FILIPPO REGA (1761-1833), ITALIAN, ROME, EARLY 19TH CENTURY | INTAGLIO WITH MEDUSA

This sublimely beautiful intaglio is the work of Filippo Rega, who was a student of Giovanni Pichler and won prizes at the Accademia di S. Luca in Rome, before moving to Naples where he went on to become engraver to Joseph Bonaparte, King of Naples and Spain. Director of the Scuola di Incisone in Gemme, in 1808 he became director of the Laboratoria di Pietre Dure. Later in life he worked as Director of the royal mint under King Ferdinand II. The present gem has the characteristic glassy surface and virtuoso engraving which is typical of Rega and evidences his training by Pichler. The intaglio, which depicts Medusa, is a stand out addition to the mythological oeuvre of Rega, who was much in demand for his portrait cameos, of which the Joachim Murat was sold in these rooms on 20 March 2018, lot 187, for £31,250. The engraver almost invariably signed in Greek, as in the present gem.