Provenance Information

This intaglio was first recorded in 1791, and subsequently in the collections of Constantine Alexander Ionides (1833-1900) and his son Alexander Constantine Ionides (1862-1931).

Exhibition Information

Georgia Museum of Art, "Exuberance of Meaning: The Art Patronage of Catherine the Great (1762-1796)." September 21, 2013 - January 5, 2014.

Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens, Washington, DC, "Passion of the Empress: Catherine the Great's Art Patronage." February 15, 2014 - June 8, 2014.

Publication Information

J. Tassie and E. Raspe, A Descriptive Catalogue of a General Collection of Ancient and Modern Engraved Gems, Cameos and Intaglio, Taken from the Most Celebrated Cabinets in Europe; and Cast in Coloured Pastes, White Enamel and Sulphur (London 1791) no. 11976; J. Boardman, Engraved Gems: The Ionides Collection (London, 1968) 99 no. 54; G.M.A. Richter, AJA 73 (1969) 488; M-L. Vollenweider, Art Bulletin 53.2 (1971) 241.

Section of the AAMD Guidelines relied upon for the exception to 1970

Cumulative facts and circumstances

Explain why the object fits the exception set forth above

While the intaglio pictured has solid provenance, it is only one object from a collection assembled over his lifetime by Michael J. Shubin, a numismatist based in Los Angeles. The collection comprises several hundred small beads, amulets, mineral specimens as well as intaglios and cameos, ranging from cylinder seals of the third millennium BC to neo-classical creations of the second millennium AD, many of which do not have the provenance of the intaglio pictured. The initial gift was accepted under the guidelines of the 2004 AAMD Report on the Acquisition of Archaeological Materials and Ancient Art as an extraordinary teaching resource. The Museum is committed to photographing and cataloguing the collection.