gems, ancient gemology, early gemology, ancient mineralogy, early trade, Greece, Greek, glyptic, engraved gems

THE ART OF THE GEM-ENGRAVER flourished in Archaic Greece as at no other time in Classical antiquity. The miniaturist perfection which the artists of the period achieved was never to be excelled later, and the range of subjects which they depicted in intaglio is even wider than that which was to be embraced by the vase-painters. This book is both the first and the definitive account of Greek gems of the sixth and early fifth centuries sc. Mr Boardman distinguishes the various artists, schools, workshops and styles, and gives full lists and descriptions of the extant gems. He also throws light on problems such as the Phoenician origins of the new techniques which came into use during the sixth century, the complicated iconography of the intaglio devices, and the manner in which immigrant Greek engravers brought their art to Etruria. More than 370 meticulously reproduced photographs of impressions and gems, most of them enlarged fourfold and many of them hitherto unpublished, illustrate every aspect of this brilliant phase in the development of Greek art.