Jewellery, Watches, Silver and Objects of Vertu

A late 18th century unmounted jasper intaglio, the circular panel finely carved to depict the head of a young man in profile, the legend inscribed: ‘XΑΛΕΠΟΝ . ΤΟ . MΗ . ΦΙΛΗΣΑΙ’ (Chalepon to me philésai) (It pains one to love), diameter 22mm, depth 5.5mm.

£1,500-£2,000

The legend is a line from a poem by the Greek poet Anacreon.


The intaglio is in the manner of the gem engraver Giovanni Pichler (1734-1791), who favoured working in intaglio or possibly in the style of the later master Giuseppe Cerbara (1770-1840), one of the foremost gem engravers in Rome in the first half of the 19th century.