BRITISH, LATE 18TH-CENTURY | INTAGLIO WITH THE PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG MAN

Private English collection

This very beautiful intaglio portrait of a youth is unusually engraved with a line from Anacreon. Interestingly, this quotation is said to have significance to alumni of Eton College. Such inscriptions with quotations are rarely seen on glyptics. It almost certainly depicts a young man with classical interests circa 1800. The quality of the engraving is very high. It must have been carved by a particularly skilled lapidary. Stylistically there are some affinities with carvings by Giovanni Pichler (1734-1791) and, of a later generation of gem cutters, Giuseppe Cerbara (1770-1840). A very fine intaglio.