I just came across the results of a November auction at Stair Galleries in Hudson, New York. The sale included a number of Wedgwood lots, one of which I would surly have bid on. The lot consisted of fourteen black basalt seals plus several other items —
The webpage of the lot with a number of good pictures can be found at https://auctions.stairgalleries.com/lot/fourteen-wedgwood-black-basalt-seals-3900026
Sure wish I had seen this one.
Sorry I don’t know how else to contact you. I am looking for a reference book to identify intaglios seals and just wondered if you can recommend one ? I wanted a catalogue book of James Tassies collection but one with illustrations, I just ordered volumes 1 & 2 of a descriptive catalogue of a general collection of ancient and modern engraved gems, cameos etc and they are both just text – obviously my mistake. The information on the books though is so limited I could not work which one had illustrations so just ordered these two in the hope. I don’t suppose you could recommend one ? Thanks for your time Yvonne.
Yvonne, Thanks for the comment/question. It’s always nice to hear from someone interested in intaglios.
I assume the two volumes that you are referring to are the ones by Raspe published in 1791. It is the best reference that I’ve found when researching intaglios, but I agree that it is not much value by itself in research. The good news is that there is an images of each numbered impression at the CLASSICAL ART RESEARCH CENTRE website. Entering the number of the piece from the text in the “Enter Gem Number” box returns the associated image. It takes some use (trial and error) to learn how to use the text and images to identify a gem, but its a great starting place. The site also has several other databases – William Tassie, Lippert, Paoletti Impressions, etc.
The website is described a little more in the THE PRIMO SITE FOR CLASSICAL INTAGLIO RESEARCH article on the RESOURCE tab on this website. Since I wrote that, I’ve learned a few tricks, but a lot of it is still guessing and luck. Writing a starter’s guide to what I’ve learned so far is on my ToDo list.