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Wax seal— possibly Greek?
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<p>[QUOTE="Bronwen, post: 2711485, member: 5833"]Welcome, VP. Start by having a look at this thread (ignore the stuff about Brooke Shields.)</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.antiquers.com/threads/any-grand-tour-intaglio-experts-out-there.53434/" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.antiquers.com/threads/any-grand-tour-intaglio-experts-out-there.53434/">Any Grand Tour Intaglio experts out there?</a></p><p><br /></p><p>Your piece is the same sort of thing, an impression of an engraved gem made for the collector market, done in a different material. This material is called sulfur & the impressions themselves are sometimes called sulfurs. As nearly as I have ever been able to figure out, sulfur is like sealing wax. It is quite durable. It would have cost more to have an impression collection made in this red stuff than in the more fragile plaster. Top of the line were impressions made in glass, like the ones Catherine the Great commissioned from James Tassie.</p><p><br /></p><p>The gem that made the impression is really interesting & outside the sort of thing I know about, very old, a talisman or amulet. Either it is complete nonsense or it is a mystical image & inscription. To the extent I can read/transliterate them, the longer inscriptions on the sides are the same string of Greek vowels.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]275552[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>EUAIEAEIOEOAE</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]275553[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Not sure if the long edge letters are continuous with the short end ones. This has AIEAIO[OMEGA]O[OMICRON]U The ending 'ou' is normally sort of a possessive, meaning 'of' or 'by' (which leads to confusion on some gems whether an inscribed name ending ou means it was made by the person or is property of that person.) There are actually some consonants in what's below that. E(?)GP(?)OT</p><p><br /></p><p>I'm not sure I'm seeing them all correctly, & I see more letters than I'm picking up, but you can see these concantenations of vowels are not pronounceable words. There is also an object I can't ID.</p><p><br /></p><p>The figure does seem to be a man with crab/scorpion limbs. This impression (sulfur) in the Tassie impressions photographed by the Beazley Archive at Oxford may give a hint:</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="http://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/record/897F8FB7-95A6-4E9A-87BD-145758ACA54C" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/record/897F8FB7-95A6-4E9A-87BD-145758ACA54C" rel="nofollow">http://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/record/897F8FB7-95A6-4E9A-87BD-145758ACA54C</a></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]275559[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>The rooster is a symbol of Hermes/Mercury. If the crab is also associated, our crabby man with his staff could represent a form of Hermes, & Hermes is associated with mystical things. Here he is with a scorpion:</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="http://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/record/CC834B6A-8A6F-49D2-BC09-A72098A43BD5" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/record/CC834B6A-8A6F-49D2-BC09-A72098A43BD5" rel="nofollow">http://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/record/CC834B6A-8A6F-49D2-BC09-A72098A43BD5</a> </p><p><br /></p><p>For fun, see also this one:</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="http://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/record/22D96CFA-36A2-4720-B519-CCF9FD7F3E6F" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/record/22D96CFA-36A2-4720-B519-CCF9FD7F3E6F" rel="nofollow">http://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/record/22D96CFA-36A2-4720-B519-CCF9FD7F3E6F</a></p><p><br /></p><p>Best I can do. <img src="styles/default/xenforo/smilies/smile.png" class="mceSmilie" alt=":)" unselectable="on" />[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="Bronwen, post: 2711485, member: 5833"]Welcome, VP. Start by having a look at this thread (ignore the stuff about Brooke Shields.) [URL="https://www.antiquers.com/threads/any-grand-tour-intaglio-experts-out-there.53434/"]Any Grand Tour Intaglio experts out there?[/URL] Your piece is the same sort of thing, an impression of an engraved gem made for the collector market, done in a different material. This material is called sulfur & the impressions themselves are sometimes called sulfurs. As nearly as I have ever been able to figure out, sulfur is like sealing wax. It is quite durable. It would have cost more to have an impression collection made in this red stuff than in the more fragile plaster. Top of the line were impressions made in glass, like the ones Catherine the Great commissioned from James Tassie. The gem that made the impression is really interesting & outside the sort of thing I know about, very old, a talisman or amulet. Either it is complete nonsense or it is a mystical image & inscription. To the extent I can read/transliterate them, the longer inscriptions on the sides are the same string of Greek vowels. [ATTACH=full]275552[/ATTACH] EUAIEAEIOEOAE [ATTACH=full]275553[/ATTACH] Not sure if the long edge letters are continuous with the short end ones. This has AIEAIO[OMEGA]O[OMICRON]U The ending 'ou' is normally sort of a possessive, meaning 'of' or 'by' (which leads to confusion on some gems whether an inscribed name ending ou means it was made by the person or is property of that person.) There are actually some consonants in what's below that. E(?)GP(?)OT I'm not sure I'm seeing them all correctly, & I see more letters than I'm picking up, but you can see these concantenations of vowels are not pronounceable words. There is also an object I can't ID. The figure does seem to be a man with crab/scorpion limbs. This impression (sulfur) in the Tassie impressions photographed by the Beazley Archive at Oxford may give a hint: [URL]http://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/record/897F8FB7-95A6-4E9A-87BD-145758ACA54C[/URL] [ATTACH=full]275559[/ATTACH] The rooster is a symbol of Hermes/Mercury. If the crab is also associated, our crabby man with his staff could represent a form of Hermes, & Hermes is associated with mystical things. Here he is with a scorpion: [URL]http://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/record/CC834B6A-8A6F-49D2-BC09-A72098A43BD5[/URL] For fun, see also this one: [URL]http://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/record/22D96CFA-36A2-4720-B519-CCF9FD7F3E6F[/URL] Best I can do. :)[/QUOTE]
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Wax seal— possibly Greek?
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