gems, glyptic, antique gems, engraved gems, rings, agate, cameo, intaglio, carnelian, Middle Ages

In his slow, portentous voice, at the entrance to the reception room of the Grand Trianon, the attendant delivers to the indifferent crowd following him the official explanation: “On the mantelpiece, an antique cameo, found in the ruins of Pompeii and sent to Queen Marie-Antoinette by her sister, Marie-Caroline, Queen of Naples.” And of the ten million visitors who, at the very least, during the past three-quarters of a century have passed before this stone, not one seems to have wondered what this extraordinary monument of the glyptic art might be—a work which, in sheer size, leaves far behind it everything of importance ever produced by the art of engraving on stone. Thanks to the exceptional kindness of M. Humberdot, the ever-obliging curator of the Palace, who not only took the trouble to make the searches in his archives that I requested, but carried his helpfulness so far as to take, for the readers of the Gazette, the fine photographs illustrating this article, I was able to study it at close quarters. What follows is the only plausible hypothesis that can presently be proposed, unless some new discovery—though that possibility is rather doubtful—should provide the key to the mystery surrounding this most interesting piece.