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Doubting Thomas, Mosaic in the Narthex, 11th CE Giclee Print 24 in. x 18 in. Buy at AllPosters.com Framed Mounted The term 'glyptic' is derived from the Greek. It embraces the arts of carving precious or semi-precious stones in relief. Engraved stones are called intagli (It. intaglio, -i) or gems, while those which are worked in high relief are called cameos. Intagli were often used for clay or wax seals and were therefore frequently worn in rings. Cameos served a variety of other purposes, but were often merely made to display the gem-cutter's skill or the beauty of the stone.
Cameos and intagli are fashioned on the lapidary's wheel, or with the help of carborundurn dust. The glyptic arts were practised with great skill in Mesopotamia as long ago as during the 4th millennium B.C. Cylinder seals, for impressing on some soft material, and used for official or business purposes, were already well known. The Egyptians scarcely knew the intaglio, since most of their seals were made in pottery, often in the shape of the scarab. In the Minoan and Mycenaean civilisations, the glyptic arts were much to the fore. The stone-cutters of this age used both pattern and figure decoration. Gem cutting, mostly in the form of intagli, also flourished in Ancient Greece from the 8th century B.C. onwards. As the making of intagli and cameos became an important branch of the arts, many stonecutters came to sign their work.
Under Greek influence, the glyptic arts spread to Persia, where they assumed great importance between the 6th and 4th centuries B.C.; also, from the Archaic period onwards, to Etruria and thence throughout Italy. Here, too, most of the stones were cut as intagli; the motifs were mostly based on Greek models. Cameos came into vogue during the Hellenistic period only in connection with the art of the Court; they mostly bore the portraits of princes or served to glorify ruling houses. Vessels carved in semiprecious stones were rarer and so were greatly treasured. Since the late Hellenistic period substitutes for intagli have been used, made of glass cast from moulds (pastes). The glyptic arts were very rarely practised in the Middle Ages; but antique gems and cameos were always very highly prized and were used until the Baroque, often to decorate objects employed in the service of the Church. Gem-cutting was only rediscovered as a separate branch of the arts during the Renaissance, and it came into its own again during the Classic Revival.
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