gems, engraved gems, agate, chalcedony, quartz, cameos, itaglios, turquoise, sard, onyx, coral, amethyst, glyptic

King introduces the recently acquired Blacas collection of engraved gems in the British Museum and places the acquisition within the broader history of European gem collecting. He argues that engraved gems are uniquely durable records of ancient art, preserving evidence for lost sculpture and painting as well as ancient religion and civilization, while contrasting the great continental collections with the historically weak representation of glyptic art in the British Museum. He traces the latter deficiency from the dispersal of Charles I’s gem collection through the Museum’s neglect of glyptics, before noting the acquisition of the Castellani collection in 1865 and, especially, the Blacas collection in 1866. The latter comprised 951 gems assembled by the two dukes of Blacas from such celebrated earlier collections as the Strozzi, De la Turbie, Schellersheim, and Barth cabinets. The principal purpose of this introductory installment, however, is to challenge the widespread attribution of names inscribed on ancient gems to their engravers. King argues that most supposed artists’ signatures in the Blacas collection are either owners’ names, later additions, or modern forgeries, and rejects even many examples accepted by contemporary authorities. He proposes that a genuine engraver’s signature should be accompanied by the equivalent of “made [it]” (ἐποίει), citing securely signed works as evidence, and explains Greek personal names and Roman praenomina written in Greek letters as ownership inscriptions rather than signatures. He similarly regards most incised signatures on cameos as later additions, while suggesting that some genuine ancient inscriptions bearing famous artists’ names may identify the creator of an earlier painting or sculpture copied by the gem engraver. The article thus serves both as an introduction to the Blacas gems and as a critical examination of the authenticity and interpretation of signatures in ancient glyptic art.