
to mere mechanics. After a career of thirty centuries, says
this author, the ancient art of engraving upon precious stones
may be said to have passed away.*
Intaglio. — This is the form of cutting a gem with the figure
depressed, and is opposed to cameo, which represents the design raised. The number of antique intagli still in existence
is incalculable, owing to the vast quantities produced during
many centuries all over the civilized world, and from the indestructible nature of the material, which neither time nor the
elements can affect. They were very numerous in Rome, but
few intagli, compared with the countless number of carnei,
were produced during the Cinque-cento period. Those representing purely Christian subjects, of undoubted antiquity, are,
it is said, exceedingly rare, though modern works of the kind
are not uncommon. The British Museum contains some of
these earl)' Christian gems, including a red jasper set in gold,
with an inscription, an emerald engraved with the figure of a
fish, and a large sapphire with the monogram of Christ. The
Greek intagli were frequently set in finger-rings for signets,
the Ariadne in the Pulsky collection affording one of the finest
examples of the kind. The intaglio was superseded by the
cameo, though in the last century there was a revival of the
fashion for intagli, and many were executed equal to the best
of ancient workmanship.
* This statement needs some qualification, since modern engraving is practised, to a limited extent, at least, very successfully.
