{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O106583"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O106583/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AF1519/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AF1519/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AF1519","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O106583/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O106583","accessionNumber":"577-1871","objectType":"Intaglio","titles":[{"title":"Aesculapius","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"The art of engraving gemstones can be traced back to ancient Greece in the 8th century BC and earlier. Techniques passed down to the Egyptians and then to the Romans. There were major revivals of interest in engraved gems in Europe during the Byantine era, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and again in the 18th and 19th centuries. At each stage cameos and intaglios, these skillful carvings on a minute scale, were much prized and collected, sometimes as symbols of power mounted in jewelled settings, sometimes as small objects for private devotion or enjoyment. This graeco-roman intaglio depicts two figures, one of whom is the Greek god of medicine and healing, Aesculapius. He is seen with his attribute, the snake-entwined rod which is still a universal symbol for medicine today. The other figure, carrying two spears and accompanied by a dog, has not been identified.","physicalDescription":"Horizontal oval intaglio. Depicting two full-length male figures, both helmetted, facing away from each other. The one on the left, facing left, wears a full-length robe and carries a staff in his left hand which has a snake twined around it. The figure on the right is walking to the right carrying two spears crossed behind his back. There is an animal, probably a hound, at his feet.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"carnelian","id":"AAT133223"},{"text":"chalcedony","id":"AAT11134"},{"text":"silver-gilt","id":"x37998"},{"text":"gemstone","id":"AAT201964"},{"text":"microquartz","id":"x43759"}],"techniques":[{"text":"gem engraving","id":"x41224"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Engraved gemstone; Orange-red translucent carnelian, set in silver-gilt ring","categories":[{"text":"Jewellery","id":"THES48930"},{"text":"Myths & Legends","id":"THES49005"},{"text":"Gemstones","id":"THES270329"}],"styles":[{"text":"graeco-roman","id":"x37638"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"SCP","id":"THES48600"},"images":["2006AF1519"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"033","id":"THES395778"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Intaglio","id":""}],[{"text":"Ring","id":"x43339"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Italy","id":"x28927"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"200 BC-50 BC","earliest":"-0200-01-01","latest":"-0050-01-01"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Width","value":"12","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"approximate","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"8","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"approximate","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"Exact dimensions obscured by setting","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Ex Waterton Collection. Bought by the Museum following inclusion in Christie's Sale (undated, not held), possibly lot 108. Edmund Waterton (1830-87) is referred to as one of a group of 'pioneer collectors' by Diana Scarisbrick, 'C.D.E. Fortnum as a collector of rings and gems', <u>C.D.E. Fortnum and the collecting and study of applied arts and sculpture in Victorian England</u>, Ed: Ben Thomas and Timothy Wilson, 1999.  His collection of approximately 760 rings, formed with the aim of illustrating the history of rings of all period and types, was acquired by the Museum in 1871 and 1899.  Waterton, in 1868 'of Walton Castle, near Wakefield, in the county of York, but now residing at Ostend in the Kingdom of Belgium', got into financial difficulties, and was later to be declared bankrupt. The collection of rings was held as security against a loan by the jeweller Robert Phillips for two years from March of that year. The loan was to be repaid by Waterton by March 1870, but the deadline was not met. Phillips having first contacted the Museum regarding the possible purchase of the rings in 1869, the purchase was recommended by the Board of the Museum in a minute of 20 April 1871. The majority of the rings are held in Metalwork Section, a small number in Sculpture Section.","historicalContext":"Engraved gemstones of all dates were widely collected in Italy in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Many were brought back by British Grand Tourists, and important collections were formed.","briefDescription":"Intaglio, oval carnelian, set in a silver-gilt ring, depicting Aesculapius, Italy, 200-50 BC","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"<font -u>List of Objects in the Art Division, South Kensington, Acquired During the Year 1871, Arranged According to the Dates of Acquisition.</font> London: Printed by George E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode for H.M.S.O., p. 46"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Machell Cox, E., <u>Victoria & Albert Museum Catalogue of Engraved Gems.</u> London, Typescript, 1935, Part 2,  Section 2, p. 293"}],"production":"Graeco-Roman intaglio in a 19th century setting\n\nAttribution note: Orange-red translucent chalcedony","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"Aesculapius","id":"N5036"}],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["577-1871"],"accessionNumberNum":"577","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1871,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-08","recordCreationDate":"2004-10-20","availableToBook":true}}