This genuine ancient seal has been set in a
modern 18 karat white gold ring.
The art of glyptics, or carving on colored
precious stones, is probably one of the oldest
known to humanity. Intaglios, gems with an
incised design, were made as early as the fourth
and third millennia B.C. in Mesopotamia and the
Aegean Islands. They exhibit a virtuosity of
execution that suggests an old and stable
tradition rooted in the earliest centuries. The
tools required for carving gems were simple: a
wheel with a belt-drive and a set of drills.
Abrasives were necessary since the minerals
used were too hard for a metal edge. A special
difficulty of engraving intaglios, aside from their
miniature size, was that the master had to work
with a mirror-image in mind.
Hadrian spent much of his reign traveling about
the Roman Empire and checking into the well -
being of the cities, towns, provinces, and
ordinary citizens over whom he ruled. He was
always interested in civic improvements, and
would often have a new bridge, road, aqueduct,
or temple built when he thought that the local
citizens would benefit by such new construction.
The reign of Hadrian at the height of the PAX
ROMANA period was a time of great peace and
prosperity in the Roman Empire. He continued
the public works building projects that his
adoptive father Trajan began and strengthened
the defenses on the borders of the empire.
Because of attacks on Roman citizens living in
southern Britain, he built Hadrian's Wall across a
narrow part of the island. Hadrian was an
educated emperor and a patron of the arts. He
spent most of his reign visiting the different
provinces of the empire and personally
overseeing the improvements and public works
carried out under his orders. Like Trajan and
Nerva before him, he adopted a grown man in
order to make him heir to the throne. When his
first adopted son Aelius Caesar died of illness,
Hadrian adopted another, Antoninus Pius, who
would succeed him when Hadrian died in his bed
after a long illness. This gorgeous intaglio is
proof of the artistry and culture that flourished
during his reign.
- (FJ.6817)
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