gems, glyptic, engraved gems, agate, cameo, intaglio, ancient gems, Rome, Greece, ancient jewelry, rings, lapidary arts

Sinkankas: The finest contribution to the literature of engraved gems since Furtwangler’s Die antiken Gemmen, 1900. Unlike the broad coverage of the subject by the latter, the present work bases its discussions on the careers of famous collectors and connoisseurs from the time when heightened appreciation of engraved gems as works of art and as significant archeological objects inspired intensive collecting activity and study. Accordingly, the text is divided into collecting periods, beginning with Stosch (1691–1757) and then passing through periods in which stood out as such important persons Winckelmann, Lippert, Furtwangler, and lastly, Paul Arndt (1865–1937). Under this scheme, very little space is devoted to the early phases of the art, the gem materials, or the techniques of gem engraving. Instead, most of the text devotes itself to the collectors themselves, their collections, publications concerning same, and ultimate dispositions of the collections or individual pieces. Most gratifyingly, the authors provide us much detail from older books thus making the present work an invaluable reference source. A special feature is the generous use and of engraved gems, sharply-reproduced title pages, portraits, even cartoons lampooning certain famous collectors. No important work is omitted in the bibliography although paginations and illustration counts are regrettably omitted.